Misc. Monday: Top Ten Authors Reviewed on RtP

I promised to show you guys what my top ten authors list would look like if I nixed all genre restrictions, and here it is! To be fair, though, I did limit my list to authors of novels, leaving out graphic novel/comic writers, because I don't feel up to scoring those fairly. I'm a lot happier with this list, and I think it will be interesting to come back in six months or a year and see how things have changed. Or not.

 

#10: Julie Anne Long

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 18

Reviewed Works: The Perils of Pleasure, Like No Other Lover, Since the Surrender, I Kissed an Earl, What I Did for a Duke, How the Marquess Was One

What Make Her Awesome: Julie Anne Long writes the Pennyroyal Green series, a which centers around a small English town with two feuding families. I didn't really care for the first book of the series, finding it mediocre and boring. But then, magically, as I tried more of her work, I discovered that she has a talent for writing a different, unique, and engaging story for each character. You never know exactly what you're going to get, but you know it's likely to be good. Visit Her Website: http://www.julieannelong.com/index.shtml

#9: Nora Roberts

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 18

Reviewed Works: Sea Swept, Rising Tides, Inner Harbor, Chesapeake Blue

What Makes Her Awesome: Nora Roberts writes amazing contemporary romance with some of the best male characters around.  Visit Her Website: http://www.noraroberts.com/

#8: Gena Showalter

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 18.5

Reviewed Works: The Darkest Night, The Darkest Kiss, The Darkest Pleasure, The Darkest Whisper, The Darkest Passion, The Darkest Lie, The Darkest Secret

What Makes Her Awesome: Until compiling this list, I had actually forgotten how very awesome I found these books. I was so fed up and disappointed by two or three of her books, that I actually stopped reading her altogether. Her place on this list, though, makes me think that I really ought to give her another shot. Her books are dark and sexy and worth at least a try.   http://members.genashowalter.com/

#7: Jennifer Estep

 Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 19.5

Reviewed Works: Spider's Bite, Touch of Frost, Kiss of Frost, Dark Frost, Crimson Frost

What Makes Her Awesome: I discovered this author via SBTB book club, when we read Touch of Frost. Since then, I've been following the Mythos Academy series pretty closely, and I've also started her Elemental Assassin series. She's very imaginative, writes wonderfully strong heroines, and ties everything together with a pleasantly simple style. Visit her website: http://www.jenniferestep.com/

#6: Karen Marie Moning

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 20.5

Reviewed Works: Darkfever, Bloodfever, Faefever, Dreamfever, Shadowfever

What Makes Her Awesome: A long while back, before I started this blog, I read a fair number of the Highlander books. I've never reviewed them, but I enjoyed them well enough. Then the fever series came out, and I was extremely skeptical. Back then I didn't read urban fantasy in general, and I specifically didn't care for first person narratives. She totally converted me. Visit he website: http://www.karenmoning.com/kmm/

#5: Courtney Milan

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 22

Reviewed Works: Unlocked, Unveiled, Unclaimed, Unraveled, The Duchess War

What Makes Her Awesome: Courtney Milan writes historical romance in a completely unique way. She writes heroines that you can like and respect, and deliciously unusual heroes that you fall in love with. No cookie cutter characters for her. Visit Her Website: http://www.courtneymilan.com/

#4: Larissa Ione

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 28.5

Reviewed Works: Pleasure Unbound, Passion Unleashed, Desire Unchained, Ecstasy Unveiled, Sin Undone, Eternal Rider, Immortal Rider, Lethal Rider

What Makes Her Awesome: Larissa Ione writes dark, sexy paranormal books that I always enjoy in a purely guilty sort of way. I love the demons and the visits to hell and all of the characters with their possibly evil dark sides. All around good, creepy fun. Visit Her Website: http://larissaione.com/blog/

#3: Kresley Cole

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 34

Reviewed Works:  A Hunger Like No Other, No Rest For the Wicked, Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night, Dark Desires After Dusk, Dark Needs at Night's Edge, Kiss of a Demon King, Deep Kiss of Winter, Pleasure of a Dark Prince, Demon From the Dark, Dreams of a Dark Warrior, The Poison Princess, Shadow's Claim

What Makes Her Awesome: Kresley Cole's writing has a brilliant, light funniness that somehow does not detract from the sexiness of her stories. He heroines are strong and independent and her heroes are fierce, scary monsters. I can't help but look forward to her books, even after a few let me down. Visit Her Website: http://kresleycole.com/paranormal-romance.html

#2: Ilona Andrews

Cumulative RtP Star Rating 34.5

Reviewed Works: Magic Bites, Magic Burns, Magic Strikes, Magic Bleeds, Magic Slays, Gunmetal Magic, On the Edge, Bayou Moon, Fate's Edge

What Makes Her Awesome:  Ilona Andrews is actually a husband and wife writing team, and they are awesome in general. Not only are they very talented, they're also fairly generous with their work, always offering little goodies and alternate points of view on their blog. I'm not that impressed with The Edge series, but the Kate Daniels series is easily one of my favorite ongoing series to date, and I'm not really sure what I'll do with myself when it ends. I've got a couple years to go, fortunately. Visit their website: http://www.ilona-andrews.com/

#1: Lisa Kleypas

  Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 38

Reviewed Works: Secrets of a Summer Night, It Happened One Autumn, The Devil In Winter, Scandal in Spring, Mine Til Midnight, Seduce Me at Sunrise, Tempt Me at Twilight, Married by Morning, Love in the Afternoon

