My Favorite Reads of 2016

2016 was a complete wash of a year in so very many ways, but at least the books were great, and these in particular! Enjoy my highly biased and highly subjective list of my most loved reads of 2016.

What I've Been Reading Lately

I've been absolutely woeful about not only chronicling my recent reads but actually READING. I'm giving myself a bit of slack, because between moving (OOF), the election (I cannot word about this), Twitter trolls (on lockdown for a wee bit, but IT'S BEEN SO FUN WOO BOY), and very high anxiety, my brain just hasn't really had room for reading. But I'm trying to get back into the swing of things as we approach the holidays. And I did manage to read a few things this fall! Here are two of them:

What I've Read Lately (Ish): Fantasy Edition

Okay. So by lately, I mean...in the last four months. I have been hideously remiss at writing book reviews lately. Considering I'm, you know, a book review, I don't know why those are always the posts I have to dredge up the most focus/concentration/perseverence/five shots of liquor  to get done, but sometimes i just REALLY DON'T WANT TO WRITE REVIEWS PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME HOW MANY WAYS CAN I SAY THAT THE WORLDBUILDING WAS REALLY LUSH??

Zeus almighty, I'm lazy.

So today, I'm taking the lazy way out, with Zeus' gift to the lazy word-putting-into-sentence-doers of the world: the bullet point. Bless you, oh beautiful bullet point.

Fun-Size Reviews

Fun-size reviews! For when you want a little bite of a book, and your trust YA blogger is feeling far too lazy to say much more about them!

I have been buuuuuuusyyyyy lately, so while I've definitely been back in the reading swing (thanks to the magic of romance novels) after a TERRIBLE reading February, my brain is still all limp and tired and sleepy and doesn't want to write reviews. It just wants to Netflix. And read more Tessa Dare. SO. TEENY TINY FUN-SIZE REVIEWS, like it's Halloween and you came to my door and I plopped a few teeny tiny reviews in your plastic jack 'o lantern bucket. (American traditions are really weird.)

Review: These Vicious Masks by Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas

These Vicious Masks by Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository
Series: Yes, #1 in the These Vicious Masks series
Release date: February 9th, 2016
Publisher: Swoon Reads (Macmillan)
Length: 352 pages
Source: ARC from the publisher
Rating: FUN WITTY BANTER TIMES! Plus powers.

Jane Austen meets X-­Men in this gripping and adventure-­filled paranormal romance set in Victorian London.

England, 1882. Evelyn is bored with society and its expectations. So when her beloved sister, Rose, mysteriously vanishes, she ignores her parents and travels to London to find her, accompanied by the dashing Mr. Kent. But they’re not the only ones looking for Rose. The reclusive, young gentleman Sebastian Braddock is also searching for her, claiming that both sisters have special healing powers. Evelyn is convinced that Sebastian must be mad, until she discovers that his strange tales of extraordinary people are true—and that her sister is in graver danger than she feared.

Oh, yes, this is just what the book doctor ordered. If you read my review of The Dark Days Club, you know that this kind of book is my crack. I'm an easy customer, truth be told, when it comes to historical + genre mashups, especially if you add in some witty banter and a Ship of Dreams. So yes, you should take my review with a grain of salt, but also...well, These Vicious Masks is just plain delightful. It really is.

Double Review: Riders by Veronica Rossi and The Last Place on Earth by Carol Snow

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository
Series: Yes, #1 in the series
Release date: February 16th, 2016
Publisher: Tor Teen
Length: 364 pages
Source: borrowed ARC
Rating: DNF

Oh, man, this kills me to do. KILLS ME. I love Veronica Rossi's Under the Never Sky trilogy--I binged the entire thing, novellas and all, in a single weekend and walked around in a haze for days afterward. But I just could. not. get into Riders. I was intrigued by both the concept--a guy dies and comes back to life as War, one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse--and the conceit--the novel opens with Gideon, our MC, strapped to a chair and being interrogated. The novel is the tale he spins his torturer/kidnapeprs, explaining how he got his powers and how he got tangled in this mess.

Review: The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman

The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository
Series: Yes, #1 in the Lady Helen series
Release date: January 26th, 2016
Publisher: Viking (Penguin Random House)
Length: 432 pages
Source: ARC from the publisher
Rating: my fave book of the (admittedly very new) year

New York Times bestseller Alison Goodman’s eagerly awaited new project: a Regency adventure starring a stylish and intrepid demon-hunter!

