Top 10 of 2019: New or New-to-Me Authors

Top 10 of 2019 is hosted once again by Kimberly Faye Reads, and this year she has a co-host Ginger @greadsbooks.   This second topic, new or new-to-me authors, is so hard!  Between the new authors I read as part of the whole launch of SmartyPants Romance, or the ARCs of debut authors I get, it's so hard to choose!  So some of these may be a little bit of a cheat and have more than one author.  In fact, I think I'll do like last year and at least even narrow down into romance and YA authors, 10? of each.

Romance:

1. 

First is Julia Kent.  Now, while I'd actually read one of her books under her other writing name, Meli Raine, as a free e-book a few years ago, Fluffy was the first I read under the name Julia Kent.  And it cracked me up so much!  I've loved all the books in that series so far.  I actually just finished listening to the 4th book in the Shopping for a Billionaire series yesterday, and I love it too!  Most of that series is part of the Audible Escape package, so that's how I'm enjoying them. 

My review of Fluffy is HERE.


2.

I read this one by Monica Murphy this year.  It was good, and I look forward to more in the future!

My review is HERE.



3.

I think all the rest of the authors I'll share under romance will be from SmartyPants Romance, like this one from Piper Sheldon. 

My review is HERE.

4.

When I saw this sitting on one of the tables at Book Bonanza this past August, I had to buy it since I'm a librarian, so I did get to meet the author, L.B. Dunbar, and then I was also introduced to her writing!

My review is HERE.

5.

I had to read all the books in the library series, so this one I got to read as part of a blog tour, and loved it as well!  It was probably my favorite of all of them.  Sabrina's shyness, the funny nerdy quotes, like "for the love of Dumbledore!".  Nora Everly is going to be someone I read a lot of in the future I hope! 

My review is HERE.

6.

I think this was my favorite in the Donner Bakery series from the SmartyPants Romance launch.  I think it is the author, Ellie Kay's, only book so far, but again, I look forward to more! 

My review is HERE.

7.

And another in the library series.  Normally I am not a big fan of the motorcycle club books, but this one was okay because of how awesome the librarian stuff was.  Cathy Yardley did a great job! 

My review is HERE.

8.

So much in this one that I liked as well, and I'm interested in reading more by Jiffy Kate.  It made me want to pack up and move myself to a place like Green Valley, I wished there was a real Green Valley!  It also kind of got me thinking maybe I want to work one of my stories into a way it could fit into the Green Valley world and possibly be part of the SmartyPants Romance group! 

My review is HERE.

9.

I loved this book.  All the stuff about being overweight and dealing with that was true.  How people look right through you, etc.  M.E. Carter responded to tweets I posted and Instagram posts as well.  Definitely looking forward to more by this author as well! 

My review is HERE.

10.

So, I actually read this earlier this year from a partner I found on a website called Critique Match when I was looking for someone to help me critique my short story.  I didn't actually know if she was published or not, hadn't heard of her, but read and loved her story to help her.  I wondered as I read if she was, because the story was so good! Then I found it posted as a book coming out this month, and I jumped on the blog tour to help promote it.  I'm currently "re-reading" the finished copy to post a full review here tomorrow!


YA Authors:
1.

I recently read and loved this book by Cookie O'Gorman.  I need to read more by this author now!  

My review is HERE.

2.

My first Hannah Moskowitz book was a hit!  

My review is HERE.

3.

So, I was supposed to read The Replacement Crush by Lisa Brown Roberts when it came out, but I didn't get to it. I signed up to do a blog tour for this one, and now I have to go back and read that one!  

My review is HERE.

4.

A good debut for Charlotte Nicole Davis, although the ending wasn't the best for me.  

My review is HERE.

5.

Yet another debut author, Brittney Morris, and I can't wait to see more from her in the future!  

My review is HERE.

6.

Natasha Diaz is another debut author I'm highly recommending!  

My review is HERE.

7.

