Lee's 2012 Rewind

2012 was a whirlwind of a book year for me. I don’t think I’ve ever read more than thirty books in a year, let alone one hundred. I’m not trying to sound boastful or anything; it’s just that I’m still in a bit of disbelief because I never pictured myself reading that number of books over twelve months. Looking back, it seems like the timing was right to go on a reading spree. Joining Goodreads last December provided an endless list of books to read. After nearly four years of living in a new city, I finally started going to my local library; it has since become like a second home to me. Like Ally said in her rewind post, this was the year that I ventured outside of my usual paranormal reads and discovered a host of amazing books in a variety of genres.

I confess to kicking off 2012 with one of my go-to subjects, vampires. For the longest time, I put off reading Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series. By the time I’d heard of it, I thought that I’d read my share of books about anything with fangs. Plus, the covers didn’t appeal to me. At all. The series came up as one of my first Goodreads recommendations, though, so I finally gave in, borrowed the first book from the library, and subsequently had my mind blown by how amazing it was. I instantly loved Rose Hathaway’s fiery personality and razor-sharp wit. I couldn’t devour the series fast enough, and once I had finished it, I had to get my hands on the spin-off series, Bloodlines. I’ll never be able to thank Richelle Mead enough for including Adrian Ivashkov in it!

Before this year, I hadn’t read contemporaries in quite some time. In fact, I’d sort of given up on the genre after reading a succession of lackluster Adult titles. Seeing rave reviews of Stephanie Perkins’s Anna and the French Kiss convinced me to try delving into contemporary again, and it turned out to be the perfect choice. If it hadn’t been for Anna and its companion novel, Lola and the Boy Next Door, I might never have taken a chance on Gayle Forman’s If I Stay and Where She Went and Melina Marchetta’s Jellicoe Road. These books were not only outstanding contemporary reads but some of my favorite reads from 2012, period.

Narrowing down my list of favorite books that I read in 2012 is really difficult, so I’m going to have to borrow a page from Ally’s rewind and include some honorable mentions at the end. And now for the actual list . . . . I’ve already mentioned Vampire Academy, Bloodlines, If I Stay, Where She Went, and Jellicoe Road. I also fell in love with Cynthia Hand’s Unearthly and Hallowed; at last, a series about angels that didn’t disappoint! Another favorite book from this year was a bit unexpected—Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Boys. I almost didn’t pick this up because I trudged through another of her novels, The Scorpio Races, earlier in the year, but the storyline, which partly revolves around the search for a sleeping Welsh king who is supposed to grant a wish to whoever finds him and wakes him, proved to be too irresistible of a draw. For weeks after reading it, I couldn’t stop thinking about The Raven Boys and its gorgeous prose. I hounded Ally until she read it, and then both of us hounded Melissa until she read it. It’s that good!

One of my most anticipated reads of 2012 was the fifth installment in Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments series, City of Lost Souls, and it was as epic as I’d hoped it would be. I was particularly interested in any references to The Infernal Devices, and City of Lost Souls contained plenty of them, not that clever Cassandra Clare gave anything away about how TID will end. I already know that Clockwork Princess is going to 1) be my favorite book of 2013 and 2) leave me an emotional wreck for days, if not weeks, and possibly months, after reading it.

As much as I loved all of these books, top honors for my read of 2012 go to Melina Marchetta’s Finnikin of the Rock. When I wrote my review for this must-read YA fantasy, I couldn’t find adequate words to describe how brilliant it is. I still can’t. This was the first Melina Marchetta book that I read, and I was mesmerized from page one. The characters, the dialogue, the world-building, and the writing in general are all phenomenal. I could go on forever about Marchetta’s genius, but I’ll spare you my fangirling and just exhort you to check out her books if you haven’t already. And now for the . . .

Honorable Mentions:

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake, Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan, Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins, Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi, and Blood Red Road by Moira Young.

Melissa's 2012 Rewind

What a crazy year it has been, filled with books, reviews, vlogs, various guest blogger stuff, and more books. I’ve read my fair share of mediocre books, but I got pretty lucky with the abundance of good books this year.

The first books I started out with this year put me off to a great start. The Hollow series by Jessica Verday was fantastic, and a definite reread. I loved Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, and the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead was amazing. I was also so glad that Lee forced me to read Unearthly and Hallowed by Cynthia Hand.

