A Paper Worlds and Swirls of Ink Original - Hits and Misses of 2013

Hello to you all! I've decided that, with all the end of the year themed posts I've been doing, I really want to bring my own unique post to the blogsphere. So, I thought up some categories of some really awesome books and some books that fell flat. This is a hits and misses type post, where I have one category, and two books for each category. One's spectacular, one's lackluster. In short, I bring you the Hits and Misses of 2013.

These are books that I personally read in 2013. I've already done a lot of the end of the year posts from the Top 10 of 2013 series that were books published in 2013, so I decided to make this my 2013 reads.

Book Endings

Hit: Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
This was fantastic. I cried a lot, yes, but I appreciate how well written this was, and how it was such a great ending for a trilogy that needed such an ending. These characters had such a long story for only three books, but I think this ending fit perfectly and was everything I could have wanted. You know, just incredibly sad and bittersweet as well.






Miss: That Time I Joined the Circus by J.J. Howard
Ok, I loved everything about this book: the sarcastic protagonist, the circus troupe friends, the mysterious guy...but that ending. Ruined. the. book. I won't even go back and reread the parts of this book that I liked. Why? Because of that ending. Grr. Most frustrating thing. Normally, I try to look at the story as separate parts when I review. That's why this book got three stars. The whole beginning and middle was at least a 4. The ending? I'm being generous by saying 2 so I just gave the entire book a 3.




World Building

Hit: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
If ever a book has convinced me that its world needs to exist, it is the circus of this book. The imagery was so well done that I saw every detail described when I was reading. It was something very specially written to have such an affect. I think that this book is incredible because it draws the reader in- there are actual passages in it with a 2nd person 'you' narration. The world is incredibly described and brought to life in this book.





Miss: Frostbite by Richelle Mead
There wasn't much that stood out about this book. I can recall reading it on my e-reader and waiting for the big, action packed moment of the novel, still waiting, and then realizing I was a few pages from the end and what I had thought was a minor incident in the lead up was actually the main conflict of the story. There was a complete lack of world building here, which would have been very helpful to this story.






Character Development

Hit: Warner from Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
I really wanted to talk about Warner in Destroy Me, but since I read that when it first came out in 2012, I'm going to talk about him in the second full length novel. Warner still sees a lot of character development here. Since he was a character I found the most interesting and the one I paid most attention to when reading Shatter Me and Destroy Me, I was eager to read more about him in Unravel Me. This was fantastic. He really grows as a character- especially in Juliet's eyes, since this is told from her perspective. That made it an amazing sequel to me.

Miss: America from The Elite by Kiera Cass
This entire book was centered around a very whiney America. As the novel progressed, she made increasingly worse decisions and frustrated me to the point of putting the book down several times. I would not have expected such a drastic shift in character after The Selection, but America was another person entirely in this book. It was a sequel I would not reread, and having seen how her character behaved in this, I'm admittedly quite nervous for The One.





Couple

Hit: Tana and Gavriel from The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
This couple was incredible together- I wish we had seen more of Gavriel and Tana interacting. They went together so well, with her understanding him and his protectiveness of her in this mad world they'd been dropped into. By the end, they are able to understand each other to the point where their teamwork is almost intrinsic. This couple came together very well.





Miss: Day and June from Prodigy by Marie Lu
I'm talking about these two in Prodigy only. But, like America in The Elite, there was a total shift in personality here! Day was really petty and almost childish whenever he was around June. Most of the problem came from Tess, who was such an irritating character in this book. Any scene with her in it was ruined. But June and Day fell apart in this book, and they just fell out of synchronization when they had been such a great team before.





Release in 2013
(this is what book I immediately went to buy, and what book I actually never picked up)

Hit: Splintered by A.G. Howard
I remember searching the shelves its release day and not finding it at two separate stores, so I downloaded it onto my e-reader and then, after reading it, bought a print copy for my shelf.








Miss: Origin by Jennifer L. Armentrout
By Opal I was losing my patience with Katy's character and the plot that never untangled itself. Now everyone is excitedly going on about this series and I'm still not excited to pick the books back up. I find that I prefer her Covenant series; that is a fantastic book series.







There is yet another way to summarize the books that I read (or didn't) this year. I hope you had a wonderful 2013 and Happy New Year!

From a paper world,
V