Top Ten Books of 2013
64December 30, 2013 by Alice in Readerland
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish
There were so many amazing books that came out in 2013! I read about 121 books this year, but here’s how I narrowed down my very favorites:
2013 Book with My Favorite Main Character
Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund
This book has an amazing cover and an equally amazing story. The lead, Persis, is phenomenal. She’s a kick-butt, intelligent, and caring spy who disguises herself as an ditz! Plus, the book is based off of The Scarlet Pimpernel, which I love.
The Story That Sucked Me in the Most
These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
The imaginary and writing in this book was gorgeous! Never before has a book completely just sucked me into its universe like These Broken Stars did. I am already excited for the next book in the trilogy, I know that it will be amazing!
Favorite Contemporary Novel
Goodbye, Rebel Blue by Shelly Coriell
This book was awesome! The main character was so snarky and such a cool change from your average lead. In fact, all the characters in this book were well fleshed out, and the story was both hilarious and heartwarming.
Favorite Time Travel Book
Time After Time by Tamara Ireland Stone
This book was the perfect sequel to Time Between Us, I just can’t describe it any other way. It was such a great addition to the first story. Plus, Anna and Bennet go to Paris in it! Paris! Can I have Tamara’s next book now? Please?
Favorite Spy Story
Also Known As by Robin Benway
Also Known As (and the sequel, Going Rogue) were incredibly fun! The spy hijinks and the hilarious zingers made these books favorites of mine. I was already a big fan of Robin Benway before these books, but I’m an even bigger fan of her now!
Favorite Historical Book
Cinders and Sapphires by Leila Rasheed
Cinders and Sapphires (and the sequel, Diamonds and Deceit) had such great portrayals of young women during that time period, and I love the fairy tale-like writing style the authors had! Leila Rasheed landed herself on my list of favorite authors this year.
Favorite Fairy Tale Retelling
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
The Lunar Chronicles is my absolute favorite series, so I obviously enjoyed reading Scarlet! That ending has me so excited for Cress (my most anticipated 2014 read)!
Favorite Thriller/Crime Novel
The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Hands down, this award goes to The Naturals, the book that freaked me out, then made me love it. It’s both funny and dark, with amazing writing and an awesome cast of characters! I’m so excited for the next one.
Favorite Book with Dual Narrators
All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill
Dual POVs don’t always work, but All Our Yesterdays just blew me away and I can’t stop recommending this book. I am so incredibly excited to see what the author does with the sequel!
Favorite Mystery Book
Palace of Spies by Sarah Zettel
Spies, disguises, and a mystery, oh my! I really enjoyed reading Palace of Spies, the historical elements were fascinating and the sharp-witted Peggy was such a great narrator. I’m very curious to see where the author takes the series next!
Favorite Parallel Universe Book
Tandem by Anna Jarzab
I read several parallel universe books this year, but the one that sticks out to me is Tandem! The whole concept was just so fascinating and I need to see what happens in Tether!
Favorite Cliffhanger Ending
Unremembered by Jessica Brody
Normally, I hate cliffhanger endings, but Jessica Brody wrote one that was just perfect.
I think each one of these books was absolutely fantastic and deserves a round of applause!
Alice in Readerland 
Those are some great books! :D I can’t believe how fast 2013 passed by. Can’t wait for 2014…I want to make my blog much better too. Great post!
I know, I can’t believe 2013 is practically over already!
I can’t believe I haven’t read ANY of the books on your list!! I usually read a lot of the same books as you, but I guess not this year :( I do want to read UnRemembered and These Broken Stars. Both look fab.
My TTT
I’ve been seeing tons of lists that are made up of books I haven’t read, I guess I need to add more books to my TBR pile! ;)
I haven’t read any of the books on your list, but a few are ones that I really want to read! Esp. Tandem! It sounds really good!
I hope you enjoy it if you read it! :)
Great list! I love the way you broke your list down :)
Happy New Year! :) My TTT
Thanks! :)
Hope you have an awesome 2014!
Your list is really bad for my TBR pile. :) You’ve read a couple books that I keep meaning to, and a few I’ve got stacked up to read in the upcoming month. Plus a few I hadn’t heard about. :)
Great list, and thank you for stopping by my blog earlier.
My TBR pile always grows after seeing all the other Top Ten Tuesdays! :) Happy reading!
Ooh, I want to read a bunch of these, like GOODBYE, REBEL BLUE and TIME AFTER TIME. THESE BROKEN STARS and THE NATURALS are really good! Thanks for stopping by, and Happy New Year!
Rachel @ Beauty and the Bookshelf
I hope you enjoy them!!! :)
This is a great list! Some I’ve read & some are on my TBR list. Happy reading in the new year.
Top 10 @Libby Blog
Happy reading! :)
Such a great collection of books – most that I need to read! I am most looking forward to Across a Star-Swept Sea because it’s based on the Scarlet Pimpernel, but recently I took a chance and bought The Naturals because it sounded interesting, so I’m glad that you loved it so much! Have a very Happy New Year Alice!
I hope you enjoy it! I also think you’ll enjoy Across a Star-Swept Sea if you like the Scarlet Pimpernel! :)
Happy reading!
