Top Ten Tuesday: most underrated books in certain genres

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.


Hey guys :) This week's topic was to pick a genre and spotlight ten books that we think are underrated within that category. My problem is that I can't think of a single genre where I can find so many underrated books! I mean I could easily give you ten awesome vampire novels or dystopians or whatever, but not all of them would be underappreciated. So I'm picking more than one genre.


Underrated reaper books


The Croak series by Gina Damico
These books are hilarious! Well, serious too because they're about death. But you can't read this without laughing. And Mrs Damico has the most awesome ideas! Just wait until you see the jellyfish or her version of the afterlife. Also, the romance is refreshingly non-sappy.

The Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent
This is also to a big extent a series about banshees, but the reapers become more important as it goes on. Also, there is Tod, my favorite reaper and one of my favorite male leads in general. He has the best black sense of humor. Also, the world building here is extensive and original - big plus! No weird, unresolved for-the-sake-of-plot convenient stuff. Things go badly. People die. The survivors continue to fight.


Underrated contemporaries


Notes from the Blender by Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin
Two very different teens (queen of high school / the metal guy) suddenly have to deal with living together because their parents are getting married. It's both hilarious and sad and just generally wonderful :)

Collide by J.R. Lenk
I found this one on a list of books with bisexual characters, but I ended up reading to a big part because of the music. In a way, this was my scene when I was a teen (minus the parties). This was my music. These were, to an extent, my people. Reading this was like taking a trip down the this-might-have-been-me road of memory lane. It's really well-written! To bad I can't find anything else by the author...

Lovely Vicious by Sara Wolf
I bought this one on a whim and read the whole thing in one night (yes, until like four in the morning). I just couldn't stop. I just like how nobody is who you first think they are and I thought the voice was very strong.


Underrated YA crime/thriller


I Hunt Killers (Jasper Dent series) by Barry Lyga
I always think this series is huge but then sometimes I think that not all that many people have heard of it. I'm not sure. Either way, it's fantastic and I think more people should read it. Jasper is a really untypical and lead with a complex personality. However, this is about gruesome murders. So you shouldn't be easily put-off.

The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman
I mainly read this one because parts of it are set in Prague, but I got sucked in by the mystery/thriller element. Couldn't stop reading. So many possible suspects. So many secrets. But again, not a sunshiny read. This title is to be taken seriously.


Underrated historical / steampunk


Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel
This is one of my favorite steampunk/zombie novels. I love it. I love the world building, I love Nora, I love Bram, I love the type of relationship they have together. I love that the book is both action-packed and bloody but also funny and romantic. Also, it talks about important social questions that apply to our own world as well.

Something Strange & Deadly by Susan Dennard
I think with the sequels, this series has garnered more attention, but still not all that much compared to other YA fantasy novels. Which is a pity because again, great steampunk/zombie historical combination. There's both awesome mechanical stuff but also magic and social boundaries and family issues. I really need to get the third one now that it's out...

The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton
I've only read the first two but I loved them! It's Victorian London with faeries, and the protagonist is a girl thief living on the street. I love how it picks up on how many Victorians believed faeries existed alongside them and how it portrays both the hardships of life on the street but also the companionship between Tiki and her chosen family.


So, that was it from me. Do you know any of them? Do you agree they are underrated, or do you think they are already getting enough attention? And what did you pick this week? Link me up in the comments :)

Stacking the Shelves: Epic Detours to Coldtown to Crash Into your Dearly Beloved

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews to showcase all the books we got in the past week. Those can be bought, won, gifted, for review, borrowed, print or ebooks... no matter, just share what you got :)


This was a great week! A package of books from The Book Depository finally arrived ^.^

Bought in print

Dearly, Beloved, by Lia Habel

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, by Holly Black

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour, by Morgan Matson

I've been waiting for Dearly, Beloved to come out in the right format for what feels like forever! Also, finally a new Holly Black book! She's one of my all-time favorite authors and I loved the short story this one is based on.
Amy and Roger was also a long time coming! I've seen it on so many top ten lists over the summer and I love road trip books :)

For review

 Crash Into You, by Katie McGarry
Catch, by Michelle D. Argyle

 I was so happy to be accepted for Crash Into You! Thanks, Netgalley and Harlequin! I loved Michelle Argyle's The Breakaway so I'm excited to be on the tour for this novella!

