Megan Thomason's Blog - Posts Tagged "dystopian"
My favorite books of 2012
I have to start my first blog post by saying I’m not a traditional blogger. There are some exceptional young adult bloggers out there who do thorough reviews of books. I’m a writer of young adult fiction (dystopia & romance) and a huge, huge reader. This past year I read more than 600 books. Note that I don’t typically read quite that many books, but needed some good escape material this past year. Book drama trumps real-life drama quite often!
My reading process:
- Pick one of my favorite books and look it up on Amazon
- Check out the ‘customers also bought� and glance at description and review rating and if it catches my interest, I download a sample. I always download the sample now (before I did this I ended up with some not-so-spectacular books). I often will download 5-10 samples at a time.
- If I see something interesting in my Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ feed that someone I respect gave a good rating to, I’ll look that up on Amazon and download a sample.
- If I like the sample, I buy the book. Always Kindle version and I read on my phone, since I have a serious co-dependent relationship with my iPhone.
- I think I read way more indie books than mass market this year, though I’m pretty sure I read almost all the most successful mass market books. Some of the best books I read were from indie authors. My only complaint with indie books tends to be the level of editing, but I’m willing to overlook an error here or there (just not complete grammatical, spelling, or word misuse mayhem).
- I finish one book and immediately start on the next. I’ve been known to start a book at 1am and stay up until I’m finished if it’s good enough!
I didn’t get hooked on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ until late in the year so most the ratings I’ve given were long, long after I read the book. So, the book either was exceptional enough that I still remember the details to this day, terrible enough that I still (unfortunately) remember the details to this day, or somewhere in the middle. For the in the middle ones, I often had to prompt myself to remember what the book was about to be able to give a rating. But there’s more than a hundred books that I read that I have zero recollection about the book, even with prompting. So, I just didn’t mark those as read or give them a rating, because that wouldn’t be fair.
Finally, to the purpose of my post� I read some absolutely amazing books this last year. Some are literary works of genius and others are just plain fun and took my mind off of some crappy real-life drama happening. I often get asked for book recommendations, so I’m documenting my favorites so that I can point people to this post. These will be by category, in no particular order, with quick impressions, and I’m not sure how many I’ll end up with. Starred are top favorites.
Dystopia
**Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins OK, so I’ve read them each at least ten times and have the movie memorized, but I’d be remiss not to include on a favorites list. I may be one of the few that appreciated it *not* having a traditional happy Disney ending!
**Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth. Loved Divergent. Loved Four and his quirks. The ending� a bit hard to believe, but good twist. Insurgent didn’t quite measure up, but still a good read.
Legend. Gripping, great characters.
Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Wasn’t sure I’d like this one, but ended up really enjoying. Good twists.
Starters by Lissa Price. Creepy, but I like creepy.
Shatter Me & Destroy Me by Tehereh Mafi. Although I don’t find the world that interesting, Shatter Me does an excellent job depicting insanity and Destroy Me managed to make me like one of the bad guys.
The Selection. Starts out a bit too Hunger Games knock-off-ish, but it’s a fun read and I’d recommend for pre-teen/teen girls.
Wither by Lauren Destefano. Loved Wither (though not the ending� I was rooting for a different ending), sequel not as much.
The Unidentified by Rae Mariz.. Not perfect, but a very fresh concept and definitely makes you think about the ridiculousness of the hold Corporate America has on us through its advertising.
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi. Great characters and a believable dystopian world.
Human.4 by Mike A. Lancaster. Very quick read that makes you really, really think.
Rebel Heart by Moira Young. I thought Blood Red Roads was good, but didn't live up to the hype. However, Rebel Heart is excellent. Much better development of the love triangle and intrigue.
**Wool by Hugh Howey. Wow, just wow. I never thought hiking up and down stairs could be so interesting! Incredibly creepy and disturbing.
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. I'd forgotten about this one, so this is a late add, but well deserving of the list. It's absolutely brilliant. The primitive language makes far from a light read. Now, to go read those sequels...
