Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Read That Were Recommended by Fellow Bloggers

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

I usually have a lab on Tuesdays, so normally I wouldn’t be able to join in the fun… but because I don’t this week (because we have our fall break starting this Thursday-despite all the Hurricane Matthew madness), I thought I would create this post today!

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday feature is Ten Books I’ve Read Because Of Another Blogger.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. It was created to allow the book community to share ten books every week in response to a chosen theme.

Even without lab, it probably wasn’t the best idea for me to begin drafting this from scratch today since I have a chemistry exam tomorrow (on metabolites and metabolism), but I think I’ll manage! Plus, I really wanted to join in this week’s topic just because I knew I had plenty of material I could share and discuss. ^.^

Anyway, let’s get on with the actual post, shall we?

Below are all the books that I actually have read after recommendations. (I know right?! I’m pretty impressed with myself. pat on the back) I’m quite a slow reader which means that my main focus has been with ARCs, but when I do decide to pick up a book that I purchased… I want to make sure I’m reading one that is worthwhile and that I’ll hopefully like. And that’s when recommendations by my most trusted fellow book bloggers come in! 😉

For each book, I’ll include a link to Goodreads, my review, and the blogs (of the bloggers that recommended me the book). Also, I’m almost certain that under each book there are more folks that recommended me the title… primarily because my challenge question on Goodreads is actually something like, “Recommend me your favorite book.” But, of  course, I couldn’t remember everyone. Honestly, I’m pretty impressed that I could keep track of these many people. XD

A Darker Shade of Magic | A Little Life | Me Before You | More Happy Than Not | Sanctuary Bay (ebook, not pictured) | Shadow and Bone | Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda | Six of Crows | The Summer of Chasing Mermaids | The Winner’s Curse | The Wrath and the Dawn | Unteachable (ebook, not pictured)

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
Recommended by: Kelly at Dancing Through the Pages
4 Stars (my review)
Kelly gushes over Victoria Schwab so much that I felt kind of obligated to pick up A Darker Shade of Magic, which was the only Schwab book I owned, lest she drop me as a friend (lol). And this gave me the chance to do my first buddy read (with Carolyn at A Hundred Thousand Stories), which was so awesome and fun. Me and Carolyn both came to conclusion that we didn’t love ADSoM as much as we wanted to and that there was room for improvement. However, I did go on with the sequel to ADSoM, A Gathering of Shadows, and really loved it to no end.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Recommended by: Carolyn at A Hundred Thousand Stories, Jenna at Reading with Jenna, Thomas at The Quiet Voice
5 Stars (my review)
Hands down, I think this was one of the best books I have read in my life. Everything about it was so beautiful and heartbreaking. The entire cast was so twisted, awful, and broken; I really felt a great connection and sympathy towards them. Oh, Jude! T_T

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Recommended by: Cassandra at Read All About It, Trisha at The Bookgasm
4 Stars (my review)
I didn’t exactly love this book as much I had anticipated, but the ending sure got me despite the predictable element. (I did sob as much as everyone said I would.) I also went to see the movie when it came out with my friends, and I liked it. To be honest, I was more amused that we had a actor(ess) from the grand trio of popular films/shows (Emilia Clarke from Game of Thrones, Sam Claflin from The Hunger Games, and Matthew Lewis from Harry Potter) than anything.

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera
Recommended by: Shelumiel at Bookish and Awesome
4.5 Stars (my review)
Oh my gosh, this book totally caught me off guard because it’s so sad despite the cover and title! The plot twist was where the feels hit me so hard. T.T Along with Simon, this is probably my favorite LGBTQ+ YA book. (And I got another chance to buddy read; this time with Lois at My Midnight Musings).

Sanctuary Bay by Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz
Recommended by: Marie at Drizzle and Hurricane Books
3 Stars (my review)
I really enjoyed this one! Sanctuary Bay sort of gave me Private and Maximum Ride vibes because of the drama and experimentation. I do recommend it if you’re into suspense and mysteries.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Recommended by: Miguel at The Quirky Reader
4 Stars (my review)
To be honest, this first installment pales in comparison to Six of Crows, which I recently finished and thought was amazing. But it was still an awesome ride overall. (I mean I did marathon the entire trilogy in one go…)

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
Recommended by: Justin at Just Harping on Libros
5 Stars (my review)
This is perhaps one the cutest online relationships I’ve ever read. Reading about Simon and Blue made me so happy inside, truly. If you’re looking for a fantastic, fast read with LGBTQ+ themes this is definitely for you.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Recommended by: Joey at Thoughts and Afterthoughts, Olivia at Heir of Glitter
5 Stars (review to come… hopefully!)
I’m still absolutely mindblown by how awesome this cast is! Everyone has urged me to read this. since the moment I received my preorder… (That’s right I preordered it and I let it collect dust. Why, Summer? Why??) But I’m also low-key glad that I waited this long, just because I didn’t have an agonizing wait for Crooked Kingdom as other fans.

The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler
Recommended by: Aimee at Deadly Darlings
5 Stars (my review)
It’s hard to believe but I actually finished The Summer of Chasing Mermaids in an entire day. This reading speed was mainly motivated by the fact that this book was overdue by the time I started reading it, but it was such a fab read. The writing is beautiful and The Little Mermaid inspirations are subtle and original. Highly recommended!

The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski
Recommended by: Carolyn at A Hundred Thousand Stories, Chooi at Read, Think, Ponder
4.5 Stars (my review)
The Winner’s trilogy as a whole is going to be one of my favorite YA series for a long time, because there’s so much more beyond the romance (which is probably the main component that drives this series forward). The fantasy building is simple but somehow rich; the politics of the world is probably my favorite part.

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh
Recommended by: Aimal at Bookshelves and Paperbacks, Carolyn at A Hundred Thousand Stories
4 Stars (my review)
The longest review I published on Xingsings was for this book, and that’s saying a lot since mine tend to spill over 1K words usually. All I can say was that I melted into a puddle of feels by the end because the romance was so passionate and wonderful. Ugh, I love Shazi and Khalid’s relationship so much. And, thankfully, I had Lois at My Midnight Musings to fangirl with along the way.

Unteachable by Leah Raeder
Recommended by: Carolyn at A Hundred Thousand Stories, Chooi at Read, Think, Ponder
2 Stars (my review)
This is totally a novel where I can say, “it’s not you, it’s me.” Unteachable is a darker, sexy romance that I think a lot of readers will love. Although, since I had never been previously exposed to NA books before (even though I’m part of the target audience) the provocative romance kind of caught me by surprise. Also, there’s a game changing piece that readers learn about one of the characters that totally made me unable to go along the student-teacher relationship.

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Phew, and that’s a wrap! I have to go study for my exam now, but writing this post sure was a great break from school. Hope you guys are doing well (and to the people that live in areas where Hurricane Matthew also came through, I hope you didn’t get too much damage and were safe). Thanks for tuning in. And until next time! 🙂