Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
This is an interesting one – it’s not ones that exceeded expectations, but includes ones in the opposite direction, too. The full prompt for this is –
Books That Defied My Expectations (books you thought you would didn’t like that you loved, books you thought you’d love but didn’t, books that were not the genres they seemed to be, or in any other way subverted your expectations!)
So I’ve included a mix of books I thought were better than expected, and ones that I was disappointed by for some reason!
Top Ten Books That Defied My Expectations
(Submitted by Sia @ everybookadoorway.com)
A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe
What I Expected: an emotional, possibly heart-warming story about the rebuilding of a community after a terrible, unthinkable tragedy
What I Got: a bunch of whiny, selfish English character who can’t extend an ounce of kindness to each other, but one who ones ONE good thing so that totally makes up for how shitty he treats everyone else. Aberfan is used as a backdrop.
What I Expected: a steamy Regency romance with a problematic scene towards the end
What I Got: a really fun romance until the last quarter, when everything went downhill faster than the drop on a rollercoaster
The Foxglove King by Hannah F. Whitten
What I Expected: an enjoyable enough fantasy by a new-to-me author
What I Got: a possible new obsession in a book full of intrigue, magic, and two love interests I went back and forth between as much as the MC not to mention omg that ending, reminiscent in the best way of Holly Black’s Folk of the Air.
What I Expected: a found file novel by a talented writer
What I Got: Exactly that but also somehow so much more – clever and a real knack for including so much in a short space
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
What I Expected: a fun, possibly sweet paranormal romance featuring a witch
What I Got: a heart-warming story about found families, kindness, and looking out for one another
The Stranger Times by C.K. McDonnell
What I Expected: a fun Urban Fantasy about a newspaper, funny and maybe a touch silly
What I Got: boredom and cliches
What I Expected: a decent rom-com
What I Got: a realisation that despite not actually liking sports, I think I really love sports romances and now I need to read the whole series
Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
What I Expected: again, just a decent rom-com
What I Got: oh, so many giggles and so many beautiful, heart-warming moments that made me feel so warm and fluffy
What I Expected: The type of book I typically like – historical fantasy with vampires gave me an instant “sign me up” feeling, so I was excited for this
What I Got: so much sympathy for the vampires and nobles, too much “both sides”ing of complicated issues, stripping them of nuance. And boring in large parts.
What I Expected: a fantasy romance focusing on a road trip across the US
What I Got: a completely heart-warming story about companionship, kindness, and believing the best in everyone
Unwrapping Words 
I was surpised by If Only You as well!
My TTT: https://laurieisreading.com/2023/09/05/top-ten-tuesday-books-that-defied-my-expectations/
LikeLike
It was such a joy!
LikeLike
Good books, especially Becoming Human. Thank you 🙏
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person