I tried some contemporary YA, too, and really liked it, my favorites being Stephanie Perkins’s Anna and the French Kiss and the companion novel, Lola and the Boy Next Door, and John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake and its sequel, Girl of Nightmares, also make my list of top books for the year. I have to say, though, that Cassandra Clare’s The Infernal Devices was my favorite of the favorites.

I can’t wait to continue reading next year. I can only hope it will bring equal quality, if not better, books.

Ally's 2012 Rewind

This year has been a rather peculiar year for me in the book world. I emerged from my vampire cave and into the other realms of Young Adult categories. It was hard for me, going out into the vast unknown and all. But once I got going, devouring the miscellaneous topics that fall under YA, I found it hard to stop. I guess you can say my book affliction only grew.

Some of the new themes that I have come to know and love include zombies, steampunk, and, dare I say it, contemporaries. Before I was introduced to the magnificent John Green books, I held a strong and quite prejudiced belief that no contemporary book could or would be as a good as a paranormal or fantasy read. Looking back now, I couldn’t disagree more! I wince at my own simple-minded nature and encourage anyone who might even think that way to think again! The Fault in Our Stars says it all.

Now zombies have taken Young Adult books by storm. I find this brilliant! I have read so many zombie titles this year, and it amazes me to see the plethora of twists put onto this one thought. I am currently reading Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard, and I absolutely adore it! On the front cover it quite explicitly says, “If you enjoyed Clockwork Angel, you’ll love this.” At first I was a little annoyed. How can anyone compare a book to my heart and soul, The Infernal Devices?! Expectedly, I went into the book snickering and already biased. Three quarters of the way through and I . . . love it! The blurb was correct. Something Strange and Deadly is amazing, and it does remind me of the Shadowhunters and their world. But at the same time, it is completely different.

Another revolutionary idea that seemed to hit me in the head this year was the concept of steampunk. Steampunk. Is. Amazing. It’s just a really roguish and bad-arse idea. The air that surrounds this theme just seems to grab my attention. My third favorite book I have read this year is actually the Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld. This series is drenched in steampunk!

Before I get into my top two books of 2012, I would like to touch on some of the books that I didn’t quite like. There were only three, and one was the famous The Iron King by Julie Kagawa. For the life of me, I wanted to love this book. Everyone else did, and it was about fairies! For some reason I just couldn’t enjoy the book. I didn’t like Ash or Meghan, and I only sort of cared for Puck. What can a girl do when she doesn’t like the main characters? I’m probably going to try and finish the rest of the series, though. Who knows, I might just change my mind. The other two books I didn’t really care for were Ten by Gretchen McNeil and Eve by Anna Carey. I didn’t like Ten because it seemed too cliché of a horror story. I also couldn’t find the “horror” in the story. It wasn’t scary for me at all; it wasn’t even that big of a mystery for me. Eve was just an impractical choice on my part. I somewhat knew that I was going to dislike the book, but I went ahead and read it anyway. Darn me and my thick head!

Now back to my top two favorites. My second favorite book, or should I say series, of 2012 was the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead (I’m also selfishly including Bloodlines and The Golden Lily). This series changed my life! I love everything about it, specifically Adrian Ivashkov! This series made me laugh and made me cry. I still think about it quite frequently. This series was just so different from any other series I have ever read. The characters truly felt real. I could easily picture Rose cracking jokes while killing Strigoi. I think that’s why I love the series so much; it’s because of the characters.

Now my favorite book that I have read this year is . . . The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater! I adore this book so much! When I first started reading it, I quickly connected the Raven Boys to the four Marauders from Harry Potter. In my mind, Gansey was James, Ronan was Sirius, Adam was Remus, and Noah was Peter. I jumped at the idea of having my image of the Marauders live through the Raven Boys. I loved the book for this. But by the end of the book, I came to love it for what it was and not what it represented in my mind. I still saw the connection, but I loved it separately. I loved the quest for the Welsh king storyline, I loved the fantasy, I loved the boys’ friendship and history, I loved Blue, her family, and her unique name, and I loved Ronan Lynch! It’s weird, though. While reading the book, I didn’t “love, love” it. I recognized and appreciated the amazingness of it all, but only after I finished the book and reflected back on it did I truly come to adore it. I think about The Raven Boys at least once a week. I’m simply dying to find out what happens. Reading The Raven Boys just really completed this book year for me. ♥

Honorable Mentions:

Those who are loved but sadly did not make the top three include: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard, Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter, Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson, The Name of The Star by Maureen Johnson, Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta, The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima, Graceling by Kristin Cashore, and Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers.