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Top Ten Favorite New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2012

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Top 10 Tuesday is hosted by the lovely folks over at The Broke And The Bookish.  Every week, bloggers from all over share their own top 10 lists based on the topic of the week.  You can find all top 10 Tuesdays here.

Top Ten Favorite New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2012

This is a great topic!  I’ve read a lot of books this year, so it was no easy task to narrow it down to 10!  But it was fun figuring out which authors were my favorite and which authors I want to keep reading!

  1. Stephanie Perkins.  I loved Anna And The French Kiss, and I’m definitely reading anything else she writes.
  2. Jenny Han.  The Summer I Turned Pretty was completely amazing, and I really need to read the rest of that series.  And anything else she writes.
  3. Rachel Caine.  Have I mentioned how much I love Rachel Caine?  Because I do.  I first read Glasses Houses in April and I’ve been hooked ever since.  She is definitely on my auto-buy list.
  4. John Green.  If I have to explain this to you, then you’ve clearly never read John Green.
  5. Carrie Jones.  Because I loved her Need series.
  6. Aprilynne Pike.  Because Wings was awesome.
  7. Brian Froud.  I love fairies and his artwork is amazing.  They’re pretty enough to actually buy and have sitting around somewhere.  Preferably somewhere that’s not in a huge pile on my floor.
  8. Rebecca Donovan.  Reason To Breathe is one of those books I can’t stop thinking about, and I can’t wait to see what else she writes.
  9. Cynthia Hand.  Her Unearthly series is AMAZING and I am most definitely a fan.  I love what she’s done with angels, and I can’t wait until next year, when Boundless comes out.
  10. Marissa Meyer.  Because I really liked Cinder and I need to read Scarlet now!  If only it were out…

And here are a few people who almost made the list: Jandy Nelson, Libba Bray, Kiersten White, Maria V. Snyder, Huntley Fitzpatrick

GG 1 x 17: The Breakup, Part II

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The Breakup, Part II originally aired on March 15, 2001.  It was written by Amy Sherman-Palladino and was directed by Nick Marck.

Episode 17 Overview: Rory is dealing with her break-up by tackling a long list of things to do, while Lorelei gives into her feelings for Max.

We open right where we left off in the previous episode- with Lorelei and Rory hugging in the hall.  Rory tells her about her night, but doesn’t want to talk about why they broke up.  Lorelei wants more details, because she knows there’s more to it than what Rory is saying.  Rory gets rid of the stuff Dean gave her, and puts it in a box for Lorelei to take far away.  Lorelei puts it in the hall closet, behind a bunch of other boxes.

Then, Rory wakes Lorelei up really early the next morning because she has a list of stuff they say they’re going to do, and then never do.  Lorelei wants to sleep but instead gets up to find that Rory rearranged the furniture in the front room.  Lorelei wants Rory to wallow by eating ice cream, watching sad movies and eating a lot of junk food.

Rory doesn’t want to be that kind of girl.  Not only that, but she doesn’t think it will help.  They take this weird trip to Luke’s because Rory wants to avoid every possible place that Dean could be.  It was nice of Lorelei to indulge Rory, but also a little ridiculous, because it’s a small town and they’re going to run into each other eventually.  I do understand not wanting to run into, but still.  It’s going to happen.

They get to the diner, which is busy, and they have breakfast and coffee.  Everyone’s heard by now, and Rory is all worried that everyone knows, which is why she feels like they’re all staring at her.  Lorelei and Patty talk about it, and Lorelei tells Patty to spread the word about not talking to Rory about it.  Kirk apologizes to Lorelei for not voicing his concerns about Dean earlier.  It’s nice that everyone’s so protective of Rory, because they all love her.

Even Luke is protective, because he gets into a fight with Dean outside the diner.  Lorelei breaks it up, and Rory checks on Dean but he just stalks off and ignores her.  Sometimes, I wonder what Rory ever saw in Dean.  Lorelei and Rory work on the list Rory made, and finally make it home.  Babette comes over to talk to Rory, but Lorelei sends Babette back home.  Rory is looking through her backpack, and finds a flier Madeleine gave her for a party she’s having.  Rory wants to go, which surprises Lorelei, but Rory is insistent on going.

She ends up taking Lane so there’s a friendly face, so we see them getting ready.  She doesn’t want to dwell on the break-up, but realizes she forgot to put the cornstarch in the box.  Lorelei offers to take care of it.  While they go off to the party, Lorelei puts the cornstarch in the Dean box, and finds the Max box she put together.  She goes to Sookie’s house, where she finds Sookie waiting outside, because Jackson is cooking her dinner.  He kicked her out because she kept trying to help him.  She asks to borrow Sookie’s car, because she needs to go somewhere.

At the party, Lane is impressed with the house and Madeleine is excited Rory came.  Louise asks if she and Dean broke up, but Rory lies and says he couldn’t make it.  A few minutes later, Rory tells Paris they broke up.  Paris keeps checking her watch, and tells Rory that her mom doesn’t think she’s enough of a people person, so she has to stay until a specific time.  We learn Paris wants to get into cancer research.  The only Korean guy at the party finds Lane, and Rory promises to come down with something horrible in a couple dances.  Rory wanders around while Lane is dancing.

Meanwhile, Lorelei ends up at Max’s house, where they have make-up sex.  They are still trying to figure out how to be together, but still can’t come up with a good solution.

At the party, Tristan breaks up with his girlfriend Summer, while Paris runs out of the house because she can finally leave.  Lane is freaking out because she likes Henry, and she can’t believe she likes a guy her mom would approve of.  Rory finds Tristan alone, and they talk about school.  He kisses her, but she starts to cry, and leaves with Lane.

The episode ends with Lorelei coming home to find Rory on the couch, ready to wallow.

Favorite Scene: Jackson kicking Sookie out of her own kitchen

Pop Culture: Outkast is playing during the party

Final thoughts: We see the direct aftermath of Rory and Dean breaking up.  I get not wanting to think about it, and wanting to be distracted, but putting it off isn’t going to help either.  Dean ignoring Rory was pretty rude, but it seemed like he was still upset that Rory didn’t say she loved him.  It’s not my favorite episode, but things do get moved along in this episode.  It does what it needs to.  It gets 3 mugs of coffee.

Carpe Corpus

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Carpe Corpus CoverBook: Carpe Corpus by Rachel Caine

Published June 2009|Published by Signet Books|195 pages|Purchased for my Nook

Series: Yes, Morganville Vampires #6

Genre: YA/Paranormal- Vampires

Find out more at: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Rachel Caine’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: In the small college town of Morganville, vampires and humans lived in (relative) peace-until all the rules got rewritten when the evil vampire Bishop arrived, looking for the lost book of vampire secrets. He’s kept a death grip on the town ever since. Now an underground resistance is brewing, and in order to contain it, Bishop must go to even greater lengths. He vows to obliterate the town and all its inhabitants-the living and the undead. Claire Danvers and her friends are the only ones who stand in his way. But even if they defeat Bishop, will the vampires ever be content to go back to the old rules, after having such a taste of power?

Carpe Corpus…I really liked it, but not as much as the other books in the series.  So, Claire is one of Bishop’s minions, people think she’s a traitor, Eve won’t really talk to her, and Shane is in jail with her dad.  We see Michael the most (after Claire, of course), and seeing him under Bishop’s control was interesting.  Even if it did turn out that he wasn’t really under Bishop’s control.

It really looks like Amelie has disappeared, but Amelie is really trying to get people out of Morganville and working on a way to defeat Bishop.  I really liked Myrnin and how unpredictable he is- even when it seems like he’s gone all evil, he usually has something up his sleeve, and isn’t as bad as you’d think.  And Ada!  Ada is what keeps Morganville going, and I like how she doesn’t want to take directions from Claire but has to, because Myrnin said to.  I’m intrigued by Ada, and I hope we see more of her in the books to come.  Overall, the characters are great, and I love how they just keep dealing with what was going on.

