Hi guys! Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Artsy Girl. The topic this week is: Hidden Gems. It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these posts, but I’m so excited about this weeks topic. Who doesn’t love shouting at books that deserve more love and attention?
The Queen of Ieflaria by Effie Calvin – 245 ratings ratings
The Queen of Ieflraria is a F/F Fantasy romance novella about an arranged marriage between two princesses. I’m surprised this one has so few ratings, cause it’s one of the best novella’s I’ve ever read and there’s kittens.
Marriage of a Thousand Lies by S.J. Sindu – 831 ratings
Marriage of a Thousand Lies is the story of a marriage of convenience between a gay man and a lesbian woman, both Sri Lankan-American. It’s told from the POV of the woman in the relationship and also explores her feelings for her first love. who’s about to enter an arranged marriage. This book should definitley be more popular in the gay book loving corner of the internet.
Fairytales for Wilde Girls by Allyse Near – 901 ratings
I love this book fiercely, but I’m not surprised by it’s low number of ratings. It’s one of those books that a certain type of reader (hopelessly romantic, feminist fairy-tale loving day-dreamers) will eventually discover and adore forever, but everyone else probably won’t ever hear of. It’s about a girl named Isola Wild, who sees ghosts and other supernatural creatures, and what happens when the vengeful spirit of a murdered girl takes an interest in her.
Here We Are Now by Jasmine Warga – 1.082 ratings
Here We Are Now is YA contemporary about a girl connecting with a father she’s never know, who also happens to be an indie rockstar. We also get chapters from the mother’s POV, which shows how the parents met, fell in love and fell apart. I love it.
The Library of Fates by Aditi Khorana – 1.264 ratings
The Library of Fates is a own voices fantasy novel inspired by Inidian mythology and such a breath of fresh air in the YA fantasy genre. It’s about a princess who’s promised to wed a tyrant, but might be forced to find another way to save her kingdom and the people she cares about, when an unexpected attack changes everything.
Wing Jones by Katherine Webber – 1.395 ratings
Wing Jones is a YA contemporary set in the 90’s about a girl who’s star-athlete older brother ends up in a coma after a drunk driving accident. She takes up running as a way of coping, then discovers that her newfound talent might be exactly what she needs to help her family pull through this crisis. We’re always asking for more family dynamics in YA, yet we’re sleeping on this book – which features a half black, half Asian protagonist who ‘s relationships with her mom, brother and two grandmothers who live with them are the heart of the story.
Even the Darkest Stars by Heather Fawcett – 1.769 ratings
Even the Darkest Stars is a YA fantasy set in the Himalayas about a girl from a small mountain village who dreams about becoming an explorer. When famous explorer River shows up looking for a guide she jumps at the chance to join him on his dangerous quest to climb the highest mountain. With such an interesting and unique setting, I really would’ve thought this book would be more hyped.
Nina is Not OK by Shappi Khorsandi – 2.019 ratings
Nina is Not OK is a UK YA book about a girl who likes to go out and get drunk with her friends, until she wakes up one day with few memories – but a bad feeling about what happened. I love this book for it’s feminist message and honest portrayal of important themes like addiction, slut-shaming, sexual assault and victim-blaming.
A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares by Krystal Sutherland – 2.176 ratings
A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares is a OZ YA contemporary with a magical twist. It follows Esther, a girl who’s convinced her family’s been cursed by death (a guy her grandfather met in Vietnam) as she embraces life, by facing one fear at a time. I feel like this book would be more popular, if more people knew how weird it is.
Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore – 3.630 ratings
Wild Beauty is a Own Voices Magical Realism novel about a family of women who all have the ability to make flowers bloom with their touch, but their gift comes with a curse. If they love a man – he’ll disappear. With over three thousand ratings on Goodreads, this isn’t exactly a very well hidden gem – but I still feel like it deserves even more love and attention.
