Thursday, December 20, 2012

Class of 2012 YA Superlatives Blogfest: Best In Show

Welcome back to the last day of the Class of 2012 YA  Superlatives Blogfest!  I've had a blast participating and I want to give a huge thanks to Jessica Love, Tracey Neithercott, Alison Miller, and Katy Upperman for hosting!  I may be back with more of this kind of thing next week--YA Highway is hosting their own end-of-year book-listing bonanza--but that depends on how many posts I can schedule over the weekend.  I really don't see myself blogging on Christmas (although maybe some of these awesome books will be under the tree?  We'll see!)



Favorite Cover:

 Enchanted by Alethea Kontis  and Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore.  I know people are kind of over the girls-in-dresses thing, but Enchanted feels different to me.  The black and white with the pop of color from the flowers?  Gorgeous.  And Bitterblue...is just perfection.  Perfection in my favorite color.  I was so excited when Kristin Cashore came to Books of Wonder--mostly excited to hear her speak and to meet her, but also a little bit because it gave me an excuse to get actual, physical copies of her books, which had previously been on my kindle.  Such. Pretty. Covers.



Cutest Couple:  

Raffin/Bann from Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore.  I don't think it would be possible for me to love them more.  Unless maybe they got their own book... (Are you listening, Kristin Cashore?)  (I'm sure you're not.  That's ok.)  (But seriously, that book would be amazing.)









Most Likely to Succeed (Or, pick a Printz Winner.)/Most Likely to Make You Miss Your Bedtime (Book you just couldn’t put down!):      

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.  I mean, for me these two go hand-in-hand.  I read a lot of page-turners this year, but none as masterfully put together as this one (and none with subject matter this difficult, at least that came out this year.)  But here's the beginning of my review for Code Name Verity:  "I am writing this review at 2:00 am. I had about 20% of the book left when I picked it up at midnight, struck by mild insomnia. Now I am finished and I may not sleep tonight."   If you don't believe me, here's part of what Maggie Stiefvater, The Great and Powerful, had to say: "As with all my favorite books, it rewards the careful reader. If an author can make me gasp once, it’s likely that novel is ending up on my favorites shelf. If an author can make me gasp THREE TIMES, either the author is making me read their novel underwater or it’s really cleverly done. This one’s really cleverly done. It was a three-gasper."  I know this one came out in a tough year, what with TFIOS being the biggest hit since Harry Potter and all (or so it seems) but I'm rooting for it.  And I am a TFIOS fan, for sure. I think that book deserves all of its accolades.  I just hope this one gets some too.



Best Repeat Performance (Your favorite sequel or follow-up.):

 

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore.  Yeah, it's a good thing this one has such a pretty cover, because it's showing up a lot.  Bitterblue rewarded fans of Cashore's previous books while creating its own amazing world with supporting characters I love to no end.   Honorable Mention: A Million Suns by Beth Revis, Insurgent by Veronica Roth, Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver.
      







Favorite Finale or End of Series Novel:

 Goliath by Scott Westerfeld. 
I'm totally cheating here--this came out in 2011, but I realized that I haven't read any series finales in 2012 (I am not willing to accept that Bitterblue might be the last we see of those characters or that world.)  So I'll go with the excellent conclusion to Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan trilogy.  Steampunk with adorable weird animals and Westerfeld's genius ear for slang?  If you haven't read this series, pick it up soon!
         




 

Romance Most Worthy of an Ice Bath:

 Ismae and Duval from Grave Mercy by Robin LaFever.  I've mentioned before that Duval is one of my favorites because he is an ADULT (see also: Giddon), but he's got some other great qualities too.  He's incredibly loyal to his half-sister, the Duchess.  He pushes back on Ismae's blind obedience to her order, and their relationship builds over the course of this very lengthy book until you just. can't. take. it.  Then--it delivers!
                






Breakout Novel (Your favorite book by a debut author.):

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick.  I will totally be picking up whatever she publishes next.  (Oh: according to Goodreads, that's going to be What I Thought Was True--but it won't be published till 2014.  Sigh.)   
  
 








Best Old-Timer (Your favorite read of the year, published BEFORE 2012.):

Mrs. S's bookshelf: best-old-timers-2012



More of Mrs. S's books »
Here are my five-star reads from 2012 that were published in 2011 or earlier: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart, Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr, Fire by Kristin Cashore, The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson, Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins, Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway, and Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys.  Goodreads links can be found in the widget above.




Book Most Likely to Make a Grown Man Cry:  

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green/Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.  Cancer vs. Nazis: not to be reductive of two really lovely books, but I mean, come on.











