My top book of 2014 snuck up on me. I read it early in the year, and while I loved it, I wasn’t really expecting it to be at the very top of my list this year. But as I reflected back, I realized that it totally deserved that top spot, for it’s imaginative creation of a society that is based on science and nature, for the intricate plotting, for the gorgeous characterization… and all of that done with a hive of bees.
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#1 – The Bees by Laline Paull
Accept. Obey. Serve.
Laline Paull takes us into the life of a beehive in her extraordinary novel, The Bees where we learn what it means to live that mantra. Flora is a singular hero, born to 
the lowest caste in the hive hierarchy, there is something special about her. It’s something that’s valued by some of her sisters, and feared by others.
As Flora moves about the hive, transcending her class, we learn all about how the colony operates, all the while thrilling to the search for food by foragers, the defense of the hive from predators like wasps and other fearsome threats, and navigating the internal politics set in motion to insure the hive’s survival. Suspense, intrigue, romance, heroism, mystery, drama, humor… this one has it all.