London, April 1812. On the eve of eighteen-year-old Lady Helen Wrexhall’s presentation to the queen, one of her family’s housemaids disappears-and Helen is drawn into the shadows of Regency London. There, she meets Lord Carlston, one of the few who can stop the perpetrators: a cabal of demons infiltrating every level of society. Dare she ask for his help, when his reputation is almost as black as his lingering eyes? And will her intelligence and headstrong curiosity wind up leading them into a death trap?

Say so hello to my favorite book of 2016!

Okay, yes, it is not even February (though February is rather terrifyingly close...what is with this whole time-continuing-to-pass-even-when-I-tell-it-not-to thing?), but still. The Dark Days Club is so going on my end of year favorites list (which reminds me to do my 2015 favorites list...SEE WHAT I MEAN ABOUT TIME RUDELY DOING ITS TIME THING?)

The Dark Days Club can be summed up in a very tidy pitch: it's Pride and Prejudice meets Buffy. This is a pitch tailor-made for me. This is like Alison Goodman looked inside my dream journal and decided to write me a personal present. But even if this isn't your precise cup of coffee, I encourage you to dive into the story of Lady Helen Wrexhall, who is making her entree in 1812 society...while also grappling with a possibly cataclysmic supernatural destiny as a Reclaimer. An destiny that she doesn't think she wants anything to do with.

January DNFs

I've had a really excellent string of reads lately. I added two books to my YES PLS SEQUEL NOW shelves this month (Truthwitch and The Dark Days Club, the latter of which I plan to review tomorrow if I'm not lazy again which I probably will be). But too much positivity does things to a person. It makes my hair limp and my skin dull. It is time to bring some negativity to this business and restore the evil sparkle in my snake lord eyes.

Review: A Curious Tale of the In-Between by Lauren DeStefano

A Curious Tale of the In-Between by Lauren DeStefano
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Series: Yes, #1 in the Pram series
Release date: September 1st, 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Length: 240 pages
Source: ARC from BEA
Rating: Magical, creepy, and lovely



Pram Bellamy is special--she can talk to ghosts. She doesn't have too many friends amongst the living, but that's all right. She has her books, she has her aunts, and she has her best friend, the ghostly Felix.

Then Pram meets Clarence, a boy from school who has also lost a parent and is looking for answers. Together they arrive at the door of the mysterious Lady Savant, who promises to help. But this spiritualist knows the true nature of Pram's power, and what she has planned is more terrifying than any ghost.

Ooh, I quite enjoyed reading this book. It's precisely the sort of middle grade I was utterly obsessed with when I was middle grader myself: creepy and mystical and morbid and precious, all at once. (Plus there's a little baby MG ship, GO SHIP GO SAIL SHIP SAIL. Middle grade ships just GET to me, I don't know why. Maybe because they're so precious and pure). Perhaps the characters are a touch bland, but it suited the atmosphere and style of this book, which was lovely. Slightly macabre, slightly wondrous, all delightful.

Best of 2014: Paranormal Perfection and Sci Fi Superlatives

HOW ARE WE SO CLOSE TO 2015? Je refuse. Je demande a redo. Fetch me my Time Turner and TWIST. But then, there were a lot of great reads in 2014, and I would hate to go back in time and un-read them.

My favorite paranormal reads of 2014:

Reasons to Read: Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan

Review: Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan
Goodreads
Release date: September 23, 2014
Publisher: Random House
Series: Yes, #3 in The Lynburn Legacy
Length: 384 pages
Source: Purchased
Rating: lovecryscreamloveouch



A modern, magical twist on the Gothic romance and girl detective genres, the Lynburn Legacy books will appeal to fans of both Beautiful Creatures and the Mortal Instruments series.

Powerful love comes with a price. Who will be the sacrifice?

Kami has lost the boy she loves, is tied to a boy she does not, and faces an enemy more powerful than ever before. With Jared missing for months and presumed dead, Kami must rely on her new magical link with Ash for the strength to face the evil spreading through her town.

Rob Lynburn is now the master of Sorry-in-the-Vale, and he demands a death. Kami will use every tool at her disposal to stop him. Together with Rusty, Angela, and Holly, she uncovers a secret that might be the key to saving the town. But with knowledge comes responsibility—and a painful choice. A choice that will risk not only Kami’s life, but also the lives of those she loves most.

As coauthor with Cassandra Clare of the bestselling Bane Chronicles, Sarah Rees Brennan has mastered the art of the page-turner. This final book in the Lynburn Legacy is a wild, entertaining ride from beginning to shocking end.

