Top Ten of 2013: books I'm looking forward to in 2014

Hi there, welcome back to day 3 of the Top Ten of 2013 event organized by Rachel from Fiktshun, Jaime from Two Chicks on Books and Mindy from Magical Urban Fantasy Reads.
Thanks so much for hosting the event, girls! It was a lot of fun :)

This is the last day of the Top 10 of 2013 , and I'm kinda sad it's over already :( I liked going back over what I've read this year, and checking out everyone else's lists! Anyway, here's the last topic of this year's event...


Top Ten Books I'm looking forward to in 2014

Well, actually I've already done this list as part of Top Ten Tuesday. You can see what I picked back then here. So now I get the chance to feature some more books that didn't make the list a couple weeks ago, though my top two picks here are old ones that I just couldn't bear not mentioning again.





If the cover's not pictured, there isn't one yet.


The Retribution of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #3), by Michelle Hodkin
Well. As I said in the earlier post, book 2 was a game changer, and in book 3 I want revenge. I want a certain someone dead, and I want to know what's up with the whole frame narrative. More Noah/Mara wouldn't hurt either. Just gimme the bloody book already! ;)

Oblivion (Nevermore #3), by Kelly Creagh
Well. I expect more heartache, more amazing Poe references, mystery, and I'm still kind of hoping for a sorta-happy ending for Isobel and Varen. Please? And the wonderful writing. Can't forget that.

Cruel Beauty, by Rosamund Hodge
I'm almost finished with it, and I tell you guys - you really really need to get it when it comes out in late January! It's soooo good, and I love the mixture of fairytales, Greek mythology, and various other lore.

Ignite Me (Shatter Me #3), by Tahereh Mafi
I haven't read Unravel Me yet, but I know once I do, I'll be pining for book 3.

Hunting the Dark (Moth #2), by Karen Mahoney
I really like Mahoney's take on vampires and Moth as a character! There isn't a cover or description yet though, even though the book is supposed to come out in February :/

The Cure for Dreaming, by Cat Winters
"At the turn of the 20th century, a seventeen-year-old is hypnotized into seeing people's true selves. Illustrated with late-Victorian images."
After the wonderful writing and the fitting images in In the Shadow of Blackbirds, I can't wait to see another supernatural historical by Cat Winters!

The Forever Song (Blood of Eden #3), by Julie Kagawa
After what happened to Zeke at the end of book 2, the wait for book 3 seems very long! I can't wait to see Allie go into full-on pissed-off vampire mode though! I also already miss Kanin's quiet presence and Jackal's sarcasm.

Unwept (The Nightbirds #1), by Tracy and Laura Hickman
This one is still fairly new to me, but the promise of an unearthly killer and the mixture of thriller and (maybe) paranoia as Ellis tries to remember what happened to her has my full attention! The setting and group dynamics will also be interesting to observe. Plus, just look at that pretty cover :)

The King Killer Chronicle #3, by Patrick Rothfuss
At least I heard it's coming out in 2014. No cover or title yet, though. I've yet to read The Wise Man's Fear, but hey... at least the wait for book 3 will be shorter ;)

Where Silence Gathers (Some Quiet Place #2), by Kelsey Sutton
Some Quiet Place was about Fear (whom I loved as a character, see my book boyfriend post from yesterday), this one is about a struggle between Revenge and Forgiveness. I hope for more of that captivating prose, and maybe a Fear cameo?

Honorable mentions:
Dreams of Gods and Monsters, Sweet Reckoning, Isla and the Happily Ever After, Wings... and a ton more.

What do you guys think of my pick? Are you also pining for these? What were your own choices?

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors that deserve more recognition

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's topic: top ten authors that deserve more recognition

The tricky thing about this topic for me is that sometimes I'm not actually sure just how well-known an author is... so maybe some of my picks are a bit off? Let me know in the comments, I guess ;)

Cat Winters
Her debut, In the Shadow of Blackbirds, is haunting and brilliant. It made me feel anything ranging from happiness to sadness to anger or despair. I'm looking very much forward to reading more from her! I think the book has gotten a bit of coverage in the blogosphere (and rightfully so) but still I think the majority has never heard of it.

Karen Mahoney
A British author whose books I love! She concluded the Iron Witch trilogy in April with The Stone Demon and I can't wait for the next book in her series about Moth, a teen vampire. She has a great sense of humor and I enjoy the aspect of popular culture/nerdiness and snark in her books ^^ She's also really nice to talk to on twitter!

