Top Ten Tuesday (16)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by the Broke and the Bookish where a new top ten list is posted each week. This week is: Top Ten Favorite Books I Read in 2011. These are in no particular order.

 1. Wither by Lauren DeStefano
I was a little nervous of the hype about this book as I've been let down in the past, but this was an outstanding read. I loved Rhine and Gabriel, and I adored the fact that there wasn't a conventional love triangle. Instead the author focused on the emotional consequences of living a lie, even if it's for the best reasons.

2. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
This is hands down one of my favourite books of all time. Not only is the cover beautiful (and has an awesome silky/neoprene feel to it) but the book is lyrical and gorgeous in its writing. Plus it has evil water horses. I love evil water horses! I also need to make the November Cakes as they just sound yummy.

3. The Hollow & (The Haunted) by Jessica Verday
I read these two way back in January and loved it. I've got the last book of the trilogy (The Hidden) waiting to be read but I want a weekend where I can curl up with some snickerdoodles and read all three. I love Abby and Caspian, and the whole Sleepy Hollow link is amazing. I'm a sucker for any kind of gothic romance, and this is an outstanding example.

4. Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh
This pick could include all of the Psy-Changeling novels because I absolutely adore them. They are one of my favourite paranormal romance series partly because alongside the beautifully written romances there is some of the best world building I've ever seen. The series is now ten books long and presents a fully fleshed out realistic world.

5. Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden
Back near the start of the year I saw a preview for a movie on TV that seemed really familiar. Five minutes on Google and I knew why. I first read this a few years back, realised the rest of the books were unavailable in the UK and promptly forgot about it. My Mum got me all the books for my birthday (she ordered them from Australia!!!) and I'm totally hooked. The movie is also really good.

6. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
An old favourite of mine that I reread. This was my gateway book to urban fantasy. I'd tried a few authors before, but Kelley Armstrong was the first to get me completely hooked. I really liked Elena and I totally fell for Clay ("I am the local psychopath" lines aside). The last book in the series is out next year *sniff* so I'm guessing I'll be rereading it again.


7. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
Definitely an out of left field pick for me, my reading of this book was basically down to other bloggers. I doubt I'd have even heard of the book without them. I loved Anna and Cas, and then the book threw in an awesome secondary plot that left me with my mouth hanging open. I cannot wait for the sequel!

8. Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
I'd heard good things about this for ages before I read it. It was one of those tricky to get books that I randomly stumbled across one day in a store and snatched up a copy. Evie is awesome (and I soooo need a pink taser). The world is really well developed and I loved how pretty much every kind of paranormal creature is featured.

9. Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward
I finally got around to reading past the first book of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series and can safely say Zsadist's is my favourite book so far. I love the whole tortured anti-hero vibe he has and I like that his story wasn't just "I love you, I'm healed, lets be happy". Z has issues and they rarely come with simple solutions.

10. Shiver, Linger and Forever by Maggie Stiefvater
A blatant cheat I know, but I love this trilogy. I actually waited to start my blog until I had reviews for these as I wanted to get it off to an awesome start. All three books are amazing and I am totally blown away by Sam and Grace every time I read them. As a bonus below is a video of Jonas and Plunkett performing Summer Girl (from Shiver) at Maggie's London signing. Sorry it's not brilliant quality.