Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten New to Me Authors I read in 2013

This is a weekly meme hosted by the girls over at The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten New to Me Authors I Read in 2013:

1) John Green-This year I finally read all of the John Green. While I may not hold him as high up in quality as the literature crowd (his stuff is enjoyable for sure, but hardly groundbreaking), I am happy I finally read his stuff and I look forward to his next book.

2) Alexandra Bracken-I discovered the Darkest Minds series earlier this year instead of last year and I'm so happy I did. It proves that the dystopian is not totally dead. There are still new things to do with it.

3) Ruta Sepetys-No, I didn't read Between Shades of Gray, but I did read her latest, Out of the Easy and thought it was really good. I will probably be checking out Between Shades of Gray next year.

4) Rick Yancey-Yancey has actually been writing books in YA for awhile. But he made a breakthrough this year with The 5th Wave which is another book that proves the Dystopian genre can still have some good stuff in it.

5) Alethea Kontis-I finally read Enchanted a month or so ago and Hero is in my current batch of library books. I'm in love with this adorable retelling series.

6) N. K. Jemisin-I picked up Hundred Thousand Kingdoms because one of the websites I frequent was reading it and I'd never heard of it. I'm so glad I picked it up. It's one of the most interesting adult fantasy books I've read in awhile. I will be reading the second as soon as possible (meaning next year).

7) Juliet Blackwell-Cozy mystery author who writes a series about a witch solving murders that is so much fun.

8) Stephen Chbosky-Yes, I finally read Perks of Being a Wallflower this year. Granted, I wasn't as into it as a lot of people are but I think Perks is one of those that is best read when you're actually a teenager. I'm sure my teenage self would have related to it much more then my current adult self (especially as I went to high school in the nineties like the characters in this book).

9) Barry Lyga-Like Yancey, Lyga has been around for a bit. But he had a breakthrough last year with his book I Hunt Killers which I finally read this year and enjoyed quite a bit despite some reservations about it. Hopefully I'll be reading the sequel soon.

10) Megan Shepard-Hangman's Daughter was one of my favorite debuts of the year. I can not wait for the sequel, which comes out next month.

Book Review: Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer

TITLE: Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer
AUTHOR: Katie Alender
PUBLISHED: September 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Mystery, Paranormal
PREMISE: A girl travels to Paris just as people are being beheaded by a serial killer.
MY REVIEW: I confess, I was very disappointed in this one. I had read the Bad Girls Don't Die series and really enjoyed it. It was silly, yes, but it was sort of a self-aware silly that had some great social commentary squeezed into there as well. So I was expecting more of the same here.
Unfortunately...the author went a different route then expected and while sometimes that can be a good thing (such as The Dark Unwinding series), in this case...it was not. It was more of a disappointment. From the cover/summary I was expecting a awesome mystery about Marie Antoinette who goes around beheading people. Instead, this is more about Colette and her annoying friends. Which, okay. I could get behind a book saying being popular isn't everything under the sun. But this one did it in a particularly condescending way. Especially where Hannah was concerned. God, what a two-dimensional character Hannah was. Literally she was just there for the reader to hate on. She had no real use whatsoever other then to say "don't be like this girls! Being like this is bad!"
Then there's the fact that, Colette is just plain unlikable. Even after she gets the whole "lesson about popularity" thing. Then there's the apologetic attitude towards Marie Antoinette herself which drives me nutty. Yes, Marie was handed a raw deal politically (she didn't exactly ASK to be queen of France). No, she wasn't AS bad as people said. But...she was still bad. She still was responsible for a lot of crap. To wave away all she did and say the peasants were just being unfair about her and using her as a scapegoat...um no. That shows a complete lack of understanding about what was going on during that time period. Yeah, sorry, the peasants had every right to revolt and be mad at her. I may not be into the painting Marie as a heartless villain thing that history likes to do, but I'm also not into the excusing all the bad stuff because people were "unfair" to her thing that Marie sympathizers like to do either. This book did that a LOT and I could tell that was mostly author opinion and not actual use of facts/research/character opinion.
There were some good things about it. The mystery was entertaining. The descriptions of Paris were nice. I liked Audrey. But this ultimately wound up being not as awesome as it could have of been.
WHO SHOULD READ: Katie Alender fans
MY RATING: Two and a half out of Five could have been better sighs

Book Review: Hereafter

TITLE: Hereafter
Book 2 in the Shadowlands Trilogy
AUTHOR: Kate Brian
PUBLISHED: October 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Paranormal, Mystery
PREMISE: Rory must now deal with the consequences of knowing the truth about her hometown.
MY REVIEW: This series is kind of a guilty pleasure for me. It's not totally original. There are funky messages throughout it. Writing...is passable but nothing to brag about. But it's just intriguing enough, that I keep reading despite its faults.
I do sort of like the set up here. The author is sort of decent at building up intrigue. I say sort of because a couple of things were pretty obvious from the start. I mean, was ANYONE surprised about mean girl who hated Rory for no apparent reason being one of the culprits? Anyone? Didn't think so. Subtlety is not this series strong suit, but it manages to get the job done just enough to keep you reading.
This series is what I call a good library read. It gets you your paranormal fix, but it's not something I would spend money on.
WHO SHOULD READ: Kate Brian fans, Paranormal fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five obvious villains being obvious

