This was originally supposed to be a Books You Should Buy For Christmas Gifts post, but I ran out of free time (filming and editing all those 12 Days of Christmas videos takes up a lot of time) though I always like to keep track of my favourite reads in a year. Having this blog is handy for that sort of thing. I know every book blog out there is writing a similar post, but I still want to let you know which books I found to be my favourites this year. I am not limiting the books to those published in 2009 – I am including books I might have discovered this year even if they’ve been out for a while.

Maria V. Snyder’s Study Series – Poison Study, Magic Study and Fire Study (Fantasy Adult / can be YA). These were a find at the start of the year and it had been a very long time since I had been quite so enchanted by a fantasy series. The main character Yelena captured my heart from the first pages. She’s someone I would love to be friends with. Her romance with Valek wasn’t all mush and gush and I found it had depth to it. The side characters in this series were just as fantastic leaving me wanting more and to try and figure out how I could jump into the pages of the book to join them on their quests. Speaking of quests, am I the only one who gets huge cravings for hunks of bread and cheese and homemade stew while reading fantasy books? Because I do. I have to run out (aka, have my husband run out) to the store get rolls of some sort, maybe paté and a hunk of cheese so I can snack while reading. I am so easily swayed by food in books.

Michelle Harrison’s The 13 Treasures (MG) – This was a daring purchase on my part as I ordered it directly from the UK after months of waiting for it to show up on a Canadian site. It was possibly one of the best book decisions I have ever made. Thirteen year old Tanya can see faeries, though that can get her into a lot of trouble and she’s not supposed to talk about it. Her grandmother’s house and grounds was so vividly described that I longed to hop in a plane and travel all the way to England to try and find it. Houses in England always seem so much more exciting than here in Canada. They are also all named, which is just cool. I was lucky enough to befriend the author this year and one day I’ll get overseas and meet her! Meanwhile she kindly agreed to participate in a 5 Questions interview which I posted with my review.

The 13 Treasures will be released in April 2010 in North America with a completely different cover – which I know exists somewhere though it’s not on Goodreads yet!.

Eyes Like Stars -Théâtre Illuminata, Act I by Lisa Mantchev (YA) lived up to all the hype it was getting on the internet. I got it mainly because of the cover and the fact that there were faeries. This book started off a little confusing but you quickly got into the groove of the story and understood the way things work in Bertie’s world – where classic fictional characters come to life. I bought this book in hard cover (since that seems to be the ONLY way Young Adult books are released these days!) and was very  happy to find that I did not waste my money and that I didn’t wait a whole year or more for it to have come out in paperback. Buy this book. It is so worth is.

Yet another book that lived up to it’s hype is Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink (YA). This was a book I hemmed and hawed about buying because it was in hard cover as well and I wasn’t all that certain that I would like it. When I discovered that it was “only” $19 I ended up adding it to my pile on a shopping trip. I devoured this book like it was the last piece of birthday cake that my mum made! Not only was the story gripping, gothic and creepy the actual inside of the book was pretty! I am such a sucker for aesthetics. I was frustrated to learn that this was not a stand-alone story however. So I warn the rest of you now who have not read it – there are two more books on the way! (At least?)

One of my most exciting surprises of the year was a book by an author that I adore in the Fantasy genre, Kate Forsyth. The Puzzle Ring is not yet available in North America and since I had discovered The Book Depository, I decided to order her two YA/MG novels because I was tired of waiting for them to show up here. I might even go so far as to say that The Puzzle Ring was my most favourite read of the year. I felt like I was in a magical land, like waking up to find you’re a Disney Princess or something. Even the book itself FELT whimsical and I can just stare at the cover for hours. I loved the characters, the setting, the plot. I wanted to live this book. I wanted to be a part of the pages, the story, the paper. I am beyond thrilled that I decided to order it.

And last but not least is Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (YA). And no, I am not adding any of these books to the list because everyone else has said they were great. I honestly loved this book.  I was worried about buying this book, but I had to. I mean, look at that cover! Also, I thought this book was about faeries, and I must own everything faerie. I was surprised to find that it wasn’t – it’s more about witchcraft in a way, which is fine because I am a witch-girl rather than vamp or were-girl. This is a 600+ page book that doesn’t read like it’s a 600+ page book. I read it cover-to-cover in under 5 hours (I’m a fast reader) and I don’t recall any part of the book being slow. I didn’t put it down because I needed to know what was going to happen. I was so curious about the mystery myself and I felt like I was trying to solve it on my own. This is one excellent book – and well written! The writing is even more beautiful than the cover.

I know many of you have seen most of these books on other sites and lists as being MUST READS! I promise you that I have included these books here only because I found them fantastic on my own and feel that they are worth promoting to the world. I’m even taking deep breaths and leaving this at 6 books (I hate even numbers. Don’t ask.) because they are the cream of the crop in my mind for 2009. Oh, wait! It’s not really 6 books is it? It’s NINE – because I included all 3 of The Study Series. Well, I feel much better about that. (Shush!)

Other books that I felt should be gifted (and therefore did) are: Dark Visions trilogy by L.J. Smith YA), Lament by Maggie Stiefvater (YA), Blackbringer, Faeries of Dreamdark by Laini Taylor (MG) (ok, not something I read in 2009, but it is still fantastic and the sequel came out this year.)