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Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books We Loved but Will Never Re-Read

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Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018.
It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
This weeks topic is Top Ten Books We Loved but Will Never Re-Read


Paein

Well this is hard. I always re-read books I love. Let’s go with LIKED…?

to kill a kingdom The Hazel Wood the sacrifice box the treatment Odd and True

1 To Kill a Kingdom

by Alexandra Christo

Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most—a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever.
The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavoury hobby—it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good—But can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy?

I liked the story of this one, not so much the writing. It’s a Little Mermaid retelling with a twist and I’m pretty sure that if it had been in a writing style I liked I would have loved this book enough to re-read it.

2 The Hazel Wood

by Melissa Albert

Alice has spent most of her life on the road, always one step ahead of the strange bad luck biting at her heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her isolate estate – the Hazel Wood – Alice discovers how bad her luck can really get.
Her own mother is stolen away – by a figure who claims to come from the supernatural world where the fairy tales are set. Alice’s only clue is the message left behind:
STAY AWAY FROM
THE HAZEL WOOD.
To rescue her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother’s tales began…

This was weird. Mostly good weird and I was considering continuing the series which would mean a re-read. But the further I get from when I read it I don’t think I will. I Have too many other books to read and re-read to return to this one I think.

3 The Sacrifice Box

by Martin Stewart

Sep, Arkle, Mack, Lamb and Hadley: five friends thrown together one hot, sultry summer. When they discover an ancient stone box hidden in the forest, they decide to each make a sacrifice: something special to them, committed to the box for ever. And they make a pact: they will never return to the box at night; they’ll never visit it alone; and they’ll never take back their offerings.
Four years later, the gang have drifted apart. Then a series of strange and terrifying events take place, and Sep and his friends understand that one of them has broken the pact.
As their sacrifices haunt them with increased violence and hunger, they realise that they are not the first children to have found the box in their town’s history. And ultimately, the box may want the greatest sacrifice of all: one of them.

Another weird one. I think this list is going to be full of books I enjoyed but found weird…
It made me think of Stephen King (not that I’ve read many of his books) only less long winded. I liked the sentiment behind the story even if a lot of people do die. It’s also a little hilarious.

4 The Treatment

by C.L. Taylor

“You have to help me. We’re not being reformed. We’re being brainwashed.”

All sixteen year old Drew Finch wants is to be left alone. She’s not interested in spending time with her mum and stepdad and when her disruptive fifteen year old brother Mason is expelled from school for the third time and sent to a residential reform academy she’s almost relieved.

Everything changes when she’s followed home from school by the mysterious Dr Cobey, who claims to have a message from Mason. There is something sinister about the ‘treatment’ he is undergoing. The school is changing people.

Determined to help her brother, Drew must infiltrate the Academy and unearth its deepest, darkest secrets.

Before it’s too late.

I was sent this for review. I’m often sent books just outside my ‘comfort zone’ which is weird, you’d think they’d want people who will more likely like their books. Anyway, when I started to read it I thought it was going to be a Sci-Fi and was really excited. So when it wasn’t I was a little disappointed. It was still a good book but I won’t be re-reading it.

5 Odd and True

by Cat Winters

Trudchen grew up hearing Odette’s stories of their monster-slaying mother and a magician’s curse. But now that Tru’s older, she’s starting to wonder if her older sister’s tales were just comforting lies, especially because there’s nothing fantastic about her own life—permanently disabled and in constant pain from childhood polio.
In 1909, after a two-year absence, Od reappears with a suitcase supposedly full of weapons and a promise to rescue Tru from the monsters on their way to attack her. But it’s Od who seems haunted by something. And when the sisters’ search for their mother leads them to a face-off with the Leeds Devil, a nightmarish beast that’s wreaking havoc in the Mid-Atlantic states, Tru discovers the peculiar possibility that she and her sister—despite their dark pasts and ordinary appearances—might, indeed, have magic after all.

Again, this book ended up not being what I was expecting. What I was expecting would have been magnificent. Also obvious. While I liked that it wasn’t obvious, I was a little sad it wasn’t what I had hoped it was. I did like the ending though but I don’t think I’ll re-read it.

Ms4Tune

wild cold burnof magic The Underground Railroad In A Dark Dark Wood some girls

6 Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found

by Cheryl Strayed

At 26, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family disbanded and her marriage crumbled. With nothing to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to walk 1,100 miles of the west coast of America – from the Mojave Desert, through California and Oregon, and into Washington State – and to do it alone. She had no experience of long-distance hiking and the journey was nothing more than a line on a map. But it held a promise – a promise of piecing together a life that lay in ruins at her feet.

Wild is one of those books that I picked up on a whim. I enjoyed it because it was different and really inspiring but its a journey I won’t be joining again. I may watch the film though…

7 Black Blade Series

by Jennifer Estep

The Black Blade young adult urban fantasy series focuses on Lila Merriweather, a 17-year-old thief who lives in Cloudburst Falls, West Virginia, a town dubbed “the most magical place in America.” Tourists come from around the world to tour all the magic-themed shops and attractions, as well as see monsters like tree trolls, copper crushers, and more in their natural habitats.

Lila has a Talent for sight, along with transference magic — in other words, magic makes her stronger. To survive, she does odd jobs for her pawnbroker friend. Lila also does her best to stay off the grid and avoid the Families — or mobs — who control much of the town. But when she saves a member of the powerful Sinclair Family during an attack, Lila finds herself caught in the middle of a brewing war between the Sinclairs and the Draconis, the most powerful Family in town.

I would usually presume that I would someday re-read all the fantasy books I enjoyed but, while looking back through my Read list, I realistically can not see myself re-reading this series. It was great fun, and there were some really hilarious moments and quirky magical features, but I think this is a series that you read, and then move on. I’d like to read her other series’ though. Estep’s definitely got a style I enjoy.

8 The Underground Railroad

by Colson Whitehead

Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hellish for all the slaves but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood – where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned and, though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.

In Whitehead’s ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor – engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora and Caesar’s first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven – but the city’s placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. Even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.

Not really a book I can say I loved as it’s not really a book to enjoy more a book to shock and enrage, but it did grip me and make me want to learn more about this horrific part of history. I probably wont read it again though as I know the ending now and as I said… its not an enjoyable book. Clever though and worth a read.

9 In a Dark Dark Wood

by Ruth Ware

Nora hasn’t seen Clare for ten years. Not since the day Nora walked out of her old life and never looked back.

Until, out of the blue, an invitation to Clare’s hen party arrives. A weekend in a remote cottage – the perfect opportunity for Nora to reconnect with her best friend, to put the past behind her.

But something goes wrong.

Very wrong.

And as secrets and lies unravel, out in the dark, dark wood the past will finally catch up with Nora.

This was a fast paced mystery thriller that I really enjoyed. I loved the unrealiable narrative voice and how I was kept on the edge of my seat, but I don’t know, can you re-read a thriller? I’m skeptical, I just don’t think it would have the same energy and excitement! I don’t think I’d re-read this one anyway.

10 Some Girls Are

by Courtney Summers

Climbing to the top of the social ladder is hard—falling from it is even harder.  Regina Afton used to be a member of the Fearsome Fivesome, an all-girl clique both feared and revered by the students at Hallowell High… until vicious rumors about her—and her best friend’s boyfriend—start going around.  Now Regina’s been frozen out, and her ex-best friends are out for revenge.  If Regina were guilty, it would be one thing, but the rumors are far from the terrifying truth, and the bullying is getting more intense by the day.  She takes solace in the company of Michael Hayden, a misfit with a tragic past whom she herself used to bully.  Friendship doesn’t come easily for these onetime enemies, and as Regina works hard to make amends for her past, she realizes Michael could be more than just a friend…if threats from the Fearsome Foursome don’t break them both first.

Tensions grow and the abuse worsens, as the final days of senior year march toward an explosive conclusion in this dark new tale from the author of Cracked Up To Be.

Another book that I thought was amazing due to its harrowing storyline and the engaging way it was written but not a story that you can say ‘Gosh I loved it!’ because that seems a bit dark. I loved Courtney Summers writing and while I may not read this particular one again I will be reading her other books. (I’ve also kept my copy of this one… I don’t seem to be able to part with it… you never know when someone will ask you for a recommendation and you can go here try this…

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5 comments on “Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books We Loved but Will Never Re-Read

  1. Jazmin Jade

    Im sort of with you on Wild. I really enjoyed the book way more than I thought I was going to, so part of me doesn’t want to completely say I wont reread it, but after I watch the movie I may feel like my journey with the book can end.

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