Top Ten Books I Loved Best So Far This Year (54)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Oh heyyyyy it's Top Ten Tuesday time! This week's topic is "Top Ten Books I've Read So Far This Year." (But obvs I retitled it because I'm sassy.) I have read an embarrassing 40 books so far this year (I moved slowly at the beginning of the year and I've slowed a bit recently) so I don't have that much to pick from. But I like to think I've been spending my time on books I really want to read instead of books I kinda sorta want to read. Because, y'know, I know what I like better now and have people telling me thoughts on books that I can apply to my life. (Friends of Goodreads, I love you.)

Anyway, I hope to read more - and faster - ASAP, but until then, here are the Ten (nay, eleven, since I included a sequel) Books I Loved Best So Far This Year.

PS: THANKS TO MY BEAUTIFUL, LOVELY, ALL KNOWING EPIC RECS PARTNER (LISA) FOR MAKING ME READ TWO OF THESE BOOKS.

A BEAst of a Convention: The Wrap-Up

So this feature started out as a pre-BEA thing but I realize now that it works for post BEA. Therefore, I'm going to post my wrap-up under this banner. Ready for my day-to-day recap? (Please note, I'll be doing a book haul - probably next week, so get excited.) 

You're Invited To: The YA Prom!

WELCOME TO THE YA PROM

What is The YA Prom?

Epic Recs Review: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Feature created by Amber and Judith, Graphic created by Judith

So it's the beginning of June and this is the review for my April Epic Rec. Clearly I'm a big failure. To be fair: Lisa and I put off wrapping up April, but I'm the reason this business didn't finish up during May itself. Honestly, Lisa's truly wonderful for putting up with my procrastination and laziness. But anyway, in case you missed our April Recommendations, you can find that HERE. And if you're looking for Lisa's blog, you can find that HERE.

PS: In case you were wondering, despite my inability to stick to schedule, Lisa and I are KILLING this Epic Recs things. Especially because she makes me read books like A MONSTER CALLS.

The Queen Bee's Knees: May Picture Book Edition

The May edition of The Queen Bee's Knees is for Picture Books. 
If you're looking for the April edition, which was the first edition and happened to be about YA books, click HERE.
For those who need a reminder of what The Queen Bee's Knees is, it's a feature I do to highlight the books I love in a very short, concise way. I include my bookseller/elevator/10 second pitch, which will hopefully give you a good idea if it's the book for you (or for the wee ones in your life, since this is the picture book edition) and something a bit longer that explains a bit more. Basically, The Queen Bee's Knees is my way of telling you which books I think are The Bees Knees without/in addition to writing full reviews.
But before we get started, I'd like to note, I didn't pick any of the BIG picture books. So, no Classics (read: Where the Wild Things Are, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Paddington, Corduroy, Clifford...) or BIG Modern Picture Book authors illustrators (read: Jon Klassen, Oliver Jeffers, Mo Willems, Erin and Phillip Stead...). And it's not because I don't love these books, but because I don't think you need me to tell you what's popular. Instead, I'd like to recommend some that you might not have heard of or missed the last time you went shopping. (PS: if you haven't picked up any books by the aforementioned "big" authors for the tots in your life, you SHOULD, ASAP.)
Okay. Got it all down? Good, because here's The Queen Bee's Knees May Picture Book Edition! 

WUT? - A Reader's Appreciation Post

Fact: I don't like coffee. I just like saying Coffee Clutch in my best and deepest New York accent. Considering I'm a New Yorker, I'm pretty freaking good at it. So I've got my tea and I hope you have your heated beverage of choice, because it's time to gab the day away.

So, recently I've been getting these comments on my reviews/responses to my tweets about books I'm obsessed with. They say things like "Oh, you loved this book? I trust your recommendations. I'll move that one to the top of my TBR."

To this I say:

Review: Better off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg

Title: Better off Friends
Author: Elizabeth Eulberg
Release Date: February 25th, 2014
Publisher: Point
Page Count: 288
Source: ARC from ALA
(I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest
review. No favors were exchanged, my opinions are my own.)First Reaction: Absolutely adorable - hit a bunch of personal notes for me.

For Macallan and Levi, it was friends at first sight. Everyone says guys and girls can't be just friends, but these two are. They hang out after school, share tons of inside jokes, their families are super close, and Levi even starts dating one of Macallan's friends. They are platonic and happy that way.

Eventually they realize they're best friends -- which wouldn't be so bad if they didn't keep getting in each other's way. Guys won't ask Macallan out because they think she's with Levi, and Levi spends too much time joking around with Macallan, and maybe not enough time with his date. They can't help but wonder . . . are they more than friends or are they better off without making it even more complicated?

From romantic comedy superstar Elizabeth Eulberg comes a fresh, fun examination of a question for the ages: Can guys and girls ever really be just friends? Or are they always one fight away from not speaking again -- and one kiss away from true love?

[Summary Source: Goodreads]