A Life Bound by Books,
Confessions of a Bookaholic,
Two Chicks on Books and
Fiktshun have put together a fun little end of the year fun-ness for us bloggers to take part in as we all look back on the books we've read in 2011 and look forward to what 2012 has in store for us.
View the schedule and participating blogs here
Top 10 Books I’ve read in 2011
(In no particular order)
Title: Starcrossed
Author: Josephine Angelini
Published:
May 31, 2011
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
My Review
Buy it! 
Why I liked it: I love Greek Mythology. Starcrossed takes those legends and brings them to present day. It has constant action, plus add in some great spins on the romance. You can't get much better than this.
Synopsis: How do you defy destiny?
Helen
Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how
different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as
Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert
journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by
dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women
weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with
Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the
leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout
history.
As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she
realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod
powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her
and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.
Title: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Published:
October 1, 2008
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
My Review
Buy it!
Why I liked it: I was probably one of the last people to have read this series. Better late than never. Once I started, it was impossible to put down. The whole series was engrossing and addictive! Each book made you feel like you were a part of it's World.
Synopsis: Katniss is a 16-year-old
girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district
of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the
districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the
surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to
appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The
terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one
thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by
lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.
Title: A Lineage of Grace
Author: Francine Rivers
Published: October 1, 2009
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
My Review
Buy it!
Why I liked it: This book introduced you to various biblical females and told their stories from their point of view. It amazed me how much we can still relate to these women today. This is a book you can read again and again, and learn something new each time.
Synopsis: In this compilation of
the five books in the best-selling Lineage of Grace series by Francine
Rivers, we meet the five women whom God chose—Tamar, Rahab, Ruth,
Bathsheba, and Mary. Each was faced with extraordinary—even
scandalous—challenges. Each took great personal risk to fulfill her
calling. Each was destined to play a key role in the lineage of Jesus
Christ, the Savior of the World.
Title: The Survivors
Author: Amanda Havard
Published: March 29, 2011
Publisher: Chafie Press, LLC
My Review
Buy it!
Why I liked it: The
Survivors blends mythology, history, and fiction so well, I found
myself researching to find out what is real and what came from the mind
of the author. I found the book to be highly original and was introduced
to some creatures I had never heard of before.
Synopsis: In 1692, when witch
trials gripped the community of Salem, Massachusetts, twenty-six
children were accused as witches, exiled, and left for dead. Fourteen of
them survived.
The Survivors is the first installment of the
tantalizing tales of the fourteen ill-fated Survivors and their
descendants, who have been content in hiding for over three centuries.
Isolated on a Montana mountainside, only Sadie, the rogue daughter,
dares to abandon the family's sacred hiding place. But no matter how far
Sadie runs, something always pulls her back.
On a muggy summer
night in Tennessee, she witnesses a shocking scene that will change her
life forever. It is the first in a sequence of events that will drag her
from the human world she's sought to belong to for over a century and
send her back to her Puritanical family and into an uncertain future
filled with cunning witches, mysterious nosferatu shape-shifters,
dangerous eretica and vieczy vampires, millennia-old mythology, and the
search for her own mortality. After all...
HOW DO YOU KILL A SURVIVOR?
Title: Captivated, An Affliction Novel
Author: D. Apodaca
Published:
June 10, 2011
Publisher: Eminent Books
My Review
Buy it!
Why I liked it: I'm a sucker for a pretty cover. This book cover lured me in, but it didn't stop there. It loved up to it's name. I love it when I think I've figured a book out and it surprises me.
Synopsis: M
indy Keenan couldn't
shake the feeling that somehow...in a matter of moments...the boy she
once knew was not the one standing before her.
After Mindy's childhood best friend, Dean Aiken, shuts her and
everyone else out of his life, she learns to move on. Years pass and she
gets used to the fact that he's no longer a part of her life, but
things begin to change
Mindy's new best friend, Markus Medina, witnesses Dean kill two
people behind a club. Mindy has a hard time believing him, especially
when he mentions that the bodies disappear. Poof! Into thin air. Markus
decides he has to follow Dean around in order to get evidence that he's
been killing people, so he doesn't sound like a nut to the police.
Despite Marcus' crazy theories about the possibility of Dean not
being human. And not to mention the fact that he's dangerous. Mindy
can't help that she may be falling in love with him. Even after hiding
their feelings for each other from the world. Dean and Mindy being
together stirs up dangers that neither of them could ever imagine. When
she finds out about what Dean really is and the world he tried to keep
her away from...it's already too late.
Title: Fate Fixed, An Erris Coven Novel
Author: Bonnie Erina Wheeler
Published:
July 21, 2011
Publisher: Compelling Read
My Review
Buy it!
Why I liked it: Fate Fixed had a little bit of everything. secrets, drama, supernatural creatures, an intense love affair. Oh yeah!