Just plain fun
**That Boy and That Wedding by Jillian Dodd + The Keatyn Chronicles. Love, love, love� so much love. Jillian’s books capture the carelessness of high school and college life so well. I often would like to slap some sense into her main characters, but any book that gets you that involved deserves major kudos.
The Neighbor From Hell series by R.L. Mathewson. The Bradfords in general, and in particular their eating habits, crack me up. Perfect light read to take your mind off things. Not for teens.
Boycotts & Barflies by Victoria Michaels. Best description ever of a series of bad dates. Not for teens.
Heavier romance or relationship content
**Thoughtless and Effortless by S.C. Stephens. Have read several times (and no, didn’t double count in my 600 number �). Love Kellan and the drama he brings. Not for younger teens.
**Easy by Tammara Webber. Super clever, loved the twist, loved the email exchanges. Also recommend Tammara’s Between the Lines series, particularly the first two. Not for younger teens.
The Opportunist and Dirty Red by Tarryn Fisher. Tarryn somehow manages to make a girl with terrible motives likeable with Olivia in The Opportunist. Leah in Dirty Red� still hate her (she’s not likeable in any way), but love the additional context it gave the series. Not for teens.
**The Edge of Never by J.A. Redmerski. Funny, heartbreaking, beautiful. Highly recommend. Not for teens.
Hopeless by Colleen Hoover. First ¾ of the book outstanding, then runs a little long and includes some unnecessary stuff (don’t like the detective bit a bit).
Slammed series by Colleen Hoover. A creative take on the teacher student relationship & I loved the poetry.
The Boy Who Sneaks in My Bedroom Window by Kirstey Moseley. Not for younger teens. The only downside was the vast number of mistakes in the early editions, but I believe those have been fixed.
Love Unscripted by Tina Reber. Not for younger teens. Occasionally long and rambling, it's still a great love story about what it's like to fall for someone famous.
Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire. Truly awesome book about a co-dependent relationship. Not for younger teens.
Series
**Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. Have to say I’m team Adrian. I like the complexity of the world that Richelle built.
The Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine. Here, I’m team Myrnin. Brutal cliffhangers on every book. Great action. Perhaps too little romance.
Celestra Series by Addison Moore. The first book is a little slow, but the series really picks up. Chock full of great humor (Tad and Marshall, in particular). Well done love triangle (or sometimes quadrangle). Brutal cliffhangers. My only quibble is some improperly used words like 'riffle'.
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. Not a Clary fan, but I love the world. Excited for the movie. In my personal opinion, the series should have stopped at 3 books, but I read ‘em anyway.
Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughan. Great pure fantasy series.
Sweet
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han. Great love triangle, very easy read.
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith. Definitely one you won’t be able to put down.
Heart-wrenching
**The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. My daughter got acute myelogenous leukemia at the age of 9 and was given less than a 25% chance of making it, even with a bone marrow transplant. She made it and has been a huge blessing in our lives. So, I was in tears throughout the entire book. It is simply beautiful.
The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen. A stunningly realistic depiction of the various types of abuse and the long-term effect of it.
Fantasy
The Raven Boys and Scorpio Races by Maggie Steifvater. Maggie’s an exceptional writer and I recommend all her books, but these two are my favorites.
Haven by I.R. Ivanovich. A great fantasy read with fresh concept.
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. Loved this book. Great action.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. A magical ride.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. There’s a million angel books out there, but this one stands out.
**Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder. Have read more than once, I liked it so much. Absolutely fantastic beginning and the tension created between the two main characters is brilliant.
Immortal City by Scott Speer. Kudos for a fresh take an overly saturated ‘angels� market.
Middle Grade
**The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen. Great twist and a very fun read.
Max Xylander and the Island of Zumuruud. Completely biased because my husband wrote it, but it’s a fabulous read. I’ve read hundreds of times and still laugh. Philip (the bad guy) is a great character.
Check out my book, daynight! It recently hit the top of the charts in teen science-fiction on Amazon.com and is one of the top-rated teen novels on Amazon!
