Book Review: Persephone by Kaitlin Bevis

Title:  Persephone
Author:  Kaitlin Bevis
Series:  Daughters of Zeus #1
Genre:  Mythology retelling
Pages:  237 (ebook)

Rating:  A

Synopsis (from goodreads.com):  There are worse things than death, worse people too...  The “talk” was bad enough, but how many teens get told that they’re a goddess? When her mom tells her, Persephone is sure her mother has lost her mind. It isn’t until Boreas, the god of winter, tries to abduct her that she realizes her mother was telling the truth. Hades rescues her, and in order to safely bring Persephone to the Underworld he marks her as his bride. But Boreas will stop at nothing to get Persephone. Despite her growing feelings for Hades, Persephone wants to return to the living realm. Persephone must find a way to defeat Boreas and reclaim her life.

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I cannot say this enough, but I hate ebooks!  I know there are some pros to them, but they're just not for me.  I love the feel of actual pages, and I can't stand the glare of a screen when I'm reading.  Unfortunately, this book was only available as an ebook, so I had no choice but to give in and purchase my first ebook ever.  And as much as I loved this book, the only reason it didn't get an A+ was because of its ebook format.

Just had to rant about that for a second.  Now on to the actual book review.  I love retellings of myth and fairy tales, and the story of Hades & Persephone is one of my favorites.  Persephone by Kaitlin Bevis was an incredible retelling, with my favorite version of Hades ever.  He's charming, kind, handsome, and sometimes forceful, with just a bit of a smirking "bad boy" air.  His relationship with Persephone gave me chills.  Persephone herself was an interesting character, constantly switching between annoying teenager and powerful goddess.  But I guess I couldn't blame her for how she reacted sometimes.  I don't know how I would've handled learning I was a goddess.

The story focuses mostly on the development of the relationship between Persephone and Hades, but there's also the problem of Persephone being a target for kidnapping.  The adventures she has while learning about her powers and how to protect herself are exciting, and the final climax is captivating.  And of course, the book had to end on a cliffhanger, so I just had to buy the next book immediately afterwards, despite my distaste for its online format.  I'm so excited to see what Bevis has in store for Persephone and Hades (especially Hades) in the sequel.  A

Book Review: The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer

Title:  The Talisman Ring
Author:  Georgette Heyer
Genre:  Regency romance
Pages:  303

Rating:  A+

Synopsis (from goodreads.com):  When spirited Eustacie stumbles into a band of smugglers, she is delighted to be having an adventure at last. Their leader, young heir Ludovic Lavenham, is in hiding, falsely accused of murder. Pursued by the law, Eustacie and Ludovic find refuge at an unassuming country inn. The resourceful Miss Sarah Thane and the clear-thinking Sir Tristram Shield gamely endeavor to prevent Ludovic's arrest and Eustacie's ruin as the four conspire to recover the missing talisman ring that will clear Ludovic's name.

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When I started reading The Talisman Ring, I came really close to putting it down and not bothering with it.  The book started off introducing two of the four main characters, and at first, I couldn't stand Eustacie.  In the beginning, she seems so spoiled and melodramatic, and I just wanted to slap her.  I didn't think I could possibly bear reading an entire book about her.  I'm so glad I decided to stick with it, because this book is hilarious.  It's a romance, an adventure, and a comedy all rolled into one. 

The four main characters are Eustacie, Ludovic, Tristram, and Sarah.  When I saw that two of the character's names were Eustacie and Ludovic, I was a little worried that Heyer had lost her mind, but their names turned out to be very fitting.  Eustacie is a headstrong girl with an overactive imagination; Ludovic is the handsome heir who's resorted to smuggling to keep himself busy.  They're both funny and impatient and headstrong.  But my favorite characters were their friends Tristram and Sarah.  Tristram is Ludovic's serious, no-nonsense cousin with a dry, and sometimes wicked, sense of humor.  Sarah is their new friend who treats everything serious with a mocking tone and everything humorous in a grave, serious tone.  Together, this ensemble of personalities have incredibly funny conversations that made me literally laugh out loud while reading.

