Top Ten Tuesday: best sequels

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 the best sequels ever!

I love sequels. I even tend to like second books in a series best, which is apparently unusual (and will be the subject of another post soon). For now, I'll give you ten of my favorite sequels :) I'm sure there's something glaringly missing. This post would be so much easier to put together if I had all my books lined up on shelves instead of in boxes in my parents' basement >.<



Crown of Midnight, by Sarah J. Maas
Oh my god, this book. If I still had some issues with Throne of Glass, they disappeared with this book. It was simply brilliant. The characters, the world building, the suspense, the romance... spot on!

Clockwork Prince, by Cassandra Clare
Also called the heartbreak book. It made me cry at 2am on Christmas Eve when I finished it. I'm not usually a fan of love triangles but the Will-Tessa-Jem one worked really well because it's balanced and not weighed down by buckets of jealousy. All three love each other so much and it's just... unfair.

The Demon's Covenant, by Sarah Rees Brennan
I really loved being in Mae's head! The plot, the action, the set-up, the make-outs... my favorite book of the trilogy :)



The Golden Lily, by Richelle Mead
So far my favorite of this spin-off. Sidney grows so much over the course of the novels, and I also really enjoyed Adrian's development and how the two grew closer.

The Evolution of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin
I read book one in a day and didn't have much longer for this one. I love Noah. I love Mara. I love her brothers. The writing is sharp, and the mindfuck at the ending left me like o.O The waiting for book three is killing me...

If I Die, by Rachel Vincent
Because the feelings and the wonderful quotes and Tod and Kaylee. Ahem. The whole series is amazing but I think this one is my favorite. I reviewed it here.



Shadow Bound, by Rachel Vincent
I really liked Kori, and I thought it was strange (and a really smart move on Vincent's part!) to get a completely different perspective of the main characters in the first book. The world building is just so tight and the stakes only got higher... loved it!

The Eternity Cure, by Julie Kagawa
One of my most anticipated sequels of the year, and definitely worth the wait! I love how Julie combines a great vampire novel with the dystopian genre, and that she's not afraid to show the gory parts. My review's here.

Red Glove, by Holly Black
"Curses and cons. Magic and the mob." I think by far you all know how much I love this trilogy. It's heartbreaking, thrilling, full of amazing cons, unfavorable odds, twists, unreliability... just wow. I loved all the books, but I think this one I liked best. You can read my review of book three here.


Dance of the Red Death, by Bethany Griffin
The atmosphere, the way things turned out, Araby, and Will made this book for me. I really didn't know what to expect after the way book one ended and knowing there would only be one sequel, but I ended up loving it. You can read my review of book one here and book two here.



Runners-up: At Grave's End by Jeaniene Frost, Enshadowed by Kelly Creagh.


What do you think of my choices? And what are some of your favorite sequels?

Review: With All My Soul, by Rachel Vincent

Release date: March 26, 2013
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Format: Paperback, 377 pages

Goodreads description:
What does it mean when your school is voted the most dangerous in America? It's time to kick some hellion butt...

After not really surviving her junior year (does "undead" count as survival?), Kaylee Cavanaugh has vowed to take back her school from the hellions causing all the trouble. She's going to find a way to turn the incarnations of Avarice, Envy and Vanity against one another in order to protect her friends and finish this war, once and forever.

But then she meets Wrath and understands that she's closer to the edge than she's ever been. And when one more person close to her is taken, Kaylee realizes she can't save everyone she loves without risking everything she has...



The following review is based on a copy I won in Rachel from Fiktshun's With All My Soul Mini-Challenge. Thanks again for hosting it, Rachel!


Review (no spoilers):
It’s been a while since I’ve finished the last book in a longer series. Final books are always a double-edged sword for me: on the one hand, I can’t wait to see how everything turns out and to find some sort of closure. On the other hand, this is the final goodbye. Although I’ve only known the characters in Rachel Vincent’s Soul Screamers series for a bit over a year, the thought that I’ll never read about Kaylee, Tod, Nash, Sabine & co again hurts – even if I’m happy with the way their story ended!

