Top Ten Books I've Read But Haven't Yet Reviewed

Thank you, as ever, to The Broke and the Bookish for hosting such a wonderful feature.

This week's theme is one we can choose ourselves and I have decided to use this week to highlight the Top Ten books that I have read and not yet reviewed.  I'm hoping to do some quick mini-reviews of these excellent books in the hopes of feeling a bit accomplished and to hack away at my ridiculous to-be-reviewed list.

Slide by Jill Hathaway 

I read Slide way back in January, and still haven't reviewed it! I'm such a terrible book blogger.  Especially because Slide was a really great book.  I really got into it when I was reading.  I really love the cover - that eyeball is super creepy - and I loved the premise too.  Teenager, Vee Bell is a narcoleptic, only instead of falling asleep during these episodes, she slides into other people's minds.  She's found out loads of things about other people in this way - students cheating on tests, teachers sneaking drinks of alcohol.  And one horrible day, she slides into the mind of a murderer who kills her sister's friend Sophie.  Armed with the knowledge of what happened, but no way to prove it, Vee sets out to solve a murder.

I really enjoyed this one.  Though the book is quite slim, there's still enough of a story to fall into and get wrapped up in.  I found Vee's ability to be really interesting!  I'd love to read more, in fact.  I thought the action was all really fast-paced, and I liked all of the characters.  It was very fun to read a thriller with Vee's unique ability and I was left guessing until the very end.  Very entertaining!

Cinder by Marissa Meyer 

I loved Cinder by Marissa Meyer!  I generally like fairy tale retellings, but I feel like Cinder is in another category as a retelling.   Marissa Meyer took the Cinderella story and gave it a really fantastic science-fiction twist.  Just thinking about this story makes me smile.  She turned Cinderella into a cyborg! And there are this creepy alien race from the moon.  Just the whole world-building felt wonderful and I loved finding out more about the plague and Cinder's strange past.  Plus there are more than enough classic Cinderella references to make my heart happy - especially the glass slipper as Cinder's robotic leg and the pumpkin carriage being an old VW bug.

I really loved Cinder as a character, her relationships with her step-sister and Iko and I thought the romance between Cinder and the Prince to be really sweet.  I cannot wait to read more about Cinder and this world in the next book by Marissa Meyer! Plus? Love the cover.

Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar 

 I love, love, LOVED Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar.  I loved absolutely everything about it.  I first saw it on another YA book blog, during an event showcasing Australian YA.  I didn't think that I'd be able to get hold of the copy as it didn't seem to be available in this country. Luckily, I managed to find the book on a book swapping website that I use and I fell in love.  Soon after, I heard that it had picked up a UK publisher and could not be happier that this book would soon be able to reach a wider audience! Hurrah for that.

My heart absolutely broke for Carly, the main character of this book.  She's gone through something really horrific and in response to this terrible event, she shuts down. She quits school, gets a job in a cafe and surfs.  That's it.  Until she meets Ryan, who is fresh out of jail and is carrying his own brand of baggage.  I kind of loved Carly and Ryan together.  And I was quite happy for Raw Blue to turn into a straight love story - two very broken people trying to start a relationship together.  But Raw Blue isn't just a love story, it's a story of Carly picking up the pieces of her life and trying to be okay with just herself, and I respect Kirsty Eager for that emphasis on Carly.

Reckoning by Lili St. Crow 

I wanted to love this book more than I did.  I've loved the Strange Angels series since the very beginning.  I loved the realistic grittiness that comes along with following Dru on her adventures.  She goes through really terrible things and in this, the fifth and final book in the series, I wanted closure.  I wanted a really definite ending for her.   With the bad guy sorted and her future clear, I wanted Dru to make that final important decision of her romantic entangements. 

And while I can see why Lili St. Crow did what she did and why she ended this series in the way that she did ... I was still a little bit disappointed. It seems that for some, an open-ended ending is okay.  But not in this case.  Still, excellent series.

Bunheads by Sophie Flack 

I really meant to review Bunheads by Sophie Flack before now.  I had been looking forward to reading this book since I heard about it from the Atom blogger brunch absolutely ages ago.  And I did love this book.  It's about ballet, and I love ballet.  