And Sam!  Oh my god, I wasn’t expecting that.  At all.  I’m just going to leave it at that.

Remember that sexual tension I mentioned in my review for Lord Of Misrule?  Well, Claire is now seventeen, which means Claire and Shane’s relationship gets really interesting.  Part of me was all, “it’s about time” but the other part of me was hoping Caine would drag it out a little more.

As much as I love this series, there was just something off about it.  I can’t quite put my finger on it…but…I don’t know.  There’s just something about this one that didn’t sit quite right.  I mean, a lot of loose ends did get wrapped up, but there are definitely more that were created, so we’ll see what happens with that.

Final thoughts: I didn’t love it, but I still really enjoyed Carpe Corpus.  We see a lot of resolution, but we also get a glimpse of where things are headed.  It gets a 4 out of 5.

Lord Of Misrule

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Lord Of Misrule CoverBook: Lord Of Misrule by Rachel Caine

Published December 2008|Published by Signet Book|193 pages|Purchased for my Nook

Series?  Yes, Morganville Vampires #5

Genre: YA/Paranormal- Vampires

Find out more at: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Rachel Caine’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: In the college town of Morganville, vampires and humans coexist in (relatively) bloodless harmony. Then comes Bishop, the master vampire who threatens to abolish all order, revive the forces of the evil dead, and let chaos rule. But Bishop isn’t the only threat. Violent black cyclone clouds hover, promising a storm of devastating proportions as student Claire Danvers and her friends prepare to defend Morganville against elements both natural and unnatural.

The more books in this series I read, the more I love it!  Lord Of Misrule is definitely my favorite so far, and it’s definitely action-packed.  I so wish these books were longer because they’re so hard to put down!

We get introduced to a few more characters in Lord Of Misrule, and I really liked Hannah.  Myrnin gets more and more interesting, and I can’t wait to see what Caine does with him in the rest of the series.  I thought a lot of the characters were really interesting, and while seeing them separated was really weird, I also liked seeing them have to deal with the events of the novel without each other.  Everyone is still them, but I think Claire is changing the most out of all of them.  She could have kicked Monica when she was down, but she didn’t, which really shows a lot of maturity.  Then again, Claire is pretty mature to begin with, so I’m not sure how much it really says about her.

Claire and Shane’s relationship gets a lot more interesting- he’s insistent on keeping the promise he made to not sleep with her.  He does, however, tell her that he loves her, which is an improvement.  There is quite a bit of sexual tension between them in this one, which isn’t that big of a surprise.  Will they or won’t they?

I have to say, that ending was…oh my god!  Not what I was expecting.  AT ALL.  It was frustrating, but it really made you want to pick up the next book immediately.  Things really change with this book, and Morganville is not going to be the same when the fighting is over.  Things are definitely going to hell in a handbasket, and you see a lot of destruction plus a crazy storm.

It really does some like Caine knows where everything is going with this series.  The cliffhanger thing is starting to get a little old, but I still want to keep reading, regardless of all the cliffhangers.  This is such a fun series to read, and Lord Of Misrule doesn’t disappoint.  I love that Caine just keeps building on the series and that we learn a little bit more with each book.

Final thoughts: I’m not sure what I can say about Lord Of Misrule that I haven’t already said.  It’s definitely my favorite and the most action-packed book in the series so far.  It gets a 5 out of 5.

Possess

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Possess CoverBook: Possess by Gretchen McNeil

Published August 2011|Published by Balzer + Bray|243 pages|Purchased for my Nook

Series? No (but there seem to be rumors of a sequel)

Genre: YA/Paranormal- Demons

Find out more at: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Gretchen McNeil’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her mom, by the cute son of a local police sergeant, and by the eerie voices she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Unfortunately for Bridget, it turns out the voices are demons – and Bridget has the rare ability to banish them back to whatever hell they came from. 

