Taken in the Washington Park Arboretum when the skies were still blue.

Well, I took an unexpected holiday break from the blog. I’ve still been reading and still writing reviews, hoarding them ^.^ I also have a post coming on what’s been going on and what I have coming up, but in the mean time here’s a recap of my reading last year:

I really put the pedal to the metal as far as reading books go. My goal was to read 60 books and I ended up with 163 total; this includes 66 science-fiction/fantasy, 51 comic trades, and 18 French memoirs.

My top 10, roughly in order, are:

10. Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter. Book 1. Technically I read books 1 and 2 in 2014, but I ate through the rest of the available series in no time. This is the absolute best Urban Fantasy I have ever read and I eagerly await the rest of the books in the series. The audio book narrator is OUT OF THIS WORLD.

9. The Blud Series (4 novels, 4 novellas) by Delilah S. Dawson. Book 1. I ended up reading all of Dawson’s books this year (minus her sexy lumberjack books) and she has definitely earned a spot as one of my top 5 favorite authors. Her blog and twitter are super inspirational for writers.

8. Prudence by Gail Carriger. Hilariously fun steampunk written by my most favorite author.

7. Court of Fives by Kate Elliot. A YA novel that dares to give you scary and deep feelings while reading.

6. The Autumnlands by Kurt Buisek & Benjamin Dewey. It’s a good story, but you don’t even have to read this one. Just look at Dewey’s perfect anthropomorphic illustrations. It’s also worth noting that this is the only comic/graphic novel on my top 10 list.

5. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. This was the first book I read in 2015 and my first Neil Gaiman book. I’ve since read several and am convinced he is either a genius or a mad man. Maybe both? PS I read this book in one sitting.

4. Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen AKA Delilah S. Dawson. Dawson is the only author with two books on my list! Can you tell I love her? She has a magical way of writing that, one, makes me want to write, and two, throws the reader so effortlessly into the story. From the first page of all her books I feel like I woke up to another exciting day in the story and I know exactly what is going on. I don’t know how she does it but she’s awesome.

3. Krampus by Brom. I am so sad that it took me a year to read this after I bought it. This is a severely thought-provoking book that covers the history of Krampus and Santa as well as poking fun at christianity. Delicious.

2. Seven Letters from Paris by Samantha Verant. This is one of my most favorite books of all time. This book gets happier and happier and happier until you finally explode with romantic French joy.

1. Golden Son by Pierce Brown. I feel like every book I’ve ever read before this book was to get me to the point of reading this one. It is the second book in a trilogy and if the third book is to the second book as the second book is to the first book, I am afraid for February 9th.

For 2016 I’d like to slow it down a bit. I want to re-read some old favorites and maaaybe explore a few new genres. What are you looking forward to reading this year?