Besides all the hilarious dialogue (which is the best part of the whole book), the story was exciting and adventurous, and the romance was sweet.  I'm so incredibly happy I gave this book a chance past chapter one, because if I hadn't, I would have missed out on what is now one of my favorite Heyer books ever.  A+

Book Review: Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer

Title:  Footsteps in the Dark
Author:  Georgette Heyer
Genre:  Mystery
Pages:  347

Rating:  A-

Synopsis (from goodreads.com):  What begins as an adventure soon becomes a nightmare... Locals claim it is haunted and refuse to put a single toe past the front door, but to siblings Peter, Celia, and Margaret, the Priory is nothing more than a rundown estate inherited from their late uncle-and the perfect setting for a much-needed holiday. But when a murder victim is discovered in the drafty Priory halls, the once unconcerned trio begins to fear that the ghostly rumors are true and they are not alone after all! With a killer on the loose, will they find themselves the next victims of a supernatural predator, or will they uncover a far more corporeal culprit?

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First, let me start off by saying "HAPPY NEW YEAR!!"  Now that that's out of the way, I can start on the review.

Why Shoot a Butler? was my first Georgette Heyer mystery, and Footsteps in the Dark is my second, but I enjoyed this one so much more.  The characters, the dialogue, the setting, the mystery itself -- they all work together to make an awesome story.

In this book, there are four main characters, rather than one or two.  The siblings - Peter, Celia, and Margaret - and Celia's husband Charles are at the center of this adventure.  Interestingly enough, even though it's only the siblings who get mentioned in the book description, Charles is really the strongest and most predominant character in the book.  Each one has a unique personality that gets to shine; even the secondary characters get plenty of development.  The dialogue is typical of a Heyer novel - witty, sarcastic, and fun.  Especially when Charles was part of the conversation.  (Obviously Charles was the best character in this book.)

The setting for the mystery was perfect too.  An old estate with hidden passages and creaking stairs and overgrown woods.  It just radiated secrecy and intrigue.  And the mystery itself was exciting and spooky.  It was one part mystery and one part ghost story.  I loved it.  My only problem was that once again, I figured out ahead of time who the villain was.  Fortunately, I hadn't also figured out the how or why, but it was a little disappointing to not be surprised at the end.  Of course, someone else reading the book might not figure it out at all.  

Overall, the book was great.  Romance, humor, mystery, sarcasm - what else could you possibly need?  A-

Book Review: Why Shoot a Butler? by Georgette Heyer

Title:  Why Shoot a Butler?
Author:  Georgette Heyer
Genre:  Mystery
Pages:  329

Rating:  A-

Synopsis (from goodreads.com):  Every family has secrets, but the Fountains' are turning deadly... On a dark night, along a lonely country road, barrister Frank Amberley stops to help a young lady in distress and discovers a sports car with a corpse behind the wheel. The girl protests her innocence, and Amberley believes her--at least until he gets drawn into the mystery and the clues incriminating Shirley Brown begin to add up...
In an English country-house murder mystery with a twist, it's the butler who's the victim, every clue complicates the puzzle, and the bumbling police are well-meaning but completely baffled. Fortunately, in ferreting out a desperate killer, amateur sleuth Amberley is as brilliant as he is arrogant, but this time he's not sure he wants to know the truth...

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Why Shoot a Butler? was my first Georgette Heyer mystery, so I really didn't know what to expect when I started it.  Having only read Heyer's regency romances, I thought there was a good chance the story would have witty dialogue, lots of descriptions of people and places, and an interesting heroine.  I missed two out of three.  First, there's no heroine, but a "hero."  The main character of this story is Frank Amberley, a barrister/amateur sleuth with a smirking haughtiness that hides his intelligence and passion.  He actually reminds me of Sir Percy Blakeney, aka the Scarlet Pimpernel, except that Sir Percy uses humor and goofiness as a cover the way Amberley uses arrogance.

Secondly, the long descriptive passages that Heyer normally has in her romances are nonexistent here.  In this book, Heyer's main focus is not on the landscapes or what people are wearing, but on the mystery itself.  Her story is non-stop movement from beginning to end; there's no time to spend on descriptions.  The story may seem a little bare at times because of the lack of any involved details on the characters and their surroundings, but since the plot never really slows down, there isn't a lot of time to notice it. 

The one thing I did guess correctly was the dialogue.  It wouldn't be a Heyer book without amazing conversations and sarcasm.  Amberley's dialogue is sharp, witty, and biting.  His conversations with his uncle are hilarious, as his uncle doesn't always understand sarcasm.  But the best conversations are between Amberley and Shirley Brown, the possible "femme fatale."  She's not impressed with Amberley's wit, and has no problem telling him off.