Bought as ebook

Unmaking Hunter Kennedy, by  Anne Eliot

I actually thought I'd bought it over the summer, but then I realized it was just the kindle sample... oops XD

Won

 

Ghost Hand, by Ripley Patton 

This one has a really new and interesting concept! You should check it out.

Freebie

 

The Night after I Lost You, by Sarah Rees Brennan

Already read it to get in the mood for Untold :)

That's it from my side :) I'd love to see what you got in the past week! Also, I have a new discussion post online that deals with the so-called Second Book Syndrome and it'd be cool to hear some more people's opinions ;)

Top Ten Tuesday: books I would like to see made into a movie

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.

This week's topic is the top ten books we would like to see made into a movie... in a world where movie studios don't butcher our precious books.


Honestly? I'm not even so crazy about books I like being made into movies. Not because of casting choices and the like but because when I read, that already is like a movie in my head. I also never imagine characters modeled on certain actors - they look a certain way in my head, but it's not like any real people I know.
That being said, here are ten books/series I would like to see made into a movie or TV series, in no particular order.

Laini Taylor - Daughter of Smoke and Bone
There actually is talk of a movie! But anyway, it'll probably be years until it comes out. The world building here is just so amazing - I would love to see Karou's Prague and the exotic places she goes to, as well as Eretz of course! The special effects/make-up would have to be out of this world amazing to pull it off though.

Kendare Blake - Anna Dressed in Blood
This would actually be cool as a series! It would mean more time to develop characters, plus new episodes could be written, for instance about some of the ghosts Cas hunted before he met Anna. It would be awesomely creepy!

Cassandra Clare - The Infernal Devices
I know it's been optioned with the same studio that made City of Bones, but again, it'll take forever until there's a movie - if there is. I would love to see it though! I'm a sucker for Victorian London :)

Erin Morgenstern - The Night Circus
Okay, this is pretty much impossible to make into a movie, partly due to the narrative style and how much it relies on language as a medium, but wouldn't it be epic? It would be like 12 hours but whatever - while I was reading, I so wished I could see the circus for real and walk among the tents!

Holly Black - The Curse Workers trilogy
I know I feature this series all the time in my top ten lists! But it just somehow has a cinematic quality to it. It would have to be sharp, with quick cuts, an a lot of light and shadows - sort of in the style of old film noir movies!

Stephen King - The Dark Tower series
Definitely would have to be a series, this is a couple thousand pages too long for movies. But god it would be soooo amazing! But Stephen King would have to have a lot of say on the set or it wouldn't work. Or maybe the scope is too big and the series is better off staying a book? Hm...

Kim Harrison: The Hollows series
Too epic for a movie - this would have a to be a series! I'd love to see Jenks, Rachel, and Ivy on the screen! And Kisten *gets all nostalgic* I don't think it'll happen though. I remember Kim Harrison saying a few years back that so far she always declined offers from producers and the like.

Lia Habel - Dearly, Departed
Steampunk costumes, airships, and zombie battles! I would love to see this amazing mixture of Victorian and digital age! It's somehow like being in the future and in the past at the same time. And it would be great visually!

Melissa Marr - Wicked Lovely series
There's also been talk of a movie or TV series but I have no idea where that's at. It's one of my top favorite fairie series though so I'd love to see it on the screen! The characters are some of my top favorites :)

Anonymous - The Book with No Name (the Bourbon Kid series)
This simply because it would be batshit crazy. Quentin Tarantino would have to direct it. It would be funny and gruesome at the same time.

I'm not sure that those are the top most amazing-est picks I could have made. In fact, I bet that I'll check out other blogs and think 'damn, how could I forget?!' - so link me up, and let me know what you think of my picks :)