Top Ten Tuesday: Best Books of 2011

 Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly blog meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Here we share our Top Ten lists; anything bookish counts!

2011 was such a great book year! It was so hard to narrow down ten favorites. After much debating on what to feature as the BEST of 2011, here is what I came up with.  I would love to hear in the comments what your favorites were for this year as well!

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by: Laini Taylor:  This may be the most imaginative book I've ever read. I loved the fact that every character's name in this book I had never heard of before (ex: Karou, Issa, Madrigal, Akiva, Zuzana)

City of Fallen Angels by: Cassandra Clare: As the latest book in my absolute favorite series, The Mortal Instruments, I was already brimming with anticipation upon reading this.  Every time I think of Magnus, Jace, or Isabelle, I get goosebumps at how much I love them!  Still, every time I look at this book on my shelf, I think to myself "I can't believe how perfect this was!". Despite the wonderfully awful cliffhanger, of course.

Clockwork Prince by: Cassandra Clare: So many emotions coursed through me when I read this. Good and bad. There wasn't a moment when I wasn't totally mesmerized by everything. The way that Cassandra Clare writes, she reveals the deepest parts of all her characters and I absolutely cannot get enough of it.  Team Will!

The Iron Knight by: Julie Kagawa:  There couldn't be any better way to end a series. Being from Ash's perspective, we were able to see so much deeper into the brightest and darkest parts of him. The mystique and nature of the NeverNever and River of Dreams never ceased to sweep me into it's world in the pages.

Beautiful Chaos by: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl: I always adore books that are set in the South and this is positively my favorite! Ridley and Macon made me laugh and cry, as well as the other characters. I felt so in sync with everything in this book. It was one of those books that everything was rapidly building up to a climax that you were both dreaded and exited about.

The Power of Six by: Pittacus Lore: Six is my favorite YA female character, hands down.  She is so tough and unbelievable strong and will hold no prisoners. I especially came to love her  more this time around because she explains in depth her imprisonment by the Mogadorians. She is a fighter, to say the least. Also, I think it is great that some of the aliens are portrayed to have good intentions instead of the world dominating aliens we always hear about.

The Near Witch by: Victoria Schwab: The mystery alone in this book would be enough to gain it a spot on this list. Along with that, there was romance, suspense, dread, and obsessive page-turning to make it exceptionally fabulous!

Forbidden by: Tabitha Suzuma: This is the first book ever that has made me bawl my eyes out, literally. I honestly didn't know that I could develop such an emotional connection with characters. Alas, I was blown away by Maya and Lochan. The book alternated between their perspectives, which I think helped me understand more, especially because of the heavily controversial subject.

Passion by: Lauren Kate: Compared to the other books in the Fallen Series, this was immensely different, in a good way. Every chapter was set in a different time and place, each one unique. Daniel's devotion to Luce became all the more clear to me as he waited for her in each of her lives.

Afterlife by: Claudia Gray: This was another conclusion to a favorite series of mine. The last book, Hourglass, ended in such a way that I couldn't imagine there being a happy ending, and I was ecstatic when this ended and everything was in a stable place. I thought that after everything Lucas and Bianca went through for their love, that they deserved the peace that they got in the end.