The year is half over and I'm working towards my goal of reading 85 books this year. I'm excited to see that so far according to Goodreads challenge tracker I am currently on track. Very good news since last year I missed my 75 books. Last year didn't end typically though so I have to take that into consideration. THIS year is looking much better. I haven't hit my lull at all. Do you ever have a lull? I am so used to having a weekend or two throughout the course of the year where I just get BLAH and can't focus on ANYTHING! Luckily that has yet to slow me down.
So looking back over the, well at this writing anyways, 45 books I've read so far this year I thought I could recap some of my favorite books and ask what are some of your favorite books you've read so far this year. I have to admit not all of mine are current releases, so I may not have anything that anyone else has read this year, but it is still fun to compare. We may even inspire the other to read one of our favorites!
Without further ado....The List!
(in no particular order!)
Really cool! I just stumbled upon the writer Heather Dixon's site and found a Q&A for her novel Entwined, which so happens to be on my list of favorites this year. So you can hop over there and check out her blog and some Q&A's about the novel.
Author's Book Blurb:
Azalea and her younger sisters dance in the mysterious silver forest every night, escaping from the sadness of the palace and their father’s grief. What they don’t understand—although as time passes they begin to get an inkling of the danger they are in—is that the mysterious and dashing Keeper is tightening his snare with deadly purpose. Luckily, Azalea is brave and steadfast. Luckily, a handsome young army captain also has his eye on Azalea. . . . Lush, romantic, and compelling, this debut novel by Heather Dixon will thrill fans of Shannon Hale, Robin McKinley, and Edith Pattou.This novel is a sort of retelling of the Grimm's tale 12 Dancing Princesses. So fair warning.....LOTS OF DANCING. Now don't say I didn't warn you!!
Check out my review here.
Author's Book Blurb:
Before Briony's stepmother died, she made sure Briony blamed herself for all the family's hardships. Now Briony has worn her guilt for so long it's become a second skin. She often escapes to the swamp, where she tells stories to the Old Ones, the spirits who haunt the marshes. But only witches can see the Old Ones, and in her village, witches are sentenced to death. Briony lives in fear her secret will be found out, even as she believes she deserves the worst kind of punishment.Then Eldric comes along with his golden lion eyes and mane of tawny hair. He's as natural as the sun, and treats her as if she's extraordinary. And everything starts to change. As many secrets as Briony has been holding, there are secrets even she doesn't know.
Have you heard of SARK? I had not until I stumbled across the most colorful book I've ever found in the non-fiction section. When I first picked it up I knew I needed to check it out. The coolest thing about this author's books is that she writes these books BY HAND! In multiple markers, pens and different colors. And wonderful little drawings that make the book so much more fun to read! This was quite a little book of inspiration and I encourage others to read it. While it is inspiring the reader to be a writer I think anyone could be inspired by it not just people looking for encouragement to write.
Author's book blurb:
The coolest thing though I discovered that if you can't get your hands on her book very easily you CAN visit her website and get a taste of what I'm talking about.
I never heard him come after me and even as I climbed the slope and stumbled onto our shaded back lawn, I didn’t look back. It was like the day the gnomes chased me all over again, but this time I was not escaping some horrible little creatures, I was fleeing from an incredibly good-looking guy who could very well understand me completely. I was either saving myself from that serial killer I always imagined lived down in the swamp, or I had finally gone over the deep end . . .
Meghan Elam has been strange her entire life: her eyes have this odd habit of changing color and she sees and hears things no one else does. When the visions and voices in her head start to get worse, she is convinced that her parents will want to drag her off to another psychiatrist. That is, until the mysterious Cade MacRoich shows up out of nowhere with an explanation of his own.
Cade brings her news of another realm where goblins and gnomes are the norm, a place where whispering spirits exist in the very earth, and a world where Meghan just might find the answers she has always sought.
Author's book blurb:
Life has been anything but kind, and everything that can go wrong has. At an age when life should be coming together, and questions should start to be answered, Hope finds herself feeling very alone and terribly confused. As her life spirals out of control, she realizes she needs help. And she needs it quickly.
With the love and support of some dear friends, Hope slowly begins to find her true self, and along the way, she meets someone. Someone who makes her feel like living to see another day might just be worth it.
But with happiness, comes pain. Pain from a past that simply won't be forgotten. Walking a dangerously fine line between joy and utter despair, Hope wonders if happy endings really do exist. And if they do, is there one waiting for her?
Author's book blurb:
In the early 21st century, the Cold War between the American and Chinese Empires slogs on in a stalemate. There's a ceasefire in effect, but the peace is artificial—secretly enforced by an alien blockade that surrounds the planet. Earth is caught in a territory struggle between two warring factions: the Empire and the Resistance. Lacking harvestable talents, both groups classify Earthlings as Wasters.
Hidden among the Wasters is an alien girl with the power of moving spaceships. She teams up with Rake, a drug-addicted ex-Astronaut, to join an intergalactic war that Earth did not know existed, but first Rake has to realize he's travelling with an alien to begin with.
Author's book blurb:
Lucy is seventeen when she discovers that she is the latest recipient of a generations-old family curse that requires her to complete three seemingly impossible tasks or risk falling into madness and passing the curse on to the next generation. Unlike her ancestors, though, Lucy has family, friends, and other modern resources to help her out. But will it be enough to conquer this age-old evil?
A beautifully wrought modern fairy tale from master storyteller and award-winning author Nancy Werlin.Inspired by the classic folk ballad "Scarborough Fair," this is a wonderfully riveting and haunting novel of suspense, romance, and fantasy.
That is quite a varied collection thus far this year. Now the rest that I've read I've enjoyed as well, but these are a few that stand out in my mind as favorites. What are some of your favorites so far this year?
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