Super excited for these books!!!

2018 is shaping up to be a great book year already! The books listed below are the ones I'm most looking forward to, and possibly have pre-ordered months ago, but I'm sure that list will grow impossibly long by summer.

Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare

The final book in the Dark Artifices trilogy is scheduled for release in December 2018! I'm so looking forward to reading it, especially after the way the previous book - Lord of Shadows - ended! December can't come soon enough!
Pre-order on Amazon.

Riven by Roan Parrish

I'll read anything Roan writes, forever and ever! She's one of the most talented authors I've ever had the pleasure to read, and her upcoming book, Riven, looks absolutely amazing! Two tortured musicians find comfort in each other? Sign me up!!
Scheduled for release in May 2018 and up for pre-order on Amazon!

Black Wings Beating by Alex London

Alex London's Proxy series was really good, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I'm very much looking forward to the new series, The Skybound Saga. The first book in the series, Black Wings Beating, is up for pre-order on Amazon and scheduled for release in October 2018. It promises to be an epic YA fantasy series and I'm really excited for it.

Agent Bayne by Jordan Castillo Price

The latest book in JCP's PsyCop series is scheduled to be released on 16 January 2018 and is up for pre-order on Amazon. I can't wait to dive into Victor Bayne's crazy life again, it's been too long! If you haven't read the series, do yourself a favour and binge read them ASAP. Or get the audios, they're fantastic! 

Crocus by Amy Lane

Crocus, the sequel to Amy Lane's brilliant novel Bonfires, is set to be released later this year, but at the time of writing the exact date hasn't been announced, and pre-order hasn't been set up. 
I'm really looking forward to see how Kellan and Isaiah will manage to find their happy!

February Reads

February is an awesome month, book-wise! Some amazing books coming out, books I've been waiting to get my hands on for quite some time. I see lots of late night reading in my future...

My hot picks for February are (click on each cover for blurb/info/preorder link):

Strong Signal

Megan Erickson and Santino Hassell

February 15th

Talk about author collaboration wet dream!!! I nearly peed myself with excitement when I heard the news two of my favourite authors have written a book together! And not only that, but it's the first book in a series! I know it'll be amazing, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind about that, and I can't wait to read it!

Kings Rising (Captive Prince 3)

C.S.Pacat

February 2nd

I've been waiting for this book for YEARS! I kid you not. The Captive Prince series phenomenon started as a free read but became so popular that it was bought and re-published by Penguin. In all honesty, I haven't read the republished version of the first two volumes, just the free version that was originally published, and I loved it! I'm a bit nervous about this new book considering it wasn't only published by a big publisher, but also written under contract. I'm afraid that all the freedom that comes from writing something simply for the joy of it will be gone and the magic will be ruined. 

Fingers crossed that's not the case!

On a side note, I'm kinda annoyed at how expensive the ebook is ($9.99). That won;t stop me from buying it, though. I've been waiting YEARS. I guess that's what Penguin are hoping all the fans will say... *sigh*

Catch a Tiger by the Tail

Charlie Cochet

February 5th

The THIRDS series continues with Catch a Tiger by the Tail, Calvin and Hobb's story. I'm looking forward to this book! Great series! I can't wait to read Calvin and Hobb's side of the story!

Out of Nowhere (In the Middle of Somewhere 2)

Roan Parrish

February 29th

In the Middle of Somewhere is one of my all time favourite books! Roan Parrish's debut novel was so amazing that I've lost count of rereads already! The second book in the series, Colin and Rafael's story is coming out soon and I'm so excited! Colin was a total douche in the first book and pretty much everyone who's read it hated him. I'm curious to see how Roan will turn people's perseption of him around. And I have no doubt that she will do just that.

So there you go. That's my list of February books I can't wait to read. Not bad, eh?

What book are YOU looking forward to read next month?

Beneath the Stain by Amy Lane - review and random thoughts

This review contains lots of swearing, randomness and may not make much sense. Read at your own risk.

