Top Ten Surprise Reads of 2013

One thing I've started noticing about the books that I read is that there are some I can tell right away I'm going to love. Others, I don't realize how much I enjoy it until I've reached the end. For whatever reason, the build-up, the overall story, there's just something there that pulls me in and I find myself falling in love with a story even more.

Those are the biggest surprises to me, and sometimes my favorites. So, to start off this years Top Ten list I have:

TOP TEN SURPRISES

10.  

This one was a big surprise to me because it took me a bit of time to get into. The premise that Lenore created sounded so interesting to me, but it just felt so slow moving in the beginning. Once I got past that though, I couldn't put this book down and loved it!

9.  

Poison sounded so cute and like a fun read, but I wasn't sure if I was really going to like it. Oh man was I wrong. Bridget created such a great story and really pulled me into this world. Little pig and all.

8.  

The Rules has a bit of a typical high school teen feel to it, but the more I read the more I realized that was a pretty important element to the story. In the end I found myself tearing up in a lot of places and really feeling for Ariane.

7.  

Again, I wasn't really sure where this story was going to go, but Sara Walsh blew me away. This story was so much more than I thought it was going to be and made me want more from this world. I'm crossing my fingers that she'll get to write more.

6.  

Writing about dance is not an easy thing to do, so I was a bit skeptical about this one. In the end though, Yelena really brought the pieces and movements described to life. I felt as though I was seeing it and experiencing it along with the characters.

5.  

I tend to like thrillers more as movies, but I found myself really like this one. Debra Driza kept Mila 2.0 fast paced, but intriguing. Plus it had sci-fi elements and a cyborg. Enough said.

4.  

Considering the fact that The Program dealt with suicide, I wasn't sure if this would be for me. But, I truly loved how Suzanne handled it. Especially when her characters went through the Program, some pretty scary stuff.

3.  

This one took me a bit to get into as well, but once I did I didn't want to stop reading. Sherry Thomas did a phenomenal job in creating this world. By the time I finished I was already looking for book 2.

2.  

I'm not really a full-out sci-fi book reader, but I'll admit this book won me over. Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner are geniuses.

1.

I just don't even have words for how absolutely amazing this book was. Elizabeth Wein weaved this together phenomenally. Brilliant!