Sometimes when I read and LOVE a series ender, I like to do a Reasons to Read instead of a full review so as to remain as unspoilery as possible and lure new readers into a series. My goal, of course, is to force you all to know and love and suffer the pain of The Lynburn Legacy by Sarah Rees Brennan, because it is all of the things. What are the things? Humor and heartbreak, pain and hope, kissing and killing, light and dark. It's gothic mystery laced with twenty-first century pluck and banter. It's supernatural romance with absolutely gorgeous friendships and parent-kid relationships that wring every ounce of feelswater from those eyeballs. You'll laugh so hard you'll cry, and then you'll cry so hard you'll laugh, and then you'll throw the book because you love it but it hurts you and why.

Review: Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

Review: Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
Goodreads
Release date: October 21st, 2014
Publisher: Scholastic
Series: Yes, #3 in The Raven Cycle
Length: 460 pages
Source: eARC via Netgalley
Rating:  One does not simply try to apply a rating to a Raven Cycle book



There is danger in dreaming. But there is even more danger in waking up.

Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs.

The trick with found things though, is how easily they can be lost.

Friends can betray.
Mothers can disappear.
Visions can mislead.
Certainties can unravel.

This is a spoiler-free review for the series and will mostly just be me flailing all over the place about how much I BLOODY FREAKING LOVE The Raven Cycle.

I'm a girl with a lot of fictional obsessions. There is no shortage of worlds and characters who drive me to all-caps distraction. It's easy to get me riled up about ships and boys and character dynamics and plot twists that rip out my heart. But The Raven Cycle--Maggie Stiefvater's glorious, dreamy, magical, heart-exploding creation--a scintillating, slow-paced, supernatural series of soul-crushing splendor--makes me go legitimately and fully rabid.

Review: Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead

Review: Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead
Goodreads
Release date: November 13th, 2008
Publisher: Razorbill (Penguin)
Series: Yes, #3 in the Vampire Academy series
Length: 460 pages
Source: Purchased
Rating: Can't talk too busy binge-reading the world around me has vanished



It's springtime at St. Vladimir's Academy, and Rose Hathaway is this close to graduation. Since making her first Strigoi kills, Rose hasn't been feeling quite right. She's having dark thoughts, behaving erratically, and worst of all... might be seeing ghosts.

As Rose questions her sanity, new complications arise. Lissa has begun experimenting with her magic once more, their enemy Victor Dashkov might be set free, and Rose's forbidden relationship with Dimitri is starting to heat up again. But when a deadly threat no one saw coming changes their entire world, Rose must put her own life on the line - and choose between the two people she loves most.

My review of Frostbite

*peers back through the fog of time* I loved Frostbite so much that I binge read the entire Vampire Academy series in the space of a few days, which means they all sort of blur in my head in much the same way the events that occur while you're being fed on by a Strigoi or a Moroi do. I legit had to go to the Shadow Kiss Wikipedia page and glance at the summary so I could be like, "OH, RIGHT, THIS IS THE BOOK WHERE *SPOILER* HAPPENS!" So while this might not be the most detailed review, because ummmm I've already begun binge-reading the Bloodlines series so my head is basically a stew of Richelle Mead books right now. BUT THE FEELS WILL BE THERE.

Review: Beware the Wild by Natalie C. Parker

Review: Beware the Wild by Natalie C. Parker
Goodreads
Release date: October 21st, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Series: No
Length: 336 pages
Source: e-ARC via Edelweiss
Rating: A Southern Gothic fairytale with gorgeous writing and a creepy, atmospheric setting. LOVE.



It's an oppressively hot and sticky morning in June when Sterling and her brother, Phin, have an argument that compels him to run into the town swamp -- the one that strikes fear in all the residents of Sticks, Louisiana. Phin doesn't return. Instead, a girl named Lenora May climbs out, and now Sterling is the only person in Sticks who remembers her brother ever existed.

Sterling needs to figure out what the swamp's done with her beloved brother and how Lenora May is connected to his disappearance -- and loner boy Heath Durham might be the only one who can help her.

This debut novel is full of atmosphere, twists and turns, and a swoon-worthy romance.

 The thing about me and Harper books lately is that you never really know which book in the crop is going to be one of the magic books. For me, they tend to be the less-hyped, more experimental, refreshingly off-center ones. And Beware the Wild is magic, plain and simple.

We have an uncanny ability to keep secrets where anyone else can see them in Sticks, Louisiana.

