This year has been such a fun blogging year for me! My blog turned 1 in May, and I actually got brave enough to ask authors for interviews and guest posts. I fell more in love with Urban Fantasy and out of love with Historical Romances. I even came out of the dark ages and started reading E books.Tasha from Truth, Beauty, Freedom & Books made me read Laura Lee Gurkhe when I needed a new historical romance author, and her book Guilty Pleasures is what started my meter system. The hero, the Duke of Tremore made me sigh a lot...(My review of it is here.) (Oh, and when I said that Tasha and I had different reading tastes? I must've been low on caffeine or something, because our tastes are very similar!
While I used the meter in 2009, I didn't start adding the names of my book boyfriends until Barrons entered my life and got a Hotness Meter. Ethan and Merit totally sizzled in Twice Bitten and got the sizzle meter. Curran from Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews stole my heart and got the Curran Crush Meter. Carolyn Crane flipped me out with her ending of Double Cross and so the Double Cross Curse meter was born. I loved Rhiannon from Dead, Undead and Somewhere in Between so much that she really deserved the Heroine Kick Ass Meter, so it's been named since. Jeff Martini from Touched By Alien and Alien Tango by Gini Koch made me sigh so much he got the Sigh Meter named after him. Thank you to everyone for making blogging so much fun!! Here are a few of my favorite heroes, heroines and books:
While I used the meter in 2009, I didn't start adding the names of my book boyfriends until Barrons entered my life and got a Hotness Meter. Ethan and Merit totally sizzled in Twice Bitten and got the sizzle meter. Curran from Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews stole my heart and got the Curran Crush Meter. Carolyn Crane flipped me out with her ending of Double Cross and so the Double Cross Curse meter was born. I loved Rhiannon from Dead, Undead and Somewhere in Between so much that she really deserved the Heroine Kick Ass Meter, so it's been named since. Jeff Martini from Touched By Alien and Alien Tango by Gini Koch made me sigh so much he got the Sigh Meter named after him. Thank you to everyone for making blogging so much fun!! Here are a few of my favorite heroes, heroines and books:
(Barrons isn't included, because sadly I realized I read him in 2009)
Heroines who Kicked Ass and Took names:
- Rhiannon from Dead, Undead and Somewhere In Between by J.A. Saare
- Kitty from the Kitty Kat Series by Gini Koch
- Merit from the Chicagoland Vampire Series by Chloe Neill
- Kate Daniels from the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews
- Gin Blanco from the Elemental Assassin Series by Jennifer Estep
Honorable Mention: Justine from the Disillusionist Series by Carolyn Crane
Heroes who were just too hot for words:
- Terrible from the Downside Ghost Series by Stacia Kane
- Ethan from Chicagoland Vampire Series by Chloe Neill
- Curran from the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews
- Martini from the Katherine Kitty Katt Series by Gini Koch
- Packard from The Disillusionists Series by Carolyn Crane
Honorable Mentions:
Disco from Dead, Undead and Somewhere In Between by J.A. Saare
John Matthew from Lover Mine by J.R. Ward
Sidekicks I loved:
- Finn from The Elemental Assassin Series by Jennifer Estep
- Morgan from the Chicagoland Vampire Series by Chloe Neill
- Christopher from the Katherine Kitty Kat series by Gini Koch
Endings that made me throw the book across the room :
DreamFever by Karen Marie Moning
Double Cross by Carolyn Crane (I.Still.Can't.Believe.It.)
Books I didn't get why everyone else loved them:
Sex and the Single Earl by Vanessa Kelley
Halfway to the Grave by Jeanne Frost
The Last War by Ana Menedez
Books that I didn't think I'd love but did:
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Burrows
Mind Games by Carolyn Crane
Spiders Bite by Jennifer Estep
Touched by Alien by Gini Koch
Biggest Disappointment: Moon Craving by Lucy Monroe I waited years and years for this book. It didn't live up to what I thought it would be.
Here are some of my favorite books read this year:
Historical Romance
Bound by Your Touch Meredith Duran
Wild Heart by Lori Brighton
A Certain Wolfish Charm by Lydia Dare
The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber
Young Adult
Sea by Heidi Kling
Iron Daughter by Julie Kawaga
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Tyger, Tyger by Kersten Hamilton
Erotica
Coming Undone by Lauren Dane
Rampant by Saskia Walker
Rampant by Saskia Walker
Backstage Pass by Olivia Cunning
Personal Research by Cari Quinn (technically a novella, but..)
Novellas
Primal Attraction by Sydney Somers
Tidal Wave by Vivian Arend
Whirlpool by Vivian Arend
Whirlpool by Vivian Arend
Size Matters by Stephanie Julian
Allegra Fairweather: Paranormal Investigator by Jani Nell
Honorable Mentions: The Ghost Hunter by Lori Brighton, Witches Anonymous by Misty Evans Stone Kissed by Keri Stevens
Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy:
Twice Bitten by Chloe Neill
Sin Undone by Larissa Ione
Mind Games & Double Cross by Carolyn Crane
Lover Mine JR Ward
Unholy Ghosts Stacia Kane
Venom by Jennifer Estep
Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews
Dead, Undead and Somewhere in Between by J.A. Saare
Honorable Mentions: Succubi Like It Hot by Jill Myles, Black Dust Mambo by Adrian Phoenix
My favorite book of the year was:
Honorable Mentions:
All in all 2010 was a great reading year, and I discovered so many great new books and new authors! I can't wait to see what 2011 brings. I think the best thing about 2010 was that I started reading YA again. I wonder what genre I'll discover in 2011? What genres were new for you this year? Who should I be reading? : ) I need to start making my lists for next year now, lol!