Terrified to tell people about her new power, Bridget confides in a local priest who enlists her help in increasingly dangerous cases of demonic possession. But just as she is starting to come to terms with her new power, Bridget receives a startling message from one of the demons. Now Bridget must unlock the secret to the demons’ plan before someone close to her winds up dead – or worse, the human vessel of a demon king.

I really liked Possess.  I thought the whole exorcism thing was a really interesting, and also pretty unique as far as Watchers and angels and demons go.

I loved the history behind the Nephilim and the fallen angels- having Bridget go to Catholic school and being trained by a Monsignor who works at her school really made it a lot more believable.  All that history made it a lot more interesting to me, because you get a sense of the history behind everything.

I liked Bridget as a character, and I liked seeing her try to deal with everything that she learns.  And Father Santos was also pretty interesting- I loved the connection he had to her dad, and that he was a good guy.  I liked the relationship Bridget had with her brother Sammy- she seems like a great older sister.

Something that seemed a little out of place was Bridget’s friend Peter.  He definitely had a crush on her, but by the end of the book, he just got a little too weird.  He seemed like this quiet, shy guy, and then all of a sudden, he’s freaking out because she goes to Winter Formal with someone else?  His death seemed randomly thrown in, like McNeil wanted a connection to the death of Bridget’s dad.  It wasn’t really explained, so it felt like it was just there.

Also, it was really easy to figure out who the bad guy was, so it wasn’t as suspenseful as I expected.  But while it was predictable, it was an enjoyable kind of predictable.

Final thoughts: Basically, I really liked Possess.  It’s definitely a good Halloween read, and I loved that exorcisms/banishments were really important, and more importantly, you get a sense of history and ritual while not being hit over the head with it.  The thing with Peter seemed really random, but overall, Possess was a very enjoyable read.  It gets 4 stars.

Enchanted

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Enchanted CoverBook: Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Published May 2012|Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|320 Pages|Purchased for my Nook

Part of a series?  No

Genre: YA/Fantasy

Check it out at: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Alethea Kontis

Goodreads.com Summary: It isn’t easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past—and hers?

I’m not sure what to think about Enchanted.  I love that it’s based on that poem about the days of the week.  But it’s also a very strange re-telling of that poem, and it’s all over the place.  There were elements of Cinderella, The Frog Prince and Jack And The Beanstalk thrown in too.  It just felt all over the place, and I’m not quite sure if the story was supposed to be happy, dark and twisted or something else?  There were so many different things going on, and none of them really worked well together.

There were a few things introduced that could have been interesting, if they were explored more.  Like Sunday’s brother Jack, or the relationship between the King and Sorrow, or even the relationship between the King and his first two wives, and why he killed to remain immortal.  I wanted to know more about Sunday and the frog/prince…when he was a frog, of course.

I’m not sure about the whole family being magical- it just felt too random, and was just another thing that didn’t quite fit.  Plus…all the fairy tales were pretty inconsistent.  Sometimes, Kontis went with the fairy tales (as she did with the frog prince) but other times, she went against it (like the princess and the pea).

I did like the descriptions, and it was a pretty easy read, even if it was a little confusing and convoluted at times.

Final thoughts: There was too much going on in Enchanted.  I liked that you saw a lot of fairy tales, but overall, that just took away from the novel because you were never really sure where it was going.  It was just okay, so it gets a 2 out of 5.

Shattered Souls

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Shattered Souls CoverBook: Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey

Published December 2011|Published by Philomel Books|336 pages|Purchased for my Nook

Part Of A Series? Yes

Genre: YA/Paranormal

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Mary Lindsey’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: A thrilling debut story of death, love, destiny and danger

Lenzi hears voices and has visions – gravestones, floods, a boy with steel gray eyes. Her boyfriend, Zak, can’t help, and everything keeps getting louder and more intense. Then Lenzi meets Alden, the boy from her dreams, who reveals that she’s a reincarnated Speaker – someone who can talk to and help lost souls – and that he has been her Protector for centuries.

