Stars above, I can’t believe we’re half-way through the year already! I also can’t believe that I have read forty-six books in the past six months. What, really? That’s a record for me, and I blame all this touring and traveling that my publisher’s been sending me on.
Long airplane rides = very, very good for the TBR pile.
As usual, it was SO HARD to select my favorite reads for the quarter, but these are the titles I feel absolutely cannot go without mention:
Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake: This is the sequel to Anna Dressed in Blood, which you may recall was one of my Top 5 Books from last year. Whenever I fall in love with a book, there’s always a fear that the follow-up won’t meet expectations, but that was NOT the case here. Girl of Nightmares is brilliant—just as eerie, just as intense, just as romantic, and our hero, Cas Lowood, was just as wryly hilarious as he was in the first one. If you liked Anna, this is a must-read.
Note: This book will officially release on August 7.
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo: I may have already gushed over Shadow and Bone during my Fierce Reads celebration in May, but I’m mentioning it again because it is THAT GOOD, plus now I’ve actually met Leigh in person and can vouch for her being just as awesome as her book. Magic, adventure, romance—this book is like my trifecta of literary goodness.
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride: This is another title that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting the author since first falling in love with the book, and she is also amazing! (In fact… I think she and I might be on tour together this fall…? Hm. Keep your eye out for that.) If you subscribe to my newsletter, you may recall that this book was my Book of the Month for June, because it’s filled with hilarious characters and a creepy villain and was unlike anything else I’ve read. I’m SUPER excited for the sequel, Necromancing the Stone, which will be out on September 18.
Insurgent by Veronica Roth: If you haven’t read Divergent yet, what the heck are you waiting for?! This series deserves every ounce of praise it’s received, and Insurgent is another example of a sequel that does NOT disappoint. Love Tris, love Four, love everything about these books. Cannot wait for the series conclusion next year!
And now, for those super curious folks, here is my 2012 reading list (thus far):
BOOKS READ IN 2012
First 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
Note: I’ve recently made a promise to myself to start reading more outside the YA & MG brackets—not because I don’t looove those genres (obviously!), but because I used to be much more widely read than I am now. So in the future look forward to more graphic novels, nonfiction, craft guides, literature, classics… just more in general. Yay!