Jess' Top 7 of 2013

I read so many good books this year! Of course, I say that every year - and every year, it's true. :) I didn't hit my reading goal, as this year was a year of changes, but I still feel comfortable with the amount that I have read.

This year I tried to mix in even amounts of indie authors with traditionally published authors, but most of my favorite books this year weighed in on the traditionally published side. Please note that these are books I read this year, not necessarily books that came out this year.

Without further ado, here are my top 7 books from 2013:

#7: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Not only did I love this book, I LOVED this series! Wasn't a huge fan of the movie, but that's how it generally goes with that sort of thing. :) I think you definitely need to check it out if you haven't yet and are a fantasy novel fan.

#6: The First Phone Call From Heaven by Mitch Albom
Even if you're not religious, I think you'll appreciate this book. The main character is actually a skeptic which makes it very enjoyable. It leaves you thinking "What if?"

#5: Reach: A Twin Bred Novel by Karen A. Wyle
Pretty sure this author deserves to be discovered by a big time publisher, because I just plain love her books! The first book of this series made my Top 7 list in 2011, and her second book deserves it just as much. If you like SciFi, check her out - you won't be disappointed.

#4: Cinder by Marissa Meyer
This takes the idea of "new spins on fairytales" into a steampunk realm and rocks it! You'll have fun placing the characters, and will probably enjoy the "Cinderella meets Firefly" feel to this book. The second book in the series is just as good, and there's a third book coming out in 2014 that I"m sure I will love!

#3: Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis
Take a post-apocalyptic future, add in a touch of government conspiracy and a faint echo of Little House on the Prairie (no lie!) and you have this incredible book! I loved the simpleness of this book, which takes almost as much talent to write as a very complicated book.

#2: The Never List by Koethi Zan
This book was dark, and haunted me - but it really deserves to be here! It's not very often that a scary book makes it on my list, so you know it has to be good. Not a great book to read before bed, but you could read it during the day. ;)

#1: The Host by Stephanie Meyer
I'm not the biggest Stephanie Meyer fangirl, but this book was leaps and bounds above the Twilight series - so if you like that series, you'll like this book! This is another post-apocalyptic novel, but in an "alien invasion" way, and it really drives home the idea of second chances. Not only was this a great book, but it was also a solidly good movie!

What were YOUR top books in 2013?

Recommended Read: The Never List by Koethi Zan

The Never List by Koethi Zan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A chilling and twisted tale told from the point of view of a woman with OCD held captive in a cellar for three years by a sadistic and evil man. As she unravels the past to insure he doesn't get parole, she discovers an even darker and more sinister plot involving more women then she could have ever imagined. This is a terrifying story and not for the faint of heart, but a story that deserves to be read because of its brilliance.

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Recommended Read: Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis

Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A chilling look into the not so distant future where the government controls almost all water, and uses that as a means to control it's citizens. The plot is suspenseful, the characters brilliantly hardened by circumstances and intertwined in their struggle for survival. This is a truly remarkable book from a promising new author and well worth the read!

View all my reviews

Recommended Read: Reach by Karen A Wyle

Reach: A Twin-Bred Novel by Karen A. Wyle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I adored Karen's first novel Twin Bred - in fact, it made it into one of my Top Books of 2011 (http://authorjess.blogspot.com/2011/1... ). So when she asked if I'd like to read her next book in the series, I jumped at the chance! I was definitely not disappointed.

Twin Bred are growing up fast as they set forth toward a new land and a new destiny far away from their home world. We get to find out more about the two who were left behind and find their paths linked once more, and all of the Twin Bred learn that difficulties can arise in any environment. The characters develop nicely, the plot is interesting, and the pace is just right. Another wonderful book by a great author!

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Recommended Read: The First Phone Call From Heaven by Mitch Albom

The First Phone Call from Heaven by Mitch Albom
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you received a phone call from a dead loved one, how would you respond? That is the phenomena that sweeps across the small and previously unremarkable town of Coldwater. Some find faith, others find opportunity, still others find answers to past questions. This story is breathtaking and beautiful, and I was so draw in that I could barely put it down! While I may perhaps be skeptical in life, I still found the haunting story to be a fantastic journey into the spiritual realm and imagined how I would react in the situation. This is another great book by Mitch Albom worth reading!

