Welcome to our third guest post in the YAAM – 2010 edition. As part of our celebration of all things YA, we invited authors from different genres to write articles about the books and the genres they write.

Today’s guest is Sarah Rees Brennan, one of Ana’s favourite writers, author of The Demon’s Lexicon and The Demon’s Covenant. We invited Sarah to talk about YA and to answer that infamous question: why should we read YA?

Here is what she has to say:

But Tell Me – When Are You Going To Write a REAL Book?

We’ve all heard someone say it.

I like agent Jennifer Laughran’s succinct reply on the subject: ‘YA writing is fine, but eventually you should “graduate” to writing grown-up books. Errr… screw you.’ But since I think Ana and Thea would scrag me if ’screw you’ was the entirety of my guest blog, here are some more thoughts on Why YA.

Here’s a thing about YA, and I freely admit this is not a revelation I had myself, but rather something that I think fabulous YA writer Holly Black said first (and then I stole it, and then Scott Westerfeld stole it. Or possibly I do fabulous YA writer Mr Westerfeld a wrong, and he said it first, and then I stole it, and then Holly Black stole it. We YA writers are a scurvy bunch. All I’m sure of is that, I AM A THIEF OF WORDS.)

YA is about your first time. And not just that first time, though that’s often on the table as well.

It’s about the first time you ever get betrayed by a friend. The first time you fell in love. The first time you realised, on a bone-deep, gut-deep level, that the world was unfair, that something terrible and irreversible could happen to you, that nobody was coming to save you. And the first time is a really intense time – it’s shocking, it cuts deep. The world never comes as such a surprise again.

I’m not saying YA always gets this feeling down, but when it does, YA is like a knife that cuts both ways. (A… knife with no handle. …I’ve never really understood that song.)

An excellent example of what I mean about the questions raised by YA would be The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson, which is a funny, heartbreaking book – the best books, as we all know, are both funny and heartbreaking – which is about what happens when you start to feel disconnected from your first tightly knit group of friends, what happens when you find out you or someone you’re close to aren’t society’s idea of the norm before you realise how ridiculous those norms really are, what happens when you love someone, they betray you, and you keep loving them anyway.

Another thing about YA is that it’s a time when almost everyone is sometimes a jerk.

Think about it. Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye is a jerk. (And if Catcher in the Rye was published today it would be YA, and people who now love it would sneer at it. Yes it would! Yes they would! Which goes to show how silly judging quality by category really is.) Holden actually is enough of a jerk that he gets up my nose anyway, but it would be so much worse if he was an adult, and I’ve read enough books with grown-up Holdens in it that I am certain of this.

One movie that never fails to get on my nerves is As Good As It Gets. In which Jack Nicholson plays an assbucket.

RECEPTIONIST: How do you write women so well?
JACK NICHOLSON’S CHARACTER: I think of a man, and then I take away reason and accountability.
SARAH: Assbucket! He sounds like the worst writer in the world!

Now, of course Jack Nicholson’s character has OCD, which has given him a jaundiced view on life (not that everyone with OCD does, but it’s a reason if not an excuse for his behaviour) and Helen Hunt and Greg Kinnear’s characters help redeem him and make him ease up on the misogyny and homophobia, and I am not saying that people can’t change/redeem themselves at any age.

But really. He is such an awful character. And he has been going around making the world unpleasant for people for at least fifty years. In fifty years, has he never noticed that he is terrible? At this point, I don’t care. I just wave my arms at the screen and yell ‘Assbucket!’

Whereas it’s okay for a teenager to have not realised yet what a huge jerk they’re being, how this affects the people around them, or what behaviour means they’re a jerk. Teens have a lot going on, and not that much time for it to go on in! Sorry Carlisle in Margaret Mahy’s The Changeover is an assbucket, and I love him. Ditto Felicity Worthington in Libba Bray’s A Great And Terrible Beauty.

The hero of the Demon’s Lexicon series, my own Nick? Yeah, I have to admit: total assbucket.

A genre in which you can explore the most flawed characters, with the most room for growth and change? How could anyone not want to write in that genre?

And at a time when everything seems like life or death, what if the situation really was life or death? That’s what draws me to YA fantasy the very most: because you can take that experience, and raise the stakes.

It is no secret to those who know me, or indeed to the world wide web, that I truly and deeply in my soul love cheesy teen movies. It is like my love for country music. I cannot explain it. I just feel it. I have seen all three High School Musical movies, I have seen Wild Child, I have seen 17 Again, I have seen this movie called The Derby Stallion starring Zac Efron, a movie that I cannot talk about without having deeply traumatic flashbacks.

And so of course, in the fullness of time, I came to see a made-for-TV Disney movie called The Wizards of Waverly Place. And actually, I really liked it. What is this movie even about, you say? I will tell you!

It’s about a family of wizards, who will all have magical powers until they reach the age of wizard majority or something, at which point they have a crazy tournament and only the winner gets to keep their magical powers. The family in question’s father deliberately lost his power so he could marry their nonwizard mother, and their aunt (who also lost her powers) is estranged from both her brothers. Anyway so the heroine of this movie is Alex, the middle child and the only girl, and she is by way of being kind of a thoughtless but charming rogue! Which I always like to see girls being, as they get to be unapologetic rogues less often than boys. And the hero of the movie is her older brother Justin, who is straight-laced, dedicated to his studies and also dedicated to scooping his little sister out of trouble. And the plot of the movie is that they have to go on an Epic Quest, which of course teaches them to appreciate each others’ abilities, rely on each other, save each other multiple times and of course heartbreakingly confess their love for each other. (See the picture. Hug it out, Alex and Justin. Hug it out.)

This movie intrigues me for two reasons. One is the fabulous premise, which as soon as I work out how to make my own I will be stealing from Disney and making it so that there is a lot of Gothic goings-on, including actually being tempted to kill your sibling. (Which you really might be! If they were competition for the most important thing to you in the world! And how could you have a normal family relationship if you were aware of that growing up anyway?) But in the end, of course, love would triumph. Because I am a big sap.

The other is that YA affords you more opportunities to tell stories like that. About the love between friends, which is the main subject of the aforementioned Bermudez Triangle.

And about the love between siblings. Having siblings as a teenager is a fascinating and frustrating thing. It’s a time when you’re fighting to be recognised as an individual in your own right, and trying to figure out exactly who that individual is, and thus a time in which you might realise that you are extremely different from the people with whom you’ll still be sharing a roof for a good few years. Passions run high! There’s sibling jealousy, sibling competition, siblings banding together against parents, and fierce sibling affection.

The first book of my Demon’s Lexicon series was very consciously constructed as a sibling romance. (No. Wait. Come back. I didn’t mean in a Flowers in the Attic way!) But many a romance goes like this: protagonist wonders about other character’s feelings for them. Protagonist is given serious reason to doubt other character’s feelings for them. Matters Build to a Climax, with things looking ever more dire for Our Protagonist, and then we and Protagonist discover other character’s secret: Other Character, as it turns out, loves Protagonist very much. It was fun to be able to use that structure to tell a story that wasn’t a romance, to say that there are more stories in heaven and earth than people dream of. Which is not to say that I don’t love a good romance. I do love a good romance, and there’s romance in my books. But the emotional heart of the books is familial love: between brothers Nick and Alan, brother and sister pair Mae and Jamie, Sin and her much younger brother and sister, and the complicated relationships all have with their separate parents. And I love that I can do that, in YA, and it’ll mean so much: I love that it was easier to do that in YA than it would’ve been for any other genre.

This woman is mad, you may say at this point. Mad and lacking in taste! She freely admits to enjoying a Disney movie more than a movie which won MANY OSCARS, including Jack Nicholson’s for Best Assbucket! No wonder she likes writing YA.

And therein lies the most important reason to the eternal question of Why YA: I really do like doing it. I love doing it, and I’m proud of it. To me, YA has some of the realest books there are. And that’s why YA.

About the author: Sarah Rees Brennan was born and raised in Ireland by the sea, where her teachers valiantly tried to make her fluent in Irish (she wants you to know it’s not called Gaelic) but she chose to read books under her desk in class instead. The books most often found under her desk were Jane Austen, Margaret Mahy, Anthony Trollope, Robin McKinley and Diana Wynne Jones, and she still loves them all today.

After college she lived briefly in New York and somehow survived in spite of her habit of hitching lifts in fire engines. She began working on The Demon’s Lexicon while doing a Creative Writing MA and library work in Surrey, England. Since then she has returned to Ireland to write and use as a home base for future adventures. Her Irish is still woeful, but she feels the books under the desk were worth it.

Thank you Sarah!

And we turn the question back to you, dear reader: why do YOU read YA?

Title: The Demon’s Covenant

Author: Sarah Rees Brennan

Genre: YA/UF

Mae Crawford always thought she was in control. Now she’s learned that her little brother Jamie is a magician and Nick, the boy she’d set her heart on, has an even darker secret. Mae’s whole world has spun out of control, and it’s only going to get worse. When she realises that Jamie has been meeting secretly with the new leader of the Obsidian Circle and that Gerald wants him to join the magicians, she’s not sure how to stop Jamie doing just that. Calling in Nick and Alan as reinforcements only leads to a more desperate conflict because Gerald has a plan to bring Nick down – by using Alan to spring a deadly trap. With those around her torn between divided loyalties and Mae herself torn between her feelings for two very different boys, she sees a chance to save them all – but it means approaching the mysterious and dangerous Goblin Market alone…

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry (US)/ Simon & Schuster Children’s (UK)
Publication Date: May 18 2010/ May 27 2010
Hardcover: 448 pages/ Paperback: 448 pages

Stand alone or series: Second in a trilogy, which started with The Demon’s Lexicon

Why did I read this book: The Demon’s Lexicon was on my top 10 last year and this sequel was one of my most anticipated reads of 2010.

Review:

Warning: this review contains spoilers for the FIRST BOOK because I can’t review the second without spoiling the first one. The spoiler completely ruins the experience of reading the first book and if you haven’t yet but still plan to read The Demon’s Lexicon I urge you to avert your eyes NOW. You have been warned!

It was only a few days ago that I talked about how 2010 has been a great reading year for me. The Demon’s Covenant is another addition to an already incredible line up. It feels like it was only yesterday that I discovered The Demon’s Lexicon a book that inconspicuously crept into my top 10 last year after its world and its characters became so alive to me, I was able to remember the smallest details after months of reading it. The Demon’s Covenant has been on my Most Wanted list since then and I was both anxious and terrified of reading it. Would it, could it, be as great as its predecessor? The answer is a resounding YES, a million times YES, and not only that: I find that it is even better.

I hereby declare Sarah Rees Brennan to be a freaking genius. For writing characters that become so alive that I feel like I know them, that make me care so much for their future as though they are real people, for making it possible to establish such an emotional connection with fictional people, I hereby declare that this writer has just joined the list of Ana’s Great Ones. Her name is now set in stone which means, I will read anything she ever writes because we (her writing and I) have crazy chemistry. It is possible that I am behaving like a fan-girl. It is possible that I am not in total control of my thoughts and actions because they have turned to mush after finishing this book. It is possible that I am wearing my heart in my sleeve. It is possible that you think I am exaggerating and it is very possible that I am. But this is what Good Books do to me and I wouldn’t trade this feeling, this experience, for anything in this world. I want to nurture it and above all I want to be able to spread it. So here it goes.

The Demon’s Covenant is very much a second book in a trilogy – by expanding on the first book’s storylines and setting the stage for the final act. It picks up a few weeks after the events at the end of The Demon’s Lexicon and the characters are still suffering the aftermath of what happened then. They are still struggling with the discovery that Jamie is a magician (and if you remember, most Magicians in this world are not Good) , with Mae’s feelings after she has killed someone to protect her brother and with the Twisterific revelation that Nick is in fact, a demon (and if you remember, the one thing that could be worse than being a magician, is definitely being a demon).

The story opens with Mae trying to go back to a normal life when she discovers that her brother is meeting with one of the magicians from Obsidian Circle, Gerald. Terrified that she might lose him, she contacts the brothers Nick and Alan to ask for their help once more and then all attempts at normalcy go down the drain; she is dragged back into the midst of a fight between Circles, a fight between brothers, and into the magical world of the Goblin Market – a world she would do anything to forget but which she is reluctantly fascinated by and attracted to.

The first thing of note in The Demon’s Covenant is the change in narrator . Nick is no longer the voice or the eyes from which this story is narrated making the sequel completely different from its predecessor and yet still fundamentally similar. The difference comes from of course, the narrative voice as instead of Nick’s cold, detached point of view, we get Mae’s deeply emotional one. I thought the choice of picking Mae as the narrator (as opposed to say, Nick again, or Alan) was extremely interesting and at first I wondered why. Then it hit me, even though they are miles apart in terms of humanity (or lack of) , Nick and Alan actually share something. They are both outsiders looking in. Nick, as the non-human, puzzled by emotional conundrums which he doesn’t have and Mae as the only one who does not possess magic, or fighting skills. Her narrative is poignant because of considerations such as what can she possibly offer to the group?

As Nick’s observations of others spoke loudly of how they felt, the same can be said about Mae. Her eyes observe everything and relate to the reader: the strange tension between the brothers, Jamie’s loneliness, the allure of the Goblin Market. Sometimes her observations are not as keen as she would like to believe but that might as well come from being deceived by others but also because of self-denial. She battles with her own heart for most of the book, trying to find normalcy she can’t possibly have after all that has happened and love in the arms of people which she doesn’t truly love. If you read the first book, you know that Alan has a crush on Mae and that Mae has a crush on Nick. At one point in the book, Nick tells her that she would be crazy not to pick Alan but the heart wants what the heart wants, folks. In some sense, Mae is as an unreliable narrator as Nick was but for completely different reasons. That to me, was awesome. As awesome was her strength, her resilience and her gift for action and plotting and above all, her capacity for understanding and connecting. Her understanding of Seb, a guy who could be scorned off as a bully but who is embraced by her or her friendship with another fantastic secondary female character, Sin of the Goblin Market (who is to be the narrator of the final book) . And even though, she is understanding and accommodating that does not make her feeble. I absolutely LOVED how her reactions to discoveries she made about people (I am being cryptic on purpose!) throughout the book were very firm and yet still well-balanced.

As fascinating as the narrative voice was, and how the world-building is incredibly compelling with added dynamics and politics within the Goblin Market and across the Magicians Circles nothing surpasses characterisation. What strikes me the most though in the world created by the author, is the complexity and the greyness of her characters. These are complex human beings making morally questionable decisions all the time. They all know for example, that Magicians are bad and kill humans to use their body to bring demons into the world in order to control their powers and yet, both Mae and Jamie are attracted to the use of magic.

Alan, who is my favourite character by far, is someone who would do anything, and I mean, anything for his brother Nick. He kills, maims lies, manipulates, and goes behind people’s backs to get what he wants. He unleashed a demon in the world. Yes, it is all for love and devotion but…does that make it right though? Probably not, but reading his father’s diary and how Alan has loved and cared for Nick from day one, just about broke my heart. Everything he does is for Nick but he also seems to have an unlimited amount of love to give to anybody who would accept. His actions in the end of the book (another twist, although not as mind blowing as the first one, but still, a good one) shows us that. I found myself consumed with love for Alan and the ONE thing I want the most is for someone to truly, deeply LOVE him.

Breaking my heart is something that I need to get used to though when it comes to this series. With every single scene of sibling affection between Nick and Alan or Mae and Jamie; with the ardent need that both Mae and Alan have for Nick to show some sign of humanity; with Nick’s obvious urgency for trying so hard to appease Alan even though it goes against his own nature and for his vulnerability; for Jamie’s hopeless crush; and so on and so forth, I got continuous heart twinges.

What is it that makes us human, I asked myself reading this book over and again. It is the emotions we feel? The capacity for connection? To make mistakes and err and fall and get back on our feet again? Nick might not feel the right emotions – but he is devoted, protective of the ones we considers “his”, does that not make him slightly human? Alan is human and is so clearly emotional and yet he can be as cool and detached as Nick if necessary – does that make him less human?