L.A. Weatherly
Her Angel series is amazing! She crafts strong, likeable characters and I love how she balances action and romance! I met her in April in the context of a writing workshop and she was very approachable and gave great, concrete advice :)

Sarah Rees Brennan
Not sure she really belongs in this list? Anyhow, I think many people know of her as Cassandra Clare's friend, but I actually read the Demon's Lexicon books before I heard of Cassie and The Mortal Instruments and damn, they're amazing! The snark! The dangerous, unique magic!

Kate Griffin
When I read A Madness of Angels, I put sticky notes all over the book because there were so many amazing passages! It will make you look at the city in a whole new way. One of my top favorite Urban Fantasy series!

Susan Dennard
Another case of I'm not sure she's 'unknown' enough for this list? Anyhow, her series is awesome! It's a great mixture of historical, steampunk, and zombies. I can't wait for A Darkness Strange and Lovely!

Kelly Creagh
I can't fawn enough over her Nevermore series! If you love E.A. Poe and creepy YA, you should definitely give it a try! She also wrote one of my favorite book boyfriends into existence - Varen Nethers. Her writing is wonderful and I love how she incorporates Poe and his work so seamlessly into the story! It's way too long until the release of the final book :(

Bethany Griffin
Another Poe-person! I love her Masque of the Red Death duology. Her writing is lush but with an unflinching sharpness to it. She's not afraid to hurt her characters but she also shows that they can find moments of beauty in despair. Can't wait to see what her next book will be about!

Gina Damico
If you like reaper books, get this one asap!! Gina Damico is hilarious - I laughed so much while reading Croak on the train that I kinda wanted to stop because everyone was looking at me all weird but I just couldn't because it was so damn good! She mixes the horrible and creepy with the sarcastic and absurdly funny and her imagination is made of awesome.

Susan Kaye Quinn
I've only read episodes 1-6 in her Debt Collector serial but I tell you, it's amazing! If you want male POV New Adult that is not a contemporary but an awesome kind of sci-fi retro-noir story - give it a shot! Fantastic world-building, mysterious characters, and very engaging writing! After reading episode 1-3 I had to get the bundle for 4-6 immediately and I read it all on the same day.


Well... I can't really stick with 10 this time around, so here are four runner-ups that I think are amazing but also well-known -ish, I think? Not sure.
Holly Black, Kelly Keaton, Kiki Hamilton, and Rachel Vincent.


So, what do you guys think of my picks? Have you heard of these authors? And who do you think deserves more recognition? Link me up :)

Stacking the Shelves: the Finally! Edition

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews to show off all the pretty book goodies we got over the past week. You can include print as well as ebooks, gifted, won, borrowed, bought, whatever...


For review from NetGalley:

Dare you To, by Katie McGarry

I've been excited about this ever since I read the excerpt at the back of my Pushing the Limits ARC! So happy I got approved ^^


Won:

Frost Fire, by Olivia Rivers
My Favorite Mistake, by Chelsea M. Cameron

Thanks to Anatea @ Anatea's Bookshelf and Brenda @ Crazy Four Books!


Books I'd ordered that FINALLY  arrived:

Falling To Ash, by Karen Mahoney
Splintered, by A.G. Howard
The Replacement, by Brenna Yovanoff

I've already read & loved Falling To Ash and just got started on Splintered. I've wanted that book for sooo long, and then it took an eternity to ship. But I finally have it :D I'm also excited about The Replacement. It was on sale on TBD for only a little over 3 euros, so I couldn't resist. It's my first Brenna Yovanoff book. The photo doesn't really do the beauty of all the covers justice by the way, and I'm sorry the pretty face of the guy on The Replacement got eclipsed by my flash...


Free or cheap kindle books:



MILA 2.0 Origins: The Fire, by Debra Driza
The Devil's Metal, by Karina Halle
All Over You, by Emily Snow
Wander Dust, by Michelle Warren

I breezed through All Over You, the prequel novella for Devoured, in a single setting. The other ones were freebies or books I read reviews for and then bought on a whim. I'm particularly curious about The Devil's Metal, a story about a rock band and some paranormal stuff happening and a music journalist - all of that in the 1970s!


I have too many books >.< I am putting myself on another ban. I have still books I've already ordered that are still to arrive, and lately I've been buying way too many ebooks. Hard as it is: no more books for now!!!
What do you think of my haul? And what did you get this week? Also, I have 2 international giveaways going on at the moment, click the banners in my left sidebar to enter :)

Stacking the Shelves: I won sweet and signed stuff

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme created by Tynga's Reviews to show off all the books and other book-related awesomeness we bought, borrowed, won, found or however acquired during the past week.