Now Lenzi must choose between her life with Zak and the life she is destined to lead with Alden. But time is running out: a malevolent spirit is out to destroy Lenzi, and he will kill her if she doesn’t make a decision soon.

Shattered Souls was really interesting.  And I really liked it!

I’m still not sure about this reincarnating souls trend, especially if the person doesn’t remember their past lives, but I thought it was really well-done in Shattered Souls.  Especially when you learn why she can’t remember anything!

I thought Lenzi was an interesting character, but I’m still not sure if I like her or not.  Interesting as she was, I just couldn’t completely connect with her.  Alden and Smith were also interesting, as were Maddi and Race, and I liked seeing the relationships between all the characters.

I think seeing more of Lenzi’s previous life as Rose would have been helpful, because it came up a lot, especially in reference to how different she was.  I know that her starting over and seeing Alden through fresh eyes was kind of the point, I wish her past was explored a little more.

I thought the whole Speaker/Protector/Hindered aspect of the book was super-interesting.  A girl who can speak to the dead, who need to move on?  Definitely an interesting take on ghosts, and I really enjoyed it how she can speak to the dead and help them move on and that she has someone to make sure everything goes okay when she does resolutions.  I love what she did with ghosts- she did something interesting but they were still what we know and love about ghosts.

Final thoughts: Shattered Souls was really interesting, and I can’t wait to learn more about this world.  I thought the idea of speakers and protectors was different and reincarnation to keep things running smoothly was also interesting.  Shattered Souls gets a 4 out of 5.

Top 10 Books I Wouldn’t Mind Santa Bringing Me

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Top 10 Tuesday is hosted by the lovely folks over at The Broke And The Bookish.  Every week, bloggers from all over share their own top 10 lists based on the topic of the week.  You can find all top 10 Tuesdays here.

Top 10 Books I Wouldn’t Mind Santa Bringing Me

When I was working on this list, I decided to go with books that are in TBR pile.  It might be wishful thinking but maybe having some of those books in my TBR pile would actually get me to read some of them.  It is a most random list, but there are a lot of books I really, really want!  I really am amazed I managed to narrow down to the following 10 books…

  1. Life And Death Of Anne Boleyn: The Most Happy by Eric Ives.  This is a book I’ve been meaning to read for ages, and I’m just too lazy to actually get my hands on a copy.
  2. Brian Froud’s World Of Faerie.  Actually, I’d be happy with anything by Brian Froud.  I love fairies and I’m impressed with his illustrations.
  3. Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson.  I keep hearing good things about Tiger Lily, so maybe I’d actually read it if I had my own copy.
  4. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin.  Because I’ve never read it and I really need to.
  5. The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days by Tarek Malouf.  Because I love to bake and I don’t make enough cake.
  6. The Time Traveller’s Guide To Elizabethan England by Ian Mortimer.  This could be helpful if I ever write that book set in Tudor England…plus, it seems like a cool book.
  7. Lola And The Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins.  Because I loved Anna And The French Kiss, and so now I need to read Lola And The Boy Next Door.
  8. Vicksburg, 1863 by Winston Groom.  Because I have a few books about the Civil War in my TBR pile, and I really want one of them.  I just randomly picked this one.
  9. In The American West by Richard Avedon.  Because I’ve really liked his photography ever since I saw an exhibit of his at the San Diego Museum Of Art.  It would be nice to look at his photographs all the time!
  10. Clara Bow: Runnin’ Wild by David Stenn.  I’ve been wanting to read this one for a while, and after hearing The History Chicks talk about her in one of their episodes, I’ve really wanted to read this one.

GG 1 x 16: Star-Crossed Lovers And Other Strangers

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Star-Crossed Lovers And Other Strangers originally aired March 8, 2001.  The teleplay was by John Stephens and Linda Loiselle Guzik while the story was by Joan Binder Weiss.  This episode was directed by Lesli Linka Glatter.