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Flop: The Hidden Masters and Unspeakable Evil by Jack Barrow

The Hidden Masters and the Unspeakable Evil: A hard drinking occult adventure with gambling... and trouser issues by Jack Barrow
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I gave this book an honest effort, but I just couldn't get into it at all. It was repetitive an not interesting enough to pull me in. Maybe it's not my style of literature and would be better suited to a different audience, one that enjoys a different type of dry humor.

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Recommended Read - Big Brother by Lionel Shriver

Big Brother by Lionel Shriver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had to stew on this for a few days before deciding how to rate this book.

Honestly, the entire first part was boring, and a lot of the language used throughout was completely unnecessary. I am all about utilizing the English language intelligently, but sometimes it's more impressive to read a book that is simplistically beautiful than one that feels artificially full of large words. In fact, I sometimes wondered if the author was just trying to hit a word count rather than make a point.

That being said, when you strip away the pretentious language and often unnecessary meandering of the author, there was an incredibly poignant and beautiful story that paints the stark reality of obesity in many modern families.

As someone who works a day job that is at the forefront of the obesity revolution (as a manager of a health club run by former Biggest Loser contestants), I've seen so many of the moments in the book first hand and realize the complexity of what fighting obesity entails.

Without revealing any spoilers, I was initially disappointed with the ending - but then I stepped back and realized that the ending was right for this book and made a good and yet sad commentary on the realities of our culture.

Overall, if you can get past the verbiage to the heart of the story, I think you'll enjoy this book.

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Flop - The Mermaid of Brooklyn by Amy Shearn

The Mermaid of Brooklyn by Amy Shearn
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I thought this book would be more... for lack of a better description, fantasy-inspired. Instead, I found it to be rather boring. The chapters are too long, and the tone, while conversational, was much too rambling for my taste. I didn't really get into the story at all until over a quarter of the way through it, and even then I ended up skimming a lot of the pages due to the boring babbling. I wanted there to be less whining and more mythical action, but sadly it just wasn't meant to be. There were a few moments of true brilliance here and there, so perhaps there is still some value here. Maybe stay at home moms would find this more interesting and relatable. But for me, I was just proud of myself for not giving up after the first couple of chapters. Then again, the ending was so awful that I regretted reading it, so maybe I should have stopped at the beginning!

Definitely not the kind of book for me.

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Recommended Read - Nate Rocks the World by Karen Pokras Toz

Nate Rocks the World by Karen Pokras Toz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This adorable story is just about as fantastical as one of my favorite series as a kid, "The Magic School Bus"! It had a fun and whimsical story line, but may take a little higher reading comprehension, perhaps middle grade. Just lovely!

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Update: A Book Addict Is Never Done Accumulating Books

So, remember how I posted my hefty goal for the year of reading 130 books this year off a list composed of random picks from my To Read list? (If not, check out this post).

As you can see from my ticker on the left hand side of my blog, I won't be hitting my goal. I will probably get to about 80-85% of it, but with all of the many things that came up this year (moving, new job, then a different and "more better" new job, lots of traveling and an increase in my travel agency sales, the illness and then death of my father in law, etc) I just haven't had quite as much time to devote to reading or to keeping up with my reviews.

That being said, I also didn't stick to my original plan very well. It started off great - I sent out a ton of messages to authors and many of them responded and were willing to send me a free copy of their books - but then I started getting inundated with requests from the several publishing companies that I review for... and then I got distracted at several bookstores and bought a bunch of books... and let's face it, I'm frankly such a book addict that I just can't refuse a free book even if it's not on my list for the year! ;)

But the good news is that I did stick to one goal - I've easily already donated almost 75 books to the public library! I went through all the books in my collection when I moved and weeded out many that, while wonderful, I would probably not read again or at least would not miss from my collection, then added that to many of the books I have read this year. It felt good to donate to my library that was sooooo pathetically in need of good literature! :)

Anyway, so here is the updated book list - yes, I realize that most of the books are STILL in the list from the beginning of the year, but I've gotten to most that have been sent to me - except the ones on my Nook, which have taken a lower priority than the hard copies that are stacked up on my office desk and are in need of other joining my collection or being donated so that they are out of the way! ;) If you have access to any of these to send to me, I would greatly appreciate it!

