Top Ten Tuesday | Books I Loved, But didn’t Review

By Birdie

I review everything I read.

Each book I pick up is content to me, so it only makes sense that I should write a review after a book, even if it’s only a few paragraphs. One, I get to share it somewhere online, and its also a form of thought storage.

So, except for novella’s, I reveiw everything. I had to reach far back, back to my childhood, for some of these. Books I love, and own, and have never really reviewed them anywhere.

I wonder if any of these are surprising…

1. Outlander

by Diana Gabaldon

I’ve read this book so many times. So many. I talk about it a LOT. Yet, I’ve never reviewed it. I haven’t even really reviewed it on Goodreads. It’s too much, too monumental a part of my life, to even attempt a review. Goodreads says:

I have nothing to say, because anyone who’s reading this review knows how I feel about this book.

Someday the epitaph on my grave will read, “Here lies Wendy, she lived and breathed Outlander.”

2. Into the Winderness

by Sara Donati

I read Into the Wilderness for the first time because of that quote on the cover. The one from Diana Gabaldon. I read it many times after because of a cameo by Jamie and Clair. I still love this book, but I haven’t read it since I heard Sara Donati called Gabaldon fans rabid…
just because it’s truth doesn’t mean we want to hear it.

3. Heavan

by V.C. Andrews

The world loves Flowers in the Attic. I believe Flowers is VC Andrew’s most popular book. I really liked that one too, but for me it was all about Heaven and her family of hillfolk. I would stare at this picture every single time I read this book, but in awe, and in affection… oddly enough.

4. The Secret Circle: The Initiation

by L.J. Smith

I was obsessed with Witches when I was young. Not the traditional pointy hat, wart nose, green faced witches. I loved the earth based witches who did incantations to goddesses, and practiced magic with candles and stones. That love of all things witchy started with this series by the author of Vampire Diaries.
While every other young girl was daydreaming about Damon and Stephan (yep, the same ones from TV), I had a thing for Nick in the Circle.

5. Hard Times

by Cara McKenna

I honestly have no idea why I never reviewed this. Before Goodreads I had no idea who Cara McKenna was, so this is one that I read when I was regularly reviewing. I broke my own rule, because I loved this romance.

6. Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles

by Margaret George

I had a mad love for huge doorstop historical fiction at one point. My favorite author was Margaret George. However, the one that stayed with me the longest was this one. Not only was the story so… detailed, but the ending was so tragic. It’s exactly what I used to devour, and exactly what I now stay far away from.

7. Comes the Blind Fury

by John Saul

John Saul. How I loved John Saul. Comes the Blind Fury was the first Saul horror novel I read, and it was my favorite, but it launched a rabid binge of a lot of his books. Now, today, I can’t find any of them. If it weren’t for Goodreads I’d think it was all a dream.

8. Remember Me

by Christopher Pike

Christopher Pike was another fancy from my youth. I loved a lot of them, but I read Remember Me on repeat. There’s something about the concept of solving your own murder from beyond the grave that just hooks me. If another author wrote an adult version of this trope, I’d read it. For sure.

9. The Legacy of Luna

by Julia Butterfly Hill

The Legacy of Luna was a book my mom bought me. My mom is a bit of a hippie. This story of Julia Butterfly Hill who moved into a giant Redwood tree to save it from being torn down was fascinating to me. Julia Butterfly had a connection to this tree, and lived within it’s branches for 2 years. Through El Nino storms, helicopter harassment, police… She fought for the life of her tree.

10. Have a Nice Day!

by Mick Foley

I went through a WWE phase. I thank my husband for that. For about five years I never missed an episode of Raw or Smackdown, and we watched ever pay per view event. Mick Foley was always one of my favorites, and it had nothing to do with his skills or his physique… it was all for his heart. When I found out he wrote an autobiography, on spiral-bound lined notebooks, I snatched it up. To this day it is one of the best biographies I’ve ever read.


Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme previously hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, but as of 2018 is hosted by hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl!

About Birdie

Don’t look for her in any bar, club, crazy raging party, or anywhere there may be a large gathering of strangers. She’s more likely to be found tucked into the corner of the couch watching one of her favorite shows, or preferably under a comforter with her current novel.

26 Responses

  1. Jazz

    I’m currently reading Grady Hendrix’s Paperbacks from Hell and in it he talks about V.C Andrews. I’ve never read any of her books, but weirdly enough I was looking at buying Flowers in the Attic only yesterday. I’ll have to grab a copy of Heaven and give that a try too!

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    1. Birdie

      Flowers in the Attic is a great place to dive in first. It’s her most popular, and for good reason. I will warn you, the bulk of books with VC Andrews name on them aren’t actually written by the woman. VC Andrews only wrote Flowers series, Heaven series, My Sweet Audrina, and half of the Dawn series. She passed away and everything else has been a ghostwriter.

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      1. Jazz

        Ah yeah, I did read about that. I think the ghostwriter’s written 60+ books under her name, right? I ordered Flowers in the Attic yesterday evening. Can’t wait to read it!

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  2. ~ Angie Elle ~

    Oh my goodness – I read that Christopher Pike book, too. Many times, I think. LOL I wish Hard Time would come out in audio. I want to read it again so much.

    It honestly doesn’t surprise me about Outlander. I know how much you love this book, and those really are the hardest reviews to write.

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  9. Meeghan reads

    Oh wow, it has been an age since I’ve even thought about VC Andrews books!! I read so many of them when I was young, but I don’t think I ever read Heaven. I definitely read the whole Flowers series, and the YA series with the girls (Jade, Star… can’t remember the others… Cat??) and a couple of others though.
    Scarily enough, I have also been through a couple of WWE phases. I love the drama in it… it’s so good!! I didn’t know Mick had an autobiography, but now I feel like I need to read it?! He was also a fave of mine (although now I’m much more into Roman Reigns… but not for his heart…)

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    1. Birdie

      Ha!! I stopped watching long before Roman Reigns. I was in the “Attitude” era with Stone Cold and the Rock, Degeneration X, and the Hardy boyz! I read a lot of their autobiographys, because Mick’s launched a big series, but his was the only one without a ghost writer. He wrote it all himself, they’re two, and they’re SO good.

      I didn’t read any of the YA books. VC Andrews actually passed away in the middle of writing the Dawn series, so a lot of the books after are another author under her penname. I was a VC Andrews nerd growing up. 😀

      Liked by 1 person

  10. thebookishlibra

    Oh wow, seeing Heaven on your list really takes me back. I never reviewed any of the books, but I was so obsessed with everything V.C. Andrews wrote when I was a teenager. Couldn’t read them fast enough.

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