Top 10 Books That Deserve More Hype

I’m talking books I loved that I never hear people talk about. Books I think more people should read because they are truly fantastic books. I made another list similar to this a while back and I don’t really know how to explain to you the difference other than with this one a lot of people may have read them, but I think that these books deserve to get some recognition as I never hear people talk about them. Excluding myself.

1. Wilder

I don’t know what it is, but I just love the way this author writes people. I can’t get enough! This series is centered around a group of friends who are all strong young women who are magical in their own ways.

2. Scion of the Fox

The author sent me a copy of this book and not only does it have a cool AF cover, it also has a cool AF story inside. This is one of the books on the list that just doesn’t have many ratings or reviews, but I think it should be more hyped up. It’s really amazing! Full fo mythology and action. The next book is coming soon and I’m very excited to see what happens next.

3. Rose Petal Graves

This book reminds me of a mix between the Vampire Diaries and A Court of Thorns and Roses. The second book is actually much better than the first, but I couldn’t exactly put the second book of the series on here and not the first. That would be a bit pointless and maybe a bit confusing. 

4. The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts

I’m a sucker for a time travel story. Also, it has a really well written slow-burning romance. Time travel, adventure, action, romance, magic, what more could you possibly want?

5. Under Different Stars

This one actually has quite a few ratings, but the thing is, I never actually see anyone talking about this book so I’m led to wonder where all the people who read it are.

6. A Penny Lost

More time travel!!! This gave me so many feelings and it ended on such a crazy cliffhanger, but it wasn’t bad. I’m not even angry about the cliffhanger.

7. Ensnared

Ensnared is an NA sci-fi retelling of Beauty and the Beast and it was my first and favorite of Rita Stradling’s works. It’s sexy, it’s full of sci-fi and it’s an amazing retelling in general. I think it deserves as much recognition as other overhyped retellings.

8. Doctor Sleep

This was the sequel to the Shining we never knew we needed. Personally, this was my favorite Stephen King book, but it’s sad because no one ever seems to talk about it. I mean it was raved about when it came out because it is by Stephen King, but no one seems to care about it anymore and it really is an amazing book.

9. Pulse

This book was just the perfect mix of creepy scientific stuff and a tad bit of romance. It isn’t overly romance filled, it’s just the perfect amount. In a way, it kind of actually reminds me of the Shape of Water, except the love interest is a vampire and not the creature from the black lagoon. 

10. Daughter of Deep Silence

I know that this has been read by a lot of people, but I never really hear great things about it. I, however, loved it. I picked it up on a whim because it was six dollars and I kept thinking that maybe I wanted to read it. I went in with low expectations because I had seen the reviews, but I ended up so enraptured by it and I just need someone to talk about it in a good way with me.

Which novels do you guys wish people would talk about more?

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Waiting on Wednesday

Queen of Air and Darkness
by Cassandra Clare

Release Date: December 4th, 2018

Synopsis:

Dark secrets and forbidden love threaten the very survival of the Shadowhunters in Cassandra Clare’s Queen of Air and Darkness, the final novel in the #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling The Dark Artifices trilogy.

What if damnation is the price of true love?

Innocent blood has been spilled on the steps of the Council Hall, the sacred stronghold of the Shadowhunters. In the wake of the tragic death of Livia Blackthorn, the Clave teeters on the brink of civil war. One fragment of the Blackthorn family flees to Los Angeles, seeking to discover the source of the blight that is destroying the race of warlocks. Meanwhile, Julian and Emma take desperate measures to put their forbidden love aside and undertake a perilous mission to Faerie to retrieve the Black Volume of the Dead. What they find in the Courts is a secret that may tear the Shadow World asunder and open a dark path into a future they could never have imagined. Caught in a race against time, Emma and Julian must save the world of Shadowhunters before the deadly power of the parabatai curse destroys them and everyone they love.

My Thoughts:

This book is coming out a year from now and I am still the most excited I have ever been. We finally have a cover for this beautiful finale and I can't wait to actually get my hands on a copy. This series has been the best one Cassandra Clare has released yet and I have no doubts that this final installment will make the first two books look boring. 

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Tower of Dawn Review

Tower of Dawn
by Sarah J. Maas

Spoilers

Synopsis:

Chaol Westfall has always defined himself by his unwavering loyalty, his strength, and his position as the Captain of the Guard. But all of that has changed since the glass castle shattered since his men were slaughtered, since the King of Adarlan spared him from a killing blow, but left his body broken.

