Ami's Hoard

It is that time of the year again when I compile list of my favorite books of 2013. Since these upcoming last days of 2013 would be filled with my reading short Merlin/Arthur holiday fics, I think there's no need to wait until 31st December to post the list...

MM ROMANCE/LGBT FICTION

I felt like I almost reached saturation point with MM romance (gasp!) which made me look for other genres. I guess I got tired with the insta-love, the solo shower jerk off, the 'baby' (URGH, seriously people, there ARE other endearments, only Jake can bring this for Adrien!! -- thanks Tailtiu for introducing a way to deal with it), the angst of family drama, the bitchy female, and all other boring trope. Finding stuffs that are fresh and blew me away was difficult. Having said that, I did have good books this year too.

Yes, maybe I didn't read it as many as previously, but being picky WORKED. I only picked up books that I knew I would likely enjoy, from authors I like, and heck, I even tried LGBT fiction books this year. Here is my 10 favorite list, in alphabetical order:



*** CHOICE OF 2013 ***
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Benjamin Alire Sáenz)

Other Favorites
Beguiled (Joanna Chambers)
End of the Innocence (John Goode)
Fear, Hope, and Bread Pudding (Marie Sexton)
Learning Curve (Kaje Harper)
Nor Iron Bars a Cage (Kaje Harper)
Openly Straight (Bill Konigsberg)
The General and the Elephant Clock of Al-Jazari (Sarah Black)
The Magpie Lord (K.J. Charles)
Will Grayson, Will Grayson (John Green & David Levithan)

NON-MM ROMANCE

When it comes to non-MM, my genre is urban fantasy or paranormal romance. Unfortunately, I only find a couple of new series to follow this year. AND THERE IS NO HARRY DRESDEN IN 2013!!! That made me sad. Usually Harry Dresden book will be on my list and I have to wait until 2014 for it *sigh*. I read few fictions that were really good. I admit in 2014 I needed to catch up with a couple of fiction titles that released this year as well. In the meantime, here is my 10 favorite list, in alphabetical order:



*** CHOICE OF 2013 ***
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (Robin Sloan)

Other Favorites
Archangel's Legion (Nalini Singh)
Chosen (Benedict Jacka)
Frost Burned (Patricia Briggs)
Heart of Obsidian (Nalini Singh)
Love Irresistibly (Julie James))
One By One (Chris Carter)
Suspect (Robert Crais)
The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
The Hallowed Ones (Laura Bickle)

MERLIN/ARTHUR FANFIC

I would love to declare the year of 2013 as "The Year of Merlin/Arthur Fanfiction" (thanks Marleen and Jarta for introducing this madness to me). It all started with giving Merlin/Arthur modern fanfiction a try back in January -- in a hotel room, I read "Small Town Mechanics" (fuzzytomato), a very short modern AU, and I was hooked, and I found lady_ragnell writing, then I read "The Student Prince", I discovered Paperlegends, Merlin Holidays, Merlin Reels, heck, and my life was never be the same again. Duly noted I practically only read modern AU, because I still had weird feeling if I read anything canon (I can't enjoy fanfiction if I enjoy the canon original source too much -- which is why I've been avoiding fanfiction all my life), but this year alone, I read almost 600 Merlin/Arthur stories. So of course I need to make a favorite list. To make my life easier, this list will only contain novel-length fanfiction, meaning > 50k. Without further ado, in alphabetical order:



*** CHOICE OF 2013 ***
The Student Prince (FayJay)

Other Favorites
A Beacon In The Dark (ZairaA)
A Binding Contract (eldee)
A Change of Pace (kianspo)
Company (lachatblanche)
The Lonely King (corilannam)
There Are No Gays in Football (Malu_3)
Stop Watching (Footloose)
Straws in the Wind (i_claudia)
We Are All Diamonds (Footloose)