Top Ten Tuesday: Books that Exceeded my Expectations.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish where we get a new topic for a top 10 list.

Another week and I still have no laptop! When will this nightmare end? Moving on, this weeks topic will cover the books that exceeded my expectations. Some books caught my by surprise; the other books were ones I knew I’d enjoy but didn’t expect to be blown away by.

1. The Deal by Elle Kennedy: I don’t read a lot of New Adult books because I am tired of reading the same old overly angsty story. However, The Deal was a breath of fresh air for NA books because it was funny, had great characters and angst free. It also kick started my love for sports contemporary romance.

2. Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee: This book was a lot slower than expected but I really loved the character emphasis in this book. There was a huge focus on female friendship and how these young girl, all from different background, come together when disaster strikes.

3. The Hard Count by Ginger Scott: This book shattered any expectations I had in sports contemporary books. I thought it’d be romance driven but I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the book. The Hard Count covers a range of topic, from social and racial divisions, to family tensions, but more than that this book drives home the way sports can bring a community together or tare it apart.

4. Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin: I’d heard a lot of buzz from this book but I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did. The exploration of identity in this face paced environment and the unease that came with the alternative historic timeline was incredible. More than that, the characters well and truly stole my heart in this book.

5. The Boy Most Likely To by Huntley Fitzpatrick: I put off reading this book because I had an inkling about the plot twist that was featured. To put it simply, I hate that trope. However, I found myself really enjoying the way the characters dealt with the situation and it served as a great insight into Tim’s character and how he faces the consequences of his actions.

6. The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore: All I knew about this book was that it was a Romeo and Juliet retelling with a hint of magic. I wasn’t expecting to meet such wonderful characters. There is beauty in the simplicity of this book and I highly recommend you all pick it up.

7. Night Owls by Jenn Bennett: I thought this book would be a light and fluffy read, and it was, for the most part. What surprised me was how healthy the relationship between Beatrix and Jack was. They openly communicated with each other and discussed things with each other instead of letting them fester.

8. Bittersweet by Sarina Bowen: Another book that had a surprising amount of heart to it. I knew this would be romance driven but I wasn’t expecting to completely fall head over heels in love with these characters and the setting.

9. Burning Blue by Paul Griffin: I don’t talk about this book enough. The mystery was incredibly thought out. It has great characters and a great emphasis on the different views of beauty.

10. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer: This was my first foray into fairytale retellings and I didn’t know what to expect but I ended up loving every part of this series. I loved how this series was able to use the identifiable components of the fairy tales but still retain its own individuality.

Those are the books that exceeded my expectations.
Which books exceeded yours?

27 thoughts on “Top Ten Tuesday: Books that Exceeded my Expectations.”

    1. The Hard Count was definitely the biggest surprise for me. It’s definitely up there with the best of YA. I’ve been reading more NA books these days but I want to go back to contemporary YA books soon.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. I’m sorry Cinder fell flat for you. I do feel like the series builds up a lot more with each instalment. The finale is incredible. I hope you give the rest of the series a shot. 😀

      Like

    1. The concept was fascinating and terrifying when you think of how that could have actually happened. I’m still recovering from Blood for Blood. That book destroyed me.

      Like

  11. I completely agree! Wolf by Wolf, Cinder and Outrun the Moon definitely impressed me as well so I’m glad to see them on your list. 🙂 Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous review! ❤

    Liked by 1 person

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s