MelanieM’s Best Books of 2014

MelanieM’s Best Books of 2014

Winnowing down my list of Best Books is always a near impossible project.  To me it always feels like trying to leave a book shop during a particularly wonderful sale.  My arms are full to overflowing with books, with ones toppling off the pile here and there as I totter over to the sales counter.  My impulse is to go back and get more because all are books I loved and need to have near me.  Sigh.  And this year makes it particularly hard.  So many great books came out this year,  terrific short stories,, fabulous endings to series I love…..so this is as close as I got…check it all out below:

Best Series:

• Elemental Connections – Pulp Friction 2014 Group-authors Laura Harner, Havan Fellows, T.A. Webb, and Lee Brazil
  Endangered Fae Series by Angel Martinez
• Mahu series by Neil S. Plakcy
  Princes of the Blood series by Megan Derr
• Red Dirt Heart series by N. R. Walker
• The Granby Knitting Series by Amy Lane:
  Blackbird Knitting in a Bunny’s Lair by Amy Lane

 Best Holiday/Whatever Time of the Year Anthologies:

• Chestnuts Roasting Anthology by Mischief Corner Books  (Angel Martinez, Silvia Violet, Freddy McKay, Toni Griffin)
• Comfort and Joy Anthology by Josh Lanyon, L.B. Gregg, Harper Fox, Joanna Chambers

Best Contemporary Fiction:

• A Forbidden Rumspringa by Keira Andrews
• Cutting Out by Meredith Shayne
• Every Time I Think Of You by Jim Provenzana
• John and Jackie by TJ Klune
• Loving Luki Vasquez by Lou Sylvre
• Manipulation by Eden Winters
• The Path by Ariel Tachna
• The Race for Second by Chase Potter
• The Shearing Gun by Renae Kaye
• While All the World Sleeps by Lisa Henry and JA Rock

Best Science Fiction:

• A Taste of Poison (Scorpions #3) by Aleksandr Voinov
• Hidden Gem by Lissa Kasey
• Powerless by S.A. McAuley
• Static by L A. Witt
• Strain by Amelia C. Gormley

Best Fantasy:

• Into the Wind by Shira Anthony
• Sand and Ruin and Gold by Alexis Hall (also Best Short Story)
• Song of the Spring Moon Waning by EE Ottoman
• Swords, Sorcery and Sundry by Mina MacLeod
• The Engineered Throne by Megan Derr

Best Supernatural/Paranormal:

• Circus of the Damned by Cornelia Grey
• Strength of the Mate by Kendall McKenna
• The Devil’s Lancer by Astrid Amara