Donna and Laura Do 2012

While we’re merely toddling around in our blogging diapers when it comes to the smaller scale of Bitching, Books and Baking, we’re not new to the scene and we’ve got enough going that we can do an obligatory wrap-up post. We read books, we threw books, we snotted on books. Let us sum up our year for you, all the highs and lows, giddy fangirling and sheer unadulterated disappointments. Here’s to eradicating the awful in 2013.

 

 
Donna’s picks:

THIEF’S COVENANT by Ari Marmell  (Glorious, glorious words!  And a subtle wit that makes me wish I actually studied the English I got a degree in.)

THE BLACK ISLE by Sandi Tan  (Dark, gripping and at times grotesquely depressing, a character you may or may not like will wing you through history whether you like it or not.  But you probably will.)

THE CURIOSITIES: A COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES by Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton and Brenna Yovanoff  (An excellent cock tease to reading the novels by these same authors.)

THE TREACHERY OF BEAUTIFUL THINGS by Ruth Frances Long  (The words in this book are beautiful things and the treachery is that it didn’t get the attention it deserved.  Maybe if the writing were awfuller . . .)

SHADOW AND BONE by Leigh Bardugo  (A kingdom for a horse, and maybe some sex with a Darkling, pre-batshittery if it’s all the same to you.  Not to mention a romance that’s actually believable.  Not enough of those in YA.)
 

 
Laura’s picks:

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (Oh the WORDS! Oh the dragons! The music! The adventure! The love! The….dragons!)

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (I’m still having trouble talking about this book. It’s so very very intense. It’s one of those books that you live in the story even days after you’re finished and even once you get out of it, it’s forever with you)

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr (I have so much love for this book. Really, you just don’t know. It’s a heartbreaking and heart-mending story of lose and love and life with two of the most dynamic narrators I’ve ever encountered.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (A 4th of July firework display of colors, lights, sounds and imagery. I’m not usually one for dark fantasy but Bardugo paints some mighty vivid pictures. She used ALL THE WORD CRAYONS.)

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Well….it should be mandatory reading for life. My copy of this book is covered with dog-eared pages and passages and tear splotches. I’m not ashamed to admit that I snotted all over this one. Augustus Waters…I mean…really.)

 

 

 
Donna’s picks:

THRONE OF GLASS by Sarah J. Maas  (Tom Hiddleston’s face pretty much emotes all that I need to say in the matter.  But I said it all anyway.  Gross.)
 

 
Laura’s picks:
First Comes Love by Katie Kacvinsky (or How to Beat Your Reader to Death With 198 Pages of Inane Drivel. God this was awful.)
 

 

Donna’s picks:

AFTERLIGHT by Elle Jasper  (While it’s rather odd that she’s just kind of standing there tits to the wind gripping a knife and overlooking a city just the ambiance it conveys is eye-grabbing (I’m talking about the fog and eerie buildings, not titty wind socks).  Eye-grabbing to the point where when I found this book completely by accident it intrigued me enough to read the blurb and then get sucked into the series.  Not the best written thing in the world but it hits me right.)

PLAIN KATE by Erin Bow  (As if the girl traipsing across a rooftop with a cat isn’t eye-catching enough the old timey village in the background pretty much did it for me.  Not to mention she doesn’t have a shadow.  A nice and ominous aside to an otherwise whimsical image.)

THE BUTTERFLY CLUES by Kate Ellison  (I wasn’t even all that thrilled with this book but between the transparent/glass-looking butterfly and the blood splatter I was going to give it a shot not matter what was between the pages.  It ruins the girly.  I like that.  Laura fears for my soul as a result.)
 

 
Laura’s picks:
Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor (The cover for Daughter of Smoke and Bone was pretty impressive but this one I just want to pet.)

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (That thar be a dragon. I love that it looks like an illustration out of an old book of fairy tales. It fits.)

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore (A nice addition to the Graceling series, all that lovely blue to compliment its predecessor’s golds and reds. I can’t help but smile when I look at it. Cashore does fantasy fine.)

