'Best of' 2013

Here we are again, wrapping up another year and delighting in everyone's 'best of' lists! What were my top reads of 2013? It wasn't easy to narrow down, and I might change my mind tomorrow, but right now, I'm calling it these:

• The Clockwork Princess, Cassandra Clare- A fantastic series conclusion. Fantastic.
• The Lucy Variations, Sara Zarr- Beautiful, subtle, and filled with the most perfectly imperfect characters. I was the reader made for this book.
• The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern- Another book I was meant to read. The style won't be for everyone, but the story is beautiful and the ending is perfection.
• The Dream Thieves, Maggie Stiefvater- Just so good. I'm desperate for the next and the next.
• The False Prince, Jennifer Nielsen- Broad appeal and awesome voice made this so very readable.

Fun fact: my top 5 titles all start with 'The'. Keep in mind all these books were read in 2013, not necessarily published.

Honorables!

Best voice: The Vicious Deep (bonus--only $1.99 on Kindle as of 12/30/13!)

Best series (that I read all of this year): Holly Black's Curse Workers, starting with White Cat

Best series starter: Gameboard of the Gods (Not everyone loved it, but I sure did!)

Best adult book (ie. books primarily intended for an adult audience, just to be clear.): Among Others

Best sleeper hit (ie. HFS, why aren't more people reading this?!?!): Dangerous Girls


If my count can be trusted (which, let's be honest, it probably can't), I'll have finished 65 or 66 books by the time this pumpkin turns into 2014 (not including manuscripts, my own or critique partners') and DNFed only 3 or 4 others. I'm excited that I exceeded my goal of 52 books by quite a few! How did I do it? I made some changes. First, I made reading a priority. I did less of some other things I enjoy in order to read more. Also, I changed the way I read. At any given time now I'm reading three books: one on Kindle, one on audio, and one print copy from the library. This way I maximize my reading time (depending on where I am/what I'm doing and which medium is accessible) and model all reading platforms for my daughter. It's allowed me to read more, though I admit I don't read with as much focus. It's a trade-off I'll accept for now!

The above list is only a smattering of the books I loved and liked out of the 60+. It was a good reading year!

What were your favorites of the year? What should I put on my TBR for 2014?