Ten Underrated Books

Top 10 Tuesday is a post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and this week's topic is Top Ten Underrated Recent Gems.

You guys, most of the books I've over the last year have at least a 3.8 rating on Goodreads. I'd say that's pretty stinking good. I've read two review books that don't publish for a little bit that currently have low ratings. I'm not sure if that's because of the content or the publication date. I'll list one of those below, but mostly I want to focus on read books. So since the ones I've read within the last year have pretty good ratings, I'm just doing underrated books in general.

1. Finding Mr. Brightside by Jay Clark (Goodreads Rating: 3.52) My Rating: 4 Stars - I really have no idea why this one is rated so low.
2. Pull (Push, # 2) by Claire Wallis - (Goodreads Rating: 3.48) My Rating: 4 Stars - I get it. This doesn't have your typical happily-ever-after, but it's still a much better book than that Goodreads rating.
3. The Fall by Bethany Griffin - (Goodreads Rating: 3.41) My Rating: 4 Stars - I can kind of understand this one too. It's very "different", but I still enjoyed it.
4. V is for Virgin (V is for Virgin, # 1) by Kelly Oram - (Goodreads Rating: 3.79) My Rating: 4.5 Stars - The message behind this book was so good. And I loved the characters too. I definitely think it deserves a higher rating.
5. 100 Hours (100 Hours, # 1) by Rachel Vincent - Release Date: March 28, 2017 (Goodreads Rating: 3.11) Review Coming Soon - I mean I don't want to give away my rating right now, but 3.11 is ridiculously low for this book.
6. Twilight (Twilight, # 1) by Stephenie Meyer - (Goodreads Rating: 3.55) My Rating: 4 Stars - You guys, I realize that Twilight isn't without faults, but I feel like so many people enjoyed this one until it became so popular and then jumped ship. I also feel like some people were determined to dislike it just because it was popular. It's worth more than 3.5 Stars--at least it is to me.
7. New Moon (Twilight, # 2) by Stephenie Meyer - (Goodreads Rating: 3.52) My Rating: 4 Stars - New Moon rocked my soul the first time I read it. Again, not without issues, but this book had me all up in the feels.
8. On Becoming Babywise by Gary Ezzo & Robert Bucknam (Goodreads Rating: 3.56) My Rating: 4.5 Stars - Parenting is an extremely personal thing with many decisions that aren't right or wrong...just what works for you. Babywise has gotten a lot of flack, but overall the concepts really helped me and my baby get better sleep which is a win in my book.
9. A Thousand Nights by EK Johnston - (Goodreads Rating: 3.67) My Rating: 4 Stars - This is another one where the ending was a bit weird, but the writing was beautiful. I think it deserves better based on the writing only really.
10. Faking Perfect by Rebecca Phillips - (Goodreads Rating: 3.60) My Rating: 4 Stars - This is one of those books that kind of just hit me at the right time I think. I didn't enjoy it as much for the aspects that I was expecting to so much as the ones that took me by surprise.

Which books have you loved recently that you feel are underrated? Let me know!

Top Ten Books That Don't Celebrate Diversity

Top 10 Tuesday is a post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and this week's topic is Top Ten Books/Characters That Celebrate Diversity.

Diversity has become a huge topic FOR SOME REASON in the book world. Granted, no one really wants to read the same book over and over again. But this topic seems like it’s getting pushed on us all the time. I’ve always had a rebellious streak in me, and I’ve never enjoyed reading a book that was forced on me. I read what I want to read when I want to read it. Occasionally I’ll find a book that’s outside of my normal reading preferences that I enjoy, but I never just read for the sake of diversity. That’s not how I roll. You can read a more in depth post about why this is for me because Armchair BEA picked Diversity for the theme for 2015.

That being said…I’m picking ten totally awesome books that I enjoyed that have nothing to do with diversity. Yet really can’t you say every book SOMEHOW has something to do with diversity???

1. Forbidden (Forbidden, # 1) by Kimberley Griffiths Little (review coming soon)
2. Chasing River (Burying Water, # 3) by KA Tucker
3. Catching Jordan (Hundred Oaks, # 1) by Miranda Kenneally
4. That One Summer (Summer, # 3) by CJ Duggan
5. Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy, # 1) by Pierce Brown
6. The Secrets of Attraction by Robin Costantine
7. Finding Mr. Brightside by Jay Clark
8. Push (Push, # 1) by Claire Wallis
9. The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave, # 1) by Rick Yancey
10. Blood of My Blood (Jasper Dent, # 3) by Barry Lyga

These books have nothing in common. They’re about dessert landscapes, Irish pubs, girls who play football, Australian summers, war games, falling in love, drug addicts, serial killers, aliens, and hunting serial killers. See…all very different. All by different authors. Some male, some female. Some narrated by females, some by males, some by both. I have no idea the nationalities of the authors (nor do I care), but I know of at least 10 or 11 (probably more) different nationalities/races/classes within these books. We cover fantasy, historical fiction, mystery, thriller, contemporary, sports, romance, science fiction, dystopian, and post-apocalyptic. And this is all within the scope of books that I wanted to read just because and not because they’re diverse. These all have characters that I fell in love with because they feel real and come alive off the page…not because they’re different…from me, from each other, from the “norm” (whatever that is). So see…books are diverse by nature. These are ten books that I really enjoyed that don’t celebrate diversity.

What books have you love that have NOTHING to do with diversity? Let me know!

Finding Mr. Brightside - Review

Finding Mr. Brightside

By: Jay Clark

Expected Publication: March 24th 2015 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

288 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--Abram and Juliette know each other. They’ve lived down the street from each other their whole lives. But they don’t really know each other—at least, not until Juliette’s mom and Abram’s dad have a torrid affair that culminates in a deadly car crash. The funeral is uncomfortable, to say the least. They don’t speak.

Fast forward to the neighborhood pharmacy, a few months later. Abram is on Paxil. Juliette is on Adderall. Abram decides to say hello. Then he decides to invite her to Taco Bell. To both of their surprise, she agrees. And the real love story begins.

I’m not really sure why, but I didn’t have high expectations for this book when I started it (in November 2014). There really is no good reason why. Maybe just because I wasn’t familiar with the author? I’m not sure. Either way, I think having low expectations for Finding Mr. Brightside turned out to be a good thing for me because I was so pleasantly surprised with this book, the writing, the characters, the story, all of it. And since I read it months ago, I'm really excited to finally get to share my thoughts with you.

As the description says, Abram and Juliette have known each other for a really long time. I mean they go to school together, have classes together, but it’s not like they speak or hang out or anything. It’s just one of those “I know you, you know me” type of relationships. But Abram’s father and Juliette’s mother have been having an affair. One day they’re involved in a car accident which kills both Abram’s father and Juliette’s mother, and thus both families and the world is exposed to this affair which leaves Abram and Juliette in a really awkward situation.

I love how Abram has been intrigued by Juliette for a really long time. He just thinks that they should be friends. And so one day after being slightly stalker like, he runs into her in the pharmacy where they’re both getting their prescriptions filled. Abram’s on Paxil for depression, and Juliette is addicted to Adderall, which we learn was first given to her by her mother before she passed and Juliette’s been faking ADHD symptoms ever since in order to continue to receive her prescription. And truthfully I loved seeing this side of a prescription drug addiction story. I’ve read drug addiction stories before, but I’ve never read one that came at the subject from this angle. It felt very real and authentic especially as I know someone that takes Adderall for ADHD symptoms. This was an enlightening read from that perspective for me.

But I also just genuinely liked these characters. Juliette is so rough around the edges. She’s a hurt, grieving, angry, broken girl. And so she’s a bit of a negative energy. Yet she wasn’t unlikeable because of that. She just took a really long time to trust others, Abram included. Abram is kind of the opposite. He’s such a positive guy, especially considering the revelation of his father’s unfaithfulness and even while grieving his death. It was so refreshing to see him be open to Juliette and to life in general. I loved his efforts to pull Juliette out of her negative space and back into a much more happy and bright world—he’s Mr. Brightside. And I loved this aspect because I feel like Husband has been my Mr. Brightside as well. Even when our stories don’t relate to Abram and Juliette, I just love being able to see our relationship in some way or other reflected in other characters.

Along with Juliette and Abram themselves, I really adored Abram’s mom and even Juliette’s quirky father. Plus the neighbors, Terry & Linda. Easily likeable characters that really fit into the story and help Abram and Juliette grow and move forward.

Jay Clark’s writes from both Abram and Juliette’s perspectives, and I absolutely enjoyed how distinct their voices were. Just as distinct as the characters are, from positive to negative, and from open to closed off. It made connecting to the characters so much easier.

My favorite quotes:

-Okay, enough. I’m not going to be the girl who pulls him up by the straps of his flip-flops, prunes his scraggly sideburns with a pair of nose-hair trimmers, and transforms him into four-year-college-material.

-You’re never too young to feel disappointed in your parents.

-I pick up a slinky black dress. The Chanel label I was once so enamored of seems so silly and pointless now. Just a word on a thing.

-It’s easy to be an amazing, sexy version of yourself for two-hour stretches, especially around someone who doesn’t have to live with you.

-He has a knack for sucking up all the toxic energy I bring to a room.

-“If we ever do meet, I don’t want to feel sorry for her hair the whole time.”

-“I’ll go to class if you hold my hand there,” he bargains, once again forgetting to include what’s in it for me.

-I like the way he says the wrong thing sometimes.

-…she removes a huge canister of sunscreen from an elephantine purse that rivals mine is size. I want to ask where one can purchase such a tote monster, but I don’t, because now we’re unspoken purse rivals.

-Between the Janette encounter, the girl talk with Linda, the Adderall she probably took afterward to make herself feel back in control of the situation, and the creepy master-bedroom setting she’s using to unnecessarily torture herself, it’s too much about everything else, not enough about us.

Finding Mr. Brightside was an unexpected gem. I loved the characters. I loved the writing. I actually chuckled out loud once while reading. I very much enjoyed the story as a whole and the unique look into prescription drug use. Over all Finding Mr. Brightside gets 4 Stars from me. Have you read Finding Mr. Brightside? What did you think? Let me know!