Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books that Surprised Me

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week there is a new topic for bloggers to choose and list their top ten. This week’s theme is Top Ten Books that Surprised Me.

In my opinion there’s nothing better than when a book surprises me in a good way. A lot of the books I’ve picked up on a whim have ended up being incredible reads I’m grateful I discovered. However it seems like for every amazing book out there there has been one that ended up really disappointing me, so for this week’s topic I split my list in two and featured five books that surprised me in a good way and five that surprised me in a bad way.

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Books that Surprised Me in a Good Way

All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater

Despite loving Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle series I was nervous about picking up All the Crooked Saints. Why? Because of the negative reviews I saw for it. I went into All the Crooked Saints with low expectations but actually I really enjoyed it, and it ended up being a five star read for me.

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A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares by Krystal Sutherland

When I first read the blurb for this book I expected a light-hearted and slightly humorous story, and the first page enforced that opinion, but the further I got into A Semi-Definitive List the more I realised it was so much more than that. It’s a beautiful and moving story I fell in love with.

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Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Like All the Crooked Saints this is one I went into with lowered expectations because of all the negative reviews I saw for it. While Throne of Glass isn’t Sarah J. Maas’s strongest book, the series definitely got better with Crown of Midnight, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting it to be.

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Warcross by Marie Lu

I knew I was going to enjoy Warcross before I picked it up, it was written by Marie Lu so there was never really any doubt, but where this book surprised me was the ending. There were two twists and one I never saw coming, it left me shocked and beyond desperate for the next book in the series.

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Red Rising by Pierce Brown

When it comes to Pierce Brown’s Red Rising Saga there are so many twists that I’m never sure where I am in his books. I can’t keep up with how Darrow’s mind works and I never know if my favourite characters are going to survive until the end, but I’ve loved every single page of the series so far.

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Books that Surprised Me in a Bad Way

The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr

I didn’t have high expectations for The One Memory of Flora Banks, although it sounded like a good book, but I ended up being really disappointed. There were so many issues with the plot and the character development was problematic in places, the only thing I can say I enjoyed was the setting.

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All the Wind in the World by Samantha Mabry

Magical realism is one of my favourite genres, and I liked Samantha Mabry’s debut novel so I had high expectations for All the Wind in the World. While I liked the story and the setting I hated the main character, and actually looking back I think my initial rating of three stars was too high.

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Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories by Stephanie Perkins

This book is marketed as ‘Twelve Love Stories’, it’s part of the title, but most of the short stories in this book were forgettable, and I wouldn’t call some of them ‘Love Stories’ at all. Basically if this anthology was supposed to be a romantic on it seriously missed its mark.

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The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich

Normally I’m not a fan of love triangles, but a book that promises to turn the trope on its head? Sign me up. Unfortunately The Love Interest was lacking when it came to the character and relationship development, and while I wouldn’t say it was a bad book it wasn’t what I’d hoped it would be.

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The Crown’s Game by Evelyn Skye

Reading the blurb for The Crown’s Game I expected to read a story about an epic battle between two powerful enchanters set in a magical world. Instead what I got was a weak story where the main purpose of the competition was to decorate Russia for the Prince’s upcoming birthday.

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So what do you think? Did you take part in this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, if so let me know what books surprised you. Are there any on my list that you agree with, or are there any you disagree with.