Tuesday, July 16, 2013

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.

Rippler (Ripple, #1)  Chameleon (Ripple, #2)  Unfurl (Ripple, #3)
 
Saving Mars (Saving Mars, #1)  Defying Mars (Saving Mars, #2)  Losing Mars (Saving Mars, #3)

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!

Ophelia    Cate of the Lost Colony  Lady Macbeth's Daughter
 
Two Girls of Gettysburg 

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.

Wildefire (Wildefire, #1)  Embers and Echoes (Wildefire, #2)  Afterglow (Wildefire, #3)

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.


 
Mistwood (Mistwood, #1)  Nightspell (Mistwood, #2)  Buried Above Ground: A Nightspell Novella  Two and Twenty Dark Tales: Dark Retellings of Mother Goose Rhymes

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!

 
Dreamland Social Club  The Best Night of Your (Pathetic) Life  The Pursuit of Happiness  What Happens Here

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 CastleShe 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.

I Capture the Castle  The New Moon With the Old  The Hundred and One Dalmatians

It Ends With Revelations  The Town in Bloom

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!

Prom Dates from Hell (Maggie Quinn: Girl Vs. Evil #1)  Hell Week (Maggie Quinn: Girl Vs. Evil #2)  Highway to Hell (Maggie Quinn: Girl Vs. Evil #3)
 
The Splendor Falls  Texas Gothic  Spirit and Dust

8.  Cat PatrickCat 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.

Forgotten  Revived  The Originals  Just Like Fate

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.

The Gathering Storm (Katerina, #1)  The Unfailing Light (Katerina, #2)  The Morning Star (Katerina, #3)

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.

The Madman's Daughter (The Madman's Daughter, #1)  Her Dark Curiosity (The Madman's Daughter, #2)


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! :)

11 comments:

  1. I didn't even THINK to put Karsten on my list! BUt you are so right! And he's so funny!

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  2. Never heard of any of these! Maybe they really DO deserve some more recognition. A Raskin and Ibbotson fan? I'll be sure to check out some of your own recs. :)

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  3. I haven't heard of any of these authors. The books by Robin Bridges look interesting! Thanks for sharing.

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  4. I haven't heard of most of these authors, but I've been meaning to read The Madman's Daughter for awhile.

    Thanks for the follow, I followed back :)

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  5. Wow! I haven't heard of any of these except the last one. Bravo! Now I have a few to add to my TBR list!

    Following via Bloglovin' and Twitter

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  6. I’ve heard of Karsten Knight, Cat Patrick, And Robin Bridges, and all three authors are on my TBR shelf.

    I’ve seen the cover of Texas Gothic before as well, but I’m not sure you’d count that as having ‘heard’ about the author… it might be on my tbr. Not sure and too lazy to check.

    OMG, I LOVE MISTWOOD!!!!!

    And Cidney Swanson’s books look really interesting. I’ll have to see if my library has anything by her.

    Thanks for stopping by TTT! :)

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  7. I only know one of these authors. Clearly, I need to remedy this problem right away. TBR list just got longer :)

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  8. I haven't heard of any of these authors, but some of those books are on my TBR shelf! I'm following through Bloglovin'! Thanks for stopping by! :)

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  9. So glad you stopped by our blog last week - I can already tell from reading yours that we have a lot in common as readers. SO great to hear you talking about YA historical fiction - it is sadly out of fashion at the moment. I can't wait to follow up on some of these recommendations!
    -Meg @ Mad but Magic

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    1. Glad to see someone else commiserating about historical YA! :) Occasionally you get one like Code Name Verity, but now I feel like authors are hesitant to lean toward that direction without making it into a steampunk book instead. And I'm not really such a fan of steampunk! So I'm always glad to find a good YA author writing a historical.

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  10. So better to comment late then never..

    EpicReads did a TeaTime show about Megan Shephard`s book which was the only way I heard about it. Already added both to my wishlist on Amazon.

    I went an added Robin Bridges to my list as well strictly based on the Russian history aspect of her novels.

    I bought Wildfire by Karsten Knight for a friend.. now I think I will steal it back and get the rest of the series. I had no idea this was a male author ( not very many YA Males out there)

    Welcome to the Top Ten Tuesday Family, thanks to the Broke and Bookish for creating such an amazing meme that brings people together.

    New Follower

    Also you have Captcha on so some people wont comment because those things get frustrating.

    Ashley and Sean
    @Bookz4Nerdz and @Nerdz_for_Bookz

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Comments are much appreciated and I always read them with a smile on my face! :) While I appreciate the thought, this an award-free blog as well. I just don't have the time to keep up with it. Thank you for my smiles and please share your thoughts! Also, sorry for the Captcha, but I've been getting a lot of spam lately!