We have been having fun with Top Ten Tuesday, so we decided we will do one every week. This bookish meme was hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, and has been going since June 2010! Since January 2018 Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week’s topic is Books Too Good to Review Properly. Sometimes you read a book you love so much but you just can’t explain why. The whole book just works for you and all you can say it’s so so good, please read it haha. Today I’ll share 10 books that were so good I just don’t know how to convince anyone of that fact.
1.Keturah and Lord Death – Martine Leavitt
This was such an unique read! I had a hard time describing the story and therefor have trouble getting across why I loved it so much. The story has high ratings but I feel like a lot of reviewers struggled with the same thing I did haha. I guess this is a case of you just have to trust me and pick it up.
2. Code Name Verity – Elizabeth Wein
I cried so much reading this one! It’s a WW II historical fiction novel, something I really enjoy. And while this seems like just another one, once you get to the ending you realise this is a special one. But I just can’t tell you why without spoiling the story.
3. Dangerous Girls – Abigail Haas
This is another one where for me the ending made it so special. I don’t want to say too much because it would definitely spoil the story. It’s a murder mystery and you follow the whole case from the moment the body is found all throughout the trial. Definitely something I enjoyed!
4. The Girl With All the Gifts – M.R. Carey
This is a book you have to go in as blindly as possible! I hardly knew anything and I adored the early plot twist. The story goes in a (for me) unexpected direction and it was just so so good. There is a prequel story I still want to read as I would love to return to this world.
5. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle – Stuart Turton
One of my favorite mystery novels! I loved the waking up in a new body every day a lot, it made for a very interesting story. But there was one aspect I loved more than anything else, unfortunately it’s just something I can’t say without spoiling it all haha.
6. The Test – Sylvain Neuvel
This was such a good novella! I do find novella’s hard to review in general as you say too much very quickly. The Test was very intriguing and super fast paced. It made me want to pick up all of Sylvain Neuvel’s other novels right away haha.
7. Slay – Brittney Morris
This was such an amazing read that I don’t think any review I write will ever do it justice. If you pick up one book by a Black author, let it be this one. Candyce and I did write a buddy review and I started the review saying how hard it was to convey all my love haha.
8. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – V.E. Schwab
One of my absolute favorites! This book is so good but it’s also hard to explain what about it made it so good. I know a lot of people have been talking about this book so it felt less necessary for me to convince new readers. But I still would love to be able to explain why this was such a wonderful experience.
9. Foul is Fair – Hannah Capin
This book was dark, and brutal and exactly what I was hoping for, or maybe even more than I was hoping for. I don’t think this is a book that everyone will enjoy, making it that much harder to explain why I loved it and who it might be for.
10. This Is How You Lose the Time War – Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
Honestly, I don’t think I fully grasped everything in this book haha. So reviewing it is pretty difficult. But I do know how the book made me feel, and I can tell you I adored it so much. I felt a lot of love and urge every scifi fan to pick this up.
Some Recent TTT Posts:
TTT #219 | Books I Meant to Read in 2021 But Didn’t Get To Part 1
TTT #220| Books I Meant to Read in 2021 But Didn’t Get To Part 2
TTT #221 | New To Me Authors I Discovered in 2021
TTT #222| Books with Character Names in the Titles
TTT #223 | Upcoming 2022 Romance Books
And those are 10 of the books I had trouble reviewing. They are some of my absolute favorites and I just want everyone to experience their awesomeness! Have you read any of these? And did you love them? Let me know in the comments!
I need to read Code Name Variety already!
You’re so right about Evelyn Hardcastle and The Test. There is so little you can say about them without spoiling it!
Yessss, read it soon!! It’s amazing. And ugh I wish I could review Evelyn Hardcastle without spoiling but still convincing people of it’s greatness.
I have had Code Name Verity on my TBR for years and years, and still haven’t read it!
You need to pick it up soon!! It’s so so good <3. But be in the right headspace because you will CRY haha.
The Girl With All the Gifts was so good! I haven’t read the prequel yet either, though.
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-books-too-good-to-review-properly/
I enjoyed it so much! Can’t believe it hasn’t gotten that much attention!
Slay was on my list too! I feel it’s such an hidden gem that’s sooo difficult to express everything that’s amazing about it
It really is a hidden gem!! I wish more people talked about it <3
I did review both Dangerous Girls and Code Name Verity, but they were extremely hard to review for exactly the reasons you mentioned: not wanting to give away huge spoilers. I think they must be two of the most vague reviews I’ve ever written. I actually didn’t review Foul Is Fair because I was on a blogging break whilst I read it. I also reviewed Addie, though I found that kind of difficult to review as well, because the plot was so unusual!
Jo recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday #355
Not wanting to give away spoilers but still wanting to convince people to read this amazing book is just so so hard!! Good for you for still trying!!
So many of these are on my TBR and I feel like I’d also struggle to coherently review them, especially Addie La Rue and Time War! I loved The Girl With All The Gifts but also couldn’t find the words to review it well 😂 Great list!
Dini @ dinipandareads recently posted…#WWWWednesday: 16 February 2022
Haha happy to hear I’m not alone with these ones!!
Great choices this week! I’ve only read Dangerous Girls, but it was especially hard to review without giving spoilers. So many others on your list are waiting on my tbr. 🙂
Dedra @ A Book Wanderer recently posted…ARC Book Review | Meet Me in the Margins by Melissa Ferguson
Hopefully you get to read those soon and enjoy them as much as I do!! And yes I totally agree with Dangerous Girls, that feeling towards the ending… indescribable!