Top Ten Tuesday #7

May 20: Ten Books About Friendship

1. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead - I love the friendship between Lissa and Rose! It was nice that it was a large focus in the series
2. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor - Zuzana is definitely one of my favorite characters, and I love how she balances Karou. 
3. Harry Potter by J K Rowling - Do I really need to say it? Harry, Ron and Hermione have such a lovely friendship, and while they have bumps and rough patches, they are always there to help one another out in the long run
4. The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak- Rudy and Max. I love their friendships with Liesel!
5. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater - I love Blue and the Raven Boys! Their friendship is amazing and so well written
6. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl - From what I've read so far in the series, I love the friendship between Ethan and Link! It's nice to see things from the guys perspective in these books
7. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky - I love how the friendships between Charlie and Patrick and Sam go!
8. The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare - I loved the relationship between Clary and Simon!
9. Obsidian by Jennifer L Armentrout - Dee and Katy are so cute together. I loved how happy Dee was to be friends with Katy
10. The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare - I've only read the first book, but I love the friendship between Will and Jem!

Top Ten Tuesday #6

May 13: Ten Books I Almost Put Down But Didn't

1. Obsession by Jennifer L. Armentrout - I honestly just didn't like this book much. The beginning was good, but the rest wasn't. I mostly pushed through to get the insight into another side of the Lux Series, but overall I didn't enjoy the read as much as I hoped and will not be reading this again. I'm not disappointed I read it though, I just didn't care for the story.
2. Rapture by Lauren Kate - Technically I did put this book down. I put it down for over a year. I didn't completely turn away though, as I eventually finished the book and actually did enjoy some parts of it.
3. Flowers in the Attic by V. C. Andrews - I also technically put this book down too. I attempted to read it years ago because my mom loved it as a teen but I wasn't into it. Years later, my mom wanted to watch the new movie of it with me, and we watched it, and I figured I would give the book another go. I enjoyed it enough, though I doubt I'll ever reread it. I think mostly it's just slow in my opinion, and back when I first tried reading it I wasn't into reading like I am now, so it couldn't hold my attention long enough.
4. The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp - This book was okay, but I just felt that the characters lacked the growth that should have been there. I did read to the end, but I wasn't satisfied with the ending at all.
5. Fallen in Love by Lauren Kate - This book just didn't hold my interest well. I read it, and overall I'm glad I did, but I can't tell you I remember much of it. 
6. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous - I actually almost DNF this book the second time I read it, because the first time I was rather young and impressionable, and the second I was much older and wiser. The truth of the matter is - this book is so unrealistically overdone that it was painful to read.
7. Halo by Alexandra Adornetto - This book just didn't seem to pull me in. I felt very disconnected from the characters and lacked the caring attitude I wanted to feel towards them. I'm glad I finished the book, but the writing style was just not for me.
8. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - I know, a surprise, right? It wasn't that I didn't enjoy this book it was just that I wasn't really that into reading at the time I was reading it. It honestly took me forever to read this book and there were several times I thought I might just stop reading it, but I successfully finished it the day I was going to see the movie, and I'm really thankful that I did. Since then, I've reread this book, and I really do enjoy the story.
9. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Nowadays, it's almost easier to look up books on sparknotes for school rather than read the actual book, and this is something I almost did. I wasn't into this story much at the beginning, and I always hate being forced to read books over the summer for school, but I ended up binge reading this book in a day two days before I had a test on it. I actually really enjoyed the book for one I had to read for school, and I'm proud to own a copy of it. 
10. Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson - I didn't like this book at all. I had to read it for school, and that's literally the only reason I read it. I don't regret reading it necessarily, though if I knew that my teacher was giving everyone a hundred on our project on it because he didn't care for summer work, I would have skimmed it more so than actually read the book.

Top Ten Tuesday #5

April 22: Top Ten Characters I Would Love to be Friends With

1. Blue from The Raven Cycle
2. Rose from Vampire Academy
3. Four from Divergent
4. Hazel from the Fault in Our Stars
5. Katniss from The Hunger Games
6. Katy from the Lux Series
7. Hermione from Harry Potter
8. Clary from The Mortal Instruments
9. Simon from The Mortal Instruments
10. Seth from The Scorpio Races

Top Ten Tuesday #4

April 1: Top Ten "Gateway" Books/Authors In My Reading Journey (so your list could be a mix of a books that got you into reading, an author that got you into reading a genre you never thought you'd read, a book that brought you BACK into read)

1. Harry Potter series by J K Rowling - This series was one of the first that I ever read. I was so enamored with this series and it really showed me that outside of school reading can be fun!
2. A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket - This series was one that also really helped me see that reading was fun as a kid
3. Wicked Lovely Series by Melissa Marr - This series wasn't necessarily my first jump into Young Adult or anything, but it was the first series I really got into in a long time
4. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan -  I wasn't really reading much, but this series, along with a few other books, helped me get back into reading when I was in a really bad place, and I've been reading a lot ever since. This one was the most prominent in pulling me back in to reading at that time, which is why I picked to list this one.
5. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - Though I had read some contemporary novels before this, this book was really the one that got me to like them a lot more, and since then, while it's not too many, I've began reading more contemporary than I used to and tend to enjoy them all.
6. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - This book made me realize that I actually like books that take place a while back in time, whether it's paranormal or not. I used to not want to ever read historical fiction, but this book made me interested in that genre a lot more.
7. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - This book made me realize that I didn't have to dislike every book that school made me read. I used to hold unnecessary grudges against books I was forced to read, but with this book I was able to push through that grudge and actually enjoy it. Though I'm still usually hard on school books (classics really aren't my kind of thing. I appreciate them but I wouldn't read them on my own), I have learned to like them more than I did before.

Top Ten Tuesday #3

March 25: Top Ten Things On My Bookish Bucket List (could be blogging related, book related etc. -- meeting authors, reading x many books per year, finishing a daunting book, etc.)

1. reading 50 books by 2015
2. getting The Raven Boys III autographed by Maggie Stiefvater
3. write more reviews!
4. Keep the blog up and running
5. shave down the amount of books I have lying around that I haven't read
6. (When I'm way older) have a room just for reading and books in my house
7. Get a new bookshelf for all my books!! (my old one is full and I need more room!)
8. Finish the books on my "on hold" shelf that I haven't read in months/years
9. meet an author (any that I like the writing of)
10. Buy new books!!!

Top Ten Tuesday #2

March 18: Top Ten Books On My Spring 2014 TBR List (to be read list)

1. City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare
2. The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
3. Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
4. Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor
5. Enders by Lissa Price
6. Desert Tales by Melissa Marr
7. Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
8. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
9. Bloodlines by Richelle Mead
10. Reached by Ally Condie

this list was so hard to make! I want to read so many books, and I have over 160 books (both in book and ebook form) to read that I've already bought or been given as a gift. I picked ten that I'm mostly itching to read right now! hopefully I'll find the time soon!

Top Ten Tuesday #1

March 11: Top Ten All Time Favorite Books in Young Adult (No specific order)

1. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
2. Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead
3. Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead
4. Looking for Alaska by John Green
5. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
6. Divergent by Veronica Roth
7. Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout
8. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
9. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
10. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

This was actually kind of hard for me to write! I didn't want to narrow Young Adult, though I know there's plenty of categories I could have narrowed it down to. Because of this, I had to pick and choose, and I definitely left quite a few favorites out. If only it was Top Twenty Tuesday! Oh well, I'm sure the other books I didn't include will be a top ten somewhere else at some point.