Rave: Top 10 Novels of 2013

For my first post, I decided to do a quick recap of my favorite novels published in 2013.

  Eleanor & Park is a story of two star-crossed high school lovers. It’s cute, nostalgic, funny, and tragic. Set in the 1980’s, Eleanor & Park will transport you back to a different time, and unless you’re a heartless ogre, will make you vividly recall how you felt the first time you ever fell in love. A must read even for those that are not typically fans of the young adult genre.
@Goodreads

Tangled is… smoking hot. This is chick-lit at its best, and the fact that it is told in the perspective of a man (a rich, extremely handsome, and hilarious man), makes it all the more appealing. The author does a great job with the main character, and the dialogue was witty and just perfect. Tangled is the first book in a series by the author. Twisted, the follow-up, comes out in March 2014
@Goodreads




Me Before You is yet another tale of star-crossed lovers – Lou, a girl with not much going on in her life, frankly, and Will, a man she was hired to take care of. Will is a quadriplegic, having suffered an accident a few years before, and Lou slowly grows close to him day by day as she takes care of his basic needs. I don’t want to give too much away, but this is a beautiful story of love and self-discovery.
@Goodreads






The Husband’s Secret is told in the perspective of three different women, Cecilia, Rachel, and Tess, all of whom are influenced by something terrible that happened in the past by Cecilia’s husband. The writing is fantastic, and I literally could not put this novel down. I wanted – needed – to know what the secret was, and I was not at all disappointed when I found out what it was.
@Goodreads






The Rosie Project is another chick-lit book written in the perspective of a man, but instead of the typical rich, debonair playboy you would expect from a chick-lit novel, a super-intelligent *insert geek adjective here* that is eerily similar to Dr. Sheldon Cooper from the popular sitcom, The Big Bang Theory.   Don Tillman is a professor of genetics, and he has devised a questionnaire to find a mate, called The Wife Project. I loved how awkward Don was. The Rosie Project is quirky, cute, and romantic.
@Goodreads

Calling Me Home is a story of friendship, forbidden love, heartbreak, and triumph. Beautifully written with a rather unforgettable ending, the story opens with Miss Isabelle, an elderly woman, asking her African American hairstylist and friend of sorts, Dorrie, to drive her across country for a funeral. The story alternates between 1939 and present day under the narrative of both women, and tackles some sensitive race issues that sadly still exist today.
 @Goodreads




 The last in a stunning trilogy, Dust wraps up the dystopian sci-fi adventure that Hugh Howey began with Wool. I cannot recommend these books more to anyone. In a ruined world, a large community exists underground in a silo, hundreds of stories deep. I cannot say more, because to review this book would be to spoil the first two. You can read part one of Wool for free on Amazon Kindle. Click here to download Wool for FREE. If you enjoy the story, you’ll want to then read the next four parts of Wool, available separately or in the Wool Omnibus. The next novel is Shift – Omnibus Edition, and lastly, Dust.
@Goodreads

 The Storyteller is the story of Sage, a woman with a disfiguring facial scar that befriends Josef, an elderly man that visits her regularly in the bakery where she works. As the unlikely friendship blooms, Josef confides in Sage that he was a Nazi in WWII, and asks Sage, the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, to kill him. The Storyteller is an amazing historical fiction novel that gives a great accounting of the atrocities of the Holocaust.
@Goodreads





Necessary Lies is a powerful historical fiction novel set in 1960’s North Carolina told in the narrative of two women – one, a poor teenaged girl living with her family on a tobacco farm in rural North Carolina, and the other, the teenager girl’s social worker. Compelling, haunting, and impossible to put down, Necessary Lies makes you see two different sides to a necessary evil.
@Goodreads






The Goldfinch tells the story of Theo Decker, a young boy that tragically loses his mother in a terrible accident at a NYC art museum. Theo escapes with his life and also the painting that his mother loved so much. He keeps the painting as a symbol of grief and tragic loss, and we follow Theo through his life of danger and addition. Captivating but long, The Goldfinch is not short on details, and paints a beautiful picture of a troubled boy's life.
@Goodreads