Top Reads Of 2011

As 2011 comes to an end it is time to take a look back at those books that held a special place in your heart. Now, I know everyone is usually doing a top ten but if I did a top ten, then I would just have to do a top twenty and would probably just end up adding all the books I fell in love with on the list. By doing a top five I hope to really focus on the books that completely stole my heart. Books that have stayed with me more so than the others by being exceptionally amazing and with having 122 books on my reading list this year, the narrowing down was not an easy task. But, nonetheless, here are my top reads from 2011!

Number Five: 

Lucas had it all – popularity, a devoted girlfriend, a brotherly best friend, and a loving mother who would do anything for him. His life was right on course to be a successful and fulfilling one, until the crash changed everything. It happened late one night during a sudden downpour. That evening, three young lives were lost and one life was left irrevocably altered. As the lone survivor, Lucas finds himself surrounded by swirling gossip of reckless drunkenness from the small town he used to warmly call home. Amid his own guilt and self-hatred, Lucas struggles to find hope, find peace, and maybe, even find love again.
Description from Goodreads

Starting out my top five is Collision Course by S.C. Stephens. First off, I am very grateful for the find of fictionpress and in doing so I found S.C. Stephens. This is not the only book from her on my list and she is such an amazing up and coming writer it is completely unbelievable. This book seriously stole my heart and I don't remember ever crying so much while reading. I had to stop reading a few times just to keep the tears under control. Stephens did such a spectacular job conveying every powerful emotion that comes along with a tragedy such as this. This was not the first book I read of hers, but it also wasn't the last. Keep an eye out for her folks, I think you may fall in love as hard as I did.

Number Four:
 
"No one tried to get involved with me, and I kept to myself. This was the place where everything was supposed to be safe and easy. How could Evan Mathews unravel my constant universe in just one day?"

He knows there’s something more to the girl sitting in the back of the class the moment he sees her. She’s beautiful, intelligent, and athletic – but she slips quietly through the crowded halls, trying not to exist. Determined to get to know the elusive girl, Evan soon discovers…

Emma Thomas is hiding a terrible a secret.

Reason to Breathe is an electrifying page turner from start to finish, a unique tale of life-changing love, unspeakable cruelty, and one girl’s fragile grasp of hope. Description from Goodreads

I don't even know where to start with this book, I guess I went on an emotional rampage this year because, once again, this book made my CRY a river. Really, I cried a freaking river. I can not express how much I LOVE Evan in this book. He is a freaking amazing man who I would want any day of the week. Oh and Emma? I swear, out of any heroine I have read this year she is up there on my tops. Sure, she has no powers or anything crazy but this  girl is incredibly strong. Her story is utterly powerful and I can not wait for the second book to come out to finish off her story. I just can not tell you all enough how amazing this book is, so you should probably hop on that e-reader of yours and buy it up. You will not be disappointed!

Number Three:

For almost two years now, Kiera's boyfriend, Denny, has been everything she's ever wanted: loving, tender and endlessly devoted to her. When they head off to a new city to start their lives together, Denny at his dream job and Kiera at a top-notch university, everything seems perfect. Then an unforeseen obligation forces the happy couple apart.

Feeling lonely, confused, and in need of comfort, Kiera turns to an unexpected source – a local rock star named Kellan Kyle. At first, he's purely a friend that she can lean on, but as her loneliness grows, so does their relationship. And then one night everything changes...and none of them will ever be the same.
Description from Goodreads

Here is the lovely S.C. Stephens again!! This was the first book I read from her and it is the single thing that got me hooked on reading all of her works. Really, all I would need to say to a reader of this book is Kellan Kyle and we would both fall into a puddle of goo on the floor at your feet. People, Kellan Kyle is everything you would ever look for in a man. Rock god, Sex stud, and just so damn loveable. This was also the first book I read that really turned up the heat if you know what I mean. *wink wink* From not knowing who Kiera should really be with to the heartache that comes along with choosing between two men you love there is no shortage to the emotion that will be spewing from your heart at the end of this one. I think the best part about finding new and upcoming writers is the price that comes along with their books. For such amazing work I pretty much feel like I stole this book from her. Help get the word out there and don't forget to let me know if you love S.C. as much as I do.


Number Two:

When literature student Anastasia Steele is drafted to interview the successful young entrepreneur Christian Grey for her campus magazine, she finds him attractive, enigmatic and intimidating. Convinced their meeting went badly, she tries to put Grey out of her mind - until he happens to turn up at the out-of-town hardware store where she works part-time.

The unworldly, innocent Ana is shocked to realize she wants this man, and when he warns her to keep her distance it only makes her more desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her - but on his own terms.

Shocked yet thrilled by Grey's singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success – his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving adoptive family – Grey is man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a passionate, physical and daring affair, Ana learns more about her own dark desires, as well as the Christian Grey hidden away from public scrutiny.

Can their relationship transcend physical passion? Will Ana find it in herself to submit to the self-indulgent Master? And if she does, will she still love what she finds? 
Description from Goodreads 

Let's just say I liked the turned up heat of Thoughtless and from that I ran across this little number. This was my number one choice for 2011 until another book I had waited for came out and compleatly took me [like I kinda knew it would]. This book may turn the heat up to blistering hot, but the story that comes along with it is even more powerful. I love a good story of growth and none is better than Fifty Shades of Grey. E.L. James mastered the art of telling the story and entering the dirty parts in just the right spot. What I think made me love this book the most was the dirty bits were not raunchy. They may have made my pulse quicken and made me dream of Mr. Grey maybe a bit more than one should, but they were freaking perfect. I would say this book is a bit 17 and above, but it will have your knees weaker than you have ever felt before. Trust me. If you like this one, don't forget to check out the second book Fifty Shades Darker. The third is due out sometime next year.


Number One:

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa's powers for his own dark ends.
With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister's war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move and that one of their own has betrayed them.
Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, though her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will; the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?
As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.
Description from Goodreads 

Once this book came out, I had a pretty strong feeling it would be topping out all of my books this year. I mean how could it not?! I love Cassandra Clare and all her works but I must say The Infernal Devices are turning out to be my favorite. I can not express how much I love every single character in this book especially Will. I swear I will not go all Team Will or Team Jem on you but I do have a favorite, only because I feel it is what Tessa truly wants! But I bet most of you out there say that too huh? This book tuned out to be everything I exspected and soooo much more. I had no idea that by the end of it my heart would be shattered in so many places I would have to go buy more tape to fix it. It leaves you so conflicted with your own emotions you just don't know what to do! I cried, yelled a bit, and was depressed for a good portion of the next few days. You have to call a book number one on your list if it has control over your emotions long after you read it, and here I am, still depressed! Here is to the long wait ahead of us for Clockwork Princess!

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Well there you have it folks! My top five reads of 2011, I wish I would have had time to do a top twenty but sadly I did not. I am kinda ready for this year to get over with so the books I have been twitching in my chair to read will finally come out! I can't even begin to wonder what the book gods have in store for us all this year, but I know we will not be disappointed. So here is to all the great books of 2011 and all the great ones to come!
Cheers!!