Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish
Hahaha oh my god, okay so this topic. I had 48 books on my official 2016 TBR shelf (with rereads, sequels, and later additions that number came to +/- 60). Of those, I read…..23. So in my opinion I deserve to be publicly shamed for that because really, I had one job. And that’s not even counting the books I was going to read last year that had been published before 2016 (Shadowshaper, Six of Crows, Tiny Pretty Things, The Weight of Feathers, The Summer Prince, Huntress, Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel — there’s a lot). So of course I put all these on my 2017 TBR shelf, which now counts 72 books. Also, Happy New Year! I know we’re already a third into January, but still.
Now let’s get to the shameful part.
Renée Ahdieh | The Rose and the Dagger
TRATD was my birthday present to myself and I did actually start reading it, but it bothered me that I seemed to have forgotten a lot of The Wrath and the Dawn. When I told Sana, she decided to be the best — not an unusual occurrence — and write this excellent recap, which I have read at least 26 times by now, but can the same be said for TRATD? Nope. I’m thinking of rereading TWATD after all (and then the recap again, of course) and then immediately following it up with the sequel.
C.B. Lee | Not Your Sidekick
Okay BUT I am actually reading this now, and cursing myself for having waited so long, because it is f a n t a s t i c. I just checked my notes and almost all of them start with “I love that/how/[character]”. Trust me on this, Not Your Sidekick is singlehandedly saving the dystopian genre, the (post-)apocalyptic genre (only tangentially related to them AND YET), superhero narratives, the YA sci-fi genre — and it would have saved 2016 too, if only I had not been such an inexplicable fool.
Marie Lu | The Midnight Star
In my defence, I was going to reread the first two books first to create the perfect circumstances for the maximum tragedy storm I expect this series ender to unleash on my emotional system, but just didn’t get it. Munich and then starting a new job got a little in the way of this.
Melissa Grey | The Shadow Hour
Again, I was going to reread The Girl At Midnight first, because I don’t think I gave that book a fair chance the first time around, due to a mix of too high expectations and reading it in the middle of a slump. I might wait until The Savage Dawn releases in July because series binges are my preferred way of reading.
Zoraida Córdova | Labyrinth Lost
I own the paperback, I own the ebook, but have I read the actual book? Smh.
Diane Guerrero | In the Country We Love
I was going to buddy-read this with Sana and then we both failed. I’M SORRY, DIANE. SOON.
Cindy Pon | Sacrifice
Serpentine was one of my favourite books of 2016, and I remember mentally slapping myself that I hadn’t read it closer to Sacrifice‘s release date, because that one’s synopsis read like a dream come true. I immediately preordered it and yet here I still am. But please pick up this series. It’s a quieter and more subtle read than the average mainstream YA high fantasy title, but I think that’s what made me love it even more. Plus, female relationships of all kinds are at the core of this series, so seriously, give it a go.
Stacey Lee | The Secrets of a Heart Note
This book has one of the best premises I’ve ever heard. A “teen aroma expert who uses her extrasensitive sense of smell to mix perfumes that help others fall in love while protecting her own heart at all costs”? Whoever wrote this synopsis deserves an award for being able to completely sell me with a single sentence. It will be interesting for me to read though, given that I don’t have a sense of smell, and I’m so excited. Soon. Really soon.
Riley Redgate | Seven Ways We Lie
I can’t believe there’s a modern take on the seven sins in a high school setting with a plot involving scandals and unlikely allies and it still stands unread — but beautifully — on my shelves. What is wrong with me.
Melina Marchetta | Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil
More like Shame the Satan’s Mistress Ellis. I’M SORRY MELINA I HAVE BEEN AN UNFAITHFUL DISCIPLE. I’m just terrified I won’t love this as much as I want to, so instead I reread Saving Francesca and The Piper’s Son because ???? I don’t know. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Honourable mentions: Something In Between by Melissa de la Cruz, Juliet Takes a Breath by Gaby Rivera, And I Darken by Kiersten White, The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi, The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig aaaand I’m just going to go crawl back into my shame hole now.