Top Ten Tuesday
Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by Tahleen at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because due to a love of lists and what better way to celebrate lists than with book related ones?
This week…. Top Ten Nine Books I Thought I’d Like MORE/LESS Than I Did:
I’ve split mine up this week, so firstly the books I thought I would like more than I did:
Nameless by Lili St Crow
I wanted this to be so good - the description on Goodreads sounded so intriguing and full of promise. And then I started reading it, and only got part way through before it became a “did not finish” read. I was so disappointed with this book, because it really could have been great. But the Snow White “retelling” was lost on me, as there was no likeness to the fairytale at all, and there was just SO many new things Lili was trying to throw at the reader at once, without stopping to explain any of it unfortunately.
It just lost me. :(
Eve & Adam by Michael Grant
The first book I read of Michael Grant’s, and I’d heard so many good things about his writing. I’m hoping this was not the best of his work, because I was hoping for more from this book. Eve & Adam was one of those books that had so much hype attached to it. I did like Eve & Adam (I rated it 3/5), however, I just had hoped it was going to be more of a 5 star read based on what I’d heard about it.
I’m still prepared to give Michael Grant’s books a try, it hasn’t deterred me. :)
Between The Lines - Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer
Jodi Picoult is one of my absolute favourite authors of all time. And so when I heard she was writing a YA book with her daughter Samantha, I rushed out to buy this. And it wasn’t bad. Really… I did like it. Again, it was rated 3/5 by myself. But there was just something lacking from this book that took it from good to amazing. Co-authored books IMO tend to never be truly incredible in my experience (I hope to be proven wrong someday) and this was a good example of that.
Fathomless - Jackson Pearce
Noooooooooooooo!! Jackson, why?! I have such a soft spot for Jackson’s work - Sisters Red was one of the very first book I read and reviewed for Book Nerd Reviews two years ago, and as such, she’s an author that is on my “auto buy list”. Anytime she releases a book, I buy it without question.
I liked Fathomless. I just didn’t love it. And compared to Sisters Red and Sweetly, Fathomless just was a little weak in it’s structure for my liking. It needed to have been tightened up and then it would have been better… but the end half of this was just okay. So disappointed! I await Jackson’s next book nonetheless!!!
And now.. books that I didn’t know much about, or did know about, but for whatever reason I liked it more than I thought I would:
Graffiti Moon - Cath Crowley
I know Graffiti Moon was hailed as one of the best YA Aussie books, however, there was something about it initially that didn’t really appeal to me in the same way other reads do. But after reading a bit about it, and seeing great review after great review, I thought I would give it a shot. Turns out, it was probably one of the best reads I’ve experienced so far in 2013, and definitely ranks high as one of the best Aussie YA reads I’ve ever read. It was real, it didn’t try and pretend to be something it wasn’t, and it made you really feel some emotions. I loved this!
if You Find Me - Emily Murdoch
I feel like it was the cover of this one that made me impartial to it. I was committed to reading it, since I’d received this as an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC), but I wasn’t overly excited about reading it - that is until I actually started to understand exactly what it was the story was about. Combined with the amazing reviews this book had already received at this point on Goodreads, this book had me in tears towards the end. It was unflinchingly honest and raw, it didn’t leave out any of the details, good or bad. It was one of those reads that kept me at a cafe for quite some time, because I was determined that I wasn’t going to leave until I had finished the book. I loved this way more than I thought I was going to!
Out Of The Easy - Ruta Sepertys
This was an unusual type of book for me to pick to read in the first place, since when I do read historical YA fiction I tend to have a ‘type’ and Out Of The Easy fell slightly out of my comfort zone. However, I had to eat my words a little bit with this one, because I wasn’t expecting this to be great and yet, it really was.
This story was unexpected, it took me into a different direction to what I thought it was going to, and there was a lot more drama and excitement within these pages to what I gave it credit for before I read it!
Hooked - Liz Fichera
I admit, I was a little judgmental with Hooked before I read it. I really just thought this was going to be a bit of a lighthearted contemporary romance, but I was pleasantly surprised with this book - I got way more than I bargained for! Not only was it a contemporary romance, it ended up being quite a deep drama as well, and there was some really serious themes to this book, including a heavy theme of racism as well as bullying and a highlight of teens living in a home that have a parent who is affected by alcoholism. I was really pulled towards this book, and related very strongly to some of these themes. Hooked resonated with me much longer than I thought it would. It was a great book.
Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
This was a tough one. Because I knew I’d like it. I am pretty nerdy at the best of times, and I love gaming and popculture, so no question I was going to be into this. But I wasn’t prepared to love Ready Player One just as much as I did! This is up there with my top 3 books that I’ve read so far in 2013.
It offered everything I look for in a book - plenty of popculture references, geekery, a game/challenge of sorts to keep you glued, nasty villains, adventure and a budding romance. I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!
Readers - care to share your lists this week? Or just tell me - what books did you love (or not love) more than you thought you would? Leave me a comment! If you have a blog, use my Comment Luv feature. Put your link in, and it will tell me what post you last put on your blog.
What do you think?
I have Between the Lines on my bookshelf and i’ve been excited to read it. I keep hearing mixed reviews for it so i guess i’ll see for myself.
I’ve been wanting to read Ready Player One for a while now but i still havent picked it up. I will for sure now though!
Great List
Also, My Top Ten
I love your blog and follow quite regularly. I would love if you checked mine out :)
Thanks Alyssa! I like your site also!!
Melissa recently posted…2 Today!
Graffiti Moon was awesome and I keep meaning to read something by Ruta Sepertys, but her first book sounded quite dark. maybe I’ll try this one?
I really liked it - it’s definitely worth a read!
Melissa recently posted…2 Today!
I have some serious reading to do. I need to read all the books listed on your liked more list. I have a bunch of them too. Sadly I have all the books on your disappointed list. Maybe I’ll hold off on those. I’m really sad about Nameless, I just picked it up yesterday from the library.
My Teaser and Top Ten Tuesday
You never know though - just because I didn’t enjoy them, it hopefully doesn’t mean you won’t either. Those books have all received at some point 5 star points from other people - they just weren’t for me!
Melissa recently posted…2 Today!
I read Between Shades of Gray before starting Out Of the Easy, so I knew I would like it, but I actually thought it was amazing, even better than Ruta’s debut. I’m in the middle of If You Find Me right now, and I’m loving it! Sorry about Eve and Adam, I’m undecided about reading it right now. Nice list!
Aw, bummed that Eve & Adam wasn’t as awesome as you hoped. I’ve got that on my TBR list, and am looking forward to finding a copy.
Here’s my TTT for the week. Happy reading!
If You Find Me made it onto my list as well! I really didn’t think I was going to love this book, but I did. It was addicting and amazing and I finished it in one sitting.