Top Ten Books I Liked More/Less Than I Thought I Would

Hey all! Jamie here with Top Ten Tuesday today. Hope you enjoy my list! 

Admin things: I had hoped I would have a new schedule up (if you've been following along for the past 6.5 years with TTT you know I'm never this bad about keeping the  schedule up to date) but life has gotten in the way. SO...Top Ten Tuesday is going to be taking a hiatus until March 7. My first trimester of pregnancy was TERRIBLE and I've felt so behind since November and like I'm drowning so I need a pause. I hope that you understand how needed that is after doing Top Ten Tuesday every week for this many years. I want to get myself organized and as a group we have some behind the scenes stuff to figure out.  I'm willing to put up linkies for the next two weeks if y'all want to do 2 weeks of freebies. Let me know in the comments! I will have the schedule up by NEXT Tuesday so check back then. 

 

Books I Liked More Than I Thought I Would

1.  My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante: This is a case where I truly was only judging it based on the cover and thought "eh this isn't going to be great bc the cover is terrible" but I actually REALLY loved this book. If I would have read the summary before I ever looked at the cover I think I would have never had this feeling because it sounds like a me book.


2. How To Keep A Boy From Kissing You by Tara Eglington: I was in need of some serious fluff and someone recommended this and it was super delightful and definitely exceeded my expectations for it.

3. Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore: I was reading this with some friends who created a loose book club and I was NOT looking foward to this and I had a little bit of a rough start with it but then I REALLY found myself enjoying it. It was one of the weirdest books I've ever read and way outside of my comfort zone but I DEFINITELY enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

4. Little Black Dresses, Little White Lies by Laura Stampler: This one came for review and I picked it up on a whim because I was in need of a ~chick-lit~ type of book and I thought this would be okay but I ended up LOVING IT. So fun!!

5. The Fixer by Jennifer Lynn Barnes : I pretty much go into any YA spy sort of novel with lower expectations because they never blow me away but this was seriously AWESOME and definitely my favorite in that kind of spy/thrillery genre.

Books I Liked Less Than I Thought I Would 

 1. Wild  by Cheryl Strayed: I LIKED this but I expected to be BLOWN AWAY. I think it was a hype thing...I had heard how life changing it was and, while I got a lot out of it, I just really had expected to love it more. 

2. Carpe Diem by Autumn Cornwall: I LIKED this book but normally travel-y YA contemporaries work very well for me and I had heard godo things about this one for YEARS and when I finally pulled it off my shelf last year (after years of it sitting there unread)....it just wasn't as good as I hoped. 

3. The Love That Split The World by Emily Henry: OH MAN...one of my most anticipated reads when it came out and it just didn't click for me. There were things I liked about it but much more that didn't do it for me. 

4. With Every Breath by Lia Riley: I AM picky about what romances I like but everything about this book screamed like it would be a ME book but I didn't like this one AT ALLL. I really had high hopes. 

5. The Devil You Know by Trish Doller: I LOVE Trish's other books SO MUCH. Like fave book status. So, even though it wasn't a genre that I rate books very high in, I still wanted to try it because I love her books. It was OKAY. I liked it enough. I read it quickly. But when it's an author whose books YOU LOVE SO MUCH and then it doesn't hit you like the other ones...it's sad. I had really hoped to love it but my feelings were more middle of the road. 

Top Ten Tuesday -- All About Romance Freebie

For future Top Ten Tuesday topics & info on how to participate, click here!


This week, in honor of today being Valentine's Day, we are doing an All About Romance freebie & we can't wait to see what you all will come up with!

We are going to sit this one out this week --- busy busy busy for all of us right now and we couldn't get it together to put together a post! I (Jamie) planned to come home and do one but my Galentine's Day  date with my lady friends went wayyyy later than I thought and my pregnant butt is tired.  Another admin note -- I will be updating the upcoming topics within the next day or two!

 

Julia's Top Ten Books that should have More Cowbell

For future Top Ten Tuesday topics & info on how to participate, click here!

Top Ten Books I Wish Had (More/Less) X In Them (the original idea came from Andi who suggested top ten books I wish had more kissing which I thought could be fun but also realize it might not be everyone's thing! Could also be top ten books I wish had more diversity in them or top ten books I wish had less violence in them or less romance focus in them or top ten books I wish had more dragons in them. IDK! Have some fun with this one!) 

Julia's Top Ten Books that Should Have More Cowbell

So I had a really, really rough emotion filled, heavy, crazy week last week. Definitely the most emotionally exhausting in recent memory. So when I started to think about this list, I really just wanted to make it about the lolz. So my list is top ten books that I think could be improved by more cowbell. Also for those unfamiliar, here is a link to the SNL sketch. 

1. Twilight - I know that there is a sizable amount of people who liked Twilight. I didn't dislike the first one all that much, but the subsequent ones were not my cup of tea. What would have made them so? If just in the middle of a random serious scene, cowbell broke out and people started dancing with their sparkle bellies dancing in the moonlight. 

2. Old Skool Romance Novels - For those not up on the lingo, Old skool romance novels are the ones that were sort of light on the woman equality thing and a little more heavy on the ... alphole hero (alpha ahole). So I think if the ladies had been able to just dancing their funky dance to the sound of the cowbell beat, it would have just been amazing. 

3. Lord of the Flies - I think cowbell would have been the only thing that made me remotely enjoy that book. 

4. Dan Brown Books - I would love it if during Robert Langdon's adventures where he is trying to save someone from dying a horrible death by using cryptography and history, there was just a sidekick with a cowbell. 

5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Boring woods scenes? NO LONGER A PROBLEM. Just cast a spell on the cowbell so only you can hear it and dance the night away. 

6. The Princess Bride - The cowbell guy could have been one more villain the Man in Black had to beat before Buttercup could be his. How would he best him? Dance contest. 

7. Any philosophy book I read in college - Kant? Descartes? COWBELL!

8. Any book that is about cowbells - I am sure there is some book about the history of the cowbell. I really want the digital copies to just come with the SNL skit now in all seriousness. 

9. Children's books about cows - A legitimate use! Education!!

10. The memoir of my life - I think I would like it if the book about me just had a whole chapter where it was just a side tangent on cowbell. Fun and 100% true fact. When I was little, my aunt lived with my grandmother. When my grandma wanted to get her daughter's attention, instead of yelling up the stairs she had a cowbell she would ring. It was amazing and I can still hear it today... ah memories. 


Thanks for joining me on non-nonsensical list lane. Link up your lists below and have a wonderful, cowbell themed week.