I remember reading one particular book about ballet over and over again when I was little.  It just made me feel happy to be reading about ballet which I find to be really graceful and beautiful.  So YAY for ballet books.  The thing that I felt distracted me from this great story is that it was marketed as this love story between Hannah and Jacob that makes Hannah question her dedication and devotion to her ballet company.  And while there is a relationship between these two, I found the main focus to be more of Hannah's journey away from her romantic relationships.  Because we're told about this relationship that makes Hannah question everything, I expected more from it.  And it wasn't there.  But what is there is great, realistic stuff about ballet and how competitive it is, how much of an issue is placed on diet and image.

A very enjoyable book, this one!

Struck by Jennifer Bosworth 

Struck is a book that I was very excited to read for such a long time.  It's that eye-catching cover, which just screams out 'Read me!' in a very persuasive way.  Unfortunately, while I did enjoy it and I raced through the book, something about Struck was slightly off for me.

I'm not entirely sure what it is about Struck that didn't work for me, which is probably why I never reviewed this book.  I love the idea of it - Mia is a lightning addict in this crazy world in which natural disasters have destroyed so much and the people are being torn apart by cult leaders and the people opposing them, which also seem to be rather fanatic.  I think I wanted to know more about being struck by lightning and less of  the religious zeal.

The Sky Always Hears Me: And the Hills Don't Mind by Kirst Cronn-Mills 

I don't even remember where I first heard about this book.  All I really knew about the book is that the main character begins to question her sexuality.  And I always like reading YA books that deal with this sort of thing. So based on that very small amount of information, I went into reading The Sky Always Hears Me... And this book turned out to be entirely different than what I first expected.  It's a little bit strange, it's kind of gentle and can be quite funny and overall I just really enjoyed it.

I loved seeing Morgan interact with the different people in her life, from her boyfriend, her crush, Rob, Tessa, the girl who kissed her, Morgan's grandmother.

I also really loved the inclusion of fortunes and how Morgan goes to shout all of her thoughts and feelings into an empty canyon.  I loved the confusion about everything going on in her life, I loved Morgan's voice and character and I think this book is really great.

Scarlet by AC Gaughen

Oh man, was I excited to read this book!  I absolutely adore the Robin Hood story.  It's one of my dad's personal favourites as well, so growing up, I felt almost surrounded by these characters and the adventure of it all.  So I was always going to be happy to read another book to do with Robin Hood, but I also really love the twist.  Will Scarlet as a girl! That makes me very happy.

And while I didn't LOVE that there is a sort-of love triangle, I was still completely swept away by the story.  I really liked how Scarlet keeps her identity hidden from the rest of the band, and the mystery that surrounds her previous life.  I really loved Scarlet, she's feisty and brave and really jumps in to do her part in fighting injustice and freeing those she cares about. Robin, too, was written really well.  I really just can't get enough of this story!

Rosebush by Michele Jaffe 

 I had had a copy of Rosebush on my shelves for absolutely ages unread.  I think I bought the book based entirely on the pretty cover.  Luckily for me, when I did get around to reading the book, there's also a very interesting story here as well.  I don't know about you, but I'm starting to really love the psychological thrillers that are on the YA shelves at the moment.  I never really thought that those sort of books were for me, but they are. 

I love how Jane, the main character in this story, is left piecing together the fragments of her memories in order to work out who tried to kill her. I was left completely guessing as Jane (and us as readers!) try to solve this mystery in time.  Jane works out that it had to be someone she knows, someone she calls a friend who has done this to her and that is pretty creepy to me! I had no idea who did it until the very end and I loved the journey to get to that point!

Ultraviolet by RJ Anderson

 I absolutely loved Ultraviolet with a passion! I had no idea what I was getting into when I first started and throughout the book I was always on my toes, wondering, always wondering what secrets could this book possibly be holding?! Every aspect of this book was wonderful to me.  I loved the main character, Allison.  I loved her voice and finding out the things she's not saying.  She's a teenage girl sectioned into a mental hospital for murdering a girl. 

I really loved this story progresses, where one things leads to another to another and I'm left gasping at the surprises and the unexpected twists.  I feel like I can't say very much about this book without spoiling things, which is probably why I haven't reviewed this book until now.  But it is wonderful. 

Have you read any of these books? What did you think? Are there any favourite books that you've read lately but haven't yet reviewed?