Monday, April 9, 2012

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Books that were Totally Deceiving

Today it's time for Top Ten Tuesday with  The Broke and the Bookish! It's a really fun theme this week, and I can't wait to see what everyone else put!

Top 10 Books that Totally Deceived Me

Books can be deceiving for a lot of reasons. Some of these deceived me in a good way. Others made me put on my grumpy-pants.

What genre did you say this was?

Sometimes we mishear things. Maybe it was from a friend, or a stray review, or maybe it was even from the marketing department. However it happens, we get in our heads that the book is going to be about "A" when it's really about "3.14159." Sometimes I was pleasantly surprised, other times not as much. For me, these were some of those books:


1. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi -- I have no clue how the rumor started circling the interwebs that this was a dystopia. Long story short? It's not. It's a paranormal romance.

2. Incarnate by Jodi Meadows -- I went into this thinking, hmm, reincarnated souls, dragons, quests sounds like a fantasy.  But it's more of a character-journey with a paranormal romance twist.

3. Forgotten by Cat Patrick -- This one was a little closer to what I'd thought going in, but for some reason I anticipated it being more sci-fi, like Julie Cross' Tempest. A lot of it read, again, more like a paranormal romance.


But it's going to be too [ ____ ] for me ...

This is sort of cheating because these didn't actually try to deceive me, I just went in thinking I'd like them way less than I did. They got me, in a good way. I went in a skeptic and came out a lover.

4. Sabriel by Garth Nix --  [Scary] ... Like I've mentioned, I'm a total zombie scaredy-cat. I cant. Do. Zombies. Unless apparently, they're in Garth Nix's books, which I LOVE TO DEATH. Nuff said.

5. Going Postal by Terry Prachett -- [British] ... I've seen the TV shows, I've tried, and I just don't get it. I don't get British humor. Unless it comes from Terry Prachett, who has the claim to fame of making me laugh so hard while reading  that I fell off my elliptical machine at the gym.

6. Bumped by Megan McCafferty -- [Preachy] ... I like books with something to say, but I don't like it forced down my throat. I was worried this one would read that way, but Ms. McCafferty astounded me with her awesomeness on this one. My full review here.

7. Soulless by Gail Carriger -- [Stuffy] ... I loved the premise, but was skeptical about the victorian-ness. I was wrong. This book was the best thing since buttered crumpets.


Uh-oh ... it's going to be just like that other book ...

With the Hunger Games and Twilight making it so big, you're always worried there are going to be a lot of copy-cats out there. These distinguished themselves quite well I thought:

8. Divergent by Veronica Roth -- In many ways, I found this book even more compelling than THG. Not as gimmicky with the fear-factor, and I loved the characters, the premise, the world-building, everything was perfect!

9. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater -- I've always loved wolves, so I suppose it should have been a no brainer that I'd like this one.

10. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand -- I thought I'd had waaay too much paranormal romance for a lifetime, and that they were mostly all the same, but I decided to read just one more. I'm so glad I did! Loved this book!

21 comments:

  1. I agree with you about Bumped. I was worried it was going to be all message, no story, but I was pleasantly surprised. Can't wait for Thumped!

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  2. I bet they still talk about you at the gym :)

    http://ajarndtbooks.blogspot.com/

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  3. I agree with Divergent! It's really often mentioned in the same breath as THG, and I put off reading it for so long because of it!

    Great list!

    Tara @ Hey, Tara

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  4. I was surprised by how much I loved Shiver. The writing sucked me right in on that one!

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  5. I loved Divergent too- it seemed to be marketed as another Hunger Games-esque novel but it was amazing in its own right and had a really good world going on! I just got SHiver so I'm glad you liked it...hopefully I will too!

    My TTT: http://www.pocketfulofbooks.com/2012/04/top-ten-tuesday-books-that-were-totally.html

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  6. I completely agree with you about Shatter Me. It wasn't at all what I expected. In the end, I liked it, but I didn't love it and the ending evoked an audible, "REALLY?!" from me. :) And I'm all about a good relationship in my books, but that one was a little too hot-and-heavy at times for me!

    As for Divergent, I'm SO in love with that book. I put off reading it for a while because of it being compared to HG and I didn't think anything could live up to Collins' writing. Now, Divergent is one of my favorite books and I've convinced so many people to read it. I love the themes and characters of that book. Veronica Roth is a genius!

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  7. I love how you split up your list! I also share your growing disdain for paranormal romance, and surprising enjoyment of books like Unearthly! I was expecting another throwaway, but I ended up loving it so much. I liked Shiver more than I thought I would as well.

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  8. You have a really great list here, and many of them had me nodding my head vigorously in agreement. The first three in particular :D

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  9. I've had Bumped on my TBR pile for a while but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I'm glad to hear it surpassed your expectations.

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  10. I find I'm deceived by most books that are compared to another. They're either a complete let down or nothing alike. I was so happy that Unearthly and Shiver weren't like other paranormal romances. They're so good!

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  11. I love the format of your list, and I'm nodding in agreement with many of the titles. Unearthly and Bumped are two that could get overlooked based on their premise/cover. You're right, a lot of people are put off by Divergent due to the HG comparisons and that so surprises me. I'll have to look for Sabriel!

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  12. Like some of the other comments I really like your list lay out! And I really like your list as well. I have Sabriel sitting on a bookshelf collecting dust and I have no idea why. It gets such rave reviews. Thank you for reminding me to get off my butt and pick that book up! And now I want to read Terry Pratchett as well, tbr-ing Going Postal as we speak. And I loved the Jessica Darling series, but haven't had the inclination to try Bumped. Think I will now, Megan McCafferty is such a great writer. Divergent, Shiver, Soulless- yep, total agreement. I think your Top Ten takes the prize of all I have read today:)

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  13. I completely agree with you on Divergent! And whoa- you live in Sydney!! That must be so cool!!

    Love your blog! Newest Follower!!

    -Meredith

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  14. Shatter Me isn't dystopian? Damn. I'm kinda upset about that...

    I'm glad you liked Bumped. I’m always up for reading about sociopolitical issues in a creative way but I was completely uninterested in the book until about 50% of the way through it. I just could not connect to the characters or the plot. I loved Zen though!

    I'm curious to know what you thought of the Shiver series. IMO, Shiver should have been a standalone book...

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  15. Thanks for stopping by all!!

    @ Pocket & Smash -- I liked Shiver, but didn't fall in love with it. I haven't read the others in the series, but maybe will one day get around to it. Mostly I was pleasantly surprised by its lack of Twilightness =)

    @ Heidi, Hannah & Reading -- Yay for Unearthly! I was truly surprised by how much i got sucked into that book after my paranormal romance burn-out!

    @ Heather -- Yes Sabriel! Go get it! Go get it now! Also, Terry Prachett is amazing. Very quirky writing style but I just love it!

    @ Smash -- Shatter Me was probably my biggest disappointment of the year =/ That said I know there were a lot of people who loved it! Maybe if you don't go into it thinking dystopia it will read better?

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  16. Thanks for dropping by my blog! Yeah, you're right, these days it seems like a lot of YA books are paranormal romances masquerading as some other genre. I agree with you on Unearthly, too – it really was an entertaining read with a sweet romance!

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  17. Hi, thank you for commenting and following my blog! :)

    Sabriel is AMAZING! Less scary than Lirael, though -- I had nightmares for days after reading that one. I can't wait until Clariel comes out, but with the way things are going it likely won't be out until 2020... heh.

    Good point on the paranormal romance. I wonder why the publishers market them as adventure/romance when they should just label them as paranormal romance. They're so popular anyway that I just can't see the logic behind it.

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  18. I enjoyed Shatter Me, but it was not like what I thought before reading. Really loved Divergent! I have Unearthly and Shiver on my TBR shelf...I need to get going on those. ;)

    Thanks for visiting and following back.

    Jennifer @ Feminist Fairy Tale Reviews

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  19. Thank you for the forewarning about Shatter Me-- I'd heard it was dystopia, too. I will probably still read it since it sounds interesting, but at least I will have a different set of expectations this time!

    And I'm glad I'm not the only one who laughs on the elliptical while reading!

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  20. Yeah, Shatter Me does have a bit of deception going around. It has some dystopic elements, but there is a lot more paranormal to it. And the cover is really odd to me, in relation to the story.

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  21. Yes, Shatter Me was just a total surprise to me, which is weird considering I thought I'd read a fair amount about it going in.
    And the cover totally made me think there was going to be some sort of model-runway component at some point, ha!

    Anyway, I think what I've learned this year is I get grumpy fast if something is marketed as a different genre and turns out to be mostly (paranormal) romance. Burn out I guess!

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