Top Ten Tuesday – Page 2 – Paws & Paperbacks

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Books of 2020

Published on December 29, 2020 by Breanna6 Comments

Happy Holidays! Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s theme is to recollect our favorite reads of the year. I noticed I definitely didn’t have as many five-star reads this year as I have in the past.

1. THE BEST LAID PLANS
When I read this at the very beginning of the year, I accurately predicted that it would be one of my favorite reads this year. This book was everything I had hoped it would be and so much more. Basically, all you need to know is that it contains best friends-to-lovers, unrequited pining, delicious drama and lots of angst!

2. CHAIN OF GOLD
While I’ve always greatly enjoyed The Shadowhunters Chronicles, I’ve never found myself rating any five stars or falling head over heals with the book. That all changed with his book right here. Cassandra Clare has crafted the perfect recipe: the nostalgia of the Shadowhunter world, the return of favorite characters from past books, historical romance elements such as ballroom dancing and the marriage of convenience trope.

3. DON’T CALL THE WOLF
I was enchanted from the first chapter and very easily fell in love with this story and the characters. The prose was absolutely beautiful and fit perfectly for a fairytale retelling. From stunning descriptions to the dark, atmospheric vibes her writing portrays, it’s easy to become lost in this magical story.

4. YOU DESERVE EACH OTHER
This is a story about second-chance romance and features my newest favorite trope: lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers. My absolute favorite thing about the book was the gradual change between Naomi and Nicholas as they slowly become friends again and reconnect on a deeper, more emotional level. Sarah Hogle blew me away with this story and had me swooning over their rekindled love.

5. BEACH READ
From the first chapter I was absolutely captivated by the story. The way Emily Henry writes January’s character it’s impossible not to empathize with her and feel her pain and confusion. At first, this appears to be a cute, heartwarming summer rom-com, but it also has moments of darkness and emotional pain that pulls the reader even harder into the story. I loved Gus and January; they were relatable, complicated, and realistically written. I could not get enough of their amusing interactions and growing attraction.

6. DANCE OF THIEVES
I put off reading this because of it’s size and I was unsure how I felt about reading a companion series of sorts. Not only was I completely blown away by this book, but I ended up loving it even more than The Remnant Chronicles. The book was fast-paced, full of action, and I completely adored the characters, Kazi and Jase. I flew through the chapters and loved every minute I spent immersed in the world.

7. THE FAITHLESS HAWK
How rare is it for the second book in a duology to be even better than the already amazing first? The Merciful Crow was one of my favorite books last year and I’m so glad this surpassed all of my high expectations. I was kept on the edge of my seat the entire time and I loved the angst that was introduced! Such a fantastic conclusion to an awesome duology!

8. FABLE
There is just something about Adrienne Young’s writing that makes me fly through the pages. This book was non-stop action and fun from the very beginning. Seafaring adventures are some of my favorite stories so I feel like I can be more particular about them, but this ticked all the right boxes. From the strong heroine, Fable, to our amazing cast of side characters aboard the Marigold, this was a fantastic read.

9. THE BURNING GOD
This book still has me speechless. It’s been four months and I still can’t bring myself to sit down and write a full formed review with all my thoughts. The stakes were raised even higher and wow did R.F. Kuang deliver. There was nonstop action and so many nail-biting moments. The characters. The angst. ~~The deaths~~. Such a perfect conclusion to a brilliant series.

10. IN A HOLIDAZE
I haven’t been this in love with a Christina Lauren book in a long time. This is the perfect holiday romance story and had everything I could have wanted and more: family, Christmas magic, romance, angst, childhood friends-to-lovers, mistletoe kisses. This book gave me all the warm and fuzzy feelings! The romance was so sweet and adorable and I couldn’t get enough of the cozy, snowy setting.

I hope you all had a wonderful reading year! What were your favorite reads? Did we have any in common? Let me know!

Top Ten Tuesday: Covers Featuring Skulls

Published on October 27, 2020October 20, 2020 by Breanna10 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Last year I dedicated the Halloween freebie to covers featuring snakes, so this year I decided to go with another element common to the spirit of Halloween: skulls! 💀 Skulls always look so cool on book covers and I had a blast finding my favorite ones!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’d Love to See on Netflix

Published on August 18, 2020September 6, 2020 by Breanna26 Comments

Hello everyone! Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is books we’d love to have adapted in a Netflix movie or series. I was working on a blog post very similar to this theme so luckily I had already put in some good thought into which books I would love to see on Netflix!

1. IF I’M BEING HONEST
Netflix romcoms are the best, and I’m not even sorry about it. There are so many great YA romantic comedy books that I think would make a fantastic movie, but one of the one’s I’d love to see adapted the most (and that I think would be a huge hit) is If I’m Being Honest.

2. DARK MATTER
“I would love to see a movie adaptation of this, because if done correctly, I think it would be a big hit,” –Me, in my review.
This book is a complete mind-fuck. It would make such a tremendous thriller movie because the reader is taken on such a wild ride throughout the book.

3. 10 BLIND DATES
When I read this book, I said that it was perfect for anyone who enjoys holiday Hallmark movies. But you know what? It would also make a great holiday movie. It’s cute, it’s heartwarming, and it would be the perfect feel-good story for the holidays.

4. SALT TO THE SEA
I would absolutely love to see a movie adaptation of this book. The story is based on the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustlaff, which had the largest loss of life of any maritime disaster in history. Never heard of it? Neither had I until I read this book. It gets hardly any attention–especially compared to the Titanic–so I would love a movie adaptation or at the very least, a historical documentary.

5. THE POPPY WAR
Listen, if I could choose any book or book series to be made into a Netflix series, it would be this one. PLEASE NETFLIX, GIVE ME THIS ADAPTATION. Honestly, if these books were ever adapted into a movie or series, I would literally die (just like [redacted] in the burning god 😩).

6. THE PRISONER’S WIFE
This would make such a good World War II film! It’s an amazing book and I would love to see it adapted into a movie. Historical fiction movies always tend to do really well and I believe this book as all the makings for a real hit. It’s got romance, suspense, action, friendship and a message of hope and perseverance.

7. THE BEST LAID PLANS
Another YA romantic comedy that I think would be a fantastic candidate for a Netflix adaptation. Like I said in my review in February, “If I could choose only one book from this year to have made into a movie it would be The Best Laid Plans (@Netflix I’m looking at you).”

8. GODDESS THE MACHINE
Only the first book has been released, and already I know this would make an amazing sci-fi/apocalyptic Netflix series. The book is perfect for fans of The 100, which is in its last season, so this is the perfect opportunity to fill in that gap and pull in those who loved the show with something new, yet similar.

9. THE HUSBAND’S SECRET
I’m hoping that since Big Little Lies is such a huge hit on HBO, one day my dreams will come true and The Husband’s Secret will also be adapted as either a movie or series. I actually love this book way more than Big Little Lies. When you finally learn the husband’s secret and everything that goes along with it? 🤯

10. THE MEDIATOR
These books were hot shit when I was in middle school/high school. To this day, they remain one of my favorite series of books. They would be so much fun adapted to a Netflix series! A smart, snarky teenage mediator who can balance schoolwork, hot boys, and sending murderous ghosts back to the beyond? Suze could be the next Buffy if given the chance.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books With Colors in the Title

Published on August 4, 2020August 4, 2020 by Breanna12 Comments

Hello everyone! Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. The theme for this week is colors in book titles, and honestly, I was surprised by how little books I’ve read with colors! I found for the most part a lot of metals (which technically double as colors) such as gold, brass, and silver. But as for actual colors of the rainbow: not so many!

What books have you read with colors in the title? Have your read any of these? Let me know in the comments!

Top Ten Tuesday: Covers Better than the Book

Published on July 28, 2020July 19, 2020 by Breanna17 Comments

Hello everyone! Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week is a Freebie and my post is actually inspired by Literary Lion‘s Top Ten Tuesday post from a while back! I absolutely loved Dani’s idea and knew I wanted to borrow it for another freebie week in the future. Alas, that day is here!

We’re never supposed to judge a book by it’s cover, but let’s all be honest: we do it anyway. I think it’s doubly disappointing when a book with a beautiful cover and an intriguing synopsis turn out to be not so good. So without further ado, here are the ten books whose covers ended up being better than the stories themselves:

1. FIERCE LIKE A FIRESTORM
The first book was so good! But this book was so…bad. Sometimes I can’t believe how much of a downhill turn this duology took. This sequel was bland, slow-moving, the characters had regressions instead of growth, and I’m not even going to touch on the horrible romance (if you can even call it that).

2. THE BEHOLDER
This cover is beautiful. I have the FairyLoot edition with rose gold foil and soft pink sprayed-edges and it’s honestly one of the prettier books I own. It’s unfortunate that I really didn’t enjoy the book itself. I was so excited for a Bachelorette meets The Odyssey story, but the setting was too disorganized and anachronistic.

3. THE HAZEL WOOD
There are not one, not two, but three beautiful covers for this book. The original cover is super pretty, the gold and green OwlCrate edition is stunning, and the blue leaves on the FairyLoot edition is amazing. However, my praise really stops there. My biggest issue with the book is the main character is pretentious, rude, and selfish which made my reading experience unpleasant.

4. HOUSE OF SALT AND SORROWS
This cover is just marvelous and I love how perfectly it fits the theme of the book. I loved the eerie, atmospheric writing, but I didn’t seem as enthralled by story as everyone else. The book at trouble holding my attention and I found the love triangle completely unnecessary and poorly done.

5. THE WICKED DEEP
Look at how beautiful this cover is! I’m obsessed with the dark blue contrasted with the sparkly silver. I was totally enamored by this story up until the end, when the big twist is revealed. The way the “romance” plays out at the end did not sit well with me at all, and I absolutely hated what happened to Penny. If you’re curious to know what I mean, you can read my full review here.

6. REIGN OF THE FALLEN
This is probably one of the prettiest covers I’ve ever seen. Not only is it a beautiful light pink–my favorite color–but it sparkles! And I love the skull wearing the crown. A picture of the cover doesn’t do it justice, it’s just so pretty in person. The romance is what killed the book for me. It was very insta-lovey and there was really zero build up at all.

7. A TREASON OF THORNS
I love this cover and how amazing the flowers popping out of the wall look! The artist is obviously very talented because it looks 3D. I only wish I had loved the story as much as its cover. The book didn’t captivate me as much as I had hoped and I thought the magic system was really underdeveloped, especially since the book centers around sentient houses and their Caretakers.

8. EVERLESS
This is such a unique and beautiful cover. Unfortunately, the book was not unique. I was super disappointed with this. It followed the same plotlines and tropes as any other Young Adult fantasy to the point that it was extremely predictable. Nothing about the story stood out to me and I honestly couldn’t tell what happened other than I vaguely remember a love triangle.

9. THE COURT OF MIRACLES
Both the US and the UK covers are absolutely stunning. Given the synopsis of the book and it being pitched as The Jungle Book meets Les Mis for those who know Eponine deserved better, I was ready to fall in love with this. However, there were a few things that kept me from really enjoying it as much as I would have liked, such as the time jumps and multiple love interests.

10. GRAVEMAIDENS
This cover is just so beautiful, and it’s even more so in person. I had high expectations of this going in because it was one of my most anticipated reads for that year, but I ended up being let down. The story was not at all what I expected and it left me less than impressed. I was also not a fan of the protagonist or the way she treated other characters really poorly in the book.