Beneath the Stain fucking wrecked me. 
I know, I know, it's my own damn fault. I was wishing for a WOW book so hard for the past few months and I got it, and dear Lord, I'm a mess.
I love Amy Lane. I've read a lot of her books - not every single one of them yet, because, man, her backlist is massive - but a lot of them. Definitely the more famous ones. Keeping Promises Rock is one of my favourite series ever, although it didn't make me sob like this damn book. 
Anyway, what I want to say before I say anything else is that Amy Lane can write EPIC stories. Like, stories spanning over years and including many characters, and when you're done you feel like you've just stepped out of their world, and you know them. Like, know KNOW them. Like they're real people that you know-know. 
Which leads to the second important thing I need to say - everyone says Amy Lane is the queen of angst. But her angst is different. It's not angst created to sell books, to raise ratings or to make books more emotional. It's not angst that's added to a story to make people sympathise with the characters  and make them feel like dicks when they say they don't like the book. How can you not? The poor bastard's dad abused him, his girlfriend dumped him and he lost his right arm. How can you say you didn't like it??
No, I fucking didn't. Too much FORCED angst and drama just make me roll my eyes, give it 3 stars and move on, not remembering a single thing about the book in a couple of da...errr weeks. 
Amy Lane's angst is REAL. Yeah, I know. How can it be real when it's MADE UP and in a book? Well, it can. It feels like she's been walking behind the characters with a notebook and writing down what happens to them. It doesn't feel like she's been sitting in her writing chair creating evil plans for those people. You get me?
Nobody's life is JUST miserable. Nobody has ONLY bad things happening to them. There's also sweet moments and laughter and sometimes plain boring lazy weekends.
OK, back to the book.
Beneath the Stain made me cry. (I. Do. Not. Cry. At. Books. Well, I can count the times I've cried because of a book on one hand.) But it also made me laugh. And made me lose sleep for 2 days until I finished it. And made me think. Man, I don't like that. Not because I'm shallow or anything (although a few people may disagree), but because if I start thinking about stuff I can't change, I overthink it and blow it out of proportion and get lost in the feeling of doom in my head.
Beneath the Stain wasn't focused on Mackey and Trav, not entirely. There were lots of other people, each with their own problems, and I like that. Never did I feel like there were too many secondary storylines and too many characters - like I said, Amy Lane can do that to a book.
The book also made me angry. I HATE people like Grant. When I meet someone like him, I just wanna shake them and bang their head against the wall until they see sense. I wanna shout: "You can't live your life for anybody else, you stupid fucker. There's only one life you get and you can't put your own happiness, your own LIFE, second to everyone else's. It's not selfless, it's stupid. It's not honourable, it's fucking STUPID."
Grant made me see red. I do not understand his choices and I wanted to hate him so much, but how could I? He was the one that suffered most because of his stupid selfless ways.
*sigh*
*deep breaths*
What more can I say? It's my favourite book of Amy Lane's. It's brilliantly written, emotional, beautiful, funny, sexy, sad and infuriating all at the same time. I loved everything about it even when I hated it. And that my friends is true love.

Plans for 2015

I like making plans.
But at the same time, I realise they're PLANS. Which means, anything can happen and the plan may fall through.
Still, I need that reassurance that I'm not just drifting aimlessly through time, but I have some kind of a goal.
So, my plans for 2015 are:

• Write 6 books. (Ambitions, right? LOL I agree! But I'm dead set on making this happen!)
• Publish 4 books. (See previous bracketed comment)
• Blog 2-3 times a week. Every week.
• Go to as many book cons / author signings / book fairs as I can.
• Read less, write more. (*sigh* I hate this! But, alas, I love reading so much that if I don't limit the time I'm spending reading, my writing time suffers)
• Produce at least 2 more audio books. (Dance is such a success as an audio book that I decided to go ahead and make some more :D Mask is already in production)
• I'll also try to sell foreign rights to some of my other books. In a Heartbeat is about to be released in Brazil any time now, and if I'm happy with sales figures, I'll try to get some of my other books translated and published in other countries.

That's pretty much it on a professional level. On a more personal level, I'm planning on being a YES person. You know, like the YES Man with Jim Carrey? I like spending time alone, and I don't really need anybody else, and that scares me sometimes. I spend way too much time in my own head and I need to get out of there once in a while before I go crazy.