As for the mystery itself, it was exciting and had the appropriate number of twists and turns, with a somewhat unexpected ending.  I admit that after reading a lot of mysteries (and watching a lot of crime shows), I've realized that it's never the obvious person you suspect, and therefore I'm not always surprised at the endings.  With this book, as I said, I was somewhat surprised because I had two guesses as to who the villain was, and one of them was right.  But I never guessed the motive or how the solution would unfold.  A-

Book Review: A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer

Title:  A Civil Contract
Author:  Georgette Heyer
Genre:  Regency romance
Pages:  422

Rating:  A-

Synopsis (from goodreads.com):  Adam Deveril, Viscount Lynton, returns home from war to find his family in financial ruin. To help his family, he sacrifices his love for the beautiful Julia and marries plain Jenny Chawleigh, whose father is a wealthy businessman determined to marry his daughter into a title.
Adam chafes under Mr. Chawleigh's generosity, and Julia's behavior upon hearing of the betrothal nearly brings them all into a scandal. But Jenny's practicality and quiet love for Adam bring him comfort and eventually happiness. And over time, their arranged marriage blossoms into love and acceptance across the class divide.

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For Christmas this year, I asked for a bunch of books by Georgette Heyer, and I got them!  Of the Heyer books I got, A Civil Contract was the first one I read.  Unlike most of Heyer's other books, this book is much more serious in tone, and its love story isn't a whirlwind, swoon-worthy romance.  Adam Deveril and Jenny Chawleigh marry for convenience, and they face their ups and downs together, eventually realizing that they do love one another.  It's not the typical passionate, breathtaking love that comes and goes, but a deep, steady love that's grown out of mutual respect and companionship.

Heyer's heroine in this story is very different from her typical female leads.  In most of Heyer's books, the girl is beautiful but poor; Jenny Chawleigh is the opposite.  Neither poor nor beautiful, she does possess a good head on her shoulders and a dry sense of humor.  Her "hero," Adam Deveril, doesn't deserve the title.  He's often rude to Jenny, and sometimes fails to hide his feelings for his first love Julia whenever she's around.  Lucky for him, Jenny is a very understanding and patient woman.

I really enjoyed how Heyer looked at what might be the outcome of an an arranged marriage.  The disbelief and awkwardness at first, followed by the slow acclimation to one another's personalities, and finally the realization that what the two of them share is much more enduring than the feelings of being "in love."  Heyer never becomes unrealistic by having either of her characters suddenly wake up one day and say, "I can't believe I didn't see it before! I'm madly in love with him/her!"  I admit a little part of me was hoping for that breathtaking aha! moment, but in the end, I'm glad it didn't happen.  It would have seemed forced and unreal.  What Heyer portrays in A Civil Contract is a real love, which was a refreshing change from the typical romance.  A-

Book Review: The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett

It seems that with every Pratchett movie-adaptation, I always see the movie before reading the book.  That's true in this case as well.  I watched The Color of Magic with my family a few years ago, and only now read the two books which it's based on.  I think part of the reason it took so long was because, of the three Pratchett adaptations I've seen -- The Color of Magic, Going Postal, and The Hogfather, -- it's my least favorite.  I love all three of them, but I just love this one a little less.  And no offense to Pratchett, but I think Rincewind is the probably the most annoying main character he's ever written.

That being said, I still really enjoyed both The Color of Magic and its sequel, The Light Fantastic.  They were the first two Discworld books that Pratchett ever wrote, so in the beginning, they do feel a little like they're a giant introduction to the Discworld universe.  But once you get to the actual main plot, the story's pace quickens and holds your attention.  The story tells of a failed wizard named Rincewind, living in Ankh-Morpork, who has the misfortune to meet a strange little man calling himself a "tourist."  Rincewind finds himself roped into being a tour guide to this little man, Twoflower, who unfortunately doesn't understand the meaning of fear or sarcasm or subtlety.  While nearly losing his life a thousand times taking Twoflower around, Rincewind must also save the world... no biggie.

As I said before, Rincewind is a very annoying main character, but he grows on you.  Twoflower is the real star of these books.  His simple and naive outlook on the world, as well as his inability to know when to keep his mouth shut, leads to some very interesting situations for both him and Rincewind.  The secondary characters also shine in these books.  Each one has their own unique personality, and each adds a fun twist to the storyline.

As with all of the Discworld books, Pratchett filled these books with sarcasm and satire, making fun of much of what we consider normal parts of life.  Government, fantasy stereotypes, insurance, and tourism are just some of the topics that Pratchett has fun with.