I don’t know the answers; I am terrified that the answers to those questions will come in the final book and it will break my heart into tiny little pieces. All I know is that I want the best for these characters . The Demon’s Covenant is definitely not a book about plot – in fact, when push comes to shove, little happens in the way of moving the story forward and all that was necessary to set the third act, is contained in the last few chapters. The majority of The Demon’s Covenant is about the characters’ and their motivations, and about love. Loving who you shouldn’t love, people being worthy of being loved even when they don’t think they are or the seemly endless capacity for sibling love that both Mae and Alan have. As such it is a feast for the readers who like me, are inclined towards character-driven stories.

I was a huge, giant MESS when the book ended and still I could have begged for more. I am consumed with love for these characters, flaws and all (or even because of that), terrified for their future because their world is bleak and the prospect of happiness is not that great, and yet, still hopeful for all of them, but above all for Alan. On Ana’s corner of the Smuggliverse there is one thing that I say to the books I love and cherish above all and which I consider to be the greatest compliment I could ever give: THIS IS WHY I READ. This book goes straight into my top 10, without a shadow of a doubt.

Notable Quotes/Parts: Angie, in her AWESOME review, quoted a scene that I too, loved so I am copying it here, because it shows that the book is not only dark and bleak but also oh, so funny in parts:

Mae grabbed Nick’s arm and he whirled on her, then caught himself and stood looking down at her with his pulse thudding against her palm and the knife still in his hand.

She lifted her chin. “Oh, put that away.”

Nick put it away. “Just making a point.”

“Yes, I took your point,” Jamie muttered. “Right up against my throat.”

Mae looked away from Nick and walked quickly toward the wall, scrambling over it and trying so hard to make the climb look easy that she skinned her elbow as she did so. She pretended it didn’t sting.

Nick did not try to help Alan over the wall this time around. He stood with his hands clenched into fists in his pockets as they all waited for Alan to get over on his own.

“I wasn’t trying to hurt you,” he told Jamie suddenly.

Mae reached out and touched Nick’s shoulder. Her hand brushed muscle, braced and tense under her palm, for a moment. Then he shied away from her and glared.

She smiled as if this reaction was perfectly normal. “Sometimes when you pull knives on people, they get this impression that you’re going to hurt them, and then they’re completely terrified. Crazy, I know!”

“Okay,” said Nick. He turned to Jamie and popped his left wrist sheath again. “Look.”

Jamie backed up. “Which part of ‘completely terrified’ did you translate as ’show us your knives, Nick’? Don’t show me your knives, Nick. I have no interest in your knives.”

Nick rolled his eyes. “This is a quillon dagger. That’s a knife with a sword handle. I like it because it has a good grip for stabbing.”

“Why do you say these things?” Jamie inquired piteously. “Is it to make me sad?”

“I didn’t have you cornered,” Nick went on. “You could’ve run. And this dagger doesn’t have an even weight distribution; it’s absolute rubbish for throwing. If I had any intention of hurting you, I’d have used a knife I could throw.”

Jamie blinked. “I will remember those words always. I may try to forget them, but I sense that I won’t be able to.”

Verdict: The Demon’s Covenant is an amazing sequel to The Demon’s Lexicon, everything I could have hoped for, with characters that feel alive and real, catapulting this series and its author to the top of my favourites’ list. Definitely on my top 10 of 2010.

Rating: 9 Damn Near Perfection

Reading next: Ten Things I Love About You by Julia Quinn

Books Reviewed in 2009

Books Reviewed in 2010

ALL REVIEWS:

Format is as follows: Title, Author, Rating, Genre

* Denotes JOINT REVIEW

** Denotes GUEST DARE

RED denotes favorite of 2009

BLUE denotes honorable mention of 2009

2009:

JANUARY:

Thea:

1. Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, 8, Mystery
2. Desperate Duchesses by Eloisa James, 6, Romance (Historical)
3. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson, 8, YA (SF)
4. Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba, 8, Manga (Horror)
5. Goth by Otsuichi, 9, Horror (Lightbook)
6. The Tarot Café* by Chandra Rooney, 6, Fantasy (Lightbook)
7. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, 8, YA (SF)
8. Impossible by Nancy Werlin, 7, YA (Fantasy)
9. The Inferior by Peadar O’Guilin, 8, YA (SF)
10. The Briar King** by Greg Keyes, 8, Fantasy
11. Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs, 8, UF

Ana:

1. The Talisman by Stephen King & Peter Straub, 6, Fantasy (Horror)
2. Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier, 10, Fantasy
3. What a Pirate Desires by Michelle Beattie, 2, Romance (Historical)
4. Vampire Knight by Matsuri Hino, 7, Manga
5. Demon Diary by Kara & Lee Chi Hyong, 1, Manhwa
6. The Tarot Café (series volumes 1-7) by Park Sang-Sun, 8, Manhwa
7. The Tarot Café* by Chandra Rooney, 7, Fantasy (Lightbook)
8. At The Bride Hunt Ball by Olivia Parker, 6, Romance (Historical)
9. Kiss of a Demon King by Kresley Cole, 7, Romance (Paranormal)
10. Caliber by Sam Sarkar & Gary Gastonny, 6, Graphic Novel (Fantasy)
11. Talk Me Down by Victoria Dahl, 7, Romance (Contemporary)
12. The Magic Knot by Helen Scott Taylor, 6, Romance (Paranormal)
13. The Briar King** by Greg Keyes, 8, Fantasy

FEBRUARY:

Thea:

1. Little Brother by Corey Doctorow, 7, YA (SF)
2. Undone by Rachel Caine, 6, UF
3. Lament* by Maggie Stiefvater, 4, YA (Fantasy)
4. In Her Name* by Michael Hicks, 8, Science Fiction
5. Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman, 8, YA (Fantasy)
6. White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison, 7, UF
7. Melusine** by Sarah Monette, 7, Fantasy
8. The Suicide Collectors by David Oppegaard, 7, Horror
9. Generation Dead by Daniel Waters, 8, YA (Horror)
10. Zombie Haiku* by Ryan Mecum, 7, Horror
11. Happy Hour of the Damned by Mark Henry, 7, UF

Ana:

1. Scandal by Carolyn Jewel, 9, Romance (Historical)
2. Like no Other Lover by Julie Anne Long, 8, Romance (Historical)
3. Lament* by Maggie Stiefvater, 4, YA (Fantasy)
4. In Her Name* by Michael Hicks, 8, Science Fiction
5. The Walking Dead (vol. 1) by Robert Kirkman & Tony Moore, 10, Graphic Novel (Horror)
6. Road Trip of the Living Dead by Mark Henry, 8, UF

MARCH:

Thea:

1. Stone Masters: A Vampire’s Reckoning by VMK Fewings, 6, Horror
2. Angels’ Blood* by Nalini Singh, 8, Romance (Paranormal)
3. Drood by Dan Simmons, 8, Mystery
4. Into the Forest by Jean Hegland, 7, Literature
5. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan, 9, YA (SF/Horror)
6. Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George, 7, YA (Fantasy)

Ana:

1. Angel’s Blood* by Nalini Singh, 10, Romance (Paranormal)
2. Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James, 8, Romance (Contemporary)
3. Revealed by Kate Noble, 9, Romance (Historical)
4. A Taste of Magic by Tracey Madison, 6, Romance (Paranormal)
5. Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas, 5, Romance (Contemporary)
6. A Perfect Darkness by Jaime Rush, 5, Romance (Paranormal)

APRIL:

Thea:

1. Feast of Souls by C.S. Friedman, 8, Fantasy
2. Blue Diablo* by Ann Aguirre, 6, UF
3. Fragile Eternity* by Melissa Marr, 9, YA (Fantasy)
4. Graceling by Kristin Cashore, 8, YA (Fantasy)
5. Secret Society Girl by Diana Peterfreund, 7, Literature (Contemporary)
6. The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by Galen Beckett, 9, Fantasy
7. Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews, 9, UF
8. The Trouble With Demons by Lisa Shearin, 7, Fantasy

Ana:

1. Rewriting Monday by Jodi Thomas, 8, Romance (Contemporary/Suspense)
2. Blue Diablo* by Ann Aguirre, 8, UF
3. The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett, 6, Fantasy
4. The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers by Angie Fox, 7, UF (Paranormal)
5. Fragile Eternity* by Melissa Marr, 9, YA (Fantasy)
6. The Secret Wedding by Jo Beverley, 7, Romance (Historical)
7. Dayhunter by Jocelynn Drake, 7, UF
8. The Laurentine Spy by Emily Gee, 7, Fantasy (Romance)

MAY:

Thea:

1. Keeper of Light and Dust by Natasha Mostert, 7, SF
2. Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn, 7, Mystery
3. Starfinder* by John Marco, 6, YA
4. Diamond Star by Catharine Asaro, 7, Science Fiction
5. Strange Angels* by Lili St. Crow, 5, YA (UF)
6. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies* by Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith, 7, Horror (Comedy)
7. The Black Act by Louise Bohmer, 5, Fantasy
8. Don’t Look Twice by Andrew Gross, 6, Thriller
9. Flood by Stephen Baxter, 8, SF
10. Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey, 8, Fantasy (UF)

Ana:

1. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, 10, Fantasy
2. Starfinder* by John Marco, 6, YA (Fantasy)
3. To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt, 5, Romance (Historical)
4. Always a Scoundrel by Suzanne Enoch, 7, Romance (Historical)
5. Strange Angels* by Lili St. Crow, 7, YA (UF)
6. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies* by Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith, 5, Horror (Comedy)
7. A Hint of Wicked by Jennifer Haymore, 6, Romance (Historical)
8. The Black Act* by Louise Bohmer, 4, Fantasy
9. Compromised by Kate Noble, 8, Romance (Historical)
10. This Duchess of Mine by Eloisa James, 8, Romance (Historical)
11. Black and White by Jackie Kessler & Caitlin Kittredge, 7, UF
12. Frederica by Georgette Heyer, 7, Romance (Historical)

JUNE:

Thea:

1. Street Magic by Caitlin Kitteredge, 7, UF
2. You Are SO Undead to Me by Stacey Jay, 6, YA
3. Night’s Rose by Annaliese Evans, DNF, Romance (Paranormal)
4. Gone by Michael Grant, 8, YA (SF/Horror)
5. Hunger by Michael Grant, 8, YA (SF/Horror)
6. Jasmyn by Alex Bell, 8, Fantasy
7. Slights by Kaaron Warren, 9, Horror
8. Consorts of Heaven by Jaine Fenn, 6, Science Fiction
9. Naamah’s Kiss by Jacqueline Carey, 9, Fantasy
10. The Once and Future King** by T.H. White, 6, Fantasy

Ana:

1. The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan, 8, YA (UF)
2. Darkborn by Alison Sinclair, 6, Fantasy
3. Salt and Silver by Anna Katherine, 7, Romance (Paranormal/UF)
4. The Adamantine Palace by Stephen Deas, 6, Fantasy
5. Night’s Rose* by Annaliese Evans, DNF, Romance (Paranormal)
6. Mark of the Demon by Diana Rowland, 7, UF
7. The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns by Elizabeth Lieknes, 8, Fiction (Paranormal/UF)
8. Don’t Tempt Me by Loretta Chase, 8, Romance (Historical)
9. Bound by Your Touch by Meredith Duran, 8, Romance (Historical)
10. What Happens in London by Julia Quinn, 8, Romance (Historical)
11. Branded by Fire by Nalini Singh, 9, Romance (Paranormal)
12. The Once and Future King** by T.H. White, 6, Fantasy

JULY:

Thea:

1. Strange Brew Anthology: “Seeing Eye” by Patricia Briggs, 8, “Death Warmed Over” by Rachel Caine, 7, UF
2. Darkness Calls by Marjorie M. Liu, 7, UF
3. The French Mistress by Susan Holloway Scott, 7, Literary Fiction (Historical)
4. Apocalypse 2012 by Gary Jennings, Robert Gleason & Julius Podrug, 4, SF (Historical, Thriller)
5. The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong, 8, YA (UF)
6. Wings by Aprilynne Pike, 7, YA (Fantasy)
7. Evernight by Claudia Gray, 7, YA (UF)
8. Stargazer by Claudia Gray, 8, YA (UF)
9. Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison, 8, YA (UF)
10. Kiss of Life by Daniel Waters, 8, YA (Horror, SF)
11. Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier, 9, YA (Fantasy)
12. Cybele’s Secret by Juliet Marilleier, 9, YA (Fantasy)
13. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, 5, YA (Paranormal Romance)

Ana:

1. Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev, 8, YA (Fantasy)
2. The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, 5, Fiction (Mystery)
3. Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson, 8, Fantasy

4. Echoes from the Dead by Johan Theorin, 6, Crime
5. Written on Your Skin by Meredith Duran, 8, Romance (historical)
6. One Week As Lovers by Victoria Dahl, 7, Romance (historical)
7. Wicked Lovely, Desert Tales vol.1 by Melissa Marr, 7, Manga (Young Adult)
8. Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson, 7, Young Adult (Contemporary)
9. The Queen’s Thief series (The Thief, Queen of Attolia, King of Attolia) by Megan Whalen Turner, 10, YA (Fantasy)
10. The Eternal Kiss Anthology, 7, YA

AUGUST:

Thea:

1. Prophecy of the Sisters* by Michelle Zink, 5, YA (Horror, Gothic)
2. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, 9, YA (Fantasy)
3. Enna Burning by Shannon Hale, 8, YA (Fantasy)
4. River Secrets by Shannon Hale, 7, YA (Fantasy)
5. Zombie Blondes by Brian James, 8, YA (Horror)
6. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, 7, YA (SF)
7. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld, 7, YA (SF)
8. Specials by Scott Westerfeld, 8, YA (SF)
9. Exodus by Julie Bertagna, 8, YA (SF)
10. Genesis by Bernard Beckett, 8, YA (SF)
11. Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden, 8, YA (SF)
12. Dull Boy by Sarah Cross, 8, YA (SF)
13. Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan, 4/8, YA (Fantasy)
14. The Devouring by Simon Holt, 7, YA (Horror)
15. Soulstice by Simon Holt, 6, YA (Horror)
16. Rampant* by Diana Peterfreund, 8, YA (Fantasy)
17. A Countess Below Stairs* by Eva Ibbotson, 7, YA (Romance)
18. Newes From the Dead by Mary Hooper, 6, YA (Historical)
19. Libyrinth by Pearl North, 6, YA (SF)
20. Feed by M.T. Anderson, 9, YA (SF)
21. Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody, 8, YA (Fantasy/SF)
22. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry, 8, YA (Fantasy/SF)
23. Ruined by Paula Morris, 7, YA (Horror)
24. A Certain Slant of Lightb y Laura Whitcomb, 8, YA (Horror)
25. Wake* by Lisa McMann, 6, YA (SF/Horror)
26. Rapunzel’s Revenge* by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale & Nathan Hale, 8, YA (Graphic Novel)
27. Skinned by Robin Wasserman, 7, YA (SF)
28. The Strain by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan, 5, Horror (Thriller)

Ana:

1. Prophecy of the Sisters* by Michelle Zink, 5, YA (Horror, Gothic)
2. Everything Beautiful by Simone Howell, 8, YA (Contemporary)
3. Furnace: Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith, 8, YA (Horror)
4. Intertwined by Gena Showalter, 8, YA (Paranormal Romance)
5. Monster by Christopher Pike, 7, YA (Horror)
6. Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols, 9, YA (Romance)
7. The Poison Garden by Sarah Singleton, 6, YA (Fantasy)
8. My Soul To Take by Rachel Vincent, 7, YA (Paranormal Romance)
9. Rampant* by Diana Peterfreund, 8, YA (Fantasy)
10. A Countess Below Stairs* by Eva Ibbotson, 8, YA (Romance)
11. The Giver by Lois Lowry, 8, YA (SF)
12. Everlost by Neal Shusterman, 8, YA (Horror)
13. Wake* by Lisa McMann, 7, YA (SF/Horror)
14. Rapunzel’s Revenge* by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale and Nathan Hale, 8, YA (Graphic Novel)
15. The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Ms. Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber, 6, Romance (Paranormal/Gothic)
16. The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer, 5, Romance (Historical)
17. Surrender of a Siren by Tessa Dare, 7, Romance (Historical)

SEPTEMBER:

Thea:

1. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, 8, YA (SF)
2. The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan, 7, YA (UF)
3. Succubus Heat by Richelle Mead, 7, UF
4. Mistborn: The Final Empire* by Brandon Sanderson, 8, Fantasy
5. Heroes at Risk by Moira J. Moore, 7, Fantasy
6. Rosemary and Rue* by Seanan McGuire, 7, UF
7. Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs, 8, UF
8. The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden* by Catherynne Valente, 9, Fantasy
9. Give Up the Ghost* by Megan Crewe, 7, YA (UF)
10. Forest Born by Shannon Hale, 8, YA (Fantasy)
11. Murder Mysteries* by Neil Gaiman & P. Craig Russell, 8, Graphic Novel
12. Cape Storm by Rachel Caine, 8, UF
13. Perfume by Patrick Suskind, 8, Fiction
14. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly, 9, YA (Historical)
15. Ariel by Stephen Boyett, 7, SF (Fantasy)
16. The Declaration* by Gemma Malley, 7, YA (SF)
17. Fire by Kristin Cashore, 9, YA (Fantasy)

Ana:

1. Jasmyn by Alex Bell, 8, Fantasy
2. The Hollow by Jessica Verday, 5, YA (UF)
3. Mistborn: The Final Empire* by Brandon Sanderson, 9, Fantasy
4. The Infinite Instant by Danielle L. Parker, 6, Science Fiction (Thriller)
5. Rosemary and Rue* by Seanan McGuire, 8, UF
6. The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden* by Catherynne Valente, NA, Fantasy
7. Give Up the Ghost* by Megan Crewe, 7, YA (UF)
8. Murder Mysteries* by Neil Gaiman, 8, Graphic Novel (Fantasy)
9. Liar by Justine Larbalestier, 9, YA (Thriller)
10. The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King, 7, Fantasy

11. Tempt Me at Twilight by Lisa Kleypas, 7, Romance (Historical)
12. The Declaration* by Gemma Malley, 6, YA (SF)
13. Demon Forged by Meljean Brook, 10, Romance (Paranormal)
14. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, 9, YA (SF)

OCTOBER:

Thea:

1. Ark by Stephen Baxter, 10, Science Fiction
2. Soulless* by Gail Carriger, 4/6, Romance (Paranormal)
3. The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness, 8, YA (SF)
4. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, 10, Science Fiction
5. On the Edge by Ilona Andrews, 7, Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy
6. The Well of Ascension* by Brandon Sanderson, 7, Fantasy
7. The Bell at Sealey Head by Patricia A. McKillip, 8, Fantasy
8. Prospero Lost* by L. Jagi Lamplighter, 8, Fantasy (Contemporary)
9. According to Jane by Marilyn Brant, 6, Chick Lit
10. Firethorn by Sarah Micklem, 5/8, Fantasy
11. Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier, 9, Fantasy
12. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, 9, Fantasy
13. The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey, 8, YA (Horror)
14. The Harrowing by Alexandra Sokoloff, 6, Horror
15. Hater by David Moody, 7, Horror
16. Dying to Live: Life Sentence by Kim Paffenroth, 8, Horror
17. Malpractice, Anthology, 7, Horror
18. Fifty-Two Stitches, Anthology, 7, Horror

Ana:

1. Soulless* by Gail Carriger, DNF, Romance (Paranormal)
2. Triumff by Dan Abnett, 6, Fantasy
3. Ash by Malinda Lo, 9, YA (Fantasy)
4. Pastworld by Ian Beck, 7, YA (Fantasy)
5. The Well of Ascension* by Brandon Sanderson, 8, Fantasy
6. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick, 2, YA (UF)
7. Prospero Lost* by L. Jagi Lamplighter, 8, Fantasy (Contemporary)
8. Austenland by Shannon Hale, 1, Chick Lit
9. Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles, 7, YA (Romance)
10. Heir to Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier, 10, Fantasy
11. Little Black Lies by Tish Cohen, 6, YA (Contemporary)
12. Never Slow Dance With A Zombie by E. Van Lowe, 4, YA (Horror)

NOVEMBER:

Thea:

1. Elegy Beach by Steven R. Boyett, 8, Fantasy
2. Unclean Spirits by M.L.N. Hanover, 7, UF
3. Unconventional* by Matt Springer, 6, Fiction
4. One Con Glory* by Sarah Kuhn, 8, Chick-lit
5. Blood Promise by Richelle Mead, 8, YA (UF)
6. The Maze Runner by James Dashner, 8, YA (SF)
7. The Hero of Ages* by Brandon Sanderson, 8, Fantasy
8. The Road Home * by Ellen Emerson Whie, 8, YA (Fiction)
9. Darker Angels by M.L.N. Hanover, 7, UF
10. Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderon, 8, Fantasy
11. The Devil’s Alphabet by Daryl Gregory, 6, Horror
12. Ice by Sarah Beth Durst, 7, YA
13. Tainted by Julie Kenner, 7, UF

Ana:

1. Blaze of Memory by Nalini Singh, 8, Romance (Paranormal)
2. The Dragon Book anthology, 8, Fantasy
3. Unconventional* by Matt Springer, 6, Fiction
4. One Con Glory* by Sarah Kuhn, 8, Chick-lit
5. “Blind Spot” in Must Love Hellhounds by Meljean Brook, 8, Romance (Paranormal, Anthology)
6. The Hero of Ages* by Brandon Sanderson, 8, Fantasy
7. The Road Home by Ellen Emerson White *, 9, YA (Fiction)
8. The Last Will of Moira Healy by Therese Walsh, 7, Fiction (Fantasy)
9. Resenting the Hero by Moira J. Moore, 7, Fantasy
10. The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines, 7, Fantasy
11. The Mermaid’s Madness by Jim C. Hines, 7, Fantasy
12. Madame Xanadu by Matt Wagner, 8, Graphic Novel
13. The Magicians by Lev Grossman, 4, Fantasy

DECEMBER:

Thea:

1. Gateway by Sharon Shinn, 6, YA (Fantasy)
2. Spellspam by Alma Alexander, 6, YA (SF)
3. Cybermage by Alma Alexander, 7, YA (SF)
4. Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines, 9, YA (SF)
5. The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima, 8, YA (Fantasy)
6. Going Bovine* by Libba Bray, 9, YA (SF)
7. Vampire Haiku by Ryan Mecum, 6, Humor (Horror)
8. I am Scrooge by Adam Roberts, 6, Humor (Horror)
9. Beautiful Creatures* by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, 6, YA (SF)
10. Raiders’ Ransom by Emily Diamand, 8, YA (SF)
11. Witch & Wizard by James Patterson & Gabrielle Charbonnet, 5, YA (Fantasy)
12. A Rush of Wings by Adrian Phoenix, 6, UF
13. In the Blood by Adrian Phoenix, 7, UF
14. Deadtown by Nancy Holzner, 7, UF

Ana:

1. The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V.S. Redick, 7, Fantasy
2. Going Bovine* by Libba Bray, 8, YA (SF)
3. Beautiful Creatures* by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, 6, YA (SF)

2010

JANUARY:

Thea:

1. Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James, 7, Romance (Contemporary)
2. Titan by Stephen Baxter, 8, Science Fiction
3. Moonseed by Stephen Baxter, 8, Science Fiction
4. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin, 10, Science Fiction (Fantasy)
5. Three Days to Dead by Kelley Meding, 7, Urban Fantasy
6. Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs* by Molly Harper, 7, Chick lit (PNR)
7. Mr. Shivers by Robert Jackson Bennett, 6, Horror
8. Need* by Carrie Jones, 6, YA (Fantasy)
9. Captivate by Carrie Jones, 7, YA (Fantasy)
10. Archangel’s Kiss by Nalini Singh, 7, Romance (Paranormal)

Ana:

1. Naamah’s Kiss by Jacqueline Carey, 7, Fantasy
2. The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg, 7, YA (Chick-lit)
3. An Abundance of Katherines by John Greene, 8, YA
4. Irredeemable by Mark Waid, 9, Graphic Novel
5. Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs* by Molly Harper, 7, Chick lit (PNR)
6. Nice Girls Don’t Date Dead Men by Molly Harper, 7, Chick lit (PNR)
7. Nice Girls Don’t Live Forever by Molly Harper, 7, Chick lit (PNR)
8. Need* by Carrie Jones, 6, YA (Fantasy)
9. Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves, 10, YA (UF)
10. Archangel’s Kiss* by Nalini Singh, 8, Romance (Paranormal)

FEBRUARY:

Thea:

1. Veracity by Laura Bynum, 8, Speculative Fiction (Dystopian)
2. Impact by Douglas Preston, 6, Science Fiction
3. Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer* by Laini Taylor, 8, YA (Fantasy)
4. Fade by Lisa McMann, 7, YA (Speculative Fiction)
5. Gone by Lisa McMann, 8, YA (Speculative Fiction)
6. A Dark Matter by Peter Straub, 7, Horror
7. Except the Queen by Jane Yolen & Midori Snyder, 8, Fantasy (Contemporary)
8. The Mark by Jen Nadol, 7, YA (Speculative Fiction)
9. Unknown by Rachel Caine, 8, UF
10. The Girl with the Mermaid Hair* by Delia Ephron, 9, YA (Contemporary)

Ana:

1. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N K Jemisin, 9, Fantasy
2. The Bride and the Buccaneer by Darlene Marshall, 6, Romance (Historical)
3. Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer* by Laini Taylor, 8, YA (Fantasy)
4. A Tale of Two Demon Slayers by Angie Fox, 7, Romance (Paranormal)
5. Lex Trent Versus the Gods by Alex Bell, 8, YA (Fantasy)
6. The Girl with the Mermaid Hair* by Delia Ephron, 8, YA (Contemporary)
7. Blood of the Demon by Diana Rowland, 7, UF
8. In for a Penny by Rose Lerner, 8, Romance (Historical)

MARCH:

Thea:

1. NUM8ERS by Rachel Ward, 7, YA, Speculative Fiction
2. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher, 8, YA, Speculative Fiction (Dystopia)
3. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde, 9, Speculative Fiction (Dystopia)
4. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, 7, Speculative Fiction (Dystopia)
5. Airborn by Kenneth Oppel, 8, YA (Steampunk)
6. Arcadia Snips and the Steamwork Consortium by Robert C. Rodgers, 7, YA (Steampunk)
7. Boneshaker* by Cherie Priest, 7, Speculative Fiction
8. Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison, 8, UF
9. The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan, 8, YA (Horror/Apocalypse)
10. A Local Habitation* by Seanan McGuire, 7, UF
11. Hourglass by Claudia Gray, 7, YA (UF)
12. Mind Games* by Carolyn Crane, 8, UF
13. The New Brighton Archeological Society by Mark Andrew Smith, 8, Graphic Novel (YA)
14. Tome of the Undergates* by Sam Sykes, 5, Fantasy
15. This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer, 8, YA (SF)

Ana:

1. Something About You by Julie James, 7, Romance, Contemporary
2. The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson, 8, YA, Contemporary
3. New Blood by Gail Dayton, 4, Romance (Paranormal)
4. The Warlord of the Air by Michael Moorcock, 7, Steampunk
5. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore, 8, Graphic Novel
6. The Difference Engine by William Gibson & Bruce Sterling, 8/6, Science Fiction (Steampunk)
7. Boneshaker* by Cherie Priest, 7, Speculative Fiction
8. The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott, 6, YA (Romance)
9. Scarlett Fever by Maureen Johnson, 8, YA (Contemporary)
10. A Local Habitation* by Seanan McGuire, 8, UF
11. Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins, 7, YA (Fantasy)
12. Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken, 8, YA (Romance)
13. Mind Games* by Carolyn Crane, 8, UF
14. Tome of the Undergates* by Sam Sykes, 6, Fantasy
15. A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner, 9, YA (Fantasy)

APRIL:

Thea:

1. Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs, 8, UF
2. Guardian of the Dead* by Karen Healey, 8, YA (Fantasy)
3. The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong, 8, YA (UF)
4. The Poison Throne** by Celine Kiernan, 6, Fantasy
5. The Returners by Gemma Malley, 7, YA (SF)
6. The Year of the Horse* by Justin Allen, 5, YA (Western/Fantasy)
7. Heart of Veridon by Tim Akers, 9, Steampunk
8. The Affinity Bridge by George Mann, 7, Steampunk
9. Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio, 8, Steampunk (Comics)
10. Anti-Ice by Stephen Baxter, 8, Steampunk
11. The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia, 8, Steampunk
12. Master of None by Sonya Bateman, 6, UF
13. Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr, 7, YA (UF)
14. Epitaph Road by David Patneaude, 6, YA (Dystopia)
15. Spellwright by Blake Charlton, 7, Fantasy
16. The World Inside by Robert Silverberg, 7, Sci Fi (Dystopia)
17. White Cat by Holly Black, 7, YA (UF)

Ana:

1. Guardian of the Dead* by Karen Healey, 8, YA (Fantasy)
2. Kick-Ass by Mark Millar, 8, Graphic Novel (Superhero)
3. The Poison Throne** by Celine Kiernan, 8, Fantasy
4. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan, 7, YA (Contemporary)
5. The Year of the Horse* by Justin Allen, 4, YA (Western/Fantasy)
6. The Summer of You by Kate Noble, 8, Romance (Historical)
7. The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers, 8, Fantasy
8. Steampunk by Jeff and Ann Vandermeer, 5, Steampunk
9. Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio, 8, Steampunk (Comics)
10. Here There Be Monsters by Meljean Brook, 8, Steampunk (novella)
11. Irredeemable vol.2 by Mark Waid and Peter Krause, 9, Graphic Novel
12. Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr, 7, YA (UF)
13. The King of the Crags by Stephen Deas, 6, Fantasy
14. Wicked Becomes You by Meredith Duran, 5, Romance (Historical)
15. White Cat by Holly Black, 8, YA (UF)

MAY:

Thea:

1. Lies by Michael Grant, 8, YA (SF)
2. Feed by MIra Grant, 7, YA (Horror)
3. First Contact by Michael Hicks, 6, Sci Fi
4. Mistwood by Leah Cypess, 7, YA (Fantasy)
5. Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi, 8, YA (Dystopia/SF)
6. God Stalk & Dark of the Moon by P.C. Hodgell, 6 & 7, Fantasy
7. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa, 6, YA (Fantasy)
8. Hero by Perry Moore, 10, YA (Superheroes/SF)

Ana:

1. The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, 7, YA (Horror)
2. Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready, 8, YA (SF)
3. First Contact by Michael Hicks, 6, Sci Fi
4. Paper Towns by John Green, 8, YA (Contemporary)
5. Claire de Lune by Christine Johnson, 4, YA (UF)
6. The Demon’s Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan, 9, YA (UF)
7. Spider’s Bite by Jennifer Estep, 6, UF/PNR
8. Ten Things I Love About You by Julia Quinn, 6, Romance (Historical)

JUNE:

Thea:

1. Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon, 6, YA (Fantasy)
2. Sapphique by Catherine Fisher, 8, YA (SF/Dystopia)
3. The Enemy by Charlie Higson, 7, YA (SF/Horror/Dystopia)
4. Go, Mutants!* by Larry Doyle, 7, YA (SF)
5. Naamah’s Curse by Jacqueline Carey, 8, Fantasy
6. The Line by Teri Hall, 4, YA (SF/Dystopia)
7. Crossing Over* by Anna Kendall, 5, YA (Fantasy)
8. The End League Vol. 1 by Rick Remender & Mat Broome, 5, Graphic Novel (Superheroes)
9. The Passage by Justin Cronin, 9, SF/Horror (Post-Apocalypse)
10. The Magician’s Apprentice by Trudi Canavan, 6, Fantasy

Ana:

1. Looking for Alaska by John Green, 8, YA (Contemporary)
2. Seth Baumgartner’s Love Manifesto by Eric Luper, 6, YA (Contemporary)
3. Friend Is Not A Verb by Daniel Ehrenhaft
4. Go, Mutants!* by Larry Doyle, 7, YA (SF)
5. The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea M. Campbell, 7, YA (Superheroes/SF)
6. A Blue So Dark by Holly Schindler, 6, YA (Contemporary)
7. Crossing Over* by Anna Kendall, 5, YA (Fantasy)
8. Shades of Gray by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge, 8, UF (Superheroes)
9. Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding, 4, SF

JULY:

Thea:

1. Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness, 8, YA (SF)
2. I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells, 7, SF
3. Kraken by China Mieville, 5, Fantasy (New Weird)
4. Peter and Max* by Bill Willingham, 7, Fantasy
5. Lord of the Changing Winds by Rachel Neumeier, 7, Fantasy
6. Birthmarked by Caragh O’Brien, 5, YA (dystopian)
7. POD by Stephen Wallenfels, 8, YA (dystopian)
8. Fat Vampire* by Adam Rex, 6, YA (Horror)
9. For the Win by Cory Doctorow, 7, YA
10. Early to Death, Early to Rise by Kim Harrison, 7, YA
11. Passing Strange by Daniel Waters, 8, YA
12. East by Edith Pattou, 7, YA (Fantasy)
13. Sisters Red* by Jackson Pearce, DNF, YA (Fantasy)
14. A Wish After Midnight* by Zetta Elliott, 8, YA (SF)

Ana:

1. Demon Blood by Meljean Brook, 8, Paranormal Romance
2. Bonds of Justice by Nalini Singh, 7, Paranormal Romance
3. Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock, 10, SF
4. Peter and Max* by Bill Willingham, 7, Fantasy
5. City of Ruin by Mark Charan Newton, 5, Fantasy
6. Irredeemable Vol 3 by Mark Waid, 7, Graphic Novel
7. Incorruptible vol. 1 by Mark Waid, 7, Graphic Novel
8. Beastly by Alex Flinn, 6, YA (Romance)
9. Forget You by Jennifer Echols, 6, YA (Romance)
10. Kiss me Deadly edited by Trisha Telep, 7, YA (Fantasy)
11. Fat Vampire* by Adam Rex, 6, YA (Horror)
12. Dark Goddess by Sarwat Chadda, 7, YA (Fantasy/Horror)
13. 8th Grade Super Zero by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, 8, YA (Contemporary/PoC)
14. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, 8, YA (Contemporary/PoC)
15. Sisters Red* by Jackson Pearce, No rate, YA (Fantasy)
16. A Wish After Midnight* by Zetta Elliott, 8, YA (SF)

August:

Thea:

1. Salt by Maurice Gee, 7, YA (Dystopian)
2. The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman, 6, YA (Dystopian)
3. Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves, 8, YA (UF)
4. Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder, 6, YA (Dystopian)

Ana:

1. The Ghosts of Ashbury High by Jaclyn Moriarty, 10, YA
2. My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger, 8, YA (Contemporary/LGBT)
3. How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff, 8, YA (Dystopian)
4. Hero by Perry Moore, 8, YA (UF/LGBT)
5. I’ll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip by John Donovan, 8, YA (Contemporary/LGBT)
6. Freak Show by James St James, 8, YA (Contemporary/LGBT)

Welcome to another Sunday edition of our Smugglers’ Stash & News.

First up, we’ve got some fan-freakin-tastic news.

Bloomsbury Retracts Cover:

On Thursday afternoon, Bloomsbury officially announced that they will no longer be printing the offending cover of Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore.

Bloomsbury is ceasing to supply copies of the US edition of Magic Under Glass. The jacket design has caused offense and we apologize for our mistake. Copies of the book with a new jacket design will be available shortly.

As with Liar, Bloomsbury is retracting the cover and will issue a new one.

Author Jaclyn Dolamore has posted on her blog that the new cover is underway, and it will be featuring a model of color:

You may have seen my vision of Nimira in my book trailer. I hadn’t shared this image with Bloomsbury at the time the cover was originally conceived (the trailer wasn’t created until November, after the book was done) but we’ll now be looking at models who look more closely like her, which I’m very excited about!

To everyone that posted about Bloomsbury’s racist cover practices, to everyone that tweeted about it, to everyone that called or wrote the publisher demanding change, thank you. You have all done it. As a community, we were able to make our voices heard, and together we were able to cause change. We are so incredibly happy and proud to be a part of this awesome, vocal, dedicated group.

But, as Ari of Reading In Color and the folks over at Bookshelves of Doom remind us, this one cover at Bloomsbury is not an isolated incident. Whitewashing of book covers is a practice that pervades the publishing industry. With that in mind, and because this is something important to us, we’ve decided to add a new feature to The Book Smugglers called “Cover Matters.” Starting on Monday, we plan to post at about cover issues at least once a month. We hope to be able to even have guests over for interview – bloggers, authors, maybe even a publisher (hey, it’s worth a try) – to go with the posts.

In Other News:

Lots of news today! First, if you haven’t heard, there is going to be an honest to goodness Book Blogger Convention this year! This will be a one day event, uniting book bloggers from around the world in New York City. The con will take place on Friday, May 28, 2010 at the NYC Seminar and Conference Center in New York City – which is pretty cool for folks that might be in town anyways for Book Expo America (May 25-27). Some of the topics to be covered include: Professionalism/Ethics, Marketing, Author/Blogger Relationships, Building Community, Writing/Building Content. While Ana won’t be able to make it, Thea has already registered for BEA and plans on making it to BBC as well! So, any other book blogger types that are in the area or planning on flying out, let us know! Bonus, the good folks running the convention have an awesome giveaway right now – book bloggers can enter for a chance to have their registration fee waived! Only one will win, but it’s worth entering, especially if you’re watching your budget. Registration for the con is currently open and available for a discounted rate of $90 (until February 14). So, hop to!

In other slightly belated news, the ALA has announced literary award winners for 2010 last week! Here are the big winners:

John Newbery Medal (for most outstanding contribution to children’s literature): When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Newberry Honor Books: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin, and The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick

Randolph Caldecott Medal (for most distinguished American picture book for children):
The Lion & the Mouse illustrated and written by Jerry Pinkney.
Caldecott Honor Books: All the World illustrated by Marla Frazee, written by Liz Garton Scanlon; Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski, written by Joyce Sidman

Michael L. Printz Award (for excellence in literature written for young adults):
Going Bovine written by Libba Bray
Printz Honor Books: Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman, The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey, Punkzilla by Adam Rapp, and Tales of the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance, 1973 by John Barnes

Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award (recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults): Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson.
King Author Honor Book: Mare’s War by tanita s. davis

We are thrilled to see that the Printz went to Libba Bray’s AWESOME Going Bovine, which we reviewed last year. Also, Thea’s ecstatic that Rick Yancey’s truly excellent novel The Monstrumologist was honored as well.

Also, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the fastest-growing division of the American Library Association (ALA), announced its 2010 Top 10 List of Best Books for Young Adults. And the titles are:

Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan (Reviewed HERE and HERE)
The Orange Houses by Paul Griffin
The Great Wide Sea by M.H. Herlong
The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks
Alligator Bayou by Donna Jo Napoli
Stitches: A Memoir by David Small
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork
Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland by Sally M. Walker

We’re thrilled to see Sarah Rees Brennan, Catherine Jinks and Laini Taylor honored on the list – and we’ve got a few books that we desperately need to read nowNowNOW.

This next item on the list is just really freaking awesome. Neil Gaiman (aka Ana and Thea’s writing GOD) has teamed up with comic book artist Jim Lee, letterer Todd Klein (who did the lettering for Neil Gaiman’s epic Sandman series) and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and have put together a limited print run of an illustrated poem, “100 Words.” (Click to enlarge)

It’s beautiful, isn’t it? You can purchase a copy online via Neverwear.

Finally, one last bit of news. Last week, Thea finally got off her slacker-butt, and set up a Facebook Fan Page for The Book Smugglers. You can find us by clicking the handy button above (which is also in our left hand sidebar). Our posts automatically update there, and we’ll also pop in to make other bookish announcements. The reason for the page? Well, we received a few comments in our recent survey asking us to syndicate our feed over at Facebook, and…voila! Hope you all enjoy it.

This Week on The Book Smugglers:

On Monday, Alexandra Bullen, debut author of young adult fantasy novel Wish stops by on her blog tour, talking about what inspires her and you will have a chance to win a copy of her copy. Later, we will have our very first post in our new feature “Cover Matters,” in which we will take a look at whitewashing on the covers of books.

Tuesday, Thea reviews one of her most highly anticipated books of the new year, Robert Jackson Bennett’s apocalyptic-style/historical fiction/horror novel, Mr. Shivers. Also, Harry of Temple Library Reviews will be here, giving us a guest review of Circle of Fire by Keri Arthur (the first book in the Damask Circle Trilogy)

On Wednesday, we give you a double shot of Carrie Jones! First, we give a joint review of Need, and then later in the day Thea reviews the second book in the young adult fantasy series, Captivate.

On Thursday, Ana reviews Dia Reeves’ dark young adult debut novel Bleeding Violet. Her post will be followed by our first Guest Dare of 2010: Renee of Renee’s Book Addiction caves to the pressure (ours and her husband’s) and reads the first book in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring.

Finally, on Friday we close out the week with a joint review of – squeee! – Archangel’s Kiss by Nalini Singh.

Phew. It’s a big week. Again. I’ll leave you with this awesome picture that I think encapsulates Ana and myself at times perfectly. Until next week…

Format is as follows: Title, Author, Rating, Genre

* Denotes JOINT REVIEW

** Denotes GUEST DARE

RED denotes favorite of 2009

BLUE denotes honorable mention of 2009

JANUARY:

Thea:

1. Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, 8, Mystery
2. Desperate Duchesses by Eloisa James, 6, Romance (Historical)
3. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson, 8, YA (SF)
4. Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba, 8, Manga (Horror)
5. Goth by Otsuichi, 9, Horror (Lightbook)
6. The Tarot Café* by Chandra Rooney, 6, Fantasy (Lightbook)
7. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, 8, YA (SF)
8. Impossible by Nancy Werlin, 7, YA (Fantasy)
9. The Inferior by Peadar O’Guilin, 8, YA (SF)
10. The Briar King** by Greg Keyes, 8, Fantasy
11. Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs, 8, UF

Ana:

1. The Talisman by Stephen King & Peter Straub, 6, Fantasy (Horror)
2. Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier, 10, Fantasy
3. What a Pirate Desires by Michelle Beattie, 2, Romance (Historical)
4. Vampire Knight by Matsuri Hino, 7, Manga
5. Demon Diary by Kara & Lee Chi Hyong, 1, Manhwa
6. The Tarot Café (series volumes 1-7) by Park Sang-Sun, 8, Manhwa
7. The Tarot Café* by Chandra Rooney, 7, Fantasy (Lightbook)
8. At The Bride Hunt Ball by Olivia Parker, 6, Romance (Historical)
9. Kiss of a Demon King by Kresley Cole, 7, Romance (Paranormal)
10. Caliber by Sam Sarkar & Gary Gastonny, 6, Graphic Novel (Fantasy)
11. Talk Me Down by Victoria Dahl, 7, Romance (Contemporary)
12. The Magic Knot by Helen Scott Taylor, 6, Romance (Paranormal)
13. The Briar King** by Greg Keyes, 8, Fantasy

FEBRUARY:

Thea:

1. Little Brother by Corey Doctorow, 7, YA (SF)
2. Undone by Rachel Caine, 6, UF
3. Lament* by Maggie Stiefvater, 4, YA (Fantasy)
4. In Her Name* by Michael Hicks, 8, Science Fiction
5. Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman, 8, YA (Fantasy)
6. White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison, 7, UF
7. Melusine** by Sarah Monette, 7, Fantasy
8. The Suicide Collectors by David Oppegaard, 7, Horror
9. Generation Dead by Daniel Waters, 8, YA (Horror)
10. Zombie Haiku* by Ryan Mecum, 7, Horror
11. Happy Hour of the Damned by Mark Henry, 7, UF

Ana:

1. Scandal by Carolyn Jewel, 9, Romance (Historical)
2. Like no Other Lover by Julie Anne Long, 8, Romance (Historical)
3. Lament* by Maggie Stiefvater, 4, YA (Fantasy)
4. In Her Name* by Michael Hicks, 8, Science Fiction
5. The Walking Dead (vol. 1) by Robert Kirkman & Tony Moore, 10, Graphic Novel (Horror)
6. Road Trip of the Living Dead by Mark Henry, 8, UF

MARCH:

Thea:

1. Stone Masters: A Vampire’s Reckoning by VMK Fewings, 6, Horror
2. Angels’ Blood* by Nalini Singh, 8, Romance (Paranormal)
3. Drood by Dan Simmons, 8, Mystery
4. Into the Forest by Jean Hegland, 7, Literature
5. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan, 9, YA (SF/Horror)
6. Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George, 7, YA (Fantasy)

Ana:

1. Angel’s Blood* by Nalini Singh, 10, Romance (Paranormal)
2. Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James, 8, Romance (Contemporary)
3. Revealed by Kate Noble, 9, Romance (Historical)
4. A Taste of Magic by Tracey Madison, 6, Romance (Paranormal)
5. Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas, 5, Romance (Contemporary)
6. A Perfect Darkness by Jaime Rush, 5, Romance (Paranormal)

APRIL:

Thea:

1. Feast of Souls by C.S. Friedman, 8, Fantasy
2. Blue Diablo* by Ann Aguirre, 6, UF
3. Fragile Eternity* by Melissa Marr, 9, YA (Fantasy)
4. Graceling by Kristin Cashore, 8, YA (Fantasy)
5. Secret Society Girl by Diana Peterfreund, 7, Literature (Contemporary)
6. The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by Galen Beckett, 9, Fantasy
7. Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews, 9, UF
8. The Trouble With Demons by Lisa Shearin, 7, Fantasy

Ana:

1. Rewriting Monday by Jodi Thomas, 8, Romance (Contemporary/Suspense)
2. Blue Diablo* by Ann Aguirre, 8, UF
3. The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett, 6, Fantasy
4. The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers by Angie Fox, 7, UF (Paranormal)
5. Fragile Eternity* by Melissa Marr, 9, YA (Fantasy)
6. The Secret Wedding by Jo Beverley, 7, Romance (Historical)
7. Dayhunter by Jocelynn Drake, 7, UF
8. The Laurentine Spy by Emily Gee, 7, Fantasy (Romance)

MAY:

Thea:

1. Keeper of Light and Dust by Natasha Mostert, 7, SF
2. Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn, 7, Mystery
3. Starfinder* by John Marco, 6, YA
4. Diamond Star by Catharine Asaro, 7, Science Fiction
5. Strange Angels* by Lili St. Crow, 5, YA (UF)
6. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies* by Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith, 7, Horror (Comedy)
7. The Black Act by Louise Bohmer, 5, Fantasy
8. Don’t Look Twice by Andrew Gross, 6, Thriller
9. Flood by Stephen Baxter, 8, SF
10. Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey, 8, Fantasy (UF)

Ana:

1. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, 10, Fantasy
2. Starfinder* by John Marco, 6, YA (Fantasy)
3. To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt, 5, Romance (Historical)
4. Always a Scoundrel by Suzanne Enoch, 7, Romance (Historical)
5. Strange Angels* by Lili St. Crow, 7, YA (UF)
6. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies* by Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith, 5, Horror (Comedy)
7. A Hint of Wicked by Jennifer Haymore, 6, Romance (Historical)
8. The Black Act* by Louise Bohmer, 4, Fantasy
9. Compromised by Kate Noble, 8, Romance (Historical)
10. This Duchess of Mine by Eloisa James, 8, Romance (Historical)
11. Black and White by Jackie Kessler & Caitlin Kittredge, 7, UF
12. Frederica by Georgette Heyer, 7, Romance (Historical)

JUNE:

Thea:

1. Street Magic by Caitlin Kitteredge, 7, UF
2. You Are SO Undead to Me by Stacey Jay, 6, YA
3. Night’s Rose by Annaliese Evans, DNF, Romance (Paranormal)
4. Gone by Michael Grant, 8, YA (SF/Horror)
5. Hunger by Michael Grant, 8, YA (SF/Horror)
6. Jasmyn by Alex Bell, 8, Fantasy
7. Slights by Kaaron Warren, 9, Horror
8. Consorts of Heaven by Jaine Fenn, 6, Science Fiction
9. Naamah’s Kiss by Jacqueline Carey, 9, Fantasy
10. The Once and Future King** by T.H. White, 6, Fantasy

Ana:

