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 >.<

I MADE IT - challenge news and reading update

Yup, I've just finished Scorch - the last book I needed to complete the Sequels Challenge! I really didn't think I'd make it, what with having to finish Ironskin too before it expired and university classes starting again, but I did. My review will be up later in the week because I want to spread them out a bit and I've already posted one on Friday and one today. But yup, Scorch is all read and damn did my eyes grow ever larger on those last two dozen or so pages! Can't wait for the next book!!

So here's the record of my victory:



You can click the first three to read my reviews. As I said, Scorch will be up later this week, as will Ironskin. I'm kinda proud of myself for completing the challenge, as I really doubted that I'd make it. I don't think I would have if Scorch hadn't arrived on release day - I knew this one would be a fast read, while Melissa de la Cruz's Masquerade would probably have taken me longer to finish. So now I'm kinda blinking in surprise at all the sequels I've cleaned up over the summer. I think Masquerade is the last one on my shelf, and it'll have to stay there a while longer while I read all the recent releases I got lately but couldn't read because of this challenge and my NetGalley books.


So here's what I plan to read over the next two or so weeks:



 I've already started reading my NetGalley copy of Death and the Girl Next Door but I'm not far in enough yet to say anything about it. And it nearly killed me to own Carnival and Unspoken and not to be allowed to read them!!! Other awesomeness on my shelf that I might get around to: Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel, Touch by Jus Accardo, Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout, Foretold anthology edited by Carrie Ryan... I'll get around to them. The only good thing about my book buying ban is that I already own so much awesomeness :P

Have you taken part in any challenges recently? What were they for? Did you enjoy them?

Review: Black Heart, by Holly Black

Published: April 3, 2012
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Format: Hardcover, 296 pages

Goodreads description:
In a world where Magic is illegal.

Cassel Sharpe has the most deadly ability of all. With one touch, he can transform any object - including a person - into something else entirely. And that makes him a wanted man. The Feds are willing to forgive all his past crimes if he'll only leave his con artist family behind and go straight. But why does going straight feel so crooked?

For one thing, it means being on the opposite side of the law from Lila, the girl he loves. She's the daughter of a mob boss and getting ready to join the family business herself. Though Cassel is pretty sure she can never love him back, he can't stop obsessing over her. Which would be bad enough, even if her father wasn't keeping Cassel's mother prisoner in a posh apartment and threatening not to let her leave until she returns the priceless diamond she scammed off him years ago. Too bad she can't remember where she put it.

The Feds say they need Cassel to get rid of a powerful man who is spinning dangerously out of control. But if they want Cassel to use his unique talent to hurt people, what separates the good guys from the bad ones? Or is everyone just out to con him?

Time is running out, and all Cassel's magic and cleverness might not be enough to save him. With no easy answers and no one he can trust, love might be the most dangerous gamble of all.


The following review is based on a copy I purchased myself.

Review:
(spoilers for the first two books, but none for Black Heart itself)

I enjoyed Black Heart immensely! It’s definitely a worthy conclusion to the Curse Workers trilogy. I would love another sequel or maybe a short story to see how things continue for the characters, but I was also content to see them where they were and leave the rest up to my own imagination.

At the end of Red Glove, Cassel tricked Barron into joining the feds to help the government against the mob worker families. Cassel himself promised to join the program after finishing school. That was the price he paid for his immunity after being used as an assassin without his knowledge. What I love most about Cassel is that he tries so, so hard to be good and make the right decisions. He loves his family, but he also wants to get away from the fate that seems to be already determined for him – a life of crime, desired by everyone for his rare transformation talent. A life as a tool, a pawn to the powerful. Cassel wants to find a way to use his talent for good ends, he wants a self-determined, independent life. All the while, he is tormented by guilt and cannot believe in his own goodness.

Joining the feds seemed like the lessest evil at the time, but things begin to go downhill pretty quickly. Lila has joined her father and taken the marks of a member of the Zacharov crime family. Even though there seems to be no chance for the two of them, Cassel cannot stop thinking about her. However, his greater problem is that Zacharov is holding his mum captive. The good part: she is wanted by the police and they certainly won’t find her in Zacharov’s apartment. The bad part: Zacharov is holding her hostage until Cassel can find and return the resurrection diamond to him, which she stole and then wanted to sell back to him. Too bad no one knows where the real stone is.

Meanwhile, Zacharov of course cannot know about Cassel’s involvement with the feds. He’d have Cassel’s mom, Barron, and Cassel himself killed immediately for that kind of ‘treason’. And anyway, the lines between good government and evil mobsters become increasingly blurred as the story continues… has Cassel made the right choice? Or is this a case of out of the frying pan, into the fire? Is there anyone at all he can trust?

