I almost titled this post “My Top 5 Favorite Authors”, but like the New York Times bestseller list, new authors make their way to the top of my list regularly. Right now, those authors are as follows:

Kate Avery Ellison
Not only does Kate write beautiful, descriptive dystopian fiction that keeps you turning the pages, but the pace in which she releases book after book is remarkable.
She’s been published since 2011, and already has 16 titles out on the Amazon.
Her story of self-publishing success can be read here.

Chanda Hahn
Chanda also started out as an indie author and is now a New York Times and USA Today bestseller. So far, I’ve only read her Iron Butterfly series, but they were amazing. Usually, sequels don’t really measure up to the first book, but my favorite turned out to be the third and final installment, The Silver Siren.
I couldn’t help but love her protagonists and love to loathe her antagonists.
If you decide to read this series, buckle up! Her books are full of plot twists. You can read more about Chanda here.

Leigh Bardugo
Leigh’s world-building is absolutely amazing. As I read through her Shadow and Bone series, she left me marveling over the sheer creativity in her writing. The cast of characters are very interesting, and the dialogue is often witty.
The finale left my jaw hanging.
Though her books have a few things that conflict with my beliefs, I had to feature her in this list. She is a writing genius.
You can learn more about Leigh here.

Marissa Meyer
I just started reading Marissa’s books in November, and I’m already on the third one. She writes The Lunar Chronicles, which are unique, dystopian spin-offs of classic fairytales. I wasn’t sure that I would like them, seeing as they sounded a bit too eccentric for my taste, but I ended up loving them. Her writing is so good that she can make the frying of an egg interesting. And I cried over a robot. A ROBOT. And I have to say, it’s very difficult to get a tear out of me.
You can learn more about Marissa here.

J.K. Rowling
It’s so cliché to feature J.K. Rowling on a favorite authors list, but I think she will always be very high on my list of favorite authors. Not only are her books amazing and worthy of the fame, but the way she’s handled the fame is remarkable. She started the Lumos charity and donates much of her money to multiple sclerosis researchers, trying to help find a cure for the disease that took her mother.
A couple of my favorite quotes from her are:
“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.”
“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”
You can learn more about Rowling here.
(Who else can’t wait for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them??)