What Makes Her Awesome: At first, her position in the number one spot on this list probably seems surprising. I haven't talked about Lisa Kleypas as loudly or as often as some of the authors lower on the list. But, in fact, Kleypas is responsible for sparking my interest in historical romance, when before I stuck almost entirely to PNR with the occasional contemporary thrown in. She can make a dull setting and situation funny, and her characters are as charming as you could ask for. Visit Her Website: http://www.lisakleypas.com/

Music Moment #4: Awake and Alive by Skillet

This was the first song on my morning playlist for about six months in college, for obvious reasons. It's a good song to get pumped up to. Plus, I really like this band in general. I'm not Christian, myself, but Skillet is a fairly subtle Christian band, and I find that their music speaks to me.

I discovered this song because of a book. It's quoted in Karen Marie Moning's Shadowfever. So, needless to say, that book is one of the things this song reminds me of, and I must thank Miss Moning both for delivering a good book and quoting some very enjoyable music.

Start of Something Good Giveaway! (200 Followers)

 

I'm very excited to announce that we have reached 200 followers!  You guys rock! And to show my appreciation, I'm hosting a giveaway! The theme this time around is The Start of Something Good: One lucky winner will get to choose a book from the list bellow. All of the options are the the first books from series that I love, and I hope you will too!

Sea Swept by Nora Roberts

Mine Till Midnight by Lisa Kleypas

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Angel's Blood by Nalini Singh

Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione

Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas

All you need to do to enter is fill out the form bellow, and be sure to follow the instructions! This giveaway is open to all followers, US and International! Giveaway ends Saturday November 26th, and a winner will be announced shortly thereafter! Good luck, and Happy Reading!

Snippet Reviews: Fever

I'll be the first to admit that Karen Marie Moning's Fever series isn't the best urban fantasy series out there, but it's far from the worst. More importantly, it holds a special place in my heart for introducing me to the concept of urban fantasy in the first place, and to help me get over some reading prejudices. I picked up the first book kind of by mistake, because Borders insists on putting them in the romance section (where they DO NOT belong). And upon discovering that it was a first person narrative I wanted nothing more than to get rid of it. I know that sounds like a stupid reason not to read a book, but at the time I had such negative feelings toward first person POV that it really seemed like a deal breaker. But the people I talked to about the book kept insisting that these books were the height of awesome and well worth enduring the narrative, so I gave it a shot.

The basic premise is as follows: Mac's sister is killed in Ireland and the police are unable to solve the crime. Angry and upset, Mac travels to Dublin for answers and discovers, to her horror, that supernatural creatures known as Fae seem to have been responsible. Mac learns that she is a Sidhe-Seer, a person with the ability to see the fae. She can also sense objects of power, weapons and other items that are of fae creation. One such object is called the Sinsar Dubh, a dark book of evil magic that has been let loose in the world. Many people (and non-people) are scrambling to find and own the book. One such person is Barrons, the bookstore owner and simultaneous object of Mac's lust and suspicion. There is also Vlane, a faery prince, who pursues Mac constantly in spite of her ongoing protests.

Book One: Darkfever: I really loved Moning's use of mythology. The story is very imaginative, turning what might have otherwise been a bland fantasy story into a genuinely interesting and somewhat frightening novel. Mac feels like a familiar, friendly character, probably because I've known people like her. Young, shallow, and untried, but full of unrealized potential. At times she's really irritating, but it's forgivable. This book is full to bursting with exposition and has absolutely no stand alone power, which is always a negative in my mind. 4 stars.

Book Two: Bloodfever: This is the book where we finally start to see Mac develop a spine and a sense of self. With some of the exposition out of the way, Moning got better at building a tone and setting a stage that felt real and creepy. The sexual tension between Mac and Barrons continues to grow, even as her feelings toward him remain uncertain. It's definitely a transitional book, but a good one. 4.5 stars

Book Three: Faefever: By this book Mac has learned a certain sense of self-sufficiency and independence, and she starts playing for multiple teams as it were. She's trying to prevent the walls between the human and fae worlds from coming down, and her struggles are admirable and entertaining. On the downside, this book has a massive cliffhanger. It ends on a climax instead of a resolution, and that kind of annoyed me. 4.5 stars.

Book Four: Dreamfever: This is a book where there is so much to love and so much to hate at the same time. This one has a sort of dystopian post-apocalyptic feel to it, which I'll admit isn't my favorite sort of plot thread. Mac behaves pretty irrationally and it's maddening at times, because by now you'd think she'd have more direction. But, the world building and plot remain engrossing. The secondary characters--Barrons, Christian, Dani--really shine. Again, there is a massive gimmicky stupid cliffhanger. At least I so this one coming. 3.5 stars.

 Book Five: Shadowfever: This book had the responsibility of answering all of the questions from the previous books, and for the most part Moning does a decent job. It has more introspective portions than the previous books, and as a result I'd say the page count is higher than necessary. But you get a resolution to the biggest of the problems, Mac finds some stability in her love life and life in general. There's a definite hint of more to come from the Fever universe. 4 stars.

Overall, this is a great series. Granted, each book has absolutely no stand alone power and the plots kind of run into and blend into one another. Also, I do think the story could have been told in only three or four books had more careful planning been implemented. But if your willing to overlook the flaws and you like urban fantasy, I recommend this series.