Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This is the very first meme that I am participating and I am so freaking excited. 

Continue after the break to see the top ten New to Me Favorite Authors of 2012...

YAY! 

This list is in no particular order - I used my Good Reads 2012 challenge to see which books I read in 2012 and simply went down the line... =]

1.  Suzanne Collins - Is it possible that I only read The Hunger Games in 2012? Had I been living under a rock until March, when I finally got around to reading and finishing it? Apparently. Wow. So, yeah. I think that this entry goes without explanation.
2. Sylvia Day - Ohhh, yeah. After I devoured the Fifty Shades trilogy (judge me, I don't care!), I was absolutely desperate to find something similar that would quench my thirst for this new to me, ahem, genre. Thanks to Amazon's recommendations, I picked up Bared To You and fell completely in love with Gideon and Eva's relationship. I found their story so much more compelling than Christian and Ana's and, not trying to bash E.L. James or anything, discovered that Sylvia Day's writing style was more to my liking. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait around for the sequel Reflected In You and loved it as well. I will be anxiously awaiting Entwined With You - which is set to be released in May 2013... Or maybe... possibly... hopefully... I'll be able to snag an ARC? Here's to wishful thinking!
3. Cassandra Clare - Much like with Suzanne Collins, it took me until June 2012 to crack open my copy of City of Bones. I don't think that I need to go into much detail here either... I haven't finished the Mortal Instruments series yet and as of this past weekend, I finished Clockwork Angel which I fell absolutely in love with. And I've got to say... Jamie Campbell Bower is starting to grow on me as Jace!
4. Beth Fantaskey - If you are a fan of The Vampire Academy series, I very strongly suggest that you find a copy of Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side. I admit that the title sounded a bit hokey to me... but it is not a representation of the story, I promise you! I absolutely adored the romance between Jessica and Lucius... and loved that many of the events took place not too far from my home town! 
5. Marissa Meyer - Words cannot express how surprised I was by Cinder. I was not expecting to love it and I did. If you're a fan of Firefly and haven't checked out Cinder yet, I strongly suggest it! I will definitely be checking out Scarlet when it comes out next year.
6. Rachel Hartman - There was a ton of buzz surrounding Rachel Hartman's debut novel, Seraphina... for good reason. Hartman built a surprisingly complex world and filled with it unique characters and fantastical races that I haven't really encountered before. I have yet to read another Young Adult fantasy of such epic proportions (think Lord of the Rings) - if there are others out there, specifically targeted to the YA audience, please let me know! 
7. Sylvain Reynard - Oh. My. God. Guys, seriously! If you're a fan of Sylvia Day and E.L. James, and you have not read Sylvain Reynard - what, what, WHAT are you doing?! After reading about Professor Gabriel Emerson, I'm like, Christian Who? Words cannot express how much I love Gabriel's Inferno and Gabriel's Rapture. When put up against other erotica novels, Reynard stands out to me because of how poetic and beautiful his writing style is. Not to mention the fact that he is one of the most accessible authors in social media (at least, in my opinion) - he responds to fan tweets all day long. The fact that he takes time out of his day (and away from writing the third installment........) to connect with his fans means a lot to me. Sylvain Reynard is one of my favorite contemporary/romance authors of 2012... if not, of all time. To follow Sylvain on Twitter - @sylvainreynard
8. Lauren Oliver - While I enjoyed The Hunger Games, I have to admit that Lauren Oliver is the one who made the dystopian genre enjoyable for me. I loved Delirium and I'm really happy that my book club chose to read it. Otherwise, it would still be collecting dust on my shelf simply because I was not a huge fan of dystopia. 
9. Lauren Barnholdt - If you've been following my blog, you know that I've been on a total contemporary kick. I picked up Two-way Street by chance and threw it in my purse on a whim.... and read it in 4 hours. Seriously. I loved the story and thought it was an amazing introduction to Barnholdt. 
10. And.... I can't find another new to me author that would classify as a favorite... So, uh... I'm going to go ahead and substitute this final slot with a "new to me television show!" (Drum roll, please...) Doctor Who! I've only just gotten to David Tennant's episodes and I'm actually kind of sad to see Christopher Eccleston go. And yes, I realize that Tennant and Matt Smith are by far the most popular Doctors so I guess I'll have to just keep on watching. And speaking of that.......

Have you read any of the authors I mentioned - what are your thoughts? Who are your favorite authors of 2012?!? 

Happy reading!

-Alyssa