Top Ten Tuesday: 2013's New-To-Me Authors

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the wonderful ladies over at

The Broke And The Bookish!

This Week's Topic:
Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2013

Writing this list and going through the books I've read this year, I realized I really didn't read that many new authors.  I read a lot from authors I already enjoyed.  Hellooooo goal for 2014.  I love finding those new authours.  Last year, Jennifer L. Armentrout was my favourite new-to-me author.  This year, I have to say it was Rae Carson.  Guys, the Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy did terrible things to my heart.  I just loved it.  I cannot wait to read more from Rae, as well as these 9 other awesome authors!

Links to my reviews (if available):

The Girl of Fire and Thorns | The Crown of Embers | The Bitter Kingdom

Anna and the French Kiss | Partials | Fragments

The 5th Wave | Pivot Point | The Distance Between Us

Fangirl | The Summer I Turned Pretty | Burn for Burn

Fire With Fire | Golden

Reviews coming for Ann Aguirre's Razorland Trilogy

Who was your favourite new-to-you authour this year?  Who do I need to check out?

Review: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Published May 7th, 2013
Putnam Juvenile
457 pages (Hardcover)

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After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up. (From Goodreads)

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Overall, while The 5th Wave did not meet my expectations, it was a great book with an admirable originality.

This is a fresh take on aliens.  There is so much room to go when writing about aliens, but minus a couple of exceptions, I've never really gotten into alien stories.  The originality here is awesome though.  It keeps you guessing about these aliens until the very end, and that definitely draws the reader into the story.  The integration of the alien apocalypse adds another dimension to this complex story.  

I really enjoyed the alternating POVs used in this story.  Here's yet another dimension to the story.  Each character had an interesting way at looking at this world around them, and, frankly, the story is way to complex to not have multiple perspectives.  I think Ben's was my favourite perspective to read.  I found myself excited to get back to his story.  Plus, Ben is 50% action, 50% deep emotional turmoil.  I likes this.

So, why did The 5th Wave not meet my expectations?  I think this is an example of how too much hype can be a bad thing.  There was so much hype surrounding this book that I expected to completely love it.  There are slow parts though, and that discouraged me a bit.  It's a solid book, but the pace dragged it down a bit on me.

Ultimately, The 5th Wave is a great book that has the makings of being the next epic series.  If you haven't already done so, I suggest giving The 5th Wave a try!