What a great year in Indie Books! What makes it so was my re-dedication to reading. I made a conscious effort to read as much as I possibly could, Brand New for this year especially. I hope that commitment and the opportunity to do more reviews' grows in the next year as well. I found a lot of genres that I normally would never look at became favorites. That being said, even though I have a tie in this list I still had to make some tough choices. So let me mention a couple of books for the Honorable Mentions first. Books I did really enjoy. As my library and opportunities grow to read more and more, this is only going to get tougher.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
I am going to start with a Poetry collection from A. F. Stewart called Poetry of Monsters and Madness. I love the word play here, how quick, fierce, and downright creepy it all is. I got into this collection later than I would have liked so given more time this might end up higher on my list. I will say Ghosts of Blood may just be my favorite poem of the year. I wrote up a longer, more comprehensive review that you can get here.
Joshua Pantalleresco's Alice Won? is another interesting ride too say the least and needs to be mentioned for the mere fact that this book takes the familiar and plays around with it in a manner that is at times outrageously clever and others wherein you can't stop smiling when you read it. Don't let the weirdness fool you though, this is well written prose wrapped in structured storytelling that grabs you and doesn't let you go until you wiggle free from its clutches, if you can. I did a deeper review of this book here
Last Honorable mention goes to Justin Brimhall's Fallen Revenge Full disclosure I just finished this book and a review will be coming up this week for it. What I will say now is for a debut author, this is a triumph. Really well-established lead characters, especially Randy, nice balance of otherworldy ideals and the interplay with Angels, Demons, and everything in between, very interesting. Maybe the best last chapter of any book that makes my list, great ending. I look forward to what's to come in this series and I get the sense that what we got in the 3rd act of this story is a new writer really finding himself, which means we are in for some treats everybody. While I get the review up, you can go get the book anyway here.
So now let's look at the Top 10 list...
10. BROKEN CHAINS BY KARINA KANTAS (ROMANCE)
Damn this book takes you for a wild ride. Not my usual read and yet I am so glad I was asked to give it a shot. Karina Kantas gives you everything you could want in this book and it is so much fun. I have a review up of it on the blog here. I will say give this book a shot, especially if you just need some ridiculous fun in your life, one of the 2 most fun reads I have had this year.
9. (TIE) RHYMES FROM THE WICKED NURSERY BY JD ESTRADA (POETRY)
J. D. Estrada's depature from his normal poetry, at least for an entire collection, is nothing short of spooktacular homage and creepy factor X 10. His talent is of the highest caliber in the poetry realm, especially when it comes to finding a niche and really running with it. His commitment to that niche is full on impassioned and with the highest regard for its presentation to be memorable and connectable. This one doesn't disappoint. You can read the full review here.
9. (TIE) MIRRORS 3: SLIVERS AND SHARDS BY EDD SOWDER (POETRY)
Edd Sowder, who made my Top 5 list in 2020 with Mirrors 2, put out the follow up out this year that I think speaks to me the most of the 3. There is so much deepness and heartfelt pure, moved emotion that just spews out in this amazing collection. I really love the passion but the introspection here is so incredibly relatable and yet so deeply personal. If this connects to you, you may never want to let it go. I haven't since I got it. You can read the full review here
8. A SOLDIER'S GUIDE TO PTSD: A NO SHIT GUIDE BY VIRGINIA CRUSE (SELF HELP/NON-FICTION)
When I met Virginia and then I read this book I knew I would have to find a space for it on this list, even as early as it came out this year. First its too important, especially to me, not to have it here but moreover I think it's a great fucking read. I think it is especially pertinent for anyone to read because it does show you ways you can be affected without being in combat. Yes it is a Soldier's guide and that is also very important to note and I don't want to misrepresent that but trauma is trauma. What we all have experienced in the last couple of years, pretty fucking traumatic for a lot of us. I think anything you can do to educate that might just help you is worth a read, don't you? This is as straightforward, and no-nonsense, broken down from the clinical to just give it to me straight Doc approach. I will do a comprehensive Retro review on this book soon but I wanted it on this list right now for you to grab. So you can do so here.
7. DEAD IN THE WATER BY JENNIFER SOUCY
I am not sure if a book like will detour you from getting into the water or make you more resound in the stories you know as a kid that might have been told to you as life lessons or fair warnings? That's just the tip of what this book accomplishes. You get 3 sisters, all with these unique issues, and yet this sisterly bond that brings them to somehow work with each other after their Grandmother's death. I don't want to say too much but what I will say is just when you think this book has settled in, it changes on the moment and really pulls you in (yes that just might be a play on words ;) ). This is a great story but the characters are so rich, Jennifer may be my favorite character writer. She has this incredible way of writing characters but not just the main ones either. They are all so well defined, and I am sure we all would differ on our favorites, but I wouldn't be surprised if you gravitated to certain ones either. I will talk more about that in the more comprehensive review I will post soon. In the meantime go check out this book here
6. MIDLIFE TREMORS BY NZ NASSER
Okay, listen, I am going to be giving you a little bit of a spoiler here as it pertains to my next batch, my Top 5 list that you will hear on This Year in Indies, and then read about soon. I can't help it. I was so blown away by the 1st book in this series that I had to literally dive into the 2nd book almost right away. For the first time on my list, I will have 2 books from 1 series on here and 1 author appearing twice for the first time too. So I won't go too deep into this book because there are so many actual plot spoilers and things from the first book but I will tell you this is the most fun I had in reading this year. Not every book is intended to be fun mind you but NZ Nasser's sense of humor strikes the right cord for me. I will talk about why and these characters tomorrow and it may surprise you how I view them at least in my analogies. This was a fun adventure that i will break down more comprehensively on a blog post too. In the meantime, you can start the series here and then get this book here
So there's the top half, you can hear the bottom half of the list starting THIS SUNDAY DEC. 26TH here, premiering NOON EST along with special guest JD Estrada's Top 5 and Shane Wilson gives us some of his favorites as well.
So many great books! Great picks.
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