April | 2012 | Claire Gillian

R is for reading…

as in my favorite books and why.

I don’t write public reviews now that I’m an author myself. I love reviews from others but shy away from treading that thin line between being constructive and possibly bruising someone’s chances.

That being said, I do pick my favorite ten books each year. I’ll list my 2010 and 2011 top ten and explain why I liked the books I chose. The books are listed in the reverse order in which I read them.

2011:

Bayou Moon (Ilona Andrews) UF The stunning world of The Edge–the land that forms the border between the Weird (where magic rules) and the Broken (where non-magical humans live)–is a fantastic urban fantasy. Strong female heroine and an alpha male with a secret mission. Ilona Andrews at her best.
Silk Is For Seduction (Loretta Chase) Rom A seamstress (yay!) is commissioned to dress the fiancee of a rake only the seamstress and the rake fall in love with each other.
Goliath (book 2 of Leviathan) and Behemoth (book 3 of Leviathan) (Scott Westerfeld) YA (Steampunk) Wow! Incredibly creative alternative world where Darwinists and “Clankers”, those who use machines, clash in World War 1 era. One male and one female main character except female is disguised as male so almost like three characters.
Scared Stiff and Frozen Stiff (Annalise Ryan) Mys See my notes on Working Stiff in 2010. More witty dialogue and narrator observations and a bit of slapstick.
The Virgin Proxy (Georgia Fox) Rom (Ero) The story’s premise is erotica-oriented, but what made it good was watching the hero try to get the heroine admit she was the woman he took to bed on his wedding night all the while falling in love with her and she with him though neither will admit it.
Divergent (Veronica Roth) YA — What can I say? I’m a sucker for YA dystopian books. This and Hunger Games were among the best of the genre/sub-genre I read.
Just Like Heaven (Julia Quinn) Rom (Hist) I just love Julia Quinn and this romance between two childhood friends all grown up was sigh-worthy
Wicked Games (Jill Myles) Rom — Mix a rocky love story with a very realistic portrayal of Survivor and you get this little gem. I’m a HUGE Survivor fan and Jill Myles injects just the right amount of wit and humor into her writing. ‘Nough said.

2010:

Speak (Laurie Halse Anderson) YA — Wow, blew me away with not only the story but how the words were placed upon the page.
Anna and the French Kiss (Stephanie Perkins) YA — Fantastic feel good book, despite its very flawed hero and heroine.
Magic Bites (Ilona Andrews) UF — This series got better and better the more we got to know Kate. I particularly liked this one
Working Stiff (Annelise Ryan) Mys — I adore Annelise Ryan’s sense of humor and like my book, she writes about a heroine whose unusual job factors into her crime-solving.
The D.U.F.F. (Kody Keplinger) YA — Wesley…sigh…bad boy who really isn’t so bad on the inside and when he shows us his vulnerability, we melt.
City of Ghosts (Stacia Kane) UF and Unholy Magic (Stacia Kane) UF — These two Downside Ghosts books will grip you by the shirt collar with its drug-addicted heroine, the terrifying supernatural creatures she deals with and her heartbreaking romance with her drug dealer.
Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) YA — You have to be living under a rock to have not heard of this book. Horrifying, compelling, unforgettable.
Naked in Death (J.D. Robb) Mys — the first of the Eve Dallas futuristic cop tales with a healthy dose of romance with gazillionaire Roarke.
An Ice Cold Grave (Charlaine Harris) Mys — Sigh…I love Harper and Tolliver in this book so much because so much finally happens for them in their personal lives, despite all the chaos around them. The concept is uber cool too. Watch for this to be made into a movie or TV show too…or so I’ve heard.

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Please be sure to visit more A to Z Blog Challenge participants today! Here’s where you can find their names and link to their blogs. The topics are endless.

P question (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have a meme to fulfill, a challenge issued by a Sisterhood of the Traveling Pens comrade, Emaginette.

The idea is to answer the sender’s 11 questions, then come up with your own 11 questions and pass them along to 11 bloggers. They in turn answer your questions and link back to your site when done.