His only shot at recovery lies with the legendary healers of the Torre Cesme in Antica—the stronghold of the southern continent's mighty empire. And with war looming over Dorian and Aelin back home, their survival might lie with Chaol and Nesryn convincing its rulers to ally with them.

But what they discover in Antica will change them both—and be more vital to saving Erilea than they could have imagined.

My Thoughts:

I gave this book 5 stars. This book exceeded my expectations, it was just so unexpected that I loved it. I didn’t expect to enjoy it, I’ve read a lot of mixed reviews, but I can say with 100% certainty I enjoyed this book.

I didn’t read this book right away as I normally do with Sarah J. Maas books because, to be honest, I wasn’t really looking forward to this book all that much. It was pretty much just an obstacle I had to get through so I could read the final Throne of Glass book next year.

You might be wondering, “Why Jessie? You used to love Chaol!” and that’s exactly why. I loved Chaol so much, I shipped him with Celaena even more and when their relationship fell through I had an impossible time getting over it. Much like Richard from Friends, getting over him was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I didn’t even notice the sparks between Celaena and Rowan in book three because I was too busy wanting Celaena to return and get back with him. Really the only way to get me past that was for me to start hating him for how he was acting in Queen of Shadows, he had to get on my bad side for me to get over Choalena. 

I am happy to say that I once again love Chaol. Sarah J. Maas has a way of molding how you feel about characters in every which way. She’ll make you hate one character for so long but then bring in all these things that make you love them and vice versa. She can make you angry at a character you once loved and then make you love them again. Sarah J. Maas is really good at what she does and I hope she never stops.

I was spoiled for the relationships in this book because some people on Instagram don’t know how to use spoiler warnings. Because of these spoilers, I wasn’t at all surprised when I started the book and Nesryn and Chaol’s relationship wasn’t doing so well. I knew exactly where it as going from the start and I have to say I wasn’t that sad to see them move on. I don’t know, I never really liked them together a whole lot. I mean, I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it as much as the other relationships in the series.

Despite being spoiled for the Yrene and Chaol development, I was still shocked by it. It seemed like something that was just out of the blue, I never actually expected to see Yrene in a book again. Although, knowing Sarah J. Maas and her love of bringing back all the other characters from Assassin’s Blade, I really should have known she would bring Yrene into this one. Also, I think it’s safe to say that because she keeps bringing in all these old characters, maybe the Silent Assassins might make an appearance in the next book. Who knows.

Back to the point, I was making about Yrene and Chaol, they surprised the hell out of me, but they work. What didn’t work about Chaol and Celaena was that they had clashing personalities. And while at first, this caused really good chemistry, eventually that clashing came down to more serious life decisions that they just could not get past. Yrene and Chaol seem to agree on most things and when one of them thinks the other is completely wrong they aren’t afraid to talk to one another, they communicate.

If you think that you don’t have to read this book to read the last Throne of Glass book I’m gonna have to smash your dreams to pieces because this book is 100% necessary. We find out so much new stuff that will come into play in the final book. We learn more about characters, plot lines converge and finally, we are seeing the whole picture and not just fragments of what we think is happening. 

Quotes:

“He’d almost told the princess that she could keep Hellas’s Horse, but there was something to be said about the prospect of charging down Morath foot soldiers atop a horse named Butterfly.” 

“Gods help him when Hasar and Aedion met.” 

“The heart he’d offered and had been left to drop on the wooden planks of the river docks. An assassin who had sailed away and a queen who had returned.” 

“Using the chair is not a punishment. It is not a prison,' he said softly. 'It never was. And I am as much of a man in that chair, or with that cane, as I am standing on my feet.' He brushed away the tear that slipped down her cheek.'I wanted to heal you,' she breathed.'You did,' he said, smiling. 'Yrene, in every way that truly matters . . . You did.'Chaol wiped away the other tears that fell, brushing a kiss to her hot cheek.” 

“Everything hurts.” Falkan grimaced, rubbing at his leg. “Remind me never to do anything heroic again.” 