Book Review: The Dark Between

TITLE: The Dark Between
AUTHOR: Sonia Gensler
PUBLISHED: August 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Historical Fantasy, mystery
PREMISE: Three teenagers get drawn together in a mystery.
MY REVIEW: I don't really have much to say about this one, to be honest.
It had its good things (historical details, interesting idea) and its bad things (obvious romantic shenanigans, usual YA tropes, typical YA characters). So it made for a interesting but ultimately predictable read.
I'd recommend this to historical fiction readers more than paranormal readers though. The paranormal stuff was there, but it played a really tiny role in the overall plot.
WHO SHOULD READ: Historical fiction fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five ghosts

Book Review: A Spark Unseen

TITLE: A Spark Unseen
Book 2 in the Dark Unwinding series
AUTHOR: Sharon Cameron
PUBLISHED: September 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Steampunk, Historical Fantasy
PREMISE: Katherine's life gets complicated as people come after her Uncle's machine...
MY REVIEW: Dark Unwinding was one of those underrated books of 2012. It wasn't marketed heavily. It wasn't the usual steampunk, with something happening every page. It was quieter. So, it got overlooked. Which is a shame because I enjoyed it quite a bit.
A Spark Unseen continues that not going the expected route. This one does suffer a bit from sequel syndrome but the ending leaves me to believe we're getting to the good stuff in the next book. I also wouldn't read it purely for romance, because, romance isn't a huge factor here. It's there (and enjoyable) but a large part of this series is focused on Katherine's journey. Which I confess, is part of why I like the series. It's rare to get a YA series that is mostly focused on the main characters personal journey. Usually, that takes the backseat to romantic shenanigans or adventure.
But going against usual story tropes means this series won't be everyone's cup of tea (hence all the mixed reviews on Goodreads). But if you're willing to give this series a shot, I totally encourage you to do so.
WHO SHOULD READ: Dark Unwinding fans, steampunk fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five clockwork devices

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books on my Winter TBR List

This is a weekly meme hosted by the girls over at The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Books on My Winter TBR List

For my sake, I narrowed this down to books from now until the end of February and not counting the books I already have that are waiting to be read (aka Coldest Girl in Cold Town, Dream Thieves, Battle Magic, Curties and Conspiracies, and A Dance of Dragons. I'll get to you guys soon, I swear).

1) Starters series Book 2: Enders by Lissa Price-Released Jan. 7th-Do you know how long it's been since Starters? Well over a year. Which is kind of mean considering where it left off.

2) Archived Series Book 2: Unbound by Victoria Schwab, Released Jan. 28th-I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The Archived was one of 2013's underrated books of the year.

3) Under the Never Sky Trilogy Book 3: Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi-Released Jan. 28th-Can't wait to see how this one ends!

4) Madman's Daughter Trilogy Book 2: Her Dark Curiousity by Megan Shepherd-Released, Jan. 28th-Madmen's Daughter was another underrated book of 2013 (though thankfully slightly more read then The Archived). I can't wait to see how the author ties in Frankenstein to an already awesome series.

5) Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge-Released Jan. 28th. Fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast? Bring it.

6) Lunar Chronicles Book 3: Cress by Marissa Meyer-Feb. 4rth-You all are probably sick of hearing me whine about how much I have to wait for Cress so I'll spare you.

7) Altered series Book 2: Erased by Jennifer Rush, Released Jan 7th-Altered was a pleasant surprise for me. I wasn't expecting much from it, what with the half naked guy on the cover and the cheesy sounding summary, but this is one of the many cases where poor packaging sometimes hides a awesome book. Not to say it doesn't have its cheese, but it's fun cheese.

8) Pivot Point series Book 2: Split Second by Kasie West-Pivot Point was another pleasant surprise from this year. I hope the sequel is just as fun as the first one was.

9) Defy by Sara B. Larson-Released Jan. 7th-New one about a girl disguising herself as a boy and joining the royal guard. I'm a sucker for those kinds of books. Blame the Tortall series, which I'll be judging this book by, so be warned author.

10) Tsarina by J. Nelle Patrick-Released February 27th.-Historical fantasy taking place in Russia during the time of the Romanovs. Hells yes.

