Faves of TwentyEleven: The Covers

Hello, darlings. We hope that you had a great Christmas, that your tummies are full and that you received a lot of bookish presents. I suppose we're a little late to this party, but here it goes:

This is our last Faves of TwentyEleven post, hosted by Nomes @ Inkcrush. Each of us chose her 10 favorite covers, not necessarily of 2011 releases, but certainly books we read in 2011.

Lisa’s covers:

Maja’s covers:

We had such a great time doing this and we'd like to thank Nomes for the idea and all the hard work, and all of you for coming back day after day to read our not-so-witty banter and comment on our choices. You're the best!

Lisa & Maja

Faves of TwentyEleven: The Random

Is it Thursday already?! I can’t believe we already got to the 4th post of Nomes’ fabulos Faves of TwentyEleven meme. I think Maja and I will definitely miss our daily banter - ok, ok, not that we don’t banter anyway...
Today, the topic was The Randoms and it was so much fun. Can you tell us what was the most embarrassing cover of a book you’ve read this year? Or which one had the cliffhanger that made you want to tear your hair out the most?
Here are ours!


1. fave first sentence
Maja: “I was born during the second holocaust.” (Enclave by Ann Aguirre)
Lisa: “There’s nothing quite as good as folding up into a book and shutting the world outside. If I pick the right one I can be beautiful, or fall in love, or live happily ever after. Maybe even all three. If you can’t get a boy, get a book, that’s my motto.” (A Straight Line to my Heart by Bill Condon).
Ohh, so pretty! I can’t wait for the American edition. I just checked: 132 days to go.
I know this is more than one sentence but I thought it was worth sharing :D

2. fave book title
Maja: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
My Love Lies Bleeding by Alyxandra Harvey
Lisa: The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell
Blood Red Road by Moira Young
Funny how almost our favorite title have to do with BLOOD :D
Blood or Bible. :D
“The harvest is the end of this world
and the reapers are the angels.”
I think about that a lot. It’s very beautiful. Here’s another info about this book: the author chose his last name (obviously it’s a pseudonym) because he and his wife are huge fans of The Wire, and his wife likes Stringer Bell from that show. (Idris Elba, who doesn’t?)
Me, who’s never watched The Wire :P

3. fave reading experience (ie: created a great reading memory)
Maja: It would have to be one of my many readalongs. Probably The Glass Lake readalong with Lisa because the book was pure torture, but somehow it got us talking and we haven’t stopped since. So I’d say it was a good deal. One crappy book for my friend.
Lisa: I agree with Maja on this one. The Glass Lake was quite unforgettable. It was a frustrating book.

4. book with the best food in it (made you so crazy-envious-hungry)
Maja: Oh, that’s super easy. Hold me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride. Waffles, I want waffles!!! Apparently, I need to make some my own self.
Lisa: Ok, I’m going to start with the worst food. Drink Deep by Chloe Neill and her chocolate coated strips of bacon.
The best was probably in the Elemental Assassin #1, Spider’s Bite by Jennifer Estep. Her sandwiches and those... what were they? Help me Maja, you made them right?
Nooo, I made her apricot bars with vanilla ice cream. *faints*
Yup, I meant those. The sandwich had some banana involved I think.

5. book with the most sensual weather (made you shiver/sweat)
Maja: Shiver made me shiver! Duh! Seriously, Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. Everything is about the weather in that book and when Sam is cold, you’re cold too. Also, The Scorpio Races again by Maggie Stiefvater. The huge storm on a small island was described exceptionally well. But that’s what Maggie does best. :)
Lisa: The Reapers are the Angels. AGAIN. It felt really hot, in that land.

6. most embarrassing book cover (feeling sheepish in public or just plain ugly)
Maja: Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh. The cover and the title made it seem like I was reading soft porn. Which I was, but that’s beside the point.
Lisa: Nine Rules to Break when Romancing a Rake by Sarah McLean
Well the title pretty much sucks too so... the book wasn’t bad though, but I did not read it in public.
Haha, I was sure you’d go with The Harlot. :D
In the Harlot, the title is embarrassing. The cover is actually pretty nice.

7. can’t believe you waited this long to read the book (!)
Maja: A Little Wanting Song by Cath Crowley (Thanks, Lisa, for finally making me read it.)
Lament by Maggie Stiefvater
Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
Lisa: Why, Grimspace by Ann Aguirre!! Maja was going on and on and on about it and it took me forever to pick it up. That series is great!