The Silver Mask Review

The Silver Mask

by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

Spoilers

Synopsis:

A generation ago, Constantine Madden came close to achieving what no magician had ever achieved: the ability to bring back the dead. He didn't succeed . . . but he did find a way to keep himself alive, inside a young child named Callum Hunt. Now Call is one of the most feared and reviled students in the history of the Magisterium, thought to be responsible for a devastating death and an ever-present threat of war. As a result, Call has been imprisoned and interrogated. Everyone wants to know what Constantine was up to and how he lives on. But Call has no idea. It is only when he's broken out of prison that the full potential of Constantine's plan is suddenly in his hands . . . and he must decide what to do with his power. In this spellbinding fourth book of Magisterium, bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare take us beyond the realm of the living and into the dangers of the dead. 

My Thoughts:

I gave this book 4 stars. Since I read this book all on my own, no one asked me to review it, it’s not from Netgalley, that means this is going to be my first spoiler review in a billion years. I honestly don’t remember what the last spoiler review I did was. I have a lot of things to say about this one.

I don’t recall if this was ever an issue in the past three books, but this book felt very middle grade with the writing. Now I know it is middle grade, but it never really felt this level of middle grade before. I just feel like the writing has been simplified a lot and the characters act a lot more immaturely. I mean in the earlier books it felt justified that they were really immature because they were a lot younger, but now they’re about 16 and I feel like the characters should have reached a higher level of maturity, but I don’t feel like anything has changed.

I could almost forgive the lack of growth, what I can’t forgive is what they did to my precious Aaron. If you haven't read the first three books then you shouldn’t read this book and you most certainly shouldn’t be reading this review. Anyway, if you are unaware that in the third book in this series, one of the main characters, Aaron, died tragically. Well, in this one they brought him back. It was beautiful I was so happy and I couldn’t wait for them to fix him and everything would be okay again. That was not the case, he came back all angsty and all Maddison Montgomery from American Horror Story, he just wasn’t right. We all think, “oh it’s fine, they’ll figure something out”. That didn’t happen. These cruel, cruel authors decided to kill him again!!!!!!!!! I was so completely upset by this I wanted to scream. Now I was in the middle of a crowded room when I finished this so I couldn’t actually scream, but the sentiment was there.

Call and Tamara are actually so cute together. It’s funny seeing Call trying to rationalize everything that is happening between them even though Tamara is obvious with her crush on him. It’s cute. 

Call basically lost most of the leverage he had from the first three books and I have to say that it was so completely frustrating I just wanted to throw the book at the wall. While it makes for a good plot line, it is not so good for my stress levels. 

Also, this has nothing to actually do with this book but is anyone else having fun watching the title for the last book constantly changing. I think it was originally The Golden Boy or something like that; Then it was the Enemy of Death and now it’s the Golden Tower. Honestly, I'm interested to see if this third title will stick

Overall, I love this series. I love everything even though there are definitely problems with it at times and I’m just going to keep reading them and suggesting them. I love that the hero is also the villain, I love the friendship dynamic, and I love the magic.

Teasers:


1.

Master Joseph only laughed, though. "I have a proposal for you, how about that? Callum, once you complete the task I set for you, you can leave the island with your friends if that's what you still want.""A task?" Call asked. "Is this some kind of trick thing where I have to tame an impossible elemental or separate dirt from sand on an entire beach?"Master Joseph smiled. "Nothing like that." He flung open the doors at the far end of the room. After a moment, Call and the others joined him at the entryway.Inside was a large, white-painted room. There was nothing in it but a metal table. On top of the table lay a body that was perfectly preserved, covered to the neck by a thin white sheet. "The task," he said. "Is to raise Aaron Stewart from the dead."

2.

"I'll kill you—" There were tears on Call's face as he flung himself at Alex. "I'll kill you—""Stop him," said Alex lazily, and seconds later, Call felt himself seized by a dozen Chaos-ridden, their grips like iron.Alex's eyes danced. "I made these, Makar," he said, gesturing toward the Chaos-ridden in the clearing. "I am their creator, not you, not Constantine. They belong to me. They're obedient to me."

Top 10 Twins in Books

I myself am not a twin, but I've always thought having a twin would be pretty cool. If you're identical, you could pretend to be each other, if you got along, you have a built in best friend, you guys have never been without each other, so you have someone to lean on all the time. All in all I think it would be pretty cool. I was just thinking about the topic of twins when I decided to do a top 10 on it because we do see a lot of twins in literature.

10. Sheldon and Dash from the Broken Love Series

These two are brother and sister who always have the others back. They're best friends and love to bicker and they somehow make everything brighter when they are together even if their separate lives can get a bit dark. What makes everything worth while is the fact that you know they will defend each other to the death if they need to.

