Top Ten New-To-Us Authors in 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Today's topic is Top Ten New-To-Us Authors in 2014. We decided to split up the topic this week and picked 5 authors each. Who were some of your favorite author discoveries in 2014? We'd love to hear in the comments below!

Lesley Anne's Picks

1. Sarah Addison Allen (The Peach Keeper; The Sugar Queen) - The moment I finished reading The Peach Keeper, I knew I had found a new all-time favorite author in Sarah Addison Allen. Reading her novels are like drinking a tall glass of sweet tea on a hot summer day - perfectly refreshing and oh so Southern!

2. Sarah J. Maas (Throne of Glass; Crown of Midnight) - With each Sarah J. Maas book I read, the writing, character development, and world-building just get better and better and BETTER. I'm hoping to find The Assassin's Blade and Heir of Fire under my tree for Christmas this year so I can spend more time with these beloved characters!

3. Leigh Bardugo (Shadow and Bone; Siege and Storm; Ruin and Rising) - I started off the year reading Shadow and Bone, and it was the absolute perfect wintertime read (in my book, anyway!). From there I just couldn't get enough of Bardugo's writing, and it was a good thing I didn't have a long wait until the conclusion of her Grisha series in June. I'm so excited about Six of Crows coming out next year!

4. Myquillyn Smith (The Nesting Place: It Doesn't Have to be Perfect to be Beautiful) - Myquillyn also has a really fun blog, but she came out with her first home decor book, The Nesting Place, this year, and I LOOOOVED it. Her approach to decorating your home is a breath of fresh air in a world that expects way too much perfection. I highly recommend this read!

5. Hannah Kent (Burial Rites) - Hannah Kent's debut novel, Burial Rites, blew me away when I read it earlier this year. The story is haunting, the characters were unapologetically raw, and after I closed the book, I genuinely felt like I learned about something in history I had never before heard. Kent reminded me why I love historical fiction so much, and I can't wait for more from her!

Jenny's Picks

1. A.S. Byatt (Possession) - The beauty and complexity of her prose (and poetry) is beyond compare. The way she tells a story is as wonderful as the story itself.

2. Ilona Andrews (Kate Daniels series; the Edge series) - This husband and wife writing team create wonderful fantasy worlds populated with snarky and lovable characters (and if they aren't lovable they are, at the least, unforgettable). Plus the Kate Daniels series is set in a magical Atlanta. I wished I lived in their Atlanta.

3. Sarah Addison Allen (The Peach Keeper; The Sugar Queen; Garden Spells; The Girl Who Chased the Moon) - Pretty much everything Lesley Anne said. The way she highlights every day magics makes me want to see the world through her eyes.

4. Seamus Heaney (Beowulf) - Heaney's translation of Beowulf gets better every time I read it. I wrote a paper on this particular translation earlier in the year and I am so captivated by the depth of his subtleties in his interpretation of the text.

5. Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson series; Alpha & Omega) - These series are intertwined in that they are set in the same world but focus on different characters. Her characters are so, so good. The amount of depth and dimensions she brings to even her secondary and tertiary characters (is that a thing? I think it should be) add layers to her plots that would be flimsy at best if written by a lesser author.