Top Ten Fantasy Books I Can't Believe I Haven't Read Yet

Top 10 Tuesday is a post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and this week's topic is Top Ten Fantasy Books I Can't Believe I Haven't Read Yet.

I was specifically focusing on paranormal and zombie type fantasy books.

1. The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman (changing this soon I hope)
2. Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnish
3. Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter
4. The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski
5. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
6. Inhuman by Kat Fells
7. Enclave by Ann Aguirre
8. The First Days by Rhiannon Frater
9. Rapture by Phillip W Simpson
10. Zombie Fallout by Mark Tufo
11. Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
12. Legend by Marie Lu

Seriously! How have I not read these books yet? It simply comes down to not having enough time. What are the fantasy books you can't believe you haven't read yet?

Rowdy - Review

Rowdy (Marked Men, # 5)

By: Jay Crownover

Published: October 21st 2014 by William Morrow Paperbacks

400 pages

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary

Source: Personal Kindle Library

( 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--After the only girl he ever loved told him he would never be enough, Rowdy St. James knocked the Texas dust off his boots and decided he was going to do everything in his power to live up to his nickname. Life was all about a good time, good friends and never taking much too seriously. Rowdy learned his lesson early on, when you care that much about anything it can destroy you, and he never wants to risk feeling like that again. Only now he has a new coworker, a ghost from the past who’s making him question every lesson he ever learned.

Salem Cruz grew up in a house with too many rules, too many regulations, and no fun allowed. That never worked for her so she left it all behind as soon as she could, but she never forgot the sweet, blue-eyed boy next door who’d been in love with her little sister. Fate and good intentions from an old friend have placed her right in Rowdy’s path and she’s determined to show him he picked the wrong sister all those years ago. A mission that is going along perfectly until the one person that ties them together shows up and could very well tear them back.

Man I get sucked into these books. I love how different the Marked Men are from a lot of the leading male characters from most mainstream YA books. Granted, the Marked Men series is technically new adult. But still. These men are covered in tattoos, sometimes piercings. They each have their own style, as do the female characters that they’ve paired off with. Rule has a mowhawk that he’s prone to dying it any and every color. He’s tattooed and pierced. Shaw is more classy, or has been. But she rocks a unique hair style and a couple of piercings herself. Jet wears tight jeans and is into super heavy metal music. Ayden is prone to wearing cowgirl boots. Rome is a huge military man, but isn’t pierced or tattooed. Cora is tiny, described as pixie-like and tattooed and pierced as well. Nash has flames tattooed on his skull. Saint is a nurse and is pretty tame. Rowdy rocks an old school, classic look, but is covered in tattoos and has a couple of piercings himself. And then Salem seems very pinup. With styled hair, perfect makeup, and bright red lips—also sporting both tattoos and piercings as well. And then Asa is blonde with a huge Southern drawl. We don’t know much about whether he’s tattooed or pierced yet, but we will find out for sure. Finally Royal is red headed and in crazy good physical shape. I love how they all fit into on cohesive group, but yet they’re all distinct individuals as well.

Rowdy is a character that I’ve been intrigued by since Rule. He’s been the voice of reason several times over the past four books, and I was sure that there would be more going on below the surface than it seemed. I’m glad to have finally gotten his story. And Salem fits him so well.

Can I just take a minute to say that I don’t love this cover. Or well I’ve struggled with all the covers minus Jet. I’m sure it’s like next to impossible to find a cover model that already has Rowdy’s hair color, style, etc, but also has legit tattoos. But this is one of those times when I really wish the model matched the description a bit better. Rowdy has blonde hair styled in a pompadour (which this model does have the style, but not the color). But he also has an anchor tattooed on his neck. And so yeah, finding a blonde guy who rocks a pompadour to be a cover model would be difficult, but then to get him covered in specific tattoos would have required a bit more work, but how hard would it have been to get a fake anchor tattoo mocked up and put on this cover model? I don’t know. It was just a bit of a letdown. Rule, Jet, and Rowdy have the more attractive physical description for me personally out of the group, so I would have liked this model to fit Rowdy’s description better is all.