 Most Pleasant Surprise (Best book you didn’t think you’d like, but totally did.):


 Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Shaw Wolf.  This is a dark contemporary, dealing with Big Issues and a mysterious death and a lot of things I was iffy about.  Plus, with books from Netgalley, it's always a lot more hit-or-miss than books that I find (as I do most of my books these days) through blog recs.  This was one of the ones that made Netgalley feel really worthwhile.








Most Creative Use of a Love Triangle:

 Adaptation by Malinda LoI don't think, given the blurb on Goodreads, that it's too spoilery to mention that this love triangle involves a girl interested in a girl and a guy, both of whom are interesting and sweet and root-able-for.  And that gets points from me right awayBut by the end of this book, it's so much more complicated than that, even, and I totally love it.  I can't wait to see what happens next for these characters.  

 






Sleeper Hit (Book you found so awesome you wish it had been hyped more.):

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis.  I think the word I used in my original review was "sparkling"--I love fairy tale reimaginings of all stripes, but what delighted me so much about this one is that it was able to capture the feeling of traditional fairy tales, while adding a modern sense of humor and a great set of twists and turns.

 








Favorite Outlier (Your favorite middle grade or adult 2012 book):     

The Cavendish Home For Boys and Girls by Claire Legrand.  I read a few great MG books in 2012--Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead and Princess Academy: Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale were two of my other favorites.   But The Cavendish Home For Boys and Girls was definitely my favorite because it had the same creepy, gruesome sensibility as Edward Gorey and Roald Dahl (actually, this is closer to Dahl's short stories for adults, which my beloved 8th-grade English teacher used to read us...or at the very least, Dahl's darkest children's books, like The Witches.)  It was these kinds of stories that shaped my dark sense of humor and set me up to enjoy a certain breed of horror movies (campy ones: think Cabin in the Woods or Evil Dead, although of course this is scaled to just exactly what a middle school kid with a twisted idea of awesome could handle.)  It made me want to go back to my old school and read it aloud to the middle school students, who would have lost their minds and howled over the gross parts.  I was so, so excited about this one--it's the kind of thing I could enjoy while also being DEAD ON for the target audience.  Loved it. 

    

Invent Your Own Category--2012 Book You Can't Wait To Read in 2013!  





In no particular order, This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers, The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth, and Unspoken by Sarah Rees BrennanI left out any sequels/series installments where I've read the first one and just haven't gotten to the latest volume yet (Sorry, Reached, Days of Blood and Starlight, The Crown of Embers, Feedback, and The Evolution of Mara Dyer!)   But these three are all ones I keep hearing absolute raves about, and also ones I don't own yet.  They are very, very different books, which about sums up my style--what they have in common is that I think I will love them!  What are the non-series (or first in a series) 2012 books you most want to read in 2013?

26 comments:

  1. I'm with you on reading THIS IS NOT A TEST and UNSPOKEN in 2013. I hope to read them in the next month, actually... because then it's on to the 2013ers! :-)

    I really like what you have to say under the Printz category. I have read the Printz award description/criteria before and pretty much it's just "what amazing book caught our eye and is amazing and thoughtful and amazing?" ;-) I wasn't thinking about CODE NAME VERITY until *your* description there, so thank you!

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    1. I feel that way too, about trying to read more books this month...but suddenly, Christmas is less than a week away! What? How did that happen? I'm gonna do my best, but...yikes.

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  2. Great category! I would have to say: MY LIFE NEXT DOOR. I'm really hoping I get it for Christmas. :)

    Have a wonderful holiday! And so glad you could join us!

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    1. Awesome choice--and it's just the kind of warm, summery book that will make up for the ginormous storm that's apparently rampaging across the country! Thanks again for hosting--this was a blast!

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  3. Great new category :D When it comes to non-series or beginning of a series I cannot wait for a lot of books including ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER by Stephanie Perkins :D

    And I need to read BITTERBLUE at some point soon :D

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    1. I am so excited for ISLA too. But yes! Yes, read BITTERBLUE! Like...now! Go read it! :)

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  4. So I totally didn't realize until today that BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY was published in 2011 and I've listed it a few times. Whoops! Oh well. :) While I'm thinking about it, THRONE OF GLASS has a 22-year-old potential love interest in it, so more totally non-creepy swoonage there. Though, given my current age, that makes me feel like a cougar...