Review: Jackaby by William Ritter

Review: Jackaby by William Ritter
Goodreads 
Release date: September 16th, 2014
Publisher: Algonquin
Series: Yes? I think? Pretty sure there will be a sequel
Source: print ARC from BEA14
Length: 368 pages
Rating: I somewhat enjoyed this, but it cleaved a bit too closely to stories I've experienced before.



Miss Rook, I am not an occultist,” Jackaby said. “I have a gift that allows me to see truth where others see the illusion--and there are many illusions. All the world’s a stage, as they say, and I seem to have the only seat in the house with a view behind the curtain.”

Newly arrived in New Fiddleham, New England, 1892, and in need of a job, Abigail Rook meets R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with a keen eye for the extraordinary--including the ability to see supernatural beings. Abigail has a gift for noticing ordinary but important details, which makes her perfect for the position of Jackaby’s assistant. On her first day, Abigail finds herself in the midst of a thrilling case: A serial killer is on the loose. The police are convinced it’s an ordinary villain, but Jackaby is certain it’s a nonhuman creature, whose existence the police--with the exception of a handsome young detective named Charlie Cane--deny.

Doctor Who meets Sherlock in William Ritter’s debut novel, which features a detective of the paranormal as seen through the eyes of his adventurous and intelligent assistant in a tale brimming with cheeky humor and a dose of the macabre.

Jackaby was one my most anticipated reads of the fall because it's pitched as a mashup between two of my favorite shows: Doctor Who and Sherlock. Unfortunately, though Jackaby has a delightful sense of humor and sparkling prose, it almost feels too much like the aforementioned shows, like highbrow fanfiction. 

Review: Made for You by Melissa Marr

Review: Made for You by Melissa Marr
Goodreads 
Release date: September 16th, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Series: No
Source: e-ARC via Edelweiss/print ARC from BEA14
Length: 368 pages
Rating: An enjoyable, quite creepy thriller that could have been more impactful.



Bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely books Melissa Marr’s first contemporary YA novel is a twisted southern gothic tale of obsession, romance, and murder. A killer is obsessed with Eva Tilling. Can she stop him, or will he claim her?

When Eva Tilling wakes up in the hospital, she’s confused—who in her sleepy little North Carolina town could have hit her with their car? And why? But before she can consider the question, she finds that she’s awoken with a strange new skill: the ability to foresee people’s deaths when they touch her. While she is recovering from the hit-and-run, Nate, an old flame, reappears, and the two must traverse their rocky past as they figure out how to use Eva’s power to keep her friends—and themselves—alive. But while Eva and Nate grow closer, the killer grows increasingly frantic in his attempt to get to Eva.

For the first time, New York Times bestselling author Melissa Marr has applied her extraordinary talent to contemporary realism. Chilling twists, unrequited obsession, and high-stakes romance drive this Gothic, racy thriller—a story of small-town oppression and salvation. Melissa’s fans, and every YA reader, will find its wild ride enthralling.

I'm not sure what to make of this one. Overall, I definitely liked it. Is it a Gothic, racy thriller? No. Is it creepy as all hell and a pretty engrossing read? Yep. In the end, I definitely liked Made for You, but it had a few hiccups that kept it from being as truly wow-worthy as it could have been.

Literary PSA: The Mediator series by Meg Cabot

Long ago I decided to start a NEW THING: Literary Public Service Announcements. Essentially, I'm going to pimp a book that I read before I started blogging, but that I want to foist upon the world due to its high levels of sheer awesomeness for the good of the public and all that jazz. Instead of me just telling people over and over that they should read something "JUST BECAUSE!!!1!", I've decided to actually explain in a more eloquent fashion just why my favorite books are my favorites.

Last time on Literary Public Service Announcements: The Immortals series by Tamora Pierce

And now this week's PSA:

Review: Between the Spark and the Burn by April Genevieve Tucholke

Review: Between the Spark and the Burn by April Genevieve Tucholke
Goodreads
Release date: August 14th, 2014
Publisher: Dial (Penguin)
Series: Yes, #2 in the Between
Source: Print ARC from the publisher
Length: 320 pages
Rating: Chilling, haunting, and atmospheric. Not perfect, but damn if I didn't love it even more than the first. Also, NEELY.

 

The conclusion to Between the Devil and The Deep Blue Sea, this gothic thriller romance with shades of Stephen King and Daphne du Maurier is a must-read for fans of Beautiful Creatures and Anna Dressed in Blood.

Freddie once told me that the Devil created all the fear in the world.
But then, the Devil once told me that it's easier to forgive someone for scaring you than for making you cry.
The problem with River West Redding was that he'd done both to me.