The ending of Before I Wake left me reeling. So many dead! Emma in a new body. Her sister still pregnant. Avari and the other hellions still a threat. Well, let me say that Kaylee is sick and tired of being threatened. In this last book of the series, she is struggling with an emotion we previously don’t notice as much in her: anger. Such a wealth of it, in fact, that she captures the attention of Ira, a hellion of Wrath. Now before you think ‘great, another hellion is just what she needed’ let me tell you that Ira is quite different from the other hellions in the books. He’s dangerous as they come, of course, but I actually… liked him. I was fascinated by him. That fact that he’s described as rather handsome didn’t hurt, neither did his obvious distaste for Avari. And though his price is steep, he could help Kaylee free herself from Avari… if she is willing to pay.

Want a taste of him? There you go...

"I am the hot thrum of blood rushing through your veins. Every thud of knuckles against flesh is the cry of my true name. I am the glint of rage in your ex's eyes, the livid grinding of his teeth. My pulse is the wave of anger washing over the crowd. The swin of a corpse from the noose. The final twitch of a man murdered in revenge. I know you, Kaylee Cavanaugh. I know you very, very well, and I can give you what you want most in the world." (With All My Soul, page 82)

I really liked that we got to see Kaylee angry for once: It only makes sense. The book starts with Emma’s funeral, which Emma is attending in the body of the girl that used to be Lydia. Then there is Emma’s sister, pregnant with an incubus baby and determined to keep it even though it will probably be her death sentence. Furthermore, Avari has once more abducted some of the people that are most precious to her. In short, Kaylee has every right to be pissed and she wants to free herself and her loved ones of this hellion threat once and for all.

Yet as always, she isn’t alone in this mess, and there are a lot of discussions among the group about taking risks. I liked this because the others called Kaylee out on her sometimes a bit hypocritical habit of wanting to face all the dangers for those she loves and not granting others their right to do the same thing. The group dynamic and dialogue in the book were fantastic, as always! Sabine is of course a great addition to that, and I love how she gets so many mean-but-true lines!

Emma’s character arc was another part of the book I really enjoyed. The transition from one body to another wasn’t exactly smooth for her, and she has to face the truth that she’s actually quite a bit more vain than she thought. Instead of blond, tall, and curvy she is now rather flat and mousy. She isn’t used to nobody paying her any attention. Add to that the fact that Lydia’s body is providing her with a new set of abilities she is struggling to control, and that she has to watch her family mourning her own death. Oh, and let’s not forget that her body is technically that of an asylum escapee… and you know how hard these places are to check out of, right?

Then, of course, there’s the romance *sigh* I love Tod and Kaylee so much. They have the type of relationship I’d hope to find with someone one day. They support one another but give each other their space. I love how they’re equal to each other, able to stand on their own, but stronger together. And yes, we do get some wonderful, swoon-worthy scenes between the two of them… but also plenty bittersweet ones. Especially towards the ending, when Kaylee has to make a difficult and painful decision.

I don’t really know what else I can talk about without spoilers. Let’s just say that even though With All My Soul didn’t pack the same emotional punch that If I Die and Before I Wake had for me (I don’t know why, might just be me/the mood I was in) it is definitely a worthy conclusion to the series! It continues the great mixture of painful/gruesome scenes and fun dialogue I enjoy so much. Once it gets going, you will not want to put it down, and there’s a twist I really wasn’t expecting!

In the end, all the plot strands and questions are resolved, but there is also a certain openness regarding the futures of those who survive, which I think is a great balance. Ira is a surprising but genius addition to the series and I’m kind of sad that we only get to spend one book with him. If you’ve been scared to read this last book and see the series end I can tell you this: it will not be painless, but it will leave you satisfied, so go out and get it already ;)


Have you read With All My Soul already, or started the series at all? What are your thoughts? Any remarks on my review? Let me know in the comments :)

Stacking the Shelves: in which the cover colors match perfectly

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 was another slow week, which I guess is good! It's not like I have a lack of reading material :P

Free on smaswords:

Remembrance, by Michelle Madow

I've been curious about this series for a while, so when I got the author's newsletter with a code to enter on smashwords for a free copy, I jumped at the opportunity! I'm not sure that option's still on, but I remember that she also posted about that on her facebook page, including the code, so you might want to check that.

