TOP TEN TUESDAY
September 13, 2016
It’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the wonderful blog at The Broke and the Bookish! This week’s topic was all-time favorite X books and I chose My Ten Favorite Stand Alones
My natural inclination for this topic was to pick my favorite fantasy books since those are some of the books that I’m the most passionate about… But I looked at my list of favorites and couldn’t possibly choose ten so I opted for a topic that was a little less intimidating!
I read a LOT of series and sometimes it’s just really, really nice to have the “one and done” feeling of reading a book that stands on its own and doesn’t leave readers anticipating the rest of the series. I recently finished a book that I thought was a stand alone and then found out that it was a series the hard way… by finishing the book. Surprise! It wasn’t over. Sometimes I really just get a craving for a book with no other “strings” attached and I wanted to share some of my favorite stand alone novels today!
THE SCORPIO RACES by Maggie Stiefvater
I love THE SCORPIO RACES so much that I re-read it every year. It’s just such a beautiful book. Realistic with a historical feel and a touch of magic in the water horses. It’s definitely a slower pace — building characters, expanding setting, slow burn romance — and it’s so wonderful to watch it all come together.
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READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline
READY PLAYER ONE is SUCH a fun read. If you’re a gamer or obsessed with the 80s, this book will totally sink its claws into you. And if you’re not… it’s still a blast! I was born in the 80s so it was not my prime but I was still able to pick up on a lot of the pop culture and even the references that were lost on me were still fun. I’m not a gamer either but I loved the whole virtual reality aspect of the book and it’s just so well-written all around!
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ON THE FENCE by Kasie West
Kasie West is a contemporary romance queen and I will buy anything she writes! I first fell in love with her paranormal/sci-fi duology but I’ve easily fallen in love with every single one of her contemporary stand alones. Her latest book, P.S. I LIKE YOU, was a contender for my favorite Kasie West book but I think ON THE FENCE still takes the cake!
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THE LOVE THAT SPLIT THE WORLD by Emily Henry
I may be biased because it reminded me of childhood favorite WALK TWO MOONS, but I absolutely adored THE LOVE THAT SPLIT THE WORLD. Emily Henry’s writing is just so beautiful and moving and how can you resist a time travel/alt-universe romance? It’s too amazing.
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ELEANOR & PARK by Rainbow Rowell
Rainbow Rowell is an amazing writer and ELEANOR & PARK is still my favorite book of hers. All of her books are stand alones but this one probably wrenched the most feelings out of me and it’s such an amazing story!
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TIGER LILY by Jodi Lynn Anderson
I was a bit skeptical of TIGER LILY when I first picked it up since Peter Pan was never my favorite fairy tale or Disney movie, but Jodi Lynn Anderson does amazing things with this book! She really brings the world to life but mostly, she creates such amazing character relationships. Your heart will really go out to everyone in this book and that’s a magical feeling.
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THE SEA OF TRANQUILITY by Katja Millay
I’m still waiting for more books from Katja Millay (hopefully someday) because THE SEA OF TRANQUILITY was just too good to be her only book! Her writing is spectacular and what she can do with character interaction, story, and development is amazing. I fell in love with these characters. I felt for them. I wanted to hug them. This whole book was so beautiful.
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THE BOOK OF BROKEN HEARTS by Sarah Ockler
I still need to read more books from Sarah Ockler but oh, did THE BOOK OF BROKEN HEARTS just break my own heart. I love how much family is involved in this book because too often, parents are absent or the bad guys in YA novels. Jude’s family is wonderful and she’s going through a lot with (and without them). Plus the romance is totally swoony!
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DANGEROUS GIRLS by Abigail Haas
DANGEROUS GIRLS is kind of an under-the-radar thriller in general but has a huge support and fanclub within the book community. This book is suspenseful, mysterious, and has a killer ending. I read it in a single day because I truly could not put it down!
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OPEN ROAD SUMMER by Emery Lord
I still remember falling in love with Emery Lord’s books for the first time. Each one is just lovely but OPEN ROAD SUMMER is still my favorite. I love the summery feel, amazing friendship, and ultimate swoons! If you haven’t read any of Emery Lord’s books yet, you really must — and I recommend starting with OPEN ROAD SUMMER!
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10 thoughts on “Top Ten Tuesday – September 13, 2016: My Ten All-Time Favorite Stand Alone Novels”
I too enjoy stand alone novels, and feel too often “stuck” reading a series, especially when the further books in the series serve no purpose beyond the publisher trying to squeeze more out of an old idea. (This is how I feel about the later books in the Avalon series by Marion Zimmer Bradley. The first book was brilliant, but over time they just became more and more formulaic, as she tried to stretch the series.) Good list!
Okay, The Sea of Tranquility is one of my favorite books EVER!! I love that it is on your list because I just don’t hear people talk about it enough. I just read Tiger Lily and I kind of loved it. It did start out a bit slow, but I loved the world building. And considering the fact that I am not a huge science fiction fan, I can’t believe I loved Ready Player One. It was so good. Great list!
On The Fence, Ready Player One, and The Scorpio Reads are all definitely great standalones!
I’ve seen a lot of these titles but have yet to read any. But I started and never finished Dangerous Girls but I’m thinking I need to give it another try?
Loved so many of these standalones too, in particular scorpio races and dangerous girls!!! open road summer, sea of tranquility and ready player one — loved those too! The others are on my TBR… I mean to get to them someday!
I get tired of series sometimes. I feel like that’s all I ever read so this post was perfect for when I crAve a non series book. I haven’t read any of these …. Even though I know I own a few.
I love series, too, but I am SO bad at getting stuck in the middle of them. Standalones are a nice break from that! Kasie West’s novels are good “break” novels for me — I like to sandwich them between darker, heavier reads just to balance out my reading.
Happy TTT!
Yeah, we need more good standalone books for sure 😀 Thanks for the recommendations 😀 http://www.curious-daisy.com/top-ten-tuesday/top-10-all-time-favorite-books/
I looooove The Scorpio Races. What a beautifully written book that one is! You’ve actually made me want to go and reread it 😉 And I adore Open Road Summer. I reread snippets of that a lot, just because I think it’s so darn adorable! I still have to read Ready Player One, which sounds so, so good 🙂
Yes! There’s nothing worse than finishing a book thinking it’s a standalone and realizing there’s still a ton of story left to tell! I just did that with Replica. So frustrating. I love a bunch of the books on your list! I really need to read Dangerous Girls.