Mark this day down in history! It's a Top 10 Tuesday list where we are effectively forbidden from featuring Harry Potter, and Lexie is prevented from mentioning Maggie Stiefvater. That's as close as we get to scandal most days. And the withdrawal pains have already started.

This week also marks the first time we are linking up with The Broke And The Bookish's official Top 10 Tuesday prompt rather than playing at hipsterdom and choosing our own bizarre Top 10 topics. (Progress? No? We can't tell. We do so love our particular brand of randomness.)

So this week we are featuring the foremost ten books that we really love but hardly ever mention or discuss on the blog. We also offer these books/series a formal apology, a hug, and conciliatory Nutella. We promise we'll do better, books. (Just not at the expense of HP mentions, 'sallwe'resayin'.)



1. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Picked by: Natalie

I adore this book series. I liked it more than I anticipated, and I feel like it's not brought up enough. Not just here, but anywhere online. It's one of those well-loved book series that are enjoyed by many then just shelved, forgotten about. I didn't read this one, I listened as an audiobook purely just for when I was at work, and I ended up listening to it at home and going out and about. It gave me a bit of a book hangover, so I definitely think Clara's story is worth reading.
If you're a fan of young adult, and you might be interested in something magical and quite exciting, a book involving angels, I'd recommend this one.



2. Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Picked by: Lexie

Cruel Beauty is a master class in the strange and the divisive. In general, readers come to expect certain things from fairytale retellings - like a modicum of simplicity or a straightforward narrative. Cruel Beauty (a Beauty and the Beast retelling, to whom it may concern) took those expectations, tossed them out the window and cackled as hordes of readers went ????? all throughout the book. The love interest is possibly a murderous, slick and wonderfully amoral anti-hero. The heroine... was raised to be a murderous, slick and wonderfully (a?)moral anti-heroine. The plot is all kinds of convoluted and bizarre. And I loved every minute of it. (I don't, however, frequently broadcast this, because recommending this book is hard, okay? IT'S ABSOLUTELY BONKERS AND INSANE. YOU'LL... LOVE IT. I PROMISE. UM. YEAH. POSSIBLY. IF YOU'RE BONKERS, TOO.)



3. Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Picked by: Natalie

I know this is quite a well-know popular book, but whenever I bring up this series, I always mention just Anna and the French Kiss. I feel like I want to defend Lola a bit more, because I think it's just as good as Anna. It's the book in the series with the least amount of love and yet, it has such a wonderfully quirky protagonist in a lovable family, with a very adorable love interest neighbour, and a great story to it. I listened to the audiobook of it for the second time, and I forgot how much I loved it. I think a re-read soon is in order of the whole series, for sure!


4. The Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima

Picked by: Lexie

The only reason The Seven Realms series doesn't get a mention on this blog weekly is that it's a recent favorite. And I've yet to devour the last two books. And I don't have enough copies to throw at people. YET. BWAHAHA. The reason The Seven Realms series doesn't get weekly mentions elsewhere, however... is entirely beyond me. Because it is exactly seven kinds of wonderful and epic, its protagonists are a sarcastic, opinionated princess and an even sassier, opinionated thief, and wizards and shamans rule the world, and basically everyone is at least half fantasy-Native-American, and absolutely everyone is adorable.


5. Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A Tucker

Picked by: Natalie

I decided to read K.A's book after meeting her at a book signing in Toronto, and I'm glad I did. Ten Tiny Breaths surprised me in how enjoyable it ended up being. And after recommending it to others, it's become quite a popular book among my friends online. With its pretty cover and page-turning events, I can't recommend this one enough to people who enjoy NA. I'm not sure why I've not read book two though. That needs to happen.

This story revolves around Kacey and her sister Livie, who escape to the sea after her pervert uncle gets too touchy-feely with Livie, and aspire for a better life. Although it sounds like it could be quite emotional, it also has its funny moments. 



6. The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett

Picked by: Lexie

Say it. I deserve it. That I don't mention Terry Pratchett constantly probably constitutes some sort of a crime. (Or twenty.) As far as mentions go, the sprawling Discworld series (41 books total) has had not nearly enough. But it should be said that when Terry Pratchett died last year, I wrote a eulogy here on the blog, then retreated to my blanket fort for a week, where I proceeded to drown in tears. We book dragons are immune to most maladies, but character and author deaths are not one of them. And that wound is still too fresh a year later. But if ever there was an author who favored hysterical humor to sadness, it was Terry Pratchett, and if ever there was a book series which married hilarity and fantasy, it's the Discworld series. (Wyrd Sisters will forever be one of my favorite books. I firmly believe that Granny Weatherwax is my patronus. Or possibly Death.)



7. Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway

Picked by: Natalie

I received this book in a book box subscription, unsure as to what this book was even about. I kind of shelved it with no interest, and then just... forgot about it. Until recently! A little after Emmy & Oliver was published, people started reading it and giving it high ratings on Goodreads, so I gave it a chance. It was such a wonderful book! I absolutely loved it. It's not as popular as it should be, and it's not mentioned enough on this blog. It's a story about love, loss, family and the importance of friendship. Do read this book, give it a chance!






Picked by: Lexie

Last year, E. Lockhart has earned herself all kinds of hype over We Were Liars, a tale of a dysfunctional family and two lost summers on a private island. A few years prior, she received a Prinz Honor award for The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. The former is still frequently discussed. The latter hardly ever is. (You know who else is affected by this trend? Maggie Stiefvater. #justiceforTheScorpioRaces) The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks follows a girl at a private prep school who decides to play by the boys' rules - and delivers shenanigans, lawbreaking, hilarity, a social commentary and about one thousand impactful messages about gender inequality. (Also, it's a little bit The Raven Cycle in a contemporary setting, and I'm not at all biased about this.)



9. Heist Society by Ally Carter

Picked by: Natalie

These books are absolutely adorkable! I can't seem to find anything about this series that isn't enjoyable. It's a constant roller coaster of events, excitement with hints of mystery, which is perfect for young adults who want something a bit more on the fun side. The series follows Kat and her theft-adjacent shenanigans. But Kat being only a teenage girl, other things tend to get in her way, too. The people in her life are hilarious and endearing, with a few baddies thrown in, and the badassery of Kat and her friend Hale will entertain you and steal your heart, as well as paintings and jewels. I wish I did mention this series more, and I'm not sure why I don't. It's a hard book series to bring up, especially with the Top 10's we pick every week.

10. Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

Picked by: Lexie

Okay, so, I featured this book three weeks ago, in our Top 10 YA Mental Health Awareness list. But before that, I hardly ever got a chance to wax rhapsodic about how very, very much I loved it - so this totally counts. (And I'm not just saying this because the protagonist is named Alexandra, nicknamed Lexie-sometimes-Luthor.) Apart from being my namesake, Lexie is a daughter, a sister, a friend, and a paranoid schizophrenic, a photographer, a history buff (WWII at any rate) and a wonderfully relatable protagonist. So when she switches school and meets another outcast who the whole class seems to fear, Lexie's reality blends with Lexie's delusions, and... what, even, is real in this mess? (That we are all people first. That's what's real. And that is why Made You Up needs to become more of a staple around these parts.)




We are ashamed to admit that more than ten books could have been picked out for this topic. Our future HP references need to be interspersed with our other 5-star choices. We know. We'll do better. Possibly. Unless HP references need to be sacrificed.

Talk to us, lovelies! What books/series have you loved, but rarely mention? (Recommendations! YAAAS!) Are there any on our list that you have read or mean to check out? Leave us a comment below, or find us on social media: