Top Ten New to Me Authors I Read in 2018

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. More information here.

I read more new-to-me authors than I thought in 2018, but here are the ones that received very high ratings and I remembered as being some of my favorite reads of 2018.

1. Penny Reid - I feel like I fell off the smut-with-a-plot book bandwagon many years ago and was out of the loop for all the good stuff. I kept seeing Truth or Beard get recommended and decided, why not? I loved it. I'm not into burly lumberjacks, but it was still a great read.
2. Sally Thorne - I completely and 100% blame Chelsea of chelseadollingreads for this and I'm sure a lot of us can. The Hating Game has been super hyped by Chelsea and for good reason. Like Truth or Beard, this is a great smut-with-a-plot book. I'm excited for her next novel that is going to be released this year!
3. Neal Shusterman - I received Scythe for my birthday in 2017 and didn't pick it up until literally everyone was hyping it. When I received it, I hadn't heard anyone talking about it and then BOOM - everyone loved it. I loved it. I also read Unwind which was good, but Scythe is definitely better.
4. Trisha Levenseller - I put off Daughter of the Pirate King for a long time but I thoroughly enjoyed it and preordered the sequel (but then it's just sat on my shelf cause it's me). I'm also really looking forward to her Viking-inspired book in 2019.
5. Marie Lu - I could have sworn that I read Legend, but apparently I haven't (and I was getting it confused with Ann Aguirre's Razorland series. Warcross was absolutely fabulous. Virtual reality gaming is picking up in YA and out of the few that I have read, Warcross takes the crown.
6. Emma Mills -  I received Foolish Hearts in an Owlcrate box and I hated the cover and wasn't really necessarily drawn to the synopsis. I ended up reading it because I wanted to join in with the Owlcrate Book Club book discussion. I adored it and cannot wait to read more from Mills. Foolish Hearts was so sweet.
7. Ashley Poston - I read both Geekerella and Heart of Iron this year and they were both awesome. A contemporary retelling and a sci fi retelling. Poston is the queen of retellings. Her follow up to both books should be out in 2019.
8. Rysa Walker - I have been working through my Netgalley books from ages ago. I had a really good reading year and was requesting everything and that was followed by a few really rough reading years and I got way behind. I thoroughly enjoyed The Delphi Effect.
9. Brian K. Vaughan (with Fiona Staples) - Saga was very hyped in the Booktube world and for very very good reason. I received 2 through 6 for Christmas and binge read them.
10. Jenn Bennett - I found a few new contemporary authors this year that I was apparently sleeping on. I read Starry Eyes as a part of a readathon I was participating in (it was the group book) and it was a little hate-to-love, but a quick, fun summer read.