	Failing Test (The Shadow Series, #1)	Pierce, J.M. *
	Before I Go to Sleep	Watson, S.J. *
	The Shapeshifter's Secret	Ostler, Heather*
	Aldo's Fantastical Movie Palace	Friesen, Jonathan
	Whiskey Rebellion (An Addison Holmes Mystery #1)	Hart, Liliana*
	Nanowhere	Howard, Chris *
	Tropical Delusion: Misadventures in Paradise	Ashmead, Jeff*
	The Missing	Leslie, M.A.
	The Counterfeit Princess	Knight, Aubrey *
	This Brilliant Darkness	Tash, Red *
	The Vanishers	Julavits, Heidi
	The Chronicles of Brendan Earle, Apprentice Mage. Totally Interactive. Autosaved.	Studholme, Bob*
	The Moon Moth	Vance, Ja
	No One is Here Except All of Us	Ausubel, Ramona *
	The Thread	Hislop, Victoria
	Silverweed: A Supernatural Fairy Tale (Volume 1)	Vann, Dorlana*
	An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace	Adler, Tama
	In Your Face: The New Science of Human Attraction	Perrett, David*
	The Cordello Quest (Lazuli Portals #1)	Gawn, Joanna *
	The Labbitt Halsey Protocol	Ryan, Andrew M. *
	Amaranth (The Resistance Trilogy, #1)	Wade, Rachael *
	Harvest of the Heart	Selmer, Michael *
	Fair Coin (Coin, #1)	Myers, E.C. *
	Homegrown and Handmade: A Practical Guide to More Self-Reliant Living	Niemann, Deborah *
	Glow (Sky Chasers, #1)	Ryan, Amy Kathleen *
	Katana (Katana, #1)	Gibsen, Cole *
	Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down (Forged Bloodlines #1)	Olsen, Lisa			3.54
	Naked Brain	Hunt, Michael A. *
	The Marcella Fragment	LaForge, Anna*
	How To Lose a Demon in 10 Days (10 Days, #1)	DeWylde, Sarann
	The Fire King	Marks, C.S. *
	Date with a Vampire (Harold the Kung Fu Kid, #1)	Gow, Kailin
	Just Add Magic	Callaghan, Cindy *
	The Legend of Mickey Tussler: A Novel	Nappi, Frank
	Destiny's Call (The Lightbridge Legacy, #1)	James, Elayne G. *
	Summer of the Wolves	Kline, Lisa Williams *
	Lady of The Shadows	Weikel, Belinda M. *
	Humblebrag: The Art of False Modesty	Wittels, Harris
	Walden 3.0: A Dystopian Romance	Fragasso, Phil
	The Never Prayer	Ritchey, Aaron Michael*
	The Puppet Maker's Bones(Death's Order, #1)	Tangredi, Alisa*

			Burning Blue			Griffin, Paul
			The Dream Sanctum			Koeker, Daniel*
			Wordcatcher: An Odyssey into the World of Weird and Wonderful Words			Cousineau, Phil*
			Before Ever After: A Novel			Sotto, Samantha *
			The Hour of Tiamat			Taylor, Lisa *
			Sonora and the Eye of the Titans (Sonora, #1)			Hall, Travis
			Buying Time (An Aspen Moore Novel, #1)			Cochran, Kelly*
			The Mermaid Collector			Marks, Erika *
			Cycles			Brown, Lois D. *
			Aventurine Heart			Wood, Carole
			Program 13 (The Emile Reed Chronicles, #1)			Sobon, Nicol
			Failstate			Otte, John W
			Freakling (Freakling, #1)			Krumwiede, Lana *
			The Seven Keys of Alaesha			Warren, Samantha *
			The Mulligans of Mt. Jefferson: A Novel			Reid, Don
		Spirit Binder (The Cascadian Chronicles #1)			Doidge, Meghan Ciana*
			Thorn			Khanani, Intisar*
			Blue Straggler			Harris, Kathy Lynn *
			Vigilare			James, Brooklyn *
			Rockapocalypse: A Disharmony of Justice			Suggs, Byron
			Edge of the Triangle			Cook, D.H.
			The Hunt (The Hunt, #1)			Fukuda, Andrew
			Matadors			Bauman, Steve*
			Soul Catcher (Dueling with the Devil, #1)			Dumas, Vivi *
			Until Darkness Comes			Price, Melynda*
		How to Be a Woman			Moran, Caitlin
	The Babysitter Murders			Young, Janet Ruth *
	The Torah Codes			Barany, Ezra
	Comic Squad			Voight, Ginger *

