Top 10 Tuesday: Books That Deserve More Love

Welcome to Top 10 Tuesday! This is a weekly challenge hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, and this week’s challenge is about books that deserve more love!

I actually changed this week’s prompt a little. It was originally supposed to be about secondary/minor characters who deserve more love, but I was having a hard time coming up with responses for that one. I’m sure there are tons of great secondary characters out there to choose from, but I just couldn’t think of many at the time. However, I can think of plenty of books that I’ve loved that I think deserve more love and attention than they get, so I wanted to highlight those instead! And that’s definitely not to say that the books listed below don’t receive any attention, I just happen to think they should get even more love than they already do! Without further ado, here are my top ten books that deserve more love!

To learn more about a book, click on the photo to find the Goodreads synopsis.

1. “Uglies” by Scott Westerfeld

Okay, so I know that plenty of people have read this one (it’s even being made into a Netflix movie). However, I feel like it never reached the level of popularity of books like The Hunger Games or Twilight. At the time I read this series, Twilight was all the rage, and I remember really wishing more people were reading this series so that I could have friends to talk to about it! They’re such great books, and I’m thrilled that Scott Westerfeld has recently been continuing the series! The final installment should, I believe, come out sometime next year.

2. “The House of Broken Angels” by Luis Alberto Urrea

I’m a huge fan of Luis Alberto Urrea, but I don’t often see or hear other people talking about his books! I’ve only read a couple so far (this one and The Devil’s Highway), and they were both fantastic. They were also very different! He’s done nonfiction, contemporary fiction, historical fiction… He’s an incredible writer and since he writes from such a variety of genres, there’s really something for everyone! Also, if you enjoy audiobooks, he narrates his own books and he does a fantastic job with this as well.

3. “All You Can Ever Know” by Nicole Chung

I found this memoir to be so moving and impactful. It’s a poignant and important story about family, identity, and interracial adoption. I also think this cover is so gorgeous. I’d highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good memoir!

4. “The Ruin” by Dervla McTiernan

I love these books! It’s actually a series of mystery novels all revolving around Detective Cormac Reilly. They’re dark and compelling and unpredictable. So far, I’ve listened to all of them as audiobooks and they’re narrated beautifully by Aoife McMahon. I recently did a Travel Thursday post about the Irish setting of these books (you can find the post HERE) which highlights this wonderful series even further.

5. “The Signature of All Things” by Elizabeth Gilbert

I don’t really even remember for sure why I bought this one. I got it on Audible even though I hadn’t really heard anything about it, but I thought it sounded interesting! It’s very long (it was over 20 hours long on Audible), but it’s well worth the time investment. It’s an empowering story featuring an intelligent and independent female protagonist, and I wish more people would read it and express love for it!

6. “Girl in Translation” by Jean Kwok

This was another impulse buy for me! I was in a local bookstore and the cover and title just jumped out at me. I think I was drawn to the word “translation” since I’ve always been so interested in languages and cultures. I had never heard of the book before, but decided to just go for it. I ended up really enjoying it! It challenged my thinking and is one I still think about many years after having read it.

7. “Bluff” by Michael Kardos

This was another impulse buy I made on Audible. It was their “Daily Deal” offering one day, and I just thought it sounded interesting! It’s about a female magician, and I used to be kind of into magic when I was a kid (I think lots of kids go through a magic phase, right?). It ended up being very different than I expected! It was dark and suspenseful and totally gripping! I’ve never met anyone else who has read this one, but it’s an entertaining read if you’re ever looking for a unique thriller!

8. “In the Country We Love: My Family Divided” by Diana Guerrero

I know that lots of people have read this one too, and it’s even been adapted into a young readers edition so that kids can read it! I actually have a couple of copies of that one in my classroom. I thought it was a really eye-opening and inspiring memoir, and I think it deserves even more love than it already receives!

9. “Children of Time” by Adrian Tchaikovsky

This is another one that, obviously, lots of people have read and enjoyed. It even has a big sticker on the cover showing an award that it’s won! However, I still feel like I don’t see it popping up on book blogs or Bookstagram very often. Maybe that’s because it came out a while ago and I’m just behind the times? It’s totally possible. But as someone who finds sci-fi to be kind of hit-or-miss, I thoroughly enjoyed this one and would love to see readers of all genres giving it a try!

10. “The Murmur of Bees” by Sofía Segovia

I posted about this one last week too! This was such a unique book and I loved the elements of magical realism. I would love to see it getting more love and attention online!

Have you read any of these books? What would your top ten be?

Let me know in the comments!