So, I've decided to do stuff, go out even without a reason, meet people, TALK to people, and take every opportunity to widen my horizons - watch movies, read a wide variety of books, see art exhibitions, and so on. 

I'm planning to reinvent myself this year, stretching my comfort zone as much as I can and taking chances.

It's scary but it's also exciting, and I can't wait to see where 2015 will take me.

New book announcement

Cue the drum roll!

***drum roll****

My new book is called Piece by Piece and is about Sonnie and Riley who had a little cameo in Mask. It's a stand-alone novel - you don't have to read Dance or Mask to enjoy this book.
I'm aiming for late March 2015 release, but I'll announce more details as I have them.
For now, here's the beautiful cover, and a little snippet that inspired the title:

"You do realise he's broken, right?" Penn said as he folded his arms across his chest. "Damaged beyond repair." 

"I can put him back together," Sonnie replied. 

"Yeah? And how the hell are you going to do that when nobody succeeded in the past 10 years?" 

"Piece by piece."

Click on the cover to add it on Goodreads!

Most anticipated books of 2015

... or at least the first quarter of the year :D

First off, I was supposed to write this post a couple of weeks ago and I'm already reading one of my most anticipated books of the year - Down and Dirty by Rhys Ford (out January 2). It's the 5th book in the Cole McGinnis mysteries and it's all about Bobby and Ichiro. I'm already half through it, and loving it.

Next, we have the final instalment in the Red Dirt Heart series by N.R.Walker (out January 9). I adore this series and I'm both super excited to read the final book, and super sad it's the FINAL book.

Rise and Fall, the 4th book in the THIRDS series by Charlie Cochet comes out on February 2nd and I can't wait to get my hands on it! Especially after the way Rack and Ruin ended!

And last, but definitelly not least, in March 2015 the very last Cut and Run book will be out! We're going to see the end of Ty and Zane's story and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I love Ty and Zane, they're one of my very favourite couples in book history, ever, and I'll be so sad to see the series end. At the same time, I can't wait to see how it all finally ends! But then, I'm super scared of the book itself because Ball and Chain, the previous book in the series, wasn't at all what I expected and it broke my heart.

*sigh*

I'm a total wreck over this book.

I'd love to show you the cover but, alas, Riptide Publishing have decided to withhold cover, title, blurb - everything - until release day. To be honest, that decision pissed me off big time, but it didn't stop me from preordering the book, in paperback and ebook, the moment it was available for preorder. And that's exactly what the publisher was counting on.

That's my list for the first quarter of the year. I'm sure more exciting books will pop up later on, so stay tuned for more recommendations.

What are your most anticipated books for the next few months? 

Favourite books of 2014

Better late than never, right? In no particular order, here's my favourite books of 2014:

Adrien English mysteries by Josh Lanyon

I listened to the audio book version and I can safely say that if it hadn't been for Chris Patton's amazing narration, I'd have bashed my Kindle against the wall and stopped reading somewhere around book 3.

Now, don't get me wrong. For me Josh Lanyon is an amazing author and there's nothing wrong with the books, story-wise. I just hated Jake so much! Dear Lord, I can't remember ever hating a character so much. And I loved Adrien but hated him at the same time when he allowed himself to be pulled under Jake's destructive charm. It was a viscous circle, a rollercoaster ride that I'll never forget.

My favourite books of the series were the last 2 - Death of a Pirate King and The Dark Tide, and I was pleasantly surprised at the pace shift in the very last book, The Dark Tide. There was a massive gear change and I loved it. What was more, after hating Jake with passion for 4 books, I found myself rooting for him in book 5. How is that possible? Mr Lanyon, you're a wicked, evil person. I still love you, though ;) So much that the best Christmas present I've ever received came in the shape of 2 signed books.

Aftermath by Cara Dee

This book is so incredible! It was such an intense, emotional journey and written so well that I went back and read all of Cara's other books - they're great as well, but Aftermath is definitely my favourite.

Vivaldi in the Dark by Matthew J. Metzger

This book stole my heart from the very first page. I'm not usually into YA anymore, but I loved every second of this book. I didn't know there would be 2 more books in the series when I started - it doesn't end on a cliffhanger - and I was so happy when I found out I'd get more of the boys.

