Hello readers,

First off, I want to thank all of you for your amazing support! I’m so grateful to have so many wonderful friends and family members take an interest in my writing and even pick up a book recommendation or two. Writing these posts never feels like ‘homework’ knowing that you’re taking a read. You’re all gems.

Now, you may all remember a Top Ten list I posted back in autumn that focused solely on Historical Fiction. True story: I just finished another powerful WWII fiction novel right now!! Don’t judge! I can’t get away from it. I read All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, which was featured on the “Best Books of 2014” lists on both Amazon.com and Chapters, and it also won a Goodreads Choice Award for Historical Fiction this year. It was beautifully written and I highly recommend it! But, my friends, because I’ve already covered historical fiction extensively, I thought I’d give you a break by covering my guilty pleasures – so fun!

TOP TEN: Guilty Pleasures – books so bad, they’re good

1. Lauren Conrad’s teen fiction trilogies are ridiculously addicting! If you grew up watching Lauren Conrad and Speidi on The Hills, these are for you. If you’re a fan of (un)reality TV, you’ll want to read these books. It’s like reading a TV show – quick-paced, dramatic, amazing.

• L.A. Candy, Sweet Little Lies, and Sugar and Spice
• The Fame Game, Starstruck, and Infamous

2.  Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo. Teen fantasy fiction with a Russian magical twist – don’t say nyet to these ones!

3. The White Rabbit Chronicles by Gena Showalter. Romance novelist Gena Showalter takes us on a trip (like a really trippy trip) with this Alice in Wonderland re-make filled with zombies, hot boys, and creepy scientific experiments. So bad. So good.

4. Anything by Clive Cussler. The villains are crazy, the plots keep getting more and more unbelievable, and the twists just keep coming. Clive currently has five different series going but his most famous series focuses on main character Dirk Pitt, played by Matthew McConaughey in the 2005 film Sahara. Good book, good movie. good stuff. Every time I travel, I take one of Clive’s paperbacks with me. I even have one written in German.

5. Dan Brown‘s early novels – Deception Point and Digital Fortress. From the author that brought us The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, these fast-paced thriller-dramas are a little hokey yet totally entertaining. Every hostel I’ve been to has a couple Dan Brown books kicking around.

6. THE TWILIGHT SAGA. Need I say more? Teen vampire romance = the ultimate guilty pleasure.

7. The Dark Heroine Series by Abigail Gibbs, an ambitious amateur 19-year-old author. The first book, Dinner With A Vampire, caught my eye at Chapters with a big silver sticker on the front cover saying “The Sexiest Romance You’ll Read This Year”, so naturally I picked it up. It was sexy/questionable/so-so/good. The second book, Autumn Rose, was similarly good/bad! The third novel (in what’s expected to be a nine-book series) is set to come out sometime in 2015 and I know I will give in and buy it.

8. Books written by Nicholas Sparks that have been turned into movies – none will ever beat A Walk to Remember or The Notebook, but most of his books are perfect for poolside/beach reading. I always end up reading one of these while on summer vacay.

9. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. I was NINE years old when I first read this and I still come back to it when I need something cute/cheesy/easy to read. The movie doesn’t do the book justice!

10. Eragon by Christopher Paolini. This was a childhood favourite and I recently re-read the entire teen-fantasy series just for kicks. So juvenile, so good.

Well, folks, that’s it and that’s all for this week! What are your guilty pleasures? Leave me a comment, I’d love to hear from you!

Happy reading,
Katrina