Top Ten Tuesday (20)

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I’d Play Hooky With

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. It’s awesome. Every Tuesday, the lovely folks over at The Broke and the Bookish post a top ten list topic so that book lovers like you and me can pour over our shelves and make our own lists. You can check out all the other Top Ten Tuesday‘s on their site!

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Playing hooky rocks my world, guys. Nice day, spring is springing or the beach is calling and BOOM! Mental health day. When I sat down to write this list, I couldn’t decide if I was going to pick books to reread on my hooky day or books that I want to just dive into and spend all day catching up on, so I did both. I’m a BIG rereader, guys, and I like my rereads to be mostly happy, fun, fast-paced kind of deals. So that’s mostly the rereads here. The new books here are bigger ones or books in big series that I WANT to start or continue. Basically, I think this list is made of win and awesome and I want to read all of these books now. Yay!

Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson. Can’t have hooky day without a road trip. It’s against all of my principles. Plus, this one has a killer romance, one of my all-time YA boyfriends, a main character who shares my name, and PLAYLISTS with music that is actually awesome and fun. YES TO ALL THIS. 

The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson. SIGH. I want to play hooky with this book mostly because I want to play hooky with Joe in Gram’s garden, playing music, wandering into the woods, writing poetry, and basically being NOCAL hippies, except cleaner and not smelling like patchouli. Everything about this book is beautiful to me, and even though it comes from a sad place, I always seem to think of it as being a happy-making book because it makes my heart big. Bat, bat, bat. 

Legend (Legend #1) by Marie Lu. I can seriously plow through this book in one day, the pace is so crazy and the characters are so complex and the action is so gripping. And let’s not short-change the world-building, either, which I think is solid here. LEGEND is one of my favorite dystopians. Day and June are such solid leads, I could read about them and their fledgling rebellion against the Republic any day. 

Clockwork Angel (Infernal Devices #1) by Cassandra Clare. So I haven’t started this series yet, but I have the first two books sitting here, waiting to be cracked open. I feel so left out when people are all “#TeamJem!! NO! #TeamWill!!” because I DON’T HAVE A TEAM. WAH! But seriously, it took me two tries to get into Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series, but once I did, I was in it to win it with all of her books. I love the sound of the historical fiction aspect of this series, and of course, the mythology. 

The Exiled Queen (Seven Realms #2) by Cinda Williams Chima. I literally just finished the first book in this series, THE DEMON KING, yesterday, and I can’t wait to get my grabby hands on books 2 and 3 so that I’m all caught up when book 4 comes out in October. This is some really solid high fantasy, friends, and it’s really hard to put down. Things left off at the end of book 1 with STUFF on the horizon, and I NEED to know what it is. 

Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols. So this one could basically stand in for any of Jennifer Echols’ romantic dramas, but if I’m being totally honest, this one is my favorite. I reread this one a lot, actually, because it’s quick, hot, fun, and has great characters and good drama. Also, GREAT sexytimes. Jennifer Echols was MADE for hooky days. 

Graceling (Seven Kingdoms #1) by Kristin Cashore. I was hoping to reread this book and FIRE before BITTERBLUE comes out in, oh, BARELY OVER ONE MONTH, but the odds, I fear, are not in my favor right now. I’d still play hooky with any of Kristin Cashore’s books because I think she’s BOSS and her books are just outstanding. 

Poison Study (Study #1) by Maria V. Snyder. This book is in my possession right now and I am chomping at the bit to read it. I keep hearing how it’s BANANAS fantasy with intrigue and drama and some MAJOR slow-burning romance. I love all of this. THEN! I saw someone compare GRAVE MERCY to this book, and I know that this is backwards of me since POISON STUDY came out first, but when I hear someone say, “This book reminded me of GRAVE MERCY,” I’m extra likely to check that book out. So. POISON STUDY + hooky day = time well spent, yes? 

Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig. I couldn’t pick just one of these books, guys (the 8th one in the main storyline just came out, plus there’s a Christmas book), except I probably wouldn’t reread THE SEDUCTION OF THE CRIMSON ROSE (the 4th one). Historical romances are some of my favorite books to read because they’re fun and dramatic and sexy and quick. The books in this series are all of my favorite things about this genre and so are hooky day MUSTS. 

An Echo in the Bone (Outlander #7) by Diana Gabaldon. Outlander is one of my very favorite series, guys, but I’ve been slacking something fierce on this most recent entry. And in truth, there’s NO WAY I could read it in one day. That’s pretty much impossible (the book’s ENORMOUS), but I want to read it so badly and I need some motivation. What better than a WHOLE DAY with nothing better to do, right? As long as I don’t get sucked in by one of these other books first.