As an added bonus, I was lucky to meet Matthew at the UK Meet in Bristol and he's such a sweet guy! I definitely recommend reading this series, and not just because Matthew is cute ;)

PsyCop series by Jordan Castillo Price

I was a bit late to the party with this one. Hadn't read anything by JCP until that point, but when I found out she was going to be at the UK Meet in Bristol I decided I needed to get familiar with her work. After I finished the series, I started to wonder why I hadn't read them sooner. Yes, it's one of those books.

Loved everything about those books. I honestly can't think of anything bad to say. It's original, funny, addictive read and I'm positive any fans of the genre will love them, and, just like me, read anything else JCP has written.

THIRDS series by Charlie Cochet

OMG, these books!!! I adored them! So funny, and yet so action packed. The idea behind the story is very interesting, and trust me when I say this, you'll fall in love with the characters as soon as you start reading. I listened to the first 2 books - Hell&High Water and Blood&Thunder - as an audio books, and just finished reading book 3 Rack&Ruin. The audio books are fantastic, and I'm definitely buying Rack&Ruin on audio as soon as it's out.

Cole McGinnis series by Rhys Ford

Seems like in 2014 I discovered a lot of very popular authors. I must admit I don't usually go for the popular books. I get disappointed way too often and that's the reason I stopped reading in some particular genres. 

Let me just say that whatever book you pick by Rhys Ford you won't be disappointed. I also read the Sinners series by her and it was also great. But Cole and Jae.... The bastards made me love them even though I wasn't prepared to. 

Roads series by Garrett Leigh

Yep, another hugely popular author I discovered in 2014 all on my own. You'd think I live under a rock...

Anyway, Slide and Rare were amazing! I love books that don't have too much going on action-wise but manage to keep your interest throughout. These books are just like that, and I loved every sensual, tortured, intense word.

Red Dirt Heart series by N.R.Walker

I've read several N.R.Walker books before RDH and loved every single one of them. But there's something about RDH that makes it so loveable you can't seem to be able to resist its pull. The setting was new to me - I've never read any book set in the Australian red dirt desert - and I enjoyed reading about a place I'd probably never visit. The charters seemed to real that by the end of book 3 I felt I knew them all. If you haven't read the series yet, you should! Especially when the last instalment comes out in 5 days!

Brute by Kim Fielding

This was my first book by Kim Fielding and I loved it. I wanted to read more by her and my head was spinning when I saw her huge back catalogue. Yes, another popular author I discovered in 2014. Seems to be the year for that.

Brute is a very unusual story. I loved it. Couldn't stop thinking about it for weeks. I read a lot and I'm not ashamed to say that just because I enjoy a book while I'm reading it, I usually forget all about it in a month or so. But there are certain books that I'll never forget, and Brute is definitely one of those books.

There are so many more books that I'd like to mention, but I'm afraid this post is way too long already. 2014 was great for me reading-wise and I read so many great books that it's been difficult enough to pick just a few. I'd like to mention The River Leith by Leta Blake, Complementary Colours by Adrienne Wilder, Dangerously Happy and Bad Things by Varian Krylov, the Better Than series by Lane Hayes, Return on Investment by Aleksandr Voinov and so, SO many more wonderful books I read last year. You can check out my Goodreads page for more recommendations.

2014 - Reflecting, Learning, Appreciating

Reflecting

2014 was... unpleasant. We got the devastating news that my father-in-law has last stage terminal brain tumour, and that news overshadowed everything else that happened last year. On a personal level, the year sucked. I'm not someone who likes to complain, and I rarely do it, and I always look for the silver lining, for that minuscule ray of hope to hang on to. But I found that especially hard to do last year. By the time December rolled around I was so done with 2014. I wanted it over, and I needed to kickstart a new stage in my life. I know the only difference between December 31 and January 1 is a day, an ordinary day, but physiologically I closed a chapter and began a new one.
On a professional level, 2014 was simply amazing. In January my muse took me to an entirely new adventure - I started writing in the MM Romance genre. It wasn't planned, but when inspiration strikes you need to follow it, especially if you've been blocked for the previous 6 months, unable to write a word.
In March 2014 I published my first MM romance book - Dance. I expected nothing. I wrote it simply because the story was screaming to get out. I was new to the genre, had no contacts or friends who read in it, and frankly thought the book will sell 100 copies and get kicked to the curb.

