Top Ten Tuesday | Books on My TBR I’m Avoiding and Why

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!

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Salutations Chapterlings! I know, I know…it’s been a hot minute since a triple ‘T’ has made an appearance on this blog. To be honest, things have been a bit crazy over here and so I’ve been prioritizing other blog posts over others. However, this was the perfect opportunity to give you a little insight to my TBR cart and some of those books I’m avoiding. This week we’re all talking about the books we’re avoiding. We may be dodging these books because of the hype, maybe it’s the thickness of the book, or maybe you’ve become scared because someone you trust had a bad reading experience with that book. Whatever the reason, you’re about to find out some of mine and it feels like I’m showing the skeletons in my closet to you all.

Before I get into this list, know that some of these books have appeared on other lists. For example, Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor is on two or three lists now. Some of these books have a lot of my anxious energy surrounding them and while I may be excited to read them…I’m also dreading that moment immensely. Writing this was a challenge and taking time to truly admit that I have been keeping some of these books at arms length was so challenging to admit, especially admit openly to you, dear reader. So without any further delays and side comments, here are my top ten books I’m avoiding and pretending they don’t exist.

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🌻 Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Yes, Strange the Dreamer has found it’s way onto another one of my lists and it took me forever to admit I was dodging it. The shortest answer I can give to why it’s on this list is simply because I’ve been hearing so many mixed things. Honestly, that makes me nervous because most of those mixed answers are coming from friends who I trust very much. So, I’ve been avoiding it, but I truly want to read this book. I just never seem to be in a mindset for it or have the courage to try to push through it and read it.

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🌻 All of Us with Wings by Michelle Ruiz Keil

This was one of my anticipated books of 2019. However, this book has been put in a very negative light by friends I trust and by those who have ‘dnfed’ this book in less than 50% of the way through. And since they know me fairly well, I haven’t touched this book since I got it. But mostly, I’m heartbroken over this book even more so since I was really looking forward to reading this book at first.

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🌻 Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Honestly, I think the hype around this trilogy just has me in a mental state of fearing I won’t love it like everyone else does and I don’t want to let a lot of my friends down who really love this trilogy.

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🌻 Stain by A. G. Howard

Okay, so I know I said I really want to read this by the end of the year. However… my experience with the first book of the Splintered series (and my first A. G. Howard book) left me feeling conflicted. So that has been at the back of my mind since I bought this book. I’m hoping I get the courage to read it though because it is a Princess and the Pea retelling.

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🌻 Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

If you haven’t seen this book then let me put things bluntly… This boy is THICC! I love a good fantasy read, but a book that’s almost a thousand pages, that’s a lot and it’s intimidating. I haven’t read books that thick since The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini and even then I don’t think they were this thick!

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🌻 The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

Yes this book is making an appearance! Now before you come after me, everyone I know who has read this has either hated it or ‘dnf’ the book OR they fell madly in love with it. I’ve heard mostly negative things about it over the positive, but either way, it has me nervous to pick this book up.

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🌻 A Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Now, I’m sure you have asked yourself why this is on this list. Well here’s the thing, I’m worried that I will love this book so much that once I fall back into my reading slump and that it will be nearly impossible to climb out of it, if ever again. So I’m dodging it like the plague. But it keep taunting me, begging to be picked up. The struggle is very hard.

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🌻 Eragon (The Inheritance Cycle #1) by Christopher Paolini

Well at this point you’re probably wondering what the hell I’m doing. And this is simple… I love this series so much that I want to do a reread of the whole series. However, my biggest fear is that if I reread this series then I’m not going to love it as much as I did back in middle school. This is one of those series that’s a piece of me and my reading journey and I don’t know if I could handle anything causing me to love it less. So I’ve been refusing to reread the series even if I desperately want to.

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🌻 The Nanny by Gilly Macmillan

So I actually started reading an arc of this book and actually got half way through… and then I ‘dnf’ the book. At some point I will read this book, but the way this book is written, it is an immense struggle and I usually avoid books that are written this way. And if you have an arc copy of this book then you know exactly what I’m talking about.

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🌻 Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

It was very hard to put this book on this list, but two factors played into making this choice. One, my relationship with The Shadow and Bone trilogy just didn’t happen. It’s nonexistent. I read the first book and never finished the other two. And secondly, the hype around this book is incredibly intense. That kind of hype is a lot of pressure and it definitely makes me weary to go into a book, more specifically this book. I want to read this book so badly, but ever fiber in my body is saying, “Not today Satan!”

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Okay, friends! Those are just ten of the books that I’m avoiding. If I’m being truly honest, I’ve been in a weird reading slump and my reading taste has been all over the place. However, these books are ten out of fifteen books that I’m avoiding because of hype, thickness, or the writing style. But please let me know in the comments below if there’s any books you’re currently avoiding! And as usual, may September be a month full of five star reads, I love you! ❤️

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