So I recently started a book review/critique/commentary blog on LiveJournal (check it out HERE) and I'm looking for lots of book recommendations to expand my list. I'll give anything a try (except manga - don't even get me started) so suggest away.

If you're looking to narrow down your list of recommendations for me a little, here are some of my preferred things to read:

Genres

Romance (yes, even Harlequins) Supernatural Science Fiction/Fantasy Mystery Suspense Thriller

Authors

Tess Gerritsen J. R. Ward Michael Crichton Michael Palmer Robin Cook Daniel Kalla Dennis Lehane Lori Foster

Books/Series

The Black Dagger Brotherhood Series by J. R. Ward The Shack by Wm. Paul Young Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton Blood Lies by Daniel Kalla The House of Night Series by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins Gravity by Tess Gerritsen Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

So, please, fire away! Ping me when you reply. :)

Thank you in advance!

Warning: The following post is long, detailed, and more than a bit rambling. Continue at your own risk. :D

The Knife of Never Letting Go: Chaos Walking: Book One by Patrick Ness is a fantastic read! Part suspense, part thriller, and all around weird / science fiction. Very unique writing style and story idea, I enjoyed the twisty plot with new, shocking surprises every chapter. There are two other books in the series, and I have already read the Ask and the Answer and found it to be amazing!

Also, if you haven't already read the Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins, I would highly recommend that series. Action-packed sci-fi, but with enough real life feeling to make you relate, a very well-written trilogy. Teeming with emotional highs and lows, a really pounding set of stories.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is another amazing book. More biographical fiction with a hint of romance added. There's so much in so little of a book--one of my all-time favorite reads (and I've read many a book, so...).

Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley is a romantic re-telling of the classic Beauty and the Beast story. Quite unconventional (I thought) in its mood and wording, but comes together to make a fantastic story that will leave you sighing. :D

My sister really enjoyed the City of Ember books. Action, sci-fi, fantasy books (my sister says, I haven't had the time to read them yet), so maybe worth a try.

I personally enjoyed Crown Duel and Court Duel by Sherwood Smith. A fantasy / romance duo that are sweet without being nauseating. Also, great adventure chapters! Main character is a sarcastic strong heroine you will quickly come to love.

Why I Let My Hair Grow Out and How I Found the Perfect Dress by Maryrose Wood are great quirky romance books with a fantasy twist. Funny, sarcastic character makes for very enjoyable reads.

The Pendragon series (12+ books in the series) is a continuing adventure about a time-traveling teen adventurer. Full of sci-fi action and fantasy themes.

And one of my newest books on my list is Vampire Empire, Book One: The Greyfriar. Now, I am not a Twilight, vampire fan, BUT this book was amazing. Full of heart-pounding adventure and warm romance / mystery, it was more like watching a movie than reading a book. Very fast-paced without feeling rushed, I love, love, love the characters and scenes. Left me begging for the next one to see what happens next!

So, there you have it. My favorite books (off the top of my head, anyway. I have many more, tee hee) to get you started. I hope you find them to be as wonderful as I did. And I'm going to check out a few off your list that I haven't read. Happy reading! :)

Thank you for the lengthy list! I'll definitely consider all of them!

Several people have mentioned the Hunger Games to me, so I'll definitely get to those as soon as I finish the series I'm currently working on - The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare.

I've also had Pendragon recommended to me by a few people, so I may look into that. I'll try anything once! :)

The Vampire Empire sounds really exciting. I love fast-paced books. I'm a very vividly imaginative reader so I get the feeling I'd get completely wrapped up in the world the book creates. I agree about not being a huge Twilight fan, though they're not the worst books I've ever read, but I do enjoy vampire literature/gothic themes on the whole.

Thanks again! I'm adding these to my "to read" list as we speak!

Have you read The Hunger Games series?? If not, please let this be the rec you accept. I read the three book in a matter of about four days (would have been less but I needed sleep, damn sleep!).

These books were so good, I can honestly say that I believe they will be the best things I read all year, and it's only Feb! lol.

I've definitely heard of the Hunger Games books, but I have yet to read them. Considering that everyone I've heard about them from has been absolutely RAVING about how good they are, I'm definitely going to have to read them. :)

Thanks for the rec!

No problem! Those books were so good. I haven't been so emotionally drained by a book in ages! lol.