9. Harper and Cole from Why I Loathe Sterling Lane

While this book is mostly a romance with mystery elements, it's overall a story about a girl who is trying to look out for her twin brother and keep him out of trouble while he is doing his best to keep his troubles a secret from her.

8. Sawyer and Sebastian from the Royals Series

We don't get to see a ton of these characters, but they are really important to our protagonists and hopefully they will one day have their own books. There isn't too much I can say about their closeness without getting into spoilers, but know that they wouldn't be the same without each other.

7. Dean and Lesley from Hopeless

Dean is one of the main characters in Hopeless and while we don't get a lot on his relationship with Les in Hopeless we do delve a lot more into that in Losing Hope. Dean and Lesley are the epitome of functional siblings. At times they would disagree but they would always wanted the best for each other.

6. Cather and Wren from Fangirl

One of the biggest struggles that Cath faces in Fangirl is the fact that her sister is starting to branch off and make other friends. Up until that point they were pretty much inseparable and I feel like they really figured out where they were with each other in the book. They found a balance between what they both wanted from their relationship.

5. Ty and Livy from Lord of Shadows

These two had plans to be Parabatai, that's how serious their bond as siblings went. These two are two parts of a whole, they're just better together.

4. Cersei and Jaime Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire

We may not always like these two, but you have to admit they are pretty iconic.

3. The Shining

Probably the most iconic twins of all time, even Cersei and Jaime can't touch them. If you don't know what I'm talking about then do you even pop culture?

2. Jude and Noah from I'll Give You The Sun

You should have seen this coming. My favorite stand alone of all time, it's about the relationship between these twins and how it has changed throughout the years. Honestly, that's all I can say other than read it. It's a game changer.

1. Fred and George Weasley from Harry Potter

If this came as a surprise to you than this must be your first time reading one of my blog posts. Welcome, I'm Jessie and I love Harry Potter. Fred and George were the older brothers I always wanted. They are fun an mischievous and out to cause chaos. Harry Potter wouldn't be the same without them adding some elements of lightheartedness.

Who are some book twins that you guys think are worthy of the list?


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Top 10 Books I Wasn't Amazed By

By that I mean these are some books I pretended to like a lot more than I actually did when I first read them. My life is a lie. Some of these I have openly talked about not liking them as much as they had been hyped, others I lied about because I didn't want to be flayed alive by my friends. I finally feel the need to come clean with some books I wasn't entirely impressed by. Honestly, I don't even know how to rank these books because I feel very guilty about every single one of them, so it's up for your interpretation.

1. Cinder

I've talked about being unimpressed by this one before, this is nothing new. I do remember giving it a higher rating than I thought it deserved when I originally read it because back then I hated giving out low star ratings and I didn't want people to come for me because everyone is so die hard about this series. I liked it, but it wasn't love.

2. The Darkest Minds

I don't know if I've ever even mentioned not caring for this book, or even if I've ever mentioned this book on my blog at all, but here I am, saying I could give zero fucks about anything that happened in this book. I don't even really remember what happened other than there were powers and I think characters were grouped by colors or something and I think the protagonist stowed away in a car or something? Maybe? I don't know, all I know is I don't think it was worth the hype.

3. Red Queen

My two friends who are readers, I trust there opinions about books so much, so I figured, if the two of them were raving about this book so much, then it must be a holy grail of a book. It was okay. I'm not really that overcome with love for it. I'll probably read the rest of the series eventually, not soon, but someday.

4. Divergent

I read this the around 7th grade. I liked it, it was pretty good I had recently read the Hunger Games and it had a lot of similarities, so I was content. Then, what struck me was all the other little seventh graders who all fell in love with the book. They were going on like it was the greatest thing to ever have existed and I just didn't care that much. I would have liked the book a lot more if everyone wasn't shoving it in my face all the time.

5. Anna and the French Kiss

Even back when I read this book, the element of cheating made me very uncomfortable. I did not have a good time reading this book at all because I was so anxious about Anna and her terrible decision making skills. It was cute and did have some good moments, but at the same time I also felt intense pressure to like this book because everyone and their mother loved this book. This is my sister's favorite book of all time. I'm in a corner with this one.

6. Pride and Prejudice

Usually when talking about favorite classics this comes to the forefront of everyones minds. Which is why when I started it there were heavy pressures for me to enjoy it. I liked it, but i think there are lots of better classics out there, Jane Eyre for one.

