Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Authors Who Deserve More Recognition

Pam's picks:
This one was a tough one for me so I only picked two authors who may not be as well known:

1.  Jessica Shirvington:  She writes one of my favorite series (Violet Eden Chapters, also known as the Embrace series).  She writes in such a way that you get emotionally invested in the characters.  During Book 4, which is only available in audio in the U.S. right now, I was crying for the last 10 chapters (and I hardly ever even get misty-eyed in books).  Love this series!  And here's a link to my audiobook review of her stand-alone novel, Between the Lives:  Audiobook Review of Between the Lives.

From Goodreads:

Jessica Shirvington is the author of THE VIOLET EDEN CHAPTERS also known as THE EMBRACE SERIES, and stand alone novel, BETWEEN THE LIVES. An entrepreneur, author, and mother living in Sydney, Australia, Jessica is also a 2011 finalist for Cosmopolitan’s annual Fun, Fearless Female Award. She’s also one of the lucky few who met the love of her life at age seventeen: Matt Shirvington, a former Olympian and current sports broadcaster for FOXTEL and Sky News. Married for twleve years with two beautiful daughters, Sienna and Winter, Jessica knows her early age romance and its longevity has definitely contributed to how she tackles relationships in her YA novels. 

2.  Susan Kaye Quinn:  I don't read  many indie authors, but I came across the Mindjack trilogy and love it.  I'm a big big fan!

From Goodreads:

Susan Kaye Quinn grew up in California, where she wrote snippets of stories and passed them to her friends during class. Her teachers pretended not to notice and only confiscated her stories a couple times. Susan left writing behind to pursue a bunch of engineering degrees, but she was drawn back to writing by an irresistible urge to share her stories with her niece, her kids, and all the wonderful friends she’s met along the way. She doesn’t have to sneak her notes anymore, which is too bad. Susan writes from the Chicago suburbs with her three boys, two cats, and one husband. Which, it turns out, is exactly as a much as she can handle.

Sheri's Picks:
So here's the truth....I generally only read YA books that others recommend so by the time I am reading them I wouldn't say the authors are unrecognized.  That said, I have begun to notice that authors I don't normally associate with YA books have written quite a few and some authors who I thought only wrote a specific genre of YA actually write in a variety of genres.  So my picks highlight two authors I was surprised to find writing YA books I wanted to read.  Please note I have not yet read these books but hope to read them in the future.

1. J.A. London: I came across this series when I was trying to find when Lorraine Heath's new historical romance would be released.  Lorraine Heath (AKA Rachel Hawthorne and Jade Parker) has been one of my go to authors for historical romance for quite awhile.  While looking up those books I came across her link for teen books.  I haven't read the series yet but I love that she is writing it with her son and it sounds great and is getting pretty good reviews on Goodreads.

From Goodreads

J.A. London is the mother-son writing team of Rachel Hawthorne and her son, Alex London. Rachel has written many novels for teens, including the popular Dark Guardian series. Alex, a recent graduate with a degree in Historical Studies, enjoys combining history and fiction to create unique worlds. The Darkness Before Dawn series is their first joint project.

2. Meg Cabot: I know you're thinking, "Meg Cabot not recognized" but seriously the only books I knew she wrote were the Princess Diaries series so I was pleasantly surprised to see her writing something a shade darker that I can enjoy while my daughter can look forward to the Princess Diaries.  Just be warned readers seem to either hate or love the Abandon series which I suspect is the danger for any author who tries to branch out into something new.  Regardless I look forward to giving it a try.

From Goodreads:

Meg Cabot was born on February 1, 1967, during the Chinese astrological year of the Fire Horse, a notoriously unlucky sign. Fortunately she grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, where few people were aware of the stigma of being a fire horse -- at least until Meg became a teenager, when she flunked freshman Algebra twice, then decided to cut her own bangs. After six years as an undergrad at Indiana University, Meg moved to New York City (in the middle of a sanitation worker strike) to pursue a career as an illustrator, at which she failed miserably, forcing her to turn to her favorite hobby--writing novels--for emotional succor. She worked various jobs to pay the rent, including a decade-long stint as the assistant manager of a 700 bed freshmen dormitory at NYU, a position she still occasionally misses.

She is now the author of nearly fifty books for both adults and teens, selling fifteen million copies worldwide, many of which have been #1 New York Times bestsellers, most notably The Princess Diaries series, which is currently being published in over 38 countries, and was made into two hit movies by Disney. In addition, Meg wrote the Mediator and 1-800-Where-R-You? series (on which the television series, Missing, was based), two All-American Girl books, Teen Idol, Avalon High, How to Be Popular, Pants on Fire, Jinx, a series of novels written entirely in email format (Boy Next Door, Boy Meets Girl, and Every Boy's Got One), a mystery series (Size 12 Is Not Fat/ Size 14 Is Not Fat Either/Big Boned), and a chick-lit series called Queen of Babble.

Meg is now writing a new children's series called Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls. Her new paranormal series, Abandon, debuts in Summer of 2011.

Meg currently divides her time between Key West, Indiana, and New York City with a primary cat (one-eyed Henrietta), various back-up cats, and her husband, who doesn't know he married a fire horse. Please don't tell him.

 
  

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.