While this is Chelsea Bobulski's second novel, it is the first one I've read, and I really liked how original she was with her ghost story and the way to see through it.  

My review is HERE.

8.

Another debut author I read this year was Autumn Krause, and it was a kind of original slant on a story that is similar to others I've read.  

My review is HERE.

9.

Another awesome 2019 debut author, I look forward to the sequel to this unique fantasy novel by Kalyn Josephson.  

My review is HERE.

10.

A great cult type of story that I really liked, Shannon Schuren will be on my watch list for future titles.  

My review is HERE.


Tell me, are any of these authors new to you?  Or are any old favorites?  What new or new-to-you authors did you read this year?

If you're interested in joining in to the Top 10 of 2019, you can go to the links at the top for the hosting blogs.  Here are the other topics you'll see coming up:

Also, while you're here, make sure you go enter into my weekly Cleaning Up My TBR Giveaway HERE.  It's open till Friday night at midnight!

ARC Review: A Dress for the Wicked by Autumn Krause

Book info:

Title:  A Dress for the Wicked
Author:  Autumn Krause
Genre:  YA fantasy
Release Date:  August 6th, 2019
Publisher:  Harper Teen
Source:  ARC received through a Twitter Trade
My rating:   4 stars

Synopsis:
Nothing much happens in the sleepy town of Shy in Avon-upon-Kynt. And for eighteen years, Emmaline Watkins has feared that her future held just that: nothing.

But when the head of the most admired fashion house in the country opens her prestigious design competition to girls from outside the stylish capital city, Emmy’s dreams seem closer than they ever have before.

As the first “country girl” to compete, Emmy knows she’ll encounter extra hurdles on her way to the top. But as she navigates the twisted world of high fashion she starts to wonder: will she be able to tailor herself to fit into this dark, corrupted race? And at what cost?


My Review: 
While the idea behind the story wasn't that original and unique, it was a really good story despite that.  I really liked the characters and the world that the story took place in.  It was also a lot of fun to try to imagine these beautiful dresses described in my head as I was reading.  This is one that would be so much fun to see the story and fashions themselves come to life in some sort of movie or something.  I liked how the author separated the story into three separate parts, each was perfect in its own way, and each was a change, but a fitting change and made the story flow and develop in a good way.  I also thought the author's note at the end was neat to read to see that what she'd envisioned for her setting was kind of how I'd pictured it as I read.  A great debut novel, and I look forward to more by this author in the future.  

Lisa's Looking Foward To #25 - August 6th, 2019

Back to joining up with the Waiting on Wednesday Posts, and the Can't Wait Wednesday posts hosted by Wishful Endings.  This week there are five on my list.

From my ARC list for August 6th:

I have an ARC of this one that I got through a trade a while back.  Need to get it read this week!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Nothing much happens in the sleepy town of Shy in Avon-upon-Kynt. And for eighteen years, Emmaline Watkins has feared that her future held just that: nothing.

But when the head of the most admired fashion house in the country opens her prestigious design competition to girls from outside the stylish capital city, Emmy’s dreams seem closer than they ever have before.

As the first “country girl” to compete, Emmy knows she’ll encounter extra hurdles on her way to the top. But as she navigates the twisted world of high fashion she starts to wonder: will she be able to tailor herself to fit into this dark, corrupted race? And at what cost?

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE. 
 

Now, I won't say I begged for this ARC, but I might have.  I love this author, and this series is good so far!  I'm a little sad I don't have a contact at Freeform/Disney any more, in case this series goes on!  I'll be reading my ARC of this sometime later this week. Might even be starting it as this post goes live!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

WELCOME TO WHO WANTS TO BE A PANIAC?, the latest reality TV show on the hunt for the next big-hit serial killer. But don’t worry—no one is actually going to murder anyone, as real as the fake gore and pretend murder may appear . . . uh, right?

