2012

2012 sure has been one hell of a year for me. 

I now present to you, some varying randomness from my 2012 round up. 

The Book that stabbed me in the heart but in an (somewhat) awesome-(and completely) self-inflicted way

How many times have you heard people crying about this book?

Well if you read as much as I do--probably not too many, as most time is spent reading this, and then recovering. -_- (<---John Green this face is not impressed)

I actually got this book three days ago, honestly, and it was read within 30 hours. Oh, John Green, this book will forever have a special place in my heart. 

Being as involved with hospitals, sickness and children's rehabilitation places as I am, I was surprised at how John Green managed to capture the essence of what it is like being sick. I wish, wish, wish I had read this when I was in the hospital.

Here is a tip for you, any teenagers in the hospital?
Give them this.
It is a book that made me remember how it feels to be sick, it made me remember how close family becomes in the midst of illness. This book, honestly, was amazing.
I'm actually still reeling from it, every time I go to write a review, I end up crying or screaming in frustration.
*Alright I may be over-stating this a tad but still...*
It is one of those books where you kind sit back and ask:
"How did he do that?" 

So, I suggest that you read this anyway--despite the fact that it is in the category of books that stabbed me in heart. 

New or Newly-Discovered Authors of 2012 

Marie Bilodeau 

Author of the Heirs of a Broken Land series, a book series I've been blogging about since I discovered the first book, and an author I'm so glad I actually got to meet
(Insert fan-girl freak out here).

Her series started off the way life does, more simple than it turns out to be. It followed its path true. It was so amazing and it didn't loose it's gusto as the series came to a heartbreaking end. 

I mean the series had a satisfying end--well you know, as satisfying of an end as a series can ever come to when you turn out loving the series. 

Laura Bickle 

Laura Bickle is an author I discovered thanks to Netgalley, her first book The Hallowed Ones was one of the best Dystopia books I've read this year. It was so engaging, fast paced and I loved how she weaved the Amish culture throughout this book. I loved how distinct the differences between Katie's world and the outside world is, and how it was introduced to us by the love interest.
I loved her descriptions and how the characters were all so bright and were all strong in a different way, and I loved the corruption which made the whole story more real.

It was actually slightly educational, I suppose, after all I was introduce to Amish culture and their customs, you know educational as in the smallest and most-awesome way possible. 

John Green

Now before you gasp in horror about the fact that I had not heard of John Green, I had heard of him, but had only gotten his book TFIOS a few days ago. 

John Green is a *personally* newly discovered author who basically captured the entire feeling of life within a mere 313 pages. As I said above, I will review his book, which I finished yesterday, when I am in a state where I can properly form sentences about TFIOS

Book that didn't live up to my expectations

Even the cover of this book is deceiving! 

The balls on the trees gave them the appearance of Christmas trees, the white fluffy clouds reminded me of snow and the cute little tittle all added up, in my head, as giving a distinctly Christmas-y feeling, where the book had no Christmas in it, and on top of that, it just wasn't that good. It just wasn't for me, not that I didn't appreciate the author or her style, it just didn't live up to my expectations.  

It was good--just didn't really live up to my expectations. I would have liked to see more of the world surrounding them and I wish that it hadn't have been so cut-n-dry. I like the book with many layers of conflict--the ones that resonate with real life, this one was too simple. But as I said, it was good, just didn't quite live up to my expectations. 

Yeah...this one was okay, just didn't live up to my expectations, I felt that it was too shallow in many ways, I felt that the emotions were too forced and fake--not really authentic. 

Didn't really live up to the expectations--I found the overall book was good taken at face value but I had hoped for more depth. Isn't that why we read books challenging the concept of evil? Or is that just me?

Book that surpassed my expectations

I loved this book-I absolutely loved how it ended, after the first book I hadn't really been expecting much more than some love stories but it was much more. 

Oh I can't say enough about how much I loved this book. The entire harsh, frigid world this story took place in seemed to emanate from the pages of the book into the space around you. It was so haunting and beautiful. 

For this book I wasn't sure what to expect, all I really knew was that I wanted to read some material by John Green, I had been wanting to read this for a very long time. I guess since I wasn't sure what to expect I can't say for sure that it surpassed my expectations, but the content really touched me, I didn't really think that anyone could capture that feeling.

Once again, wasn't sure what to expect. 

But it rocked. 

Best Series 2012

Wildcat Fireflies is the second book in the Meridian series by Amber Kizer, who is one of my favorite authors. 

Written by Veronica Roth another great dystopian novel, I am anxious to get Insurgent which is the next book in the series. 

This book, as I said, surpassed my expectations.
I loved it, and it is one of the best series I've started in 2012. 

Can't wait to read the second.

Series to continue in the New Year

And those are only a few--so there you have some randomness for 2012 my friends. I hope you had a good New Years Eve.