In case you missed it, or aren't subscribed to our Book Club Newsletter, we recently published a dozen recommendations for book clubs in 2016. All rated 5-stars by our reviewers and all of which publish in paperback between September 2015 and February 2016 (and are already available in hardcover and ebook).

Recently we asked BookBrowse's subscribers to rate their favorite books of the year. Many thousands of votes were cast. Here, in alphabetical order, are our Top 3 YA Books for 2015.

Unlike other popular awards where the most publicized books usually pocket the prizes, BookBrowse's process evens the playing field so that quality can shine through. You can read how we do this here.

Last week we announced the Top 5 Nonfiction books. In early December we'll announce our Top 10 Fiction Books; and finally, on December 10, the 2015 Award Winners.

The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough Hardcover Apr 2015. 352 pages. Arthur A. Levine Books Not since The Book Thief has the character of Death played such an original and affecting part in a book for young people. More about this book

Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead Hardcover Aug 2015. 304 pages. Wendy Lamb Books This brilliant novel by Newbery Medal winner Rebecca Stead explores multiple perspectives on the bonds and limits of friendship. More about this book

The Tightrope Walkers by David Almond Hardcover Mar 2015. 336 pages. Candlewick Press In a raw and beautifully crafted bildungsroman, David Almond reveals the rich inner world of a boy teetering on the edge of manhood. More about this book

BookBrowse is a guide to exceptional books. As such, we only feature those that our reviewers hand on heart believe to be best in class. Because the books we select go through a rigorous selection process before we even assign them for review, the majority do make the grade - but some, despite good reviews elsewhere, just don't resonate with our reviewers' and get turned down. In these cases we usually post a short review on the book's page on BookBrowse but do not feature it as a lead book.

So, just in case you were thinking that because we only feature positive reviews we've never met a book we don't love, here are some of the 2015 books that our reviewers felt did not make the grade for BookBrowse recommendation. Perhaps you disagree with some of the opinions, perhaps you agree - either way, we encourage you to write your own review by clicking on the reader reviews link from the individual book's page.

7. Wordplay

Solve our fiendish Wordplay puzzle, and be entered to win the book of your choice!

The answer to last Week's Wordplay: T E B Catches T W

"The early bird catches the worm"

Meaning: The person who arrives first or prepares early succeeds

The American Heritage Idioms Dictionary cites the first recorded use of this expression being in William Camden's 1605 collection of proverbs. Other sources place the first recorded use in John Ray's collection of proverbs some decades later in 1670. Either way, it's safe to assume that, to be part of a collection of proverbs, the expression was well established by the 17th century.

What is perhaps more interesting is the source of the modern day expression, early bird special. According to language expert Barry Popik, the first record dates to Oregon in 1904 when the department store Olds, Wortman & King advertised a special sale on men's summer underwear. By the 1930s the early bird special had gained popularity but was mainly used to promote the sale of merchandise, not meals, or at least not evening meals, there are ads promoting "early bird breakfasts" from the 1920s. Sometime in the 1950s the expression migrated to the evening meal and by the 1980s it was popular enough to make it into an episode of The Golden Girls, set in Miami, Florida:

The Mistletoe Inn by Richard Paul Evans

Enter the Giveaway




From the Jacket
At thirty-two Kimberly Rossi, a finance officer at a Lexus car dealership, has had her heart broken more times than she wants to remember. With two failed engagements, a divorce and again alone with no prospects, she hardly seems the type to dream of being a published romance author. Dreading another holiday alone, she signs up for The Mistletoe Retreat, a nine-day writing retreat in Burlington, VT. Deep inside Kimberly knows she's at a junction in her life and it's time to either fulfill her dream or let it go. The other reason she decides to attend the conference is because famed romance writer, H.T. Cowell, once the best selling romance writer in America, and the author whose books instilled in her the desire to be a writer, will be speaking in public for the first time in more than a decade.

In one of her breakout sessions Kimberly meets another aspiring writer, and one of the few men at the conference, Zeke, an intelligent man with a wry wit who seems as interested in Kimberly as he is in the retreat. As Kimberly begins to open up to him about her stories and dreams, she inadvertently reveals her own troubled past. As Zeke helps her to discover why her books fail to live up to their potential she begins to wonder if he's really talking more about her life than her literature. But as she grows closer to him, she realizes that Zeke has his own darkness, a past he's unwilling to talk about.

The theme of The Mistletoe Inn is that like literature, relationships must be lived with passion and vulnerability to succeed.



5 people will each win a hardcover copy of The Mistletoe Inn.
This giveaway is open to residents of the USA only, unless you are a BookBrowse member, in which case you are eligible to win wherever you might live.

Enter the giveaway

Past Winners