Top 5 Sundays (1)

Top 5 Sundays is a weekly blog meme hosted by Larissa's Bookish Life.

06/10/12: Fave Books from 1st Half of 2012!



This is my first time participating in Top 5 Sundays. When I saw that this week's Top 5 theme, I knew I wanted to join in. I was planning some sort of post like this, and figured this was a great way to showcase my favorite reads so far this year.

What is Top 5 Sundays? Here's how Larissa explains it on her blog:

Every Sunday I will post a TOP 5 list on the blog. It can be about anything and every week I'll have a new theme {You can vote on next week’s theme on my left sidebar!} and I will ad the Mr.Linky below the post so you can do a list with the theme and add you link to it.

Rules:
1.Write a post listing your TOP 5 choices within the theme I chose (or was chosen on a poll) for the week.
2.Mention this Blog on the post and link back to it.
3.Feel free to use the Feature's image (there is a smaller size version of it below).
4.After you've finished your post, add you link (of the post, not your blog's main page) to the Mr.Linky at the end of that week's post.
5.If you don’t have a blog to post, just leave your list in the comments. =)

1. Dark Kiss by Michelle Rowen

I don't do dangerous.

Smart, über-careful, ordinary Samantha -- that's me. But I just couldn't pass up a surprise kiss from my number one unattainable crush. A kiss that did something to me... something strange. Now I feel hungry all the time, but not for food. It's like part of me is missing -- and I don't know if I can get it back.

Then there's Bishop. At first I thought he was just a street kid, but the secrets he's keeping are as intense as his unearthly blue eyes. If he's what I think he is, he may be the only one who can help me. But something terrifying is closing in, and the one chance Bishop and I have to stop it means losing everything I ever wanted and embracing the darkness inside me...

This book was absolutely amazing. It surpassed all of my expectations, and was definitely everything I look for in a Paranormal YA involving angels.

2. Black Howl by Christina Henry

Something is wrong with the souls of Chicago's dead. Ghosts are walking the streets, and Agent of Death Madeline Black's exasperating boss wants her to figure out why. And while work is bad enough, Maddy has a plethora of personal problems too. Now that Gabriel has been assigned as her thrall, their relationship has hit an impasse. At least her sleazy ex-fiance Nathaniel is out of the picture -- or so she thinks...

Normally, I enjoy the first book in a series the most, but this installment is the best yet.

3. By a Thread by Jennifer Estep

When killing people is your job, there’s no such thing as a vacation.

Then again, how often does an assassin live long enough to enjoy her retirement? In this line of work, you either get lucky or you get dead. And since I destroyed my nemesis Mab Monroe a few weeks ago, all of Ashland’s lowlifes are gunning to make a name for themselves by taking out the lethal Spider -- me, Gin Blanco. So I’m leaving behind my beloved barbecue joint and heading south with my baby sister, Bria, to cool my heels in a swanky beach town. Call it a weekend of fun in the sun. But when a powerful vampire with deadly elemental magic threatens an old friend of Bria’s, it looks like I’ll have to dig my silverstone knives out of my suitcase after all. Complicating matters further is the reappearance of Detective Donovan Caine, my old lover. But Donovan is the least of my problems. Because this time, the danger is hot on my trail, and not even my elemental Ice and Stone magic may be enough to save me from getting buried in the sand -- permanently.

Jennifer can do no wrong. She's on my "best of" lists every year, sometimes multiple times, and this installment was no exception.

4. Switched by Amanda Hocking

When Wendy Everly was six years old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. Eleven years later, Wendy discovers her mother might have been right. She’s not the person she’s always believed herself to be, and her whole life begins to unravel -- all because of Finn Holmes.

Finn is a mysterious guy who always seems to be watching her. Every encounter leaves her deeply shaken... though it has more to do with her fierce attraction to him than she’d ever admit. But it isn’t long before he reveals the truth: Wendy is a changeling who was switched at birth -- and he’s come to take her home.

Now Wendy’s about to journey to a magical world she never knew existed, one that’s both beautiful and frightening. And where she must leave her old life behind to discover who she’s meant to become...

I was originally hesitant to read this novel. I tend to not enjoy a novel as much as everyone else is it's super hyped before I read it. But this definintely lived up to my expectations.

5. Wicked as They Come by Delilah S. Dawson

Have you ever heard of a Bludman? They’re rather like you and me -- only more fabulous, immortal, and mostly indestructible. (They’re also very good kissers.)

Delilah S. Dawson’s darkly tempting debut drops her unsuspecting heroine into a strange faraway land for a romantic adventure that’s part paranormal, part steampunk... and completely irresistible.

When Tish Everett forces open the ruby locket she finds at an estate sale, she has no idea that a deliciously rakish Bludman has cast a spell just for her. She wakes up in a surreal world, where Criminy Stain, the dashing proprietor of a magical traveling circus, curiously awaits. At Criminy’s electric touch, Tish glimpses a tantalizing future, but she also foresees her ultimate doom. Before she can decide whether to risk her fate with the charming daredevil, the locket disappears, and with it, her only chance to return home. Tish and Criminy battle roaring sea monsters and thundering bludmares, vengeful ghosts and crooked Coppers in a treacherous race to recover the necklace from the evil Blud-hating Magistrate. But if they succeed, will Tish forsake her fanged suitor and return to her normal life, or will she take a chance on an unpredictable but dangerous destiny with the Bludman she’s coming to love?

One word: bludbunnies. This is the most unique, strange, and mind-bending novel I've read all year.

Runner's Up:
Blood and Bullets by James R. Tuck
Blood of Eden by Tami Dane
Isle of Night by Veronica Wolff
Legend by Marie Lu