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 :)

Top Ten Tuesday: Worlds I would NEVER want to live in

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 top ten is about book world's we'd NEVER want to live in, no matter how much we liked the actual story. Or about character's whose shoes we'd never want to walk in. I'll give you 5 of each.


World's I prefer watching from the outside

Fever series - Karen Marie Moning
After the walls come down and the dark fey enter the world, most humans die. No power, little food, lots of baddies... I'd be toast.

Blood of Eden - Julie Kagawa
Either donate blood to your local vampire or live on scraps and be backstabbed or killed by rabids? Again, I'm not the most physically fit person. I wouldn't make it for too long. And it's a very bleak and hungry kind of life.

Wither - Lauren DeStefano
To be kidnapped on the street and sold to some old rich dude to bear his babies, then die at 18? Can't imagine anything much more horrible. Pregnant over and over, then death *shudders*

Any totalitarian regime that restricts knowledge and burns books
Book burning is one of the worst things ever, and one that makes me the angriest. Destruction of knowledge, of beauty... no. Think Fahrenheit 451. Definitely not a society I'd want to live in.

Coldtown - Holly Black
I'm actually divided on this one. Living in a Coldtown is very dangerous. You can never get out. Law is barely existent.You need connections, and you need your wits. Vampire slaying skills are advisable. And yet... I do feel the allure of the place. The never-ending parties. Immortal creatures. Desire. Passion. I admit, I feel torn. In the end I wouldn't make it though.



Characters I wouldn't want to trade places with

Cassel from the Curse Worker series by Holly Black
If you can't even trust your brothers or you mom, life is bleak. Loving the daughter of the biggest crime lord around, also not good. Having an ability everyone wants to use to strengthen their own position? Yeah, better make sure they never find out...
Seriously, ma heart ached for Cassel :(

Karou - Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor
The things that girl is forced to do... and her position is even worse at the end of that book than it was at the beginning!

Juliet - Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
Slandered, beaten, bullied, put away into asylums and detention centers, isolated, forced into electroshock therapy... there's pretty much nothing that girl hasn't been subjected to. And her touch kills. Everyone. Apart from maybe the son of her worst enemy, who used to hold her prisoner.
Yeah, being Juliet truly sucks, despite her incredible powers.

Kaylee - Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent
That girl never gets a moment of peace. Some hellion always wants her soul, or her loved one's souls, or is possessing innocent strangers... her love life isn't a piece of cake either. Though I sure wouldn't mind spending some time with Tod ;)

Matthew Swift - Urban Magic series by Kate Griffin
That dude. Always in over his head! Made Midnight Mayor against his will. Always some crazy sorcerer or fey queen or other strange personified part of the city to deal with. Not to mention the annoyingness and not quite trustworthiness of his own Aldermen. Let's not even talk about the women in his life. The guy doesn't stand a chance. I feel this strange affection for him though. Can't resist the scruffy reluctant hero type with awesome magic, I suppose.


This was actually harder than I thought! What do you think of my picks, and what/who made your list?

Top Ten Tuesday: best / worst series enders

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 is about the best and worst endings to series, and I'll give you some of both plus another category. It's actually kind of hard because there are many awesome series that are still ongoing or that are finished but I haven't gotten to the end of them yet. To be honest, the number of series I can't use because I still haven't read That Last Book makes this really hard >.<


Best series enders

Curse Workers series, by Holly Black

I know, you must be sick to the death of me blabbing about it in my TTT posts. I just really liked the ending, though I sure wouldn't mind more books about Cassel and Lila ;) 

Wicked Lovely series, by Melissa Marr


I really like the structure of this series. Books 1, 3, and 5 are about the 'main' couple while book 2 and 4 follow secondary characters but still relevantly figure into the whole thing. Book 5 just ties it all up nicely and I was satisfied with where the characters ended up.

Night Angel Trilogy, by Brent Weeks

I read the whole thing in a about a week and it's just... epic. The characters come so far and develop so much and the scope of it all is just... wow. I wouldn't have minded a bit more of an aftermath but I actually like that there's some openness at the end.

Soul Screamers series, by Rachel Vincent

I was really scared of how it would all end and it was certainly different from what I expected. I really liked it though. There was enough pain to make it all seem worth it but not so much that it left in me in book trauma.

Iron Witch trilogy, by Karen Mahoney

This is a really cool mixture of fairy lore, alchemy, demons, and romance. The ending rounded it off well and left me with a feeling of catharsis. This series is not getting enough love...

Demon's Lexicon series, by Sarah Rees Brennan

SRB's writing is hilarious. But she can also make you feel allll the heartache. Well, my heart was definitely sore by the end of the books, but I think the ending was realistic while still ending on a positive note.