Seventeen-year-old Becca Martinello is about to find out. When her perfectly normal soccer mom dies in a car crash, a strange girl named Stef appears to let Becca know that her deceased mom was none other than one of Alcatraz 2.0’s most popular serial killers—Molly Mauler. Soon, Becca ends up on Who Wants to Be a Painiac? to learn the truth about her mom’s connection to Molly Mauler, but things turn sinister when people are murdered IRL. Will Becca uncover dark secrets and make it out of the deadly reality show alive? Or will she get cut?

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE.

This one sounds like a pretty deep story. 

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Best friends are forged by fire. For Winona Olsen and Lucille Pryce, that fire happened the night they met outside the police station—both deciding whether to turn their families in.

Winona has been starving for life in the seemingly perfect home that she shares with her seemingly perfect father, celebrity weatherman Stormy Olsen. No one knows that he locks the pantry door to control her eating and leaves bruises where no one can see them.

Lucille has been suffocating beneath the needs of her mother and her drug-dealing brother, wondering if there’s more out there for her than disappearing waitress tips and generations of barely getting by.

One harrowing night, Winona and Lucille realize they can’t wait until graduation to start their new lives. They need out. Now. All they need is three grand, fast. And really, a stolen convertible to take them from Michigan to Las Vegas can’t hurt.

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE. 

I've been seeing this one around a lot on the blogosphere, and of course that cover is beautiful!  Plus, it seems to be a retelling of the 12 Dancing Princesses fairy tale, and I love that story!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.

Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor, a manor by the sea, with her sisters, their father, and stepmother. Once they were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls' lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last—the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge—and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.

Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that the deaths were no accidents. Her sisters have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn't sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who—or what—are they really dancing with?

When Annaleigh's involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it's a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family—before it claims her next.

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE. 

 
 This one just sounds really unique!  And once again, a beautiful cover.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

When 16-year-old poetry blogger Tessa Dickinson is involved in a car accident and loses her eyesight for 100 days, she feels like her whole world has been turned upside-down.

Terrified that her vision might never return, Tessa feels like she has nothing left to be happy about. But when her grandparents place an ad in the local newspaper looking for a typist to help Tessa continue writing and blogging, an unlikely answer knocks at their door: Weston Ludovico, a boy her age with bright eyes, an optimistic smile…and no legs.

Knowing how angry and afraid Tessa is feeling, Weston thinks he can help her. But he has one condition — no one can tell Tessa about his disability. And because she can’t see him, she treats him with contempt: screaming at him to get out of her house and never come back. But for Weston, it’s the most amazing feeling: to be treated like a normal person, not just a sob story. So he comes back. Again and again and again.

Tessa spurns Weston’s “obnoxious optimism”, convinced that he has no idea what she’s going through. But Weston knows exactly how she feels and reaches into her darkness to show her that there is more than one way to experience the world. As Tessa grows closer to Weston, she finds it harder and harder to imagine life without him — and Weston can’t imagine life without her. But he still hasn’t told her the truth, and when Tessa’s sight returns he’ll have to make the hardest decision of his life: vanish from Tessa’s world…or overcome his fear of being seen.

100 Days of Sunlight is a poignant and heartfelt novel by author Abbie Emmons. If you like sweet contemporary romance and strong family themes then you’ll love this touching story of hope, healing, and getting back up when life knocks you down.

 Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE. 


Now, actually, I had two more in my planner, but neither seem to be actually coming out, as their lack of covers and any more info on Goodreads seem to say.  Both are Entangled Teen books, so I am hoping this means they are just putting the release off, but not too long.  When I hear more about them, I'll be sure to share, but they are Sky-Kissed by Pintip Dunn, sequel to  Star-Crossed, which I loved; and Immortal by Gennifer Albin, an author I've looked forward to reading more by!
  
Final Thoughts:
Have you read any of these yet?  Are they on your TBR?  And hey, while you're here, you should go try to win some of my ARCs from Cleaning Up My TBR Post HERE. The US only giveaway is open till Friday at midnight, there are even some 2019 ARCs that can be one of your two choices.