Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!
This Week’s Theme: Books I Picked Up on a Whim
I don’t really pick up many books on a whim. There’s been a lot of books where I’ve noticed the cover or seen something on Tumblr, but I always read the blurb or sometimes I’ll even have a quick scroll through the reviews on Goodreads before I decide to pick it up. Reviews don’t really influence my decision to read a book, but I just like to see what people think about it.
A lot of these are “hyped” books, but considering I have never been involved in the book community (even when I was reading) I actually had no idea most of them even existed when I decided to pick them up! There’s also more than 10 books here because
Covers = Goodreads
The Cover Caught my Attention
Shift by Em Bailey – I was at Target and I saw this. I was immediately drawn in by the cover and the blurb hooked me. I had never heard of this book before but oh man am I glad I picked it up because it’s one of my favourite books ever. It’s an Australian YA that is a genre bending psychological thriller. It had the most insane plot twist and I’m still not over it.
Poison Heart by S.B. Hayes – Similar situation to above except I was at Dymocks. I saw the cover (which is gorgeous and turned out to be quite misleading) and I read the blurb and realised it was a thriller about a girl being stalked by this other girl who forces her way into her life, so of course I picked it up. Unfortunately, this wasn’t as successful. I only rated this 3 stars. It was annoyingly predictable.
Beautiful Malice by Rebecca James – Again, I was at Target and saw this cover. I was in love with it already and then I read the blurb and was ready to marry it. This is another one of all my time favourite books and Rebecca James became an auto-buy author for me. This is another Australian YA Thriller that deals with toxic friendships and obsession and ugh, it’s so heartbreakingly beautiful.
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas – Unlike most people I was not familiar with Sarah J. Maas at all. I had no idea that Throne of Glass was even a thing. I saw this at Target (are you sensing a trend yet?) and the cover was stunning. Despite being a high fantasy, which isn’t usually my thing, I picked it up anyway. I couldn’t resist the cover and reading that Feyre was a huntress interested me. I finally finished this today. And oh boy. I’m going to save most of my thoughts for my upcoming review.
Six by Karen Tayleur – How did a cover with nothing but the number 6 catch your eye, Lauren, I hear you ask? Well, let me tell you! For as long as I have been able to count, 6 has been my favourite number. Why? Who the hell knows, but when I see a book in the YA section with a giant 6 and blood splatters you bet I’m going to pick it up. The blurb was super vague which I love. This was another success story because it turned out to be another all time favourite. It’s an Australia YA multi-pov thriller (are you realising I have a type?) that’s about 6 friends who were in a car accident. There are endless twists.
I Saw an Edit on Tumblr
The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken – I remember seeing an edit on Tumblr with some really awesome quote from the book underneath it. I can’t even remember what the quote was now, but I knew I needed to find out more about the book. I read it almost straight away and I fell in love. This is one of my favourite series ever.
Harley Quinn (The New 52 run) by Amanda Conner – This was around the time that the first Suicide Squad photos were released. I didn’t even know anything about it, but I saw the photos of Margot Robbie and I was legit heart-eyeing like mad. What a babe! I had never read a DC comic and hadn’t planned to, but I NEEDED to know more about Harley Quinn. I started with Volume 1 of The New 52 series and now she is one of my favourite characters to ever exist. I love her so, so, so much.
Divergent by Veronica Roth – This was the same as The Darkest Minds. I saw edits on Tumblr and they looked interesting. I checked the book out on Goodreads and knew I really wanted to read it. I finished both this and Insurgent in like 2 or 3 days. I was so hooked. I then had to anxiously wait for Alligent and yeah, haha. Whilst I didn’t hate it as much as a lot of people did I think I spent a week crying.
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater – I don’t even know what happened, but all of a sudden this book was ALL over Tumblr. I saw so many stunning and aesthetically pleasing edits I was so curious. I read the summary on Goodreads and the moment I saw the thing about Blue being told that she’d kill her true love by kissing them I immediately backtracked. I kept seeing the edits though so eventually I caved and oh man am I glad I did. I thought this was going to be some tacky romance, but it was one of the most intriguing and magical books ever and you all know how much I ADORE this entire series. This book is all about friendship and it’s wonderful.
Some Other Reason that Can’t be Summarised in a Heading
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman – I’ve talked about this book a lot so I’ll try to keep this short, but this was one of the first classics I read (not including Alice in Wonderland). I wanted to try and read out of my comfort zone so I did a lot of Googling about short classics and this one came up. The list I was reading said it was a psychological thriller about a women descending into madness. That was all I needed to decide to read this. It turns out that this book was SO MUCH MORE than a thriller/horror. It is so important and it changed my life.
Insanity (Mad in Wonderland) by Cameron Jace – I don’t even know how I found this book. I think I was going through an Alice in Wonderland phase and I was searching for books based on it. I can’t even remember much about this book, but I do know that I really loved it. It was like Alice in Wonderland set in an asylum. It was so crazy and confusing and interesting. I never finished the series though and now there’s like six books out. I don’t know when or if I’ll get around to finish it. I kinda don’t want to ruin this book in case the others aren’t as good.
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart – I picked this book up because the blurb was really intriguing. I had bought a bunch of books that day and was reading the first few chapters to see what I wanted to read next. I got to We Were Liars and the next thing I knew I was crying and it was 5am and I had read the entire book. I’m so, so glad I went into this book completely blind. It made the experience so much more wonderful. I know this book is hit or miss, but I found it to be beautiful.
Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling – Yep. I picked up Harry Potter on a whim. 11 year old Lauren had no idea what she was getting herself into. I saw it was on the new book display at my school library and I’d read nearly everything else that was there so I decided to try this because I thought magic was cool. I don’t think I even need to say how much this series influenced me and how much it means to me. I feel so fortunate that I got to experience it as pre-teen. Good job 11 year old Lauren, you did well.
Poison Heart looks like paranormal romance or something haha.
I think you spend too much time at Target. 😂 And you also spend a lot of time crying. 😂😂😂
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HAHA, yeah it kind of does. I have a thing for woods so if they’re on a book cover I’ll always pick it up and read the blurb. Target is the only store in my town so I kind of don’t have a choice 😂 LMAO!! Crying is all I know.
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Haha I tend to stay away from books that look like that – I don’t really know why. 😅
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I picked up we were liars without knowing anything about it as well. I also ended up crying my eyes out late at night after finishing it in one sitting. 😅
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Haha, oh my god!! It was so addicting, right? I loved the way it was written, it was so poetic. I couldn’t put it down.
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So true. It was a fast but lovely read. That plot twist though!
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Riiight!! I kind of figured it out, but it didn’t feel like I had. It still had such an impact on me.
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I also thought of it in the middle of the book but it was still a huge shock to me.
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Thanks for the yellow wallpaper recommendation. Added to my ports for plunder list.
x The Captain
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Ah, no worries!! Hope you enjoy it 🙂
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Great list! I actually haven’t picked up a book on whim in a while and that’s such a pity because I think I’m missing out on a lot of great books. But seeing everybody’s posts today is really inspiring me to go out and grab some books I’ve never heard of before 🙂
I am currently reading The Raven Boys, but mostly because of the hype 🙂 Glad to see you enjoyed it, I have some really high expectations for this book!
Also so happy you enjoyed ACOTAR! I really loved it and I recently finished the second book and loved it even more. I’ve been spending 2 weeks re-reading because I was not ready to leave that world. But now I started The Raven Boys and I hope it will get me out of that reading funk 🙂
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Ahh, yay! Picking books up on a whim is really fun, but it can also be quite intimidating haha. So far most of my ‘whim’ books have paid off though so that’s a plus 😀
It’s one of my favourite series ever. I hope you enjoy it!!
I had some mixed feelings about ACOTAR. I loved the writing though. SJM is so talented! She made everything feel so vivid. I’m definitely going to be reading ACOMAF at some point. I just need to try and fit it into my TBR, haha. Oh man that’s how I felt when I finished The Raven King! All I wanted to do was re-read it.
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Great list Lauren! “Insantiy” seems like something I should check out, I like Alice in Wonderland but I loooove dark retellings! Have you heard of “Alice” by Christina Henry? That’s a very, very dark retelling of Alice in Wonderland and it’s amazing so just from your description of “Insanity” this one might be something you’d like. Sorry for the recommendation, I love pushing books onto people, haha.
Thank GOODNESS I’m not the only person who hasn’t read Throne of Glass yet, I honestly thought I might be the last one left haha. Also I just read “The Raven Boys” and I’m already starting “The Dream Thieves” but holy crap is this series addictive!!! 🙂
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Dark retellings are the best!! Insanity was really odd, but I definitely enjoyed it. I want to reread it eventually because I can hardly remember anything about it. Ooh yes, that one’s on my TBR! I think I’m going to have to bump it up now hearing you say that. And no worries! I love getting recommendations 😀
Haha, yes! It’s so good hearing that I’m not alone with not having read Throne of Glass 😂 I’ve been meaning to for ages, but I keep putting it off.I’m really worried I’m not going to like it.
Yay! It keeps getting better 😀 The Dream Thieves is my favourite of the series though because Ronan 😍
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Oh good because I love getting book recommendations too, haha. I REALLY hope you enjoy Alice because for me it was super awesome!
I keep putting off Throne of Glass for the same reason, I feel like with something so hyped if I don’t end up liking it I’ll be disappointed beyond belief haha. I’m attempting to read it now though.
Let me have a fangirl moment here for a second: RONAN IS MY FAVORITE and I’m definitely enjoying it right now because I love all this Ronan time! 🙂
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I’m so, so glad you liked We were liars! I agree with you, this one is either a hit or miss, and it was a hit for me as well, I LOVEED IT! The cover of Shift is absolutely gorgeous, definitely intriguing, I like it!
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We Were Liars was so beautiful. I absolutely adore it. I read it a couple of years ago and I still think about it all the time. Shift is so good. It has an open ending though in the way that it never really confirms what genre it is, but I love those types of books so much. It definitely messed with my head!
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Oh yes, it messed with mine as well! I am so sad I can never experience reading that book for the first time ever again. It was such an incredible read, it blew me away. 🙂
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Ahh right!!! To go back and experience it all again for the first time would be amazing.
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The Raven Cycle Tumblr edits got me too. That aesthetic just draws you in!
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Haha, right!! They were so pretty I automatically had to find out more.
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I’ve read a few of these and many more are on my TBR but there were several that I hadn’t heard of and just added to my TBR on Goodreads, so thanks haha
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Haha, no worries 😀 I’m glad I could help find some new books for you! I hope you enjoy them 😊
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I’m the same I’ve picked up a lot of books on a whim mainly because of the cover, some of them are so beautiful I just can’t resist! And oh some of these are my all-time favourite series as well; I loved The Darkest Minds, The Raven Boys and ACOTAR and I’m so glad you did as well.
Great picks for this week Lauren! 😀
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Thanks, Beth! And right, those darn covers always getting the best of us 😂 Most of them have paid off though, so that’s a plus!!
I love TDM and TRC so, so much 😍 I had a few mixed feelings about ACOTAR, but SJM’s writing is so captivating.
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They always get the best of me, I see a pretty cover and add it to my basket 😀
They’re both brilliant series, I thought the same with ACOTAR, I’m reading ACOMAF at the moment, haven’t got far but it’s good so far… 🙂
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I loved We Were Liars! I think it is awesome you picked up HP on a whim!!
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Yay! It was such a good book. And haha, right! It was back in 2001 and I literally knew nothing about it except that it was a new addition to my school library. I’m so glad I got to experience it before the super mad hype hit.
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I love ACOTAR and The Yellow Wallpaper! And of course you know I’m a fan of The Raven Boys as well. And Harry Potter of course! Fantastic list!!
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I had some mixed feelings about ACOTAR, but SJM’s writing was really vivid. Yay for The Yellow Wallpaper! And haha yes, those books. UGH. Thank you ♥
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Shift and The Yellow Wallpaper sound really interesting!! I’m going to have to add that to my list 🙂 I also keep meaning to pick up Sarah J Maas, I have heard so many good things about it
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Yay! I hope you enjoy them 🙂 The Yellow Wallpaper is free on Kindle or pretty much anywhere online with a quick Google search, haha. I haven’t read her Throne of Glass series yet, but her writing in ACOTAR was really good. I did have some mixed feelings, but I am going to read the next book in the series.
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So agree with you on The Yellow Wallpaper! Your description is spot-on. Also, Target! How cool, they don’t really sell books over here (or is it a different Target? hm…)
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Yay, thank you! It’s such an amazing and important story. I’m not sure if they’re the same company, but the Target here sells clothes, toys, entertainment things ect. The book section isn’t huge, but it’s the only place I have in my town so I’m always scouring it to see if they have anything new haha.
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The Raven Boys is SO popular, so I really hate the fact that I didn’t enjoy the first book. I actually feel like rereading it just b/c I wanna be a fan of this series so bad. Great list!!
– LOLA
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The rest of the series definitely gets better, in my opinion 😊 I definitely understand that it’s not a book for everyone, but if you decide to give it another chance I hope you have a more positive experience! Thanks!
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Hahahaha I loved the Saw An Edit On Tumblr section!😂 To be honest I find a lot of books out by people fangirling via Twitter!
I’ve heard of Shift but thriller-ish books are not books I normally read!
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Haha! I just can’t resist the aesthetics 😅 Twitter is definitely helping me find more books now that I’ve been using Tumblr less.
Aw, that’s cool!! Just the fact that you’ve heard of it makes me happy haha.
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I am totally the worst at cover buys! Some books are just too pretty to pass up.
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Riiight!! I normally check the blurb first, but like if I’m trying to not buy books the cover is what gets me haha! I can’t resist them!
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Omg, I see edits and posts on Tumblr about The Raven Cycle ALL the time! That’s one of the reasons I keep telling myself I have to pick it up. I still haven’t yet but… I will. Soon. Hopefully!
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It’s such a wonderful series, I can’t recommend it enough 😊 I hope you enjoy it whenever you decide to read it!
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