Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Would Reread!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.

This week's top ten list is 10 books I'd like to reread. I also wrote some mini (kind of) reviews!

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

This book was such a cutesy read with a bit of teenage angst thrown in. Throw in a British boy from America in Paris and you've got the perfect guy, right? Right.

Reading this story also heightened my want to go to Paris and, as I type this, I am waiting for my passport to arrive so I can be on my merry way to au pair for a year or so in FRANCE. Dream come true? Maybe. YES.

So this book is one of my all-time favourites. I'm currently reading Isla and the Happily Ever After  and I'm sad that the series is coming to an end but I'm excited to see how this all rounds off.

Compulsion by Martina Boone

This is a new found favourite of mine having finished barely two days ago. I still have the warm and fuzzies over this one and I cannot recommend it enough. I'm sure all of my Twitter followers are sick to death of me fangirling on and on about Compulsion.  Sorry guys.

Eight and Barrie have a lovely romance going and it just gets sweeter the further you get to the end. He's pretty much perfect. Good looking, intelligent, knows what people want and incredibly kind. That just does not  happen in the real world. You don't get all of those things in one guy unfortunately. That's why I think I'll stick to fictional guys.

Obsession by Jennifer L. Armentrout

This is a spin-off novel from JLA's Lux series. It's meant for a more mature audience where the Lux books are fairly mild in terms of violence and sexual situations.

I really enjoyed this one though. I was entirely intrigued by the Arum and seeing things from their point of view was eye opening! There was one or two crossover scenes between Obsession  and Origin  which was awesome and very well done.

P.S. It can't only be me who thinks the male model looks a helluva lot like Scott from Teen Wolf... Right? 

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Ah this book! This was the one that started my JLA obsession and now I pretty much consume anything that she writes. This will always be my favourite book of hers though.

Daemon is utterly infuriating and oh-my-goodness hot. LOOK AT HIM. (The cover model is Pepe Toth in case you were wondering). The banter between him and Katy is hilarious. I am pretty much Katy. Everything that she says is what I would say if I were put in a similar situation. We'd be great friends, I'm sure of it.

I know some people are put off this book because it's about aliens but please give it a try! I was the same and ended up truly loving this series. The characters (even the creepy ones *you Lux fans know who I'm talking about*) make the story that much more wonderful!

Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

"Oh god, it's about mermaids."
This was my first thought when reading the synopsis. I originally bought this book because of the pretty cover. I have no shame. It is no secret now that I love love love  underwater covers. I'm pretty sure I mention this in every post. Yeah so I bought it for it's cover but I stayed for the content and the characters.

The female protagonist is strong willed and does not want to let boys do all of the ass kicking. I think everyone should aspire to be a little more like Emma.

It's been a while since I read this book and I am in dire need of a reread so I can buy the next books. Great first book if I remember correctly!

Perfected by Kate Jarvik Birch

This is another new found favourite of mine. I recently read this one and am dying to get my hands on the sequel. It's not out yet unfortunately and I'm not sure it even has a set release date. *Boooooo*

Anyways, this is a brilliant novel about some pretty weird stuff. It's about a world where keeping humans as pets is okay. Like it's natural for wealthy families to get 'pets'. Creepy, I know, but give it a chance! It's a very well written book with characters that leap off the page and into your heart with the things they do for other each other. Ella and Penn especially.

Oh and isn't the cover lovely? It's elegant whilst still holding some sort of underlying meaning with the cage surrounding such a pretty object.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

I don't think I'm over this book yet and it's been a while. I am still trying to get my grabby little hands on Unravel Me and Ignite Me - I really want to see why everyone is suddenly Team Warner. He seemed a little unstable in Shatter Me... I did feel sorry for him though.

This book is really well written. I remember thinking 'what took me so long?!' when I read the first few chapters. The writing is so beautiful and it's kind of hard to describe. The author explains everything that's happening but we also get an insight into the deepest parts of Juliette's mind. It's written sort of like a journal I guess, with all of the crossing outs and repeated words.

PLUS THIS SERIES HAS THE PRETTIEST COVERS EVER.

Slammed by Colleen Hoover

Yet another  new found favourite. I read this one maybe two weeks ago and the story really is beautiful and tragic. Tragically beautiful is the perfect term. Wherever there's darkness in the lives of Will and Lake there's also light weaving it's way through in the form of each other's growing affection.

I hope book 2 is just as good - this first book will stick with me I'm sure of it. It also gave me something new to love; slam poetry! I youtubed it whilst halfway through this book and ended up sitting in the same spot for maybe 2 hours just clicking on people reciting poetry that was so gripping and emotionally charged that I just could not look away, could not listen. So thank you Colleen for helping me find this and for writing such lovely books!

So Much To Learn by Jessie L. Star

I read this one a while back and I would love to reread it. I don't remember too  much but what I do remember was the romance aspect of this book.

It's about a girl who asks her brother's best friend (?) to help her with guys and how to be with them as she has little to no experience but would like to gain some with someone she is comfortable with. From this blooms a wonderful romance that captivated me from Lesson 1.

Highly recommend! Actually... If anyone would like to buddy read this with me I'd be down for that! :)

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

A long-time favourite of mine! This was the first NA book I ever read and I adored it. I'd love to reread this when I finally get a physical copy.

Some say that Travis's behavior is abusive and this bothers me a little. Whilst he does have violent tendencies he never hurts Abby.  The only way he 'hurts' her is when he does something stupid and backtracks his progress to being a better person. He WANTS to be better for her and he does try and in the end it really shows and makes the whole story that much sweeter. I'm not saying it's a fairytale romance because it's not at all but overall it's a very well written one. There's also enough drama to keep you going for a couple of months ;)

Travis is a fighter to pay for his house that he rents (owns?) with his best friend (Abby's best friend's boyfriend). He does do some absolutely idiotic things in the book but the amount of character development he goes through just to be better for Abby is incredible! The supporting characters are great too.

Highly recommend this one if you're looking to read more NA :)

So... What book would you reread if you could?

Book Review: Obsidian (Lux #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something... unexpected happens. 

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades. 

If I don't kill him first, that is.

Starting reviews is always a little difficult for me and this one is no exception. So... Let's start with the cover and how much I bloody love it. I mean, look at it! The background is insane and the male model on the front is exactly what I imagine Daemon to look like. Pepe Toth was the perfect choice for the cover, plus he's super insanely attractive. I find the cover a little haunting with the murky colour, smoky background and Daemon's stunning green eyes which are represented really well - exactly how I saw him in the book.

I love it when the guy in the book makes me swoon and speeds up my heartbeat because it helps me invest in the story and in the female protagonist's feelings. Daemon, ugh. He was simply perfect, cocky and a little to confident in himself but I loved reading about him and Katy and their (extremely slow) developing relationship. Daemon was hot... and not just because he was basically a giant light bulb. LOOK. AT. HIM.

I love, love, loved the three main characters, especially Katy. The main reason I identified with her so much was because she was a book blogger and a lot of her thoughts matched my own internal dialogue. I was surprised every time she brought up Waiting on Wednesday or how it pained her to write a one star review. She was so relateable, not only because of the above reason but she was a lovely character to read about and I liked watching her develop as a person throughout the story. Daemon, as I've mentioned above, was swoon-worthy and some of the things he'd say to Katy, well insinuate is a better word, would get me a little hot under the collar. AND THE ENDING OF THIS BOOK.. My oh my I can't wait to see how this little challenge plays out. *Claps hands excitedly* That kind of leads onto the next thing I loved about Katy's character; she didn't give into Daemon. Sure, she slipped once but as a whole she stayed true to herself and didn't give into him even when he said he wanted her. There was too much doubt for Katy and lot of girls would just throw caution to the wind and be done with it but not her! We ended up only getting one or two kisses but, as most of you know by now from my other reviews, I love it when the tension is dragged out to the point where I'm gonna explode with all the feels!

“Beautiful face. Beautiful body. Horrible attitude. It was the holy trinity of hot boys.” You sure as hell hit the nail on the head with that one, Jennifer!

Dee was an awesome character too. She brought an excitable quality to the story, wherever she popped up she'd always bring a smile and I think she had a part in making Katy who she was by the end of the book. From the get go Dee tried to make Katy feel like she had a friend and when Dee nervously said that she thought of Katy as her best friend my heart melted just a little. She could be nervous, bouncy, excited, extremely happy and kick ass all in one go... She could also eat for an entire army. *Cough* me *cough*.

Now, this may seem like a con but it's not, trust me. So, the twists in the story weren't realistic because, come on, they're alien problems but they weren't incredibly, unbelievably dramatic either. Everything that happened made perfect sense and there was always a reason behind all the plot twists. I find in paranormal novels, the problems are very hyped up and filled to the brim with useless drama, not all, just some. Obsidian wasn't like that, as I explained above.

As with all Jennifer Armentrout books, the writing was magnificent (and I don't use that word a lot) and flowed beautifully from scene to scene. I had a clear image in my head and the characters weren't just figures with blurry faces.

I read something I didn't read the first time around; the bonus scenes at the end. It was really nice to see Daemon's side of things. A lot of the time it seemed that Katy's feelings were one sided, I could tell he lusted after her but after reading some of the scenes from Daemon's point of view I can see it wasn't so one sided. He was just better at hiding his feelings than she was.

Now for the cons... THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS BOOK! It was perfect, perfect, perfect.

Character development was subtle but after making my notes before this review I realised there was a lot more than I thought! Katy developed a kick ass fighting streak. She put Dee and Daemon and even the triplets before herself when she led Baruck away from them and put herself in danger to save the others even though she only likes one of them all the time. Daemon stayed the same but hey, I'm not complaining. He's sexy as hell.

We got to see both sides of the lovely Dee; the badass fighter and the excitable girl who yearns for a normal life, one where she has a human best friend and isn't expected to find another Luxen to be with forever.

I liked reading this again and picking up stuff I missed the first time around. Now I'm a book blogger I understand what YA is and what she was talking about when she mentioned posts for her blog. I remember the first time I read this book and thinking 'wtf is ya?' Now it's all so clear and so much more relateable!