My Year in Books: Favorite Adult Releases + Giveaway

It's that time of the year - time to make long lists of favorites. 2012 has been a very good year bookwise (and otherwise). Today I'll share with you my favorite adult releases and offer you a chance to win one of them. As you'll see, most of them are Urban Fantasy, but it's my favorite genre so you can't really blame me for that. So, here they are, in no particular order:

    

1.   Third Grave Dead Ahead (Charley Davidson, #3) by Darynda Jones
Darynda released two Charley Davidson books in 2012, Third Grave Dead Ahead and Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet, but I chose Third Grave simply because it made me laugh more. There's not much I can say about this series that hasn't been said already except that I recently got my hands on the entire series on audio and enjoyed it immensely. The narrator, Lorelei King, is among the very best. Rereading this never gets old. Make sure to give Charley a chance.

2.     Blackout (Newsflesh, #3) by Mira Grant
I was ready to sell my soul for this arc and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Newsflesh is hands down my favorite trilogy ever. Yes, EVER. What Mira Grant did cannot be repeated. Not only did her ode to truth, loyalty and love cause too many emotional outbursts to count, it brought me closer to a few people that add value to my life. Therefore, I do not exaggerate in the least when I say that Newsflesh was a life-changing trilogy for me.

3.        Endgame (Sirantha Jax, #6) by Ann Aguirre
Everyone knows how I feel about Ann Aguirre's writing, and I discovered her through her Sirantha Jax series, which gives it a very special place in my heart. This book has everything I love about Aguirre: complex characters, fantastic worlds and writing that takes your breath away on every page. It was hard to say goodbye to Jax, but I'm so happy with where we left her. In these cold winter days, romantic sci-fi might be exactly what you need.

    

4.       Fair Game (Alpha and Omega, #3) by Patricia Briggs
Five stars! Six stars! Best book Briggs has ever written. I never thought I'd say this, but I liked the third Alpha & Omega book much more than any of her Mercy Thompson books. River Marked, the last Mercy book, released in 2011, can't even be compared to this. And to think that I didn't even like Charles OR Anna when the series started. In Fair Game, Briggs threw Charles and Anna right in the middle of an FBI investigation (as consultants, not suspects!) and made a series that started out as just another paranormal romance so much more interesting.

5.       Chasing Magic (Downside Ghosts, #5) by Stacia Kane
Kane released two Downside books this year, but I had to choose one so I went with the last one, Chasing Magic, although I liked Sacrificial Magic just as much. Chess is not always an easy character to like. She lies and she cheats like all drug addicts, and like all abuse victims, she has severe confidence issues. But there are moments when we get to see who she might have become had her childhood been any different, and those brief glimpses of what lies underneath make a world of difference. In all honesty, this series is in a league of its own.  I'm forever grateful to my friend Catie for making me read it.

6.        Summoning the Night (Arcadia Bell, #2) by Jenn Bennett
Every so often, but not nearly often enough, a new author takes me completely by surprise. Jenn Bennett is one of them. Although I enjoyed the first book in this series, it was just an okay read, but then Summoning the Night came and turned me into a huge fan. My favorite thing about this series is that it has a steady, drama-free romance and a young family at its center. It is highly unusual if not unheard of in urban fantasy, and I'm hoping it'll start some kind of trend.

    

Aaaand, that's all, folks. I'd also like to mention Devil's Punch (Corine Solomon, #4) by Ann Aguirre and The Janus Affair (Ministry of Peculiar Occurences, #2) by Philippa Ballantine and Tee Morris. Devil's Punch was a fantastic, five star read that wasn't included in the main list simply because I already had one of Ann Aguirre's book. These titles are included in the giveaway. If you haven't started any of these series but want to, you can choose to win the first book instead. 

This Saturday, December 29th, I will be posting my (much longer) list of favorite young adult releases with another giveaway. Make sure to stop by. 


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