Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and The Bookish, and feature lists related to all things bookish–characters, authors, titles, and favorites. They’re an excellent way to find new interesting books on a variety of topics, and to find bloggers that love the books you do.
Check out their blog for their top ten and lists of other bloggers who participate!
February 7: Top Ten Books I Wish Had (More/Less) X In Them (the original idea came from Andi who suggested top ten books I wish had more kissing which I thought could be fun but also realize it might not be everyone’s thing! Could also be top ten books I wish had more diversity in them or top ten books I wish had less violence in them or less romance focus in them or top ten books I wish had more dragons in them. IDK! Have some fun with this one!)
Because it’s almost Valentines, I like the kissing suggestion. Here’s my Top Ten Books I wish Had More/ Less Kissing.
More
1. The Hob’s Bargain; Patricia Briggs. A woman agrees to marry a kind of forest spirit to save her town. It’s a slow building relationship, and it works, but I always wanted a tiny bit more, to know that it would actually work.
2. The Burning Page; Genevieve Cogman. Librarians travel to alternate worlds to save rare books. There’s just a few hints–I could use a little more.
3. Jane Eyre; Charlotte Bronte. A governess in a very secretive household. Not really more kissing, per se, but more of a sense of attraction.
4. Grave Sight; Charlaine Harris. A lightning-struck woman can find the dead. There’s just a little more romance that could be in all of these books.
5. Anna and The French Kiss; Stephanie Perkins. Anna travels… and meets people. There’s a block to the kissing that I wish went away sooner, so there could be kissing.
Less
6. Bridget Jones’ Diary; Helen Fielding. I would like Bridget a little more if she was less obsessed with men–though she’s still a hilarious disaster as is.
7. Outlander; Diana Gabaldon. Time travel. I find a lot of the physical side of things in this book… too much. I know it’s popular, but I couldn’t get into it.
8. The Fault in Our Stars; John Green. Tear-jerker romance about teens who’ve survived cancer. It’s really just one scene that’s kind of awkward, but I could have done with less of it.
9. A Kiss of Shadows; Laurell Hamilton. An exiled fairie princess, with a dangerous court. Somewhere in this series, the story began wandering away from the plot for pages at a time.
10. Twilight; Stephanie Meyer. Sparkly vampires. There’s still some disturbing power dynamics, but a less quick start on the physical would help, maybe.
The whole Merry Gentry series is a delightful excuse for pages of hardcore adult ‘interactions’. lol.
Aghh, that reminds me, I have the first Invisible Library book checked out. I actually need to get around to reading it!! My TTT
I suppose it’s just that I got into the series expecting it to be urban fantasy, and it kind of was for a while… and then it wasn’t. Might as well adjust my expectations!
Yes, you should read it! 🙂
I totally agree on Twilight. When I first read it I was in high school and I didn’t mind so much, but thinking back on it later I realized it could have had a bit broader appeal if it didn’t focus so much on the so-called all-consuming love between Bella and Edward.
Great list! 🙂
I think that book has a very specific target, and it seems to do its job of appealing to them!
Yes! 13 year me loved it and 18 year old me rolls eyes at it.
I would actually say less kissing in Anna and the French Kiss! But then again, I didn’t like their romance since she basically went after a guy with a girlfriend.
My TTT.
That’s what I meant–I would have enjoyed the book better if he had broken up with the girlfriend soon after the book started.
Ah, sorry. Totally read it wrong!
I tend to be really concise when I write TTT posts sometimes. It happens! 🙂
Outlander is one of my favorite series of all time, but hoo boy is there a lot of kissing. I’m glad they have such an intense physical relationship because it does actually bring more to the story, but we don’t need THAT much description, y’know?
My TTT!
I suppose someone wants that make description, but that someone isn’t me!
I always felt the lack of chemistry between Jane and Rochester had been one of the major reasons I couldn’t get into Jane Eyre, so yeah, I agree that there could have been more attraction between the two.
Right?