Perhaps my biggest disappointment with the books was how little they focused on the Unseen University and the wizards.  I thought their storyline was awesome, and I would've loved to have read more about them.  But despite that, I found The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic fun and entertaining, with plenty of adventure and comedy.  While they're certainly not my favorite Pratchett books, they were definitely worth reading.  B+

Top Ten Tuesday #6

I really meant to post this either Monday night or Wednesday but never got to it.  Christmas was a little more important than updating my blog.  So instead, I'm posting my belated Top Ten Tuesday on Thursday.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish.  This week they let us have a freebie and choose whatever topic we wanted, and I really wanted to post my Top Ten (and then some) Fictional Crushes.

My Top Ten Fictional Crushes

• Edward Rochester (Jane Eyre)  -  I love the dark, brooding anti-hero.  Mr. Rochester's such a passionate romantic, and you can't help but love him, even when you know he's in the wrong.
• Mr. Darcy (Pride & Prejudice)  -  Honestly, who doesn't love Mr. Darcy?  Haughty and proud at first glance, but really a big softie underneath, especially where his sister's concerned.  And anyone who can hold his own in a conversation with Elizabeth Bennett is pretty amazing.
• Severus Snape (Harry Potter series)  -  I loved him from the very beginning of the series.  Even when everyone else thought he was really a traitor, I just knew deep down that Severus wasn't evil.
• Sir Percy Blakeny (The Scarlet Pimpernel)  -  So funny when he's pretending to be dimwitted, and so passionate in his feelings for his wife.  The description of him kissing the ground where she walked because his feelings are so intense just gives me shivers.
• Peeta Mellark (The Hunger Games trilogy)  -  Team Peeta all the way!  He's so sweet, strong, and dependable; he'd be there for you no matter what.
• Lord Carlyon (The Reluctant Widow)  -  I love someone who's witty and sarcastic, and Lord Carlyon is a perfect example.  His sarcastic banter is entertaining and quick; you'd never be bored.
• Robert Beaumaris (Arabella)  -  Beaumaris is just the right mix of every Austen hero, and his dry sense of humor is so amusing.  Every time I read this book, I want so badly to be Arabella.
• Barney Snaith (The Blue Castle)  -  I love him because he's kind and considerate, but he has a mysterious side.  I'd love to live on his little island in Canada, just the two of us.
• Faramir (The Lord of the Rings)  -  He's kind and gentle without being timid or weak.  He's brave and strong without being proud.  He's noble and wise; he's the quintessential knight in shining armor.
• Raistlin (The Dragonlance Chronicles)  -  I fully admit to having a thing for the "bad guy".  Raistlin is definitely dangerous, mysterious, and power-hungry, but he's not past all redemption or hope.  He often seems ruthless, but he's got a soft side that he hides from his companions.

And the honorable mentions are:  Boromir (The Lord of the Rings), Colonel Brandon (Sense & Sensibility), Professor Bhaer (Little Women), Howl (Howl's Moving Castle), Michael Pardue (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day), Calvin Featherbone (The Gentleman Outlaw and Me ~ Eli), Dustfinger (The Inkworld trilogy), Dodge Anders (The Looking Glass Wars), The Beast (Beauty), and John Thornton (North & South).

There are many more fictional characters that I love, but these are the current top twenty.

Worth Losing Sleep For

Have you ever read a book that is so good that you just cannot put it down?  Even if it's after midnight, and you know you have to get up for work at 5:30am?  I love that kind of book, which is evidenced by the times I've gone into work exhausted from needing to finish a book.  So far this month, two books have been worthy of keeping me up late.

 Shadowfell by Juliet Marillier was an awesome read.  The story centers around Neryn, a sixteen-year-old girl with a special gift that puts her life in danger, thanks to the king's desire to slaughter anyone with these gifts.  When left to fend for herself, she decides to journey to Shadowfell, the location of the resistance, and on the way has many adventures with members of the faerie folk.  She also meets a mysterious stranger named Flint, who rescues her but is hiding something.

I could not put this book down.  It was exciting and full of adventure; it never seemed to drag at all.  Because the story was about a journey, the "action" was continuous, and it kept me on the edge of my seat.  Besides a good plot, the book also had great characters and character development.  Neryn and Flint were the main characters, but the faerie folk stole the show.  They each had a distinct personality and voice.  I just kept wishing they had bigger roles.  Maybe in the next book?  I also liked the characters that had very brief, small roles in the book; they were well-written and developed and not just glossed over.  This was my first Marillier book, and if her other books are anything like this one, then I will definitely be reading them.