 

 

(books that move in are the ones that move into your soul and be come part of who you are)

 

Donna’s picks
V WARS by Jonathan Maberry  (A nice departure on the apocalypse front, it’s a vampire virus that turns the world on its head, told with the spine of Maberry’s story and supplemented by a handful of other authors adding their two cents.  Unapologetically violent and gruesome and providing ways around every piece of lore you can think of, it makes the end of the world are scarier in a dark shadows sort of way (ha!) than zombies ever could.

HANGING BY A THREAD by Sophie Littlefield  (This was one of those books that I really don’t have an explanation for but it settled in nicely.  Between the coastal California setting, the rare sighting of YA thriller with just a hint of supernatural and popular kids with horrible secrets it got me on a good day.)

SKYLARK by Meagan Spooner  (The part where the author described the sky through the MC’s eyes?  Sold.  I actually got vertigo reading it.  It was love from that point forward.)

THE KNIFE AND THE BUTTERFLY by Ashley Hope Perez  (Super sneak attack, this one burrowed under my skin like I didn’t expect and promptly blew me out of the water at the end.  Like I was stuffed in a whale’s blow hole and it shot me out of me.  But with less whale snot.)
 

 
Laura’s pick:
How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr (I read this book twice this year, and thought about it at least once every day. I just love it and well…love is rock.)
 

 

Donna’s pick:
(I run the risk of repeating myself if I’m all like WORDS and GLORIOUSNESS and OMG WRITING so I’ll just refer you to my blurbs above for these very titles and then I’ll just stand here and glare at you until you buy them.  -.-  <–Me glaring.)

THIEF’S COVENANT by Ari Marmell

THE TREACHERY OF BEAUTIFUL THINGS by Ruth Frances Long

SHADOW AND BONE by Leigh Bardugo

SKYLARK by Meagan Spooner
 

 
Laura’s pick:

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase (Best trashy romance novel EVER. Like of all time. This one. All others, LOSE.)

Unsticky by Sarra Manning (This little number came highly recommended by one Angie of Angieville. And I just love it so. It’s a lurve story- a messy one, with all the feelings, even the bad ones.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

 

 

Donna’s pick:
CODE NAME VERITY by Elizabeth Wein (Laura fixed my CODE VERITY problem by being a nominally good secret Santa (with only a hint of cum-guzzling gut-sluttery going on introducing poorly-written filth into my house) and considering I’ve seen this crop up on every Best of 2012 post I’ve read I’m thinking I’ll have to get to reading it sooner rather than later.)

Laura’s pick:
Insurgent by Veronica Roth (I know I’m really going to be cutting back on series in 2013 but I can’t believe I’ve waited this long to read Divergent’s sequel. I mean DIVERGENT HAS ALL THE AWESOME!)

 

Donna’s pick:
THE KNIFE AND THE BUTTERFLY by Ashley Hope Perez (The whole gangsta thing really isn’t my bag, like to the point of me just outright sneering at it.  But I gave this one a shot because it was Carolrhoda Lab and holy goddamn was I pleasantly surprised.  Not to mention it was blissfully free of teenage soul mates, super emo angst and your general high school douche baggery.  For that alone I was immensely pleased.)

Laura’s pick:
Unsticky by Sara Manning (I haven’t fallen head over heels in love with a chick lit novel in I don’t know how long. I was knocked senseless by this one.)

 

Donna’s pick:
WHEN THE SEA IS RISING RED by Cat Hellisen  (It was like going to Disney Land only to find out everything’s been replaced by Russian knock-offs and carnival rides that try to ride you.  Jasmin is pregnant, Cinderella’s just crawling back from a bender and Mickey looks like he’s been freebasing for a month.  Space Mountain is called the Galactic Hill Zone, Pluto’s a Rottweiler and Donald Duck’s nephews just did a drive-by in It’s A Not Big World Maybe.  Smeerp.)

Laura’s pick:
Shadows by Ilsa J. Bick (Ashes was unbelievably amazing and I could not wait for the sequel. THIS was a hot mess. Absolutely no direction, too many characters and lack of substance left me WTFing for days.)

 

Donna’s pick:
TOUCH & GO by Lisa Gardner  (Yes it sounds good but really because I’m on a deadline.)

Laura’s pick:
For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund (Well…it’s a retelling of Persuasion and that’s really all you need to know.)