Since I decided that I was fed up with my book buying ban last week, I ordered quite a ton of stuff (bargains!) but not all of it has arrived yet. I'm also really sorry for the lack of reviews lately :( I'm really busy with university stuff, and now I have NaNoWriMo on top of everything... I'm always behind and feel like I'm running after my life and never able to quite catch up and basically half-assing everything by trying :/ I have to hand in an essay draft by Sunday and as of this morning, I didn't even know what to write on. I do now, but I still don't have a clear thesis, much less secondary literature or anything like an outline. And I'm working tomorrow and then leaving to visit family... yeah. I don't see this one working out either.

I got two physical books:

Days of Blood and Starlight, by Laini Taylor
Awake at Dawn (Shadow Falls #2), by C.C. Hunter

I was soooo happy when DoBaS arrived in the mail!!! It's so gorgeous, and... really big. Which means that the cover is even more stunning. Can't wait to get around to reading this one - the writing of DoSaB was so gorgeous!
I really enjoyed Born at Midnight, the first book in the Shadow Falls series, when I read it over the summer. I hope the sequel is just as addictive.

I also won two books in giveaways:

 

The Blemished, by Sarah Dalton
Affinity - Bird in a Guilded Cage, by Mary E. Merrell

Click the covers to get to the Goodreads pages.
I love both covers, especially the one for The Blemished. Purple is my favorite color ^^ (I'm sure you never would've guessed from my blog design...)

Furthermore, I just got this eBook from amazon for free:

The Light Tamer, by Devyn Dawson

I linked to amazon because the description there is better than the one on goodreads.


The list goes on... I got approved for two books on NetGalley:


Again, click to get to goodreads.

I requested The Stone Demon yesterday afternoon as soon as I read a tweet of Karen Mahoney's that it was on NetGalley! I love her Iron Witch Trilogy! To my total surprise, I was approved just hours later o.O
City of Dark Magic is a book I requested weeks ago and didn't really expect to hear back about anymore. I mean, it's Penguin. And my blog isn't exactly 'big'. When I got the email I expected a rejection, and was left blinking at the screen for a while when I got accepted instead o.O I started reading it late last night because it's out on the 27th and I really like the opening so far! The tone is very special.

And finally....

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!! I can't wait to read Black City!! I have it on preorder and can't wait for its pretty, hardcover self to make an appearance at my door! So I was super-excited to get an email from Elizabeth Richards that I'd won a bunch of SIGNED bookmarks for both Black City and its sequel, Phoenix!!
They are so so pretty! All shiny and smooth and gleamy and signed. The picture does not do them justice ^^

Also, because I don't need all of them for myself, you guys can expect a giveaway, problem along with my review ;)
 
Alright, I'm at the end of my haul. Have you read any of the books I got, or are they on your TBR? And what did you get this week?

Review: Two and Twenty Dark Tales, edited by Nina Berry

Released: October 16, 2012
Publisher: Month9Books
Format: Paperback, 340 pages

Goodreads description:
In this anthology, 20 authors explore the dark and hidden meanings behind some of the most beloved Mother Goose nursery rhymes through short story retellings. The dark twists on classic tales range from exploring whether Jack truly fell or if Jill pushed him instead to why Humpty Dumpty, fragile and alone, sat atop so high of a wall. The authors include Nina Berry, Sarwat Chadda, Leigh Fallon, Gretchen McNeil, and Suzanne Young.



The following review is based on an eARC provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. It differs from the final version. 


Review (no spoilers):
I love anthologies, but this is my first time reviewing one. As the title says, there are twenty-two stories by twenty different authors in it but I’m not going to talk about every one of them. Instead, I’m going to point out some of those I think were most brilliant as well as a few that didn’t work for me. Overall, the quality of the stories was very high! Anthologies are always a mixed bunch but I really enjoyed the vast majority of the tales in here.

An aside: as a Swiss girl, I don’t really know many nursery rhymes. We have some here but they’re not such a big thing. They’re more like figures of speech or else short songs or lullabies, but I have the impression that in the English-speaking world they are more part of culture than here. So I didn’t know most of the rhymes these stories were for, which made the reading more exciting for me because I had no real inkling what to expect most of the time since I didn’t recognize the usual context of the rhyme.

The way the stories were retold varied a lot. Some stayed close to the rhyme while others took a more abstract approach, incorporating the general theme or situation instead. There were medieval-ish fantasy retellings, modern retellings, with or without magic. There were wishes and curses and spells. Witches, vampires, some type of faeries, dystopian tales, Irish as well as Egyptian mythology! I really enjoyed how creative these authors got and how they twisted their ‘raw material’!

I was especially looking forward to Karen Mahoney’s story, One For Sorrow, and it ended up to be one of my top favorites! I really enjoyed the atmosphere she created, the references to Poe, the way she took up different fairytale motives and wove everything into something new and original set in the modern world. And I loved the chemistry between her main characters!