Book Review: Gone Girl

TITLE: Gone Girl
AUTHOR: Gillian Flynn
PUBLISHED: 2012
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Mystery
PREMISE: A woman goes missing and her disappearance brings out all sorts of dirty little secrets.
MY REVIEW: Dear Best Seller List: well, here we are again. This is yet another book you swore to me up and down was spectacular, oh so suspenseful, wonderfully written, etc. etc. ;insert hyperbole here; Once again, I am stuck asking: did we read the same book? Because...yeah, I don't get it. Which doesn't always mean anything. Sometimes there are books that are good that are just not for you. I don't like Wuthering Heights all that much but Wuthering Heights is beautifully written and I totally understand why it became a classic. It's just that self-absorbed, star-crossed lovers, who suffer due to their own stupid actions aren't really my thing.
But see, this is a mystery! That's totally my genre! I should love this. But...I kind of hated every minute of it. I get it author, people are horrible to each other, including to their spouses. If you thought this was brand new information and you were being revolutionary, you really weren't. But hey, I can deal with horrible characters if maybe the plot is decent. But alas...this is predictable mystery du jour that ends pretty much how I predicted it would when stalker guy was mentioned early on. On top of that, this was an extremely judgmental book. It judged EVERYONE. But it was especially harsh on women to the point of being vaguely sexist. Considering this was written by a woman, that's mildly disappointing.
I just don't understand at all how this became a best seller? The writing isn't that great. There's nothing really engaging about the story. It's predictable as hell (aside from that makes no sense ending) and made me eye twitchy as I read it. Why on earth do people like this so much? To the point that there's going to be a movie next year? I just...don't understand the book world sometimes.
WHO SHOULD READ: Gillian Flynn fans, uh...if you want to I guess
MY RATING: Two out of Five characters I want to strangle

Book Review: Untold

TITLE: Untold
Book 2 in the Lynburn Legacy series
AUTHOR: Sarah Rees Brennan
PUBLISHED: September 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, witches/wizards
PREMISE: The residents of Sorry in the Vale try to rise up against Rob, with consequences for all.
MY REVIEW: Unspoken was one of my top reads last year so I expected big things from the sequel. Boy did Brennan deliver, continuing the awesome sequel/continuation trend that has been going on in 2013.
Brennan swiftly brings you back to Kami and crew and doesn't stop from where she left off. There's loads of plot developments/twists that both make me squee with delight (such as the gang all hanging out together and trying to deal with this stuff) and moan in despair (damn Lynburns. Just...damn them). All of it is done with that delicate balance of feels and humor that Brennan has that has made me love her stuff so much.
In short, this was a excellent sequel. I am already pining for the next book and I have a year to wait. Damn it all.
WHO SHOULD READ: Those that have read Unspoken, Sarah Rees Brennan fans, Mortal Instruments fans (this is like MI but ten times more better handled)
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five evil cliffhangers (no seriously, EVIL)

Book Review: Relic

TITLE: Relic
Book 1 in The Books of Eva Trilogy
AUTHOR: Heather Terrell
PUBLISHED: October 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy/Dystopian
PREMISE: Hoping for answers, a girl takes her brother's place in a dangerous game...
MY REVIEW: Okay YA summary authors, please repeat after me: I will not try to make a reader think this is going to be anything like Game of Thrones ever again. Because seriously, no YA series is ever going to be like Game of Thrones because Game of Thrones is adult fiction. It can go where YA can't because...honestly I'm still a little fuzzy on the rules that YA seems to have upon itself but I just know that there's very little chance of any YA series matching Game of Thrones when it comes to bloodshed/what the hellness/etc. Promising me that this book will do that, is basically setting me up for disappointment. This is like the third YA book I've tried that promised me Game of Thrones for YA and failed to deliver. That isn't even going into the fact that this has NOTHING to do with Game of Thrones. I can sort of see the Hunger Games comparison. But where the hell did the Game of Thrones comparison come in? Have you people even READ Game of Thrones? Because it's got nothing in common with this. At all.
Honestly...this book isn't even Hunger Games league. It's got its moments but there are so many plot holes that I just couldn't get into it. It also relied on the usual YA tropes: love triangle, girl being able to do everything magically, etc. Also, don't get me started on the rampant sexism in the society. I'm sorry but if you're going to have deep sexism that is totally accepted like this in a future society, you better give me a damn good reason for it. There wasn't any reason given. It was just there. Why? Who knows. I do know it made me side-eye the author hard.
All of this combined with flat characters and a very predictable plot made for a rather boring book. I probably won't be reading the rest.
WHO SHOULD READ: Hunger Games fans looking for lulz
MY RATING: Two and a half out of Five sighs

Book Review: Bad Girls Don't Lie

TITLE: Bad Girls Don't Lie
AUTHOR: Jennifer Shaw Wolf
PUBLISHED: September 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Mystery
PREMISE: A girl looks into the death of her best friend.
MY REVIEW: This review will be short because I don't have much to say about this book.
It was a typical YA murder mystery. Some things were good. Most were average. It wasn't terrible. But it didn't blow me away either.
So...it's okay. You could do worse. It's good for if you're looking for a murder mystery. But that's about all I can say about it.
WHO SHOULD READ: Murder mystery fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five shrugs