Sunday 26 December 2010

Top Pearls of 2010

2011 is almost here so I decided to make a post listing the books that I most enjoyed reading this year.

I'll start of with the five books/series that blew me away and are not just on my top list of this year, but also made it on my list of all time favourites. Suprisingly enough all 4 authors of my top 5 pearls list had their debut as published writer this year*. I certainly hope we'll hear lots more about them in years to come.

(*please do not wack me if I'm mistaken and missed out on earlier work.)

I'm not going to try to say which one of these five series/books is the best as my feelings about that change depending on wether I'm in the mood for vampires, aliens, ghosts, tarot or disillusionists.

Anyway: here they come in random order:


The Justine Jones: Disillusionist trilogy by Carolyn Crane
So far there's two book out in this series: Mind Games and Double Cross
Mind Games was unbelievably cool and Double Cross was even better. Gritty, witty and full of action and heartache. I'm looking forward to reading the last book of this trilogy in 2011.

The Katherine (Kitty) Katt series by Gini Koch
I stumbled upon this series as the cover artwork by Daniel Dos Santos drew my attention and was hooked from the start as the stories are even better than the covers. So far there's two books: Touched by an Alien and Alien Tango, but luckily there's lots more books to come. The next book Alien in the Family will be released in April 2011.

The Delphic Oracle series by Alayna Williams*
There's one book out in this series so far: Dark Oracle.
This is a book I wanted to read as soon as I heard about it, but I had to wait a couple of months before it was released. And it was so worth the wait as it was even better than I had hoped. Highly underappreciated in the book blogging community in my opinion, this book drew me in and wouldn't let me go until I finished it (not that I wanted to go I must add). I'm looking forward to Rogue Oracle, which will be released in March 2011

The Anya Kalinczyk series by Laura Bickle*
So far there's two books out in this series: Embers and Sparks.
I loved Embers, especially because of Sparky, Anya's familiar, but it was Sparks that blew me away with it's total awesomeness. It's not clear at the moment if there will be more books, but I'm really hoping there will be.

The H&W Investigations series by Jess Haines
So far there's one book out in this series: Hunted by the Others, but the next book, Taken by the Others will be released in January 2011 and there's lots more to come.
Shia dances on that thin line that makes a heroine either likeable or a total bitch. For me the scales tipped to likeable though. Add some other cool characters to that, a kick ass story and intriguing, but nasty politics and you got me hooked!


*Yup, one author is on this list twice. Alayna Williams and Laura Bickle are one and the same.



So now you know my five top pearls of 2010, but I'm not stopping there! There's two more lists I want to share with you.

The Best of the Rest:


Favourite YA read of 2010: Downsiders by Neal Shusterman
The Ebook that got me into reading ebooks: Wolf Signs by Vivian Arend
Best Zombie read of 2010: Soulless by Christopher Golden
Best SciFi read: Grimspace by Ann Aguirre


Honourable Mentions:


Once Bitten, Twice Dead by Bianca D'Arc
Deadtown by Nancy Holzner
Spellbent by Lucy A. Snyder
the Iron Duke by Meljean Brook


And lastly I want to mention a book that might have made it on one of my lists if only I started reading it sooner:

Afterlife by Merrie Destefano
Reading this book at the moment and so far loving it.

10 comments:

Aleksandra said...

All of these books are on my tbr list or wishlist, but still haven't read any of them. I plan to read at least half of them in 2011, starting with Dark Oracle :) Happy Holidays!!!

Laura Bickle said...

Awww, thanks so much for thinking of me (and my alter ego!). I'm so glad that you enjoyed them! *Hugs*

Unknown said...

Aww, thank you!! So glad you enjoyed HBTO!

<3,
-J

Gini Koch said...

Woot, always happy to make one of your lists, Sully! *smootchies* Great choices all around!

Unknown said...

I completely agree with your choices Sully!! Embers, Mind Games and Touched by an Alien are also on my Top 2010 Reads List (the others Dark Oracle and Hunted by the Others are not on it yet because I haven't gotten around to read them, but I ahve a feeling they'll get on my Top 2011 list :-p)

Sweet Vernal Zephyr said...

Lovin' this list! Thanks so much for sharing. I will be sure to bookmark this for when I go shopping next!

Sullivan McPig said...

Thanks everyone!
@Laura, Jess and Gini: You have yourself to thank for making the list by writing such awesome books! ;-)

Unknown said...

Aww... *le blush* You are such a doll!

<3,
-J

Anonymous said...

I am dying for book three in the Dissillusionist series! Thank goodness I have several more Gini Koch books coming down the pipeline to stave off the desperate measures.

Anonymous said...

PS: Hiya Sully and Oink!