1. The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan, 8, YA (UF)
2. Darkborn by Alison Sinclair, 6, Fantasy
3. Salt and Silver by Anna Katherine, 7, Romance (Paranormal/UF)
4. The Adamantine Palace by Stephen Deas, 6, Fantasy
5. Night’s Rose* by Annaliese Evans, DNF, Romance (Paranormal)
6. Mark of the Demon by Diana Rowland, 7, UF
7. The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns by Elizabeth Lieknes, 8, Fiction (Paranormal/UF)
8. Don’t Tempt Me by Loretta Chase, 8, Romance (Historical)
9. Bound by Your Touch by Meredith Duran, 8, Romance (Historical)
10. What Happens in London by Julia Quinn, 8, Romance (Historical)
11. Branded by Fire by Nalini Singh, 9, Romance (Paranormal)
12. The Once and Future King** by T.H. White, 6, Fantasy

JULY:

Thea:

1. Strange Brew Anthology: “Seeing Eye” by Patricia Briggs, 8, “Death Warmed Over” by Rachel Caine, 7, UF
2. Darkness Calls by Marjorie M. Liu, 7, UF
3. The French Mistress by Susan Holloway Scott, 7, Literary Fiction (Historical)
4. Apocalypse 2012 by Gary Jennings, Robert Gleason & Julius Podrug, 4, SF (Historical, Thriller)
5. The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong, 8, YA (UF)
6. Wings by Aprilynne Pike, 7, YA (Fantasy)
7. Evernight by Claudia Gray, 7, YA (UF)
8. Stargazer by Claudia Gray, 8, YA (UF)
9. Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison, 8, YA (UF)
10. Kiss of Life by Daniel Waters, 8, YA (Horror, SF)
11. Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier, 9, YA (Fantasy)
12. Cybele’s Secret by Juliet Marilleier, 9, YA (Fantasy)
13. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, 5, YA (Paranormal Romance)

Ana:

1. Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev, 8, YA (Fantasy)
2. The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, 5, Fiction (Mystery)
3. Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson, 8, Fantasy

4. Echoes from the Dead by Johan Theorin, 6, Crime
5. Written on Your Skin by Meredith Duran, 8, Romance (historical)
6. One Week As Lovers by Victoria Dahl, 7, Romance (historical)
7. Wicked Lovely, Desert Tales vol.1 by Melissa Marr, 7, Manga (Young Adult)
8. Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson, 7, Young Adult (Contemporary)
9. The Queen’s Thief series (The Thief, Queen of Attolia, King of Attolia) by Megan Whalen Turner, 10, YA (Fantasy)
10. The Eternal Kiss Anthology, 7, YA

AUGUST:

Thea:

1. Prophecy of the Sisters* by Michelle Zink, 5, YA (Horror, Gothic)
2. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, 9, YA (Fantasy)
3. Enna Burning by Shannon Hale, 8, YA (Fantasy)
4. River Secrets by Shannon Hale, 7, YA (Fantasy)
5. Zombie Blondes by Brian James, 8, YA (Horror)
6. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, 7, YA (SF)
7. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld, 7, YA (SF)
8. Specials by Scott Westerfeld, 8, YA (SF)
9. Exodus by Julie Bertagna, 8, YA (SF)
10. Genesis by Bernard Beckett, 8, YA (SF)
11. Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden, 8, YA (SF)
12. Dull Boy by Sarah Cross, 8, YA (SF)
13. Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan, 4/8, YA (Fantasy)
14. The Devouring by Simon Holt, 7, YA (Horror)
15. Soulstice by Simon Holt, 6, YA (Horror)
16. Rampant* by Diana Peterfreund, 8, YA (Fantasy)
17. A Countess Below Stairs* by Eva Ibbotson, 7, YA (Romance)
18. Newes From the Dead by Mary Hooper, 6, YA (Historical)
19. Libyrinth by Pearl North, 6, YA (SF)
20. Feed by M.T. Anderson, 9, YA (SF)
21. Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody, 8, YA (Fantasy/SF)
22. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry, 8, YA (Fantasy/SF)
23. Ruined by Paula Morris, 7, YA (Horror)
24. A Certain Slant of Lightb y Laura Whitcomb, 8, YA (Horror)
25. Wake* by Lisa McMann, 6, YA (SF/Horror)
26. Rapunzel’s Revenge* by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale & Nathan Hale, 8, YA (Graphic Novel)
27. Skinned by Robin Wasserman, 7, YA (SF)
28. The Strain by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan, 5, Horror (Thriller)

Ana:

1. Prophecy of the Sisters* by Michelle Zink, 5, YA (Horror, Gothic)
2. Everything Beautiful by Simone Howell, 8, YA (Contemporary)
3. Furnace: Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith, 8, YA (Horror)
4. Intertwined by Gena Showalter, 8, YA (Paranormal Romance)
5. Monster by Christopher Pike, 7, YA (Horror)
6. Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols, 9, YA (Romance)
7. The Poison Garden by Sarah Singleton, 6, YA (Fantasy)
8. My Soul To Take by Rachel Vincent, 7, YA (Paranormal Romance)
9. Rampant* by Diana Peterfreund, 8, YA (Fantasy)
10. A Countess Below Stairs* by Eva Ibbotson, 8, YA (Romance)
11. The Giver by Lois Lowry, 8, YA (SF)
12. Everlost by Neal Shusterman, 8, YA (Horror)
13. Wake* by Lisa McMann, 7, YA (SF/Horror)
14. Rapunzel’s Revenge* by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale and Nathan Hale, 8, YA (Graphic Novel)
15. The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Ms. Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber, 6, Romance (Paranormal/Gothic)
16. The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer, 5, Romance (Historical)
17. Surrender of a Siren by Tessa Dare, 7, Romance (Historical)

SEPTEMBER:

Thea:

1. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, 8, YA (SF)
2. The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan, 7, YA (UF)
3. Succubus Heat by Richelle Mead, 7, UF
4. Mistborn: The Final Empire* by Brandon Sanderson, 8, Fantasy
5. Heroes at Risk by Moira J. Moore, 7, Fantasy
6. Rosemary and Rue* by Seanan McGuire, 7, UF
7. Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs, 8, UF
8. The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden* by Catherynne Valente, 9, Fantasy
9. Give Up the Ghost* by Megan Crewe, 7, YA (UF)
10. Forest Born by Shannon Hale, 8, YA (Fantasy)
11. Murder Mysteries* by Neil Gaiman & P. Craig Russell, 8, Graphic Novel
12. Cape Storm by Rachel Caine, 8, UF
13. Perfume by Patrick Suskind, 8, Fiction
14. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly, 9, YA (Historical)
15. Ariel by Stephen Boyett, 7, SF (Fantasy)
16. The Declaration* by Gemma Malley, 7, YA (SF)
17. Fire by Kristin Cashore, 9, YA (Fantasy)

Ana:

1. Jasmyn by Alex Bell, 8, Fantasy
2. The Hollow by Jessica Verday, 5, YA (UF)
3. Mistborn: The Final Empire* by Brandon Sanderson, 9, Fantasy
4. The Infinite Instant by Danielle L. Parker, 6, Science Fiction (Thriller)
5. Rosemary and Rue* by Seanan McGuire, 8, UF
6. The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden* by Catherynne Valente, NA, Fantasy
7. Give Up the Ghost* by Megan Crewe, 7, YA (UF)
8. Murder Mysteries* by Neil Gaiman, 8, Graphic Novel (Fantasy)
9. Liar by Justine Larbalestier, 9, YA (Thriller)
10. The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King, 7, Fantasy

11. Tempt Me at Twilight by Lisa Kleypas, 7, Romance (Historical)
12. The Declaration* by Gemma Malley, 6, YA (SF)
13. Demon Forged by Meljean Brook, 10, Romance (Paranormal)
14. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, 9, YA (SF)

OCTOBER:

Thea:

1. Ark by Stephen Baxter, 10, Science Fiction
2. Soulless* by Gail Carriger, 4/6, Romance (Paranormal)
3. The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness, 8, YA (SF)
4. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, 10, Science Fiction
5. On the Edge by Ilona Andrews, 7, Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy
6. The Well of Ascension* by Brandon Sanderson, 7, Fantasy
7. The Bell at Sealey Head by Patricia A. McKillip, 8, Fantasy
8. Prospero Lost* by L. Jagi Lamplighter, 8, Fantasy (Contemporary)
9. According to Jane by Marilyn Brant, 6, Chick Lit
10. Firethorn by Sarah Micklem, 5/8, Fantasy
11. Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier, 9, Fantasy
12. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, 9, Fantasy
13. The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey, 8, YA (Horror)
14. The Harrowing by Alexandra Sokoloff, 6, Horror
15. Hater by David Moody, 7, Horror
16. Dying to Live: Life Sentence by Kim Paffenroth, 8, Horror
17. Malpractice, Anthology, 7, Horror
18. Fifty-Two Stitches, Anthology, 7, Horror

Ana:

1. Soulless* by Gail Carriger, DNF, Romance (Paranormal)
2. Triumff by Dan Abnett, 6, Fantasy
3. Ash by Malinda Lo, 9, YA (Fantasy)
4. Pastworld by Ian Beck, 7, YA (Fantasy)
5. The Well of Ascension* by Brandon Sanderson, 8, Fantasy
6. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick, 2, YA (UF)
7. Prospero Lost* by L. Jagi Lamplighter, 8, Fantasy (Contemporary)
8. Austenland by Shannon Hale, 1, Chick Lit
9. Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles, 7, YA (Romance)
10. Heir to Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier, 10, Fantasy
11. Little Black Lies by Tish Cohen, 6, YA (Contemporary)
12. Never Slow Dance With A Zombie by E. Van Lowe, 4, YA (Horror)

NOVEMBER:

Thea:

1. Elegy Beach by Steven R. Boyett, 8, Fantasy
2. Unclean Spirits by M.L.N. Hanover, 7, UF
3. Unconventional* by Matt Springer, 6, Fiction
4. One Con Glory* by Sarah Kuhn, 8, Chick-lit
5. Blood Promise by Richelle Mead, 8, YA (UF)
6. The Maze Runner by James Dashner, 8, YA (SF)
7. The Hero of Ages* by Brandon Sanderson, 8, Fantasy
8. The Road Home * by Ellen Emerson Whie, 8, YA (Fiction)
9. Darker Angels by M.L.N. Hanover, 7, UF
10. Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderon, 8, Fantasy
11. The Devil’s Alphabet by Daryl Gregory, 6, Horror
12. Ice by Sarah Beth Durst, 7, YA
13. Tainted by Julie Kenner, 7, UF

Ana:

1. Blaze of Memory by Nalini Singh, 8, Romance (Paranormal)
2. The Dragon Book anthology, 8, Fantasy
3. Unconventional* by Matt Springer, 6, Fiction
4. One Con Glory* by Sarah Kuhn, 8, Chick-lit
5. “Blind Spot” in Must Love Hellhounds by Meljean Brook, 8, Romance (Paranormal, Anthology)
6. The Hero of Ages* by Brandon Sanderson, 8, Fantasy
7. The Road Home by Ellen Emerson White *, 9, YA (Fiction)
8. The Last Will of Moira Healy by Therese Walsh, 7, Fiction (Fantasy)
9. Resenting the Hero by Moira J. Moore, 7, Fantasy
10. The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines, 7, Fantasy
11. The Mermaid’s Madness by Jim C. Hines, 7, Fantasy
12. Madame Xanadu by Matt Wagner, 8, Graphic Novel
13. The Magicians by Lev Grossman, 4, Fantasy

DECEMBER:

Thea:

1. Gateway by Sharon Shinn, 6, YA (Fantasy)
2. Spellspam by Alma Alexander, 6, YA (SF)
3. Cybermage by Alma Alexander, 7, YA (SF)
4. Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines, 9, YA (SF)
5. The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima, 8, YA (Fantasy)
6. Going Bovine* by Libba Bray, 9, YA (SF)
7. Vampire Haiku by Ryan Mecum, 6, Humor (Horror)
8. I am Scrooge by Adam Roberts, 6, Humor (Horror)
9. Beautiful Creatures* by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, 6, YA (SF)
10. Raiders’ Ransom by Emily Diamand, 8, YA (SF)
11. Witch & Wizard by James Patterson & Gabrielle Charbonnet, 5, YA (Fantasy)
12. A Rush of Wings by Adrian Phoenix, 6, UF
13. In the Blood by Adrian Phoenix, 7, UF
14. Deadtown by Nancy Holzner, 7, UF

Ana:

1. The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V.S. Redick, 7, Fantasy
2. Going Bovine* by Libba Bray, 8, YA (SF)
3. Beautiful Creatures* by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, 6, YA (SF)

Ana: Hello, I’m Ana

Thea: And I’m Thea

Ana & Thea: And we’re…[Wyld Stallyns] BOOK SMUGGLERS!!!!!!!

*play facemelting riffs on air guitars*

We’ve brought you some of our favorite authors with their reflections on 2009 and plans for 2010… We’ve brought your some of our favorite bloggers with their own wonderful ‘best of’ lists… But now it’s finally time to get our own hands dirty! We have scoured our personal libraries, gone through all our reviews for the year, and we are happy to report that we finally have our final picks ready to go. The rules: the books in our lists are books that were published in 2009 and that we read and reviewed here.

Thus, we Smugglers are proud to present you with our Most Excellent Books of 2009!

ANA

Looking back at the books I read in 2009 and comparing to those I read in 2008, it is plain that there has been a huge shift in my reading habits.

Last year I read 134 books, out of which 88 were Romance Novels. This year, I read and reviewed 133 (OMG LESS books read in 2009???!! Shame on me!) books and only 37 were Romance novels. One of my New Year’s resolutions was to read more Fantasy and YA and I am happy to see that I succeeded: in fact, I read more YA than any other genre this year (39) and loads of Fantasy as well (36, if you count UF). I am pretty satisfied with the results, I feel like I read some pretty good stuff and discovered wonderful new authors and genres – I also read quite a few short stories and I have found a new appreciation for the format. If I have a New Year resolution for 2010 is to read more anthologies and short stories. On the down side, I read less Graphic Novels than I wanted, another fact I plan to rectify in 2010.

With all that in mind, my top 10 list was a pretty easy one to come up with and I think it reflects beautifully the genres I read the most this year.

Thus, my favourite reads of 2009 are, in no particular order:

Scandal by Carolyn Jewel

Review here.

Scandal is my favorite type of romance novel: all the focus on the main couple. Add to that, the fact that this is a historical about a reformed rake and voila, you have me interested from the get go. The thing that makes this one different though, is the fact that the story opens with the rake ALREADY reformed and completely in love with the girl trying to prove that he has changed. Via flashbacks, we see just how much of a rake he was in the past and the writing is so lovely, and the story is so amazing, I just loved everything about this one.

Ash by Malinda Lo

Review here.

I love fairytale retellings! Ash is based on Cinderella and I loved the writing, which I thought was very lyrical. Above all, I loved the main character Ash and her journey to happiness, battling depression and abuse till the very end, when she saves herself and find love not in the arms of a Knight in Shining Armor but in the arms of another kick-ass girl, the King’s Huntress.

Revealed by Kate Noble

Review here.

I found Kate Noble’s books this year and now I am a fan for life. Revealed is here because it has lovely writing, and an amazing pair of protagonists: a beta hero and an alpha heroine. In fact , in any other romance novel, the heroine would have been the Rival or the Villain: she is rich, beautiful and the most influential woman of the Ton, and she knows it and she loves it. Then there is this sentence that is their signature greeting “It’s just me” that made me melt pretty much every time they said it.

Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr

Review here

One of my most anticipated reads of 2009, Fragile Eternity is Seth’s book, the one character that I loved since the first book in the series, and whose point of view we hadn’t seen. I love this fairy-human world, the struggles of all characters to fit in either or both. Complex relationships and politics and amazing writing, proves to me that Melissa Marr can do no wrong in my book.

Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

Review here.

This one I did not see coming, it caught me by surprise and I read Going Too Far in one go, I read till I was done with it and it was well past midnight and I can’t remember the last time I did that. I was so engrossed in this love story between too youngsters in a small town : one who wanted to stay put, the other wanted to go and there were more layers to the story and to the characters than a freaking onion and the vegetable comparison is so lame and so tame when compared to the book that I am a bit ashamed of myself for using it. In any case, this is an amazing YA romance between two characters on equal footing of awesomeness and one book I loved with all my heart.

