Drumroll ...
My first Top Ten Tuesday post: Top Ten Favorite Books I've Read During the Lifespan of My Blog
(Have I ever mentioned here how terrible my memory is? Good thing I had a review page to look over ...)
1. Sarah M. Eden - I know. I'm cheating. She's not a book. She's an author. But if I didn't cheat like this her books would populate most of this list and that's just not fair. I am SUPER happy I discovered her books through a post on her blog that someone reposted. My favorite: FRIENDS AND FOES. Philip is the best Sarah M. Eden hero EVER.
2. PARANORMALCY by Kiersten White - I judge books by their covers. I do. I can't help it. I think I saw the cover of PARANORMALCY on a blog hop of some kind and then went and looked it up on Amazon. The rest is history. I bought it. Devoured it. Ordered the last two in the series immediately. I love, love, LOVE the voice in this novel and the fabulous, almost mocking tone of paranormal books. It works.
3. MY RIDICULOUS ROMANTIC OBSESSIONS by Becca Wilhite - I found this book through Sarah Eden's blog. It has an awesome, unique, witty voice just like the top two, which I adore in books. I CRAVE it in books. I will race through a book that's making me laugh out loud every two seconds. The inner-dialogue of the main character is fan-freakin'-tastic.
4.OF GRACE AND CHOCOLATE by Krista Lynne Jensen - Yet another author I found through Sarah Eden. And since she lives in Wyoming, like me, she's dear to my heart. I'm also beginning to see a pattern in my favorites: voice. This one has a great, funny voice that captured me. AND it's one of those non-patterned love stories. I'm always a fan of things happening differently in romance.
5. EDENBROOKE by Julianne Donaldson - Regency Romance. From the time someone first handed me a Georgette Heyer novel (Thank you, whoever you are -- probably my mother), I have ADORED this genre. I recently passed on the obsession to my sister. You're welcome. Anyway, so this book is in the vein of Sarah Eden's (sigh-worthy heroes, cute voice) but unique in it's many splendored ways. The hero's name is Philip, so I liked him right away. And then he was awesome, so I loved him. I really enjoyed following the romance in this book.
6. The Gallagher Girls Series by Ally Carter - These books should probably not be so far down my list, considering I LOVED them. I'm not sure why I haven't reviewed them. My little sister -- possibly 12 years old at the time -- had checked out the first book from the library, and when I was visiting my mom I picked it up. By the end of the evening, I was well over half-way through the book. So when I got home I promptly headed over to Amazon.com and ordered as many in the series as I could. Then waited impatiently for the rest. These books have always made me think of a cross between Harry Potter, James Bond, and teenage girls. They rock.
7. BEYONDERS by Brandon Mull - Alas, another book I'm not really sure why I don't have a review for it. I was actually quite mad at Mr. Mull when I first read this book because the idea of two kids saving an alternate realm had been kicking around in my head for a while. Admittedly, I did not think to have them arrive in such a world through a hippo. That's entirely him. I am also mad at the backlog on my TBR list keeping me from reading the second book.
8. MAID TO MATCH by Deeanne Gist - I love history and anything around 1900ish is right up my alley. (There's a reason I have a WIP that takes place in 1909.) It's such a cool time period. Oddly enough, I started loving this era while reading a series of books I hated, but let's not go there. This book just spoke to me! The historical details were so fun and didn't feel like they came right out of a history book. And even though it's been several months since I read it, I can still remember the tension between the two main characters and how desperately I just wanted them to touch.
9. THE BEST INTENTIONS by Candice Hern - Another regency. Ha! Are you surprised? No, you're not. This book made my top ten list because I ADORED the heroine. She was young and a really "hoydenish" -- so reminiscent of some of G.H.'s best heroines.
10. VARIANT by Robison Wells - This one should be further up, but I'm still punishing Mr. Wells for that cliffhanger at the end. My reason for complaint is drying up though, as I'm told the paperback has the first three chapters of the sequel FEEDBACK. Still, he deserves to be down here for making me wait this long to find out WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED!?! Take that.