The sequel for Shadowfell is coming out in 2013, and I cannot wait to see what happens next!  A

This next review's gonna be a bit longer, since I read the book only two days ago so it's fresh on my mind.  

I love Rick Riordan and his Greek/Roman mythology series, and The Mark of Athena is the best book of the series yet!  Lots of adventure, plenty of action, romance, friendship, mythology - pretty much everything I love in a book.  I started this Wednesday morning and absolutely could not put it down until I finished it that night.  And now I have to wait until October to find out what happens next!

After being separated for so long, the whole gang has been reunited - Percy with Annabeth & the Camp Half-Blood demigods and Jason with the New Rome demigods.  Despite the fact that the Greeks & Romans have avoided contact before, they now must work together to save the world.  Just a normal day in the life for these guys.

One of my favorite things about this book is that we get to see things from Annabeth's point of view.  In the original Percy Jackson series, everything was from Percy's POV (makes sense).  In the first two books of the new series, everyone's had a chance to have their POV heard, except Annabeth.  So it was really cool to finally get inside her head, and see how she deals with everything happening around her and to her.  It was also awesome to have Percy & Annabeth back together again.  It just felt so wrong when they were separated.

The other characters were great too.  Their interactions with one another as they adjusted to being a team was a source of both tension and humor, especially between Frank, Leo, and Hazel.  The two guys hamming it up and getting on each other's nerves to impress Hazel was just the right amount of humor needed to keep the book from being too tense and serious.  Besides the Frank-Hazel-Leo situation, there was plenty of other romance too.  Of course Percy & Annabeth being reunited provided some of the romance, but Piper & Jason were dealing with their own relationship as well.

But the part of the book that really got me was the ending.  I still cannot believe how the book ended; it was totally unexpected.  Usually Riordan tends to end his books a specific way.  It's not that there's always a happy ending, but usually by the end of the book, the main bad guy of that particular book has been vanquished, and the characters have a little bit of peace before their next adventure.  Riordan rarely does the huge OMG cliffhangers (I laughed when I wrote cliffhanger, and if you've read the book, then you get it), but he really went all out in The Mark of Athena.  I just can't believe that he stopped where he did; that he did what he did to those two characters (trying to avoid spoilers is hard).  It's killing me that I have to wait almost a year for the next book!   A+

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

It's so hard to write reviews of movies that just came out without giving anything away, but I shall try.

I really liked The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  It's fun and exciting.  It's definitely not on the same level as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but it's still very good.  And it's definitely not for children.  The book may have been written for kids, but this movie is rated PG-13 for action violence (lots of action violence) and scary images, aka really creepy orcs and gross goblins (totally unintentional alliteration).

In adapting the book to the movie, there were changes of course, but I was expecting them so they didn't bother me too much.  Also, I didn't mind the extra material that Peter Jackson said he'd be adding from The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings appendices.  It was interesting, and it definitely helps explain things, such as where Gandalf was whenever he left Bilbo & the dwarves in the book.

The dwarves are amazing.  Each one has a unique look and personality; it's not just a homogenous group of white-bearded short guys.  Certain dwarves got some more screen time than others, especially Fili & Kili (being the youngest "hot" dwarves).  The movie also just further proved that my favorite actor, Richard Armitage (Thorin Oakenshield), is incredibly talented and worthy of being my favorite.  I love him so much, and his portrayal of Thorin is brilliant.

Bilbo's character is a bit different.  In the books, Bilbo would never have run off gleefully to join an adventure or willingly jumped into a fight with orcs, but in this movie adaptation, he's become a bit braver.  Martin Freeman was definitely the right choice to play Bilbo, as he's a great actor and really brings Bilbo to life.  Gandalf is the same abrupt, pipe-smoking, Hobbit-loving wizard.  McKellen has made that role entirely his; anyone else would just have been wrong.

My biggest complaint (and there aren't many) is the CGI.  In the Lord of the Rings trilogy, there was an army of extras dressed in full costume to play the orcs, but in The Hobbit, they took what is probably the most current and possibly cheapest route.  The orcs, the goblins, the elf army, and the dwarf army were all CGI.  Of course there were CGI characters in the original trilogy, but there weren't as many.  And the problem with using so much CGI is that it makes the movie look so much less real.  I remember so many people loved Avatar because they said the CGI looked so real.  But when I watched it, it just looked like very good computer graphics.  In The Hobbit, I feel like the CGI wasn't always that good.  There were moments when it was so fake that it was distracting.  I can't even imagine how it looks in 48fps.