"A dangerous, dystopian adventure story"-Kirkus Reviews
"Gripping young adult dystopian novel; compelling conflicts; high stakes; powerful narrative; surprises keep coming; strong writing; page-turner; engaging characters; Readers will be hungry for the sequels.�-BlueInk Review (starred review)
If you have favorites I missed, I'm always looking for new books to read!
Thanks & Happy New Year to everyone!
Megan
My reading process:
- Pick one of my favorite books and look it up on Amazon
- Check out the ‘customers also bought� and glance at description and review rating and if it catches my interest, I download a sample. I always download the sample now (before I did this I ended up with some not-so-spectacular books). I often will download 5-10 samples at a time.
- If I see something interesting in my Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ feed that someone I respect gave a good rating to, I’ll look that up on Amazon and download a sample.
- If I like the sample, I buy the book. Always Kindle version and I read on my phone, since I have a serious co-dependent relationship with my iPhone.
- I think I read way more indie books than mass market this year, though I’m pretty sure I read almost all the most successful mass market books. Some of the best books I read were from indie authors. My only complaint with indie books tends to be the level of editing, but I’m willing to overlook an error here or there (just not complete grammatical, spelling, or word misuse mayhem).
- I finish one book and immediately start on the next. I’ve been known to start a book at 1am and stay up until I’m finished if it’s good enough!
I didn’t get hooked on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ until late in the year so most the ratings I’ve given were long, long after I read the book. So, the book either was exceptional enough that I still remember the details to this day, terrible enough that I still (unfortunately) remember the details to this day, or somewhere in the middle. For the in the middle ones, I often had to prompt myself to remember what the book was about to be able to give a rating. But there’s more than a hundred books that I read that I have zero recollection about the book, even with prompting. So, I just didn’t mark those as read or give them a rating, because that wouldn’t be fair.
Finally, to the purpose of my post� I read some absolutely amazing books this last year. Some are literary works of genius and others are just plain fun and took my mind off of some crappy real-life drama happening. I often get asked for book recommendations, so I’m documenting my favorites so that I can point people to this post. These will be by category, in no particular order, with quick impressions, and I’m not sure how many I’ll end up with. Starred are top favorites.
Dystopia
**Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins OK, so I’ve read them each at least ten times and have the movie memorized, but I’d be remiss not to include on a favorites list. I may be one of the few that appreciated it *not* having a traditional happy Disney ending!**Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth. Loved Divergent. Loved Four and his quirks. The ending� a bit hard to believe, but good twist. Insurgent didn’t quite measure up, but still a good read.Legend. Gripping, great characters.Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Wasn’t sure I’d like this one, but ended up really enjoying. Good twists.Starters by Lissa Price. Creepy, but I like creepy.Shatter Me & Destroy Me by Tehereh Mafi. Although I don’t find the world that interesting, Shatter Me does an excellent job depicting insanity and Destroy Me managed to make me like one of the bad guys.The Selection. Starts out a bit too Hunger Games knock-off-ish, but it’s a fun read and I’d recommend for pre-teen/teen girls.Wither by Lauren Destefano. Loved Wither (though not the ending� I was rooting for a different ending), sequel not as much.The Unidentified by Rae Mariz.. Not perfect, but a very fresh concept and definitely makes you think about the ridiculousness of the hold Corporate America has on us through its advertising.Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi. Great characters and a believable dystopian world.Human.4 by Mike A. Lancaster. Very quick read that makes you really, really think.Rebel Heart by Moira Young. I thought Blood Red Roads was good, but didn't live up to the hype. However, Rebel Heart is excellent. Much better development of the love triangle and intrigue.**Wool by Hugh Howey. Wow, just wow. I never thought hiking up and down stairs could be so interesting! Incredibly creepy and disturbing.The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. I'd forgotten about this one, so this is a late add, but well deserving of the list. It's absolutely brilliant. The primitive language makes far from a light read. Now, to go read those sequels...Just plain fun
**That Boy and That Wedding by Jillian Dodd + The Keatyn Chronicles. Love, love, love� so much love. Jillian’s books capture the carelessness of high school and college life so well. I often would like to slap some sense into her main characters, but any book that gets you that involved deserves major kudos.The Neighbor From Hell series by R.L. Mathewson. The Bradfords in general, and in particular their eating habits, crack me up. Perfect light read to take your mind off things. Not for teens.Boycotts & Barflies by Victoria Michaels. Best description ever of a series of bad dates. Not for teens.Heavier romance or relationship content
**Thoughtless and Effortless by S.C. Stephens. Have read several times (and no, didn’t double count in my 600 number �). Love Kellan and the drama he brings. Not for younger teens.