Top 10 of 2012: Books I’m Looking Forward to in 2013

This event is co-hosted by Rachel from Fiktshun, Lisa from A Life Bound By Books, Jessica from Confessions of a Bookaholic, Jaime from Two Chicks on Books and Mindy from Magical Urban Fantasy Reads.

Books I'm Looking Forward to in 2013

It seems like only a minute ago that I was complaining about 2013 being ageeeesss away and that why couldn't I have the Time Turner or something and just fast forward to the book's release date because this waiting is going to kill me.Sigh... It has been a great year for books (then again, what year wasn't) and 2013 will be an even better one.  Now, it's less than a week left until 2013 and the new releases will come pouring out of the bookshops. I just need to hold on a little bit longer...

The Eternity Code - Blood of Eden (2) by Julie Kagawa

Expected Pub: 23 April 2013

This series is one of the best ones I read this year. Immortal Rules was awesome and I'm shit scared for what will happen on this one. Ally. Zeke. Kanin. Oh but, I'm super excited as well. Not a big fan of the cover, but it's a lot better than Immortal Rules' non-Asian model with the tacky Photoshopped blood of tears. But who cares, I want it. I want it now.

Perfect Scoundrels - Heist Society (3) by Ally Carter

Expected Pub: 05 Feb 2013

I love Ally. I really do. She just hits all the right spots when it comes to creating super extra special kickbutt teens. And I've just gotta mention that cover. It looks so pretty. I love the sunglasses theme and it's Hale! If Kat and Hale doesn't finally end up together, I swear Ally is going to receive a very angry letter.

Scarlet - Lunar Chronicles (2) by Marissa Meyer

Expected Pub: 05 Feb 2013

I'm practically drooling just thinking about this one. Cinder was one of the best reads of the year. So different, so kickass. She did so well putting her own twist on the fairytale and I can just feel this one being super great. Hopefully it's not as predictable as Cinder, though.

Siege and Storm - The Grisha (2) by Leigh Bardugo
Expected Pub: 04 Jun 2013

Huh. Quite a lot of books on my list seem to be sequels of some awesome series. Anyway, Siege and Storm is another. I'm eager to see what adventures Alina and Mal will get themselves into after crossing the sea. Can't forget about the Darkling either. No way he's dead.



Just One Day - Just One Day (1) by Gayle Forman
Expected Pub: 08 Jan 2013

I'm expecting Great thing from this one. Don't disappoint me, Gayle. If I Stay was absolutely heartbreaking, Where She Went a little less so. But I'm want Great things from this one. I want this to be even better than your other works.


Those are the ones where the cover is actually released. I know 2013 is just around the corner but the fact that there is still no cover on these books just make it seem like it'll be forever until I get to finally read them. Anyway, here are the ones where covers aren't yet released, much less synopsis, or a set publication date. Some of them don't even have titles yet! What the fudge. And here, I thought I would be nearly done with all the waiting...

Rebel Spring - Falling Kingdoms (2) by Morgan Rhodes

I am a sucker for High Fantasy so it's no real surprise that I was hooked by this one.

Untitled - Gallagher Girls (6) by Ally Carter

C'mon, Ally! Give us something, at least. It's the end and I can't believe how much this series has grown, especially in terms of the plot.

Detergent - Trilo-gent (3) by Veronica Roth

Do I even have to explain why I want this book?

Untitled - The Raven Cycle (2) by Maggie Stiefvater

I feel like I talk too much about his book. How could I not though? Maggie is brilliant.

Untitled - Peryn and the End of Days (2) by Susan Ee

I discovered this one pretty late but seriously. Angelfall was released 2011. There was nothing, no information about it this year. I think it's only fair that it'd be released this year. Don't be mean, Susan. I can only imagine how hard the wait must be for those who read Angelfall on 2011.

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Review: The Raven Boys - Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Raven Boys
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle (1)
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: 18 September 2012
Date Read: October 2012
Rating: ★★★★★

I have been eagerly waiting for this book for a long while. I was really scared that the hype and my expectations would fail the book. I had pretty high expectations for this one, which is weird since Scorpio Races was the only book I've read by her, and I didn't even like it. But I still thought Raven Boys was going to be brilliant.

And it was.

With the first couple of chapters, it is evident that we are dealing with things Bigger things, otherworldly things. The Raven Boys was influenced by a lot of Welsh folk lore, which I wasn't familiar with at all. But I had no trouble keeping up with the story. It was refreshingly different.

Blue Sargent belongs to a family of psychics. They deal in the ethereal; Tarot card readings, scryings. Blue leads an eccentric life and she has been the subject to countless of readings. Blue amplifies the energy around her and her family's talent, but she isn't actually a psychic herself. Every year on St Mark's Eve, Blue stands alongside her mother by the churchyard to wait the arrival of the spirits of the soon-to-be-dead walk the corpse road and every year, she sees nothing- until this year. She sees a boy, Gansey, dressed in Aglionby school uniform, emerge from the dark.

"There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark's Eve, Blue. Either you're his true love...or you killed him."

Blue is then sucked into a world of mystery she never expected to be solving with the Aglionby boys, the raven boys. But she must be careful to guard her heart for as long as she can remember, Blue has been told that "If Blue was to kiss her true love, he would die."

Before I go any further, I just want to make it clear that The Raven Boys is not a romance. This whole true love's kiss thing was all but non-existent in the novel. Oh, I'm sure it will be of extreme importance later on in the series, and I can't wait to read about it then. But Raven Boys was not a romance. It was a mystery at its core- with ley lines, Latin-speaking trees, ghosts, murderers and one hell of a hunt. Gansey, the leader of the Raven Boys, is obsessed with finding and waking the resting place of the sleeping king, Glendower. The person to do so will be granted a favour.

The story starts out in Blue's perspective, but it is actually told through third person, omniscient, which is necessary considering the epic story that Raven Boys is and the numerous characters it involves. Gansey is a true Aglionby boy- ridiculously rich, radiating confidence, power and completely obsessed with the supernatural, with waking the sleeping Glendower. He wants nothing more than to find his purpose and to prove that he's more than his money and his name. Adam works hard to keep the partial scholarship he received to study in Aglionby. He wants to earn a life outside of what he knows and to become his own man. Ronan, a ghost of his former self after the traumatic loss of his father. Noah is a troubled soul, shy and timid, but he knows a lot more than he lets on. Each boy had complex characters. They were difficult to understand at the beginning, and I still have trouble now. But it was so interesting to see layer after layer peel off, to see them at their core. And Stiefvater is not done showing us who these raven boys really are. The camaraderie between these boys are so deep and complicated. It's like they went to war and back together. This raw brotherly bond was one- if not the strongest thing in the book. Each one tore me up and broke my heart in the duration of the book. It was brilliant.

The pace of the book was slow, especially at the beginning. Stiefvater took her time setting everything up and I admit, I was a little frustrated of the things she revealed and dangled in my face that wasn't resolved in this book. But I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. It just makes waiting for the next book better and harder and ohmygod everyone needs to read this.

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