These all look fantastic! Great choices 😊
My TTT: https://lifewithallthebooks.com/2018/09/11/top-ten-tuesday-hidden-gems/
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Thank you! 😊
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Thank you for this list! I have never heard of some of the books above and honestly they all look so interesting! Especially the first one with the f/f romance and arranged marriage 👀
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Thank you so much! I’m so happy you enjoyed it 💕
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You have so many titles I’ve been meaning to read, but agree aren’t often discussed (Semi-Definitive List, Wild Beauty, Library, Darkest Stars)!! Glad you enjoyed all of these and I’ll need to try and work them into my schedule sooner than later! Feel free to check out my rec’s here: http://bit.ly/2MkJRkX
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Thank you! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did and happy reading 😊
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Seconding The Queen of Ieflaria 😉 It made my list too. I remember really wanting to read The Library of Fate before it came out but never got around to it. I should fix that…
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It’s so underrated! I hope you enjoy The Library of Fates if you pick it up! 😊
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I feel bad as I haven’t read any of those and know only 2 of them
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They’re all amazing reads, you should check them out 😊
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Fairytales for wilde girls sounds AMAZING!
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I’m so glad you think so! It’s wonderful, one of my absolute favorites 💕
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These sound so good! I have Wild Beauty and I still need to read it. I’m adding a few of the others to my TBR. ❤️
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Wild Beauty is one of the most beautiful books I’ve read! I hope you love it 💕
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Ooh, some of these look fab. I’ve read some really obscure books, but probably my favourite hidden gem is a novel called “Kine”. It’s from the POV of a weasel. 🙂
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Thank you! That sounds so cool! I love reading books from non-human POV’s, so I’ll definitley add that one to my TBR 😊
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It’s actually part of a trilogy, wich I only just realised! So I have two more weasel books to read, hooray!
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Great list!
Only knew Wild Beauty before. 🙂
My wishlist has a few new additions now 😀
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Thank you so much! I’m glad you found something interesting 😊
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Here We Are Now sounds so good!! Adding it to the TBR! Glad you like Wild Beauty, since I own it and still need to read it!
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It’s a wonderful read! Especially if you enjoy reading about music and family. I hope you love Wild Beauty as much as I did – it’s one of the most beautiful books I’ve read 😊
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That’s so great to hear! I love when a book is beautiful inside and outside! 🙂
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This is a wonderful list! Here We Are Now sounds like my kind of book because I love indie rock and family stories. Wing Jones also sounds great!!! 🙂
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Thank you so much! If you love those two things, you should definitley check it out. I loved all the music references in it 💕 Wing Jones is also wonderful!
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Library of Fates looks so good! I love to learn about any culture’s mythology!
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It’s a beautiful book! So do I, it’s so interesting!
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I really want to read Wild Beauty! Even more so now!
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It’s one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read! I hope you love it! 💕
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I just got Wild Beauty out from the library a couple of days ago and I can’t wait to squeeze it into my schedule (somehow…). Also, Marriage of a Thousand Lies sounds like something I need to pick up immediately. 😀
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That makes me so excited, I hope you love it! 💕 Marriage of a Thousand Lies is so underrated, probably because it’s adult literary fiction and that’s not the most hyped genre. But it’s a really good read!
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The Library of Fates has such a pretty cover, and also sounds interesting! I haven’t read most of the books in your list, so thanks for the recs 🙂
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Right? It was a total cover-buy for me, but I loved the story so it worked out 😊 Thank you for reading!
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Lovely choices as always!
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Thank you so much! 💕
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What a great list! The Library of Fates and Even the Darkest Stars look like exactly the kind of books I would love! I really adore YA Fantasy, but I feel like they all tend to be set in European-inspired countries? I love to see diversity and unique settings! Thanks for a wonderful post 🙂
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Thank you so much! They’re both wonderful, diverse reads. I love fantasy books set in non-European settings too 😊 Thank you for reading!
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I haven’t heard of Even The Darkest Stars, but it sounds like the type of book I’d love. The cover is great, too.
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It’s a wonderful read! And I agree, the cover is stunning!
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Wow – these are a lot of amazing sounding books I haven’t heard of!. The Queen of Ieflraria was automatically added to my TBR. I definitely need more F/F fantasy in my life.
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We all need more F/F fantasy in our lives! I hope you enjoy it! 💕
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