Top Ten Tuesday: new-to-me authors read in 2013

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.

This week is about new-to-us authors read in 2013 that we really grew to love

Many of those had books out before this year, but I just didn't get to them or was to stupid to see just how amazing they were.



Brenna Yovanoff - The Replacement / The Space Between
Definitely one of my favorite 'discoveries' of the year! The Replacement really tore me apart. I ached inside while I read this book, and yet I'm desperate for a re-read! Brenna's writing is simply breathtaking and her stories have a new, eerie feel to them. I didn't like The Space Between quite as much as The Replacement, but I'm still determined to read everything she writes.

Michelle Hodkin - The Mara Dyer series
Seriously, how did the cover/description for this ever put me off?! Was I mad? Mara wonders about that question too. She's such an unusual girl protagonist for YA! And then there's Noah. And the agonizing wait for book 3. Sigh. I read book 1 in a day. One year of waiting for one day of reading... the balance is a little insane :P

Kimberly Derting - The Pledge
One of my favorite dystopians. Also, I read it at exactly the right time - I was writing a paper on queenship and how queens exercised their power. The world building was amazing - can't wait for The Essence to come out in paperback next month!

A.G. Howard - Splintered
Wonderland, insanity, art, Morpheus, weird scariness and beautiful writing... what's not to like? I was looking forward to this one so much, and it didn't disappoint!

Brent Weeks - The Night Angel Trilogy
I totally re-discovered my love of epic fantasy this year, and this series... holy hell! It's over 1500 pages and I read it in a WEEK (pun not intended). The savagery, the reluctant heroism, the magic, the vastness and complexity of the world and the characters... just wow. I'm really sad it's over though. I hope Weeks writes another series set in the same world.

Veronica Roth - The Divergent trilogy
I know, another one I'm late to the party for. But Divergent electrified me. It made me feel so incredibly alive, as if I was right there alongside Tris! I know many liked Insurgent and Allegiant less, but I thought they were logical consequences of what happened before, and I have major respect for Veronica Roth ending the series as she did.

Tahereh Mafi - Shatter Me
Everyone said this was great, but for some reason I never believed them. I kind of lumped this one in the 'nope' pile together with Mara Dyer. And again I was WRONG. This book is so fantastic! The writing, the imagery and tropes felt new. Do you have any idea how hard it is to come up with a simile that hasn't been used a thousand times over?! I've got book 2 on my kindle and I'll probably read book 3 just after it comes out. So glad I won't have to wait forever to read the next one!

Lauren DeStefano - Wither
Again, I was blown away by the writing most of everything. The world building was great too, but it was the writing that really kept me hooked. Sadly, I thought Fever dragged too much, but I still plan to read Sever and see it all through to the end.

Karen Marie Moning - The Fever series
Another series I just breezed through. It took me a book or two to take to Mac as a heroine, but damn does she undergo some development! And then there's Barrons. For book after book, I kept wondering - just what the hell is he?!

Katja Millay - The Sea of Tranquility
I thought I should at least include one non-fantasy/paranormal/dystopian author, and Katja Millay made me cry like a baby. This book straddles the border between YA and NA but it's one of the most real (and thus painful) contemporaries I've read. Utterly absorbing.


Do we have any books in common on this list? What did you think of them? Want to berate me for waiting so long to read them? :P And what awesome new authors did you discover?

Top Ten Tuesday: most memorable secondary characters

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.


This week is all about the favorite secondary characters we can't get out of our heads

I love secondary characters. Sometimes, they actually appeal to me more than the main ones. However, trying to come up with a top ten made me realize that sometimes it's actually quite hard to determine whether someone is a secondary character or part of the 'main character crew'. Because let's face it, there is usually more than just one main character, it's just that one of them is often the narrator.

Anyway, here are - in no particular order - some of my favorites

Jenks - The Hollows series, by Kim Harrison
Jenks is a pixy with a temper and one of the foulest (and funniest) mouths you can imagine. Also, he's got a wife and over 50 children populating Rachel's back garden! As her pixy sidekick, he's ace at disabling security so Rachel can do some reconnoitering. And he's also simply a good and loyal friend.

