Book Crushin’s Best of 2013 –
Tis the Season for Best of Lists, part 1
Well 2013 is almost over and since we didn’t do our year-end polling and big giveaway this holiday season, I figured we at least have to sum up our best books of 2013! Don’t fret about the giveaways…we decided since there were so many blogs doing December giveaways that we would do our big splash in the New Year! So stayed tuned! We summed up our top 5 favorites that we read in 2013 & the top 5 we wished we got around to reading this year. Today, Kelly’s choices!
Kelly’s 2013 Year in Review:
It was a slow reading year for me. I had a lot going on in my life and this little thing called blogging takes up more time than you would think. However, blogging helped open me up to authors and books I may never had read, but it also kept me from reading some of my regularly scheduled releases from authors I dutifully follow. I read mostly YA & New Adult this year, where in years past I had more Urban Fantasy and Mature reads. I read 60 books this year; down from 70 last year & 77 in 2011, but I have high hopes for 2014! There were so many books releasing this year that I couldn’t keep up! I will summarize those highly anticipated books as well. And thanks to Goodreads apparently almost everything I read this year was rated 5 stars so picking my top 5 will not be easy. Hope you enjoy!
Top 5 Read in 2013:
1. Cornerstone Series by Misty Provencher – I read the entire series this past year and the story is
still with me. I think about it all the time and I recommend it to anyone and everyone that will listen to me gush! It was so original and amazing. So much love for this series. The books are YA, urban fantasy, magical and all around awesome! This list probably would have been boring if I just listed all 4 books in the series as my top 5, so I will lump the series into my favorite read of the year! You can read some of my thoughts and reviews of Jamb (Cornerstone #3) & Capstone (Cornerstone #4).
Amazon Links: Cornerstone, Keystone, Jamb, Capstone
2. Judgement of the Six Series by Melissa Haag – OK so another series! I read all 3 of the released books in this 6 book series in 2013 & I adored them! This is a captivating and fantastic paranormal series about werewolves and before you think you’ve read a lot of were lure…I never read anything like this series and I would recommend it to anyone who likes paranormal! I have a double review for book 1 Hope(less) and book 2 (Mis)fortune & I am about to review book 3 (Un)wise soon but it was a 5 heart book for sure!
Amazon Links: Hope(less), (Mis)fortune, (Un)wise
3. The Indigo Spell (Bloodlines #3) by Richelle Mead – I am sure if I had read A Fiery Heart (Bloodlines #4) it too would be on this list (since I am a huge fan)…but you know life happens and a lot of life was happening for me when it was released this past November. I am really looking forward to sitting down and getting my Adrian fix! *Swoon* Anyway, HUGE fan of The Vampire Academy and the Bloodlines spin-off. I would have never read the series with a title like that, but boy am I glad I did! Each book holds its own and I am never disappointed.
Amazon Links: The Indigo Spell, The Fiery Heart, Silver Shadows
4. Faking It (Losing It #2) by Cora Carmack – I enjoyed Losing It, but I freakin’ loved Faking It! I think itwas just more relate-able to me. I live in Philadelphia, I am a redhead, I am tattooed and to make it weirder, with a tree on my chest! My best friend and cohort read this before me (her review) and she literally said this book reminded me of you! Which I think it a great compliment, now if only I was a badass singer I would have thought Cora Carmack was spying on me! Nah, my life isn’t anywhere near exciting enough for book fodder! Anyway, I don’t read a lot of contemporary romance, but a few books do reach me and this was one of them this year.
Amazon Links: Losing It, Keeping Her(#1.5), Faking It, Finding It, Seeking Her(#3.5)
5. Sweet Peril (The Sweet Trilogy #2) by Wendy Higgins – I was a massive fan of Sweet Evil, so 
it was no surprise that the sequel had a lot to live up to for me. I was an eager beaver and consumed the book, squeed and then re-read it! Check out my review and if you haven’t read the series I hope it helps you decide to give this series a chance! Picking the 5th book wasn’t easy. Like I said I read a lot of good books this year! But I am such a Sweetie…well really it’s all about the swoon and the *Sigh for Kai* Kaidan is definitely in my top 3 book crushes, EVA! Sweet Reckoning releases on April 29, 2014 and I am twiddling my thumbs dying to read it.
Amazon Links: Sweet Evil, Sweet Peril, Sweet Reckoning
Top 5 Books I Wished I Read in 2013:
- The Fiery Heart (Bloodlines #4) by Richelle Mead – I think I covered this one above, but honestly…I
need this romance so I can imagine I’m Sydney & Adrian is mine…all mine. *insert evil laugh* Amazon - Splintered by A. G. Howard – I have been dying to read this since I first heard about it in 2012 (love & hate that Goodreads tells me that I added it to my shelf on 11/16/12). But alas the year has gone by and I still haven’t read it. I am disappointed in myself. Amazon
- Steel Lily (The Periodic Series #1) by Megan Curd – Megan so graciously gave us copies to give away in our Blogiversary celebrations…and an copy for us too. It’s a must read and I promise to get it done soon. Amazon
- World After (Penryn & the End of Days #2) by Susan Ee – Holy Hell both
Shannon & I went berserker for Angelfall but somehow I haven’t read the sequel yet. I pre-ordered it and everything. I have problems. AKA not enough reading time in my life. Amazon - Allegiant (Divergent #3) by Veronica Roth – I know you didn’t expect me to have this on the list, I was kinda vocal about my displeasure of Insurgent (Divergent #2) after I LOVED Divergent! But sometimes sequels are really hard to please the fanatic readers. I know this and sometimes I am too harsh and other times I am really lax, so it depends on my mood while I am reading and that isn’t fair to the authors, but once my feelings are set it’s hard to change them. But I always said I HAD to read the finale of the series, especially after the cliffhanger! When it came out in October to such fan fair and then BOOM, spoilers…like immediately. It was almost as epic as Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince! I hate spoilers…it just ruins the intrigue so I put the book back on the shelf so to speak. I wish I had an ARC so the finale wouldn’t have been spoiled for me. Amazon
Ten Tiny Breaths by K. A. Tucker – Everyone likes this book. It sounds like the kind of Contemporary Romance I would definitely connect with. Shannon loved it & when she rec’s a book out of my comfort zone of reading fantasy, paranormal and sci-fi – I take that rec seriously. Amazon
Had to include a 6th, because well I just did! But I kinda talked about The Fiery Heart in both lists…so I felt I needed to have another.
So did my choices make it to your top 5? Did you decide to give one of my choices a chance and put it on your TBR list? Tell me the 1 book you would add to my list!
