Authors of 2013

Well, another year has come and gone, but boy was it a good year for YA books! Some of my favorite books have come out of 2013, which makes me only a million times more excited for what next year is going to bring. Obviously, we would be nowhere without the amazing authors behind these books, so as this year is finishing up, I've decided to celebrate some of my favorite authors of 2013. Let's have a round of applause for them!

So, without further ado, here are Books, A Novel Idea's Authors of 2013!

-Veronica Roth
When you can take a risk like she did and it pays off so well, you definitely earn a spot on the Authors of 2013 list! Not only did Veronica finish her best-selling series this year, but the Divergent trilogy really went out with a bang (no pun intended). She's an amazing writer, and I can't wait to see what's ahead for her. Also, every time I remember that Divergent the movie comes out in 2014, I can't help but squeal in excitement.

-Rainbow Rowell
So she published two books in 2013, and not only that, but they were all everyone could talk about this year! Now, I've only read Fangirl, but that alone made me love Rainbow with all my heart. And Eleanor and Park is on my Christmas list/to be read list so I'll get to that hopefully soon. Did I mention that Fangirl (her second novel) was the very first book in the Tumblr book club? Super big deal!

-John Green
Okay, so John didn't exactly have anything published this year but I still feel like this was the Year of John Green. To me, it seemed like he was everywhere (and I really wouldn't have it any other way). This was the year The Fault in Our Stars was made into a movie to be released next year, ergo, this year should go down in history. Oh, and the poster was released yesterday so feel free to freak out with me about it!

(raise you hand if you cried when you saw this! *raises both hands and a foot*)

Also, the Vlogbrothers were up to so much this year, I can't even sum it up in one post! Including Project for Awesome which just ended yesterday and raised money for charity. Gotta love the Green brothers!

-J.K. Rowling
Yes, her new book wasn't a YA book or anything, but girlfriend managed to publish a book without ANY OF US KNOWING.Why do I feel like MI6 was somehow involved in that? So she gets a thousand props for being able to pull that off AND because her book was fantastic (so I've heard from multiple reliable sources- it's also on my TBR list).

-Maureen Johnson
If you do not follow this woman on Twitter, then we can't be friends. But for real. I feel like all I do is respond to or retweet her tweets, but because the woman is hysterical. And she has a super cute puppy named Zelda. Oh and she's written one of my favorite series (aka my go to recommendation), The Shades of London series, and 2013 was the year that the second book came out. I mighta kinda sorta threw the book across the room after reading it, and I won't be the same until the next book comes out (fingers crossed that it's in 2014!).

Honorable Mentions:
-Sarah Rees Brennan- because of this awesome article and because this was the year I discovered The Lynburn Legacy series and fell in love.
-Cassandra Clare- because this is the year that Clockwork Princess came out and City of Bones was made a movie and was awesome and perfect so yeah.

So now, for next week, the day after Christmas, I will be reading and reviewing Weaver by Katherine Arandez (synopsis from her website).

As a sorceress of Kervanian descent, Kate Merin's reality has always been a bit more than the average human's. But her life is turned upside down when she and her two brothers, Albert and Micheal, stumble across a portal in the woods which transports them back to 465 BH (Late Cretaceous era). There, they find the earth inhabited by their ancestors, the Kervanians, a race originally from the far-off moon of Kervanis. 

The three siblings must now team up with their predecessors in their quest to return home. Along the way, they face magic they never knew existed, brave dangers they never imagined, and discover things about themselves and their family that they never could have guessed. 

Kate soon learns, however, that there were far greater forces than an old, faulty Portal working to send them back to the Cretaceous period, and that she and her family have been chosen to play a great role in a vast plan orchestrated by an extremely powerful being. The only question is: Will Kate survive long enough to fulfill her destiny while caught in the middle of a war spanning countless millenia and several universes?


-Annie

Allegiant, by Veronica Roth

Or this post might be more appropriately named, "Why Allegiant couldn't have ended any differently".

