Top Ten Favorite Books of 2010

As it is the last day of the year, I thought it would appropriate to share my list of top ten favorite novels I read in 2010!

#1: PERFECT CHEMISTRY by Simone Elkeles.  A Mexican guy from a gang gets stuck with a white girl he can't stand as a chemistry partner. 
#2 SPELLS by Aprilynn Pike.  As the sequel to WINGS, this novel takes you deeper into the fairytale world of fairies. 
#3: NEED by Carrie Jones.  After her father's death, Zara moves to a small town in Maine only to discover her real father was a pixie and her new boyfriend might be a werewolf. 
#4: THE DARK DIVINE by Bree Despain.  A girl gets caught between a deadly family secret her brother is hiding and a mysterious boy from her past directly involved in that secret. 
#5: EVERNIGHT by Claudia Gray.  A girl finds herself enrolled at a school for vampires where she discovers she is in fact a vampire herself when she bites the one guy she shouldn't because he happens to be a vampire slayer. 
#6: THE BODY FINDER by Kimberly Derting.  With a strange ability to sense dead bodies, a girl teams up with her crush to solve a murder mystery in her small town. 
#7: PEEPS by Scott Westerfeld.  A new twist on Vampire novels where vampire traits are a parasite growing and feeding inside a person. 
#8: SEA CHANGE by Aimee Friedman.  After her grandmother's death, Miranda goes to spend the summer on Selkie Island where she meets the interesting and strange local, Leo.
#9: WICKED LOVELY by Melissa Marr.  A girl who can seen faeries is torn between 2 guys she likes, her best friend and the summer fairy king who wants to make her his queen. 
#10: A KISS IN TIME by Alex Flinn.  A retelling of sleeping beauty set in modern day times with altenating view points between the princess and guy who woke her up. 

I read so many good books this year it was really hard to choose.  What were your favorites this year?

Book Review: CRESCENDO

Title: CRESCENDO
Author: Becca Fitzpatrick
Other books by Author: HUSH, HUSH
Release Date: 10/19/2010
My Rating: 4/5
Good if...you like books with the ultimate bad-boy type

Nora should have know her life was far from perfect. Despite starting a relationship with her guardian angel, Patch (who, title aside, can be described anything but angelic), and surviving an attempt on her life, things are not looking up. Patch is starting to pull away and Nora can't figure out if it's for her best interest or if his interest has shifted to her arch-enemy Marcie Millar. Not to mention that Nora is haunted by images of her father and she becomes obsessed with finding out what really happened to him that night he left for Portland and never came home.  The farther Nora delves into the mystery of her father's death, the more she comes to question if her Nephilim blood line has something to do with it as well as why she seems to be in danger more than the average girl. Since Patch isn't answering her questions and seems to be standing in her way, she has to start finding the answers on her own. Relying too heavily on the fact that she has a guardian angel puts Nora at risk again and again. But can she really count on Patch or is he hiding secrets darker than she can even imagine?

Here we go, my thoughts: So CRESENDO is the sequel to HUSH HUSH.  Now I don't know for sure (someone help me out here) but I believe this is the middle novel of three.  And in this middle novel we pick 2 months after HUSH HUSH left off.  Now, I hadn't read HUSH HUSH in over a year and when I start reading I kept thinking this was the sequel to FALLEN so I was all confused.  But I must say, Becca Fitzpatrick did a good job of creating a 2nd novel that didn't necessarily need it's 1st.  I got sucked into the drama right away. 

PROS:
-The Dialogue:  No matter who is talking, it is always snappy, well written, and I know exact who is speaking (without even using he said/she said).
-Patch: ultimate bad-boy type.  The kissing scenes in this novel are off the chart, romance novel except not a romance novel in the sleaze factor way good!  The one thing I do remember about HUSH HUSH is the one kissing scene in the kitchen (you know you remember this one!), well there was another in a dream this time that was par to that one!
-Suspense
-Uniqueness factor:  Okay, so the whole forbidden love thing has been done over and over in teen romances but to me this novel felt new, with new situations, and uniqueness in the characters I hadn't seen in other teen novels ten times over. 
-VEE (the best friend character):  A lot of people hated her in Book 1.  I really liked her in this novel.  She's the comic relief and I thought she added a whole lot of substance to this novel.  She was my 2nd favorite character (after Patch of course) in this book.  And she hardly used the word 'babe' at all this time around.

CONS:
-Some of the Angel/Fallen Angel terminology threw me. I mean what in the world is a Nephilim??? Did they explain that in the first novel??? Because I'm so lost on that one.... But for the most part the storyline made sense and it kept me interested the whole way through.

-And the cliffhanger at the end...  But I guess it worked because now I really want to find out what happens in book 3. 

So I recommend to buy it if you'd like or check it out from the library or whatever.  But I do think you should read it.  And if you haven't read HUSH HUSH yet then what are you waiting for! (My review of HUSH HSUH)

Book Review: THE GHOST AND THE GOTH

Title: THE GHOST AND THE GOTH
Author: Stacey Kade
My Rating: 3/5--Mixed feelings.
Plot In One Word: Ghosts
Good if...want a quick and cute read

Alona Dare has it all—a cute boyfriend, elite social status, and a three-year reign as homecoming queen—until she is killed by a school bus. Now she is stuck (with several other ghosts) in some sort of middle ground, and her only apparent hope for moving into the afterlife is social outcast and goth Will Killian. Will needs to tune out the ghosts so his shrink doesn’t lock him up for good, but Alona’s beauty and persistence make her hard to ignore. Factor in a strange love triangle, a dangerous spirit determined to hurt Will, and an angry, belligerent principal, and it’s obvious that Will needs some serious help just to survive, much less graduate. With plenty of humor, this quirky debut will appeal to both genders.

Don't you want to hear my thoughts...This is an alternating narrative seen through the perspectives of...you guessed it: a ghost and a goth.  Alona is the popular cheerleader type while Will is the dark, mysterious, I-can-see-dead-people type.  They end up teaming up when they both discover they need each other to figure this whole ghost/spirit/dead people thing out.  It's cute, short, and to the point.  I read it easily in a few hours.  But I'm only giving it a 3/5 rating because even though I liked it I found that it lacked real substance (not very surprising) and Stacey Kade didn't pull off the whole Alternating Narrative thing as much as I would have liked.  I kept getting confused each time it switched between Will and Alona and was always wondering who was speaking.  The dialogue could have been more witty and playful and perhaps that would have amped up the romance.  This book was alright and for that I recommend checking it out for the library as I did.

I'm Home!

Back in America!  Yay!  So that means that I will be back on my blog more.  Well, except for all those times when I have to leave again.  (I just got my wings as a Flight Attendant aka Cabin Crew Member.  Remember I was in Ireland for training.)  So I typically will work 6 days and then be off 6 days.  Not a bad deal.  So for my blog that means you'll see me around and then suddenly you won't.  Like today.  I'm leaving this afternoon and won't me back until Monday....

On a writing note, I didn't write at all for the last 5 weeks.  I didn't even try to read over my work.  How did you all do for NaNo last month?  Yeah, I missed that one.  So I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things soon but probably not until after Christmas if I'm being realistic.