When exactly the opposite happened, I was shocked. Dance was selling so well that it managed to stay at the top of the Amazon charts for weeks. So many people read it, loved it, and made the effort to drop me a line and tell me how much they loved it. I was floating on cloud nine for weeks.
Things got a bit crazy after that - people urged me to write a book telling the story of Adam - a secondary character in Dance. So, despite not planning to write a series, I did. Mask was published in September and got a wonderful response from readers. Again. I felt incredibly lucky to have such loyal readers who tirelessly raved about my books, recommended them to their friends and supported me when I felt like I can't write another sentence. 

To say 'Thank You' to them the only way I knew how, I wrote a holiday novella about all four of my boys and published it in December in time for Christmas. That was a new first for me - I've always wanted to write a Christmas book and never managed. I wrote Dreaming of Snow only with the fans of Dance and Mask in mind. I knew what they wanted from my boys and I did my best to give it to them. It was very freeing to write about established, well-loved characters. I've never done it before - each of my books introduces a new couple and a whole set of new secondary characters and I'm always worried if people will connect with them. I had no such problems with Dreaming of Snow and I had so much fun writing it.

As a reader, I discovered the amazing world of audio books in 2014, and naturally, I wanted to turn one of my books into an audio book. I lucked out when the perfect narrator auditioned for the part and the Dance audio book project was well under way in the summer. Of course, like everything else last year, there were ups and downs, and then some more downs and less ups, but finally in December Dance audio book went live on Audible and iTunes just in time for the holidays. I'm absolutely in love with the book even though listening to my own writing being read by someone else was terrifying, and listening to the sex scenes was an excruciating experience. But I managed to finish listening to the whole book and thanked my luck for a thousandth time that it send the narrator Todd Smith my way.

Another great thing that happened to me as an author in 2014 was selling the foreign rights to my first series, Heartbeat, to a publisher in Brazil. It happened so out of the blue - they got in touch with me after reading my first book In a Heartbeat and loving it, and I've never even heard of Editora Charme before. Long story short, In a Heartbeat is scheduled for release in Portuguese in all big bookshops in Brazil in March 2015.

Learning

In 2014 I more than ever had to dig deep into my reserve of positivity and courage just to get by. What I learned is that life is short. Too short. We can't spend it worrying about the little things, or even the big things, and not fully live. Every single day can be our last and we need to make the most of it. It may sound corny but once you've faced the fragility of our existence first hand, you realise that corny crap is absolutely true.

I also learned that following you muse, your instinct and your heart eventually pays off. The road may be rocky and it's damn hard work, but when you do what your heart is screaming at you to do, you know you'll succeed, and what's more - you'll be content when you get there.

Appreciating

Last year it was hard for me to appreciate the things happening in my life. Sometimes it seemed like every good thing that happened was being buried under 10 bad things, and digging through all that pile of crap to get to the positive was tiring and got old very fast. But I needed something to hold on to, so I kept at it. I started appreciating the little things - a day out with my family, a hug from my kid, an unexpected compliment from a stranger, a good night's sleep. 

I also cut some toxic people out of my life. I'd rather spend time alone than be with someone who pretends to like me. And I'd rather be alone than be faced with negativity, shallow goals, backstabbing and irrational outlook on life.

I must say I thought it'd be much harder to do, but cutting loose someone who is bad for you is the best thing you can ever do.

Here's to a much better 2015! Cheers!

No time for books? Are you sure?

When somebody tells me they don’t read because they have no time for books, it makes me want to turn into the Hulk and squash their lying heads. OK, maybe not that extreme.

It also makes me wonder if they are lying to themselves as well as to everybody else.

People make time for the things they love, enjoy or at least are good for them. If you claim not to do something because you don’t have enough time, it simply means you don’t like doing it. “I don’t have time for exercise” or “I don’t have time to cook” or “I don’t have time to read” are all useless excuses. At least be honest with yourself and say: “I don’t WANT to read because I don’t enjoy it/find it boring/think it’s pointless.”