8. book you'd give your mum/sister to read
Lisa: Unfortunately, no mum or sis to recommend books too but if I could it would be Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar, for sure. Even The Handmaid’s Tale... that’s another book I think everybody should read. Dystopia at its best.
Maja: I have to agree with Lisa, Raw Blue would be my choice. Other than that, Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta. I’m pretty sure my sister would love it.

9. book you'd give your dad/brother to read
Lisa: Knowing my dad, who is also a big fan of fantasy, although he leans more to the sci-fi faction, I’d like him to try Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews.
Maja: Genesis by Bernard Beckett for my brother. He adores that kind of thing.

10. book you'd like to give your past-self to read (ie, me, when I was 15)
Lisa: Suicide Notes by Michael Thomas Ford.
I’ve said this repeatedly, but this is a book all teens should read. I wish I’d read it in my teens and I hope to give it to my kids in a few years.
Maja: Yup, I have to agree with Lisa on this one. Definitely Suicide Notes and Brooklyn, Burning by Steve Brezenoff.
You know, I’ve read somewhere that Brooklyn, Burning is the book to watch for Printz honor this year. That would make me very happy.

11. book that lived up to (or superseded the hype)
Maja: Legend by Marie Lu
Lisa: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.
I’ll start by saying that Lips Touch: Three Times was rather mediocre for me. I never got taken away by the stories and even though the writing is fabulous, it left me quite indifferent. Daughter of Smoke and Bone changed my mind. Many people liked the first part better but for me it was right the contrary. The second part rocked. Sorry, Maja haven’t read yours but will soon.

12. book you stayed the latest to finish (confess!!!)
Lisa: I’m not sure but it might have been Saving June by Hannah Harrington
Maja: I always stay up late to read, so that’s really nothing out of the ordinary, but I seem to remember staying up to read Deadline much longer than I usually do.

13. book you were *dying* to get your hands on the most
Maja: Deadline by Mira Grant
Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews
Lisa: Easy one. Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning. I almost had an apoplexy at the end of Dreamfever and I ordered it with shaking hands... it took a whole week to get to my house. The longest week of my life, I tell ya.

14. fattest brick of a book you read (by page count)
Maja: I think the answer is the same for both of us here. GoodReads was kind enough to inform me that it’s The Glass Lake by Maeve Binchy. That was a very long readalong, haha, but I think it was our first! It was unforgettable, that’s for sure.
Lisa: Maja is certainly right. It was my first Binchy and it was quite an experience. The other brick, also quite an experience, though a more positive for me, was Froi of the Exiles.

15. killer cliffhanger award
Maja: Deadline by Mira Grant (Really, Seanan? What did we ever do to you?!)
Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta
Lisa: Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning - seriously, I wanted to crawl up the walls and tear all of my hair off. Second place goes to Deadline though, it was quite a cliffhanger... I am waiting for Blackout with my foot tapping though.

Ok girls, tomorrow will be - sadly - our last post for this event. It will be a most exciting one though, as each of us will choose her 10 favorite covers for this year. We hope you’ll join us and tell us which were yours!
Lisa and Maja

Faves of TwentyEleven: The Scenes

For today’s most entertaining post of Nomes’ Faves of TwentyEleven meme, Maja and I talk about our favorite scenes of some of the books we read this year.
Hey, did you know you’d have to put up with two long-winded ladies when you decided to read this post?



1. best first chapter
Lisa: The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell
Maja: Thyla by Kate Gordon
How I loved the first chapter of Thyla! I agree with you about The Reapers as well, that was one awesome beginning of an amazing story. It makes me so happy when I see someone reading that book. The first chapter of Thyla stayed with me because I was stunned by how well the thoughts of a character with complete amnesia were described.
Maybe I’ll use Thyla for my next TBR intervention, I need to read that book. I have to confess that I didn’t really have a best first chapter in mind before this post, but thinking about it, TRaTA was perhaps the most memorable. It was beautifully written, as the rest of the book, of course.

2. best climax
Lisa: Where She Went by Gayle Forman
Maja: Legend by Marie Lu - unputdownable!
Lament by Maggie Stiefvater
I was happy with how the book developed and how the story arc built to the conclusion. What a great book, loved it.