Another story, one that really rattled me, was Life in a Shoe by Heidi R. Kling. It's set in a dystopian society where women no longer have the right not to get pregnant and pretty much ‘produce’ another kid each year even though no one has enough food to keep everyone nourished. The lack of choice and the heroine’s will to persevere and pursue a better future than her mother really stuck with me.

A story that made my university-trained, literary theory savvy self rejoice was Blue, by Sayantani DasGupta. The idea of creation through writing, gaining a voice and a sense of self by literally writing oneself into being and being read by another, came through brilliantly in this one. I loved how the main character went from passive, observant chronicler to being an actor in her own right!

One story that seriously creeped me out in a good way was Wee Willy Winkie by Leigh Fallon. The ending is wickedly ambiguous in my opinion! I also really enjoyed the carnival feeling in A Ribbon of Blue by Michelle Zink, as well as the character dynamics in Suzanne Young’s The Wish.

Unfortunately, as I said above, there are some stories that didn’t quite work for me. One of them was Pieces of Eight by Shannon Delany and Max Scialdone. The basic idea was good but it was too big in scope for a short story and would have needed more space to really develop, in my opinion. As it was, it appeared a bit confusing. I liked the writing and the wolf guard character though.

Another one I was a bit disappointed by was Candlelight by Suzanne Lazear. I’ve been curious about her novel Innocent Darkness for a while and was eager to check out her writing, but I was not convinced (in this story at least). The basic idea was good though not exactly new. I liked the bond between the sisters in her story but it was all very predictable, right down to the ending. What would have been interesting is how the characters deal with things at the exact point the story breaks off, or how society reacts to the disappearance of so many teenagers. However, the story might have appeared weaker to me than it really is because it’s positioned right after Life in a Shoe which, as stated above, packed one hell of an emotional punch for me! The problems of these girls just appeared very petty to me after the very real issues Kling’s heroine had to deal with.

I also felt a bit ‘meh’ about Tick Tock by Gretchen McNeil. The atmosphere-building was brilliant but there wasn’t really a plot or an explanation for what was happening. One story I’m undecided about is Clockwork by Leah Cypress. Her idea was really original and I loved the connection she drew between clocks and magic. Her heroine was strong – apart from the ending where, in my opinion, she succumbed to weakness. How you read that ending is highly subjective though which is why I’m conflicted. To another reader, her decision may well be a display of strength.

There were many other stories I really enjoyed though I can’t give them any space here now. Overall I loved the collection so much that I’ll definitely buy a finished version, especially since the second part of a story by Nancy Holder, as well as a story by C. Lee McKenzie and an Interlude poem by Georgia McBride were not included in my eARC yet.

If that’s not enough, proceeds from the first 5000 books sold will be donated to YAlitchat.org, a literary organization that fosters the advancement of YA literature around the world. So you’re also doing a good deed by buying yourself a set of awesome stories right in time for the Halloween season ;)

Have your read the anthology or any of the authors’ other work? What were your faves?

Waiting on Wednesday: Falling to Ash, by Karen Mahoney

 "Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. This week's pick is the Falling To Ash, the first novel in Karen Mahoney's new series of teen-vampire Moth's adventures. Below the description from goodreads:

Publication date: September 27, 2012
Publisher: Corgi Children's
Format: Paperback, 304 pages 

You can’t choose your family... living or dead. 

Trapped between two very different worlds, newly made vampire Moth is struggling to find her place in either. Not only does she have to answer to her strict Irish-Catholic Dad, but her over-protective maker, Theo, is intent on making her the star attraction in his powerful Boston vampire clan. Moth will have to pull off the double-act of the century to please both of them...

Adding to her problems is the dangerously attractive Jason Murdoch, a trainee vampire hunter who loves to play cat and mouse in his spare time (Jace = cat; Moth = mouse). But when the teenagers of Boston’s wealthiest families start to disappear, it forces Moth and Jace into an uneasy truce. Will they be able to solve the mystery behind the disappearances—before someone winds up undead?

  
I love Karen Mahoney's Iron Witch trilogy!  So I'm really curious to see what the first full-length of her next series will be like. If the two Moth short stories published in the Kiss Me Deadly and The Eternal Kiss anthologies are any indication, it's gonna be awesome. Moth is such a kick-ass heroine! And I have so many questions about her world that I hope will be partially answered here. Also, I'm curious to see more of Jason and that unholy alliance they will apparently form.


Are you excited for Falling to Ash? Have you read any of the Moth short stories or any other of Karen's work? Feel free to discuss in the comments :)


Karen Mahoney's website and blog
Karen Mahoney's twitter