Worst series enders

Mockingjay (The Hunger Games), by Suzanne Collins

This seems so harsh. I don't think I disliked this ending as much as many others did, but I just... the whole book wasn't really my thing. I don't remember it all that well because I only listened to it as an audiobook once, almost 2 years ago. But I think the first one was by far the strongest in the trilogy.

I dunno, there are also a couple other series enders I felt kind of indifferent about, or I'm not sure if they count because there are spin-offs. Off the top of my head, I can't think of an ending to a series I really hated.


Series enders that were 'bad' because I wish there was more


Anna Dressed in Blood, by Kendare Blake
On the one hand, I like that it's a duology. On the other hand... somehow I got this feeling of unfinished business. I wish there was more. Or maybe I just want to go back into Cas' snarky brain.

If I Stay / Where She Went, by Gayle Forman

Again, not sure if this belongs in here. The ending was realistic and gave the reader a good idea of what Adam and Mia's lives might be like from there onwards. But I think Forman could just as well write another book that shows them 2 or 3 years down the road.

The Infernal Devices, by Cassandra Clare

Now don't get me wrong. I liked Clockwork Princess. It made me cry more than once. But that epilogue... mpf. I liked the first part of the epilogue but then it was just all too... neat. It was really close to feeling cheating (not relationship-cheating), like having your cake and eating it too. Maybe I was just braced for more pain? Maybe I just want more Tessa / Will? I really enjoyed the glimpse of them I got in the 4th installment of the Bane Chronicles. And I know there will be several spin-offs more. But just... it won't be the same.


So... that's that. Do you have any glaring disagreements? Fist bumps? Also, link me up to your own posts so I can slam my head into my desk because of all the obvious choices I forgot about ;)

Top Ten Tuesday: best sequels

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 is about the best sequels ever!

I love sequels. I even tend to like second books in a series best, which is apparently unusual (and will be the subject of another post soon). For now, I'll give you ten of my favorite sequels :) I'm sure there's something glaringly missing. This post would be so much easier to put together if I had all my books lined up on shelves instead of in boxes in my parents' basement >.<



Crown of Midnight, by Sarah J. Maas
Oh my god, this book. If I still had some issues with Throne of Glass, they disappeared with this book. It was simply brilliant. The characters, the world building, the suspense, the romance... spot on!

Clockwork Prince, by Cassandra Clare
Also called the heartbreak book. It made me cry at 2am on Christmas Eve when I finished it. I'm not usually a fan of love triangles but the Will-Tessa-Jem one worked really well because it's balanced and not weighed down by buckets of jealousy. All three love each other so much and it's just... unfair.

The Demon's Covenant, by Sarah Rees Brennan
I really loved being in Mae's head! The plot, the action, the set-up, the make-outs... my favorite book of the trilogy :)



The Golden Lily, by Richelle Mead
So far my favorite of this spin-off. Sidney grows so much over the course of the novels, and I also really enjoyed Adrian's development and how the two grew closer.

The Evolution of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin
I read book one in a day and didn't have much longer for this one. I love Noah. I love Mara. I love her brothers. The writing is sharp, and the mindfuck at the ending left me like o.O The waiting for book three is killing me...

If I Die, by Rachel Vincent
Because the feelings and the wonderful quotes and Tod and Kaylee. Ahem. The whole series is amazing but I think this one is my favorite. I reviewed it here.



Shadow Bound, by Rachel Vincent
I really liked Kori, and I thought it was strange (and a really smart move on Vincent's part!) to get a completely different perspective of the main characters in the first book. The world building is just so tight and the stakes only got higher... loved it!

The Eternity Cure, by Julie Kagawa
One of my most anticipated sequels of the year, and definitely worth the wait! I love how Julie combines a great vampire novel with the dystopian genre, and that she's not afraid to show the gory parts. My review's here.

Red Glove, by Holly Black
"Curses and cons. Magic and the mob." I think by far you all know how much I love this trilogy. It's heartbreaking, thrilling, full of amazing cons, unfavorable odds, twists, unreliability... just wow. I loved all the books, but I think this one I liked best. You can read my review of book three here.


Dance of the Red Death, by Bethany Griffin
The atmosphere, the way things turned out, Araby, and Will made this book for me. I really didn't know what to expect after the way book one ended and knowing there would only be one sequel, but I ended up loving it. You can read my review of book one here and book two here.



Runners-up: At Grave's End by Jeaniene Frost, Enshadowed by Kelly Creagh.


What do you think of my choices? And what are some of your favorite sequels?