Top Ten Tuesday: Hyped Books

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.

Oh, this is a fun topic! I feel like I don’t see as many ‘hyped’ books as I used to – I remember when the odd book would be discussed and meme’d on social media for ages, and there’s definitely some I picked up because of that! But somehow, now I’m ‘deeper’ into books, I only get glimpses of hype, unless a book is incredibly popular. Maybe because the conversations have shifted more over to BookTok, and I’m not really a TikTok person, so I do miss a lot of that! But anyway, the full prompt for today –

Books I Read/Avoided Because of the Hype (and did you make the right choice?)

So, I have some books I’ve read, and some I avoided, and whether I feel I’ve made the right choice with each one!

Top Ten Hyped Books

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Genre: Contemporary
Age: Young Adult
Published: February 28th, 2017
Read

I think I read this before I properly started blogging. I definitely made the right choice in reading it. Angie Thomas is an excellent writer, and Starr’s story is impactful. The hype around this was well deserved, and the follow ups to this – both On the Come Up and Concrete Rose – were just as good.

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Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Genre: Romance – Fantasy
Age: Adult
Published: May 2nd, 2023
Avoided

I like Fantasy. I like Romance. I like some Fantasy Romance. I am not keen on this ‘romantasy’ train. It just seems like a way to repackage a genre that was already doing pretty well on its own, and shove it more into the ‘mainstream’. Nothing against those who like books like this, but everything I’ve heard about Fourth Wing makes me think I’d really, really not enjoy it.

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The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

Genre: Fantasy
Age: Young Adult
Published: July 8th, 2014
Read
Review

I regret reading this. I know there was a lot of buzz around this initially, and talks of a film at one point, but I’m actually kind of glad that never panned out. This book is a mess. The MC suffers hard from ‘not like other girls’ syndrome, and the worldbuilding just doesn’t hang together. It read like it was designed to cash in on certain trends, but misunderstood the assignment.

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A Court of Thorn and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Genre: Fantasy
Age: Young Adult
Published: May 5th, 2015
Not Read

Sometimes, I consider reading this. Then I come across something that solidifies why I shouldn’t. My feelings towards this are very similar as Fourth Wing, and quite honestly, there are so many excellent fantasy series’ out there, I’d rather spend time reading them than books that, by the sounds of it, I’m not really going to enjoy all that much.

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The Duke and I by Julia Quinn

Genre: Historical Romance – Regency
Age: Adult
Published: January 5th, 2000
Read
Review

I read this after the first and second series of Bridgerton. I’d vaguely heard of the books prior to the show, but of course the show’s popularity (and my own enjoyment!) convinced me to give the books a try. I wasn’t impressed, unfortunately. I have heard subsequent books get better, so maybe I’ll pick them up at some point, but I’m not in any hurry.

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It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age: Adult
Published: August 2nd, 2016
Not Read

Nothing I’ve heard about this books makes me think I’d like it. It deals heavily with domestic abuse, and though I think there are some books that can handle that kind of topic well, the impression I get is I wouldn’t ‘click’ with how it’s handled here. So, best I stay away.

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The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Genre: Fantasy
Age: Young Adult
Published: January 2nd, 2018
Read

There was a point where you absolutely could not escape this book, and I felt compelled to check it out. How glad I did! I loved this series, and found every book in this trilogy to be as compelling as the last. I think some people have gone ‘back’ to this expecting what we now call ‘romantasy’, but it’s fairly different, with the fey feeling very much like the portrayal we know from legends and folklore, more than the romanticised version.

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People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age: Adult
Published: May 11th, 2021
Not Read

I’m not sure why I’m not that drawn to Emily Henry – I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I have heard mixed things about Henry’s books. Maybe I’ll check one out in the future, but it really depends. I know there’s a reason I’ve been avoiding, I just can’t quite remember it!

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A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Genre: Fantasy
Age: Adult
Published: February 24th, 2015
Read

Similarly to The Cruel Prince, there was a point when it felt like I couldn’t escape hearing about this book, at least until I checked it out for myself. And it remains one of my favourite fantasy trilogies. I absolutely fell in love with this world and these characters.

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Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

Genre: Romance – Erotica
Age: Adult
Published: May 25th, 2011
Not Read

Talking of books you couldn’t escape from…all I’ll say on this one is it has a lot to answer for, and I didn’t read it because I learned my lesson from Twilight (another hyped book I have read, but read slightly before the hype hit fever pitch, hence why it hasn’t been included here), which was some books, though very popular, are very much not for me.

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I would love to hear about the books you read because of hype, and whether you enjoyed it or not! I definitely think sometimes I read something and fully understand why it’s popular, and agree with its popularity, and other times, well, I’m left just a little bit baffled!