Besides the CGI, I can't really find much else to say about this movie that's negative.  Good acting, lots of adventure, and a classic story make this an awesome movie that I would absolutely see again.  And I'm looking forward to seeing what Jackson has done with the rest of the story.  A

Side note -  I know it seems silly to complain about this, but for the past few years, every time we go to the theater, every time, someone tall sits in front of me.  It doesn't matter if they're part of a group or by themselves; when choosing a seat, they always pick the one in front of me.  If they're part of a group, it doesn't really bother me too much, but it really irks me when it's just one person.  When we went to see The Hobbit, I was sitting towards the end of the row, the last of my friends, and there was a seat between me & the two people sitting at the very end of the row.  All the rows in front of us were empty, and a very tall guy walks down the whole row in front of us and picks the seat directly in front of me.  WHY???  It wasn't like I was right in the middle, and if he'd gone one more seat down, he wouldn't have been sitting in front of anyone.  Like I said, I know it's silly to make a big deal of it, but it would be nice to see a movie again without someone's head in the middle.  (And of course, when sharing this story at work, one coworker compared me to a hobbit, and two other coworkers couldn't help teasing and said I should bring a booster seat next time.  Pfft!)

Top Ten Tuesday #5

I'm still so shocked that we're at the end of 2012 already, and it's only one week til Christmas.  I hope everyone's finished their Christmas shopping so they don't have to brave the malls this week.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish.  This week's topic is the Top Ten favorite reads of 2012.

Top Ten Favorite Reads of 2012

1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green  -  I'm so in love with this book.  It is by far the best read of the entire year.  Beautiful, touching, and real, TFiOS is both a book that makes you cry and a book that makes you think.  And Augustus & Hazel are one of the best literary couples ever.
2. The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins  -  I really loved this trilogy.  Gritty and edge-of-your-seat exciting, plus some romance, this was a great read.  I can't wait to read it again, but the story can be so real and so heartbreaking.  I'll definitely need tissues at the ready.
3. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green  -  So lighthearted and fun, AAOK was such a breath of fresh air after reading all these intense dystopian novels.  I love the main character, Colin, but it was really his best friend who stole the book.  Hassan is the most awesome comedic relief/sidekick.
4. Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien  -  So incredibly amazing.  The plot, the characters, and the settings all worked together to make this book so incredible.  After The Hunger Games, this is by far my favorite YA dystopian novel.  I cannot wait to see what happens next!
5. Matched by Ally Condie  -  I discovered this year that I'm a sucker for dystopian romances, especially if it's a love triangle.  Lucky for me, the majority of what I read this year fits that exact description.  In this book, while I felt like the secondary characters and setting descriptions didn't get a lot of attention or development, I really liked the plot concept and the relationship between Cassia & Ky.
6. Cinder by Marissa Meyer  -  I thought this was an awesome retelling of Cinderella, mixing just the right amount of the original concept with steampunk, dystopia, and science fiction.  I originally wasn't quite sure how I felt about the lunar people part, but it works really well with the story.
7. The Selection by Kiera Cass  -  Besides having a great concept (Dystopian future meets beauty pageant), this book had one of my favorite heroines of the year.  America is smart, funny, and outspoken, not afraid to say what she thinks, even to royalty.  Cass also did a great job making the tension between the "contestants" so tangible, you can feel it.
8. Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer  -  A great ending to one of my favorite series.  I was a little worried about how Colfer was going to wrap up Artemis Fowl's adventures.  But there was no need.  It was just the right amount of fantasy, science, and adventure.  And the ending was unexpected but satisfying.
9. Soul Music by Terry Pratchett  -  I blame my brother for getting me hooked on Pratchett a few years ago, and now I try to read at least one Pratchett book a year.  I especially love the character Death, so any novels that have more of a focus on him are my favorites.  This book was fun not only because of its Death storyline, but also because it's an incredibly funny satire on the rise of rock-n-roll music.
10. Shadowfell by Juliet Marillier  -  This is my first Marillier novel, and I'm so glad I picked it up.  I couldn't put this book down once I started it.  Fantasy is my favorite genre, so the book already had that in its favor.  But I really loved this book for its characters.  Neryn, Flint, and the fairy folk are all amazing, mostly due to Marillier's great character development throughout the novel.  Now I'm so excited to catch up on other series and novels by Marillier.