This is my nineteenth Top Ten Tuesday post. Top Ten Tuesday was created and is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. I’ve been looking forward to this week’s topic, as I get to talk about both books I that I think are wonderful and some guilty pleasures, as well as some of the books that I just didn’t get on with as well as I thought I would. Here we go!
1. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins – I was sure before reading this that it wouldn’t live up to the hype. After all, so many people raved about Twilight and I thought that was enormously dull (see below). It was awesome.
2. Pushing the Limits, by Katie McGarry – The tagline on the cover of my copy reads ‘A bad boy. A lost girl. An unforgettable love’, which made me roll my eyes. I am not into bad boy/good girl romances, mainly because I don’t find violence attractive. But Pushing the Limits is not corny at all, in fact, I thought it was utterly amazing. I was hooked from the start and it just kept getting better and better! I am more than a little bit in awe of Katie McGarry now.
3. Spellbound, by Cara Lynn Shultz – I was expecting this to be a shallow, frivolous story based on the ‘Gossip Girl with witches’ description from the publishers and the Cinderella-like setup, but I quite liked it in the end. The action scenes had my heart racing!
4. Valiant, by Holly Black – I had a few issues with Tithe, the first in the Modern Faerie Tale series, and I was expecting similar from Valiant, but I thought it was great.
5. The Boyfriend List, by E. Lockhart – I expected this to just be fun, lighthearted teen fiction. I had no idea that it would change my life and the way I see things.
6. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen – I thought this was just a romance. I was not expecting the snark, which I loved.
7. The Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett – I put off reading any of the Discworld books for years and only picked this up because a tutor recommended it. It was totally hilarious and I loved it.
8. Diving In, by Kate Cann – I really loved reading some of Kate Cann’s books, including the Hard Cash/Moving trilogy and several of her standalone novels, but although I enjoyed the Coll and Art books, I wasn’t as captivated, and I got a bit bored because they’re so intensely focused on the relationship. It’s a popular trilogy that’s been reprinted several times, so don’t let me put you off.
9. The Queen of Everything, by Deb Caletti – I’d heard good things about Deb Caletti’s more recent novels, so when I saw a copy of The Queen of Everything, her debut, I decided to give it a try. Unfortuntely, although the central idea was interesting, I really didn’t like the protagonist or the love interest. It’s rare that I have such a negative reaction to the main characters, and I decided that I couldn’t review it fairly, though I still intend to read more books by this author.
10. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer – I didn’t think I’d enjoy it very much but was prepared for it to be a guilty pleasure. It wasn’t even that. Zzzzz.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think?
When I read Twilight, I really enjoyed it, but I was still sort of new to the genre and the love triangles so prominent in YA now. I'm sure if I reread it now I'd be like "MEH". Pushing the Limits made my "More" list as well – such a great book!
My Top Ten
It is amazing, isn't it? Thanks for the comment 🙂
Love HG, P&P and anything written by E. Lockhart. I've picked up the Queen of Everything several times, but can't seem to get past the first 10 pages or so.
Here's my TTT
I probably should have stopped early on. I think I've only got one more E. Lockhart book left to read!
I loved Pride and Prejudice as well. Great list!
Thank you!
The Hunger Games surprised me, too (in a good way).
As for Twilight, I read it before all the hype (or before I'd heard any of the hype), so I didn't really have any expectations; I just happened to see it in the library and was drawn in by the cover. I wasn't blown away, but I didn't hate it. The hatred came later, after Breaking Dawn. Now I wish I could unread the whole series.
I've heard quite a lot of people who loved the series up until the last book hated Breaking Dawn, so I'm not surprised you didn't like it. I was far too bored by Twilight to even attempt reading New Moon!