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS. LIKE BIG TIME SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

4.5/5 stars

Another series has come and gone, but very few have gone out in such a bang as Allegiant did. Veronica Roth took a risk and did something we rarely see in YA fiction: she killed off her main, point of view, character, and I bow down to her for it. I have a lot to say about that, but let me start with this: The book couldn't have ended differently. No matter how upset you are or how much you hate Veronica Roth now, this is the ending she thought would best suit the story, and she's one hundred percent vindicated for it. You can (and should because it's quite beautiful) read her response here. 

Don't get me wrong, I cried like a baby. So much so that I had to make myself a cup of tea and watch the entirety of Dirty Dancing at 3 a.m. in order to stop feeling so upset. But I love that Tris died, and I love how it ended, so if you want to hate me for that, go for it. 

Here's what I liked: First off, I really liked the entire genetic experiment plot line. It was completely unexpected and I thought it was a realistic concept for what was outside the city. There was also a lot of room for all that drama to go down so that was a nice touch, and I appreciate her adding some interesting new characters to the story. I loved that Tobias forgave his mother. I never hated Evelyn, I disliked the lengths she was willing to go to to "save" the city, but I never hated her. She was doing what she thought was best. But I'm glad that she and Tobias were able to put it in the past and patch up their relationship, it was what Tobias needed. With his father being the awful human that he was, and Tris dying, it wouldn't have been fair to leave Tobias all on his own. 

What I didn't like: I love that it was in dual point of view, but I feel like there wasn't a lot of difference in tone between Tobias and Tris. Now, it wasn't horrible and I could still tell whose POV we were in, but it would have been nice to see a difference in the way they thought (though maybe that makes them even more perfect together?). That's the short list of what I didn't like, and we can now move on to my spiel on Tris's death.

This is important. Rule number one. If you never take away anything from any of these posts but this, that would be okay. Never, never, never threaten an author because you didn't like the way a book ended. Threats aren't okay, guys, and from what I've heard, Veronica got a lot of them. Like I said before, she wrote what would best serve the book and she planned this from the very beginning of the series. You're all entitled to your own opinions, and emotional responses are the best, but just don't threaten writers because you didn't like their decisions. Not cool. 

Now here's why I think Tris's death was possibly one of the greatest things to happen in YA history, and maybe what caused this book to head to the top of my favorite series list: It was the ultimate sacrifice. Like the lovely Shailene Woodley said in an interview, Tris is constantly battling between being fearless and being selfless, being Dauntless or Abnegation. In the end, she didn't have to choose between the two, they were both a part of who she was. By sacrificing her life for her city and the people she loved, she was fearless and selfless, a true member of both factions. Tris gives a beautiful speech before she dies that really shows why this had to happen. On page 473, she says, "She [her mother] taught me all about real sacrifice. That is should be done from love, not misplaced disgust for another person's genetics. That is should be done from necessity, not without exhausting all other options. That is should be done for people who need your strength because they don't have enough of their own." This is a completely different girl from the start of the series, this is a woman who has been through hell and back and has made the decision to do what's best for other people. And she's not terrified, she accepts it. Hello, character development. Also as a side note, Tobias's reaction is heartbreaking and very real. He's angry and he's numb and he carries it with him forever. That part was, to me, harder to read than the actual death scene itself. Four for you Veronica Roth, you go Veronica Roth. (Other side note, if you really want to have a good cry, read the death scene and listen to "Oblivion" by Bastille... and then prepare for the waterworks)

Those are my thoughts, and you can agree or disagree as much as you want. I just think it was a poetic ending and I wouldn't want to change a thing. I could talk about this book for days, and I would like to apologize to the people who are still having to listen to me talk about it. So, thank you, Veronica. Thank you for taking the risk and having the guts to write your story the way it wanted to be written. Thank you for letting us all be a part of Tris's life and adventures, the good and the bad. Thank you.

-Annie