    I really and truly wish I liked BITTERBLUE more than I did. I love GRACELING and FIRE, but all of the stuff about Leck really bothered me. I also was disappointed with the romantic side of things in this story. I'm such a sucker for a good romance. O_o

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    1. I think a lot of people cheated--I did today, and I KNEW mine was a 2011 book :) It's ok, BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY deserves more attention.

      Leck is hard to take. And I liked Saf as a character, but I'm kind of tired of that particular dynamic in romance--the impish bad boy? But the rest of the supporting characters, and Bitterblue herself, made up for it (for me, anyway.) And swooning over the newly mellowed Giddon didn't hurt...

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  5. GREAT new category!!

    I'm looking forward to reading Unspoken, Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone, Time Between Us, and quite a few others!

    I have to admit, that the only thing I wish had been different about Bitterblue was having MORE Katsa and Po.

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    1. More Katsa and Po, more Raffin and Bann, more Giddon (always more Giddon, please)...

      AMELIA ANNE nearly made my top three, too. Too many good books!

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  6. I like your category! My 2012 TBR are Bitterblue (after I re-read Graceling and Fire), A Million Suns (after I re-read Across the Universe), Grace Mercy, Shadow and Bone...and probably a dozen more too.

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    1. Those re-reads do make things tricky! But I can never quite convince myself to dive into a sequel without a re-read. My brain doesn't work well enough for that!

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  7. I love the color schemes of Kashore's books, and I'm excited to finally read Bitterblue (I can't believe I didn't get to it this year)! And I do actually like the girl-in-dress cover for Enchanted, probably because the composition is kind of different and it seems fitting for the book.

    One of the comments I've seen coming up about Code Name Verity is that the beginning is kind of slow/dense, and while I agree, it was also a page-turner for me. The voice was just so engaging for me, and it only ever picked up steam. I'm in agreement with Ms. Stiefvater; it's a book that rewards the careful reader and the payoff is worth any slowness or difficulty at the start. I want it to WIN ALL THE AWARDS, I heart it so!

    Also, yay for the GOLIATH and SCORPIO RACES love! The first was my favorite series finale last year (so fun, so inventive!) and the second was my absolute favorite read last year (I still swoon about Scorpio).

    I'm looking forward to reading Cavendish, finishing Unspoken (probably will be my last or 2nd to last read of 2012), and picking up This Is Not a Test and checking out Enchanted (I love fairy tale stuff and your love for this book has me intrigued). :)

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    1. Yeah, ENCHANTED's cover doesn't look quite so...I don't know, weird prom photo-y. I hope you enjoy it!

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  8. BREAKING BEAUTIFUL sounds pretty interesting; thanks for introducing me to it! You have totally convinced me that CODE NAME VERITY is a must-read.
    PS: love the new blog design!

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    1. Thanks! I love landing on all this blue--orange just isn't for me.

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  9. Yay for all the BITTERBLUE love! My favorite of the year! And I'll definitely be reading UNSPOKEN in the new year as well. I've seen it all over this blogfest!

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    1. I feel like I saw UNSPOKEN everywhere all of a sudden when it came out, and then it died down, but man, it's been dominating some of these categories!

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  10. YAY UNSPOKEN! READ IT NOW!

    I really want to read MY LIFE NEXT DOOR.

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    1. Haha, I've been yelling that at myself since it came out :) I can't wait to actually get a chance to.

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  11. Yay for MY LIFE NEXT DOOR & MRS CAVENDISH and ooh, I would read that Raffin/Bann book in a heartbeat! :)

    I loved GOLIATH, too! And so many of your previous-to-2012 books - FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKS, HOW TO SAVE A LIFE, FIRE, and both of Steph Perkins' books are on my all-time favorites list!

    Happy reading in 2013!

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    1. It's been a really good reading year! One of my goals for 2013 is to structure more reading time into my day, since I'm not commuting anymore. But I certainly have a long-enough list of awesome books to get me through 2013 without even considering all the awesome stuff coming out in the next year!

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  12. I can't get enough of girls in dresses! A soon as I saw that cover I was like, "ooooooh pretty" - and after your endorsement as sleeper I'll have to check out ENCHANTED

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    1. Yeah, total example of judging a book by its cover--in the good way. But I'm glad it was pretty enough to catch my eye!

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  13. I'm totally reading The Raven Boys, The Disenchantments, The Diviners, and Code Name Verity in 2013. And I, too, love the girls in dresses - but I have sort of an obsession with dresses, so there's that.

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    1. Great list! I still have to read The Disenchantments and The Diviners as well.

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Thanks for coming by! Please chime in!