Top Ten Tuesday | The first books I reviewed

Posted on by Jess @ Jessticulates Posted in Top Ten TuesdayTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted at That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week’s theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week’s theme is all about the first ten books we reviewed, whether on our blog or on somewhere like Goodreads or Amazon, which is such a fun topic. I decided to go with the first ten books I reviewed on my blog as that was when I started reviewing books beyond ‘I enjoyed it’, and it was really fun to go back and see what those books were.

Some of them are books I’d never pick up now, whether that’s because my reading tastes have changed or because when I first started blogging I thought I had to be talking about the same books everyone else was talking about, but I was surprised by how many of them are still books I love now. Well done, past me!

So, in the order I reviewed them, here are the first ten books I reviewed as a book blogger:

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Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë: My very first review didn’t even include a picture of or a link to the book I was reviewing – well done, Jess – but this is still one of my favourite classics and I’m glad Anne Brontë was my introduction to the reviewing world.

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver: Apparently Lena was one of my favourite heroines of all time when I wrote this review, which I know isn’t the case now, but I do have a soft spot for her. She’s certainly still a favourite dystopian heroine – at least in the first book. When I wrote this review I was still trying to concentrate on positives because I didn’t think negative reviews were the thing to do, but I still managed to share my disappointment over this sequel so past me didn’t do too badly.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black: This book was the book in which I finally stopped caring about whether negative reviews would make me a likeable blogger, because I really didn’t like this book. Even though I didn’t like it, I still have to thank it for giving me the balls to be myself as a book blogger!

Cinder by Marissa Meyer: I have such fond memories of The Lunar Chronicles because I started reading the series while I was at uni, and there were many times I escaped the stress of my BA and MA by jumping into this sci-fi fairy tale world.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman: I still think The Graveyard Book is ultimately my favourite Gaiman novel, but this one is a very, very, very close second.

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Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks: This is another one I read during my MA and, despite having read it around five years ago, I still remember a lot about it. I need to check out more of Geraldine Brooks’ work!

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer: Scarlet was my least favourite book in this series, there seemed to be a severe case of instalove between Scarlet and Wolf and instalove is one of the tropes I most hate, but I wouldn’t mind re-reading it at some point to see if I still feel the same way. If nothing else, I loved Cinder’s bromance with Thorne.

Cress by Marissa Meyer: I have a very vivid memory of pre-ordering this book, receiving it while at uni and then sitting in my room and reading it in one sitting. It’s still my favourite book in The Lunar Chronicles.

Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson: I so wanted to love this retelling of Bluebeard, but sadly it just wasn’t that great. It was so obvious the villain was a villain that I couldn’t understand how he hadn’t already been caught.

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell: I picked up Attachments because everyone was raving about Rainbow Rowell and this one sounded the most fun to me, but looking back I think it was a kind of creepy story and I’m still not that interested in Rowell’s contemporary novels.

Which books made your list this week?

42 thoughts on “Top Ten Tuesday | The first books I reviewed”

  4. Reply
    Poinsettia says:

    Nice list! I really enjoyed The Lunar Chronicles as well. I’d like to read Agnes Grey as I enjoyed The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Thanks for visiting Long and Short Reviews. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Reply
    Lisa says:

    What a great list — and I really enjoy thoughts looking back at these books and how you felt about them! I loved Year of Wonders as well — some of her books have been just meh reads for me, but that one and a couple of others (March, People of the book) I thought were brilliant. I love the Lunar Chronicles books! It’s always nice to be reminded of them.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Reply
      Jess @ Jessticulates says:

      Thanks Lisa! I keep meaning to give another Geraldine Brooks novel a try, I keep thinking of picking up Caleb’s Crossing and I’m pretty sure I have a copy of it somewhere…

      Like

      1. Lisa says:

        Hmmmm… personally, I found Caleb’s Crossing really disappointing, but your experience may be different! Honestly, I’d say give People of the Book a try. It was outstanding.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Jess @ Jessticulates says:

        Oh no, that’s a shame! I’m really interested in First Nations history, which is why I’d like to read it, but I’ve heard really good things about People of the Book so I’ll have to give that one a try, too. 🙂

        Like

    1. Reply
      Jess @ Jessticulates says:

      I haven’t actually read any Lauren Oliver outside of Delirium, Requiem kind of ruined her for me, so I should give another one of her books a try. 🙂

      Like

  9. Reply
    foreverlostinlit says:

    This topic has been great, I love seeing the books people reviewed first. What a great array of books you reviewed, too! I also think I liked The Graveyard Book a little more than American Gods, but they’re also so different! I’ve been meaning to read some of Gerladine Brooks’ books as well.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Reply
      Jess @ Jessticulates says:

      Very true! It’s practically impossible to compare The Graveyard Book and American Gods because they’re so different.

      Like

    1. Reply
      Jess @ Jessticulates says:

      Agreed! I’m glad I persevered with the series because Cress ended up being my favourite, but I came very close to giving up on it after I read Scarlet. Thankfully the bromance between Cinder and Thorne saved it for me!

      Like

  12. Reply
    ChrissiReads says:

    What an interesting selection of books! 🙂 I’m glad you reviewed some awesome ones back when you first started your blog!

    Like

  14. Reply
    Joy V Spicer says:

    I really should read Agnes Grey; I don’t know why I keep unconsciously putting it off. I’m adding Year of Wonders to my list, thanks. I tried so hard to like Coldest Girl but it ended up being a DNF for me. Seeing American Gods on your list makes me want to re-read it now! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Reply
    Brooke Lorren says:

    Oddly enough, the only book on this list I’ve read on this list is Year of Wonders. You don’t see this one talked about much. I would like to read The Coldest Girl in Coldtown and the Lunar Chronicles someday though.

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Reply
    J R Lynn says:

    I haven’t read any of these, but I understand the fear of writing negative reviews. I used to try and find the positive in everything, until I realized that I was doing nobody a favor by sugarcoating the bad in a book. Now, I’m always critical and salty about books that I really didn’t like.

    Thanks for stopping by my TTT ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Reply
      Jess @ Jessticulates says:

      I really enjoyed looking back at my earlier years of blogging to see how my reading tastes have (or haven’t) changed! 😀

      Like

    1. Reply
      Jess @ Jessticulates says:

      I’ve always very much thought to each their own, and I wouldn’t want to tell anyone else how to run their own book blog, but it did used to annoy me when I’d see a reviewer give a book 4 stars but talk about how they didn’t like it very much in their review. It seems crazy to me that a book like that would warrant 4 stars! But everyone rates differently, and ultimately as long as I’m satisfied with how I blog that’s all that matters – and tbh I love being salty. 😉

      Like

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