Synopsis: When Lexie Anderson’s
mother suddenly announces she is marrying a Romanian immigrant, Lexie
willingly leaves behind her busy life in Connecticut for her penance in
“The Moose Capital of the World.” Small town living is strange
enough, now Lexie must cope with her overbearing stepfamily monitoring
her every move. They disappear into the woods at night and keep a
strange secret locked in their shed. Her once calm mother is now having
violent outbursts and Lexie’s little sister is hearing sinister sounds
coming from the forest behind their new home. Lexie’s biggest surprise
comes when she discovers the boy she has been dreaming about since her
accident is living in Maine. Despite Torin’s questionable reputation,
Lexie cannot resist the physical and emotional attraction pulsating
between them. Animals and people in town are turning up dead and
Lexie learns the strange new world she lives in has real life monsters.
Just when she decides she wants to be with Torin forever, she must fight
to protect her mother and sister from being harmed by a formidable
evil.
Title: The Merchant's Daughter
Author: Melanie Dickerson
Published: November 29, 2011
Publisher: Zondervan
My Review
Buy it!
Why I liked it: Once of my favorite fairy tales is Beauty and the Beast. The Merchant's Daughter is a wonderful portrayal
of the classic tale
with a many new twists of it's own.
Synopsis: An unthinkable danger.
An unexpected choice.Annabel, once the daughter of a wealthy merchant,
is trapped in indentured servitude to Lord Ranulf, a recluse who is
rumored to be both terrifying and beastly. Her circumstances are made
even worse by the proximity of Lord Ranulf's bailiff---a revolting man
who has made unwelcome advances on Annabel in the past.Believing that
life in a nunnery is the best way to escape the escalation of the
bailiff's vile behavior and to preserve the faith that sustains her,
Annabel is surprised to discover a sense of security and joy in her
encounters with Lord Ranulf. As Annabel struggles to confront her
feelings, she is involved in a situation that could place Ranulf in
grave danger. Ranulf's future, and possibly his heart, may rest in her
hands, and Annabel must decide whether to follow the plans she has
cherished or the calling God has placed on her heart.
Title: Convergence
Author: J.D. Watts
Published: December 2, 2010
Publisher: The Writer's Coffee Shop Publishing House
My Review
Buy it!
Why I liked it: Finally an angel book with strong, intelligent angels!!! I got tired of angels looking weak and ignorant of the ways of the world like you see in so many other books out there right now. I was glad to finally read a book that depicts angels closer to how I imagine them to be.
Synopsis: In modern times,
mankind believes they know all that there is to know about the world
around them. Arrogant in their ignorance, they travel through life
completely unaware of the other beings in their midst, the other
Children of Creation. Celestial Angels and Fallen walk amongst them
unseen, while the third beings of creation, the Guardians, live along
side them, protecting them from attacks of the Fallen.
Daniella
Rossi is a nineteen year old college student who sees the world quite
differently than those around her. From infancy, she was aware of the
beings that walked among her kind who were not like them, as well as her
own personal Guardian who watched over her. Dani always knew she was
different, but she never dreamed the full scope of her importance.
Follow
Dani as her life takes an unexpected turn when a new Guardian is
assigned to replace her lifelong companion and friend. Much older, more
experienced, and socially awkward, Nathaniel must learn to adjust
himself to fit into Dani’s world in order to guard her without drawing
unwanted attention. While the Fallen are determined to capture Dani,
she and Nathaniel find themselves developing a bond that goes far beyond
that of Guardian and charge. Facing the strains of a brewing war and
forbidden affections, will they be ready for the coming battle? Will
Dani be able to handle the truth of her existence and destiny?
Title: Stained
Author: Ella James
Published: September 14, 2011
Publisher: Barkley Books
My Review
Buy it!
Why I liked it: Not many books make it into my dreams. The first night I picked it up, I was so engrossed in the story that even after putting it down to go to sleep, it made its way into my dreams.
Synopsis: After a fire destroys
seventeen-year-old Julia’s home and kills her foster parents, she chases
the monster responsible across the country and back, determined to
avenge her family and discover why a host of baddies want her dead. With
Julia is enigmatic hottie, Cayne, who has his own score to settle with
the half-demon, and who might be just as dangerous as the creature he
and Julia hunt.
Title: On a Dark Wing
Author: Jordan Dane
Published:
December 27, 2011
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
My Review
Buy Now!
Why I liked it: I loved the cover so, that got my attention right away. This book wasn't at all what I expected which was a good thing in this case. It stayed with me. When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it.
Synopsis: "The choices I had made led to the moment when fate took over. I would learn a lesson I wasn’t prepared for.
And Death would be my willing teacher."
Five years ago Abbey Chandler cheated Death. She survived a horrific
car accident, but her lucky break came at the expense of her mother’s
life and changed everything. After she crossed paths with Death—by
taking the hand of an ethereal boy made of clouds and sky—she would
never be normal again.
Now she’s the target of Death’s Ravens and an innocent boy’s life is
on the line. When Nate Holden—Abbey’s secret crush—starts to climb
Alaska’s Denali, the Angel of Death is with him because of her.
Abbey finds out the hard way that Death never forgets.
What are your favorite books that you read this year??
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