Uncle Mort - Croak series, by Gina Damico
He's a Grim reaper and the first one to keep Lex's temper in check. Also, he's got the craziest hair, a motorcycle, and a really cool house. He's also not averse to bending laws if he sees it fit. The kind of guy you want at your side when the shit hits the fan.

Magnus Bane - The Mortal Instruments / The Infernal Devices, by Cassandra Claire
High Warlock of Brooklyn. Throws the best parties and has an extravagant fashion sense. Always getting involved in Shadowhunter business despite himself. I love his relationship to Alec (there should be more LGBT couples/characters in YA) and I think it's fascinating that he's in both series and in a way helps tying the stories together.

Sabine - Soul Screamers series, by Rachel Vincent
She's one of those cases where I'm unsure whether she'd count as a main character. At first, I hated her. But she and her blunt but honest statements really won me over. Even if she was hard on Kaylee, there was usually some truth to what she was saying. Best frenemies, I guess, but seriously - Sabine gets some of the best lines! Also, the girl is literally a Nightmare and feeds on fear. Not something you come across very often in YA.

Will - Masque of the Red Death, by Bethany Griffin
Again, is Will a main character? I can't decide. But I've always preferred him to Elliott. He's devoted to his siblings above all else, he's kind, and well... he's the type of guy I find attractive ^^' Dark, quiet, handsome, tattooed... with just a hint of danger.

Dani O'Malley - Fever series, by Karen Marie Moning
Dani's just badass. The youngest of the Sidhe-seers and the one with the highest fae bodycount. She's got superspeed, she's fierce, and she's still got that swagger that comes from feeling young and invincible. And still there are these moments when you realize that she's seen and had to deal with things that should be well beyond the scope of a 14-year-old. I really need to read Iced, the spin-off series that focuses on her.

Vlad - Night Huntress series, by Jeaniene Frost
Vlad's also got his own spin-off books but I haven't read  them yet. He's the Vlad Tepes. Dracula. Only without the cape. Instead, he can let other vamps go up in flames. Also, he's a snarky, kinda cynical anti-hero and he loves to piss Bones off. In short, he makes me laugh and he's protective of Cat, so I like him.

Adrian Ivashkov - Vampire Academy series, by Richelle Mead
Is he a secondary character? I think so, at least in the first couple of books. I'll be honest, it took me a while to grow to like him, partly due to the fact that he's constantly drunk in the beginning. However, I felt so sorry for him at the end of VA and I'm very glad he's in a way getting a 'second chance' in Bloodlines. He's a combination of genius, madness, and self-deprecation-masked-by-cockyness I find fascinating. There's a lot more to him than you'd expect at first.

Ziri - Days of Blood and Starlight, by Laini Taylor
Oh Ziri. How I cried for you in DoBaS. I hoped for your happy ending against hope, and of course my hopes were dashed. For now. But I love how Laini Taylor expanded his role in this sequel! I can't say more without spoilers but let's just say Ziri has a special place in my heart.

Barron Sharpe - Curse Workers trilogy, by Holly Black
I'll be honest: I don't like Barron. I feel kind of sorry for him... sometimes. But he's fascinating, and that's more important to me in a character than that they're likeable. He can erase or alter other people's memories, but there's a backlash against himself and he erodes his own memory, taking with it parts of his personality. If he didn't write it down, he wouldn't remember who he was. There's something tragic in that, as well as something pathetic and nefarious.

So that's my top ten! A close runner-up was Jackal from Julie Kagawa's The Eternity Cure because of his sarcastic remarks and reluctant change/development of character. I love how he pushes Allies buttons.
What do you think of my top ten? Do we share any picks? And what did you come up with? I'd love to get to know some new books/series I might like based on the secondary characters in them :)

Stacking the Shelves: Mara Dyer discovers cemeteries in the acidic shadow of night

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews to showcase all the books we got in the past week. Those can be bought, won, gifted, for review, borrowed, print or ebooks... no matter, just share what you got :)

This week was really busy for me and I'm still not caught up with returning comments - I promise I'll get to it though :) Lucky for me I also got a lot of books, many thanks to a very good friend <3

Netgalley:

Tumble & Fall, by Alexandra Coutts

I'm really curious about this one and had it highlighted as a WoW before! It's an end-of-the-world novel that is NOT about stopping the apocalypse from happening but using the time that is left. 


