December Round Up and Book of the Month PLUS 2013's Book of the Year!

December's Book of the Month is Past Perfect by Leila Sales

I came down with a cold during the end of December and with my fuzzy head I just wanted to read a really cute contemporary to cheer me up. I ended up picking up Past Perfect and spent the day in bed reading it cover to cover. It was funny, cute and exactly what I needed! I read my first Leila Sales book This Song Will Save Your Life (another book of the month of mine!) earlier this year, I absolutely loved it and wanted to check out Leila's two previous novels. Although Past Perfect was quite different compared to This Song Will Save Your Life in that it was a lighter read I still absolutely loved it. After I finished it I picked up my last Leila Sales book Mostly Good Girls and read that in one day too! Needless to say that Leila Sales is one of my favourite new to me authors of 2013.

*** Not only did I picture Chelsea as a young Zooey Deschanel but this also sums up the book pretty well *** 

Read in December 
104.) The Edge of Always by J.A. Redmerski (3.5*)
105.) Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay (4*)
106.) All The Truth That's In Me by Julie Berry (4*)
107.) Here's Looking At You by Mhairi McFarlane (4*)
108.) These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (3.5*)
109.) Christmas at Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop by Jenny Colgan (4*)
110.) Past Perfect by Leila Sales (4.5*)
111.) Mostly Good Girls by Leila Sales (4*)

December Book Awards
Best Plot: Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay
Best Writing: Here's Looking At You by Mhairi McFarlane
Best Cover: Mostly Good Girls by Leila Sales
Best Characters: Past Perfect by Leila Sales
Best Ending: The Edge of Always by J.A. Redmerski
Best Romance: Here's Looking At You by Mhairi McFarlane
Most un-put-down-able: Past Perfect by Leila Sales
Most Memorable: All The Truth That's In Me by Julie Berry
Best Moral: Past Perfect by Leila Sales

Top 3 Most Recommended Books: Past Perfect, Here's Looking At You and All The Truth That's In Me 

Books I’m Looking Forward to Being Released in January 
Salvage by Keren David
Unhinged by A.G. Howard
Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando
Shadowplay by Laura Lam
It Felt Like A Kiss by Sarra Manning
Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
Vicious by V. E. Schwab

Now moving on to a round up of my books of the month for each month last year, some yearly awards and the all important 2013 book of the year!

 2013's Book of the Year is Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell!

2013 was all about the Contemporary genre for me and Fangirl was the brightest star of them all. I fell in love with all of Rainbow's books this year but Fangirl is the one I connected with the most. If you haven't read Fangirl yet or would like to read more of my thoughts check out my review here. 

Here’s a list of each book of the month for 2013 and therefore 12 of my most favourite books of the past year

January – Just One Day by Gayle Forman
February - Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
March - Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
April - Soulmates by Holly Bourne
May - The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
June - Crash by Nicole Williams
July - Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
August - Hurt by Tabitha Suzuma
September - Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
October - This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales
November - Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
December - Past Perfect by Leila Sales

2013 Book Awards 
Best Plot: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
Best Writing: Just One Day by Gayle Forman
Best Cover: Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
Best Characters: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Best Ending: Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
Best Romance: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Most un-put-down-able: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
Most Memorable: Just One Day by Gayle Forman
Best Moral: This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

Top 3 Favourites of 2013: Fangirl, Just One Day and This Song Will Save Your Life

Happy New Year! My year in reading for 2013 was absolutely fantastic and I can't wait to see what books 2014 brings into my life! If you didn't get around to any of my books of the month last year I'd absolutely recommend reading them this year. What was your number one favourite book of 2013 and what are you looking forward to reading in January?

The Merry Christmas Giveaway for a January 2013 Pre-Order!

Hey everyone! This is going to be my last blog post of 2012 and I decided that I wanted to give one of you a Christmas present of a January pre-order from The Book Depository. Here is the list of books you can choose from, one international winner will win one book.

Books You Can Win 
Shades of Earth by Beth Revis (US Hardcover)
Just One Day by Gayle Forman (US Paperback)
Splintered by A. G. Howard (UK Paperback)
Undone by Cat Clarke (UK Paperback)
The First Last Kiss by Ali Harris (UK Paperback)
Reason to Breathe by Rebecca Donovan (UK Paperback)
The Archived by Victoria Schwab (US Hardcover)
Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans (UK Paperback)
Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff (UK Paperback)
How We Met by Katy Regan (UK Paperback)
Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes (UK Paperback)
Shadows by Paula Weston (UK Paperback)
Cupcakes at Carrington's by Alexandra Brown (UK Paperback)
The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna (UK Paperback)

Rules 
To enter the giveaway please fill in the Rafflecopter
Giveaway is open to wherever The Book Depository Ships
Please select a book from the list a book not mentioned on the list will not be counted
Giveaway Ends: 5th January 2013
Winner will be contacted by email and will have 1 week to reply else another winner will be selected.

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

It’s been another incredible year, Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate! Good luck to you all and I’ll see you in the New Year :)