I know this sounds like a senseless rant but I do have a point, so please bear with me.

Are you trying to convince me that you can’t read for 15 minutes every night before you fall asleep? Or that you can’t read while commuting to work/waiting for your child in front of the school/have a cup of coffee/stir the Bolognese sauce (although I don’t recommend that – you might end up with a giant red stain on your favourite Kindle skin just like me)? If president Obama can find time for a daily run and a book, and let me tell you, he has more to do in a day that every other person in the world in a week, then so can you. You just don’t feel like it.

I have set a goal to read at least 50 books this year. I don’t have time to read 250 (although I wish I had!) but I can certainly find time to read 50. That’s less than a book a week. And you are trying to tell me you don’t have time to read A book? In 365 days?

Let me tell you what’s going to happen if you don’t read. Your brain will slowly but surely start to deteriorate until you have nothing interesting to say; your mind will forget what imagination was and you won’t be able to escape your boring little world even if your life depends on it; your eyes will cloud and there will be no spark behind them making you look older that you actually are; your kids will either follow in your footsteps and never touch a book unless they absolutely have to (how could they when they’ve never seen you hold one or even have one in the house) or will hate you for not teaching them any reading ethics.

I can’t imagine my life without a book. I’ve been constantly reading something ever since I was a teenager. I’ve read crime thrillers, chick-lit, romantic dramas, horrors, sci-fi, young adult… Of course, I haven’t liked all the books I’ve read but I’m absolutely certain every single one of them, no matter how cheesy or boring or predictable, has enriched my life in some way. My day would be so much more boring without a book!

I guess what I’m trying to say is this: READ. It doesn’t really matter what. There are so many different kinds of books, there must be something you can take a liking to. But if, in the end of the day, you still don’t want to read, at least have the decency to admit that. Don’t say you don’t have time because that’s just lame. Nobody believes you anyway and you run the chance of meeting the Hulk up close and personal. 

P.S. This rant-like post has been inspired by the World book day. Don’t ask.

True story?

 What is this fascination with true stories? “Inspired by a true story” is NOT a unique selling point anymore! Who cares if it’s real? Certainly not me.

I want to read interesting stories, I couldn’t care less if they actually happened or not. To be honest, I prefer if they didn’t actually happen. Haven’t we got enough reality in our lives already? Don’t you want to detach yourself from the real world for the length of a movie or a book? I know I do.

I don’t want “believable” characters. I want characters who do things no actual person would do, or at least not anybody I know. I want characters who love and hate passionately, much more than any of us “real” people can comprehend. I want characters who go on such adventures and survive such disasters that none of us can even imagine. I want characters who take me on a journey, on an emotional turmoil that no actual person can live through.

And I don’t care if facts are exaggerated or even completely made up. I don’t care if no such technology or weapon or world exists. I don’t care if CSI agents are made-up to the last detail of their pretty little faces or that they are wearing heels – it’s much more pleasant to watch than a swarm of people in white overalls, don’t you think? I don’t care if there’s no such thing as vampires in the “real” world or that the Japanese didn’t actually come up with a synthetic blood substitute.

You know when your uncle caught that medium-sized fish he’s so proud of? Remember when he started telling the story how the fish was a foot long, the sea was calm and he had two other mates in the boat with him? And do you remember how from mouth to mouth, from day to day, the story grew in front of your eyes until the fish became five feet, there were giant waves and your uncle was all alone in his little boat in the middle of the storm? Which story do you like more?

Can you imagine a world without imagination? Because that’s what you are asking for if you want to read and watch “true stories”. We have so much mundane truth in our lives, why bring it in our books and films as well? Why not think of something bigger, scarier, more romantic, more unbelievable, more colourful?

There is enough of that already, some would argue. We want to experience something believable, something real! And I’m not saying that you shouldn’t, everybody is free to read, watch and listen to whatever they like, I just don’t understand it. I cannot comprehend the desire to be sucked in somebody else’s real life. Let alone the “true story” selling point.

