2007 Top Ten Books, Part 1

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2007 Top Ten AwardThe year’s not over yet, I know, but it’s Christmas stories from here on out. Maybe once I’ve read more Christmas-themed books, I’ll do a separate top ten list. I’m breaking this down into two posts: #10 to #6 and #5 to #1. I jotted a few notes as I listed each book, thinking back about the book without looking at the reviews first. My memory not being so good as it used to be, I had to go back to refresh my memory on a few of them. 🙄

Before I present the list, here’s how I got there:

  • Eliminated Jane. I read three of Jane Austen’s novels this year. She’s an all-time favorite, and it wasn’t the first time I’ve read them. As she is someone I plan/hope to read every year, it wouldn’t be fair to any new authors/books I discovered during the course of the year.
  • Contemplated eliminating one other book. It’s such another given, that it was #1 for the year before I even read one word of it. Eliminating it would have made the list inaccurate. This year’s Top Ten is going to be so anticlimactic.
  • I went through the remaining books and gave each book a 1 -5 rating (1 being the lowest). I went through it twice, just to make sure, and I even scrutinized all the 5s and 4s a third time. I knew which would be the top two right off. The rest took some time.

Without further ado, here’s #10 – #6:

10. Star Wars: Labyrinth of Evil (James Luceno) – As much as I am a fan of SW in general, I couldn’t justify all four novels on this list. Two of the four were written by Luceno. I chose this book over Dark Lord because I felt it was more gripping, more fun. I felt it was also more adventurous, the last hurrah before Anakin’s fall.

9. A. K. A. Goddess (Evelyn Vaughn) – Up until I started typing this blog entry, I had Goddess and Her Kind of Trouble listed together as one. When I moved Labyrinth back to the last spot, it meant that Trouble was no longer quasi – #11. Goddess is the first part of Maggi and Lex’s love story, and the first part of Maggi’s goddess grail quest. I enjoyed the mini-series, with it’s mixture of myth, fantasy, and kick-butt girl power.

8. The Dark Gate (Pamela Palmer) – This is the author’s debut novel, and I thought the world-building in it was worthy of a longer book. It really grabbed me and I’m looking forward to the next book. It was my favorite Nocturne for, oh, about two weeks. That’s when I finished reading. . .

7. Unbound (Lori Devoti) – Like The Dark Gate, I was grabbed by the world-building. But it was the hero, Risk, that put this book ahead of Gate. Risk is a loner who’s desperately trying to out-maneuver a master manipulator because he’s discovered people who’ve become very important to him. The second book is ordered and it will be a major test of self-control to hold off reading it until January. 😀

6. Magic Bites (Ilona Andrews) – Another debut, another 1st in a series, and another world-building that drew me in. Unlike Unbound and Gate, this isn’t a Nocturne and it wasn’t a book I picked up based on a review/recommendation. I just saw it on the shelf. The heroine is still a bit of a mystery to the reader, even in first person, and if they don’t kill each other first — Kate and Curran would make a cute couple.

So, there they are.

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