Thursday, March 07, 2013

Book Girls Don't Cry: Judge a Book By its Author

Inspired by Book Buzzers, Book Girls Don't Cry is a weekly feature where we each discuss/vent/advise on the chosen weekly bookish topic. Don't miss Jenni on Mondays, and Amy on Saturdays:

This week's topic was suggested by Kenia Roman


The Force is Strong With These Ones


We all have authors who, as soon as we see their name on a book, we buy it and read it no question. Most times without even checking what it's even about, let alone reading the blurb behind the book. So this week we're going to list which authors we absolutely love! Here is my list of authors whose books I buy based on, basically, the author's name on it and it alone! And maybe you will find a some that will one day be on your own list as well! ;)
 
Note that I at least have to love 2 books by an author --often from different series or 2 stand-alones-- before I dare put them on my highly treasured and exclusive guaranteed-to-love-books-by authors list!
 

 
Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers' dismay. All efforts to make her produce "normal" stories failed.

Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She's the author of the NYT-bestselling "Women of the Otherworld" paranormal suspense series and "Darkest Powers" young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.

     
 
Kelley Armstrong is 1) Canadian! Booya! And 2) Amazing (duh!). She was one of the very first adult authors I tried reading actually, years ago, with her Woman of the Otherworld series. I loved the series it's one where each book is a different character POV and they're all really kick-ass. I then immensely enjoyed her YA series, the Summoning, which remains of my forever-faves! I'm so excited for her upcoming one, Omens!

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Rhiannon Frater was born and raised a Texan. Though she has lived in various towns all over the state, she finally settled in Austin, Texas where she met her husband and worked as a governmental consultant.
During her travels for her job, she was inspired to write the story of two women fleeing into the Texas Hill Country in an attempt to survive the zombie apocalypse. Originally published as a serial online under the title AS THE WORLD DIES, she later self-published the series in three novels to satisfy the many fans of the story. The first novel in the series, THE FIRST DAYS, won the 2008 Dead Letter Award for Best Book (Fiction). The second book, FIGHTING TO SURVIVE won the 2009 Dead Letter Award in the same category. 


        

I mean, who honestly thought she wouldn't be on this list? This woman is a mastermind with horror novels--which happens to be one of my top fav genres. So yeah! :D But really, her As the World Dies series is one of my all time favorite that is hardly beat by any other. I enjoyed zombie books before, but I do owe her for my addiction to them now!

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Growing up in Tennessee, Miranda Kenneally dreamed of becoming an Atlanta Brave, a country singer (cliché!), or a UN interpreter. Instead she writes, and works for the State Department in Washington, D.C., where George W. Bush once used her shoulder as an armrest. Miranda loves Twitter, Star Trek and her husband.

     

I liked contemporary, but I rarely read it before absolutely loving Catching Jordan when it came out. I then followed the whole series since and they're all amazing, even if some of them are out of my comfort zones. It's like this woman was made for writing the sweetest contemporaries ever! Plus, she's married to Obama! She told me herself!
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Hannah Moskowitz wrote her first story, about a kitten named Lilly on the run from cat hunters, for a contest when she was seven years old. She was disqualified for violence. Her first book, BREAK, was on the ALA's 2010 list of Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults. She is a student at The University of Maryland.

I rate emotionally more than intellectually. 5 stars means I loved it, not that it was a perfect book. I rate honestly.


   

Hannah's writing style is so unique and different from anything else I ever read! I just love that she can take a story and make it truly and honestly stand out, which makes them memorable--quite the feat in today's YA apparently. So I KNOW that if I start a book of hers, it will be well worth it!

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The daughter of a Norwegian Viking and a Finnish Moomin, Karina Halle grew up in Vancouver, Canada with trolls and eternal darkness on the brain. This soon turned into a love of all things that go bump in the night and a rather sadistic appreciation for freaking people out. Like many of the flawed characters she writes, Karina never knew where to find herself and has dabbled in acting, make-up artistry, film production, screenwriting, photography, travel writing and music journalism. She eventually found herself in the pages of the very novels she wrote (if only she had looked there to begin with).

Karina holds a screenwriting degree from Vancouver Film School and a Bachelor of Journalism from TRU. Her travel writing, music reviews/interviews and photography have appeared in publications such as Consequence of Sound, Mxdwn and GoNomad Travel Guides. She currently lives on an island on the coast of British Columbia where she's preparing for the zombie apocalypse.
   
 
Sins and Needles is my newest Favorite of all time reads and her EIT series also rocks. Plus they're both very different kinds of books so it's easy to see she has just pure talent! Safe to say I'm all hers at this point! :D
 
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Courtney Summers can't wait for the zombie apocalypse. Also she is the author of CRACKED UP TO BE and SOME GIRLS ARE, FALL FOR ANYTHING (available now) and THIS IS NOT A TEST (June 19th, 2012), four edgy young adult novels published by St. Martin's Press.

   

And this one, I mean, hello! It's Courtney Summers! My list would not be complete with my other zombie fall-in-lover! ;) This woman also has obvious talent where she can write zombies one day, then contemporaries on another, and slam-dunk them both!



I could list more but it's getting a bit long so I'll stop at these top bookish masterminds. I also know there will likely be more on here in the next few years. I hesitate to put authors on my "no questions asked" buy list if I only read one book of theirs, so a LOT probably deserve to be on here and will be very soon!


Who are your must check out authors? 
Do our lists we have some matches? ;)


Also, don't forget to leave suggestions for future topics you'd like to see! :)

You know you love me!
Xoxo, Book Girl!