When it’s a good story, who cares if it’s true?

The books I loved in 2011

I’ve read a lot of books in 2011 – don’t know the exact figure but it’s close to 50. That number is nowhere near how many I wish I had the time to read! So many books, so little time!

So here’s a list of books I loved. Ignore the numbers – they are for illustration purposes only. Enjoy!

1.      TheHunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I know, I know, I must be the last person to read these amazing books! You’ve probably known about them for ages, but for some reason they just sneaked past me. I’m so glad I read them when all three were published though! I’d have died if I had to wait a year for the next book to come out.

“The Hunger Games” are some of the most amazing books I’ve ever read. All three are fast paced and stripped of any unnecessary words – the story is to the point, all the time. Exactly as I like it.

The idea behind the story is completely innovative and absolutely worth exploring. I gulped every word like it was a cold sip of water. Read them before the movie comes out – they have the habit of destroying every good book out there.

2.      ClockworkPrince by Cassandra Clare

It was one of my most anticipated books this year. I loved the first one – Clockwork Angel and couldn’t wait to see what happens. In this series, Ms Clare has managed to combine some of my favourite themes to read – paranormal, romance and Victorian England. She has also managed to create one of the hottest male characters out there. What do you mean which one? Will, of course. He is right up there with Eric Northman (Sookie Stackhouse novels), Jace (another one of Clare’s) and Patch (Hush Hush). Cassie always creates a world so believable and a story so engaging that you could easily find yourself on the sofa all day without even noticing time flying by.

3.      Cityof Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

How she manages to write two amazing series at the same time is beyond me! Cassandra is one of the most talented authors out there and I’ve loved reading all her books. “City of Fallen Angels” is the fourth book of her “The Mortal Instruments” series and one of the most exciting. There is a lot of action, a lot of drama and a lot of pretty hot scenes. Ms Clare creates a sexy scene like nobody else!

4.      Allthe “Sookie Stackhouse” novels by Charlaine Harris

Where do I start? I read the first four books after I was already hooked on “True Blood”. I wasn’t disappointed – the books are very different from the TV show, plotwise. I don’t have a lot of time to read during the day but with these books (eleven in total) I was so hooked that I read all day, every day, until I finished them. Fast paced, funny, improvident and absolutely gripping, these books seized my life to a halt until the very last line. So, if I were you, I’d think twice before starting them unless you want to call in sick way too often, miss your bus stop a few times or walk into a lamp post once or twice.

5.      Silenceby Becca Fitzpatrick

This book has been my drop of cold water, dripping down a pint of beer on a hot summer day.

I loved the first book of the series – Hush Hush, then felt a bit let down by the second – “Crescendo” -  mainly because I was expecting it to be even better. But “Silence” is worth the wait just like that drop of cold water is worth watching sliding down the glass and sweeping it with your finger just before it reaches the surface of the table.

Patch is my absolute favourite male character in a YA novel. Full stop. He has a lot of competition but after “Silence”, he has cemented his lead. The book is very action-driven (again – just as I like it), very steamy, and very memorable.

I envy those who haven’t read the series – they have such good fun to come!

6.      Foreverby Maggie Stiefvater

I love Maggie’s style. I’ve read all her books and have been hooked from beginning to end, although they are not written in the usual style I’d go for. Not much happens in terms of action but Maggie’s writing is so engaging that it doesn’t allow the reader’s mind to wonder off to other places. The wolves of Mercy Falls series has been my favourite of all her books and the last one doesn’t disappoint. The perfect book to curl up next to a fireplace with. You might even hear the wolves outside…

7.      Starcrossedby Josephine Angelini

I picked up Ms. Angelini’s debut novel because it of its theme – Greek Mythology. I’m an absolute mythology geek so I decided to give it a try on the spur of the moment without any recommendations – very unusual for me. It was totally worth it! The book is amazingly well written, very engaging from beginning to end. There is so much happening, so much conflict and character development that I never felt bored. A great achievement considering I have the attention span of a 3 year old.

Can’t wait for the sequel!

So, these are the books I loved the most. Read them if you can, they are absolutely worth it!

Next, the books I didn't like... Heads will roll people, so prepare.