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!

Pull - Review

Pull (Push, # 2)

By: Claire Wallis

Expected Publication: November 6th 2014

240 pages

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary, Suspense, Mystery

Source: Author (Thank you!!)

( Goodreads | Amazon $2.99 )

*Note: The above link to Amazon is an affiliate link. Affiliate links support giveaway for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Description--***PULL is the continuation of Claire Wallis' sharp and shocking debut novel, PUSH. It is the second book in the series and is not intended to be a standalone.***

"It is impossible for someone like me—someone with a sin-list capable of wrapping itself around the world—to find redemption. To be repaired."

David Calgaro has secrets, and the only woman he's ever loved is about to pay the ultimate price to protect them. He's spent a lifetime searching for purpose and control. And the only place he's managed to find them is in a single, perfect moment; a moment in which he has absolute control over someone else's life.

David is unredeemable, unfixable, unsalvageable. But Emma Searfoss has forced a tiny sliver of hope to penetrate his soul. Hope that, even though redemption is impossible, maybe life isn't. Maybe he isn't who he thought he was. Maybe he's meant to be more.

This is a new adult novel with mature content for readers 17 and up.

***Please don’t read further if you’ve not read PUSH by Claire Wallis.***

Pull is a book that I have been EAGERLY awaiting since April of this year. I read Push by Claire Wallis in April and was so happy with the experience. Push was so much more than I expected it to be when I read the description on NetGalley and decided to take a chance and request it. I’m so glad that I did. Those who’ve read Push know what a massive cliffhanger bridge-jumper Claire Wallis left us hanging with. Apparently there’s a whole class of readers that hate cliffhangers, but I’m not one of them. Cliffhangers just make me that much more anxious to continue with a series. And man, I would have been angry had Pull not been written. I still would have thought Push was a good book. So all of that just means I was anxious to get my hands on Pull and find out what happens next to Emma and David.

I wasn’t sure how Emma and David would move forward from that epic end to Push. How can a girl allow herself to be talked into jumping off a bridge, realizing that she’s not the first girl to be put in this exact same situation, continue a relationship with the guy who talked her right off the bridge? How in the world would they move forward? How would David redeem himself? But I really think Claire Wallis handled this brilliantly. Essentially, we get more information at the beginning of Pull that we didn’t have with the end of Push. I didn’t remember all the details of Push that I wish I did. A re-read before starting Pull might have been better for me, but I just couldn’t wait to find out what happens next.

Pull really comes down to just that….redemption, forgiveness, compassion. Is it possible for David to be redeemed? A guy who either talked or pushed multiple girls to their deaths. Is it possible for him to find forgiveness? Is it possible for him to be worth redemption? And if so…how? Obviously, there is no doubt that David has done some terrible things.

In Push periodically there would be a flashback narrated by one of the girls that David dated, but in Pull we get these events from David’s perspective. We also get some general flashbacks of David’s life since his mother’s suicide. I always kind of sigh when I get to these because jumps in chronology aren’t really my favorite, but Claire Wallis did me a solid in keeping these sections fairly short. I never felt like putting the book down because I knew I would read through those sections fairly quickly. In addition to the flashbacks, we also have a new narrator. Both Emma and David narrate in Pull, like Push, but Matt also narrates. I wasn’t sure in the beginning what that would mean for the story, but Matt offers a unique perspective of at least two crucial events.

I never had a problem connecting to David in Push. I paid particular attention to the wording Claire Wallis used in the flashbacks versus events in the present with Emma, and it was easy to see that things with Emma were different for David. But because Pull exposes David’s thoughts during the past, I found myself understanding him even more. Obviously, I don’t agree with his coping mechanisms. Bad crap happens to people daily, and you can’t go pushing people off bridges to make yourself feel better, but David was a more complex character than I think I even realized while reading Push.

Since I said Pull is a story about redemption and whether it’s possible or not even though Emma was such a large part of this story, Pull is about David. Really the whole series might be. I loved Emma though. She’s so confident in herself, in David, and in their relationship. It’s such a different place than I expected her to be in considering the ending of Push. I loved seeing her step up and take the control that David cherishes so much away from him.

I don’t want to spoil even the slightest bit of this experience for any reader. I highly recommend these two books. But 90% of what I want to talk about revolves around the ending of Pull. Claire Wallis has a thing for endings man. I’m not sure that readers everywhere will love how David and Emma’s story wraps up. But I personally feel like this was the best—and only—possible ending to David and Emma’s story.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t draw attention to the warning in the description. Both Push and Pull have no lack of f-bombs as well as physical situations. I almost feel like Push had the more graphic scenes out of both books. So if Push didn’t bother your comfort level then you should be good to go on Pull as well.

I’m so glad that Claire Wallis, the Push series, and David & Emma have come into my life. Pull easily gets 4 Stars from me. I can’t wait to read more from Claire Wallis in the future. Have you read Pull? What did you think? Let me know!

Cover Reveal - Pull by Claire Wallis

Pull (Push, # 2)

By: Claire Wallis

Expected Publication: November 6th 2014

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary, Suspense, Mystery

( Goodreads )

Description--***PULL is the continuation of Claire Wallis' sharp and shocking debut novel, PUSH. It is the second book in the series and is not intended to be a standalone.***

"It is impossible for someone like me—someone with a sin-list capable of wrapping itself around the world—to find redemption. To be repaired."

David Calgaro has secrets, and the only woman he's ever loved is about to pay the ultimate price to protect them. He's spent a lifetime searching for purpose and control. And the only place he's managed to find them is in a single, perfect moment; a moment in which he has absolute control over someone else's life.

David is unredeemable, unfixable, unsalvageable. But Emma Searfoss has forced a tiny sliver of hope to penetrate his soul. Hope that, even though redemption is impossible, maybe life isn't. Maybe he isn't who he thought he was. Maybe he's meant to be more.

This is a new adult novel with mature content for readers 17 and up.

PULL will be available in digital format via Amazon, Nook, and iBooks on November 6th. Pre-Orders can be placed on Amazon as of Monday, October 20th.

You can sign up for Claire Wallis's newsletter where you can receive bonus book teasers, stories, and information about both PUSH and PULL. Also, check out her website: www.clairewallis.com.

And for kicks, here are a couple of teasers:

I read Push back in April of this year of and thoroughly enjoyed it. You can read my review of Push here. This book was so much more than I expected it to be, and I absolutely cannot wait to pick this series back up and see how everything ends. When Claire Wallis contacted me about being a part of the cover reveal for Pull, I jumped on the chance immediately. I hope that you guys will check out Push. It ends in a huge cliffhanger, but since Pull will release in exactly 4 weeks, you won't have too long of a wait because trust me, you WILL NEED to read Pull as soon as possible.

Have any of you read Push? What did you think? Aren't you dying to read Pull too? Let me know!