The crooked-smiling liar River West Redding, who drove into Violet's life one summer day and shook her world to pieces, is gone. Violet and Neely, River's other brother, are left to worry—until they catch a two a.m. radio program about strange events in a distant mountain town. They take off in search of River but are always a step behind, finding instead frenzied towns, witch hunts, and a wind-whipped island with the thrum of something strange and dangerous just under the surface. It isn't long before Violet begins to wonder if Neely, the one Redding brother she thought trustworthy, has been hiding a secret of his own . . .

My review of book one, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
This review contains spoilers for book one

I really loved book one in this series, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, even though part of my brain new that I shouldn't have. Just like Violet, the protagonist, I felt glowed up by the prose and the creepy atmosphere and the haunting, chilling quality of the storytelling. I was charmed and repulsed by smooth-talking, magic-doing, lying liar River in equal measure. And the sequel was just the same experience for me in that the writing is still magnificent, the settings are still Gothic and chilling, and I was completely spellbound by it yet again. However, it was also a very different experience, because Violet is a very different protagonist.

She's starting to see more clearly, and it could NOT be more welcome.

Review: The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Review: The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson
Goodreads 
Release date: July 1, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Series: No
Source: e-ARC via Edelweiss
Length: 256 pages
Rating: It's not you; it's me. (But maybe a little bit you.)



Girls started vanishing in the fall, and now winter's come to lay a white sheet over the horror. Door County, it seems, is swallowing the young, right into its very dirt. From beneath the house on Water Street, I've watched the danger swell.

The residents know me as the noises in the house at night, the creaking on the stairs. I'm the reflection behind them in the glass, the feeling of fear in the cellar. I'm tied—it seems—to this house, this street, this town.

I'm tied to Maggie and Pauline, though I don't know why. I think it's because death is coming for one of them, or both. All I know is that the present and the past are piling up, and I am here to dig.I am looking for the things that are buried.

From bestselling author Jodi Lynn Anderson comes a friendship story bound in snow and starlight, a haunting mystery of love, betrayal, redemption, and the moments that we leave behind.

This review gives me all the sads, since I was expecting so much to love this for many reasons. 1) Anderson is positively revered in the blogging world for her novel Tiger Lily, which I have not read 2) my dear friend Ellis loved this book (and has a super positive review of it posted here) and 3) THAT SYNOPSIS. It called to me. But sadly, number 3 was the thing that came back to bite me, since that mystical, haunting, mysterious synopsis is completely misleading. What The Vanishing Season actually is is a small, quiet coming of age story, which could be a tremendous thing. But it's not the thing I wanted.

Reasons to Read: Strange and Ever After by Susan Dennard

Review: Strange and Ever After by Susan Dennard
Goodreads 
Release date: July 22nd, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Series: Yes, #3 in the Strange and Ever After series
Source: ARC borrowed from Gaby/e-ARC via Edelweiss
Length: 304 pages
Rating: Heart? What heart? Sure. Take it, Susan Dennard. I'm not using it much. Also, WHY AREN'T YOU READING THIS SERIES??



In the conclusion to the trilogy that Publishers Weekly called “a roaring—and addictive—gothic world,” Eleanor Fitt must control her growing power, face her feelings for Daniel, and confront the evil necromancer Marcus...all before it’s too late.

He took her brother, he took her mother, and now, Marcus has taken her good friend Jie. With more determination than ever to bring this sinister man to justice, Eleanor heads to the hot desert streets of nineteenth-century Egypt in hopes of ending this nightmare. But in addition to her increasingly tense relationships with Daniel, Joseph, and her demon, Oliver, Eleanor must also deal with her former friend, Allison, who has curiously entangled herself in Eleanor’s mission.

With the rising dead chomping at her every move and Jie’s life hanging in the balance, Eleanor is convinced that her black magic will see her through to the bitter end. But there will be a price. Though she and the Spirit Hunters have weathered every battle thus far, there will be consequences to suffer this time—the effects of which will be irreversible. And when it’s over, only some will be able to live a strange and ever after.

Susan Dennard will leave readers breathless and forever changed in the concluding pages of this riveting ride.

I'm going to do this review a bit differently. I will talk about my feelings for Strange and Ever After (!!!!???NOOO!!!OMG!!YESS!SWOOON!NOOOOOOOOOO!!!ARRRGH), but it's always so hard to review series enders without spoilers, and I SUPER DO NOT want to spoil you for this book, because there are sucker punches and huge emotional reveals and all kinds of good stuff that you want to discover on your own.

Reasons you should be reading this series: