Tuesday, February 21, 2017

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 is a fun weekly link-up in the community where we provide a prompt and other lovers of listmaking join in on it with their own top ten list. Feel free to have less than 10 or more if you need to at times and put a spin on the topic if you need to! Just please link back to us if you are participating :)

To join, link up below with the URL to your blog POST (not your blog), your name and your email (which will remain hidden). Then bounce around the Linky!

 Liv @ Curlyhairbibliophile   Chrissi Reads   Emma @ Awkwordly Emma  
 Julie @ Happily Ever Chapter   Amy@ Read What I Like   Chanda @ Chanda Reads  
 Lauren @ My Expanding Bookshelf   Amy @ Book Babbles and Blues   Cassie @ Rants and Raves of a Bibliophile  
 Michelle @ Life Among the Pages   Ricki and Kellee @ Unleashing Readers   Aj @ Read All The Things!  
 Jane @ greenish bookshelf   Rê @U.S. - Brazil Book Review   Angel @Angel Reads  
 Wendy @ Falconer's Library   Rhea @ The Literary Phoenix   Maraia & Sebastian  
 Courtney @ The Green Mockingbird (Freebie TTT)   Lori @ Pure Imagination   Beth @ Reading Every Night  
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31 comments:

  1. I hope things level out. I know what you mean about that first trimester. For the first week and a half of mine I couldn't keep anything down. I felt like I was dying. Take the time you need. :)

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  2. Hope things calm down and get better for you, Jamie, and the Broke and Bookish ladies! Take the time you need, and we'll look forward to Top Ten Tuesday's return when it and you are ready. Many congrats on your exciting news today. :)

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  3. Thank you for all of your efforts! I'll be ready to continue Top Ten Tuesday when it returns. :-) Look after yourself!

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  4. Take your time! I love these and so do not mind if its a little later!

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  5. Hope things get better for you! I can't remember how my sis and cousin did with their first trimester in their pregnancies. My sister's was so long ago. I think overall she was fairly okay. Hopefully your next two trimesters will go better!

    Nice picks! Mostly new to me ones though I do see one in the "not so great" list that's in my TBR pile that has me worried!

    Totally down with two weeks of freebies! There was a topic I wanted to do...but I am totally blanking on what it was! LOL! But yeah, freebie weeks are cool! You have go to take care of you and your little one!

    Here's my Tuesday Post

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower :)

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  6. I really hope you feel better soon (and that you get more books that you end up loving more than you thought).

    Freebies are fine, but so is a hiatus. You're growing a life, so you get to do whatever you feel like doing. :)

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  7. Take your time! Keeping up with all this stuff while pregnant is hard. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help out with TTT.

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  8. Take care of you! Keeping up when nothing unusual/difficult is going on is hard enough... so while pregnant?! yeah, I think we can understand :) I'll probably do freebies, but don't really need a linky even - take your break!

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  9. Take your time and take care of yourself! As much as we all love TTT, I think we'll survive a couple of weeks without it ;) Two freebie weeks would be fine, as would a hiatus. Whatever is better for you!

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  10. Take your time and get better. We will all be here when you get back. I understand my first trimester of pregnancy waas not so good too. I will most likely do freebies too. So if you are up to putting Linkys up great if not no worries.

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  11. Absolutely understand! I hope you are feeling better now!

    Since blogs come and go, and our reading tastes change, I think a 'blast from the past' TTT for as long as you need could work. Where we peruse past lists and pick from them what we'd like to do.

    Thanks for all your hard work! :)

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  12. Hope you will get better and take your time. I would like to wait for your come back :)

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  13. The most important thing is to take care of yourself and that growing baby! Do whatever is least stressful for you. I love TTT and will pick it up again whenever you all are ready. Good luck with the second trimester -- hopefully it will be easier :)

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  14. You've been doing an amazing job all these years. Take the time you need we all will be waiting here when you are ready. Congratulations on your little one hopefully it will get easier. I know later in my pregnancy things seemed to settle down. Hugs

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  15. I'm so happy to see Wild disliked by someone else!

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  16. You definitely deserve a bit of a break!! I would love a few weeks of freebies, but only post links if you are up for it!

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  17. I haven't read any of these, but I have just started The Love That Split the World. This is the second "not great" review I've seen since I started reading it. :/

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  18. Freebies are fine, but it'll also be fine to take a hiatus. Whatever works for you. =) I hope you feel better and get some rest.

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  19. You take care of yourself first!
    Two weeks of freebies is great, more if needed!
    Cora x
    http://www.teapartyprincess.co.uk/

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  20. I'm glad you are choosing to care for yourself, I know how hard that can be. If you have time having some linkies up would be great but don't let that get in the way of your much needed 'pause'.

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  21. Best wishes with the pregnancy--my first trimesters were rough but then the rest of the time was okay. Take the time you need!

    I think the cover of My Brilliant Friend is awful--actually I almost didn't read it because of the cover.

    I liked Wild more than expected because I knew Cheryl made some stupid choices and I thought that would bother me more than it did.

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  22. I'm sorry to hear that things haven't been too good, and I hope that they improve for you soon! Thank you for hosting! And you deserve the break! <3

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  23. I am so sorry about your pregnancy problems! I can't personally relate, but I can just imagine what you are going through!

    Thank you so much for the heads-up about the book meme! We all understand, and can't wait for when you come back! <3

    Here is my TTT link: https://mariazuppardi.wordpress.com/2017/02/21/top-ten-tuesday-books-i-liked-moreless-than-i-thought-i-would/

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  24. Take all the time you need love! I totally know what you're going through and just a heads up some of the 3rd trimester isn't that great either! I'm currently in it!

    I personally will be doing freebies until schedule is up. So if you need more weeks of freebies that's totally fine on my end!

    Life happens and hope all is well with you!

    love you!

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  25. Oh no, take care of yourself. Get some rest. Take extra naps. We'll certainly survive a few weeks. <3

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  26. You absolutely deserve a break! I'll be keeping you and the baby in my prayers.

    Just to clarify - Feb. 28th and March 7 will be available as freebie topics, yes?

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  27. Good post, your article is really nice, love it!

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  28. No worries, take the time you need. I hope you'll feel better soon. :-)

    Regardless of whether you put up freebie-linkies or not, I think I'll do a couple of freebie-post in regards of TTT.

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  29. Sorry you've had a rough pregnancy. Everyone understands that sometimes life gets in the way!

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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  30. Congratulations on your pregnancy! When are you due? I'm due in May and have been struggling trying to balance everything too. Sorry your first trimester has been so bad, hope you're feeling a bit better now. I found the second trimester a lot easier. Fingers crossed you will too.

    Take all the time you need, we all understand and thank you for running it for so long! Go, relax and re-group.

    All the best
    Rachel @ paein-and-ms4tune

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  31. No worries, take the time you need. I hope you'll feel better soon.

    Regardless of whether you put up freebie-linkies or not, I think I'll do a couple of freebie-posts in regards of TTT. Here is a link to one https://sanneinbookland.wordpress.com/2017/02/28/top-10-tuesday-3/

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