3. best ending
Lisa: Where She Went by Gayle Forman
Maja: Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park
I was so happy with the way things turned out in Flat-Out Love. I rarely feel completely satisfied with the way the author chooses to finish the novel, but I did with this novel. I felt that Park wrapped things up exceptionally well.
I was happy too, but the ending of Flat-Out Love wasn’t my favorite part of the book. I pointed that out in my review as well. That’s a book I’ll be re-reading though, as I was one of the few oblivious people who hadn’t guessed the plot twist! On the other hand, the end of Where She Went felt like the end of labor to me.

4. best plot twist/revelation (no spoilers!)
Lisa: The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
Maja: Deadline by Mira Grant
There was one scene, or rather a sentence in Deadline that left me frozen for about 30 seconds, and then I unfroze and started crying like a 2-year-old. I still feel such despair when I remember it.
Yeah, that too. I agree with you. But The Thief is the master of plot twists for me, maybe because I was on the brink of killing myself out of boredom when something hit me with an ax.
We really shouldn’t forget Fingersmith here. Some pretty surprising twists in that one.

5. scariest/most disturbing scene
Lisa: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Maja: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
Anna tearing a boy in two surrounded by those bodies buried in the walls is one of the scariest, most horrendous scenes I’ve ever read. I don’t really enjoy horror stories, and I haven’t read that many. I’m sure I could find much scarier stuff if I went looking for it, but I think I’ll pass. Anna was almost too scary for my fragile nerves.
Another one I have to read. Well, for me The Handmaid’s Tale is the most disturbing book of all times probably. In particular, the birth scene was pretty sick.

6. steamiest scene (or sweetest/sexiest kiss award)
Lisa: Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning
Maja: Riiiiight, like I could choose just one.
Cassie and Mircea - the shower scene (Curse the Dawn by Karen Chance)
Corine and Kel (Shady Lady by Ann Aguirre
I have to agree with Maja that this is a tough one, if only for the fact that I read The Harlot this year, where 90% of the book are steamy scenes. I’ll go with Barrons and Mac though, because the build-up tension nearly drove me crazy. Also, Cat and Bones on various occasions definitely held their ground.
Yeah, but that was last year. The new book was lame! Cassie and Mircea had an even steamier scene in one of the earlier books, but I didn’t read that in 2011.
What was last year? Cat and Bones? A YEAR already?! Geez.

7. best swoon-worthy moment
Lisa: The Tears in Heaven bit in Saving June by Hannah Harrington.
Maja: The ending of Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta
Deirdre and Luke in Lament by Maggie Stiefvater - the theatre scene (final)
Also, what Lisa said.
The Tears in Heaven scene was kinda cheesy but, sorry, I don’t care. I definitely swooned.
Cheesy is good! :D

8. biggest nail-biting moment
Lisa: Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning
Maja: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater.
I was so tense during the race scene (scene otherwise known as where-is-Sean-where-is-Sean-where-is-Sean-I-want-to-know-NOW) that I nearly jumped out of my own skin.
In the beginning of Shadowfever half of the entire population of the world wanted to know what had happened to Barrons!!


9. most hilarious scene
Lisa: can’t remember which Magic by Ilona Andrews - the bad kitty scene, I’d say
I’ll also have to add various scenes in the Jane True books but frankly, they’re too many to list.
Maja: Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich
Oh, man, where should I start? With Carl the monkey flipping people off all the time? Or the unskilled witch Gloria taking her customer’s ability to speak? (That lead to some pissed off mumbling!)
First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones - Danger and Will Robinson scene

10. most heart-breaking/tear-jerker moment
Lisa: Feed and The Knife of Letting Go
Maja: Obviously the van scene in Feed. I almost died.
Yeah, I have to agree that the van scene in Feed was really emotional. On the other hand, I really don’t need to tell anybody which scene I am referring to in The Knife of Letting Go because who’s read it would KNOW. And if they don’t, that means they are some heartless pseudo human beings and don’t deserve my consideration. There.
Ummmm, okay. Feeling better?!
Much, thanks :D

BONUS: favourite meet cute
Maja: Umm, those mostly happen in vanilla romances I don’t usually read, so I don’t have one. Lisa, you should write one for me, too. That’s your thing. :D
On second thought, I DO have one: Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson, when Lila falls down those stairs straight into Alex’s arms.
Lisa: HA! Maja, I strongly disagree with you on this one :D For example a very good one was how Kate and Curran met in Magic Bites. I loved that scene!
Yeah, only that was definitely not this year!
True, it was this year’s only for me. My bad :D
Lucky you. :( Still, I wouldn’t mind falling down those stairs into Alex’s waiting arms. (Btw, Flat Alex says hi.)
Yeah, Flat Barrons says hi too. He just put on his spiked bracelets and took off his shirt. I fainted a couple of times. Also, I think Missie wanted to see a picture of Barrons...
Everyone wants to see that pic. Please post now. NOW!

