Top Ten Tuesday: Books to Read in a Day

Top Ten Tuesday is a weakly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  They love lists as much as I do, so it's only fair to tip my hat.

Some days are just better spent curled up with a book, and little else.  Here’s a list of books I’ve read recently in a single sitting and absolutely adored doing so!  They’re all fast, completely engrossing reads that I absolutely couldn't put down, and wouldn’t want to.  Pick one up on a day when you have no obligations, and I guarantee you won’t regret it!

I Hunt Killers – Barry Lyga
Reviewed here.  I Hunt Killers is a thriller—the kind you can’t put down.  Partially because you know you’ll have nightmares if you don’t get some kind of resolution before you try to sleep, and partially because you just can’t look away.  I ate this up this past week, and am ready to thrust it into so many people’s hands—particularly guy friends who would probably be more amenable to this than some paranormal romance or faery junk I’m usually thrusting at people.

Sloppy Firsts – Megan McCafferty
OMG you guys.  There is a reason so many people talk about this series.  I had written it off as shallow teen contemporary, and thank goodness I had to pick it up for book club.  I’m not going to lie, I read this one in two days.  And that was a HUGE mistake.  Because I literally could not sleep I was stressing out so much about Jessica Darling and Marcus Flutie.  Heck, I couldn’t sleep for stress after I finished.  I highly suggest when you pick up this book, you just go ahead and get the whole series on hand, because you will want to start Second Helpings the instant you finish Sloppy Firsts.  I wish with every fiber of my being that I had read this book in high school.

Fables: Homelands – Bill Willingham
Okay, I had to pick an exact trade to link to, so I picked this one, but really?  Anything in the Fables series belongs here.  One of my all-time favorite graphic series, and certainly my favorite still in publication.  Fables tells the story of all of the fairy tale and storybook characters we know after they have been exiled to our world running from an evil adversary.  If you love fairy tales, and/or retellings, this series is for you—even if you haven’t done graphic novels before!

Hex Hall – Rachel Hawkins
I have been so happy in the past few weeks to see some more people picking this series up since the final book, Spell Bound has been released (like Jasmine—welcome to the Rachel Hawkins loving club!).  I  can’t remember what made me pick this one up, I mean, the concept seemed so done with a witch going to supernatural reform school full with vamps and werewolves, and to be frank the title “Hex Hall” didn’t exactly instill confidence.  But boy was I right to give this one a chance, Hawkins is legit funny, very unique, and I lapped this one up in a sitting.

Radiant Shadows – Melissa Marr
Again, any book in the Wicked Lovely series (reviewed here) is a one-day read, but I’ve picked my favorite of the quintet, Radiant Shadows.  I love love love this YA urban fantasy series, which presents an unsurprisingly beautiful and dark portrayal of the fey.  While the books follow a tangential storyline, each book focuses on different characters, meaning for me that I got to continue the story without getting bored.  Love it!

Unearthly – Cynthia Hand
Reviewed here.  I don’t care if you’re sick of paranormal romance, this is one that’s worth on going back for.  Believe me girls, you will swoon.  I certainly did.  Sure, it takes place in my home state, so I’m biased, but two words: Tucker Avery.  Besides, Unearthly features Clara, a girl worth cheering for—she’s got background, she’s not afraid to go against…well…God to do what she thinks she must, and she has one of the best mother-daughter relationships this side of Gilmore Girls.

The Thief – Megan Whalen Turner
Reviewed here.  So…stick with this one.  Trust me.  It’s like you’re reading along, minding your own business, thinking ‘well this is a decent road-trip young young adult fantasy’ and then BAM!  You get hit with an awesome train, head on.  I loved this series so SO much—I gushed about it in reviews all throughout March.  Megan Whalen Turner transcends genres, and keeps readers on their toes, I couldn’t recommend it more to any fantasy reader.

Cinder – Marissa Meyer
Reviewed here.  I know, I know, you’ve heard of this one a lot this year.  Any you know why?  Because it was AWESOME.  I sat down to ‘start’ this one day, and before I knew it it was quite late at night, and I had hit the last page.  This is such a well-done futuristic retelling of Cinderella.  If you like fairy tales and sci fi, you will love Cinder.  The only problem with this one?  The fact that we have to wait till 2013 for the next installment.

Scarlet – A.C. Gaughen
Reviewed here.  Talk about damned good retellings!  This was such a cool and unique twist on Robin Hood, that I couldn’t help but fall head over heels and devour it.  I was actually kind of sad about how fast this one went by, I could have kept going for some time.  A story where Will Scarlet is really a chick?!  Seriously, sign yourself up for that.

The Iron King – Julie Kagawa
Okay, so, I just got through The Iron Daughter this weekend and performed so many facepalms for the duration my lifeline may permanently be engraved in my forehead, but The Iron King?  Totally a breeze.  I found this to be one of the most engrossing books I’d picked up this year and I thoroughly enjoyed Julie Kagawa’s play on fey mythos.