Here's the synopsis:
Lizzie Davenport has been reincarnated from Regency Era, England ... but she doesn't know it yet.
Then Drew Carmichael transfers into Lizzie's high school at the beginning of the year, and she feels a connection to him, almost like she knows him. She can't stop thinking about him, but whenever she tries talking with him about the mysteries behind her feelings, he makes it clear that he wants nothing to do with her. Reaching him is even more difficult because she has a boyfriend, Jeremy, who has started to become full of himself after being elected co-captain of the varsity soccer team, and her flirtatious best friend Chelsea starts dating Drew soon after his arrival. So why can't she get him out of her mind?

Even though Lizzie knows she should let go of her fascination with Drew, fighting fate isn't going to be easy.


Won in print:

With All My Soul, by Rachel Vincent

I won this copy from the wonderful Rachel from Fiktshun. It's for her mini-reading challenge that you can find out more about if you click the button in my left sidebar. I'm both excited and scared to start this book. It's the conclusion to the Soul Screamers series and I just... I love it so much, and I'm sad it's ending but also dying to know how!

Synopsis:
What does it mean when your school is voted the most dangerous in America? It's time to kick some hellion butt...

After not really surviving her junior year (does "undead" count as survival?), Kaylee Cavanaugh has vowed to take back her school from the hellions causing all the trouble. She's going to find a way to turn the incarnations of Avarice, Envy and Vanity against one another in order to protect her friends and finish this war, once and forever.

But then she meets Wrath and understands that she's closer to the edge than she's ever been. And when one more person close to her is taken, Kaylee realizes she can't save everyone she loves without risking everything she has....

That's already it from me! As you might have read in my last post, I'm attending a writing workshop with L.A. Weatherly (author of the Angel Trilogy) this weekend and I'm super excited! I hope it will give me a boost to really tackle revisions of my finished draft. It will also absorb my attention, so I won't be around Twitter and the blog much this weekend.
Anyhow, what do you guys think of the books I got, and what pretties did you get during the week? 

Stacking the Shelves: gears, road trips, angels, and revenge!

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 fairly slow for me, which is good because I have too much to read anyway...

 I only got myself some ebooks this time around, though I hope to find my copy of Girl of Nightmares in the mailbox on Monday...




Rogue, by Rachel Vincent
The Ugly Stepsister Strikes Back, by Sariah Wilson
The Edge of Never, by J.A. Redmerski
Impossible, by Komal Kant
Angelfire, by Hanna Peach
The Ghost and the Graveyard, by Genevieve Jack

I've already finished and loved Rogue, even though I should have been reading something else... oops ^^'
I got Angelfire, Impossible, The Ghost and the Graveyard, and The Ugly Stepsister Strikes Back for free on amazon! I don't know if they still are...
And The Edge of Never was on sale and I've wanted it forever, so I had to have it :) NA road trip!


For Tour:

Fate War: Alliance, by E.M. Havens

This one's an adult steampunk novel and I really hope I'll like it!

By the way if you're looking for YA steampunk with time travel, I'm reading Marking Time by April White at the moment, I'm about 25% in and it's awesome so far!

That's it from me :) Have you read any of them? What should I move to my priority list? And what did you get this week?

Teaser Tuesday: Rogue, by Rachel Vincent

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!



I decided to switch things up a little again and do a Teaser Tuesday instead of a Top Ten...
First some info about that book I'm teasing you with, which is the second in Rachel Vincen'ts Shifters series. I read book one over the weekend and just had to download the next one right away ^^'

Relase date: May 1, 2008
Publisher: Harlequin / MIRA
Format: Mass market paperback, 394 pages

Goodreads description:

Cats don't always land on their feet

I know that better than most. Since rejoining the Pride, I've made big decisions and even bigger mistakes: the kind paid for with innocent lives. As the first and only female enforcer, I have plenty to prove to my father, the Pride and myself. And with murdered toms turning up in our territory, I'm working harder than ever, though I always find the energy for a little after-hours recreation with Marc, my partner both on and off duty.But not all my mistakes are behind me. We're beginning to suspect that the dead are connected to a rash of missing human women and that they can all be laid at my feet—two or four, take your pick. And one horrible indiscretion may yet cost me more than I can bear.


