Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish that other bloggers are welcome to join in, to create Top Ten lists on varying topics. This week it’s Top Ten Underrated/Hidden Gem Books We’ve Read In The Past Year Or So

Paein

1 Beauty and the Clockwork Beast

by Nancy Campbell Allen
823 Ratings

When Lucy Pickett arrives at Blackwell Manor to tend to her ailing cousin, Kate, she finds more than she bargained for. A restless ghost roams the hallways, werewolves have been reported in the area, and vampires lurk across the Scottish border. Lord Miles himself is clearly hiding a secret. He is brash and inhospitable, and does not take kindly to visitors—even one as smart and attractive as Miss Pickett. He is unsettled by the mysterious deaths of his new wife, Clara, and his sister, Marie. Working together, Miles and Lucy attempt to restore peace to Blackwell Manor. But can Lucy solve the mystery of Miles? Can she love the man—beast and all?

-Goodreads

This is an amazing book! Only 823 ratings?! I’s a steampunk Beauty and the Beast and it’s just a fantastic mix of everything that makes stories great. Romance and mystery with strong leads and mostly sensible decisions.

2 Memories of Ash 

by Intisar Khanani
710 Ratings

In the year since she cast her sunbolt, Hitomi has recovered only a handful of memories. But the truths of the past have a tendency to come calling, and an isolated mountain fastness can offer only so much shelter. When the High Council of Mages summons Brigit Stormwind to stand trial for treason, Hitomi knows her mentor won’t return—not with Arch Mage Blackflame behind the charges.

Armed only with her magic and her wits, Hitomi vows to free her mentor from unjust imprisonment. She must traverse spell-cursed lands and barren deserts, facing powerful ancient enchantments and navigating bitter enmities, as she races to reach the High Council. There, she reunites with old friends, planning a rescue equal parts magic and trickery.

If she succeeds, Hitomi will be hunted the rest of her life. If she fails, she’ll face the ultimate punishment: enslavement to the High Council, her magic slowly drained until she dies.

-Goodreads

This is a book two, so many book twos on this list! But this series is pretty fantastic. We have a strong female lead whose pretty dandy at getting herself and others out of bad situations.

3 A Wizard’s Forge

by A.M. Justice
93 Ratings

Scholar. Slave. Warrior. Wizard.

On a planet far from Earth, descendants of marooned space travelers fight a decades-long war. Shy scholar Victoria knows nothing of this conflict until pirates kidnap and sell her to the sadistic tyrant behind it. He keeps her naked and locked in a tower, subjecting her to months of psychological torture. After seizing an opportunity to escape, Vic joins the fight against her former captor and begins walking a bloody path toward revenge.

As the Blade, Vic gains glory raiding her enemy’s forces, but the ordeal in his tower haunts her. Bitter memories keep her from returning the love of the kindhearted Prince Ashel, whose family has fended off the tyrant’s invading army for a generation. When enemy soldiers capture Ashel, Vic embarks on a quest to rescue him and, on the journey, discovers a source of spectacular power. With wizardry, Vic can rescue the prince, end the war, and wreak the vengeance she craves, but she might also destroy her only chance for peace.

-goodreads

This was a far more epic read than I thought. It was almost two books in one and the ending seemed in an odd place, but I loved it all the same and I’m surprised that such a big adventure has such a little following. Another strong female lead who saves herself.

4 Pawn of the Phoenix

by Jamie McLachlan
81 Ratings

Braxton, 1903.
The serial killer known only as the Phoenix continues to roam the streets and a new victim falls prey. For Moira and Detective Keenan Edwards, still on the hunt for the Phoenix, the rules have changed. The killer remains beyond their grasp.
Moira is willing to give into her fierce attraction to Keenan. However, the detective proves to be more reluctant despite a moment of heated passion. Then discovery of a secret Keenan never planned to share creates an unwelcome rift between the new lovers.
Keenan isn’t the only one hiding something. In this continuation of the Memory Collector series, Moira makes a startling disclosure about her past. This revelation will not only test the boundaries of love, but might also prove to be the clue that will finally unravel the mystery of the Phoenix.

-Goodreads

I’m waiting impatiently for the next book in this series and I’m surprised that more people haven’t found it yet! This is actually book 2 of the series and book 3 should hopefully be on the way soon. I hope!

5 Broken Banners

by Mark Gelineau & Joe King
71 Ratings

Slaughtered and left for crows, soldiers of the King’s Army lay dead in a field. A grim reminder: the king’s law ends at the gates of the capital.
Elinor fought for what she believed and now she is an outcast. No soldier will follow her. No officer will stand with her. Yet when she finds her brothers and sisters slaughtered, she cannot turn her back on them.
Long ago, they swore an oath. Not to the king, but to each other.
And woe to those who break that bond.