They're defiantly worth it!

i was going thru your list and you must add these authors and series to your list:

Anne Mccaffrey:

Pern Several of the Pern books include previously published stories or are anthologies of short stories, as noted below. About Dragons/ Family/ Friendships/ Love/ Hardships

1. Dragonsdawn
2. The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall
3. "The Survey: P.E.R.N.c"
4. "The Dolphin's Bell"
5. "The Ford of Red Hanrahan"
6. "The Second Weyr"
7. "Rescue Run"
8. Dragonseye (UK: Red Star Rising)
9. "Ever the Twain"
10. Dragon's Kin (TM)
11. Dragon's Fire (TM)
12. Dragonsblood (TM only)
13. Dragon Harper (TM)
14. Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern
15. Nerilka's Story
16. "Beyond Between"
17. The Masterharper of Pern
18. Dragonflight
19. "Weyr Search"
20. "Dragonrider"
21. "Runner of Pern"
22. Dragonquest
23. Dragonsong
24. Dragonsinger
25. Dragondrums
26. "The Impression" (JLN)
27. "The Smallest Dragonboy"
28. The White Dragon
29. A Time When
30. "The Girl Who Heard Dragons"
31. Renegades of Pern
32. All the Weyrs of Pern
33. The Dolphins of Pern
34. The Skies of Pern

Kim Harrison witch series:

Dead Witch Walking

The Good, The Bad, and The Undead

Every Which Way But Dead

A Fistful of Charms

For a Few Demons More

The Outlaw Demon Wails

White Witch, Black Curse

Black Magic Sanction

Pale Demon (coming February 22, 2011)

I believe you would totally love these

Thank you for the lengthy list! :) I'll definitely look into some of those!

If you've not read Diana Gabaldon's book Outlander, I definitely rec it. It's a romance, with lots of odd elements to it- really rooted in history, often cited as sci-fi/fantasy since there are elements of that in it. I'm not a romance fan, and it's one of my favorites.

Also, Naomi Novik's books are fantastic- His Majesty's Dragon is the first one. It's a look at the Napoleonic Wars if there were dragons in the military. Very fun- some of the best characters I've ever read, hands down.

Outlander sounds really interesting. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for it! His Majesty's Dragon and the whole series sound great, too - a totally different idea from anything I've heard before.

Thank you for the recs!

-Have you read Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere? It's an urban fantasy book about a man (Richard) who finds himself in London Below after he stops to help an injured girl. London Below has monsters, angels, murderers, hunters, royalty, etc. It's a city of people who've 'fallen through the cracks'.

Richard tries to get home to London Above, but to do that, he has to help a girl in her quest to find her family's murderers and go on exciting adventures. It's a really interesting book, and all the characters are awesome. All of them :P

-For science fiction, you should try Iain M Banks' Culture series. The Culture is a utopia which is so technologically advanced that you can have practically anything you want. But for some, even utopia can wear thin without a sense of direction. Therefore, the Culture gleefully throws its weight behind Contact — an agency/program/conspiracy that exists to help other species and governments in the galaxy reach the Culture's standard of living without being too disruptive of their societies. And for the cases where standard diplomacy, or even open warfare, would not help, there exist... Special Circumstances, the Special Ops wing of Contact that intervenes as discreetly as possible (but as messily as needed) to make the universe a better place, at least by the Culture's standards.

---My favourite Culture books are Player of Games, Excession and Use of Weapons. Player of Games has the most straightforward plot and it's supposed to be the best introduction to the series. It's a pretty interesting book that introduces you quite smoothly to the Culture and its quirks, although most of the book is set outside the Culture proper. The main character is a game expert who's blackmailed into joining Special Circumstances. SC sends him to an alien empire to play the most important game of his life.

---Excession: There're two plot threads. The main one deals with the appearance of a technologically impossible object and how the Culture deals with being faced with something more advanced than them, and the second plot thread is about the Culture's problems with the Affront, a rather violent but very funny alien race. It's one of my favourite books because it shows a lot of the Culture Minds (sentient AIs). The Minds are very brilliant, very funny, and really different from what people imagine AIs would be like.

---Use of Weapons is a bit hard to follow. The main character is a Special Circumstances mercenary gain there are two plot threads told in alternating chapters. One timeline goes forward and deals with Zakalwe going about his latest assignment, and the other timeline goes backward and delves into his dark past. I love Zakalwe, he's such a badass ❤

Hmm, the Culture books sound interesting. I can honestly say I haven't read much in the way of utopian fiction, though I've read it's sister-genre of dystopian fiction and I've got a very heated love-hate relationship with dystopian fiction. I will definitely look more into this series, though. After all, I'll read anything once!

Thank you for the recommendation and the lengthy description of the series - it is very much appreciated!

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