Top Ten Tuesday #1

     Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly event hosted by The Broke and The Bookish, which allows bloggers to share lists of some of our favorite things.  This week we’ll be highlighting authors whom we feel deserve more recognition.

     So guys, this is my first time participating in this particular meme! :)  I figured since these are such a big part of blogging and being social within the community, that I should be more active with the weekly memes and visit some other blogs.  This week's topic is: Top Ten Authors Who Deserve More Recognition.  All of these authors are linked to their Goodreads profiles, so that you can get further information if interested! :)


Top Ten Authors Who Deserve More Recognition

1.  Cidney Swanson - With the amount of love out there for paranormal/fantasy/sci-fi floating out in the blogosphere especially, you'd think that Cidney Swanson would be a lot more known than she is! :)  I discovered her when I won her first book, Rippler on LibraryThing.  I was an immediate fan of her writing.  And her second series was set on a colonized Mars!  Anyone who likes fantasy should check her out.

   

 

   

2.  Lisa M. Klein - She writes some awesome YA historical fiction, which seems like it has been on the verge of completely out of fashion lately.  I just never hear all that much about her, even though she covers such a wide range of subjects.  My favorite book of hers was set in the lost colony of Roanoke.  She has also written books about Ophelia, a daughter of Lady Macbeth (if she'd had one), and book about a girl who's friends with Shakespeare.  Historical fiction fans should definitely try her out!

     

 

 

3.  Karsten Knight - His first series of books (#3 hasn't been released yet) is about Gods and Godesses reincarnated as teenagers.  The main character, Ashline, is a Polynesian volcano Goddess.  It's an action packed, thrill ride with fun characters and great writing.  It's also a LOT better than most of the highly marketed mythology reads in YA (I could name one Harlequin Teen series in particular...).  He definitely deserves to be more well-known.

    

4.  Leah Cypess - She is an author of high fantasy and her first book, Mistwood, was one of my favorite reads of 2011.  It's just as exciting as Grave Mercy by R.L. LaFevers and has some wonderful mystery and characters in it.  Definitely an author to keep watch on.  I loved the companion novel to it just as much and her short story in the Two And Twenty Dark Tales anthology was deliciously chilling and I'm eagerly awaiting her new book in 2014.  More people should be reading her, especially high fantasy fans, as that genre can seem stale at times for lack of ingenuity.



 

      

5.  Tara Altebrando - Tara is an author who has written a few books, but the one I first read by her Dreamland Social Club is one of the most interesting contemporary YA fictions I've read in the couple years since I joined Goodreads.  It's full of lush descriptions and is all about one family's journey to overcome a major loss.  She has a way of making words become magical and just walk off the page, full of life.  I highly recommend her to fans of Sarah Dessen who want something a tad more whimsical where the setting is basically another main character!

 

      

6.  Dodie Smith - So, I'm rocking it a little old-school with a classic YA author here.  But I feel like when people are cramming classics down your throat they're missing a couple of serious gems with this British author.  She definitely has a unique form of writing, with no two of her books being in the same layout.  One of my top ten coming of age books is her story, I Capture the Castle.  She captures the ache of being caught between teen and adult perfectly - plus this book has some of the wackiest, most loveable characters I have ever read.  I recommend this to anyone who wants a great classic for their to-read list.  And if you like her, check out The New Moon with the Old as well.  A great author who is overlooked all too often.

   

  

7.  Rosemary Clement-Moore - Moore's writing is something I've checked out of the library and seen at my local Barnes and Noble on occasion.  It's not something I really see talked about that often though.  Which is surprising, given the great sense of humor and interesting plots she manages to come out with in her novels.  She mainly writes paranormal fiction, but always has a fresh twist on things.  I'm always interested to read something new written by her and wish more people knew about her awesome books!

   

 

    

8.  Cat Patrick - Cat is one of the authors I am most excited about in YA right now.  Every book she writes has an interesting, and completely fresh premise.  It makes me excited as a reader to know that anytime I pick up one of her books I'm in for a great story and it will be completely different than the one before it.  She writes really awesome characters, that make you feel like they're standing right next to you and her novels also have plenty of action.  She deserves to be spotlighted at the bookstore and needs to be getting WAY more attention than she is right now from popular culture!  I feel like her books could be used as tools for reluctant readers especially, if only more people knew about her.

      

9.  Robin Bridges - Another author that is on her first series, but it is such a good one I have to mention her to y'all.  She is so underplayed it's not even funny!  Necromancers, shapshifters, vampires, dark and light fae in the Imperial Court of Russia in the late 1800s.  Her attention to historical detail, Russian lineage/naming differences and realism in her settings is wonderful (never becoming tedious, thank God!).  Also, it is definitely different from any other paranormal fiction series that I've read or had recommended to me.  Katerina is such a strong main character, who longs to be a doctor.  There is also some swoony romance in these books.  I feel like a broken record, but once again I just wish more people knew about this series.  I feel like it could have immense popularity, but I had to fight to find the second one at any library near me.  It took almost a year after publication before I could read it, which is always sad to a reader.

    

10.  Megan Shepherd - So far she has only published one book, but her next is slated for release in January 2014 and I am beyond excited to read it!  I was unsure what to expect from an author whose book was inspired by/based on The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells.  Having a YA novel based on a classic is very hit or miss.  Shepherd definitely hit the mark head on with it though!  She is an exciting new voice in the genre of horror, especially the YA subsect of horror which is scandalously lacking at times.  Great descriptive language, settings, characters and a plot that leaves you shivering with anticipation.  I just wish the publisher marketed her better, because if my local B&N is anything to go by, she's not being spotlighted very much.

  

What about all of you guys?  Who are the ten authors you think are underappreciated/not recognized enough?  I can't wait to read all your lists and discover some new reading material!  Happy Tuesday y'all and it was great hangin' out with you! :)