Book Girls Don't Cry - Can't Miss Authors

I am so excited about this weeks topic guys! You don't even understand, I tried to film a video for this but it was so fangirly and incoherent and just all over the place that I decided to reign it in and type the post up.  This week we are talking about our favorite authors, authors who we would wait outside the bookstore on release day for their books.  Needless to say, I have a few and I am so excited to share them all with you in hopes you maybe find a new favorite amongst them.  This list in no particular order and you can click on the book covers to see my review of each book.

Lauren Oliver's Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Lauren Oliver comes from a family of writers and so has always (mistakenly) believed that spending hours in front of the computer every day, mulling over the difference between “chortling” and “chuckling,” is normal. She has always been an avid reader.

Books I've Read by Oliver:
So if you have been to my blog before you probably know that I am a huge fan of contemporary issue books. I love raw, gritty contemporaries and the book that got me into the genre is actually Before I Fall.  I loved that book and it's the book that turned me into an Oliver fan.  Following reading Before I Fall I started reading the Delirium series and it became a fast favorite dystopian series of mine.  I'm sad that the series is over but I can't wait to see what she puts out next.  I haven't ventured into her middle grade novels yet, though I have heard great things and have both on my bookshelf.



Miranda Kenneally's Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Growing up in Tennessee, Miranda Kenneally dreamed of becoming an Atlanta Brave, a country singer (cliché!), or a UN interpreter. Instead she writes, and works for the State Department in Washington, D.C., where George W. Bush once used her shoulder as an armrest. Miranda loves Twitter, Star Trek and her husband.

Books I've Read by Kenneally 

I love Miranda so much that I have dubbed the feeling her books give me the "Kenneally Feeling." Her romances are so sweet and I love the complex characters that she writes.  They're all struggling with finding themselves and coming of age & she just writes characters that grow so much which is always something that I appreciate.  Another thing that always has me excited about her novels is the fact that the characters overlap in the stories.  In Parker we see Jordan and in Things I Can't Forget we see Jordan AND Parker.  It's always fun to get to see characters popping up here and there that we have already come to know and enjoy.

Nova Ren Suma's Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Nova has an MFA in fiction from Columbia University and a BA in writing & photography from Antioch College. She’s been awarded fiction fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Corporation of Yaddo, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, the Millay Colony, and, twice, from the MacDowell Colony. She was selected to attend the 2012 Launch Pad Workshop, a NASA-funded astronomy workshop for writers, and teaching YA novel writing with Mediabistro. She grew up in small towns across the Hudson Valley and now lives in New York City.

Books I've Read by Suma

I read Imaginary Girls last year and knew that Suma was going to be a fast favorite of mine but reading 17 & Gone over this past weekend has solidified her spot there.  Her writing has this eerie, almost dreamlike quality to it and it's so easy to get lost into the stories she weaves.  I never know when I'm reading her novels what's real and what's not and that fact keeps me turning the pages, it's also what made both of her books 1 day reads for me.  I devoured them and I want more! To me, she writes a mind fuck like no one else.  I recently got Fade Out for my birthday and I can't wait to read it.  

Courtney Summers' Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Courtney Summers lives and writes in Ontario, Canada. She is the author of 2009 CYBIL award-winner Cracked Up to Be, 2011 White Pine Honor Book and 2011 YALSA Top 10 Quick Pick Some Girls Are, Fall for Anything and This is Not a Test, which has been optioned by Sony for a television movie. Her fifth book, All the Rage, will be released in 2014.

Books I've Read by Summers

Ok, I really don't even know how to put into words how much I love Courtney Summers.  She is the only author that I know who can write characters that I hate with a fiery passion and make me love the books so immensely.  The reason I dislike some of her characters so much is probably because of how real they are and in some cases how much they are like me.  I love that she doesn't gloss over heavy issues and... ugh I just love everything about her books. I really think I am holding off on reading Fall For Anything because then what will I have left? I have to have something that I can read by her when I want to so I'm not forced to actually wait for her next novel.

Jennifer Brown's Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Jennifer's debut novel, HATE LIST (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2009) received three starred reviews and was selected as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a VOYA "Perfect Ten," and a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. HATE LIST also won the Missouri Gateway Readers Award, the Michigan Library Association's Thumbs Up! Award, the Louisiana Teen Readers Choice award, the 2012 Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award, was an honorable mention for the 2011 Arkansas Teen Book Award, is a YALSA 2012 Popular Paperback, received a spot on the Texas Library Association's Taysha's high school reading list, and was chosen to represent the state of Missouri in the 2012 National Book Festival in Washington, DC.

Books I've Read by Brown

Jennifer Brown is another favorite of mine.  She is another author who writes issue books so well. I love the stories she tells and I appreciate the honesty she presents.  Her books aren't easy to read but they tackle some important stuff and do so very well.  I can't wait to read Thousand Words!

Gayle Forman's Website | Twitter | Goodreads

My name is Gayle Forman and I love to write young-adult novels. Because I do. So thank you for reading them. Because without you, it’d just be me. And the voices in my head.

Gayle Forman is an award-winning author and journalist whose articles have appeared in such publications as Jane, Seventeen, Glamour, Elle, and The New York Times Magazine, to name just a few. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter.

Books I've Read by Forman

I have loved every book that Forman has thrown at me and she is definitely an author that I highly anticipate. I love the unique way that she marries her novels; in the first book we get a story from the girls perspective and in the second book we see a story from the guy.  It's not necessarily the same story but they always go together perfectly.  After reading Just One Day I am anxious to get my hands on Just One Year and see what happened in Paris while Allyson was brooding in America.

Right now these are the authors that are rocking my world.  I know there seems to be a theme here, that theme being contemporary but I just can't help it. I love books that are touching and that affect me on an emotional level, books that I can connect with, that I can pull emotions out of and think "I've been there" because those are the ones to stick with me.  Honestly, if you haven't read something by each one of these authors you are doing yourself an injustice and must change that soon!

So who are your favorite authors? Let me know!