Brief Overview: We see the preparations for the upcoming Founder’s Firelight Festival, and almost everyone in town is in love.  Lorelei deals with her mother’s matchmaking while Dean and Rory call it quits.

We start with the prep for the festival, and Miss Patty is telling some kids the story of how the Firelight Festival came to be.

From there, we see Dean waiting at the bus stop for Rory.  He asks Rory if she can get out of Friday night dinner, because he wants to celebrate their 3-month anniversary.  Later on, Lorelei talks to Emily about letting Rory get out of dinner for one night, which Emily agrees to.  She doesn’t let Lorelei out of dinner.

Then we’re at Chilton. where Paris and Rory can’t get to their lockers because Tristan is making out with someone in front of their lockers.  I’m wondering, is this a movie and t.v. thing?  Because this never happened to me, and I honestly don’t remember ever seeing this happening.

Meanwhile, Lorelei is annoyed with everyone being in love and acting all couple-y at the inn.  She ends up going to Luke’s for some coffee, and almost gets taken out by a huge star.

Patty and Taylor argue about the Firelight Festival, and Lorelei loudly wonders if people can talk about something other than the festival.  So, Lorelei is definitely not happy that love is in the air.  She suggests that to Luke that the next day, they should hate people who say, “hey, how’s it going?”  Naturally, Luke’s ex-girlfriend Rachel walks in and says “hey, how’s it going?”

We go on to Lorelei helping Rory get ready for her date, and is all worked up because she made an idiot out of herself in front of Rachel.

Lorelei goes to Friday night dinner, sits awkwardly on the couch while Richard read the newspaper.  The doorbell rings, and we learn it’s the son of a friend of Emily’s.  Conveniently, he just happened to be in the area.  But it’s really Emily trying to set Lorelei up with someone suitable, because Emily doesn’t think Lorelei can get a guy on her own.

We see a little bit of Dean and Rory’s date and the beginning of the Firelight festival.  What I find interesting is that we only see the mayor a handful of times, and I believe all of those times are in the first season.  I don’t know if showing the mayor got to be too much, because the cast of Gilmore Girls is pretty big.  And Taylor goes on to fill that role pretty well, so it’s not like we need to see the mayor anyway.  The matches to light the bonfire can’t be found, which happens every year I think the Firelight Festival is the only town event- other than town meetings- that we see more than once.

Lorelei ends up leaving Friday night dinner through the balcony, because Chase is really boring, and Richard finds her trying to leave.  He covers for her, and tells Emily that he couldn’t find her.

Rory and Dean leave the festival (because it’ll take a while for the bonfire to be lit) and they go to this junkyard.  Dean is building Rory a car, and tells her he loves her.  Rory doesn’t say anything for a minute, and then says she loves the car.  She needs to process it, and Dean, naturally, is not happy that he said it, and she’s not saying it back.  She keeps repeating that she needs to think about it, but Dean tells her that it’s not something you think about or make a pro-con list about.

Here’s the thing.  I get why Dean is upset- you tell someone that you love them and they don’t say it back, and then you’re feeling all stupid for putting it out there.  But saying it can be hard…and is it really a surprise that Rory needs some time?  I mean, saying it isn’t easy, so you’d think he’d be more understanding of that.  She’s confused, and it’s a big deal for her, and she wants him to understand where she’s coming from.  He breaks up with her and takes her home.  This just really makes me not like Dean.  I get it’s hard, but to break up with someone because they don’t say I love you right away…Rory’s better off without a guy who will dump her just because she doesn’t say it right back.

Lorelei goes to the festival and runs into Luke.  She goes home and learns that Rory and Dean broke up.

Pop culture: Tolstoy

Favorite line/scene: The story of the firelight festival

Miss Patty, to kids: “Who wants to about the time I danced in a cage for Tito Puente?”

Kids: “Me!”

Final thoughts: This was an interesting episode.  I did not like Dean in this episode, which should be obvious by now.  It sets up a few things that will carry us to the season finale.  It was a really good episode, and it gets 4 mugs of coffee.