Mini Challenge #1

This is for the first Mini Challenge of Princess Bookie's Contest Craze.

Rules from Cindy:
This Mini Challenge Consists Of:
Name Your Top 5 Books of 2011
-Make a blog post and tell me your top 5 most wanted books of 2011! And, why you want them!
-This should take some serious thought!
-You can include the book cover or just the title-author if you want!
-Leave The Link To Your Blog Post In The Comments Section
-US Only (unless you have someone to ship to you internationally)
-FYI: I will be glad to ship to you if you have paypal and can pay for shipping.

My Top 5 Books of 2011 would be...

5. The Iron Thorn - Caitlin Kittredge

In the city of Lovecraft, the Proctors rule and a great Engine turns below the streets, grinding any resistance to their order to dust. The necrovirus is blamed for Lovecraft's epidemic of madness, for the strange and eldritch creatures that roam the streets after dark, and for everything that the city leaders deem Heretical—born of the belief in magic and witchcraft. And for Aoife Grayson, her time is growing shorter by the day.
Aoife Grayson's family is unique, in the worst way—every one of them, including her mother and her elder brother Conrad, has gone mad on their 16th birthday. And now, a ward of the state, and one of the only female students at the School of Engines, she is trying to pretend that her fate can be different.



As you'll see, all of these books are dystopian, and that makes sense due to the fact that my favorite genre is dystopian. I'm so glad that it's expanding and morphing and becoming even more amazing! Back to the book...the synopsis is so intriguing! I love the idea of every family member going mad on their 16th birthday. It's a great juxtaposition to the "Sweet Sixteens" of now. Looks amazing!

4. Razorland - Ann Aguirre

WELCOME TO THE APOCALYPSE In Deuce's world, people earn the right to a name only if they survive their first fifteen years. By that point, each unnamed 'brat' has trained into one of three groups-Breeders, Builders, or Hunters, identifiable by the number of scars they bear on their arms. Deuce has wanted to be a Huntress for as long as she can remember.

As a Huntress, her purpose is clear--to brave the dangerous tunnels outside the enclave and bring back meat to feed the group while evading ferocious monsters known as Freaks. She's worked toward this goal her whole life, and nothing's going to stop her, not even a beautiful, brooding Hunter named Fade. When the mysterious boy becomes her partner, Deuce's troubles are just beginning.

Down below, deviation from the rules is punished swiftly and harshly, and Fade doesn't like following orders. At first she thinks he's crazy, but as death stalks their sanctuary, and it becomes clear the elders don't always know best, Deuce wonders if Fade might be telling the truth. Her partner confuses her; she's never known a boy like him before, as prone to touching her gently as using his knives with feral grace.

As Deuce's perception shifts, so does the balance in the constant battle for survival. The mindless Freaks, once considered a threat only due to their sheer numbers, show signs of cunning and strategy... but the elders refuse to heed any warnings. Despite imminent disaster, the enclave puts their faith in strictures and sacrifice instead. No matter how she tries, Deuce cannot stem the dark tide that carries her far from the only world she's ever known.



Romance, action, dystopian future. All the makings of a great, GREAT novel. It reminds me of my beloved Hunger Games series mixed with Girl in the Arena by Lisa Haines. Another fantastic book to read in 2011.

3. Wither - Lauren DeStefano

What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant she trusts, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limted time she has left.



With all of the polygamy scandals occuring lately, this book is very relavent. Besides that, the cover is beautiful, the premise is so interesting, and it sounds like a super read. Can't wait to get my hands on a copy.

2. XVI - Julia Karr

"In the year 2150, being a girl isn’t necessarily a good thing, especially when your sixteenth (read sex-teenth) birthday is fast approaching. That in itself would be enough to make anyone more than a little nuts, what with the tattoo and all – but Nina Oberon’s life has taken a definite turn for the worse. Her mother is brutally stabbed and left for dead. Before dying, she entrusts a secret book to Nina, telling her to deliver it to Nina's father. But, first Nina has to find him; since for fifteen years he's been officially dead. Complications arise when she rescues Sal, a mysterious, and ultra hot guy. He seems to like Nina, but also seems to know more about her father than he’s letting on. Then there’s that murderous ex-government agent who’s stalking her, and just happens to be her little sister’s dad."



First off, Julia is one of the elevensies. These authors never disappoint. Also, there's mystery, action, and another recreation of the ever-loved 16th birthday, so you know it's going to be terrific. This book sounds so good!

1. Across the Universe - Beth Revis

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.



This is definitely my most coveted book of 2011. LOOK AT THAT COVER! GORGEOUS! Plus, the plot sounds divine! I sigh just thinking about it. Romance, romance, romance, space-travel (and I lurrrrve astronomy), mystery, action, dystopian...the list could go on forever. It's just about perfect.

So those are my top 5 reads of 2011, what are yours?