Goodbye 2013!

2013 was a very rough year for me.  Surgeries, breakups, hospitalizations, deaths.  But one positive about the whole year is that I read SO many good books, I have probably lost track of some of them.  Thankful that I had an entire year to read books for fun without worrying about studying for finals or professional exams, I had so much time to catch up on my reading list.  I always love seeing what other people think are their favorite books of the year, so here are my favorite books that I read in 2013 (in no particular order):

1.  Champion - Marie Lu

The Legend Trilogy just may be one of my favorite book series' ever.  Legend was the first book I bought when I received my Kindle Fire for Christmas two years ago.  It was amazing and had me chomping at the bit to get the second book, Prodigy.  Prodigy was so good that I nearly cried because I had to wait so long to read Champion.  I was cautious at first because I did not want to be let down with the final installment as I had been with other book series' finales (Twilight, Divergent, the Kane Chronicles, etc.)  Champion did not disappoint.  I loved every word in the entire book.  It was phenomenal.

2. The House of Hades - Rick Riordan

I absolutely LOVE the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan.  It picks up after the end of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.  Each book has different POV chapters from my favorite characters like Percy and Annabeth from the Percy Jackson series, but it also adds new characters from the Roman Demigods as well.  It is interesting to read about the differences between the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses as well as the demigod camps.  Each book has left me waiting in suspense for the next installment, and The House of Hades was no different.  I actually think this book was the scariest of all of them.  It left me biting my nails as Percy and Annabeth trek through the Underworld while their friends face their own battles above.  If you haven't check out either series, I highly recommend that you do.

3. Evanescent - Addison Moore and Entropy - Addison Moore

First of all, aren't the covers beautiful?  I love the dress made of roses.  It's wonderful.  Evanescent and Entropy are the 2nd and 3rd books in The Countenance trilogy.  To join in with the theme of my blog title, I seriously wish that Cooper Flanders was my boyfriend.  I have such a fiction-crush on him.  I'll be doing a longer review of Entropy tomorrow on my review post, but for now, just know that this series is one of my favorites.  I fell in love with the characters and could literally feel my heart breaking right along with Laken as she trekked through her conflicts.  The writing is beautiful, the characters are beautiful...both of these books (and Ephemeral, the first book in the trilogy) are wonderful.

4.  The Maze Runner - James Dashner

I haven't made it around to reading any of the other books in this series, but I loved The Maze Runner.  At first, I wasn't sure about it.  It started off a little slow for me, but once I got into it, I could NOT put this book down.  There were challenges and mysteries at every turn.  Once I got to the end, I was literally upset that the book had ended and I couldn't know more right away.  The next installment, The Scorch Trials, is on my 2014 reading list.  I am also looking forward to the movie.

5.  Revealed - P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Revealed is the newest release in the House of Night series.  I have been reading this series for quite a few years.  I'll admit, there were quite a few books in the middle of the series that made me question whether I wanted to finish reading the series.  The characters seemed monotonous and I couldn't see any growth in any of them.  But Hidden (the book before Revealed) and Revealed changed that for me.  In these two books, I can see maturity and growth in Zoey and her friends as they battle against Neferet and darkness.  I was left wanting more at the end of Revealed and I cannot wait until fall 2014 to read Redeemed, the final installment of the series.  I am so nervous to find out who wins the battle and what happens to all of the other characters.  The Casts have already shown that they will not hesitate to kill anyone off!  

6.  The Passage - Justin Cronin; The Twelve - Justin Cronin

 These two books took up a very large portion of the beginning of my 2013.  They are HUGE.  I was thankful I had them on my Kindle because I know my arms would have gotten tired from holding the physical book.  These books are set in a post-apocalyptic world.  The first portion of The Passage seems to start out present-day but then halfway through, it shifts into what happened to create the post-apocalyptic world.  Fear and drama at how humans can survive once it seems the end of the world is beginning kept me holding on at each page.  When I discovered the vampire-like creatures, it was even more terrifying.  I will admit that The Passage was much better that The Twelve and I was confused at first because I expected The Twelve to pick up where The Passage left off.  The Twelve begins back before everything happened, but it tells the story from different characters' perspectives.  Then it gets into where The Passage left off.  It was an interesting writing style and sequence, but by the end of the book, I realized that I loved it.

7.  The Timber Wolves Trilogy - Tammy Blackwell

I had never been a fan of Shifter books until I read this trilogy.  I was hooked from the very first chapter.  Tammy Blackwell is a brilliant writer and her storyline kept me so intrigued, I think I read all three of these books in just one weekend.  I had to force myself to go to bed because I did not want to stop reading.  Of course it didn't hurt that the wolves are based in Kentucky ;-) I felt like I could actually walk in my backyard one day and find one of the pack members running through my woods.