Darlene's Digest

It's that time of year, and since all the cool kids are doing it, I'm making my own list of "Best Books of 2013" based on my Goodreads & Booklikes rankings. So here's my Top Ten, culled from my five star rankings. They're in no particular order and believe me, it wasn't easy narrowing this list down! 1. The Dream Thieves , Maggie Stiefvater--The writing is poetic, one of my favorite characters is a hitman, and Blue still doesn't know which boy she'll kill with a kiss. Read The Raven Boys , then read The Dream Thieves and you can suffer with the rest of us waiting for the next book. 2. Her Hesitant Heart --Carla Kelly--It's got everything Kelly fans could desire: tons of angst (have your hankies ready), love, and most importantly, ordinary people being good. 3. A Dangerous Fiction --Barbara Rogan--It's cliched to say "I couldn't put it down!", but that's how I felt about A Dangerous Fiction . Rogan brings an

Parasite by Mira Grant My rating: 4 of 5 stars Cue the grainy black and white movie of the serious looking lady in a lab coat saying, "There are some things man was not meant to know..." or, better yet, bring on Igor and some wild-haired Dr. Frankenstein ("That's 'FRAHNK-en-shteen') eyeing the skies for lightning. Now you've set the tone for Parasite by Mira Grant. It's the kind of medical/sf thriller that scares the bejeezus out of you because it all sounds way too plausible. Bring on Veridian Dynamics, or its equivalent, convincing us our lives will be so much better if we allow them into our home, or in the case of Parasite's SymboGen Corporation, allow them into our bodies. They'll cure what ails us with modified tapeworms! What could go wrong? This is the first book in a series, and I look forward to staying up past my bedtime and being terrified by the next Mira Grant Parasitology thriller. View all my reviews

The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch My rating: 4 of 5 stars It was a long time coming, but well worth waiting for. We've had hints about Sabetha over the last two books, and now we get to meet her in all her glory. Sabetha's relationship to Locke Lamora helped mold the man he is today, and it's a relationship full of twists, turns and romance, but the course of true love is never an easy one. Part of what I like about Locke and Sabetha is they understand choices have consequences. Too often in romantic fiction characters make decisions based on what's best for them and for their needs, but those aren't always the best decisions. I won't go into the plot, because it's complicated, and frankly, I wouldn't recommend this doorstop of a tome to anyone who hasn't read the first two books. What I would recommend is that you read The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies . Then you'll be banging on the bookstore doors to get your