My Five Fave Books of 2014

A short list of the new books I enjoyed reading this year (all were published in 2014).
Once again, I am not putting on my list of favorites the recent books that have been bestsellers—a couple of which I admired greatly, like Sue Monk Kidd's The Invention of Wings, Five Came Back by Mark Harris and Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult, since they have gotten, and will get, plenty of "ink" elsewhere.
I want to share with you the excellent, important, or just plain entertaining reads you might not hear about otherwise—because, well, the world isn't necessarily fair.
I'm linking to the books' Amazon pages because it gives you all a super simple link to find out more about these books and to maybe even purchase one of them. Why Amazon? Because it's the easiest way to do it—and because, well, the world isn't necessarily fair.
The order of the list is the order in which I read them this year, not in any order of achievement.
So there.

The Stones of Kaldaar by Tameri Etherton I loved Tolkein's LoTR trilogy and I love the echoes of it in this author's new fantasy series-starter. The world our heroine is suddenly plunged into is strange and yet totally believable. I'm waiting impatiently for book two.

The Mapmaker's Daughter by Laurel Corona was a learning experience that transported me—two attributes I love in literature. Set in the years just before the Spanish Inquisition, Corona's story of a young Jewish girl "passing" as a Catholic is heartbreaking and incredibly timely.

In Doubt by Drusilla Campbell The latest from my beloved friend—a brilliant writer, teacher and mentor who we lost much too soon. As always, Dru takes the hard road in this book, by defending the "indefensible" in this unusual and contemporary courtroom tale.

The Bone Feud by Wynne McLaughlin Real rollicking fun—a fact-based western with cowboys, Indians, and dinosaur bones. Enough said.

Metaphysical Odyssey Into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero and His Secret Book by C. M. Mayo  Last but certainly not least, the book I just finished, about a time I find fascinating, by one of my favorite authors. Don't be thrown off by the academic-sounding title—this book is like a rambling conversation with a really smart friend who knows a great deal more than you do, but truly enjoys telling the story to you, and does it in an entertaining and enlightening way.

Enjoy your end-of-the-year reading and the holidays...
hasta pronto!