-Goodreads

Ms4Tune also has one of these guys books on her list, but from a different branch of this cluster series. This is book 2 of what is probably my absolute favourite branch of their epic and interwoven story lines, sadly they’ve been inactive for almost a year now but these books are so well done, I’d recommend them to anyone.

…

Ms4Tune

  

6 Labyrinth Lost

by Zoraida Cordova
1,518 Ratings

Nothing says Happy Birthday like summoning the spirits of your dead relatives.

I fall to my knees. Shattered glass, melted candles and the outline of scorched feathers are all that surround me. Every single person who was in my house – my entire family — is gone.

Alex is a bruja, the most powerful witch in a generation…and she hates magic. At her Deathday celebration, Alex performs a spell to rid herself of her power. But it backfires. Her whole family vanishes into thin air, leaving her alone with Nova, a brujo boy she can’t trust. A boy whose intentions are as dark as the strange markings on his skin.

The only way to get her family back is to travel with Nova to Los Lagos, a land in-between, as dark as Limbo and as strange as Wonderland…

 I thoroughly enjoyed the mix of Latin American culture, magic and wonderland… I think there are a lot of people who will appreciate this kind of book.

7 The Shadow Hour

by Melissa Grey
790 Ratings

A battle has been won. But the war has only just begun.

Everything in Echo’s life changed in a blinding flash when she learned the startling truth: she is the firebird, the creature of light that is said to bring peace.

The firebird has come into the world, but it has not come alone. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and Echo can feel a great and terrible darkness rising in the distance. Cosmic forces threaten to tear the world apart.

Echo has already lost her home, her family, and her boyfriend. Now, as the firebird, her path is filled with even greater dangers than the ones she’s already overcome.

She knows the Dragon Prince will not fall without a fight.

Echo must decide: can she wield the power of her true nature—or will it prove too strong for her, and burn what’s left of her world to the ground?

Welcome to the shadow hour.

I know this is book 2 and that’s probably why many people haven’t read it yet but I wish people would give this series a try.
I really enjoyed it and the writing was really good.

8 Chaos Rises

by Pippa DaCosta
196 Ratings

‘When the veil fell, any half bloods not strong enough to withstand Chaos were torn apart. Some, like me and my brother, survived The Fall. Most did not.

That’s the good news. The bad news saw a whole other world try and devour ours. Demons, we call them. They came in countless waves. Destroying. Killing. Many people thought it was the end…

The Fall lasted a week.

Tens of thousands died.

Hell almost claimed our world as its own.

And then, from one day to the next, it was over. The veil came back, stronger than ever. I’m not sure if anyone knows how it was put right. But I do know it’s been six months since The Fall, me and my brother are on the run, and the leftover demons aren’t the most dangerous things in LA.
We are.’

This was the start of a new spin off series, from one of Pippa DaCosta’s earlier series but I hadn’t read the other series going into this and can honestly say you don’t need to have read them. This was enjoyable on its own. A really solid and entertaining urban fantasy.

9 Wild Swans

by Jessica Spotwood
658 Ratings

The summer before Ivy’s senior year is going to be golden; all bonfires, barbeques, and spending time with her best friends. For once, she will just get to be. No summer classes, none of Granddad’s intense expectations to live up to the family name. For generations, the Milbourn women have lead extraordinary lives—and died young and tragically. Granddad calls it a legacy, but Ivy considers it a curse. Why else would her mother have run off and abandoned her as a child?

But when her mother unexpectedly returns home with two young daughters in tow, all of the stories Ivy wove to protect her heart start to unravel. The very people she once trusted now speak in lies. And all of Ivy’s ambition and determination cannot defend her against the secrets of the Milbourn past….

I really enjoyed this contemporary romance and really think lovers of Emery Lord etc should give this a try. It’s really good!

10 Skinshaper

by Mark Gelineau and Joe King
44 Ratings

Barricades broken.

A mining town empty.

One survivor swings in a cage, waiting to die.

Ferran’s tattoos burn as horrors near. They should run. They should seek help. But to save a few, they must journey deeper into the heart of the nightmare to face an ancient foe.

I think I went on and on about this mini-series last year but it really is amazing. I can’t believe so few people have had the good fortune to read these. Rend the Dark is my favourite mini-series of the set, Skinshaper being the second book to Rend the Dark. I really wish people would read them. It was spine-tinglingly good. It may be small but it is mighty