So here's my teaser...

"My father was a bit of a rebel among the other Territorial Council Members, Alphas each of the nine other territories. Rather than passing the south-central Pride on to my future husband - Marc, if my paretns have any say in the matter - he wanted to hand the reins over to me. That very concept was sending shock waves of anger and impropriety throughout certain elements of the council. If my father's scandalous scheme ever came to fuition, I would someday have an opportunity to change the system from the inside.
It was the 'inside' part that bothered me."- Rogue, loc. 378 / 7%

What do you guys think? I really love that this series focuses on were-cats rather than the ubiquitous were-wolves!! Also, Faythe is plenty sassy and I love watching her navigate her difficult situation as the first female enforcer (and future Alpha) ever!!
Have you heard of/read the series? What are you thoughts on my teaser?

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors on my auto-buy list

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week the participants post their top ten to a specific topic.

This week is about authors that are so amazing and that we trust so much, we'd buy anything they wrote.

There are only a few authors from whom I'd buy absolutely *anything*. I mean, if I read the book description and it's about an issue that just doesn't interest me, or if they suddenly go into another genre, or if their new book is about a topic that is a trigger for me, I'd stay away, or at least not buy the book immediately. But there are many authors that I trust and whose writing I am totally in love with so that I preorder their books.

1. Melissa Marr
   I love love love her writing style. I've read all her Wicked Lovely stories including the mangas, many stories she has in anthologies (though not all because there are so many and I only have so much money and time) as well as Carnival of Souls. However, not sure about that middle grade series she has coming out soon... but that's because at this point I'm just not into MG.
   
2. Holly Black
   Her. Writing. Is. Magic. I've loved it since I read (and reread and reread and re-borrowed so I could re-read before I had my own copy) Tithe. I'm so excited about The Coldest Girl in Coldtown coming out in the fall! And the Curseworkers books just blew my mind.
   
3. Kim Harrison
   The Hollows series. Rachel. Jenks. Ivy. Al the coffee-loving demon. Kisten. Enough said ;)
   
4. Jeaniene Frost
   Cat and Bones are among my favorite couples :) Also, I love how she combines fun writing and banter with action and creepiness. She creates memorable characters that come to life on the page!
   
5. Richelle Mead
   Fun, action, heartbreak, redemption... I've read all her books apart from the Dark Swan ones because I haven't gotten to them yet. Her style is just so readable for me, I don't want to stop and just dive into the worlds she creates :)
   
6. Kelly Creagh
   Her writing is just sooo beautiful! I love how she brings the Poe elements to life in her books but also twists them and makes them her own! I read her books slowly just so I can savor them. I'm very curious about what her next project after the Nevermore trilogy will be!
   
7. Rachel Vincent
   Her writing is just so gripping and real! And I love the characters she creates. She doesn't shy away from letting them make risky decisions and facing the consequences. Very strong heroines. No sugar-coating the bad things. I'm very curious about that new YA project she's been hinting at!
   
8. Erin Morgenstern
   She's only published one book but seriously I loved The Night Circus so much I couldn't even review it because I have no idea how. It's a masterpiece. I'll buy whatever she releases next without thinking twice about it.
   
9. Kate Griffin
   What an imagination! I love her version of urban fantasy. So magical! Gives me a book high and lets me see the world with fresh eyes. Also, reluctant heroes that don't want to do heroic things by default. Love it :) Oh Matthew Swift...
   
10. a tie between Julie Kagawa and Sarah Rees Brennan and maybe Cassandra Clare
    Yup. Julie because I was hesitant about trusting her with the vampires but she was amazing at it, and I also loved her adult story in the 'Til The World Ends anthology. If she decides to go for adult horror next, I'm in.
    Sarah Rees Brennan because her writing is jus so fun and addictive, but also heartbreaking! She sure loves to torture us poor readers :P I loved the Demon books and Unspoken, but I haven't bought Team Human yet. I just don't know if I want to. I'm sure it's funny but... I dunno. The co-authoring bit might also play into my decision...
    Cassandra Clare because I don't know if she can do anything non-Shadow Hunters. I love those novels, the Infernal Devices even more so. But another trilogy? I mean, I'll certainly read it, but I'd also like to see her branch out a bit. I read a non-nephilim short story of hers in an anthology once but that one didn't really do it for me...