					Cinderella Geek						Jennkrist, K. Sean
					The Raven's Gift						Rearden, Don*
					Honor in the Dust: Theodore Roosevelt, War in the Philippines, and the Rise and Fall of America's Imperial Dream						Jones, Gregg
					Lisa's Way						Collins, Robert
					The Pawnbroker						Stuart, Glen
					Hidden from Destiny						Fischer, Micaela *
					Eat Naked: Unprocessed, Unpolluted, and Undressed Eating for a Healthier, Sexier You						Floyd, Margaret *
				The Faerie Guardian (Creepy Hollow, #1)						Morgan, Rachel*
			Multiplayer							Brewer, John C. *
			The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise							Stuart, Julia
			Try Not to Breathe							Hubbard, Jennifer R
			The Burn							Oldham, Annie*
			Songs of the Earth							Cooper, Elspeth *
			Wake Forest							Jackanicz, Charlotte *
			Written In The Sky: Rise of The Wadjet Witch							Obodo, Juliet C. *
			Romeo Spikes							Reay, Joanne
			Dolphin Girl							Delisle, Shel *
			Soul Seeker (Lasniniar, #1)							Smith, Jacquelyn *
			How Lucky You Are							Lewis, Kristyn Kusek *
			Beyond the Misty Shore(Seascape Trilogy, #1)							Barrett, Victoria
		The Only Living Man With A Hole In His Head					Pliss, Todd Colby
	Fathers & Sons (Forts, #1)					Novak, Steven
	Thief (Fringe, #1)					McLeod, Anitra Lynn
	Bound in Vengeance					Nelson, Erik Robert *
	As If a Bird Flew By Me: A Novel					Greenslit, Sara*
	Jokers Club					Bastianelli, Gregory *
	The Black God's War (Splendor and Ruin, #1)					III, Moses Siregar *
	Lacrimosa (Requiem, #1)					Fonseca, Christine *
	Marty Boggs and the Curse of the Mummy's Tomb					Acquaire, M.T. *
	My Dead Boyfriend (Daughter of the Sidhe, #1)					Rose, Barbara
	Big Miracle					Rose, Tom
	Black Crystal (Black Scarlet Saga, #1)					Oakes, R.A. *
	Redheart					Gamber, Jackie *
	Deadwood					Andrews, Kell*
	Lowcountry Boil (A Liz Talbot Mystery, #1)					Boyer, Susan M.*
	Amy Mah Vampire					Mah, Amy
	Freud's Sister: A Novel					Smilevski, Goce
	The Pond					Dubois, Michelle*
	Beautiful Lies					Warman, Jessica
	The Lost Book of Mala R.					MacDowell, Rose *
	The Pawnbroker					Stuart, Glenn
	The Crystal Bridge					Pulsipher, Charles M. *
	The Veil					Oakes, Cory Putman *
	Mouch and Company: The Dream Psychic					Dixon, Bob *
	Vampyre Kisses (The Last Witch, #1)					Kolodziej, Elizabeth J. *
	A Royal Likeness					Trent, Christine *
	Undertow					Kingston, Callie*
	Atlantean (Eternal Trilogy, #1)					Watkins, E.N. *
	The Genesis Key					Barney, James*

Yellow = emailed book request via Goodreads info

Green = received response and book is on the way

Light Blue = eBook format received

Pink = received response, unable to send copy

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