Best New-To-Me Authors of 2014

December 9, 2014 Top Ten Tuesday 20

toptentuesday2Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is Top Ten New-to-Me Authors I Read in 2014.

I read surprisingly few new authors this year, largely because so many of the authors I like are in the middle of series. Looking over my list, I was a bit taken aback that I had only given a five-star rating to two of the books. I’m not sure if I was just more critical in my ratings this year, or if I really didn’t find many new 5-star books this year.   I tend to reserve five stars for books that are simply amazing: beautiful, creative, riveting, breathtaking; and also for books that I’ve read and re-read so many times that they’ve become like a dearly-loved friend. Looking at this list, the first two definitely fall in the “amazing” category, and the second two come within a whisker of it. The rest are really, really good – all of them are candidates for re-reading, which is one of my tests for inclusion on a “best” list.

The other thing that surprised me is that I haven’t reviewed some of them yet – mostly the ones I borrowed from the library. Something to work on for next year, I guess!

Title links take you to my review.

Five-Star Books

Lloyd-Natalie_ASnickerOfMagic
Foxlee_Ophelia&TheMarvelousBoy

 

Four-and-a-half-Star Books

Kontis-Alethea_WoodcuttersDaughters-01_Enchanted
Burgis-Stephanie_Kat-01_KatIncorrigible
  • Alethea Kontis – Enchanted
  • Stephanie Burgis – Kat, Incorrigible

 

Four-Star Books

Arthur-Keri_SpookSquad-01_MemoryZero
Behre-Mary_Tidewater-01_Spirited
Owen-RobinD_Celta-03_HeartDuel

 

Hockensmith-Falco_WhiteMagicFive&Dime
Dennison_MurderAtHoneychurchHall

 

And the number-10 spot is a tie between these two mystery authors:
Wouldn't It Be Deadly (D. E. Ireland)
Archer_ARouxOfRevenge
What great new-to-you authors did you discover this year?

 

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20 Responses to “Best New-To-Me Authors of 2014”

  1. Alleyne Dickens

    Susanna Kearsley! After I read “The Splendor Falls” (which I bought at the signing we went to), I’ve devoured 5 more of her books. I love the way she writes and the stories she tells.

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I have put her on my must-read-in-2015 list. I have at least 3 of her books – two from the signing and one on my Kindle. I’m glad you loved her!

  2. Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library

    I forgot about Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy. That was such a fun read! I loved Murder at Honeychurch Hall and I have at least one Connie Archer on a bookshelf somewhere waiting for me. Kat Incorrigible, Wouldn’t It Be Deadly, The White Magic Five & Dime and Enchanted are all on my wishlist. Great list! All the ones I don’t already own I really want to buy!
    Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: New to Me Authors in 2014My Profile

  3. Marie

    Great list! I haven’t read any of the authors on your list, so you’ve given me a few new-to-me authors to investigate. Here’s my TTT. Happy reading!
    Marie recently posted…Top Ten TuesdayMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Thanks! I don’t think I read quite as many new-to-me authors this year as last, but I did find some that I’ll be eagerly watching from now on.

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I’ve had the same reaction on visiting other people’s blogs – too many books, too little time! Hmm, I’m not familiar with the Holmes on the Range series but the title is intriguing!

      Commenting on your post: Yay for Laurie R. King and Tamora Pierce, two of my favorite authors! I will have to check out Kathleen Dean Moore, and The Night Circus is on my must-read-in-2015 list.

  6. Greg

    I remember giving Murder At Honeychurch Hall a hard look, but I haven’t read it yet. I may rectify that seeing it making this list. Nice to see some mysteries, I’ll have to keep an eye out for those.
    Greg recently posted…Review: Tarzan the InvincibleMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      It made Katherine “I Wish I Lived in a Library”‘s list too. I think you would like it. It’s like an updated English country house murder – very updated, but keeping some of the same charm.

  8. R_Hunt @ View From My Home

    Though I am loyal to my favorite series, I read new-to-me authors every week, so I couldn’t decide which were my favorites. I think this goes back to being a kid who almost lived in a library– I just randomly chose books that looked intriguing to me, regardless of whether I was familiar with the author. I still do this to this day. I don’t read nearly as many long-running series as you do either. Thank you for sharing your list: I have half of these on my wishlist already.

    On a side note: I am going to be fine-tuning my ratings. I tend to rate very, very easily, meaning it’s easy to get a 5 star from me and after doing this for a few years, it’s hard to step back and change without confusing folks but I’m going to do it starting now, thanks to your sound advice 🙂
    R_Hunt @ View From My Home recently posted…Quick & Casual Look Back at the WeekMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I do read a lot of series! As for ratings, I think you can probably go back and re-rate books, if you feel strongly about it. I’m guessing my 4-star is a lot of people’s 5-star. Sometimes I feel bad; I don’t want authors to think there’s something wrong with their book if I give it 3 or 4 stars. Maybe I should post a star-rating guide in my sidebar?

      • Vanessa

        A star-rating guide would be very helpful (and reassuring).

        As a newer author, I try (not always successfully, I must admit) to not be too impacted by ratings for the very reason you state: one reader’s 5-star may be the next’s 4-star. However, when only stars are left without some sort of rubric/written explanation, it becomes difficult to know if there is something lacking in my writing that I’m unaware of, something that could be fixed by more research/better editing/less exposition/whatever, or if it is that my storylines and characters just don’t grab that particular reader’s fancy.

        Explanations are also helpful to a future reader: without an explanation how are they to know if that 1-star rating is because the book is truly awful or only because the rater thinks that mixing fantasy and the Civil War is some sort of heresy?

        (on a totally different subject, why are there two check-boxes for “notify me of follow-up comments by/via e-mail”?)

        • Lark_Bookwyrm

          I’ve seen some bloggers put a star-rating guide on their sidebar – that’s a good thought, and thank you for the reminder! And I always, always try to make it clear in my reviews what the strengths and weaknesses of a book were (in my opinion, obviously!), and also if I didn’t care for it for reasons personal to me that might not bother someone else. (Like, I’m not fond of zombies, so it might affect my opinion if I came across them in a book where I wasn’t expecting them and they ended up being a major part of the book. Other people love zombies, so that would be a personal bias, not something to do with the quality of the book.)

          I’m trying to think if I’ve ever given a 1-star rating… I don’t think so; if I have that much trouble with a book, I don’t finish it, and therefore don’t rate it at all. I’ve given a few 2-star ratings, for books I really didn’t think were very good.

          As for the check boxes, I have no idea. I think one is from the WordPress comment program, and the other is from an add-on, and I don’t know if I can get rid of one, but I’ll try!

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I’m glad I’m not the only one who is a little conservative in giving out 4 and 5 stars! And I’m looking forward to seeing the other TTT posts for this week. 🙂