Happy New Year!
Here’s my annual wrap-up post for 2013 (2012 summary for comparison) – it’s a long one, so settle in.
My Very Favourite Books of 2013
I’ve felt like this year hasn’t been a fantastic reading year for me in terms of keeper books, and looking back at the list of books I’ve read this year, the number of 5-star reads support that feeling – I’ve only had seven (compared to the usual ten or more) books on this list. It’s a personal list and I’d be the first to admit that these aren’t necessarily technically perfect, but they’re the stories that just… work for me – I kind of wander around for a few days afterwards just thinking about the world and characters (please say I’m not the only one!).
Interesting (to me, anyway) things about this list
- They’re all by new-to-me authors, so either my usual favourite authors didn’t wow me with their 2013 books or I had too high expectations for their releases – I suspect the actual answer’s somewhere between the two.
- Three of them are for the final books in their respective series/trilogies – so if I’m being honest, the 5 stars are really for the series as a whole, as opposed to the book listed here.
- I’m going old-school with this list – four out of the seven were released prior to 2013 (as you can probably tell by the some of the covers – love them!).
Enough rambling – here are my favourite books of 2013 (in the order in which I read them, more or less):
Allison Parr‘s RUSH ME (new adult): I actually gave this 4 stars to start off with, but then (a) I kept on thinking about Rachael and Ryan and (b) did a re-read (I usually never do re-reads, much less in the same year), and loved their romance so much that I ended up bumping up my grade. Escapism romance + messiness of first love/lust + NYC brought to life = keeper.
CS Pacat‘s CAPTIVE PRINCE Vols 1 and 2 (M/M fantasy romance): Listing both together, as they’re two halves of the same book, IMO, though it was really Volume 2 that elevated this series to one of my favourites of the year. I’m excited that Berkley snapped up these self-pubbed books because it’s an amazing story and deserves a wider audience. Although be warned, these books aren’t for everyone – they’re certainly trigger-y (at least, the first book is), but that incredibly intriguing Damen/Laurent relationship combined with court intrigue and politics took over my head for a few days, and I cannot wait to see where Volume 3 takes us.
Debra Doyle & James D MacDonald‘s BY HONOR BETRAY’D (SF): I had the first book in the Mageworlds series in my TBR pile forever, and finally got around to reading it – and then promptly glommed the rest of the trilogy. I’ve a soft spot for space opera in general, but what elevated these books above the rest was the sheer twistiness of plot reveals. Clever and excellent fun.
PB Ryan‘s A BUCKET OF ASHES (historical mystery): The first book transported me straight into 1860s Boston, and I was immediately hooked on not just the mysteries, but a slow-burning (and surely impossible) romance. This sixth and final book was the culmination of the series-long romance arc – and PB Ryan totally delivered.
Julie Cross‘s LETTERS TO NOWHERE (YA): I was not expecting to enjoy this YA as much as I did. The elite gymnastics aspect wasn’t just wallpaper – everything rang true, especially that positive yet competitive friendships which were portrayed to perfection. Plus sweet romance and feelings that left a lump in your throat.
Kate Elliott‘s JARAN (SF): I’m not sure how I’ve not read this before, but I loved this old-school epic SF/fantasy hybrid, which was the first in the Jaran series. Not just Tess & Ilya’s relationship (though that obviously kept me up late reading), but this whole foreign world came to life for me.
Martha Wells‘ THE GATE OF GODS (fantasy): This was the final book in her Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy and proved to be one of those unputdownable books for me. It was the perfect ending to the series, and like JARAN, I was left wondering how I managed to miss out on these books earlier.
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New-to-Me Authors I’m Glad I Read in 2013
Apart from all of those listed above, here are the other new-to-me authors I enjoyed during the year:
SF/F
- Ankaret Wells: Self-pubbed author, intriguing world-building but plotlines tend to wander on a bit
- Helen S. Wright: Another old-school space opera gem – I thought A MATTER OF OATHS was lots of fun
- Marko Kloos: Originally self-pubbed, his military SF novels will be published by Amazon’s 47North in 2014
- Emma Bull: Only read a short story of hers, but liked it – her WAR FOR THE OAKS is meant to be a UF classic (and is in my TBR!)
- Katriena Knights: Her UF NECROMANCING NIM was both fast-paced and sexy, and begs for a sequel
Romance
- Elle Kennedy: Ménage stories are somewhat out of my comfort zone, but she sold me with HOTTER THAN EVER
- Joanna Chambers: Historical M/M romance that felt authentic, which is a bit of a rarity
- Alexis Hall: His M/M romance debut GLITTERLAND promises much to look forward to
- KJ Charles: M/M romance in a historical fantasy setting – I’m looking forward to more in her A Charm of Magpies series
New Adult / Young Adult
- Scarlett Dawn: I suspect her paranormal Forever Evermore series will be my new guilty pleasure in 2014
- Diane Stanley: YA-veering-on-MG (or vice versa) fantasy, liked her Silver Bowl books, but thought there was potential for so much more
- Sherry Thomas: Kind of surprised it took me this long to read one of her books – and also that it was a YA fantasy, not historical romance
Mystery
- Ashley Gardner: Her Regency-set Captain Lacey series kept me pretty much occupied over October, which leads nicely on to…
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Author Most Glommed in 2013
Apart from the authors in my favourites list (I’m sounding like a broken record, sorry), I read my way through the first six of Ashley Gardner‘s historical mystery books – while these didn’t capture my imagination the way that PB Ryan’s series did, they were solid and showed a different side of London to the more usual glittering balls of the ton (and the first three are available in an e-bundle for £0.77 at the moment – you’re welcome).
I also read five Mary Baloghs (I know, I kept quiet about both of these authors over 2013, didn’t I?), prompted by the 2-in-1 reissues of her backlist. I’m not yet a Balogh die-hard, but I’m starting to understand why her historical romances are favourites amongst so many readers.
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The Statistics
| 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | |
| # of books read | 150 | 164 | 144 | 141 | 115 |
| # published during current year | 90 (60%) | 78 (48%) | 73 (51%) | 77 (55%) | 55 (48%) |
| # of authors read | 100 | 103 | 91 | 88 | 71 |
| # of new-to-me authors | 41 (41%) | 31 (30%) | 26 (29%) | 29 (33%) | 22 (30%) |
| # of library books | 14 (9%) | 28 (17%) | 24 (17%) | 20 (14%) | n/a |
| space | space | space | space | space | space |
I’m not surprised my total is down from 2012 – I thought it would be a lot lower, to be honest. Yay for the number of new-to-me authors I branched out and read this year (and I was obviously rewarded for that, based on my lengthy list above of new-to-me authors I enjoyed) .
I was dreading the library books percentage – I pretty much stopped using my local library during the last quarter of the year. But I think that was also driven by me reading more digital-only releases and from smaller/indie pubs – I tend to use my library for the higher-profile new releases in hardback (i.e. when I’m not entirely sure I want the book and I know the library will be ordering it), and there was fewer of these in 2013 for me.
Genre-wise, romance and fantasy pretty much made up two-thirds of what I read over 2013 (61 and 44 books respectively) – I suspect there was a fair few books that could fit into either though, bearing in mind they’re two of my favourite genres.
And finally, here’s how the year looked like for me:
And that’s it (I’m glad I only write this once a year)!
I’m still in the process of adding all my 2013 reads onto Goodreads (I’m up to September at the moment), but the full 2013 list will be here once I’m done.
