Top Ten Tuesday: Expectations, Expectations

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the girls over at The Broke and The Bookish. This meme feature features a different theme every week, showcasing book-related lists. And hey, who doesn't love a good list?

This week's top ten:

Books I Thought I'd Like More and Less Than I Did

You can't help but have expectations for certain books, whether you thought it was going to be the most amazing thing ever or you thought it would suck like crap. I decided to split the list this week and do half of each category because why not?

First up are the disappointments. All of these books have a massive following and maybe it is because of the massive following and the hype that made me expect so much awesomeness. Then it falls flat. It happens. Warning: Rants Ahead



Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
-This was my first angel-type novel and I was so disappointed. Almost all of the characters annoyed me and I just didn't care about any of them. I didn't care if they died or lived, if she filled her purpose or not, Christian or Tucker. It was too slow for my tastes. I wanted more action and a quicker pace. I admit, I got swept up with the hype of the third book's release and I almost started the trilogy again. I didn't but NOBODY TELL ME WHO SHE PICKS BECAUSE THERE IS STILL A POSSIBILITY THAT I WILL.

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
-Yeah, this one I don't understand the hype at all. I couldn't stand Aria. Perry was a little bit better, but his smell-thing creeped me out so much. I couldn't get over the fact that he can smell her period. Cannot. Get Over. It. The romance was ok and the world-building was simply confusing.

Across the Universe by Beth Revis
-Me and sci-fi doesn't really have a good relationship. It is a hit and miss, most of the time, a miss. I thought this one would be one of the few that would hit the mark since everyone was recommending it to me. Yeah... No. The setting just didn't click for me. I couldn't imagine the spaceship in my head properly. The writing didn't flow well, the mystery wasn't a very good mystery and the insta-love was even worse than usual.



The Archived by Victoria Schwab
-I belong to the 00.01% of the book blogging population who didn't think this book was amazing. The premise is definitely original and Schwab can write like no one else. But with the amount of praise it was getting, I was expecting fully-developed characters and a more believable romance.

Iron King by Julie Kagawa
-Once again I'm in the minority for Iron King, and the whole series. I hated Meghan. I hated the romance with Ash. I hated the the writing. I'm sorry for hating this so much. The only thing I didn't hate was Puck. I gave it a second chance though! I read the second one, thinking it would get better. It didn't. Especially with how it ended with Puck. Just, no. I was angry and I don't think I should read the rest of the series anymore.

So, enough bitching about the books I thought I would like more than I did. It's time for the books that surprised the crap out of me.. Warning: Gushing Ahead


Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz
-Like I mentioned in my review, I had read Gone, Gone, Gone by Moskowitz but I thought it was just an ok book. I decided to give her another shot since everyone insists her writing is just amazeballs and the cover looked really cute. They were 100% right. She's amazing. this book is amazing. Rudy is amazing. Teeth is amazing. Her writing is fucking amazing.

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
-I thought Twilight completely ruined 'vampires in high school' for me. Turned out Twilight only completely ruined Twilight for me. I don't need to tell you all how unique Vampire Academy is. There are some holes in the lore but it's refreshingly different and Rose's character is interesting and dominant enough to balance out the imperfections in the novel. She can be annoyingly stubborn and so damn rude but at least she actually does something when trouble is there instead of just standing off to the side and bitting her lip while the men take care of everything.

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma
Oh. My. God. Everything about this book just took me by surprise- the topic, the characters, the writing, the crying. I am so glad I read this. I am sorry I can't remember who insisted I read this but I will forever be grateful for it.



Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson
-I love Peter Pan so I knew I was at least going to enjoy the book but I was so unprepared for the feels I was forced to endure when I read Tiger Lily. The book should come with a warning label: "Read at your own risk. Tiger Lily will make you cry for twenty minutes after the last page has been turned. Plus, you'll end up questioning all previous views about the classic Peter Pan. Truly dangerous." It's an extremely long warning but fitting. Actually, I think the warning should just replace the cover entirely. Yeah. We don't need any more hearts broken.

Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
-I'm sure you understand why I thought I was going to like Immortal Rules a lot less than I did. If I hated her Iron Fey series so much, why did I even bother with this one, you ask? Well, Meghan isn't in it, there are vampires and the vampires are living in a post-apocalyptic world. While the rest of the world was riding on the dystopia high, Kagawa took it a step further and mixed it with paranormal. Just great. Allie is a badass bloodsucker.


That's all for me, folks. What books took you by surprise, both in the good or bad way? Sound off in the comments or leave a link to your own Top Ten post and lemme know!

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Review -- Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Title: Under the Never Sky
Author: Veronica Rossi
Series: Under the Never Sky (1)
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: 03 Jan 2012
Date Read: November 2012
Rating: ★★☆☆☆


WORLDS KEPT THEM APART.

DESTINY BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER.

Aria has lived her whole life in the protected dome of Reverie. Her entire world confined to its spaces, she's never thought to dream of what lies beyond its doors. So when her mother goes missing, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland long enough to find her are slim.

Then Aria meets an outsider named Perry. He's searching for someone too. He's also wild - a savage - but might be her best hope at staying alive.

If they can survive, they are each other's best hope for finding answers.
(from Goodreads)

Aria is, well, an okay character, nothing special about her or her personality. I thought she was flat and two-dimensional. I didn't feel any sympathy or a real connection with her despite all of the hardships she had to go through. Glad to say that her character did improve but I still don't like her. Perry is a little better developed than Aria. Perry was caring and funny. He, along with a portion of the population, has heightened senses but he's double Marked, which makes him extra special. He's a Seer, can see very well in the dark, and a Scire, can smell things and people's emotions. Most of the time, this Scire thing of his was cool. But there were so many mentions of how he could smell Aria's period (smelled like violets) and when she was ovulating (she wasn't, at the time. If she was, she would've smelled, I quote, 'sweeter'). Ew. Ew. Ew. I was fully prepared to forget the whole thing but he kept going on and on about her smelling so good, like violets. No. Please, don't. I guess it makes sense, biologically. If he has heightened senses, like animals or whatever, then he should be able to smell pheromones like that. But I still found it creepy.

A small note: It was hard to get into Perry's character and to take him seriously. I had to work hard to ignore the images my brain was conjuring of Perry the Platypus instead of the muscular, strong Savage he's supposed to be. That's not the author's fault. It's mine and my inability to grow out of child tv shows.

Roar and Cinder were side characters that I'm guessing are going to be very important later on in the series. They interesting. Roar was funny, entertaining and canceled out the awkwardness that was sometimes there between Perry and Aria. Hopefully things turn out well for him. Cinder is the wild card with the mysterious back story. I can't help but root for these two.

The writing is in third person narrative, told both in Aria and Perry's perspective. I wish Rossi had done it in first person. I don't have a preference of anything but the third person just didn't work. It felt contrite and constrained. Especially at the beginning. It was a very rough beginning. And I wish I could say that it gets better. That you only have to stick around for a little while because the rest is amazing. That you would think that that rough beginning was worth it. But I don't think I can say all those things. It got better, but not by much. The rest wasn't amazing and I don't think that rough beginning was worth it.

My face the entire time

This is my main problem with Under the Never Sky: world-building. It was so confusing. Especially during that rough beginning. I thought the setting was in a spaceship after humans fled Earth because of an apocalypse or something. But nope. That's not what this world is, then again, it wasn't really explained what exactly this world is. Little flaws I can overlook, but there were just so many things that made no sense and I kept turning the pages, kept hoping that everything would be explained later on. I don't know what the Reverie exactly is.  I don't know why half the population decided to isolate themselves in these Pod things. They kept mentioning The Unity and I kept thinking 'Well? What the hell is that?' I'm still confused about the Realms and why they're there in the first place. What's the whole point of the Realms? There was this Aether sky thing. I don't know what it's supposed to be. Everyone is just scared shitless of it because it rains down lightning and kills lots of people. Our blue sky somehow turned into an angry, red, pulsing Aether sky, for no apparent reason, it seems like.

In a couple of months, I'll probably forget about most of what happened to this. The only things I'll remember are the feelings of confuddlement I had while reading this. I don't know if I'll read the second one. I might since this book oozes with debut novel-ness and Rossi might learn to improve. A lot of people seem to love this book. You might too.

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