There’s his roommate Sam, of course. But Sam is trying to piece himself back together after breaking up with Daneca – who is now seeing a mysterious new guy. Then there is a new character with unclear motives who asks Cassel for help, which he cannot deny even while he realizes she might be conning him…

One of my favorite minor characters is Cassel’s grandfather. He is the only family member who truly cares about Cassel, in my opinion. He tries to look out for him without intruding too much into his business and provides comfort and stability.

And Lila… I love Lila. She’s tough. She gets to do things other female characters in YA novels don’t get to do or can’t get away with. She’s a future mob leader! She’s also shrewd, and cruel at times. She knows what she wants and how to get it. She’s (nearly) fearless. In short, she’s something of a mystery and what I enjoy about her is also trying to figure her out, to separate her ‘real’ self (as far as we can glimpse it) from the picture Cassel makes up of her in his mind. I love the scenes between them, how they collide and repel one another but can never truly fight their attraction. Their chemistry is incredible, and there are also some steamy scenes.

I could ramble on and on about how much I love the world of this trilogy, but let me keep that aspect short. The fight for worker rights that got more coverage in Red Glove also plays an important part here. Governor Patton is really pushing for Proposition Two and has become too great a danger to be ignored any longer. I can’t really say more about it without major spoilers. Also the way worker kids are exploited for their talents plays an important role in the novel. I love how realistic and gritty the Curse Workers world is. If people with such talents existed for real, this is what it would be like. I also think it’s amazing how Holly Black interweaves the workers’ past and the fight for worker rights with the working camps of WWII and with the fight for minority rights that is still an issue today.

I love the pacing. This book is incredibly hard to put down, things start off interesting and it just escalates from there, leaving you breathless and quite desperate for Cassel’s situation. I also really like the way Holly Black implies that Cassel has a plan, but manages to keep up a first person narrative without Cassel actually divulging his plan to the reader. So it’s impossible to have an inkling of what he might do and whether it might work. It’s genius.

As is the prose! Amazing descriptions, turns of the phrase, witty ironic snarky remarks, banter… There are beautiful passages, but they sting. There are horrid passages, but you can’t help but admire the way they are crafted. It’s like a paranormal noir thriller of sorts. Holly Black’s writing punches a hole into your heart at times, but you will love her for it.

All in all I love this book to bits. The plot is incredibly well-crafted, the characters fully fleshed-out, the pace gripping and the prose sharp and unique. It’s full of twists and turns and uncertainties but things resolve nicely, though the reader has to figure out plenty on his/her own. It’s a great conclusion that also leaves an opening for the reader’s own imagination or a possible bonus story (please, Holly Black?). I can only recommend these books to anyone who loves their YA with a little more off an edge!

I could have gone on and one about Cassel and his attitude to his ability and to Lila etc etc but that would be more interpretation than review. I really seem to be unable to keep them short, but I blame Holly Black for writing a book that is too good to be written of(f) with just a few short paragraphs.

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What did you think of Black Heart? Was it a good conclusion of the series for you guys? Do you want more? You can also share your thoughts of the other books. I love your comments :)

Stacking The Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews for us to showcase any books we've gotten that week, be they gifted, bought, or received for review.

My book haul :) All of them are bought apart from Origin, which is a signed ARC I won in one of the author's competitions :D It's my first ARC and it makes me very happy and I just want to dig into it already ^^
Enshadowed, by Kelly Creagh
Black Heart, by Holly Black
Touch, by Jus Accardo
Uncommon Criminals, by Ally Carter

I've been meaning to read Touch forever, but whenever I wanted to get it, it was out of print or only available in an edition that for some reason was very expensive. I put of buying Black Heart for a long time because I was reluctant to buy it because of that dreadful cover change, but I finally caved. I hate that all 3 books look really different from one another on my shelves thogh :( This is such an amazing series and I would have loved to own them all in the same edition and format!
Enshadowed will be my next not-for-review read, just after I've re-read Nevermore. And by not-for-review I mean that I don't need to have it read or reviewed at a certain time, not that I won't review it at all ;)
I'm also looking forward to reading Uncommon Criminals because the first book, Heist Society, was so much fun! It's not top priority though; I have sooooo many unread books at the moment that choosing between them is making me crazy >.<
There are some more books that I ordered that are supposed to arrive hopefully soon... for example I got an email that Unspoken, by Sarah Rees Brennan, was pre-released and sent on its way, so I hope it'll get to me by release day / Tuesday!

It's been quiet here as concerns reviews this week. The reason is that I've read one book for a blog tour and can't post the review till next week, and I'm still on the book I started after that. It's been a bit slow going with my reading, but I hope my speed will pick back up soon!

What new books did you get? Show off your book haul and leave me a link so I can check it out :)