Books I Enjoyed with Under 2000 Ratings | Top 10 Tuesday [#37]

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Hey guys!

Welcome back to another Top 10 Tuesday weekly fun on my blog! Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. If you want to join in the fun, hop on over to their blog to see what it’s all about!

This week’s topic is Top 10 Books I Enjoyed with Under 2000 Ratings.

I think this week’s Top 10 is a very important topic. While reading popular books is always fun and enjoyable, there are also really awesome books that deserve to be read that may not be as popular. So I am here today to show you guys some pretty awesome books you might not have given a try! So expand your horizons and go pick up some of these awesome books!


10. The Outliers by Kimberly McCreight (1312 Ratings)

The OutliersIt all starts with a text: Please, Wylie, I need your help.

Wylie hasn’t heard from Cassie in over a week, not since their last fight. But that doesn’t matter. Cassie’s in trouble, so Wylie decides to do what she has done so many times before: save her best friend from herself.

This time it’s different, though. Instead of telling Wylie where she is, Cassie sends cryptic clues. And instead of having Wylie come by herself, Jasper shows up saying Cassie sent him to help. Trusting the guy who sent Cassie off the rails doesn’t feel right, but Wylie has no choice: she has to ignore her gut instinct and go with him.

But figuring out where Cassie is goes from difficult to dangerous, fast. As Wylie and Jasper head farther and farther north into the dense woods of Maine, Wylie struggles to control her growing sense that something is really wrong. What isn’t Cassie telling them? And could finding her be only the beginning?

9. Lark Rising by Sandra Waugh (1392 Ratings)

Lark RisingLark has foreseen two things—she will fall for a young man with sage green eyes,and he will kill her.

Sixteen-year-old Lark Carew is happiest close to home, tending her garden and gathering herbs for medicines. But when her Sight warns her that monsters called Troths will soon invade her village, Lark is summoned on a journey to seek help from the legendary Riders of Tarnec. Little does she suspect that one of the Riders, Gharain, is the very man who has haunted her visions. Or that the people of Tarnec have called her there for another reason: Lark is the Guardian of Life, the first of four Guardians who must awaken their powers to recover four stolen amulets. Together, the amulets—Life, Death, Dark, and Light—keep the world in Balance. To take back the Life amulet, Lark will have to discover her true inner strength and give in to a love that she swears will be her downfall.

8. Wayward Vol. 1: String Theory by Jim Zub (1442 Ratings)

Wayward Vol. 1Rori Lane is trying to start a new life when she reunites with her mother in Japan, but ancient creatures lurking in the shadows of Tokyo sense something hidden deep within her, threatening everything she holds dear. Can Rori unlock the secrets of her power before it’s too late? Jim Zub (Samurai Jack, Skullkickers), Steve Cummings (Legends of the Dark Knight, Deadshot), and John Rauch (Invincible) team-up to create an all-new Image supernatural spectacle that combines the camaraderie and emotion of Buffy with the action and mystery of Hellboy. This volume collects the first five issues of the acclaimed comic series, Wayward.

7. Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes (1294 Ratings)

Queen of HeartsAs Princess of Wonderland Palace and the future Queen of Hearts, Dinah’s days are an endless monotony of tea, tarts, and a stream of vicious humiliations at the hands of her father, the King of Hearts. The only highlight of her days is visiting Wardley, her childhood best friend, the future Knave of Hearts — and the love of her life.

When an enchanting stranger arrives at the Palace, Dinah watches as everything she’s ever wanted threatens to crumble. As her coronation date approaches, a series of suspicious and bloody events suggests that something sinister stirs in the whimsical halls of Wonderland. It’s up to Dinah to unravel the mysteries that lurk both inside and under the Palace before she loses her own head to a clever and faceless foe.

Part epic fantasy, part twisted fairy tale, this dazzling saga will have readers shivering as Dinahs furious nature sweeps Wonderland up in the maelstrom of her wrath.

6. The Impostor Queen by Sarah Fine (1321 Ratings)

The Impostor QueenSixteen-year-old Elli was only a child when the Elders of Kupari chose her to succeed the Valtia, the queen who wields infinitely powerful ice and fire magic in service of her people. The only life Elli has known has been in the temple, surrounded by luxury, tutored by magic-wielding priests, preparing for the day when the queen perishes—and the ice and fire find a new home in Elli, who is prophesied to be the most powerful Valtia to ever rule.

But when the queen dies defending the kingdom from invading warriors, the magic doesn’t enter Elli. It’s nowhere to be found.

