The Avid Reader

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten New Series I Want To Start

This week's topic for Top Ten Tuesday is top ten new series I want to start. And there are many. Even though there totally shouldn't be, when I already have basically a million outstanding series to catch up on

The Elemental trilogy by Sherry Thomas

The Hereafter series by Tara Hudson

The Fallen series by Lauren Kate

The BZRK series by Michael Grant

The Finishing School series by Gail Carriger

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

The Lone City series by Amy Ewing

The Defiance series by C. J. Redwine

The Incarceron series by Catherine Fisher

The Age of Legends series by Kelley Armstrong

I'm still determined to catch up on some of the series I've left hanging

out there... but I'm also really eager to give some of these a try!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books on My Fall To-Be-Read List

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is "top ten books on my fall to-be-read list". I'm not sure if this is meant to be books that are releasing this fall, but I'm choosing to interpret this simply as books I want to read this fall.

Here are ten books I'm hoping to read ASAP, separated into two categories:

Books I need to read and review soon for NetGalley:

       

1. Suspicion by Alexandra Monir (but first I want to read Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, which shamefully I have never read)
2. Paradigm by Cerie A. Lowe
3. Taken by David Massey
4. Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas (I'm currently reading Crown of Midnight)
5. Divided by Elsie Chapman (I keep putting this off because some of the reviews are scaring me, but I need to just bite the bullet)

Books I just really want to read immediately if not sooner:

        

1. Harry Potter series re-read - Is there ever going to be a series I love as much as Harry Potter?? Fall always feels like the perfect time to dive back into this series. (I'm actually in the midst of this right now, just started Prisoner of Azkaban today.) I'd also like to re-watch the movies, which I think are incredibly well done. 
2. The One by Kiera Cass. No one spoil this for me but Team Maxon all the way!!
3. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher - In spite of some iffy reviews I am really eager to read this one.
4. Hereafter by Tara Hudson - see above
5. Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid - I am so scared to read this because I suspect that I will ugly cry my way through it!

Can't wait to see everyone else's lists!  

PS - Are you an aspiring YA author? If so, go here!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Authors I've Only Read One Book from but NEED to Read More!

The topic for this week's Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by The Broke and the Bookish) is top ten authors I've only read one book from but NEED to read more! 

1. Beth Revis - I actually own all three Across the Universe books, but I've only read the first one (which I loved). I really NEED to go back and re-read Across the Universe so I can read the next two books!
2. Holly Black - I have a rabid love for The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, plus every short story I've read by Holly Black, so I really have no explanation for why I haven't gotten to any of her other books yet. 
3. Julie Kagawa - I read and really liked The Immortal Rules, but I haven't continued on with the series yet. I just picked up The Eternity Cure, but I think I need to re-read The Immortal Rules before I can move on with the series.
4. Abigail Haas - Dangerous Girls was amazing, and I NEED to read Dangerous Boys ASAP!
5. Amy Plum - I recently read and loved Die for Me, and I ran right out and bought Until I Die and If I Should Die AND I also bought the novella for my Kindle... but have I actually read any of them yet? No. (I'm starting to see a pattern here... what the heck is wrong with me?!)
6. Leah Cypress - I haven't actually read any books by Leah Cypress yet, but I read Buried Above Ground (a Nightspell novella) and I liked it so much that I jumped right on Amazon and ordered Mistwood and Nightspell... which are currently sitting on my bookshelf waiting for me to make time for them.
7. Ally Condie - I'm sure you can guess by now that I read Matched when it first came out, quickly bought Crossed and Reached, and still haven't actually gotten around to reading them.
8. Patrick Ness - The first Chaos Walking book slaughtered me, so even though I have the second book I haven't been able to talk myself into reading it. I did recently buy A Monster Calls, so I might try that one instead.
9. Kate Karyus Quinn - I loved Another Little Piece, so I'm dying to read (Don't You) Forget About Me.
10. Lynne Matson - I liked Nil but when I read it, I thought it was a standalone and based on that assumption, there were things about it that bugged me (mostly unanswered questions about the world). Now that I know there is a sequel my rating for the first one has gone up and I'm dying to get more answers from book two!

This list was definitely an eye-opener for me! It's embarrassing to realize how many great series I have let fall by the wayside. I guess I keep letting myself get distracted by all the shiny new books on my wish list. The annoying thing is that with most of these, so much time has gone by that I need to re-read the first book in the series before I can continue on. I feel like I need to start working some of these in soon!

Am I the only one with a dozen or more series to catch up on?!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Underrated YA Books

This week's Top Ten Tuesday was a hard topic for me because how do you objectively define "underrated"? So in the end, my list is entirely subjective, and made up of books that I think deserve way more attention than whatever they have received to date.

Also, I chose 7 books instead of 10, because 7 was tough enough! And also because I wanted to make a pretty collage out of the covers, and 7 books fit perfectly. :)

1. Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott - This book was so amazing that I feel like it is not physically possible for me to wait several more months to read the next installment in the series. 
2. Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas - I have no idea why this isn't flooding the blogosphere. I was blown away by this one, and there really is a lack of good suspense in YA literature. This one fills that void nicely.
3. Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin - This book made me feel ALL THE FEELS. I foolishly read it on a plane, so I was the girl quietly sobbing in her seat on a flight to Disney World. Awkward.
4. Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma - any book that makes me root for an incestuous relationship gets a big kudos from me.
5. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black - It is unacceptable to me that every book-reading human is not in love with this book.
6. Unwind by Neal Shusterman - See above.
7. On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves - This is another book that finds a way to make a taboo relationship (teacher/student) seem not only acceptable, but right. Bonus: tropical island setting!

Can't wait to see everyone else's lists!

Did anyone else way overanalyze the "underrated"

part of this week's prompt?!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Book Characters that would be Sitting at My Lunch Table

This week's topic for Top Ten Tuesday is ten book characters that would be sitting at my lunch table. I loved this topic immediately... then I spent an eternity agonizing over my choices!

1. Hermoine from the Harry Potter series. We would geek out about books and school and magic and it would be glorious. 
2. Primrose Everdeen from The Hunger Games series. We've both got soft hearts for animals, so we'd bond over our pets.
3. Tella Holloway from Fire & Flood. That's if I could manage to get past my intense jealousy over not having my own pandora!
4. Marlee Woodwork from The Selection series. Marlee is sweet and honest and a great friend. I think we're both people who put love first in our lives, and I think we could connect over that.
5. Puck Connolly from The Scorpio Races. I admire her spirit and her determination. I can be pretty stubborn sometimes too, so we could support each other's crazy choices.
6. Lena from the Delirium series. We'd just spend our lunch break swooning over her relationship with Alex.
7. Sola from After the Fear. Because she is a total badass and completely awesome, and I will just find something for us to have in common so we can be friends.
8. Cecily from The Chemical Garden series. I have so much respect for Cecily. She's fiercely loyal to those she loves, so I know she would be a wonderful friend. Also I feel like we could scheme against our enemies together and it would be epic.
9. Rose Hathaway from the Vampire Academy series. Rose is incredibly tough and I love her humor. I like a friend who can keep me laughing.
10. Celaena from the Throne of Glass series. We're both big readers, so we'd have a mini book club at lunch every day. Maybe Hermoine could sit with us. ;)

Who would be at your lunch table?

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books That Make Me Swoon

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Join in and link up!

This week's topic is the top ten books that made me swoon. I'm guessing my list will be a little nontraditional this week because I don't read a ton of traditional "romance". I'm all about swooning in other genres though!

1. Vampire Academy (the whole series!), by Richelle Mead

**And while we're on the subject of Vampire Academy, please do yourself a favor and go see the movie, because it is fantastic and I will be devastated if the remaining books are not made into movies!**

2. Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell (Rhett! Butler!)

3. Agnes and the Hitman, by Jennifer Crusie

I think Jennifer Crusie is a fantastic writer and very few people do romantic dialogue as well as she does! This particular book is a favorite of mine.

4. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Katniss + Peeta 4-ever in my book. I know these books are dark and maybe not a traditional choice for "swoony" but I love watching the relationship between these two develop.

5. The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater

Love, love, love Maggie. This book was an immediate 5 star for me, and the relationship between Puck and Sean is totally swoon-worthy.

6. All the Truth That's In Me, by Julie Berry

I reviewed this one recently, and one of the things I mentioned in my review is how strong the romance is in this book!

7. Delirium, by Lauren Oliver

This book, oh my gosh, my heart. This book is the definition of swoon-worthy. I dare you to get through this without crying (and swooning).

8. The Chemical Garden series, by Lauren DeStefano

I'll admit, I was pretty swoony over Linden. He was a victim of some pretty gruesome circumstances but he was a good guy and I secretly wanted him and Rhine to work. BUT. The reason this series makes my list today is the swoon-worthy relationship between Rhine and Cecily. Rhine and Cecily are both such great examples of strong female characters and I really admire how fiercely they come to love one another.

