Tuesday 10 January 2017

Top Ten Tuesday: 2016 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn't Get To

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme run by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is Top Ten 2016 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn't Get To (But TOTALLY Plan To).

Do I'm sitting here trying to think of what I wanted to read but didn't get round to, and I'm drawing a blank. I have so many books, and there are so many books I want to read, I can't remember them all without looking at my bookcases or Goodreads. So I had to go and have a look over my bookcases to remind me of what I've not yet read.

No Virgin by Anne Cassidy Girl Detatched by Manuela Salvi


No Virgin by Anne Cassidy & Girl Detatched by Manuela Salvi


I'm putting these two together because they touch on similar subjects. No Virgin is about a girl who is raped, and Girl Detached is about girls being groomed into prostitution. Amy Elizabeth recommends No Virgin, and Charlie Morris highly praised Girl Detached in her review for The F Word, so both are books I'm looking forward to read in terms of how well they deal with their topics... but the serious topics require me to be in the right frame of mind to tackle them, and I haven't been for a while. They will be read at some point, because they both look to be really important books (and as a banned book and a translation, I have even more reason to read Girl Detached), but I do need to wait until I feel able to deal with what I'm reading.

This Savage Song by V.E. Schwab A Tragic Kind of Wonderful by Eric Lindstrom

This Savage Song by V.E. Schwab & A Tragic Kind of Wonderful by Eric Lindstrom


These two are kind of cheats, as I only bought them last week. But to be fair, A Tragic Kind of Wonderful didn't come up until 29th December, and This Savage Song is shelved at work in SFF, so it's not something I see in the Children's Dept to constantly call at me to buy it. But Cait of Paper Fury raves about V.E. Schwab, and This Savage Song in particular, and as it has a YA feel to it, I thought it would be a good place to introduce myself to Schwab's writing.

I still have Eric Lindstrom's debut, Not If I See You First, to read, but when contacted by the author recently to talk to me about the diverse cast of characters in A Tragic Kind of Wonderful (SO MANY) for my Diverse YA & MG 2017 UK Releases list, there was no way I couldn't not get this book. It sounds incredible, and I'm so excited to read it. Soon, hopefully!

The Call by Peadar Ó'Guilín

The Call by Peadar Ó'Guilín


Aah, The Call. Although it was highly praised by my former head of dept, I heard it was horror, and immediately thought, "Nope." The wimp that I am, I do not handle horror well. However, it doesn't actually sound like a horror? More like a fantasy? So initially, I thought, "Ooh," but within seconds was told it was horror, and I decided against it. I suppose those three minutes in that other - place? Dimension? - could be pretty terrifying, and I've no idea what's hiding out there that kills them, so. Potential nightmares ahead. What changed my mind back to wanting to give it a go is hearing that the main character, Nessa, has the odds against her more than others, as she's disabled due to the polio she had when she was younger. I'm all for diverse books, and really want to read more with disabled characters as I've not been doing well in that area, so I'm going to give this a go, and just hope I sleep ok.

When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore


When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore


I don't actually own When the Moon Was Ours, but oh my god, do I need to! I absolutely loved McLemore's debut, The Weight of Feathers, adored the magical realism, and hearing this is another magical realism novel, with a trans POC character, and includes witches? Well... To be honest, I was sold when I heard McLemore was writing it, but the rest just has me more eager for this book. I really need to get my hands on a copy!

The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner

The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner


The Serpent King sounds awesome, and really different! And it's also a diverse novel, I believe? I think it features an LGBTQ character, but  I can't find any evidence of that when googling, so maybe I have the marginalised group wrong. But either way, it sounds amazing, and, again, Cait of Paper Fury completely raved about this book (I'm sure she reviewed it on her blog, but I'm having difficulty finding it, so the link goes to her review on Goodreads). And she has me wanting to pick this book up sooner rather than later!

The Great Hunt by Wendy Higgins

The Great Hunt by Wendy Higgins


The Great Hunt is a retelling of The Singing Bone by Brother's Grimm. A retelling! Of a story we get very few (if any others at all) retellings of! A story I'd not heard of before! So yeah, I need to read this book. I am so excited to! But I've just not yet got to it. And with all the other retellings coming out this year... god, I'm going to be reading so many. Good job I'm hosting the Retellings Reading Challenge 2017 again this year. (*nudge nudge* Subtle plug there.)

A Step Towards Falling by Cammie McGovern

A Step Towards Falling by Cammie McGovern


I loved Cammie McGovern's debut, Amy & Matthew, and it's so awesome to see with her second novel is also diverse. In this book, two teens are sent to do community service at a centre for disabilities when they do nothing when a girl with special needs is attacked. I think this is going to be really hard hitting and emotional. But if it's anything like Amy & Matthew, it'll be awesome.

Nothing Tastes As Good by Claire Hennessy

Nothing Tastes as Good by Claire Hennessy


I have been so excited to read Nothing Tastes as Good since I heard about it, long before it was released. However, as it deals with eating disorders, it's another book I need to be in the right frame of mind for. I find books that deal with eating disorders really bring me down emotionally, and take a while to recover from, so that's why I haven't picked it up yet. But I think it's going to be incredible, so I'm excited to read it once I'm able to tackle it!

So those are my books for this Top Ten Tuesday! What books did you not get to last year? Link me to your TTT posts!

17 comments:

  1. Girl Detached is on my list too, I'd kind of forgotten I had it. Nothing Tastes as Good is really good, so I hope you find the right time to read it.

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    1. That's great to hear! I am looking forward to reading it, I can imagine it's going to be an awesome read. I just need to be in a place where I can emotionally deal with feeling kind of down.

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  2. This Savage Song sounded so good! I hope you get to these!
    Krystianna @ Downright Dystopian

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    1. Thank you! It does sound amazing, doesn't it? I'm really looking forward to giving it a go! :)

      Thank you for stopping by.

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  3. Awww, two of these are BECAUSE OF ME. I'm flailing. :') And yessss read This Savage Song ASAP because VE Schwab is absolutely amazing and will probably break your heart but in the best possible way. <3 And she always effortlessly includes mental illness into her books too which is so encouraging and heartbreaking all at once. :D
    The Serpent King actually doesn't have LGBT rep. It has depression though? IT'S SO GOOD IT ACTUALLY MADE ME NEARLY CRy which is a big thing for my Vulcan soul. XD I didn't review it on my blog yet, but I need to do that because fajdksald I need all the reasons to flail.

    Also the Call is on my TBR but I didn't even know it featured a disabled character?! Now I actually am keen to read it! (I'm not so keen on horror either haha.) And I want to read When The Moon Was Ours and Weight of Feathers too. Gah, so much to do in 2017! I need to get moving! ;D

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    1. Aaah, I quite like getting my heart broken! I will read it as soon as I'm in the mood for fantasy! At the moment I'm in a contemporary kick - I need nice, engaging, happy books, please. But so awesome that Schwab includes mental illness in all her novels, that's just brilliant!

      Aah, maybe it was mental illness then! I knew it was diverse somehow. I end up hearing about so many diverse books, I get confused over which have what. So The Serpent King is depression, got it - thank you for correcting me! Aaah, maybe I just read your Goodreads review, and thought I saw it on your blog. That is very possible. I know you've raved about it on your blog, so perhaps that's where I was getting confused.

      Right? Isn't it strange how a book simply being diverse makes a book sound more interesting? "You're actually representing people in the real world? Well, I want to read you!" Ha. I am a little worried about The Call's scariness, though, because I really am a huge wimp, and it is genuinely very easy for scary things to cause nightmares. I don't enjoy being scared much.

      The Weight of Feathers is amaaaaazing! And When the Moon Was Ours just sounds awesome, I am so excited for it!

      Don't we all need to get moving, Cait. Don't we all. Too many books! I love it!

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  4. The Call sounds interesting and looks like it could go either way. I hope it's good. The serpent King is supposed to be good, I remember seeing a blogger say it was their favorite book of last year but I don't remember who it was.

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    1. Oooh, that's great to hear! I keep hearing good things about The Serpent King. I really do need to read it sooner rather than later. Aaah, I am still worried about The Call! I don't want nightmares! Haha!

      Thanks for stopping by.

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  5. I got the Serpent King from my OwlCrate subscription. I heard good things about it!! Great List :)

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    1. Thank you! Yeah, I've heard great things, too! I'm excited to read it! :)

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  6. Girl Detached and This Savage Song are both on my to read pile too, I forgot to include them when I was creating this list though LOL. So many books still to read!

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    1. Oh my god, visiting other people's lists has shown me how many books I had forgotten to include mine, so you're not on your own here! SO MANY BOOKS!

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  7. No Virgin is very good, and not as heavy as some other books on the topic, I thought.

    The Call isn't really jump-scary, it's body horror, if that helps at all. But it is awesome, you should definitely read it.

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    1. Ooh, it's so good to hear that No Virgin is really good! I'm not sure whether it not being as heavy is a good thing or not, though. I guess I won't know until I read it. Hopefully soon!

      Haha, I had to look up "body horror" to know what you meant! But I think that's something I could probably handle, maybe? I hope so anyway! I'm really intrigued!

      Thanks for stopping by!

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    2. I've just double checked to make sure that really was what I meant - you got me worried! But it is. I really hope you enjoy! I'll be looking out for reviews or comments from you.

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    3. Ooops, sorry, signed in with the wrong email...I'm B&J Staff!

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    4. Haha, I already assumed you were the same person! :) Yeah, I think because I don't generally do horror, I just didn't know the term or what it meant. I hope I enjoy it, too! I look forward to maybe discussing it with you in the comments of my review when I post it.

      Thanks again for stopping by! :)

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