Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Lived up to the Hype

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. How it works is that each Tuesday the host assigns a topic and then posts their top ten list that fits the topic. Every blogger can create their own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well and link to the host’s. The topic for July 31st, 2018 is: Popular Books that Lived Up to the Hype. I’d done a blog post similar to this way back in February – Reading Hyped Books. What I’m going to do today instead is talk about books that were recommended to me by my bookish friends that were as good or even better than they told me it would be. I trust their reviews implicitly and would like to give them a shout-out because I usually decide my TBR based on friends’ opinion rather than read whatever is popular. I’m also going to mention one book that I want to add to my TBR because this person loves it or has recommended to me.

1. The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed

Recommended by: Lia @ Lost in a Story

Lia is my go-to whenever I need a book with feminist themes. She’s also great in general for diverse contemporary recs. If you have checked out my Mid-Year Book Freak Out tag, you’ll know this is one of my favourites of the year. It tackles some really important issues and has the most amazing representation. I would highly recommend everyone to read it! Check out Lia’s review here.

Lia also recommends: The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven

2. A Faint Promise of Rain by Anjali Mitter Duva

Recommended by: Sara Letourneau

Sara has been my blogging friend for the longest time and the fact that I switched blogs hasn’t changed that. We bonded over our shared love for Tolkien and we share similar reading tastes. I was planning out my TBR for the Asian Lit Bingo and was coming up blank for the historical fiction space, which is when Sara suggested this book and I added it without a second thought because I absolutely trust her opinion. I rated it 5/5 stars, higher than Sara’s, as the book spoke to the dancer’s soul within me. I wouldn’t have found this book if not for her and I’m so grateful for that!

Sara also recommends: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

3. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Recommended by: Jini @ Jini vs the Universe

She’s my friend from school and one of the first people I found who I could fangirl with over books. I’m still working on her other recommendations, but I did manage to read this series completely. I fell in love with it over a course of time but I find Brandon Sanderson to be one of the best authors whose skill grows with every book. He puts out so many books of such high quality and I really want to finish all of them in this lifetime. If you love fantasy, I’d highly recommend you check out Sanderson’s books.

Jini also recommends: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

4. The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

Recommended by: Jajwalya @ Light Writes

This is quite a popular book by itself but I was pushed to pick it up because Jaj gushed about it a lot. Again, I’m yet to chase down the list of recommendations she’s given me because I have a problem of filling my TBR with more books than I can finish, obviously. I recently finished this book and I cannot wait to read all the books in this series! She is another bookish person who I know in real life and an amazingly talented creator.

Jaj also recommends: Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta

5. To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

Recommended by: Simant @ Flipping Through the Pages

I had been hearing positive buzz about it even before Simant started obsessing over this book on her social media and I’d requested for an ARC via NetGalley. I was immensely grateful when I got approved for it and I enjoyed it every bit as much as I thought I would. I feel like Simant has a knack of writing really in-depth reviews and the fact that she liked a fantasy book this much was enough to give me the confidence that I’d love it as well. Check out her amazing review here and also mine, if you’re interested.

Simant also recommends: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

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How do you decide which books to add to your TBR? Which bookish friend shares the same tastes as you or whose reviews you trust without question? Let me know in the comments section below.