9. Matched, by Ally Condie

Looking back at the review I wrote for this one, I used the term "swoon-worthy" right in my writeup! This book stands out to me because I think it has that elusive well-crafted love triangle. 

10. Stolen, by Lucy Christopher

I'm always vaguely weirded out by how much I do, in fact, swoon over this one. I never thought I could come around to a kidnapper as a love interest!

 

Do you agree with any of these?

What are your most swoon-worthy books? 

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books that Will Make You Cry

This week's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, is "Top Ten Books that Will Make You Cry". This is a tough one, because I can't really share my reasoning for each choice without giving away major spoilers!

1. The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness
2. If I Stay, by Gayle Forman
3. Handle With Care, by Jodi Picoult
4. A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast For Crows, all by George R. R. Martin, who gleefully kills off everyone you love
5. Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer. I own this book, but I have only ever made it through the first 30 pages, because I read all 30 pages with tears streaming freely down my face and spent the next several weeks trying desperately to wipe the book's graphic images from my mind. If you read this book, you will ugly cry through it. That's a given. But you will definitely learn a lot about the terrible realities behind the food you eat. 
6. Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins, for so many reasons
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling, who is probably bff with George R. R. Martin
8. Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver
9. Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
10. The Pact, by Jodi Picoult

I feel like I could go on and on with this topic! What made your list? 

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Wouldn't Want to Step Into

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Everyone wants to go to Hogwarts, right? Well, here are ten books that I *wouldn't* want to step into any time soon!

(10 proved to be impossible! I had to cheat and lump some books into categories!) 

1. Any book in which my survival depends upon killing other people.

The Hunger Games, Battle Royale, After the Fear

                           

2. End of the world/disaster scenarios - earthquakes, meteors, EMPs... anything that ends with me fighting someone for the last jar of pickled herring. Or living without heat and electricity. Or going days without bathing. I'm no survivor, is what I'm saying.

Life As We Knew It 

3. Books in which there are vampires - not Twilight vampires, but terrifying vampires who want to kill me.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, The Hunt, The Farm

                          

 4. Books in which I am not able to love who I want to love - or worse, am forced to be with someone I don't love.

Wither, Delirium, The Program

                          

5. Any book in which there are zombies! Love to read about them, have no desire to live in a world in which I might encounter one. Plus I'd be among the first to die, because I could never leave my pets to die and it would be pretty hard to be on the run with a dog and four cats.

This Is Not a Test, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Enclave, Reboot

             


6. The Unwind series. Particularly if I was under 18!

7. The Across the Universe series. I struggle to think of a more horrifying scenario than waking up on a spaceship surrounded by strangers, knowing that everyone I've ever cared about is long gone.

8. The Uglies series. These books seriously freaked me out and I really can't imagine living in this world. I barely managed to get through having my wisdom teeth removed!

9. The Host. Aliens crawling in my ear to take over my body?! No thank you.

10. Stolen. I struggled so much with my feelings just reading Stolen, so I can only imagine actually living through an experience like that. 

What books/settings do *you* want to stay far, far away from?

All images are taken from GoodReads.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Things on My Reading Wish List

I can't believe it has been nine months since I took a break from my blog! Last year, I was too focused on grad school to devote the time needed to maintain a book review blog. I've finished my Master's and I've missed being a part of the book blogging world, so I'm excited to get back into this.

Today I'm participating in Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. 

I always love reading Top Ten Tuesday posts! This week's topic is top ten things on my reading wish list. This is something I have been thinking a lot about lately so it seemed like the perfect prompt to restart my blog!

Top Ten Things on My Reading Wish List:

1. GHOSTS! I have a little bit of a ghost obsession, and I desperately want to see more ghosts in YA literature! This past November I participated in National Novel Writing Month, and while thinking of possible story ideas I decided to write about what I most wanted to read... so the novel I'm working on is YA, and full of ghosts. (And set in a boarding school, but see #3!) 
2. Egypt/mummies. I've been searching for YA books set in Egypt, preferably with mummies in them. So far, I've found a big fat nothing. I feel like the last time I read something about mummies it was a Goosebumps book! Which... why?! Mummies are underrated, apparently.
3. Books set in boarding schools! A boarding school setting is a guaranteed way to make me run out in a hurry to buy your book. There are so many books that are all the more delicious for their boarding school settings: Harry Potter, Vampire Academy, Harry Potter... ;)
4. Disaster stories, but not necessarily post apocalyptic (although I love those too). I just want to read some action-packed stories involving disasters. Cruise ship incidents, volcanic eruptions, plane crashes, I'm pretty open as to the type of disaster. I recently read The Living, by Matt de la Pena, and while there is a lot more going on in that novel, I thought the disaster aspect was handled really well. 
5. ANOTHER HARRY POTTER BOOK. Duh. Please write this. (But only if it's perfect!) (Which it totally would be.)
6. More YA involving Greek mythology. I like Rick Riordan's books. I just want more. There is a short story by Maggie Stiefvater, "A Murder of Gods", and I just desperately need for someone to convince her to turn this into a novel. I love everything about this story. 
7. More water horses, please! After The Scorpio Races, I am completely intrigued by these creatures.
8. A sequel to The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. I love, love Holly Black. I loaned this book to a friend and I worry about it on a daily basis. I need it safely back on my shelf pronto.
9. Dinosaurs! I am always on the hunt for the next Jurassic Park. If it could also be YA, so much the better.
10. Haunted houses! This feels like a cheat because I already mentioned ghosts, but I just love a creepy setting, and nothing beats a haunted house. I wish someone would write a book that is based on The Haunted Mansion in Disney World. Something deliciously creepy and devastating. 

I would love to hear book suggestions based on this list... maybe the perfect YA dinosaur book has already been written, and I just have no idea?!

What is on your reading wish list?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Unexpectedly Loved... Plus a Few I Didn't

Today I'm participating in Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

source: http://brokeandbookish.blogspot.com/

 

This week's topic is top ten books you thought you would like more/less than you actually did. I couldn't choose between the two, so I'm sharing some of each.

Books I Put Off Reading Basically Forever and then Loved:

   

1. Partials by Dan Wells. I have no idea why I waited so long to read this. Absolutely fantastic. Fragments is currently sitting on my bookshelf begging to be dived into.
2. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. I had read a review somewhere that said these books read kind of young, and for that reason I kept putting off reading them. When I finally gave Uglies a shot I discovered that I really like this series, and I don't personally think they are skewed especially young. If you haven't read this series you are missing out.
3. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. I can't even say how much I love these books! I like vampires and I'm a sucker for anything set in a boarding school, so I'm kind of mystified as to why I waited so long to read these. 
4. Matched by Ally Condie. Again, I read some so-so reviews and took them too much to heart, so this one sat on my shelf for a while before I finally picked it up. Definitely a pleasant surprise when I did! I think the lesson here is that reviews are great, and can be really helpful... but at the end of the day sometimes you just have to try something for yourself. 
5. Wither by Lauren DeStefano. I've reviewed this one recently, and you can read the review here if you're so inclined, but suffice it to say that I could not love this book any harder. I think I was initially a little put off by the premise, but I was hooked from page one and I flew threw through all three books. I think I'm still in mourning that Rhine's story is over!
6. Stolen by Lucy Christopher. This is another one that I avoided because the premise sounded a little... off-putting somehow. I hated the idea of a girl being kidnapped and then developing feelings for her kidnapper... but I'm telling you, somehow it works!
7. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. This one is a bit of a cheat, because I've just started reading it. But I was hooked from the very first sentence, and unless something goes dramatically downhill later in the book I can already tell this is going to be amazing.

Now, the harder list to write...

Books I Was Desperately Excited to Read... But Ultimately Didn't Love:

   

1. The Passage by Justin Cronin. I'm cringing as I write this because I know how passionately people love this book. And I so badly want to be one of those people! I loved the first section of the book, but as soon as it jumped forward in time and started over with new characters, it lost me. I will say I keep thinking that I really should give this book another shot... eventually. Talk me into it?!
2. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. This book kills me because I loved it so, so much until I ran headfirst into a brickwall of a horrible scene, and I just flat out could not deal with it emotionally. I just... I just can't even, with this scene. You can read my full review of this book here, but bottom line? I wrote that review back in October, and i'm still not over it enough to read the second book.
3. Everwild by Neal Shusterman. I went crazy for Shusterman's Unwindbooks, and when I finished reading them I rushed right out to buy all three books of the Skinjacker series, thinking they would be just as great. I liked Everlost well enough, but I didn't make it halfway through Everwild before I abandoned it. It's not like it's terrible, it's just not great, and I have so many great books waiting to be read, I'm really trying to let myself feel okay about putting down a book that I'm not loving. I also feel like this series seems more Middle Grade than Young Adult.

I would love to know your thoughts on these books... from either list! Any others that you unexpectedly loved or... didn't?

All photos used in this post are from GoodReads.