The Inarticulate List of the Best Books I Read in 2013

In honor of a new year, here are the best books I found in 2013. These are mostly inarticulate reviews where I gush over how much I adore each of them and refrain from asking each author if we can please, maybe, you know, hang out or something.

How did I make my selections? I read so darn much that it's not easy...except that it is. My best-of-2013 books are the ones I remember best. They're the ones that stayed with me long after I read. The ones I pressed into other readers' hands.

Here they are:

1. Code Name Verity

This book killed me, in all the best ways possible. The writing was gorgeous, the story was incredible. I'm itching to go back through and figure out what all the capital letters mean. Seriously. My favorite find of 2013, and one of the best books I've read in a long, long time.


2. The Raven Boys

I'll be honest-- I didn't love SHIVER enough to read the whole series. I wanted so badly to like SCORPIO RACES, but somehow I put the book down and never picked it back up (maybe it was just a bad time for me?), but this book blew me away. It was one of those up till 3AM reads. I just started on DREAM THIEVES this week, and the series...just wow. The world building is amazing. My favorite character is the vintage Camaro. *swoon*

3. No Good Duke Goes Unpunished

Yeah, I know it's not YA. I don't just read YA. Romance is what made me want to write, so I read a lot of it. I have dreams of being able to write a historical (I've tried, I can't--just not my voice), but this book. I LOVE this book. Love the whole series, but this one especially. Tortured Duke and a scene in a boxing ring... um...yes, please.

4. Beautiful Ruins

This book. I mean, it makes me want to write straight literary. It's just beautifully, beautifully done, and set in Italy. Which, let's face it, is my weakness. Again, not YA...so sue me.

5. Dirty Little Secret

You guys, this book blew me away. I don't like country music, and I was hooked right from the very beginning. Hooked, I tell you. This book is wonderful, full stop. Go. Buy. Read.


6. The Blood Keeper

Last, but definitely not least, is Tessa Gratton's follow up to BLOOD MAGIC. This bad boy has been sitting on my shelf for WAY too long. I got it when it first came out and then set it aside, because I knew once I started, I was going to have to finish it. Gratton is a master, an absolute master of language. Her writing is just gorgeous--lush and tumbling over itself in a graceful way that makes me insanely jealous. One day we will meet and I will stand there for a moment, dumbstruck before I do the stupid fangirl thing and make an ass of myself. And that will ruin any chance of us ever being bffs. But I won't care. Seriously. She's that good.