There are quite a few authors I feel sort of bad about not including but yeah... there can only be ten. And unlike for other people, J.K. Rowling is not an auto-buy for me.

What do you think of my list? Anyone you'd like to chuck out? Someone you also picked? Also, leave a link to your own list, I'm curious about maybe discovering new authors :)

With All My Soul mini-challenge hosted by Fiktshun!

 

Hey guys :) After last year's Soul Screamers Reading Challenge, Rachel from Fiktshun is hosting another, smaller challenge for With All My Soul, the final book in the series, coming out exactly a month from now!

The challenge goal is to read and review the book by the end of April, and there is a giveaway for 5 pre-orders (ends 10 days before release date) for those who sign up :)

Last year's event was really fun and got me into the series and into reviewing in the first place, so there was no question for me that I'd participate again! You can find all the details and the linky-sign up over here.

I hope some of you guys will sign up too! Waaah I can't wait for this book to come out, even though it means I'll have to say goodbye to some favorite characters...

Top Ten Villains of 2012

Hello lovelies! Today was another day of too many delicious things and cookies and spending time with 6 of my cousins and their boyfriends - Christmas, family, the works. It was fun :)

But let's shift to the topic at hand. Today is the third day of the Top Ten of 2012 event co-hosted by Rachel from Fiktshun,  Lisa from A Life Bound By Books, Jessica from Confessions of a Bookaholic and Jaime from Two Chicks on Books and Mindy from Magical Urban Fantasy Reads.

Day three means the participants can choose among several topics. Many of them fell flat for me because I read less than 10 books this year that would fit the description. I wavered between debuts and villains for a while, but eventually settled for villains because even though I'm very fond of a good villain, I never bothered to think about a top ten list before. Sometimes I find it even hard to identify any one villain. Maybe an antagonist or a group of them, but not a real villain. I also tend to side with the bad guys every once in a while...

Here are the top ten villains of books I read this year that I eventually came up with. It was much harder than I thought because sometimes the villain-ness is not quite clear. I think that is because I prefer books where the line between 'good' and 'evil' is not so clear cut...

1. Avari from the Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent
   Avari is just purely evil. Not shred of good in him. He is greed personified. He wants Kaylee. And he stops at nothing to get her, no matter whose body he has to hijack or which of her loved ones he has to kill. And still I found him disturbingly intriguing at times.


2. Jonathan / Sebastian from City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare
   Clary's brother, the half-demon. This guy is sick. But again, fascinating. It's hard not to have some sort of passionate reaction to him. Plus, he's extremely intelligent and cunning, and I'm always drawn to guys with brains.
   
   
3. Jake Tower from Rachel Vincent's Unbound series
   I'm especially thinking of Shadow Bound here. What he has done to Kori is just unspeakably cruel. I hate his guts. What I like about him is that he is not necessarily motivated with the wish to do evil. He's more of a businessman - cunning and ruthless, going for the utmost efficiency and best way to control his bound subjects.


4. Thiago from Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor
   I first wanted to go for the emperor's brother but couldn't remember his name for the life of me. I don't have the book with me to check. But actually Thiago, the white wolf, is the better villain because of his perfidity and manipulative wiles. I hated his guts from the beginning, hated his possessiveness of Karou and how he guilt-tripped her into working for his goals, how he kept her out of the information-loop. Terrible guy. Deserved what he got.
   


5. Athena from Kelly Keaton's Gods and Monsters series
   I thought Athena was a bit too stereotypical for a female villain in the first book and was glad to find her more complex in book two. She's the goddess of both war and wisdom, and I liked learning more about her past and where she was coming from. I still dislike her, but she's also a strong woman in a pantheon of misogynist, very patriarchal guys.


