Another year of fabulous books has come and gone. I hit a personal record for myself this year, reading a grand total of 90 books! (Last year I read a mere 69. Turns out, traveling is really good for my TBR list.)
But as is the dilemma with being a book lover, no matter how many books you read, you never get to them all! There are lots of books that I was dying to pick up, but never got around to, such as The Night Circus, Crown of Embers, Incarnate, Days of Blood and Starlight, Grave Mercy, Code Name Verity, Splintered, For Darkness Shows the Stars, Bonded, Under the Never Sky, Everneath, The Raven Boys… just to name a few.
But I guess that means I have lots of amazing reads to look forward to in 2013, along with, of course, all the brilliant sounding debuts from The Lucky 13s!
Stay tuned for my TOP 10 READS OF THE YEAR, coming next week. For now, here are my…
Highlights from the Fourth Quarter
Three of my favorite books that I read this last quarter (UNREMEMBERED by Jessica Brody, IMPOSTOR by Susanne Winnacker, and SIEGE AND STORM by Leigh Bardugo) don’t come out until next year, so I’m not going to highlight them yet. I really enjoyed them, though, and encourage adding them to your wish lists.
My favorite reads from this quarter that you can go pick up right now were:
DEFIANCE by C.J. Redwine
This book combined so many of my favorite things: fantasy mixed with a dark apocalyptic future and steampunk-esque technology, the kind of villain that makes you want to reach into the book and claw out his eyes, a brave and spunky heroine, and a smart, geeky hero who was part-warrior, part-inventor, all put into an exciting and fast-paced read. I can’t wait for book 2!
THE NEAR WITCH by Victoria Schwab
I heard so many great things about this book when it came out in 2011, and now I can add my two cents to the mix. This is one of those books that sweeps you away entirely into the story and can make you feel chilled and wind-tousled and like some mysterious being is watching you from the moors… even when you’re safe at home. The writing is superb and I absolutely loved the haunted fairy-tale vibe of the story. Can’t wait to get my hands on The Archived next month!
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BOOKS READ IN 2012
1st Quarter
1. Shatter Me, by Tahereh Mafi
2. Moonglass, by Jessi Kirby
3. Legend, by Marie Lu
4. Never Eighteen, by Megan Bostic
5. Fracture, by Megan Miranda
6. The Mockingbirds, by Daisy Whitney
7. A Million Suns, by Beth Revis
8. The Girl of Fire and Thorns, by Rae Carson
9. The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green
10. Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, by Beth Fantaskey
11. The Forest of Hands and Teeth, by Carrie Ryan
12. Scarlet, by A.C. Gaughen
13. Harbinger, by Sara Wilson Etienne
14. Stormdancer, by Jay Kristoff
15. Cracked, by K.M. Walton
16. Ditched, by Robin Mellom
17. BookLife, by Jeff VanderMeer
18. Cinder, by ME! (Had to include it.)
19. Starters, by Lissa Price
20. Out of Sight, Out of Time, by Ally Carter
21. White Cat, by Holly Black
22. The Cardturner, by Louis Sachar
23. Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline
Mini-Break for Research
24. Libya, by Terri Willis
25. The Sahara, by Ann Heinrichs
26. Sudan, by Patricia Levy and Zawiah Abdul Latif
27. Satellites, by Ron Miller
28. The Inside & Out Guide to Spacecraft, by Clare Hibbert
2nd Quarter
29. Croak, by Gina Damico
30. Wither, by Lauren DeStefano
31. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
32. The Way We Fall, by Megan Crewe
33. BZRK, by Michael Grant
34. Girl of Nightmares, by Kendare Blake
35. Valkyrie Rising, by Ingrid Paulson
36. Mila 2.0, by Debra Driza
37. Shadow and Bone, by Leigh Bardugo
38. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, by Lish McBride
39. Monument 14, by Emmy Laybourne
40. Struck, by Jennifer Bosworth
41. Insurgent, by Veronica Roth
42. Enchanted, by Alethea Kontis
43. Bitterblue, by Kristin Cashore
44. Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas
45. Above World, by Jenn Reese
46. The Productive Writer, by Sage Cohen
3rd Quarter
47. Remarkable, by Liz Foley
48. The Professor’s Daughter, by Joann Sfar & Emmanuel Guibert (graphic novel)
49. Little Vampire, by Joann Sfar (graphic novel)
50. Anya’s Ghost, by Vera Brosgol (graphic novel)
51. Friends With Boys, by Faith Erin Hicks (graphic novel)
52. The Name of the Star, by Maureen Johnson
53. Alice in the Country of Hearts, by QuinRose & Soumei Hoshino (graphic novel)
54. 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, by Jessica Brody
55. Demon Racer, by Tamara Felsinger (beta-read manuscript)
56. 12 Minutes of Midnight, by Tamara Felsinger (beta-read manuscript)
57. Nursery Rhyme Comics, with an intro by Leonard S. Marcus
58. The Annotated Alice, by Lewis Carroll and Martin Gardner
59. Necromancing the Stone, by Lish McBride
60. Dead End in Norvelt, by Jack Gantos
61. Keturah and Lord Death, by Martine Leavitt
62. The Selection, by Kiera Cass
63. Monstrous Beauty, by Elizabeth Fama
64. Storybound, by Marissa Burt
65. The Domino Men, by Jonathan Barnes
66. Enclave, by Ann Aguirre
67. The Nightmare Affair, by Mindee Arnett
68. Magisterium, by Jeff Hirsch
69. Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success, by K.M. Weiland
70. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, by Jesse Andrews
71. The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, by Christopher Healy
4th Quarter
72. Unremembered, by Jessica Brody
73. Defiance, by C.J. Redwine
74. Sean Griswold’s Head, by Lindsey Leavitt
75. Alice 19th, Vol. 1 & 2, by Yu Watase (graphic novels)
76. Take a Bow, by Elizabeth Eulberg
77. Ten, by Gretchen McNeil
78. The Books of Elsewhere: The Shadows, by Jacqueline West
79. Getting Over Garrett Delaney, by Abby McDonald
80. Every Day, by David Levithan
81. Siege and Storm, by Leigh Bardugo
82. Impostor, by Susanne Winnacker
83. Crewel, by Gennifer Albin
84. Renegade, by J.A. Souders
85. Adaptation, by Malinda Lo
86. Gilt, by Katherine Longshore
87. The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy, by Nikki Loftin
88. The Near Witch, by Victoria Schwab
89. What Jane Austen Knew and Charles Dickens Ate, by Daniel Pool
90. The Rook, by Daniel O’Malley
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Need more book recommendations? Check out my Recommended Reading page.