7. The Geography of You and Me

I actually hated this book and I just didn't want to admit it at the time because my friends loved it so much. Jennifer E. Smith's writing style just isn't for me. I can say that without a shadow of a doubt.

8. Since You’ve Been Gone

Another books where the main love interest is in a relationship with someone else. I also thought this book would be a lot wilder than it ended up being. I don't think it was really worth the pedestal it was placed on.

9. Shiver

This was one of the books I read early on in my reading career and while I wasn't that impressed, I still really enjoyed it. Now with more experience with Maggie Stiefvater's writing I can honestly say that it definitely wasn't her best book. Back in the day this book was hyped up so much, I can't even begin to explain it. I liked it, but it didn't change me in any way.

10. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

This is the one I feared talking about the most. This book wasn't the greatest book I had ever read. It probably isn't even in my top 200 favorite books. But I did like it. I liked the premise and I liked it's uniqueness. I think this story is getting better with each book, this first book just didn't do it for me the way it seems to be doing it for everyone else.

I actually had another one in mind that I really wanted to mention, but I forgot it the moment I went to write it down. So maybe one day I will make another list, if I ever remember what that book was.

What books were you guys not entirely in love with? Comment down below!

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Breaking the Rules of Revenge Spoiler Free Review

Breaking the Rules of Revenge
by Samantha Bohrman

Release Date: September 11th, 2017

Synopsis:

Mallory Jones is tired of being the girl who stays home and practices French horn while her identical twin, Blake, is crowned homecoming queen. So when she has the opportunity to pretend to be Blake, she takes it. At Camp Pine Ridge, she will spread her wings and emerge a butterfly. Or at least someone who finally gets kissed by a cute guy. That is, until bad boy Ben Iron Cloud shows up, ready to get revenge on Blake—aka Mallory.

If it weren’t for that infuriating girl, Ben wouldn’t even be at camp. Luckily, he now has six weeks to soak up some rays and get even with his nemesis. But the more time he spends with Blake, the more he realizes she’s nothing like the girl he thought she was—she’s kind and innocent and suddenly way too tempting. And soon enough, revenge is the last thing on his mind. Unfortunately, the girl he’s falling for is keeping a major secret…

Disclaimer: This book contains a super-hot bad boy out for revenge, all sorts of camp hijinks, and a girl who realized she’s been a butterfly all along. 

My Thoughts:

***I received an ARC through Netgalley in Exchange for an Honest Review***

I gave this book 4 stars. It was fun and diabolical, I loved every moment of it. I'm a sucker for anything with revenge and fake personas. There's always the reveal moment to look forward to. While it is a bit predictable, it doesn't lessen my enjoyment at all. And as of now I am officially back on a contemporary kick.


I loved how Mallory's book lined up with her real life and how she would compare real life events to events in her book. I found it funny because that''s a lot like how I think and do things. She was a very relatable character that I couldn't hate or even dislike. She's a very shy and quiet girl, she never gets into trouble or is even noticed most of the time, all because her sister is a bit oppressive. I know there's more to it than that, but a large part is because of her sister, and considering we meet said sister, it's understandable.

When this book first started out I was a bit worried about the third person. I'm not the biggest fan of third person unless it's a fantasy novel. I feel like I connect to the characters better if it's in first person, I sometimes get the feeling that I'm not getting all of them, someone else is telling me how the protagonist is feeling, they aren't telling me their thoughts and feelings themselves. Anyway, I didn't mind it too much while reading this book, the author did a great job of conveying the thoughts and feelings that I needed to know without a wall building up between me and the characters.

Ben, where to start with Ben. What I love about Ben is he is genuinely a nice guy, he didn't try to mess with "Blake" until after she had spent an entire year doing terrible things to him. Which is why I understand why he needed to get revenge. I wish we had gotten a bit more information about his Native American side. I know it's because he didn't know much about it himself, but it still would have been nice to get more about it.

Mallory and Ben have such great chemistry, they get along so well. Every moment of them together had me on the edge of my seat. I just wanted them to kiss the whole time. It became a sort of chant in my mind.

Mallory went through so much character development throughout this book and it was good to see. Her character development wasn't centered around a man. I mean there was a man amidst the chaos, but she figured out where she belonged on her own.

Overall, another cute contemporary romance. If you like cute contemporary romances then this is definitely for you. If you prefer things a little more hard core, then I wouldn't really suggest this one for you, this one is fluff.