6. Barron Sharpe and Zacharov from Holly Black's Curse Workers series
   Depending on what book you choose, the villain sort of differs in this series. There are never any clear lines, and that's something I really enjoy about Black's novels. I actually like both Barron and Lila Zacharov's father. Zacharov is ruthless, but he's looking out for his family and subjects. I had the impression that he actually likes Cassel - doesn't mean he wouldn't kill him if he felt it necessary.
   Barron is also a bad guy, especially for what he did to his own brother! But he's also somehow tragic because of all the blowback he has to deal with, the amnesia etc. I liked his wit and the wordfights between him and Cassel.


7. Anna, from Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
   This is again a strange case. Is or isn't Anna a villain? She's killed a lot of people, but she's not really evil. I thought she was pretty damn awesome in any case.


8. Cole, from Brodi Ashton's Everneath
   I liked Cole. He actually had some sort of personality. Then again, I tend to go for the bad boys. Was he a villain? Not sure. He abducted Nikki though and deceived her, but again I'm not sure whether his motives qualify him for a villain. I kept thinking that Nikki should just go with him. I mean her options were pretty bleak. I'd rather go back and be Cole's queen then die miserably and painfully in the Tunnels.
   
   
9. Cam, from Lauren Kate's Fallen series
   I read book 1 - 3 this year and depending on the installment, Cam comes across as more or less of a villain. I liked him. At the beginning, I actually much preferred him to Daniel both in looks and personality. Then there was a period when I thought he was a really mean and evil guy, but then I was fond of him again. He never hid things from Luce the way Daniel did, and he actually has a sense of humor.
   


10. Vivian from Kiersten White's Paranormalcy
    I've only read the first book in the series so I have no idea how this develops, but I liked Vivian's spunk. She and Evie are two sides of the same coin. I don't think Viv actually got that much 'screentime' but I remember her as strong, slightly psychotic, but also intriguing and potentially vulnerable. I read the book quite a while ago and under strange circumstances though, so my memory is a bit fuzzy.

So... these are my top ten. I thought to include Prince Prospero (? I think that was his name?) from Bethany Griffin's Masque of the Red Death, but he was somehow too oblique a figure...
What do you guys think of my pics? Did I forget anyone obvious? Or do you disagree vehemently with one of my picks? Suggestions of books with great villains are also very welcome ;)

Top Ten Books I've read in 2012

Hi everyone :) I'm part of the Top Ten of  2012 event co-hosted by Rachel from Fiktshun, Lisa from A Life Bound By Books, Jessica from Confessions of a Bookaholic, Jaime from Two Chicks on Books  and  Mindy from Magical Urban Fantasy Reads.

Each deay from December 24 to December 28, the participating bloggers post and link up their top ten of a certain topic. I'm really glad they allowed for multiple categories and a few honorable mentions, otherwise I'd have a very tough time choosing! I've read sooo many amazing books this year :) I've ordered mine into paranormal / fantasy books and contemporaries. The list is about books we read in 2012, even if they came out earlier.

 Paranormal / Fantasy:

Days of Blood and Starlight, by Laini Taylor
I read both DoBaS and Daugher of Smoke and Bone in 2012, but I think the second book was even better than the first. It doesn't really matter though, because I absolutely adored both! The writing is just phenomenal :)

The Lux Series, by Jennifer L. Armentrout
I'm just putting them both together here. Yes, I'm a little cheater :P If you made me pick though... gah. I don't know. I loved Onyx and seeing Katy come into her was awesome, but I think I liked Obsidian just a tiny bit better ^^ I'm really curious for Opal, I'll have to get it soon.

Enshadowed, by Kelly Creagh
I waited a whole agonizing year for this book to come out and it was worth every single second! Soooo good! I love Varen. He's hands down my favorite book boyfriend. And Isobel grew so much during this novel! The lore. The Poe aspect. The beautiful, beautiful writing. I need more! You can read my review here if you're interested :)

Something Strange & Deadly, by Susan Dennard
My first zombie novel, and I loved it sooo much! I mean I kind of knew it would be great, but it was just so much more than I had expected! The historical aspect was phenomenal, and I loved the dynamics between Daniel and Eleanor ^^

Dearly, Departed, by Lia Habel
Yes, another zombie book. I think I always pick the steampunk zombie books that aren't the usual zombie apocalypse book. I've never read one of those, and I doubt that I'd like them, but I was blown away by this one! The world building is amazing, and Bram totally made me believe in a zombie love interest! And despite the gore, it was a fun read too :)

The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern
I don't know why it took me so long to read this book. It was soooo beautiful! I felt completely pulled into the world of the cirque des rêves and my mind still goes there quite often. This book is so well-structure and thought out! It made me laugh and cry and feel pretty much the whole emotional spectrum.