Disgraced, Elli flees to the outlands, home of banished criminals—some who would love to see the temple burn with all its priests inside. As she finds her footing in this new world, Elli uncovers devastating new information about the Kupari magic, those who wield it, and the prophecy that foretold her destiny. Torn between her love for her people and her growing loyalty to the banished, Elli struggles to understand the true role she was meant to play. But as war looms, she must choose the right side before the kingdom and its magic are completely destroyed.

5. The Great American Whatever by Tim Federle (1215 Ratings)

The Great American WhateverQuinn Roberts is a sixteen-year-old smart aleck and Hollywood hopeful whose only worry used to be writing convincing dialogue for the movies he made with his sister Annabeth. Of course, that was all before—before Quinn stopped going to school, before his mom started sleeping on the sofa…and before Annabeth was killed in a car accident.

Enter Geoff, Quinn’s best friend who insists it’s time that Quinn came out—at least from hibernation. One haircut later, Geoff drags Quinn to his first college party, where instead of nursing his pain, he meets a guy—a hot one—and falls hard. What follows is an upside-down week in which Quinn begins imagining his future as a screenplay that might actually have a happily-ever-after ending—if, that is, he can finally step back into the starring role of his own life story.

4. The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley by Shaun David Hutchinson (1989 Ratings)

The Five Stages of Andrew BrawleyAndrew Brawley was supposed to die that night. His parents did, and so did his sister, but he survived.

Now he lives in the hospital. He serves food in the cafeteria, he hangs out with the nurses, and he sleeps in a forgotten supply closet. Drew blends in to near invisibility, hiding from his past, his guilt, and those who are trying to find him.

Then one night Rusty is wheeled into the ER, burned on half his body by hateful classmates. His agony calls out to Drew like a beacon, pulling them both together through all their pain and grief. In Rusty, Drew sees hope, happiness, and a future for both of them. A future outside the hospital, and away from their pasts.

But Drew knows that life is never that simple. Death roams the hospital, searching for Drew, and now Rusty. Drew lost his family, but he refuses to lose Rusty, too, so he’s determined to make things right. He’s determined to bargain, and to settle his debts once and for all.

But Death is not easily placated, and Drew’s life will have to get worse before there is any chance for things to get better.

3. Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate (739 Ratings)

Seven Ways We LieSeven students. Seven (deadly) sins. One secret.

Paloma High School is ordinary by anyone’s standards. It’s got the same cliques, the same prejudices, the same suspect cafeteria food. And like every high school, every student has something to hide—from Kat, the thespian who conceals her trust issues onstage, to Valentine, the neurotic genius who’s planted the seed of a school scandal.

When that scandal bubbles over, and rumors of a teacher-student affair surface, everyone starts hunting for someone to blame. For the seven unlikely allies at the heart of it all, the collision of their seven ordinary-seeming lives results in extraordinary change.

2. The Secret Fire by C.J. Daugherty & Carina Rozenfeld (522 Ratings)

The Secret FireFrench teen Sacha Winters can’t die. He can throw himself off a roof, be stabbed, even shot, and he will always survive. Until the day when history and ancient enmities dictate that he must die. Worse still, his death will trigger something awful. Something deadly. And that day is closing in.

Taylor Montclair is a normal English girl, hanging out with her friends and studying for exams, until she starts shorting out the lights with her brain. She’s also the only person on earth who can save Sacha.

There’s only one problem: the two of them have never met. They live hundreds of miles apart and powerful forces will stop at nothing to keep them apart.

They have eight weeks to find each other.

Will they survive long enough to save the world?

1. Unrivaled by Alyson Noel (471 Ratings)

UnrivaledEveryone wants to be someone.

Layla Harrison wants to leave her beach-bum days for digs behind a reporter’s desk. Aster Amirpour wants to scream at the next casting director who tells her “we need ethnic but not your kind of ethnic.” Tommy Phillips dreams of buying a twelve-string guitar and using it to shred his way back into his famous absentee dad’s life.

But Madison Brooks took destiny and made it her bitch a long time ago.

She’s Hollywood’s hottest starlet, and the things she did to become the name on everyone’s lips are merely a stain on the pavement, ground beneath her Louboutin heel.

That is, until Layla, Aster, and Tommy find themselves with a VIP invite to the glamorous and gritty world of Los Angeles’s nightlife and lured into a high-stakes competition where Madison Brooks is the target. Just as their hopes begin to gleam like stars through the California smog, Madison Brooks goes missing. . . . And all of their hopes are blacked out in the haze of their lies.


Well there you have it! Top 10 Books I Enjoyed with Under 2000 Ratings. Do you have any recommendations for me to read? I’d love to hear them! Let me know!

Until next time,

Sig New

The Secret Fire by C.J. Daugherty & Carina Rozenfeld | REVIEW

The Secret FireThe Secret Fire by C. J. Daugherty & Carina Rozenfeld
Published by Atom on September 10th, 2015
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Magic, Action & Adventure
Pages: 424
Format: Paperwork

The-Witch-Hunter-Rating


French teen Sacha Winters can’t die. He can throw himself off a roof, be stabbed, even shot, and he will always survive. Until the day when history and ancient enmities dictate that he must die. Worse still, his death will trigger something awful. Something deadly. And that day is closing in.

Taylor Montclair is a normal English girl, hanging out with her friends and studying for exams, until she starts shorting out the lights with her brain. She’s also the only person on earth who can save Sacha.

There’s only one problem: the two of them have never met. They live hundreds of miles apart and powerful forces will stop at nothing to keep them apart.

They have eight weeks to find each other.

Will they survive long enough to save the world?


The-Witch-Hunter-Review

** I received this book from Bookouture via Net Galley for an honest review**

The Secret Fire by C.J. Daugherty & Carina Rozenfeld is the first book in their Secret Fire series. It follow two teens, Taylor from the UK, and Sacha from France. Both of them are brought together mysteriously for an ultimate plan to save mankind from an unforeseeable evil. One can’t die and the other has the powers of an alchemist. How will they save the world? They still haven’t figured it out!


The-Witch-Hunter-Plot-+-WritingWhen Taylor and Sacha are brought together for “online tutoring” neither of them feigns any interest at all. But as time goes on and their personal lives become complicated they find that they are connected somehow and must figure out a way to end a centuries old curse before its too late. With vast family histories and a mysterious curse mixed with a bit of alchemy we get a very exciting story!

I loved the plot of The Secret Fire a lot. It moved at a good pace with bits and pieces of information being given at a time so not to get you confused with info dumping. There was so much going on that every page was thrilling and exciting all at the same time. There were times where I wasn’t sure what to expect next and couldn’t wait to find out. Daugherty and Rozenfeld are amazing story tellers. You can tell they put their creative heads together and came up with a real winner here. The tone of the writing was light and also at times a bit creepy. They blended well together.

The only piece of the story I wasn’t in love with was the lack of side character development. Hopefully in the next book we get a little more insight on characters such as Louisa!


The-Witch-Hunter-CharactersTaylor was a great main protagonist for this story. At times when she felt helpless, she was able to find the strength to pull herself through, which was something I admired most about her. Although I get a bit of a Mary Sue vibe off her, she still made it enjoyable to read her chapters. The amount of power she has inside of her is scary and I can’t wait to see her unleash it on more of those scary dead creatures!

Sacha was also a great main protagonist. I think I might have liked him better than Taylor actually. He is very family oriented and doesn’t want to see harm come there way. So when worst comes to worst he disappears in order to save them. With the curse’s expiration date slowly coming to an end, he never gives up hope. I find that really endearing and something I could probably learn to do myself. I’m interested to see the direction his character takes in the next book!


The-Witch-Hunter-SettingThe setting of The Secret Fire was really cool and interesting. We get to travel all around the England and Paris. We get to see major landmarks through the eyes of our protagonists. The setting also sets the major tones of the story as well. Oxford being some of the oldest buildings in all of the UK is home to the Alchemists, some of the oldest magic users in the universe! It also set up a lot of contrasting characteristics. Such as when Sacha travels to the countryside to visit his aunt Annie to find answers. We get a quiet serene atmosphere that gets darkly tainted when the Bringers arrive to take Sacha away.

I know there is a lot more areas to be explored soon and I can’t wait to take that journey with Taylor and Sacha!


The-Witch-Hunter-In-ConclusionIn conclusion, The Secret Fire by C.J. Daugherty & Carina Rozenfeld was an excellent paranormal fantasy. They deliver such amazing story telling with a great cast of characters to pull it off. I’m definitely looking forward to what happens next and I think you guys should too! So go pick yourselves up a copy when it is released and let me know what you think!

What are your opinions on Taylor and Sacha? Did the Bringers scare you like they scared me? And do you think they will make it in time to save everyone from this crazy evil curse? Let me know below!

Until next time,

Signature


The-Witch-Hunter-About-the-Author

International bestselling author C.J. Daugherty is a former newspaper reporter and crime writer. Her Night School series has been translated into 21 languages, and has been the number 1 best selling young adult novel in Germany, Poland, France, and Israel, topping charts in countries around the world. She writes in her home in the south of England, where she basically lives on coffee.

Author 19Carina Rozenfeld (born February 13, 1972 in Paris) is a French author who writes children’s books in the science-fiction and fantasy genres. In 2004, her first novel Lucille et les dragons sourds was published.

Credits to Wikipedia.