As far as the plot goes, nothing about Rowdy really surprised me. The twists and surprises were a bit obvious to me. The conflict was fairly predictable, but I do have to give Jay Crownover props because Rowdy had the potential to have some extremely frustrating conflict had the characters behaved in a way that I feared they might. Kudos for not including that mess in the book. I’m glad that even though the conflict was a bit predictable that it didn’t go down a path that would have had me banging my head against the wall as new adult books sometimes can. Included with the predictability of this book, there were a few clichés that did cause a few eye rolls. Of course, Salem’s dad would be a kooky “Christian”…because non-kooky Christians don’t exists right? *HUGE EYE ROLL* Though I will say, that I enjoyed Rowdy’s belief in things always happening for a reason. While I don’t see how it’s any more believable to some people to credit “fate” over an omnipotent being like God for things like that, I did enjoy that Rowdy has a spiritual side.

As always, Jay Crownover begins to weave the next book, Asa into this story. I love how she chooses to do that because it totally ramps me up for the next book. When I first heard that Asa was getting his own book, I wasn’t even sure why, but now I know. And I’m totally in. He’s probably my least favorite character of the series, but that’s okay. I’m expecting good things from him, especially considering who he’s paired with. I really wish that Jay Crownover would just keep writing in this series forever. I never want her to leave these characters. With every new character introduced in each passing book I wonder “will this character get their own book?” And the answer each time for me is “I HOPE SO!”

Even though Rowdy was predictable all around for me, I still love this series. I get sucked in every stinking time. I love being able to see the growth in Jay Crownover’s writing over the course of this series. And to that point, I picked up a book by a debut author right after finishing Rowdy and was immediately struck with a contrast in the writing maturity. Jay Crownover has a smooth writing style. It’s not what I would call “beautiful” or “poetic”, but it is most definitely easy to read and gripping. Rowdy gets 4 Stars from me. Have you read Rowdy? What did you think? Let me know!

Sunday Post - 134 & Stacking the Shelves - 95

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ The Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~this meme was inspired in part by ~ In My Mailbox~ It's a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

It is February! This was a busy and fast week. Friday night we went to my parents' to celebrate my mom's birthday. My brother ended up playing the guitar and several of us sat around and sang along. We haven't done that in years. It was a really great night. Saturday was my mom's actual birthday. I spent the entire day cleaning house. Since last Saturday I spent all day reading and since I actually finished 4 books this past week, I knew I needed to spend some time on real life responsibilities. It happens, right?

THIS PAST WEEK:

Sunday: 2015 Series Enders Reading Challenge - January Wrap Up
Monday: Review of Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy, # 1) by Pierce Brown (4.5 Stars)
Tuesday: Top Ten Books If I Had a Book Club
Wednesday: Waiting on Paradise City (Paradise, # 1) by CJ Duggan
Thursday: Review of An Endless Summer (Summer, # 2) by CJ Duggan (4 Stars)
Friday: Review of Top Secret Twenty-One (Stephanie Plum, # 21) by Janet Evanovich (3 Stars)
Saturday: Discussions Only We Know: Family Friendly

UPCOMING THIS WEEK:

Monday: Review of Rowdy (Marked Men, # 5) by Jay Crownover
Tuesday: Top Ten Tuesday
Wednesday: Waiting on Wednesday
Thursday: Review of Beautiful Oblivion (The Maddox Brothers, # 1) by Jamie McGuire
Friday: Upon Further Review: Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin, # 1) by Robin LaFevers
Saturday: Discussions Only We Know: Moral Standard

Don’t forget to sign up for the 2015 Series Enders Reading Challenge! You have until December 15, 2015 to sign up. Each month there will be a giveaway for those participating with an end of the year giveaway too! Click on the picture below or the link above to find out more!

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

Beautiful Redemption (The Maddox Brothers, # 2)

By: Jamie McGuire

Published: January 27th 2015 by CreateSpace Independent Publishing

260 pages

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary

( 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--No-nonsense Liis Lindy is an agent of the FBI. Deciding she is married only to her job, she breaks off her engagement and transfers from Chicago to the field office in San Diego. She loves her desk. She is committed to her laptop. She dreams of promotions and shaking hands with the director after cracking an impossible case.

Special Agent in Charge Thomas Maddox is arrogant, unforgiving, and ruthless. He is tasked with putting away some of the world’s toughest criminals, and he is one of the best the Bureau has to offer. Though, as many lives as he’s saved, there is one that is beyond his reach. Younger brother Travis is faced with prison time for his involvement in a basement fire that killed dozens of college students, and the media want a conviction. Travis’s only savior is his unusual tie to the mob. In a deal that will spare his brother, Thomas has agreed to recruit Travis into the FBI.

Liis is stubborn, defiant, and yet somehow softens Thomas’s rough edges, making her the perfect agent to accompany him to the ceremony. Posing as a couple, they must travel to Travis & Abby’s beach vow renewal and give him the news, but when the pretending ends, she finds herself wondering if they were pretending at all.

In the second installment of the Maddox Brothers books, experience firsthand the mysterious world of the elusive Thomas Maddox, and how good love can be when you’re not the first, but the last.

That One Summer (Summer, # 3)

By: CJ Duggan

Published: December 14th 2013 by Amazon Digital Services

349 pages

Genre: Young Adult, New Adult, Contemporary

Source: Personal Kindle Library

( 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--Loving Chris Henderson would be wrong. Diabolically disastrous. I mean, what is there about him to love? He’s moody, bossy, brooding, a control freak, and that’s on a good day … but there was one achingly obvious fact that haunted my every thought, every minute of every day …

He sure could kiss.

As the countdown to the new millennium begins, there is one thing everyone agrees on: no one wants to be in Onslow for New Year’s Eve.

So that can only mean one thing: road trip!

No longer the mousey, invisible, shy girl from years ago, Tammy Maskala is finally making up for all those lost summers. A new year with new friends, which astoundingly includes the bossy boy behind the bar, Chris Henderson.

She likes her new friends (at least most of them), so why does she secretly feel so out of place?

After chickening out on the trip, a last-minute change of heart sees Tammy racing to the Onslow Hotel, fearing she’s missed her chance for a ride. The last thing she expected to meet was a less-than-happy Onslow Boy leaning against his black panel van.

Now the countdown begins to reach the others at Point Shank before the party is over and the new year has begun. Alone in a car with only the infuriating Chris Henderson, Tammy can’t help but feel this is a disastrous start to what could have been a great adventure. But when the awkward road trip takes an unexpected turn, Tammy soon discovers that the way her traitorous heart feels about Chris is the biggest disaster of all.

Fogged up windows, moonlight swimming, bad karaoke and unearthed secrets; after this one summer nothing will ever be the same again.

All Lined Up (Rusk University, # 1)

By: Cora Carmack

Published: May 13th 2014 by William Morrow Paperbacks

320 pages

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary

Source: Personal Kindle Library

( 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--New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cora Carmack follows up her trio of hits—Losing It, Faking It, and Finding It—with this thrilling first novel in an explosive series bursting with the Texas flavor, edge, and steamy romance of Friday Night Lights.

In Texas, two things are cherished above all else—football and gossip. My life has always been ruled by both.

Dallas Cole loathes football. That's what happens when you spend your whole childhood coming in second to a sport. College is her time to step out of the bleachers, and put the playing field (and the players) in her past.

But life doesn't always go as planned. As if going to the same college as her football star ex wasn’t bad enough, her father, a Texas high school coaching phenom, has decided to make the jump to college ball… as the new head coach at Rusk University. Dallas finds herself in the shadows of her father and football all over again.

Carson McClain is determined to go from second-string quarterback to the starting line-up. He needs the scholarship and the future that football provides. But when a beautiful redhead literally falls into his life, his focus is more than tested. It's obliterated.

Dallas doesn't know Carson is on the team. Carson doesn't know that Dallas is his new coach's daughter.

And neither of them know how to walk away from the attraction they feel.

All Broke Down (Rusk University, # 2)

By: Cora Carmack

Published: October 28th 2014 by William Morrow Paperbacks

368 pages

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary

Source: Personal Kindle Library

( 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--In this second book in New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cora Carmack s New Adult, Texas-set Rusk University series, which began with All Lined Up, a young woman discovers that you can't only fight for what you believe in... sometimes you have to fight for what you love.

Dylan fights for lost causes. Probably because she used to be one.

Environmental issues, civil rights, corrupt corporations, and politicians you name it, she's probably been involved in a protest. When her latest cause lands her in jail overnight, she meets Silas Moore. He's in for a different kind of fighting. And though he's arrogant and infuriating, she can't help being fascinated with him. Yet another lost cause.

Football and trouble are the only things that have ever come naturally to Silas. And it's trouble that lands him in a cell next to do-gooder Dylan. He's met girls like her before fixers, he calls them, desperate to heal the damage and make him into their ideal boyfriend. But he doesn't think he's broken, and he definitely doesn't need a girlfriend trying to change him. Until, that is, his anger issues and rash decisions threaten the only thing he really cares about: his spot on the Rusk University football team. Dylan might just be the perfect girl to help.

Because Silas Moore needs some fixing after all.

Carter's Big Break (Carter Finally Gets It, # 2)

By: Brent Crawford

Published: June 1st 2010 by Disney-Hyperion (first published May 13th 2010)

240 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Humor, Realistic Fiction

Source: Borrowed from library

( 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--After surviving freshman year (just barely), Carter is craving his summer break. Unfortunately, when he and his girlfriend, Abby, part ways, it looks as though summer just might break him. Things start to look up when he's unexpectedly cast in an independent film opposite the world's biggest tween sensation, Hilary Idaho. With Hollywood knocking on his door, Carter gets a taste of the good life. But as the film spirals out of control, he begins to fear that he's not the "somebody" he thinks he is and more the "nobody" he's sure he always has been. Find out if Carter goes Hollywoodor Hollywood goes Carter.

That's it for my shelves and recaps of my past and upcoming week. What did you add to your shelves this week? Any bookish news you want to talk about? Let me know!

January 2015 EOM Wrap Up

I read 15 books. *These qualify for the 2015 Series Enders Reading Challenge.

Twice in a Blue Moon by Cate Masters
Mayhem (Mayhem, # 1) by Jamie Shaw
Things We Know by Heart by Jessi Kirby
The Secrets of Attraction by Robin Constantine
Never Never (Never Never, # 1) by Colleen Hoover & Tarryn Fisher
Top Secret Twenty-One (Stephanie Plum, # 21) by Janet Evanovich
Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin, # 1) by Robin LaFevers (re-read)
99 Days by Katie Cotugno
Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy, # 1) by Pierce Brown
Carter Finally Gets It (Carter Finally Gets It, # 1) by Brent Crawford (re-read)
Becoming Rain (Burying Water, # 2) by KA Tucker
*Until the End (Sea Breeze, # 9) by Abbi Glines (not pictured)
City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, # 3) by Cassandra Clare (re-read)
Beautiful Redemption (The Maddox Brothers, # 2) by Jamie McGuire
That One Summer (Summer, # 3) by CJ Duggan

I reviewed 15 books this month. *These qualify for the 2015 Series Enders Reading Challenge.

Believe (True Believers, # 3) by Erin McCarthy (Upon Further Review)
Ten Tiny Breaths (Ten Tiny Breaths, # 1) by KA Tucker (Upon Further Review)
Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry (Upon Further Review)
Even in Paradise by Chelsey Philpot
The Boys of Summer (Summer, # 1) by CJ Duggan
Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
Twice in a Blue Moon by Cate Masters
Mayhem (Mayhem, # 1) by Jamie Shaw
Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, # 1) by LM Montgomery
Never Never (Never Never, # 1) by Colleen Hoover & Tarryn Fisher
Out of Breath (Breathing, # 3) by Rebecca Donovan
Playing It Safe by Barbie Bohrman
Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy, # 1) by Pierce Brown
An Endless Summer (Summer, # 2) by CJ Duggan
Top Secret Twenty-One (Stephanie Plum, # 21) by Janet Evanovich

Other Posts:

Waiting on Never Never (Never Never, # 1) by Colleen Hoover & Tarryn Fisher
Waiting on Beautiful Redemption (The Maddox Brothers, # 2) by Jamie McGuire
Waiting on Riot (Mayhem, # 2) by Jamie Shaw
Waiting on Paradise City (Paradise, # 1) by CJ Duggan
Sunday Post - 130 & Stacking the Shelves - 91
Sunday Post - 131 & Stacking the Shelves - 92
Sunday Post - 132 & Stacking the Shelves – 93
Sunday Post - 133 & Stacking the Shelves - 94
Top Ten Inspirational Characters
Top Ten Books I've Had the Longest & Have Not Read
Top Ten Books If I Had a Book Club
Discussions Only We Know - Social Media Overload
Discussions Only We Know – Books on the Cheap
Discussions Only We Know – Citing Sources
Discussions Only We Know - Scheduling Posts
Discussions Only We Know – Family Friendly
2015 Series Enders Reading Challenge – January Wrap Up
EOY 2014 Wrap Up
EOY 2014 Book Survey

Goals:
I am on schedule with my daily Bible read.
I have read 15 out of 104 books for 2015.
I have read 1 out of 10-12 Series Enders.