Enough said.
*faints again*.

Well, if you’re really sure that you can still put up with us after this, then I suggest you check out tomorrow’s post where we’ll ramble about The Randoms.

Neurotically yours,
Lisa and Maja

Faves of TwentyEleven: The Characters

Day #2 of Nomes’ fabulous Faves of TwentyEleven meme is dedicated to The Characters.
Who was the baddest villain for you this past year? Who the crush of all crushes?? Find out Maja’s and mine in this *short* conversation we had last night.

1. favourite female main character
Maja: Georgia Mason (Feed by Mira Grant)
Lisa: Josie Alibrandi (Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta)
Why am I not surprised by your choice? :D
Because you know me very, very well. I am, however, just a little bit surprised by
yours. I was sure you’d go with Francesca.
No, Looking for Alibrandi might be my favorite Marchetta ever. Francesca is slightly obnoxious so I didn’t pick her and so was George for me. :P
I was JUST going to say ‘and that’s why I love you’, when you wrote that thing about Georgia and forced me to reevaluate our entire friendship. It worries me.

2. favourite male main character
Maja: Froi (Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta)
Lisa: Froi (Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta)
What was the saying? Great minds...
I was 137% sure we’d make the same choice here.

3. best couple <3
Maja: Finnikin and Isaboe (Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta)
Lucy and Nicholas (My Love Lies Bleeding by Alyxandra Harvey)
Lisa: Kate and Curran (The Kate Daniels Series by Ilona Andrews)
I am sitting here pouting. How could I have forgotten the two of them? Shoot.
Yup, I am asking you the same thing :D Bad kitty.
That’s why I have you. So Kate and Curran for me as well, as a third couple. It’s a huge category, I can’t just pick one! Lucy and Nick are awesome. You should read that series. They’re what you call 3-neuron books.
Will do.

4. who I so want to be best friends with
Maja: Ed (I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak)

Lucy (Bleeding Hearts by Alyxandra Harvey)

Lisa: DJ Schwenk (Dairy Queen by Catherine Murdock)
I don’t know any of yours but I guess I should make my acquaintance with Ed soon.
Well, Ed reminds me of one of my favorite people in the world. It’s no wonder I chose him.

5. who i fell completely in love with (new literary crush)
Maja: Alex (Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson)

Venec (Tricks of the Trade by Laura Anne Gilman)

Lisa: sorry girls, I’m gonna have to make a distinction here. My ADULT literary crush is still Barrons from The Fever Series, I’m afraid. Talk about an Alpha. My Young Adult literary crush is a new entry and would be Sam Henry from Catching Jordan, I think. Tucker Avery from Unearthly (not Hallowed, mind) would be a close second.
I guess the same goes for mine since Alex is more on the YA side, and Venec is anything but. There’s always Mircea Basarab, of course, but he’s not exactly a NEW crush.

6. worst (best & baddest) villain
Maja: Bestiano (Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta)
Lisa: Moses (The Reapers Are The Angels by Alden Bell)
ok, this is simultaneously best and baddest for me. Right as it says. I felt very ambivalent throughout the whole book in regard to Moses. But Bestiano is a kick-ass villain for sure.
Same here about Moses. I understood him pretty well, though. He didn’t really feel like a villain.

7. best character twist (who you loved then hated or vice versa)
Maja: Mrs. Sucksby (Fingersmith by Sarah Waters)
Lisa: Mac (The Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning)
Mrs. Sucksby didn’t make my list because I never liked her. Mac, on the other hand, I despised with a fiery passion at the beginning. She grows a lot.
Actually, I hated Mac pretty much the entire time. Maybe it was a little less towards the end, but I certainly didn’t love her at any point.
I have one word to say to you: Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. And it’s not even a word! But then again, you didn’t like Barrons either. Pfft.

