Author Appreciation - The Many..

A week is not nearly long enough to discuss all the great authors out there I enjoy and appreciate. As this is the last day of our week honoring them, I'm going to fit a bunch of them in here!

At the top of my list is one Miss Hannah Moskowitz. Why is she at the top of my list? Because I'm simply amazed at what this 18 yr old published author has accomplished. She's exactly where I wish I had been at that age: a fantastic book on the shelves, another due out shortly, several other manuscripts to show her agent, etc. On top of all that, she's a college student and an amazingly friendly, helpful, down to earth, funny gal. She also has a great voice for her characters. If you haven't read her book Break yet, I highly recommend picking it up. Thanks Hannah for well..just being you I suppose! Keep up the great work!

The next slot is going to go to Cassandra Clare. She's another fantastic YA author who does an amazing job with world building and voice. I read her Mortal Instrument books right after I finished the Twilight books and then I recommended them to everyone I knew because I felt they were great and ought to be as popular as Twilight was, if not maybe more so (Sorry Stephanie Meyers, as much as I love Twilight, Jace beats out Edward for me, hands down!.) Beyond being a great author, she is another who seems really down to earth and not above talking to her fans, offering information and encouragement. I admit I was a bit star struck when I had a conversation with her about cover art. Thanks Cassandra for putting out great stories and for being friendly to me. I cannot wait to read Clockwork Angel!

The next two authors kind of go together for me. I learned about Holly Black and Melissa Marr around the same time and picked up Marr's Wicked Lovely and Black's Tithe in the same shopping trip. I hadn't read anything involving faeries before these books and I found myself hooked and heading back to the book store to get the companion novels for both series. Since I'm a Jersey girl, I love Holly Black for setting some of her stories in my home state. I feel this extra sense of belonging when I read a story and know of the places the author is talking about (that broken down carousel is in Asbury, right?). Melissa Marr's great works really taught me about all the different kinds of faeries and got me out of the notion that they are all pretty and nice like Disney tried to tell me. She also has an amazing fanbase and is quite active within it, which I love. So thank you ladies for my journey into the world of the fae and I am so excited to read more works by the both of you!

This post could go on and on, so I am going to just list a couple more authors I adore and a line or two why:

Suzanne Collins: Hunger Games & Gregor the Overlander. Fabulous and captivating. Need I say more?

Scott Westerfeld: Sci-fi for girls? A retelling of a war story I actually enjoyed!? You sir, are a hero.

Tamora Pierce: I wish my characters could be as bad assed as Becca Cooper.

Maureen Johnson: I had put myself into the paranormal so much, I had forgotten other great genres are out there. Thanks for the reminder with your great works. You're also hysterically funny.

John Green: Nothing makes me cry like your books...but they also crack me up and give me a look into what life for a teenaged guy is like. Thank you for that.

Not YA authors, but definitely worth mentioning:

Charlaine Harris: How can one not be sucked in by Sookie and the fantastic blonde viking? Also, I swear if I ever have a boy child, I'm naming him Quinn.

Patricia Briggs: Even after Twilight and the Sookie Stackhouse books, I never realized how much I loved werewolf stories until someone recommend your Mercy books to me. Even in such a saturated genre, your works stand out at the top.

There are dozens more out there I could mention, but I've taken up enough of your time! Thanks to each and everyone of you for creating such interesting and compelling stories that have made my heart hurt and laugh, that have made my mind swirl with the possibilities of my own stories being displayed on shelves next to yours, for bringing me into a world I had forgotten and hadn't realized I missed so much.
Thank you all.