Here are the QUESTIONS Emaginette has issued forth to her eleven victims:

1. Favorite celebrity. What about them do you like best?

Toughie since I like so many, but let’s go with Tina Fey. I like her because in many respects, I am Liz Lemon, her character from 30 Rock.

2. Favorite animal, real or not. Why?

I love the kittehs. They are independent but sweet and cuddly too.

3. Favorite type of weather or climate. What do you do when it you are in your element?

I enjoy a good thunderstorm. I don’t feel guilty for being at my computer writing when the weather’s bad and the sound and light show adds a little spice. We don’t get much thunder and lightning in the Pacific northwest, though, not like we got in New Mexico where I used to live.

4. If you could live the life of anyone in a book, who would you choose and why?

This is a double-edged sword. All good characters undergo serious conflict in the course of the story, so anyone I pick will have either had an unhappy life or lived through some pretty rough times. For the sheer grandeur in scope of her story and the power of her love affair, I’d have to chose Claire Fraser from the Outlander series.

5. Who was the first character you fell in love with?

Mary Stewart wrote a book back in 1976 called Touch Not The Cat. I adored the heroine’s childhood friend, Rob Granger, in that book. I had just discovered gothic romances back then (in utero) and had been devouring works by Ms. Stewart (including her Merlin books), Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney.

6. What is you favorite food? Any special ingredient to make it taste just right?

I love really good New Mexican food, but my favorite is blue corn sour cream chicken enchiladas with green chile sauce. Yummy! Of course I love almost all sweets but I’m on Weight Watchers so I’m not going there. Chiles (red or green, depending on preference) are de rigeur in New Mexican cuisine. Sadie’s Restaurant in Albuquerque makes a killer guaco chicken taco that when paired with a huge margarita on the rocks, is a culinary orgasm.

7. Of all the stories you’ve ever read, watched or heard, which five did you like best?

I’m gonna cheat a little bit and make one choice Aesop’s Fables–I adored those stories as a kid. To that, I’d add: Jane Eyre, Pride & Prejudice, The Three Musketeers, and Outlander.

8. If you were to jump into your car right now, where would you go? And why?

Probably to Barnes & Noble. They have a Starbucks and I love to get a nonfat latte and peruse the books and dream.

9. Is there a moment in your life that you would change? How would it turn out this time?

Hard to say. All of a life’s puzzle pieces are so intricately linked through chains of cause and effect. Change one and what else might suffer? I could say, for example, that I wished I’d let cute boy A know I liked him back in high school. But if I had, what of the Silverback and the two boys we have today? Would I have had a career? Would I have become a writer? It’s so random that I’d have to say the stakes are too high to gamble losing something more precious than what I would gain.

10. If you were given a large sum to donate to any cause you wanted, where would it go?

Probably to cancer research, breast cancer specifically. My mother is a three time breast cancer survivor and she had two siblings and an aunt also die from cancer.

11. Did you find this fun? Would you do it again?

The questions were very thought-provoking and made me reminisce about my life, so I’d have to say yes, I enjoyed it! I don’t like tagging other people though so I’m going to cheat on that part as you’ll see as you read farther.

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So my 11 questions are:

1. The men get asked “boxers or briefs”? The ladies answer panties or thong? (you aren’t limited to those two choices however)

2. Dark chocolate, milk chocolate or white chocolate?

3. Olympics YAY or Olympics NAY? Explain why for either answer.

4. If you could have been born and raised in a completely different country than your own, which one would it be and why?

5. What’s the scariest book you’ve ever read? Why?

6. If you could be an Olympic athlete, what sport would you excel at?

7. Would you rather be critically acclaimed or a pop culture phenom?

8. What superhero power would you choose for yourself?

9. Tell me a word or grouping of words that makes you cringe and why?

10. If you were were forced to give up one of your senses for a million dollars, which would you choose and why? (sight, sound, touch, smell, taste)

11. Name three things on your bucket list.

Now, for the last part of the meme…

The first eleven people to read this post are tagged! Ha! Told you I’d cheat.

Thank you, Emaginette!

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Please be sure to visit more A to Z Blog Challenge participants today! Here’s where you can find their names and link to their blogs. The topics are endless.