Me on Reading in 2010

I really do think that this past year was the best reading year I've had so far. So many books were read, some bought, some borrowed, and even some won.

It was a year of firsts for my reading. First ever ARC (Crescendo). First book signing in years (Mindi Scott's book release fun for Freefall). First time I've borrowed books from the library in years. First introduction to Cassandra Clare's great books (and all in the past 2 months). First time book review blogging. First e-book reader (got a Kobo for Christmas).

It was a good year. I'll start at the beginning.

Shiver and Hush, Hush. Whoa. Both were so good, and had enough suspense and mystery mixed in with being a teenager while dealing with a new guy that's more that what he appears to be on the surface. Shiver's Sam was the sweetest boyfriend ever, a werewolf with a poet's heart, while Hush, Hush's Patch was the classic bad boy with a twinkle in his eye. Then came Meridian, a book that wobbled a bit for me. It was good, life and death, good and evil, helping others, finding out your purpose in life. Maybe the religious wacko was a little much for me.

Fallen. More angels, yes, but the whole past life addition and creepy private school tweaked it to make it interesting. I like Luce because she's not a pushover, she knows something's wrong, and she's got this desire to figure out what the deal is.

The Hunger Games. I'll cover all 3 books here. They were close to epic. It was odd, reading books about teenagers in a post-apocalyptic cloudy smoky world needing to compete and kill each other in order to survive. It's a dismal world, one that could very well happen in the future, and it shows the depths that people go to to be able to survive, to keep their families alive and safe. It was a weird journey, those 3 books, but still good.

More werewolves appeared in The Dark Divine. Another twist on werewolves, on good and evil, on religion. It was one of those books where I can't explain how I like it, but I do. Grace wasn't necessarily a pushover but she wasn't a wimp, Daniel was brooding and hot, Jude was angry. It was great. Then I found The Forest of Hands and Teeth, which I hadn't expected. It was creepy and haunting, and felt oddly colonial to me, but that's probably because of the lack of technology and the long skirts.

Wings and Spells were sweet and romantic, full of faeries with pretty wings and gross trolls, plus the ever popular love triangle. Oh, Laurel. Whoever will you pick in the end? Beautiful Creatures appeared in between. It's an epic book, epic length, epic action, epic magic, epic romance. It feels so Southern and tragic and gothic and romantic. Sisters Red was so good (find my review), The Body Finder was haunting, and Forgive My Fins was fun.

Sea was one of the surprise reads. I didn't expect it to cover what it did, to go so deep into the aftermath of the tsunami in the South Pacific 4 years ago (I think it's 4 years). So real, so eye-opening, so emotional. The werewolves made another appearance in Linger, the sequel to Shiver. I don't want to give away spoilers but there was more Sam being the best boyfriend ever, more Grace just wanting to be with Sam, more Isobel being angry and confused, and brand new Cole.

If you've seen my review of Bleeding Violet, you know I loved it. Siren was different, involving a paranormal character that doesn't appear a lot (sirens). Jealousy brought me back to Dru kicking ass and putting up with all the guys around her who want to treat her with kid gloves. And the cliffhanger? Shocking. ;)

Oh, Scott Pilgrim. I'm not a big comic book/graphic novel reader, but these were so good. There's action, there's bands, there's nerd references, there's Canadian references. It's like comic books for dorks who might not ever be heroes except if life were more like video games. So so good.

Paranormalcy kicked butt, or tased butt (see my review). Both Eyes Like Stars and Wondrous Strange reminded me how much I love Shakespeare, especially when mixed with teens and romance. The Replacement was haunting, so spooky and creepy and twisted. You've got to read it in the dark in the middle of the night. So good.

Torment brought me back to Luce and Daniel, only this time there's more Luce asking questions and getting next to nothing until she takes it into her own hands and goes diving off into something dangerous, but sometimes a girl has to do that.

Crescendo. More building up for Nora and Patch, only this time they've been split apart, sort of, and Nora starts to learn some things about her father and why he died. And why Patch showed up not long after. Then the end, a giant of a cliffhanger that's left everyone gasping for breath, wanting the third book. And find my review for Nightshade to find out how good it was.

I've written a review for Clockwork Angel, but I also read the first three Mortal Instruments books right before that. All were really good, like epic fantasy for teens and weird twists and New York and new cities. It's an amazing world in those books.

Matched was oddly refreshing at the end of the year (sort of). I think I'd been waiting for something dystopic that wasn't dangerous and deadly like The Hunger Games or epic fantasy-ish like Incarceron. It reminded me in parts of Brave New World, where the world has changed and people are controlled to do and to learn and to feel what they are supposed to. Cassia's smart, but curious where the Society doesn't want her to be, and isn't going to give up looking for Ky. Plus both Ky and Xander were both hot book guys. How to choose? ;)

So, this is my snippit of the books I've read over the past 12 months. Not all the books, since I've read 122 books this past year, but some of the good ones. :)