TOP TEN TUESDAY | Books That Defied Expectation

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme for bloggers who like books and lists. It's awesome and is graciously hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  

This week's TTT deal's with those books that weren't quite what you were expecting. In other words:

Ten Books I Loved Less/More Than I Thought I Would (recently or all time) -- or you could do something like books I liked more/less than everyone else.

I decided to split my list half and half:  Half are books I expected to love but didn't, half are books that I am surprised at how much I liked them.  They are all books I read (or re-read) in the last couple of years or so.

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Books I Liked More Than I Expected

1) Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee

My review for this book will publish this week and I explain this in a little more detail.  It's a very complex and intricately developed world that Lee has developed and he just chucks the reader into the deep end of the pool. I was confused a lot and normally I would be frustrated by this and would disengage but this one kept me reading on and I'm glad it did because it has a cracking ending!

2) Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

I'm a little wary of Urban Fantasy to begin with and then the cover of book one - the outift, the pose - really had me worried about just what kind of character Mercy Thompson was going to be - wild and impractical party girl who has a mechanics fetish?  Turns out, Mercy's awesome and way more down to earth and practical then her cover portrait suggests! 

3) Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie

I'm not a Chick Lit OR Contemporary romance fan so I was pretty nervous about reading this book even though the premise sounded intriguing and it was recommended by people I trust.  I adored it! A lot!  

4) Penryn and the End of Days Series By Susan Ee

A series about Angels?  Really?  I was dubious.  However, this turned out to be one of the bet YA series I've read in recent years!  Penryn's a great character and the Angels are deliciously evil-ish.  

5) Unfinished Business: Women, Men, Work, Family by Anne-Marie Slaughter

I expected this book to be about work-life balance and it sort of is but it's true heart is about feminism and what needs to change in our work culture for our society to truly become equal.  It's great and didn't get as much attention as I thought it would.  

Books I Liked Less Than Expected

6) Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor

This is a time travel adventure book and at one point they travel back to the cretaceous.  Doesn't that sound amazing??  And just look at that cover!  Sadly, I was mostly bored and irritated by this book.  Lots of other folks like it though!

7) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

I just read this for the first time last year and it certainly a good book but I went in knowing everything about it - the themes, the exact plot -  so I think it was just a little ant-climactic.

8) Sorceror to the Crown by Zen Cho

I did actually really like this book - I rated it 4 out of 5 stars - but I expected it to completely blow my mind.  MAGIC. IN REGENCY ENGLAND. And it got such rave reviews.  Unfortunately the main female character, Prunella really stressed me out and I jut flat out did not like her nor did I find her interesting.  It put a damper on my enthusiasm for the book.

9) Uprooted by Naomi Novik 

This was another book that got rave reviews last year and I'm just not sure I get it.  The world that was created was developed well, but it wasn't that creative.  I hated the romance (because the Dragon was a dick), I didn't love the female protagonist (for similar reasons to Prunella), and I thought the pacing was uneven and weird.  I am ready to dodge tomatoes now, lol!

10) Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

I just brought this book up in last week's list but it's a good example of a book in a beloved series that I was super excited for, that disappointed the heck out of me.  Wah...Wah.

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Wow, the second half reads a little like an unpopular opinions list!  What are some books that defied your expectations?