8. best kick-arse female
Maja: Kate Daniels (Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews)
Lisa: Kate Daniels (The Kate Daniels Series by Ilona Andrews)
DUH. Again: Bad kitty.
Well, what?!? I chose the right one this time!
I’d have asked for divorce if you’d said anything else.

9. best kick-arse male
Maja: Curran (Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews)
Lisa: Barrons (The Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning)
Well, well. I guess we already established I’m Team Barrons and you’re Team Curran. I do love Curran too, but Barrons... mhhhhh. Do I need to paste the picture AGAIN?!
We always need that picture! Still, definitely Curran. Mircea can be pretty awesome too when he so chooses, but he prefers politics and Armani suits over fighting. Yum.

10. broke your heart the most
Maja: Shaun Mason (Deadline by Mira Grant)
Carly (Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar)
Lisa: Charlie (Please ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King)
I’m kinda surprised you chose Shaun, to be honest. I’d have chosen George from that series.
It was a tight competition. Eventually I chose Charlie because my heart was broken by how he was victim of his upbringing.
You know I can’t explain my choice without writing spoilers, but if you think about it, it’ll make perfect sense.
Not if you rememeber that I completely missed the hint :D actually, ALL the hints.

11. favourite pet/animal character award
Maja: Fang (Demon Underground by Parker Blue)
Grendel (Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews)
Lisa: Manchee (The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness)
Todd? Todd? There was NEVER a competition for me on this one. I’m still crying.
Oh, man, but you haven’t met Fang! I think you’d like him, he has a great sense of humor.

12. best YA parents award
Maja: Lena’s parents (Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys)
Lisa: Reggie and Bull (A Straight Line to my Heart by Bill Condon)
Ok, mine are not strictly parents - they’re respectively the foster father and foster brother, but they were so much better than any other parents I’ve encountered this year.
Well, with Lena’s parents, only her mother was there most of the time. Her father was absent, but we got to learn things about him through her memories. There were almost no parents to choose from, right?
Well, there were but almost all of them suffered from the “Disappearing Parent Syndrome” which I dislike.

13. favourite sibling relationship
Maja: George and Shaun Mason (Feed by Mira Grant)
Lisa: Sam and Riddle Border (I’ll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan)
I don’t know them! I’m pouting now. :)
Says the woman whose majority of books I haven’t read. Sam and Riddle’s relationship was touching and heart-breaking.


14. favourite best friends/friendship award
Maja: Sirantha Jax and Velith (Aftermath by Ann Aguirre)
Lisa: Sam and Jordan (Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally)
Or how I would have loved for such a hot best friend to sneak into my bed in the middle of the night, just to sleep head to toe. Velith is awesome too but I’d like to hug my friends and insects are not included in hug carnet.
Their friendship becomes even more awesome in time, you just haven’t read that far yet. Maybe next year. :D
That doesn’t change the fact that he’s an insect. :D
Oh, hush, he even learns to hug. :P

15. best/worst character names
Maja: BEST - Deirdre Monaghan (Lament by Maggie Stiefvater)
Sirantha Jax (Grimspace by Ann Aguirre)
WORST- Daemon (Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout)
Rebekkah (Graveminder by Melissa Marr)
Lisa: BEST - Sirantha Jax (Grimspace by Ann Aguirre)

Riddle Border (I’ll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan)

WORST - Cricket Bell and Lola Nolan (Lola and The Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins) ---- I mean, seriously?!

Merit (The Chicagoland Vampires Series by Chloe Neill) ---I’m still wondering why anybody would call herself like a brand of cigarettes... and bad ones at that. Hi, I’m Camel!

Oh, yes, true. Merit is a horrible, horrible name. But still, Rebekkah and Byron!

Bonus: best love triangle
Maja: Honestly, there’s no such thing as a good love triangle, but if I have to choose one, then I say Kara/Ryan/Ryzkahl from the Kara Gillian series by Diana Rowland. It is extremely well done and not very angsty. I don’t like it, but I can live with it, unlike so many others.
I have two faves: The first is from Flat-Out Love, Julie/Matt/Finn because it was an errrrr, unusual love triangle. Kinda.
The second one is Lennie/Joe/Toby from The Sky is Everywhere because... well, for the same reason as the first one. They were different from one another but definitely not canonical.

If you, once more, were so gracious to enjoy our ramblings about characters, you might be interested in checking out tomorrow’s topic of conversation: The Scenes!

Have a great day,
Lisa and Maja