Top Ten Tuesday (8)

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Most Anticipated Books of 2012

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. It’s awesome. Every Tuesday, the lovely folks over at The Broke and the Bookish post a top ten list topic so that book lovers like you and me can pour over our shelves and make our own lists. You can check out all the other Top Ten Tuesday‘s on their site!

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At one time, this list had, oh, almost 20 books on it. 20 does not equal 10, Amy. But you guys, there are so many books that I’m looking forward to this year! I hope the fact that I could have made this list so much longer is only a sign of awesome bookishness to come!! BRING IT, 2012. (But if you can bring me THESE 10 *cough13cough* books a little sooner, that would be GREAT.) To help me narrow things down, I didn’t include books for which I already have ARCs.

Bitterblue (The Seven Kingdoms #3), by Kristin Cashore. HOLY BANANAS. Kristin Cashore’s GRACELING was one of the very first YA books I ever read, and I haven’t looked back since on account of the huge amounts of AWESOME that her book bade me swallow. I can’t wait for BITTERBLUE to come out this spring. I’ve been waiting for YEARS, guys! (Well, you guys understand.) I just want to hold it in my hands and savor it and pet it and get stupid happy that it’s finally here. PLUS, it sounds FANTASTIC: Bitterblue is now Queen of Monsea and has to pick up the pieces of her father’s reign. There’s thieves (one of them and Bitterblue make kissy-face) and Katsa and Po and a PRETTY COVER. I’m so ready for this one.

Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin #1), by R.L. LaFevers. I can’t get over how BADASS this cover is. Seriously. Does this girl not look like a tough, strong, dangerous BAMF? Something about the dress PLUS the ginormous WEAPON OF DEATH just sells it, you know? That crossbow or whatever weapon that is drives me CRAZY! I love it! It’s just, like, hanging there on her side, no biggie, this HUGE thing chillin’ there, where she barely needs to exert any effort to keep it in her hand, she’s so killer strong. Psh. AWESOME. And I haven’t even gotten to the story, which is really what makes the cover so incredibly squeeful: Ismae finds herself living in a convent of “nuns” who worship the old gods. She discovers that THE GOD OF FREAKING DEATH has bestowed upon her deadly gifts, and sets out to train her as his assassin. Of course, one of her targets winds up being the love interest. The potential of this series to be RIDONCULOUS is huge. I’m actually a little nervous about it because my expectations are so high.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone 2, by Laini Taylor. So this one doesn’t have a title or a cover yet, but that in no way lessens my intense anticipation for the continuing saga of Karou and Akiva and the battle between angels and chimera. In Laini Taylor’s hands, there is NO WAY that this story could be anything but spectacular (NO PRESSURE, Laini). DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE was one of my favorite reads of 2011, and I think about it all the time. LET ME AT IT, Laini. Pretty please?

Something Like Normal, by Trish Doller. Confession: I LOVE military stuff. TV shows, movies, books, ANYTHING. Something about the structure, the uniforms, the rules, the enduring bonds formed while someone holds your life in their hands, and you theirs. The speaking in acronyms, like they have a whole other dialect of English they speak. It appeals to me in this really primal way, I think. Also, THE UNIFORMS. (Have you guys ever watched HBO’s Generation Kill? Alexander Skarsgard in uniform. You’re welcome.) And, well, I’m kind of one of those book blogger cliches: I’ve started writing a little. TOTALLY different stories, but one of them sounds similar to THIS book–which is getting ALL the good buzz everywhere–about a Marine come home from Afghanistan who must readjust to life at home and cope with PTSD and the death of his best friend while they were both deployed together. PTSD is such a real, scary thing and I’m JAZZED to read about it. And, you know, also because of the kissing.