The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan

Review Here.

Now, this one, this one is here for several reasons: Nick, the unreliable narrator (just how much, you need to read it to find out); the relationship between the two brothers, Alan and Nick, (this book is about brotherly love and devotion and it is awesome); the many cool details in the story including the Goblin Market. Above all, the main reason for loving this book is the crazy chemistry I have with Sarah Rees Brennan’s writing. Plus, it has the best opening sentence of the year:

“The pipe under the sink was leaking again. It wouldn’t have been so bad except that Nick kept his favourite sword under the sink.”

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Review here.

The best Steampunk novel I read this year, with all the elements that make it pure Steampunk goodness: alternate history, worldbuilding where the Steampunk elements are necessary and not only white noise. It has a mix of biology and mechanics, a great story and two great kids as the protagonists, especially the girl-who-pretends-to-be-a-boy. And Holy Barking spiders!, the book comes with wicked illustrations too!

Angels’ Blood by Nalini Singh

Review here.

I love Nalini Singh’s books and with this first in her new series, she outdid herself. Angels’ Blood is one of those books where plot meet characterization and everything is well balanced and everything just works. Elena Deveraux is my one of the strongest, most interesting female characters I have read and I loved her every single word.

Demon Forged by Meljean Brook

Review here.

Meljean Brook is another author whose writing I have crazy chemistry with. I love everything she writes and Demon Forged is her best book to date. From the amazing romance to the awesome worldbuilding where everything matters and everything has a reason. The stakes are high and the author is not afraid of showing it. This is Paranormal Romance at its best. I dare say all the nay-sayers have not read Meljean Brook’s Guardian series.

Liar by Justine Larbalestier

Review here.

Liar is one of those books that speaks directly to me but not because of the characters and story (although both are really, really good) but because of the narrative itself. I love unreliable narrators and Micah is the Ultimate Unreliable Narrator because right from the first page we know she is a compulsive liar. What comes next is an exercise of writing that begs the reader’s attention and connection in order to really work as every single line makes one wonder and doubt. This book is gripping, mind-blowing and brilliant. I Loved it.

The ones that didn’t make it:

My list would have looked quite different if I could have included books not published in 2009. By now, our regular readers must know how much I enjoyed, loved, ADORED the books below. I loved them for the amazing world building, the awesome characters and above all the incredible prose. Patrick Rothfuss’ is particularly akin to “reading beauty” (tm Kris n Good Books)

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

The Queen’s Thief Series by Megan Whalen Turner

Heir to Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier

Notable Mentions:

(For other damn good books from this year, and for those not published in 2008)

Because it is so hard to narrow down to a mere top 10, we always try to mention other notable, awesome reads from 2009 or before.

For starters this was the year I discovered Brandon Sanderson, a fantastic Epic Fantasy writer, with a thing for writing kooky Magic systems. I loved his Mistborn Trilogy and Warbreaker. Speaking of Fantasy, I also loved finding out the Princess books by Jim C. Hines, they are Fantasy, fairytale retellings of the highest order with Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty as warrior-princesses. It’s a mixture of comedy and high adventure and so much fun!

Two other that totally worthy of praise are Jasmyn by Alex Bell, a modern fairytale and Prospero Lost by L. Jagi Lamplighter, I loved both books with their somewhat unreliable narrators (it seems I used this excuse a lot this year, but I am a fan!).

On the Romance front, I need to mention my favourite contemporary romance of the year: Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James. James writes the best romantic comedies around. But in the romance genre, I really am a historical romance fan and this year I felt I was especially lucky with the ones I read. Eloisa James’s This Duchess of Mine, Loretta Chase’s Don’t Tempt Me, Julia Quinn’s What Happens in London and Meredith Duran’s Bound By Your Touch are the finest romance published in 2009.

Then, a couple of YA like Rampant by Diana Peterfreund and Lips Touch by Laini Taylor, and this is me totally cheating, because I never reviewed this one but I looooooooooove the writing like whoa and OMG.

Finally, I read only but a few short stories and graphic novels but the ones I did were quite memorable. The Dragon Book anthology with stories of luminaries of the Fantasy genre was amazing and One Con Gloryby Sarah Khun was quite possibly the most fun I ever had with a short story. As for Graphic Novels , I absolutely loved Madame Xanadu, The Walking Dead and Rapunzel’s Revenge.

Favourite characters:

2009 will be known as the year when I lost my heart over and over again to some amazing characters. Top of the list is Eugenides from Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen’s Thief Series. Oh my word! That guy is unbelievably clever and one of the most memorable characters ever. I also fell in love with Nick and Alan from The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan and their brotherly relationship. I can’t wait to read more!

But really, this year is the Year of the Awesome Female characters. Never before, I fell in love with so many of them. First there were two kick-ass warriors: Elena Deveraux from Nalini Singh’s Angels’ Blood and Irena from Meljean Brook’s Demon Forged. Then, there are: Rapunzel from the graphic novel Rapunzel’s Revenge and the three princesses from Jim C. Hines books that are strong and spunky. Equally strong but in a more quiet way, is Anna from the Alpha and Omega books by Patricia Briggs. And also, any Juliet Marillier protagonist. After reading those example of awesome female protagonists, I find myself wanting more!

Love the authors:

I developed serious author-crushes this year. I always start falling in love with the books, then I follow the white rabbit to their blogs and voila, I almost feel like a stalker because I read everything they write, be it movie reviews, book reviews, writerly stuff, etc. These authors are only but a few I discovered this year and their blogs are awesome and well worth reading:

Jim C Hines, Sarah Rees Brennan, Justine Larbalestier, Diana Peterfreund, Karen Mahoney, and Patrick Rothfuss. Plus “old” favorites Meljean Brook and Nalini Singh . Gotta love the people who bring me so much joy!

2010 Books I REALLY want.

Where do I even start?

Highest on my Most Wanted list are A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner (I got the ARC! I got the ARC! Ahem), The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss, Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr, the next Sevenwaters book, Seer of Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier, Demon Blood and the Iron Duke’s Steampunk series by Meljean Brook and The Demon’s Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan.

I also wait with baited breath for the next in the Princess Books by Jim C Hines, Red Hood’s Revenge , Forget You by Jennifer Echols, Tome of the Undergates by Sam Sykes, Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld, Lex Trent versus the Gods by Alex Bell, Prospero in Hell by L. Jagi Lamplighter and The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson…

plus anything by Nalini Singh, Julie James, Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, Loretta Chase, Meredith Duran and Linnea Sinclair.

I also reserve the right to be caught by surprise by new-to-me and debut authors. There is nothing quite as amazing as finding new treasures!

2010 is looking like it’s going to be a mighty fine year for reading! I can’t wait!

THEA

I didn’t go through such a dramatic shift in reading habits as Ana as I was pretty varied to begin with, but I did read a whole lot more Young Adult this year – so that’s something! This year, I reviewed a grand total of 159 books (holy crapoly!!!!!). Of those 159 books, the most dominant genre was YA – a whopping total of 75 books reviewed were YA! I blame our YA month for the imbalance (and just in case you were wondering, of those 75 YA titles, 27 were SF, 20 were Fantasy, 11 were UF, and 11 were Horror, with the remaining 6 YA books historical/literature/graphic novels). Besides YA, I reviewed 21 Fantasy novels, 20 Urban Fantasy novels, 15 Horror titles, and a pitiful 8 Science Fiction titles (the remaining 20 books were a mix of literary fiction – mystery, thrillers, chick-lit, even 2 romance titles – and graphic novels/manga).

Pretty GD nuts, huh?

All that said, and without any further ado, here are my top 10 picks of the year…

Flood and Ark by Stephen Baxter

Review of Flood HERE; Review of Ark HERE.

I lucked out this year, as Flood was just released this fall in the US, and then shortly after Ark hit stores in the UK – and thanks to the good folks at Gollancz (and Ana in the UK), I was able to read both books in the duology within only a few short months of each other (whereas other poor folks here in the US have to wait until next year for Ark). And holy, holy crap – I’ve discovered a brand new MUST BUY author in Stephen Baxter. Flood, which tells the apocalypse by way of subterranean ocean leaking and flooding the Earth’s surface, was an awesome good novel and one I thoroughly enjoyed (even if it was a bit clinical and cut and dry). But Ark took the series to an entirely new level – it was flat out, knock my socks off fantastic, and the first (and only one of TWO books) I gave a perfect 10 rating to this year. Let me just put it this way – If I had to pick a single favorite book from 2009, it would be Stephen Baxter’s Ark.

Ark follows a group of talented young people as they try to get a spot on humanity’s last ditch effort to survive the floodwater apocalypse – through the creation of a spaceship that can travel at super-luminal speeds, in a search for an inhabitable planet elsewhere in the universe. Part military thriller, part exploration novel, and all around a compelling, haunting, and ultimately hopeful tale about the human will to survive, Ark is one damn fine book. I loved it. And I have proceeded to glom Stephen Baxter’s scifi backlist, thanks to this awesome duology.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Reviewed HERE.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth was probably my most anticipated, lusted-after book of 2009. I had been hankering for this book since way back in 2008, when I first caught wind of the synopsis, heard the lyrical title, and saw the gorgeous cover. And wouldn’t you know it, not only did The Forest of Hands and Teeth live up to my incredibly high expectations, but it surpassed them. PLUS, author Carrie Ryan is one of the coolest cats on the web. (That’s right, I just used the phrase “cool cat” – she’s THAT awesome)

The Forest of Hands and Teeth is about a village in the woods, surrounded on all sides by fences that keep the “unconsecrated” – or zombies – out, and the humans in. But one girl dares to dream of a future beyond the fences and the rules of her strict society, and when the fences inevitably fall, she has the strength to seek out life beyond in the forest of hands and teeth. I don’t think there are words to express my love for this grim, post-apocalyptic tale – it’s a zombie novel, but like the best works of zombie fiction, it’s not so much about the undead as it is about the living. I. LOVE. THIS. BOOK. And its companion novel, The Dead-Tossed Waves is – you guessed it – my most anticipated novel of 2010.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Reviewed HERE.

Like the rest of the known universe, I was enamored with Catching Fire – in fact, I loved it even more than The Hunger Games, primarily because it finally showed me that Ms. Collins can create something new and compelling (The Hunger Games was a tad too much Battle Royale meets The Running Man meets The Long Walk for my tastes). I loved the action of this second book, I loved the government complications, the surge of rebellion in the districts of Panem, and most of all, I loved how Katniss grows in this book.

And….TEAM PEETA, for the win! I cannot wait for the third book this coming fall.

Slights by Kaaron Warren

Reviewed HERE.

As I said in my review of Slights, I don’t think I have the words to properly convey the sense of shock, of depravity, of total, awesome horror that Kaaron Warren’s debut novel from Angry Robot left me with. This is one of the most disturbing books I have read in a very long time – not since Mark Danielewski’s House of Leaves have I felt so unsettled (in the BEST way) by a book. Horrific, resonating, and profoundly sad, I loved Slights. This is horror at its absolute finest, and I wholeheartedly recommend Ms. Warren’s novel to all.

Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews

Reviewed HERE.

It was a close call between this novel and Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs for a spot on my top 10 – but ultimately, Magic Strikes won out because of the sheer scope of the book. In this third novel, heroine Kate Daniels goes through a LOT – she finds herself in an honest-to-goodness Arena, fighting off creatures decidedly outside the usual realm of shapeshifter/vampire/fey. The action is unparalleled, and Ms. Andrews just continues to get better with each subsequent book. I cannot wait for the next Daniels novel early next year – if it’s anything like Magic Strikes, I’ll be one happy camper.

Hunger by Michael Grant

Reviewed HERE

I started this outstanding series by Michael Grant this year, and loved both Gone (published in 2008) and Hunger immensely. Michael Grant’s FAYZ books, about a seaside California town whose inhabitants over the age of 14 all disappear one day, is the stuff Stephen King fans will salivate over. Part X-Men, part Lord of the Flies, sprinkled with a healthy dose of supernatural King-style terror, Hunger is a surprisingly gritty Young Adult novel. Don’t let the YA label fool you – there is nothing juvenile about this title. It is Grim, with a capital “G.” Heck, I loved Hunger more than I did Stephen King’s Under the Dome (a similar setup to Michael Grant’s FAYZ)! Recommended for fans of violent, dystopian style novels.

Naamah’s Kiss by Jacqueline Carey

Reviewed HERE.

It’s no secret that I am a Jacqueline Carey fangirl. The Kushiel’s Legacy books are among my favorites of All Time – if I’m stranded on a desert island, Kushiel’s Dart (or Kushiel’s Avatar) is coming with me. With Naamah’s Kiss, Ms. Carey returns to the world of Terre d’Ange, this time with a new heroine named Moirin, touched not by Kushiel but Naamah herself. Naamah’s Kiss has everything I have come to expect from Ms. Carey’s books – adventure, strong characters, breathtaking worldbuilding, love and sex, and prose so lush it makes you catch your breath in wonder. Ms. Carey takes Moirin to lands far beyond Terre d’Ange’s borders, to cultures different and familiar at the same time – and I loved every second of it. This is a no brainer for me – Naamah’s Kiss completely rocks.

Drood by Dan Simmons

Reviewed HERE.

As with Ms. Carey, it should come as no surprise that I am a huge Dan Simmons fangirl. His Hyperion cantos are among my favorite books of all time, and so when I learned he was releasing a new book this year, I was beside myself with giddiness. Drood is Simmons at his best – weaving intricate history with strong characters, solid plotting and an unmatched eye for detail. About Wilkie Collins and his jealousy and close friendship with Charles Dickens, Drood is part mystery, part horror, and captures the era and both authors flawlessly. Seriously, Dan Simmons is an author that does his homework. Another home run from Dan Simmons, as he proves again why he is one of the finest authors of ANY genre he chooses to write in.

Fire by Kristin Cashore

Reviewed HERE.

Another YA novel with the word “Fire” in the title! But seriously, Fire is a book that completely took me by surprise. I had the pleasure of reading both Graceling and this companion novel/prequel this year, and both blew me away. I loved the character of Fire, the world of “monsters” and their normal counterparts. Ms. Cashore’s second novel, in fact, appealed to me more than her debut novel did. Fire is YA Fantasy at its finest, evocative of Tamora Pierce. I love the strong heroines that she writes, and urge everyone – especially young girls dissatisfied with the wishy-washy Bellas of the YA literary landscape – to read her work.

Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier

Reviewed HERE.

Another no-brainer, favorite author of mine is Juliet Marillier, and her 2009 release of Heart’s Blood – a Celtic retelling of Beauty and the Beast – is another solid gold winner. Ms. Marillier, like Ms. Carey, is an author whose prose never fails to win me over. Lush, evocative, hauntingly beautiful, Heart’s Blood is no exception. I loved this smart, heartfelt retelling of a familiar fable.

Honorable Mentions (2009 Close Calls and Pre-2009 Published Favorites)

As the title suggests, this section is for favorite books read in 2009 – books that I loved but didn’t make the cut (barely), or would have made the cut if they were published this year.

I. 2009 Close Calls

I think I lucked out this year, as I read a number of really awesome memorable books. For organization’s sake, I’ve broken ‘em out by genre:

In the YA Genre, these 2009 close calls include: Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman, Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr, The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong, Forest Born by Shannon Hale, The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness, Rampant by Diana Peterfreund, Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison, Blood Promise by Richelle Mead, The Maze Runner by James Dashner, Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines (a VERY narrow miss for my Top 10), and Going Bovine by Libba Bray.

In the Fantasy Genre: Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey, Jasmyn by Alex Bell, and Prospero Lost by L. Jagi Lamplighter top the list of 2009 published titles that I absolutely loved, but didn’t quite make the top 10.

In the UF Genre: Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs, Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire, Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs, and Deadtown by Nancy Holzner top my favorites. I didn’t read as much UF this year as in 2008, but the genre still holds a soft spot in my heart. Seanan McGuire and Nancy Holzner are two debut UF authors that managed to completely win me over with their first in a series books, and I eagerly await for more from them. And Patricia Briggs is Patricia Briggs – her writing is AMAZING.

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Paranormal Romance Genre novel Angels’ Blood by Nalini Singh, and Horror Genre novel Hater by David Moody. Both took me by surprise and managed to win me over, and are definitely recommended.