Now on to my big pile of print books! I put all the ones in a single pic, no matter how I got them.

Won:
Pushing the Limits, by Katie McGarry

Thanks a lot to Jessica from Lovin' Los Libros! I had it as an eARC before but hardovers are just so much better :)

Borrowed from my awesome friend:
Shadowfever, by Karen Marie Moning
Acid, by Emma Pass

Shadowfever is the last one in the Fever series, it's not out in the matching edition to my other books, and I was DYING after a massive cliffhanger - luckily, my friend was all too happy to borrow it so we could discuss it afterwards ^^ I've already read it and it's a massive mindf*ck of a book!!! I like the way the series was rounded off but I still want to read Iced, the spinoff, asap!

Gifted from the same awesome friend:
A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness
Shadow of Night, by Deborah Harkness

I was curious about them, my friend read them, and nagged at me, and eventually gave me her copies because of a non-matching editions and too-read-looking books problem and of course I didn't say no! I need to read them soon or she'll get mad at me :P

Bought:
Prague Cemetery, by Umberto Eco
The Evolution of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin
Half Blood, by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I've been staring at Prague Cemetery for a while and then I found it fairly cheap... I want to read about Prague again, and it sounds like mystery and secret societies and I love that stuff!
I got Mara Dyer in the mail yesterday and I want to just devour it right now after loving the first book so much that I read it in a single day.
I love JLA's Lux series and I've been told to read the Covenant books, so when the ebook was on sale I jumped at the chance :)


As I said, big haul :) Have you read any of the books or do you have recommendations? I'd also love to check out what you got in the past week, so link me up!

Stacking the Shelves: Embers of Dreams hanging on Strings

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews to showcase all the books we got in the past week. Those can be bought, won, gifted, for review, borrowed, print or ebooks... no matter, just share what you got :)


This week was pretty good for me! A bunch of these books have been on my TBR list for a long time, and with my current reading speed I hope to get to them soon :)


Bought in print:

Dreamfever, by Karen Marie Moning
Graceling, by Kristin Cashore

Dreamfever was fantastic but the ending was such a horrible cliffhanger!!! And the next book isn't available in the right format. Thank god my friend has it, but she's in Belgium till Monday >.< I even asked her for a small spoiler because I couldn't take the suspense. And I usually loathe spoilers with a passion.
Graceling I've wanted to read for sooo long! I even bought it in German but then never read it because I don't like translations (I didn't know it was *that* book when I bought it). I love the cover!

eBooks:

Anathema, by K.A. Tucker
Strings, by Kendall Grey
Ember X, by Jessica Sorensen

I really like the cover change for Anathema! I don't really know what to expect from the book but it sounds really interesting.
Strings should be fun. Just read the description XD
I already own Ember, but this is an 'updated' version that is more New Adult-ish than the previous one. I hope my old version wasn't changed because I'd love to read and compare both. Oh, and it was free on amazon when I got it, but no promises that it still is...


What do you guys think of my haul? Have you read any of the books? And what did you get in the past week?

Teaser Tuesday: Faefever, by Karen Marie Moning

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


Hey guys! Today's TTT is about light&fun books but honestly I don't think I could come up with 10 that I really like and don't have anything dark at all in them ^^'' I'm a tad scared of what that says about my reading taste. What can I say, I like my humor dark.

So I'm being a tease today...

"Barrons was powerful, broodingly good-looking, insanely wealthy, frighteningly intelligent, and had exquisite taste, not to mention a hard body that emitted some kind of constant low-level charge. Bottom line: He was the stuff of heroes.
And psychotic killers.
If there's one thing I've learned in Dublin, it's that there's a fine line between the two."
-Faefever, page 44

I'm not giving you the Goodreads description because this is book 3 and I don't want to spoil anything bout book 1 and 2 in case you haven't read them yet. You can check out the first book here: Darkfever

What do you guys think about my teaser? Barrons is such a fascinating character! I like him. I know he's dangerous but I like him anyway. He's not one of those obviously redeemable bad boy types, he's a real beast. His danger is not just a front. He's mysterious. So yeah, I shouldn't but I like him.
If you can recommend any other books with that type of characters, feel free to do that too ;)