Isla and the Happily Ever After, by Stephanie Perkins. ISLA! Oh my goodness! What have you been up to, sweetie? I haven’t seen you in SUCH a long time! I can’t WAIT to catch up with you and hear all about what’s been going since we last saw you in Stephanie’s AMAZEBALLS ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS. Last I heard, you were nursing some MAJOR lovin’ feelings for St. Clair’s friend, Josh. *wink wink* He was so cute, Isla! What ever happened with that? Oh, come on…you can trust me! Whatever happened, I swear I’ll keep it to myself. Oh my god, are you blushing?! No? Well, I HOPE you’re blushing! That would make me happy! Haha…ok, ok. You can wait to tell me. But LISTEN: I miss you!! And I can’t wait to hear about how things in Paris have been. Also, I’ve got my teeth in this whole Josh business and I’m NOT letting go. You’ll tell me. Eventually. 😉

Second Chance Summer, by Morgan Matson. Morgan Matson’s debut, 2010’s AMY AND ROGER’S EPIC DETOUR, was one of my favorite books that year. I’ve reread it because it’s AWESOME and Roger is one of my all-time YA boyfriends. (Even though the name Roger is…not my fave.) It was one of the best road trip books EVAR, and I’ve been waiting for Morgan’s next book eagerly, barely holding off the fidgets. This one is about a girl named Taylor whose father gets sick, it sounds like, and the whole family packs up and heads to the Poconos for the summer like old times for one last hurrah together, it seems. Morgan, are you going to rip my heart out, stomp on it a lot, use it as an ashtray AND spittoon, and then leave it, bruised and broken, in the dirt? GOOD. SIGN ME UP, PLEASE.

Insurgent (Divergent #2), by Veronica Roth. OH BABY. You know one of the biggest reasons I’m looking forward to INSURGENT? I get the feeling (also, perhaps Veronica has mentioned this in an interview somewhere?) that this book is going to introduce us in a BIG way to the folks in Amity, and I’m fairly certain that if I could take one of those quizzes that tells me what faction I belong to, I’m pretty sure the farms would be my hood. Plus, everyone knows that rebel groups hide all the craziest weapons in the hay bales. Hay = farms and farms = Amity. BOOM. And of course, I am chomping at the bit to hook back up with Tris and Four because they rock my socks.

Legend 2, by Marie Lu. So this book doesn’t even have a Goodreads page yet! Is that some kind of evil portent? It’s coming out this year, right!? (I seriously just double-checked Marie’s website. It is.) In case you haven’t been around the blog too much, LEGEND was one of my favorite books of this past year. A nudge past DIVERGENT and SHATTER ME for my favorite dystopian. I’ve read it twice–each time hardly putting it down once–and each time, I feel the pressure rising and the stakes growing. I feel the danger and the intensity. And I feel the growing, complicated love between Day and June. This one rocks my socks, too, and I WISH IT WAS FALL 2012 RIGHT NOW.

Pandemonium (Delirium #2), by Lauren Oliver. Sigh. I’m going to ignore the fact that they totally changed the covers for this series so now my books won’t match (I HATE THIS INTENSELY) and focus instead on how much the ending of DELIRIUM destroyed me and made me both eager and nervous for PANDEMONIUM. I understand that death is the ultimate stake-raiser/plot twist/emotional wrecking ball, but PLEASE don’t kill Alex, ok? (If anyone who has read this feels like spoiling this for me, I’m totally cool with it. Seriously. I’m a spoiler whore.) Why must all the people always die? MAKE THEM LIVE! Obviously, it’s too late for me to get this message to Lauren Oliver. I’ve heard, too, that PANDEMONIUM has a BONKERS ending as well. So much for my emotional stability, huh?

Queen of Glass (Queen of Glass #1), by Sarah J. Maas. This one has no cover or release date that I can find (Fall 2012, though!), but I CAN tell you that, including QUEEN OF GLASS, 2012 has some BANGIN’ fantasies coming out, guys! This is the debut and first in a new series about something we’ve already seen on this list: an ASSASSIN. An ass-kicking, perhaps-magic-wielding assassin. ALSO. This is not only a fantasy about an assassin, but it’s also a retelling/retooling of CINDERELLA. Stop it. Just…I can’t even.

Honorable Mentions

I just couldn’t make myself cut these three.

Born Wicked (The Cahill Witch Chronicles #1), by Jessica Spotswood

The Fault In Our Stars, by John Green

Embrace (The Violet Eden Chapters #1), by Jessica Shirvington