Anna Dressed in Blood, by Kendare Blake
A year late to the party, but I read this in the summer really quickly. I love Cas' voice! Can't wait for Girl of Nightmares to come out in paperback so I can finally buy it and they'll match. I'm really curious about what will happen!

The Soul Screamers series, by Rachel Vincent
Yup, I'm cheating again and just putting the whole series there. I read it all between January and June. Then I read more of Rachel Vincent's books. I'd love to list them, too, but that might be going a bit far with the rule-bending. I love Tod and Kaylee and Sabine. If I had to pick a single favorite from the series it would be If I Die.

Black Heart, by Holly Black
I love Holly Black. All her books. She is such a courageous writer! The Curse Workers Trilogy is a masterpiece, and this was the perfect conclusion! I'm really sad there won't be more Cassel and Lila stories, but I like where it left off. Doesn't mean my heart wasn't broken on the way through the book. Definitely worth the pain, though!

The Shadow Society, by Marie Rutkoski
I requested this on NetGalley on a whim and never expected to love it quite as much as I did! What a unique idea, and what a wonderful heroine! And my favorite poem played quite an important role in it :)

Contemporary:

Notes from the Blender, by Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin
I laughed so much when I read this book, and still it was about serious matters, too! I loved both Declan and Neilly, and getting their separate perspectives of the same events was awesome. Also, the authors actually GET Declan's perspective and know what they're talking about with his music etc.! I read it in a day.

Pushing the Limits, by Katie McGarry
I loved Echo and Noah! A wonderful book, again with dual perspective. They're chemistry is off the charts, and they make a great team. The tough issues both characters are dealing with were well-handled.

The Language of Flowers, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
This was the first contemporary I read this year. The first one I'd read in many years! I stuck firmly to fantasy for like half a decade (probably more) before that. I picked it up on a whim at the bookstore because I liked the cover. Then I saw that it was about a girl from the foster system, and it played in San Francisco. The first few sentences pulled me in, so I bought it. Then it was on my shelf for almost half a year. Then I read it, and my heart opened, I hurt, I cried, I was happy. It's a tough book, but a truly beautiful one.

Anna and the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins
This isn't something I would have bought if I hadn't read so many awesome reviews. I picked it when I won my first giveaway. It was such a fun, engaging read! I'm always scared there will be too much drama in contemporaries. I hate drama. But it wasn't too much in this one, and realistically handled. I really need to get Lola and the Boy Next Door soon!

The Breakaway, by Michelle Davidson Argyle
I finished this one yesterday but I just had to add it to the list! The issue of kidnapping, Stockholm Syndrome, and abusive / dependent relationships was really well-handled, in my opinion. I think I would have acted different from Naomi on quite a few occasions, but I could see where she was coming from and why she did what she did. My review will be up in February as part of the blog tour for the sequel.

Manhattan Transfer, by John Dos Passos
The only non-YA book I've got here. It's a classic, and the writing style takes a while to get used to, but then I found it hard to put down! There are dozens of characters, some of whom never show up again, but there are also reoccurring ones and I loved following the development and intersections of their lives over the years. It covers New York history from the 1890s to the mid1920s.

I didn't manage to come up with ten contemporaries. As I said, I'm new to the genre. There were a few more that I read and enjoyed but I didn't really feel like putting them into my top ten just to fill it up.

Here are a few other amazing books I read this year though. Some of them it was really hard to pit against each other and I wish I could have featured them on my list!

Honorable mentions:

Click the covers to get to Goodreads

What do you think of my list, and which ones made it onto yours? Tell me in the comments!

Tomorrow, I'll choose my top ten favorite covers of 2012. It'll be agony >.<