**Easy by Tammara Webber. Super clever, loved the twist, loved the email exchanges. Also recommend Tammara’s Between the Lines series, particularly the first two. Not for younger teens.The Opportunist and Dirty Red by Tarryn Fisher. Tarryn somehow manages to make a girl with terrible motives likeable with Olivia in The Opportunist. Leah in Dirty Red� still hate her (she’s not likeable in any way), but love the additional context it gave the series. Not for teens.**The Edge of Never by J.A. Redmerski. Funny, heartbreaking, beautiful. Highly recommend. Not for teens.Hopeless by Colleen Hoover. First ¾ of the book outstanding, then runs a little long and includes some unnecessary stuff (don’t like the detective bit a bit).Slammed series by Colleen Hoover. A creative take on the teacher student relationship & I loved the poetry.The Boy Who Sneaks in My Bedroom Window by Kirstey Moseley. Not for younger teens. The only downside was the vast number of mistakes in the early editions, but I believe those have been fixed.Love Unscripted by Tina Reber. Not for younger teens. Occasionally long and rambling, it's still a great love story about what it's like to fall for someone famous.Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire. Truly awesome book about a co-dependent relationship. Not for younger teens.Series
**Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. Have to say I’m team Adrian. I like the complexity of the world that Richelle built.The Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine. Here, I’m team Myrnin. Brutal cliffhangers on every book. Great action. Perhaps too little romance.Celestra Series by Addison Moore. The first book is a little slow, but the series really picks up. Chock full of great humor (Tad and Marshall, in particular). Well done love triangle (or sometimes quadrangle). Brutal cliffhangers. My only quibble is some improperly used words like 'riffle'.City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. Not a Clary fan, but I love the world. Excited for the movie. In my personal opinion, the series should have stopped at 3 books, but I read ‘em anyway.Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughan. Great pure fantasy series.Sweet
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han. Great love triangle, very easy read.The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith. Definitely one you won’t be able to put down.Heart-wrenching
**The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. My daughter got acute myelogenous leukemia at the age of 9 and was given less than a 25% chance of making it, even with a bone marrow transplant. She made it and has been a huge blessing in our lives. So, I was in tears throughout the entire book. It is simply beautiful.The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen. A stunningly realistic depiction of the various types of abuse and the long-term effect of it.Fantasy
The Raven Boys and Scorpio Races by Maggie Steifvater. Maggie’s an exceptional writer and I recommend all her books, but these two are my favorites.Haven by I.R. Ivanovich. A great fantasy read with fresh concept.
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. Loved this book. Great action.The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. A magical ride.Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. There’s a million angel books out there, but this one stands out.**Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder. Have read more than once, I liked it so much. Absolutely fantastic beginning and the tension created between the two main characters is brilliant.Immortal City by Scott Speer. Kudos for a fresh take an overly saturated ‘angels� market.Middle Grade
**The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen. Great twist and a very fun read. Max Xylander and the Island of Zumuruud. Completely biased because my husband wrote it, but it’s a fabulous read. I’ve read hundreds of times and still laugh. Philip (the bad guy) is a great character.Check out my book, daynight! It recently hit the top of the charts in teen science-fiction on Amazon.com and is one of the top-rated teen novels on Amazon!
"A dangerous, dystopian adventure story"-Kirkus Reviews
"Gripping young adult dystopian novel; compelling conflicts; high stakes; powerful narrative; surprises keep coming; strong writing; page-turner; engaging characters; Readers will be hungry for the sequels.�-BlueInk Review (starred review)
If you have favorites I missed, I'm always looking for new books to read!
Thanks & Happy New Year to everyone!
Megan