II. Pre-2009 Publication Faves

Leading the pre-2009 published favorites read this year is Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go – the only other book (besides Ark) that I gave a 10 rating to. This is literary fiction, yes, but also falls into the realm of science fiction, about mysterious “donors” and their upbringing in an english countryside boarding school. Mr. Ishiguro has won numerous awards for his literary efforts, and Never Let Me Go showed me why he is so worthy of those accolades. Please, for the love of pete, read the book before watching the movie adaptation coming out next year. Please.

Along with Never Let Me Go the lightbook Goth by Otsuichi would easily have made my top 10 list, had it been published in 2009. Goth tells the story of two teenage sociopaths in Japan, and is a truly chilling portrayal. Another title that easily would have cracked my top 10 was delightful gothic/regency/romance/fantasy novel The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by Galen Beckett. I hadn’t seen this book reviewed anywhere, but I was so very glad I took a chance on this title.

There were a slew of pre-2009 YA titles that I read and absolutely loved this year, so I’ll just list them quickly: The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld (Uglies, Pretties, and Specials), Genesis by Bernard Beckett, Exodus by Julie Bertagna, and Feed by M.T. Anderson. Also Wildwood Dancing and Cybelle’s Secret by Juliet Marillier were standout novels that deserve mention.

On the fantasy front, I also discovered the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson this year, which is one of the most inventive and original epic fantasy series’ I have read, period. There also was the beautiful The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden by Catherynne Valente that blew me away. Finally, The Bell at Sealey Head by Patricia McKillip was another solid winner that I truly loved and wholeheartedly recommend.

Favorite Characters:

I didn’t discover anyone as lovely as Miles Vorkosigan or Amelia Peabody this year, but I did read a number of YA protagonists that totally won me over. Perhaps most winsome of them all are Todd and Viola from Patrick Ness’s incredible/awesome/insert superlative Chaos Walking series, The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and the Answer. I love these two characters so very much; I root for them like no other pair that I can think of in an ongoing series. So, they get my vote!

New Authors:

2009 was another great year for new-to-me authors – topping the list has to be Diana Peterfreund, author of the excellent Secret Society Girl series (which I *will* get around to finishing soon) and the awesome Rampant, a new YA series about killer unicorns and the girls that slay them. Diana is not only a fabulous author, she’s also really friendly, she’s allowed us to bug her for interviews and guest posts, and she also shares the love for Christopher Pike. Another autobuy author I discovered this year is Brandon Sanderson – his Mistborn books blew me away, and his 2009 release, Warbreaker wasn’t too shabby either. He’s definitely an author I will be looking out for in the future.

Finally, there’s the ineffable Stephen Baxter. Man, I loved Ark with every fiber of my being – so much so that I am currently glomming his backlist (I just finished Moonseed which was also absofreakinglutely phenomenal – another one for the keeper shelf. Next up is Titan – I love me some apocalyptic-toned scifi!). This guy’s writing just does it for me.

2010 Books I Cannot Wait to Read:

Oh, the list is long indeed. I suppose I should set a reading goal for next year – and that is READ MORE SCIENCE FICTION. It’s a genre I love (hell, my favorite two books of 2009 were scifi titles), and there’s no excuse for my deficiency in this area. So, if there are any scifi titles you have to recommend, please let me know! I’m all ears.

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness – The dramatic final novel in the Chaos Walking series. The Ask and the Answer kicked my ass – I cannot wait to see what Mr. Ness has in store for Todd and Viola in this third book.

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan – Given my big love for The Forest of Hands and Teeth this is – if you’ll pardon my lame puns – a no-brainer! Seriously, love Carrie Ryan’s writing, and cannot wait for this title. The covers are gorgeous too.

Lies by Michael Grant – Again, given my love for Gone and Hunger, it should come as no surprise that this third book in the planned 7 book series is on my most anticipated of 2010 list.

Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs – Patricia Briggs freaking rules. Mercy Thompson is one of my favorite UF heroines for a reason, and I cannot wait for more of her in Silver Borne.

Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews – Again, given my love for Magic Strikes this is an autobuy for me. Love Kate and Curran, and cannot wait to see where Ms. Andrews takes them next! (Although what is with these stupid “Guaranteed Good Read!” stickers on books? Who do publishers think they are fooling? They just look tacky)

The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss – I read The Name of the Wind this year as part of our “What She Said” feature, and I loved it. So, I, along with the rest of the fantasy reading world, will be anxiously hoping for The Wise Man’s Fear in 2010.

This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer – OMG. Probably my MOST highly anticipated book of 2010 – I *loved* with the force of a thousand suns the first two books in Ms. Pfeffer’s Moon Crush trilogy (Life as we Knew it and the dead and the gone were my two favorite reads of 2008), so I am on tenterhooks waiting for this third volume. EEEEEE! The cover gives me goosebumps.

Mr. Shivers by Robert Jackson Bennett – I have heard nothing but Good Things about this upcoming title, and hey, I even have an ARC. I cannot freaking wait to dive in. (Plus, I hate to be shallow, but how awesome is that cover??)

Horns by Joe Hill – I really, really enjoyed his debut novel Heart-Shaped Box, and being the son of Stephen King and all, I’m partial towards Mr. Hill. Horns looks to be a fantastic read, and I have high hopes. AND I have an ARC that I am just dying to start ripping through…

The Line by Teri Hall – Talk about BUZZ, this book is all over the blogosphere. The cover is gorgeous, the title mysterious and atmospheric, and the synopsis sounds like it’s a book right up Thea Alley. I cannot wait.

Black Magic Sanction and Early to Death, Early to Rise by Kim Harrison

I was a little bit disappointed with White Witch, Black Curse, the newest entry in Kim Harrison’s otherwise near-flawless The Hollows series. BUT, I still have high hopes for the next Rachel Morgan. And I absolutely loved Once Dead, Twice Shy, Ms. Harrison’s YA entry – and I eagerly await Madison Avery’s next novel.

Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead – Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy books are among my favorite YA Vampire series’ – and given the number of YA Vampires out there, that’s saying a LOT. Forget the poorly written (and brain numbingly idiotic) Twilight, because it is all about Rose. And Adrian.

The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong – The Summoning (book 1 in the Darkest Powers series) didn’t really wow me, but I was pleasantly surprised by The Awakening this year. Chloe and Derek are a wonderful couple, and I am eager to see where The Reckoning takes them.

Naamah’s Curse by Jacqueline Carey – Come on. Jacqueline Carey. Book 2 in Moirin’s story. No. Brainer.

Walking the Tree by Kaaron Warren – I loved Slights so very much, and was incredibly impressed with Kaaron Warren. So, it goes without saying that I will most certainly read her next book – which happens to be fantasy title, Walking the Tree, again from Angry Robot.

Prospero in Hell by L. Jagi Lamplighter – I was so delighted with Prospero Lost, and I wish everyone would run out and purchase it. Seriously, smart, funny, well-researched and impeccably written. THIS is Urban Fantasy like you’ve never seen it before – and I want more Miranda and Mab!

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson – The new Brandon Sanderson, first of a planned 10 book series, is an investment (both emotionally and economically). But it’s one I’m ready to make. Come on, The Way of Kings!

Eona: The Last Dragoneye by Alison Goodman – I loved Eon: Dragoneye reborn very, very much. Though there were predictable elements, it reminded me of all the things I loved in Tamora Pierce’s Alanna books and Lian Hearn’s Tales of the Otori. This is an action filled YA fantasy that took me by surprise, and has me impatiently waiting for the next book.

The Third book in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games series – Seriously. Is it October yet? I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS, DAMMIT!

Seer of Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier – A new Sevenwaters book!!! I am going into paroxysms of glee!

And with that we, your Friendly Neighborhood Book Smugglers, bid you so long, farewell, au revoir, see you in 2010!

And be Excellent to Each Other, dudes!

Another week of Smugglivus has come and gone, and now we are down to our FINAL WEEK of the celebration! (Well, sort of…)

First, a few announcements.

Giveaway Winners:

Three of our giveaways have now closed, and we’ve got a bunch of very lucky winners to announce!

First up is the ARC giveaway courtesy of Little, Brown (US). The THREE lucky winners of all the ARCs (13 Treasures, Sisters Red, Ship Breaker, Guardian of the Dead, and Prophecy of the Sisters: Guardian of the Gate) are:

Next, we have the TWO winners of Sarah Rees Brennan’s silver charm giveaway. And the lucky winners are:

Finally, we have the THREE winners of our Big Ol’ Christmas Flash Giveaway! And the books go to…

Congratulations to all the winners! You know the drill. Send us an email (contact AT thebooksmugglers DOT com) with your snail mail addresses, and we will get your goodies out to you as soon as possible.

Thanks so much again to all that participated, and if you didn’t win, remember that our Adrian Phoenix giveaway (two sets of autographed copies of all the books in her Maker’s Song series) are still up for grabs! So have at it!

This Week on Smugglivus:

Later on today, we continue full-steam ahead with guest bloggers Kristi, The Story Siren and Lenore of Presenting Lenore.

On Monday, our guest bloggers are Liz and Mark of My Favorite Books, Gav of NextRead, and Carolyn Crane of The Thrillionth Page.

Tuesday, we have Amy of My Friend Amy and the wonderful Harry of Temple Library Reviews for guest bloggers. Later in the day, Thea will also review gritty, fun Urban Fantasy novel Deadtown by Nancy Holzner.

On Wednesday, we have Nancy Holzner over for an interview! Following that, we’ll have Alert Nerd’s Sarah and Jeff over for their guest blog posts, closing out the guest blogger portion of Smugglivus!

Which means Thursday gets really fun – because on New Year’s Eve, we Book Smugglers finally give you our very own BEST OF 2009 Lists! Who will make the cut? We know you’re holding your breath and counting the days until the grand reveal…

On Friday, we take a little break (celebrating New Year’s, you know), and offer up another Big Ol’ Flash Giveaway – The New Year’s Edition.

Saturday, we give our Best of the Rest 2009 – favorite TV Shows, Movies and moments from the past year.

So make sure to stay tuned! This week is gonna be a doozy!

~ Your friendly neighborhood Book Smugglers

Welcome to Smugglivus – Day 24!

Throughout this month, we will have daily guests – authors and bloggers alike – looking back at their favorite reads of 2009, and looking forward to events and upcoming books in 2010.

Today’s Guest: Angie of the Young Adult/Fantasy/Speculative Fiction review blog Angieville. Angie runs one of our very favorite blogs, and has a knack for picking up and reviewing books that both of us Smugglers love. She’s one of our go-to sites for book ideas – if Angie likes it, chances are, we will love it too!

Please give a hand to Angie!

Best Performance by a Heroine in a Recurring Role: Kate Daniels for Magic Strikes Kate just gets cooler and tougher and couldn’t stop taunting the Beast Lord to save her life. My kind of girl, is Kate.

Best Debut Performance by a Heroine in a Leading Role: Lyn for Girl in the Arena

She’s the daughter of seven gladiators. She loves her family and is true to herself, while refusing to perpetuate a suffocatingly rigid social system. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Lyn.

Best Performance by a Hero in a Recurring Role: Curran for Magic Strikes

It’s just that he’s Curran. And he’s so furry and cocky and implacable. And out of his mind over Kate. Love the guy. Love, love, love him.

Best Debut Performance by a Hero in a Leading Role: Brigan for Fire

Because if you’re looking for still waters run deep, look no further. His iron self-control and constant putting of duty and family before any personal desires…well, in Kristin Cashore’s capable hands, he’s utterly spellbinding.

Best Performance by an Antihero in a Leading Role: Nick for The Demon’s Lexicon

Talk about the definition of an antihero. Nicholas Ryves takes the cake, my friends. You love him, you hate him, you love to hate him. And his relationship with his big brother Alan will melt your heart. See if it doesn’t.

Best Performance by a Villain: President Snow for Catching Fire

The dude smells like blood and roses and I can’t read a scene he’s in without gagging. Seriously. What is wrong with him?

Best Performance by a Vampire in a Supporting Role: Stefan for Bone Crossed

Stefan is just, hands down, my favorite vampire around. He smells like popcorn and drives a VW bus painted like the Mystery Machine and he absolutely made Bone Crossed. I hope Mercy gives Marsilia what she deserves one of these days. For Stefan.

Best Series Finale: Diana Peterfreund for Tap & Gown

For never dropping the ball and coming through in every way that matters and more. Tap & Gown is the perfect ending to a ridiculously entertaining series. How many of those have you read?

Best Packaging: Arthur A. Levine Books for Marcelo in the Real World

I just love it. Better yet, its inside is every bit as breathtaking as its outside. And that is saying something.

Best Kiss: Lady Julia Grey and Mr. Nicholas Brisbane for Silent on the Moor

These two are three books in now and the tension…let’s just say it remains high. Part of it can be chalked up to how well-suited they are to one another and part of it is just that Ms. Raybourn can infuse a scene with Victorian heat like nobody’s business.

And last, but not least…

Best Author Pimping: My booktwin and dear friend Martha for her tireless and heartfelt pimping of Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen’s Thief series: The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia

Thank you, Martha. What can I say? I should have listened to you earlier. I have seen the error of my ways and will never delay reading a book you rave about ever again. This series instantaneously skyrocketed to the top of my beloved bookshelf and Turner is an absolute storytelling master. Highly recommended for fans of Robin McKinley, Kristin Cashore, and Sherwood Smith.

As for my 2010 Must Be Mine list…I’m gonna leave you with my top 15 most anticipated titles. They hail from 3 new-to-me authors and 12 near-and-dear ones. The list is comprised of 8 YAs (4 fantasy, 2 urban fantasy, 1 dystopian, and 1 contemporary), 3 urban fantasies, 3 straight fantasies, 1 historical mystery, and is top to bottom made of awesome. Shiny, no? Here they are in order of publication date:

Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta

In a world of fever camps, wandering exiles, and cursed kingdoms, young Finnikin joins forces with the reckless Evanjalin in a bid to save the land of Lumatere from the evil that threatens to swallow it. After the wonder that was Jellicoe Road, I will read anything the woman writes. Due out February 9

The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn

A young woman leaves Scotland, bound for Roumania to visit a friend and write her book. There she encounters the mysterious Count Dragulescu and, well, really, need I say more? Due out March 1

A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner

The long-awaited fourth novel in the beloved Queen’s Thief series. This one follows Sophos as he fights his way to take his place as the heir to Sounis. Confession: I’m 100 pages into my ARC and it is, in a word, sublime. Due out March 23

Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken

A land beset by storms and quakes, a mysterious wizard who brings rain, and a young woman stolen from her home who may hold the key to it all…I am so there. Due out March 23

Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs

Fifth Mercy Thompson novel. ‘Nuff said. Due out March 30

Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles

The unexpected but delightfully welcome sequel to Perfect Chemistry. This one follows Alex’s little brother Carlos. I enjoyed the hell out of the first book and can’t wait for the follow-up. Plus, that cover? Smokin! Due out April 13

Mistwood by Leah Cypess

A young girl has lost her memory. A desperate prince risks everything on the mere hope she is who he believes her to be. Forced to return to a place she once fled, amid scheming and lies, Isabel struggles to determine who she used to be and what she must become. Due out April 17

Lord of the Changing Winds by Rachel Neumeier

First in the Griffin Mage trilogy. The griffins are coming, bringing fire and desert in their wake. The king prepares for battle to protect his land. Meanwhile a young girl is summoned to heal the Griffin King and her awakening abilities lead her to the truth behind their sudden flight. Due out April 27

Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews

The fourth Kate Daniels book. Ilona and Gordon knocked it out of the park with Magic Strikes and I’m just not sure I’m gonna make it until May. Thank goodness for re-reading, right? Due out May 25

White Cat by Holly Black

The first in the Curse Workers trilogy, it’s about a boy named Cassel and takes place in a private boarding school, features a family of grifters, and is about curse magic. Oh, and a white cat. And is a fairy tale retelling. And it will be mine. Due out May 4

No covers quite yet on the rest of these, but keep your eye out because they are definitely not to be missed.

