My Best Of 2012

This is a rather delayed round-up of 2012, but better late than never. I'm sorely disappointed with my reading statistics for 2012 (102 books) and while it's understandable that I hardly had any time to read, I'd like 2013 to be better. Can't see how that's going to happen, but I've set myself a more manageable goal of 100 books for 2013 and it would be a tragedy if I couldn't even manage that.

I found some fantastic authors in 2012 and there's a number of books that have made it to my keepers shelf, so I wanted to take some time to share these with you all. These are by no means all books that were released in 2012, just my favourite of the year, so here goes my top eleven of the past year in the order in which they were reviewed:

1. Sweet Revenge by Nora Roberts (1988) (reviewed 29-4-2012 grade A+)
Given the sheer quantity of books that NR has published (over 200), the fact that I'm close to reading three-quarters of them and her genius at storytelling in general, there's a lot to choose from when picking my favourite. For a long time, Honest Illusions occupied that coveted spot but Sweet Revenge has by the tiniest margin knocked it off - at least, until I can get my hands on the former again for a re-read. Fantastic cast whose protagonists have possibly my all-time favourite occupation for fictional characters (thieves), brilliant writing, dialogue and just a wonderful feel-good story.

Almost a Scandal by Elizabeth Essex

Almost a Scandal (2012)

Elizabeth Essex

Grade: B

Genre: historical romance/ship-road

Sex scenes: mild plus

Source: NetGalley

Sarah Alice ‘Sally’ Kent has spent a lot of her life on ships. She’s nineteen years old and the only daughter of Captain Alexander Kent, legendary Captain of His Majesty’s Royal Navy. Her three older brothers (Matthew, Owen, Dominic) have all followed in the path of their father and are deeply respected in their own right. Until several years ago, Sally and her youngest brother Richard spent much of their childhood travelling the world with their father on his ship. For the past few years, Sally and Richard have been left at their family home in Falmouth. While Sally longs for the sea, Richard has absolutely no desire to follow in the family tradition and has instead resolved to join the clergy. When his father and older brothers secure him a place as a midshipman on the Audacious, he runs away the day that he's scheduled to board the ship. Knowing that Richard's absence could possibly ruin the Kent reputation, Sally knows that there is only one thing that she can do: take Richard’s place.