Thanks for the comment on my blog, your blog is honestly one of the nicest ones I’ve ever seen and I’m a new follower via Bloglovin! Love it, looking forward to reading more of your posts in the future and glad we could bond over the amazingness that is To Kill a Mockingbird! Great list also, have a wonderful New Year! x
Thank you so much, that’s so sweet of you! I’ll go and follow you on Bloglovin too. :)
I haven’t read any of your favs yet but I am eagerly looking for a copy of ALL OUR YESTERDAYS since I found a review yesterday. It sounds awesome! Happy 2014! Just Reading for Fun
I hope you love it when you read it! :)
A great list! I’m adding some of the books to my TBR. Thanks for sharing! :D
Happy new year! :)
My TTT :)
Thanks for stopping by & commenting! :)
I’ve seen a lot of people picking These Broken Stars…I really need to get that book! :) I’m also really curious about “Also Known As.” Great picks!!
Ninja Girl
I hope you enjoy them both! :)
All Our Yesterdays deserves to be on all the lists! That book was so fantastic.
Thanks for stopping by. Great list.
My TTT List
Agreed! :D
I can’t wait to read GOODBYE REBEL BLUE, PALACE OF SPIES, and THE NATURALS! Very good picks! I agree with a lot of them! Especially THESE BROKEN STARS
Glad you enjoyed These Broken Stars too, and I hope you enjoy the others when you read them! :)
We shared a lot of the same favorites, which was exciting to see. Your list is fabulous, and I hope you’ll stop by to see mine.
http://bookworm716.blogspot.com/2013/12/top-ten-tuesday-best-reads-of-2013.html
Hooray! I’m off to check out your list. :)
Scarlet made my list as well, and I’m reading Across a Star Swept Sea right now and am absolutely adoring it! Several of your choices are on my TBR!
So glad you’re adoring Across a Star-Swept Sea! I have so much love for that book. :)
Ooh good list. I haven’t read any! They’re all on my TBR now, of course. I’ve seen These Broken Stars on so many TTT lists this week, I’m dying to read it now. Thanks for posting :)
My TTT
Thanks for stopping by & commenting! :)
Across The Star Swept Sea was fantastic! I especially loved the setting in this one.
Me too! :)
I just read also known as! Loved Scarlet! Great list!
Cress is *almost* here! ;)
I can’t wait to read Across a Star Swept Sky and All Our Yesterdays. They both sound amazing! :) I hadn’t heard of Cinders and Sapphires before I saw your post, but I’m very tempted to check it out!
I hope you enjoy them all!!! :)
These Broken Stars sucked me in really easily as well! I can’t wait to read the companion novels, I’m sure they’re going to be fantastic. SCARLET! YES! I read Cress the other day, and it’s definitely not quite as good as Scarlet was. Probably because I don’t have a giant crush on the MC *whistles* I adored All Our Yesterdays as well! Oooh, Unremembered has a cliffhanger? I’ll definitely need to buy the next book before I start reading it, in that case!
Happy New Year!
I know, I’m so excited to hear more about the companion novels for both These Broken Stars and All Our Yesterdays! :)
Ooh, you read Cress already?! I’m both excited and nervous about it since it’s my favorite series and there’s a different MC for each…
Yeah, Unremembered definitely has a cliffhanger, so I’d wait to read it until Unforgotten comes out! :)
Incredible list! I so need to catch up with that Diana Peterfreund series- I have both books waiting on my kindle. And I just bought Time After Time so I’m excited to see it on your list! And These Broken Stars!! Happy New Year and happy reading :)
I hope you enjoy them! Happy reading! :)
Cheers, for fabulously snarky characters! I have not read Rebel Blue but I am a sucker for snarky narrators. The dual narrator thing worked really well in All Our Yesterdays because the two girls ended up complementing each other. It’s hard to pull of the dual narrator technique because a lot of the times, one character is more interesting than the other, or the two characters sound too similar to each other. Happy New Year!
I totally agree about All Our Yesterdays, and if you love snarky narrators, then I think you’ll love Rebel! :) Happy reading!
I have Time After Time and These Broken Stars on my READ SUPER SOON list! I’m also itching to read Cinder… Scarlet… and eventually Cress! Everyone has told me to read it! Don’t know I’m being so difficult! haha
I procrastinated reading the Lunar Chronicles for a year. I kept going, “Cyborgs and plagues don’t sound like my thing,”. Silly, silly me. I ended up absolutely loving the Lunar Chronicles!
Good Bye, Rebel Blue sounds cool – I must look it up! Happy New Year :D
I hope you enjoy it if you read it! :)
Happy reading!
I’m ashamed to say that the only book I’ve read out of your list is All Our Yesterdays. *Goes off to add more books to TBR list*
Happy New Year! :D
Top 10 Books I Read in 2013! :)
Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014
My TBR pile always grows larger after seeing all the TTT lists! :)
I like how you organized your books by categories. Scarlet was an amazing novel. I believe it made it on my 1st half of 2013 favorites. I’m so excited for Cress to come out.
My TTT: http://rachaelc94.blogspot.com/2013/12/top-ten-books-2013.html
Thank you!
Cress is allllmoooost here! :)
Great list! The first two are definitely on my TBR list, along with Scarlet and Palace of Lies.
Hope you enjoy them!!! :)
Lots of amazing books on your list – These Broken Stars made my list too. I really want to read The Lunar Chronicles, have heard nothing but good things. Happy New Year! Great picks :) My TTT.
Happy reading! :D
I loved These Broken Stars so much! You’re so right about it totally sucking you in. I felt like I was walking through the ship and on the planet right alongside Lilac and Tarver. I loved how you did your TTT this week! Great idea with the categories!
Thank you!!! :)
Yay, Also Known As! I read Going Rogue over the winter break and it is SO GOOD.
I really need to read Rebel Blue!
I hope you enjoy it! :D
I think the only one of the books on your list that I’ve read is Scarlet. Clearly I have some awesome YA to catch up on this year :)
My TBR list is so long, I hope to get through it this year too! :)