First Ten Books I Ever Reviewed

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. This week's topic is First Ten Books I Ever Reviewed.

1. Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush, # 1) by Becca Fitzpatrick
2. Good to Great by Jim Collins
3. The Dark and Hollow Places (The Forest of Hands and Teeth, # 3) by Carrie Ryan
4. Crescendo (Hush, Hush, # 2) by Becca Fitzpatrick
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, # 4) by JK Rowling
6. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, # 5) by JK Rowling
7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, # 6) by JK Rowling
8. City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, # 4) by Cassandra Clare
9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, # 7) by JK Rowling - My only half decent review of the entire series.
10. Sea Change by Aimee Friedman

You guys it is almost embarrassing to even post these reviews. I had no idea what I was doing with reviewing a book. I didn't even know what I wanted my blog to be at that point. And I certainly didn't review ANY of the Harry Potter books (save MAYBE The Deathly Hallows) with any real skill or even worthy of the books or the series themselves. I've always intended to re-read and then update my reviews of the series but I just haven't yet. Which books were your first reviews? Let me know!

Ten Books I Read Because of the Book Cover

Top 10 Tuesday is a post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and this week's topic is Ten Books I Read Because of the Book Cover.

Most of these books ended up being 3 Stars or less. But a few turned out to be gold nuggets. I've since learned more about my reading preferences and to look deeper than a pretty cover.

1. The Sin Eater's Daughter (The Sin Eater's Daughter, # 1) by Melinda Salisbury
2. A Thousand Nights by EK Johnston
3. The Selection (The Selection, # 1) by Kiera Cass
4. Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, # 1) by Marissa Meyer
5. Need (Need, # 1) by Carrie Jones
6. Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely, # 1) by Melissa Marr
7. Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, # 1) by Maggie Stiefvater
8. Blue Bloods (Blue Bloods, # 1) by Melissa de la Cruz
9. Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush, # 1) by Becca Fitzpatrick
10. Sea Change by Aimee Friedman

Which books have you read based only on their covers? Which ones turned out to be great picks? And which ones were a waste of time? Let me know!

Sea Change - Review

Sea Change

By: Aimee Friedman

Published: June 1st 2009 by Point

292 pages

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Mermaids

Source: Personal Library

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository | Booksamillion.com )

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Goodreads description--Sixteen-year-old Miranda Merchant is great at science. . .and not so great with boys. After major drama with her boyfriend and (now ex) best friend, she's happy to spend the summer on small, mysterious Selkie Island, helping her mother sort out her late grandmother's estate.

There, Miranda finds new friends and an island with a mysterious, mystical history, presenting her with facts her logical, scientific mind can't make sense of. She also meets Leo, who challenges everything she thought she knew about boys, friendship. . .and reality.

Is Leo hiding something? Or is he something that she never could have imagined?

Sorry I couldn't come up with a better name for this blog. Sea Change gets a 3 star rating. It wasn't bad by any means, but I just can't rate it the same as other books that I have enjoyed much more.

The main character is a science buff. Not being a science buff myself, I found this to be a bit annoying--I rather dislike science ALOT! However, I suspected that she would come to learn that science isn't the be-all-end-all considering the book has a supernatural twist like most of the other books I've been reading lately. I did like the way the character believes she knows what happens and she's figured out the supernatural twist, but the author never reveals a 100% truth on the character's beliefs and whether she is right or wrong.

There were also aspects of Miranda and her past that I think every teenage girl, and by default adult woman, can relate to. Who doesn't love that? Yet the thing from the Miranda's past that she was holding onto didn't seem as big as what some of the other characters I've been reading have had to deal with. While that may be true, this did seem more realistic than the things some of the other characters in other books have been dealing with.

Overall * * *.

*Updated: September 6, 2013