Heroes Return by Moira J. Moore

The fifth Heroes book featuring the lovable Source & Shield duo: Taro & Lee. Due out July 27

Bring on the Night by Jeri Smith-Ready

This series is #3 in my top favorite urban fantasies. I just love how smooth the writing is and finding out what happens to Ciara and Shane and the gang in the next WVMP Radio installment. Due out August 1

The untitled Hunger Games Book 3 by Suzanne Collins

I have no idea how it’s all going to play out but I can tell you one thing. Katniss better knock some heads together in this one because I am THIS CLOSE to losing it. Grrr. Due out August 24

Ascendant by Diana Peterfreund

The second Killer Unicorns book (I just love saying that) and the sequel to Rampant. Peterfreund is one of my very favorite authors and I, for one, am looking forward to more Astrid, more Giovanni, more Phil, and more Bucephalus! Due out September 21

Seer of Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier

The sequel to the lovely Heir to Sevenwaters. This one is Sibeal’s book and one I’ve been waiting for for a long time. If you’ve never read any Marillier before, you have until December to pick up Daughter of the Forest and discover the splendiferousness for yourself. Janicu–I’m lookin’ at you. Due out December

That’s it for me. Thanks for having me, Smugglers! I’m off to track down some hot cider and wrap the last few presents. Thanks for stopping in this Christmas Eve and I hope your holidays are filled with good cheer and good books!

Thank you, Angie!!!

Next on Smugglivus: Doug Knipe, aka SciFiGuy

Sayonara, Week 3, and konichiwa to Week 4 of Smugglivus! Before we delve into the goodies we have lined up this week, we’ve got a few announcements.

A Glory-ous Giveaway:

Sarah Kuhn, author and one of the fine folks that run the geektastic Alert Nerd blog, has a short sequel to her debut novel One Con Glory out now! “My Epic Win” is available in the new edition of Grok #5: Retcon. In honor of the release, Sarah is offering a wicked cool giveaway contest – the theme is favorite comic book kiss and/or favorite comic book couple. As for me, well, I don’t think it gets any better than Bigby and Snow from Fables (and since I’m traveling right now and can’t scan The Kiss panel, I’ll just give you my favorite moment between the two of them and the cover for Fables Vol. 8: Wolves):

Guh. They make me all squishy and warm inside. SO, if you’ve got a favorite comic book couple or kiss, head on over to Alert Nerd and leave a comment (or if you prefer twitter, tweet your entry @SarahKuhn. The prize is a copy of Sarah’s excellent One Con Glory (reviewed HERE by both Ana and myself) – and, even better, if you already have read/own OCG, you can still enter for another groovy book-related prize. The contest runs until December 22 at midnight (pacific), so get over. Now.

In other cool geek news, dunno if you’ve seen it yet, but holy rusted metal! The Iron Man 2 trailer is out! Yowza!

In other news, Ana and I are famous! Well, not really. But you can catch us guest blogging over at Opinionated, Me? about our holiday reads (or our lack thereof), and at Grasping for the Wind about our favorite fantasy reads of 2009 (and most highly anticipated fantasy reads of 2010).

Ok, now down to business.

Giveaway Winners:

We’ve got two winners to announce – first up, Kate Noble.

The winner of a copy of Revealed is…..

Also, our giveaway of Raiders’ Ransom is officially closed, and we have one lucky winner to announce! Drumroll please…

Congratulations! You know the drill. Send us an email with your snail mail address (contact AT thebooksmugglers DOT com), and we’ll get your prize off to you as soon as possible. Thanks again to all that entered – and hey, remember that we still have TWO excellent giveaways still running:

The ARC Giveaway courtesy of Little, Brown (US) and Sarah Rees Brennan’s Silver Dagger Charm Giveaway (of The Demon’s Lexicon) are still up and running. You have until December 26 at 11:59 (PST) to enter – so get those comments in!

This Week on Smugglivus:

Later today, we have two guests lined up. Susan Holloway Scott (whose post should have gone up yesterday but our site was down at the scheduled time!) with her favourite reads of 2009 , followed by Erin Galloway, publicist for Berkley and NAL with a list of books coming out next year from those imprints.

Then, we bid our guest authors adieu, thankyouverymuch, and say hello to some of our very favorite book bloggers. This week, and for the remainder of Smugglivus, bloggers will be stopping in and sharing their favorite reads of 2009, and what they are looking forward to in 2010. Kicking off the week, we have the prolific Aidan Moher of A Dribble of Ink. Then, Danielle of Opinionated, Me? stops by with her best (and worst) of the year. And later in the day, Ana gives her review of Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore.

On Tuesday, our guest bloggers are Kristen of Fantasy Cafe and Lusty Reader of Lusty Reader. Then, later in the day, Thea reviews Witch and Wizard by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet.

Wednesday, Thea gives a double review of A Rush of Wings and In the Blood by Adrian Phoenix – two of the titles in her ongoing, edgy Urban Fantasy series. AND we’ll also have Adrian Phoenix over for the day – she’ll be around to answer YOUR questions. Plus, we’ll be giving away TWO complete sets of autographed books from Adrian Phoenix, so make sure to stay tuned.

Thursday, we have guest bloggers Rhiannon Hart of Rhiannon Hart, Angie of Angieville, and Doug, the SciFi Guy over. Later, Ana reviews Calamity Jack by Shannon Hale.

On Friday, Katiebabs of Babbling About Books, and More! gives us her rundown of favorite reads. Following that, Thea reviews Kelley Meding’s debut Urban Fantasy Three Days Till Dead. Finally, what would Christmas be without a giveaway? We have a Very Special Christmas Giveaway planned (there will be many, many books up for grabs).

Saturday, we have two more guest bloggers to close out the week – Jessica of Racy Romance Reviews and KMont of Lurv ala Mode.

Phew. It’s another action packed week, so stay tuned!

~ Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Smugglers

Welcome to Smugglivus 2009 – Day 18!

Throughout this month, we will have daily guests – authors and bloggers alike – looking back at their favorite reads of 2009, and looking forward to events and upcoming books in 2010.

Today’s Guest: Sarah Rees Brennan, YA author who debuted this year (and knocked Ana’s socks off with her writing). To read Sarah’s article about her Inspirations and Influences, go here.

Recent Work: The Demon’s Lexicon (set to make Ana’s top 10 of 2009). Ana reviewed the book here and Thea reviewed it here.

Please welcome Sarah and her list of favourite things of 2009 (plus a giveaway):

My Favourite Things of 2009

So here’s a thing people don’t talk about a lot: reading books by people you know.The first book you read by someone you know is simultaneously really exciting (because you’re happy their book is out! You love this person! You’re dying to read it!) and absolutely terrifying (If you don’t like it, perhaps you can move to Siberia and never ever check your email?).

The thing I never expected is that reading a book by someone you know is really reassuring. You know you’re going to get their humour: you know you find the same kind of things interesting. You’re absolutely certain that there is never going to be that Horrible Lurching Moment of Dismay when you realise the author’s value system is totally different from your own and now all the characters you love are tainted and you can never talk about the books again without going off on a weird rant that makes you look like you’ve been through a bad break-up.

‘I always knew the books were flawed (Oh we were never that serious), I still sometimes pick up their books in the shop (I drunk-dialled him last week), That character was really always the weak point in the series (I always knew that vile girl from the copy shop/his suspiciously clingy best friend Mitch would steal him away from me!), I guess I feel like other people should know how the series turns out before they waste their time (I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights).’ Book break-ups are hard to do!

But when you know someone’s mind and find out you love their writing (and that one’s a gamble…) then you can have a lot of fun. I made a lot of friends among fellow debut authors in 2009, and thus I had a lot of opportunities to find authors I trusted and books I love. (Some of them, of course, were written by total strangers. Who I will now be stalking incessantly in an attempt to get to their laptops – uh, I mean, enjoy their company.)

2009 BOOKS WHAT I LOVED

Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare

I have been reading a lot of romance this year, looking at what works in romance for me, enjoying rolling around with books that seem to really like the ladies (hating on the ladies, something I am very very tired of in books), and I’ve observed that some of the most recent historical fiction has an increased focus on the heroines. Which I love – how d’you invest in a romance without loving both of the main players? And Goddess of the Hunt has one of my very favourite heroines of the year – Lucy, who gets all dolled up in the morningtime to woo a suitor and looks ridiculous, who is self-confident and occasionally embarrasses herself and then picks herself up and goes again, Lucy who eats a crazy amount to keep up her levels of energy for new adventures. I loooove Lucy. The writing and the hero, also excellent, but Lucy made the book one of my favourites.

The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong

I loved the first book and when I found the sequel in a bookshop early, I performed a little spinny dance that caused one of the bookshop ladies to come and bond with me over the brilliance of this series. Derek and Chloe, I looooove them. I am also fond of Derek’s half-Asian sweet and good-lookin’ foster brother, though if he gets in the way of the romance, there will be consequences. Dark, snarly and hideous genius werewolf Derek! Tiny, blond and relentlessly sensible movie buff Chloe! If I had dolls of them, I would make them kiss all the time. (Quit looking at me like that.)

Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell

Definitely one of my favourite books of the year – reminded me of To Kill A Mockingbird. I have a deep weakness for the South, possibly due to imprinting on Gone with the Wind young, and I also have a deep love for sensible heroines, mysteries, dark secrets in the past, and everybody being to blame and yet not being unlikable.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margi Stohl

In a world of lots and lots of YA featuring withdrawn ladies who fall in love with magnificently beautiful supernatural dudes – not that I don’t love several examples of that YA, but a change is nice – a sweet, normal boy narrator, a deep South background that was exotic (to me at least) and beautifully realised, and a romance that is goofy and adorable and obviously deeply-felt.

Knife by R.J. Anderson (known as Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter in the US)

Knife is the most badass YA heroine I came across this year, and she’s only about five inches tall. She wields a letter opener with deadly accuracy, though! And she spies on the strange and terrible humans who live near her – including Paul, who is newly wheelchair-bound, blond, sensitive, and – ahem! – kind of a hotass. Two very different people coming together in a gorgeously written mystery.

2009 MOVIES WHAT I LOVED

Star Trek

Went in having slept through every Star Trek episode I’d ever been shown, only because I’d heard awesome things, still very wary about space and action. Five minutes in, I looooved it: I loved the cool, reticent Vulcan dude, I loved the rebel with the cause that was daddy issues, and I loved the girl who was cool, confident and very brilliant at something that wasn’t kicking ass but was cerebral – I wish to see more of that. And the subtle, tropes-inverting romance was wonderful. I can’t wait to see the next one.

Let The Right One In

Vampire movie of the year! I love creepy child vampires, I love romances where the girl is the supernatural one, I love supernatural stuff that’s edgy and not romanticised. I loved the cold horror and the analysis of how morals would degrade in the face of the necessity of killing – and how children have very different morality, anyway.

Sherlock Holmes

Um, I haven’t seen it. But I really want to, and Robert Downey Jnr plus hilarity plus a new and strange take on the Sherlock Holmes mythos – I expect to love it!

2010 BOOKS I CAN’T WAIT FOR

(These include books I haven’t read and am dying to read, books I have read and am dying to talk about, and so on!)

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

Dude, how awesome was Forest of Hands and Teeth? Plus, everyone who has read it says it’s even better than the first book. I mean, I don’t know, personally. Because I haven’t read it. I guess Carrie Ryan hates me or something. But Carrie ‘Doesn’t Love Me’ Ryan is still pretty magnificent. I’m dying to read it. By the time March rolls around perhaps I will be a zombie already. Not that Carrie ‘Heartless Withholder’ Ryan cares.

Proof by Seduction by Courtney Milan

As I said earlier, I have been observing a trend I call the New Wave of Historical Romance, which I LOVE, and I think ‘Proof by Seduction‘ is one of the best examples I’ve read so far. The heroine is a scheming fortune teller, and we start out thinking oh well, she’ll repent of her ways, the handsome hero will teach her to love again, and then you realise that in fact Jenny is like a psychiatrist for her clients – she didn’t know that’s what they needed, and they didn’t either, and yet they all needed help – and that truth can be found in lying, cheating and gambling: and the proof is in the book.

The Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

This is one of those I have read: I love Cassie’s other books, and how they’re funny, dramatic and romantic all at once, and I was excited and nervous to read her historical demonhunters. I think this is her best book yet – I expected to love the uber-gentleman super-zen Jem, but I did not expect how much I would love Will, who is tall, dark and Totally Insane, and I really did not expect that the Love of the Book for me would be Tessa, the heroine who loves books in a way that I think we can all identify with – passionate, consuming, relating real life to books and books to real life, and being all the better for it. Plus – demons and period clothes and a secret London and lots of delicious humour, what’s not to love?

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

My rule of trilogies is as follows ‘Book One: set up, Book Two: make out, Book Three: defeat evil.’ The first book was a symphony in punking the steam, dressing the cross and buckling the swash, and it set up (I hope) a romance that is my favourite of Scott’s books so far. Therefore I am extremely eager for the Make-Out Book. Also, I have received thrilling spoilers for this one. I know some stuff that happens. And you will be electrified! (Also, I am willing to sell these spoilers to the highest bidder. Okay, not really.)

The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong

I would kill to read this book. Seriously – no, seriously. All Kelley would have to do is send me an email, with a name in it. And I would understand her. I would go and commit murder, while Kelley constructed a perfect alibi for herself. Perhaps she could be doing a reading? And then later, I would receive my book. It would be completely worth it! I must know what happens next with the surly, shockingly not-hot werewolf Derek and the damsel-in-distress-who-occasionally-stabs-a-bitch Chloe. My suggestion is – making out! (To be fair… that’s usually my suggestion.)

A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner

I am expecting gorgeous writing, a genius mystery and a use of point of view that makes me really think. The King of Attolia is one of my favourite books ever, ever, and really… I don’t know what would happen if Megan Whalen Turner decided to get in on my murder offer for Kelley Armstrong and I opened the letter and it had the name of a loved one in it. Well I’m not saying I would do it. BUT IT WOULD BE A VERY HARD DECISION.

The White Cat by Holly Black

A world where magic was outlawed at the same time as Prohibition, and now magic is the province of crime and seven magical, criminal families. Cassel is the youngest son of a family of magical conmen: he has no magic, has a hard time not thinking like a criminal (though he tries) and he has far too many secrets. A family of attractive and potentially evil brothers and a very unusual romance, and a YA fantasy written like a noir detective novel. It’s so funny, so different, and I so can’t wait for other people to read it.

And, er, well, in 2010 my second book The Demon’s Covenant comes out, and I thought I might share an excerpt with y’all.

“It’s not some kind of tragically stupid love triangle. I’m not going to choose one guy out of two and settle down. It doesn’t have to be either of them for me, or have to be me for either of them. The world’s full of people, if you hadn’t noticed. I could ask any of a dozen guys out, and any of them could ask me out.” Mae took a deep breath. “I didn’t ask for your advice on my love life,” she said. “And it’s not necessary.”

“Glad to hear it,” Nick told her. “One last thing before I go.”

He leaned in closer, his hand held up to screen their faces as if he didn’t want anyone watching to even read his lips. His fingers were curled about half an inch from her cheek.

“I’m sure you’re right,” he said, his voice a whisper that seemed to curl in the air like smoke, to find a way in to her stomach and twist there, low. “I’m sure there are a dozen guys who will ask you out if McFarlane loses his chance. I just want you to know something.”

“What?” Mae asked, whispering because he was whispering, tilting up her face because he was leaning down, and for no other reason.

Nick looked down at her, his face obscuring the rest of the world, narrowing down her focus and stripping everything else away until she was left with cold black eyes instead of a summer sky.

“I never will,” he said.

2009 was a very special year for me in a lot of ways – chiefly that it was the year my first book was published. I’ll never be a debut author again! It was nervewracking, exciting, and humbling. I’ve loved the responses for my book – I hope more people will start reading with the release of the paperback and The Demon’s Covenant in 2010 – I carry gratitude, terror, happiness and a whole lot of booklove from 2009 to the next year, and the next!

To celebrate Smugglivus and the Year of My Debut, pray comment to win one of two Irish silver quillon dagger charms – my hero Nick’s favourite kind of knife. And happy Smugglivus to you all!

Sarah

And a Happy Smugglivus to you Sarah!

The Giveaway:

Leave a comment to enter to win one of two Irish silver quillon dagger charms! The contest is open to everyone and will run till Saturday 26th 11:59pm (PST). Good luck!