Today’s Top Ten Tuesday meme, created by the lovely ladies over at The Broke and the Bookish, is all about authors we read for the first time in 2014! This was actually a fun and easy post for me since I read a whole bunch of “new to me” authors this year, and I got to meet some of them too! :)
Top Ten “New To Me” Authors in 2014
Meeting Rainbow Rowell at YALL Fest was DEFINITELY one of my highlights from 2014!!
Rainbow Rowell – By far my favorite author of the year. I read Attachments back in January after seeing so many recommendations from fellow bloggers. I LOVED IT. I know it came out a few years ago, but I talked about that book to all of my friends because it was so wonderful. Since then I’ve read Fangirl and Landline, and I’ve decided that I prefer Rainbow Rowell’s adult fiction to her YA fiction, but I’m still waiting to read Eleanor & Park :)
Veronica Roth – This year I also read the Divergent series. It wasn’t my favorite series, but I did like the world Veronica Roth created (and I really liked the first movie!).
Lauren Morrill – My second favorite author I discovered this year! She wrote Meant to Be and Being Sloane Jacobs and if I could give her an award it would be for prettiest book covers one & two.
Ann Brashares – This year I read the entire Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, and I especially loved the most recent 5th book. When I met Ann Brashares at YALL Fest (and totally fangirled), I got to chat with her a bit about it and she was really happy to know that I enjoyed the last book since so many people don’t want to read it because it’s sad. I had her sign a copy of her new book, The Here and Now (which also has a gorgeous cover), and I’m excited to read it soon!
Louisa May Alcott – I still don’t know why I waited so long to read Little Women, but I’m so glad I finally did this year! I’m looking forward to reading Alcott’s other novels as well.
Morgan Matson – After hearing so many good things about Since You’ve Been Gone, my book club voted to read this earlier this summer and we all fell in love! Since then I’ve read all of Matson’s other novels, I’ve laughed & cried, and now I can’t wait for her to publish more!
Jennifer E. Smith – It is very rare for me to read a book by an author, not really like it, and then decide to give out a second chance and read another of his/her novels. I’m glad I did this with Jennifer E. Smith. I read The Geography of You and Me a few months ago and felt “Ehh” about it. But then I checked out This Is What Happy Looks Like on audiobook and I actually rather enjoyed it. I think I’ll give The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight a chance next.
Cindi Madsen – I won a copy of Madsen’s Falling For Her Fiancé a couple of months ago and adored it! I speed read it and then bought the two sequels and finished them in roughly two days. If you like clean, funny, romances, Cindi Madsen writes some pretty great ones :)
Harper Lee – I was never assigned to read To Kill A Mockingbird, but maybe that’s a good thing, because when I finally felt like reading it this year, I loved it. I wrote all about my feelings on the novel here.
Huntley Fitzpatrick – I had been eyeing My Life Next Door for months and maybe it was delayed gratification, but I loved that book so much more than I thought I would. It’s definitely not all that it seems; it’s better :)
What are some authors you read for the first time this year? I’d love some recommendations!
macarons & paperbacks 
OMG, you met Rainbow Rowell? So cool! <3 her books so much (still have to read Landline though, it’s been on my bookshelf since the summer! Perhaps I should bump it up seeing as Christmas break is approaching…) Great list! :)
My TTT
It’s a Christmas book so yeah! Read it this month :)
Really? Haha, bumping it up the to-read then ;) *pulls it out of her shelf*
=D
Can’t believe you met Rainbow Rowell. She is such a favorite of mine! Also have loved Louisa Mae Alcott since I was little. I’m glad you finally got around to her this year!
I can still hardly believe it myself!
WOW. How cool is that you got to meet Rainbow Rowell. I just finished her book Landline. My favorite is still Eleanor and Park. Check out my TTT@Head Full of Books
Thanks!! I’m still wanting to read E&P :)
You have discovered some writer gems this year! So pleased you got to meet Rainbow Rowell. What a lovely photo! :-)
Me too!!! She was so nice to meet :)
I agree with so many of these. I love Harper, Roth, Brashares, and Fitzpatrick. Great picks.
I forgot to link up: here’s mine
I also have a $30 gift certicate to Amazon giveaway, so check that out if you want.
Thanks for sharing your link!! I’m glad we like so many similar authors :)
If it makes you feel any better, it took me until my fifties to find Little Women!
I’d love to have you stop by and take a look atmy list!
It does make me feel better hahaha! :) Thanks for sharing your list!
I actually really did not like Eleanor & Park. I mean I liked it, but I felt like there were a lot of problems with it, and I kind of felt indifferent to it. I loved Fangirl so it was kind of a let down for me. I do want to still read Landline & Attachments.
That’s really interesting since I felt the same way about Fangirl that you felt about E&P. Attachments and Landline are much different than Fangirl, but they still have that lovely Rainbow writing style that can make you laugh & cry.
Eleanor and Park is my favorite Rowell. I loved the characters and thought there was a lot of depth to it that some of her other books haven’t had (although I enjoy her writing in general).
Good to know! I really am excited to read it soon :)
I love that your list is classic and new authors! March by Geraldine Brooks is an excellent read to kind of go along with Little Women.
Thanks! Yeah, normally what I read is a mix of Classics and YA/Adult fiction…it all depends on my mood :)
Thanks for the rec, I’m adding it to my TBR!
Little Women! One of my absolute faves; so glad you loved it! I read Jennifer E. Smith for the first time this year as well though she did not quite make the cut for my list.
Which of her books did you read?
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight.
That’s one I haven’t read yet. We’ll see if I like it or not.
I liked it, just didn’t love it. Since I haven’t read her other books I can’t compare. I’m not super into contemporary anyway though.
I am obsessed with Morgan Matson now. I read Since You’ve Been Gone this summer and have been trying to get her other books ever since!
Have you read An Old-Fashioned Girl by Alcott? It’s one of my favorites, though I haven’t read it in years.
No, I’ve never heard of it! But I really liked Alcott’s style so I’ll add it to my TBR :)
Cool! It’s a very cozy read :).
glad you discovered Harper Lee
Me too!
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