Top 10 Tuesdays: New-To-Me Authors I Discovered in 2021

I was a little surprised to see this week’s prompt since I did a similar one for 7 on Sunday not too long ago! Luckily for me, it was not a difficult prompt because of my list of priority authors to read in the year. Over the past couple of years, I’ve set myself a goal of a certain number of new-to-me authors that I’ve been meaning to try for a while with the hopes of giving myself an extra push to actually pick them up. As I noticed when I did that 7 on Sunday post, I actually hadn’t read a ton of brand new authors in 2021. I think that was partly due to my focus on reading series, but also because when I discover an author that I like, I love to go back and read more of their books, so each year I have this goal, I tend to end up with more and more authors that I look out for. My 7 on Sunday post probably covers the 7 authors who were my favourite of the ones who were new to me, but I still had plenty others that I read for the first time in 2021!

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

1) J.P. Delaney – I had all four of this author’s books on my TBR for 2021, but unfortunately I only got to one of them! I read The Girl Before, which had been on my shelves absolutely forever. I ended up loving it and it pretty narrowly missed out on being a 5 star read because I found the ending a bit underwhelming. I’m looking forward to reading more of this author’s books this year!

2) David Bell – This author had been on my Goodreads list for so long that it had almost become a joke that I hadn’t read any of his books yet! I kept adding them every time I saw a new one since they seemed so interesting. I read Bring Her Home, and while it wasn’t my favourite thriller of the year, it definitely interested me enough to want to continue trying more books by this author.

3) Rory Power – I avoided this author’s books at first because Wilder Girls seemed so overhyped, and I wasn’t sure how interested I was. I’d intended to read both of her books but ended up only getting to Burn Our Bodies Down. I thought this book was going to be an easy favourite so I was a bit disappointed that it wasn’t quite what I expected even though I still ultimately enjoyed it.

4) Kacen Callender – I didn’t include this author on my previous list because I hadn’t tried his books at the time, but I read Felix Ever After toward the end of December and ended up loving it! It easily became one of my favourite books of the year! I absolutely loved the characters and I was drawn straight in by the writing. I’m definitely looking forward to reading more by this author.

5) Shea Ernshaw – This author (and actually all of the above) was on my priority list to try, and this was one of the few cases where I managed to try both of her books! Of the two, I liked The Wicked Deep better but I really enjoyed them both. I think the biggest strength of them both was the atmospheric writing, and I’m interested to see how that translates to her recent adult title.

6) Kate Elizabeth Russell – It feels a little like cheating to pick this author since she only has one book so far. I guess in my head, it seems silly to call her “new-to-me” when she’s new to everyone by default. In any case, I had to include her because My Dark Vanessa was by far one of my favourite books that I read this year and I’m so glad I finally gave into the hype and tried it. I can’t wait to see what this author comes out with next!

7) Justin A. Reynolds – I spent most of the year thinking this author was on my priority list. I think at one point he was, but for some reason I’d switched him out for someone else, although I can’t remember why. I ended up reading both of his YA books anyway and I really enjoyed them both. To be fair, I didn’t quite love Opposite of Always as much as I expected, but Early Departures was amazing!

8) Monica Hesse – I had several of this author’s books on my TBR but I only ended up reading Girl in the Blue Coat. I loved how this book focused on a different aspect of WWII than most others that I’d read, and found it very interesting to see a story set in a country that I knew very little about. I’m very interested in trying more by this author, and both of her other books are on my TBR for this year.

9) Karen M. McManus – This one also feels a bit like cheating since she really should have been on my list of new-to-me authors in 2020! Karen M. McManus had been on my priority list for 2020 and she was the only author that I didn’t get to in time! I finally read One of Us is Lying for the first time after all these years, and loved it a lot more than I expected. I can’t wait to read the rest of her books!

10) Josie Silver – This was another author that I finally read right at the end of the year, despite the fact that one of her books was supposed to be on my priority list! I’ve only read One Day in December so far, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I loved it! I’m not too big on Christmas stories in general, so I’d been putting off reading this. I loved this author’s writing immediately and found the characters so interesting, and I’m hoping to finally read The Two Lives of Lydia Bird this year too.

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