Top Ten Tuesday is an original blog meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. and is currently being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is “Hidden Gems (which books haven’t been talked about as much or haven’t been marketed as strongly that you think deserve some recognition?)” Yes, I love having the chance to scream about books I think more people ought to read. For this topic, I’ve limited my list to books with less than 1000 ratings on Goodreads and which I read in the last year or so. Covers are linked to Goodreads.
1. Shame the Stars by Guadalupe Garcia McCall – Publication Date: September 15th 21016; Ratings: 121 – This book tackles a part of history that I wasn’t at all familiar with until I heard about this book: how the Mexican Revolution ignited racial tension between Tejanos and Texas Rangers.
2. Bruja Born by Zoraida Córdova – Publication Date: June 5th 2018; Ratings: 762 – I know this has only been out for three months, but I still feel like more people should have read it. It’s a great sequel to Labyrinth Lost. If you like books about magic, witches, and sisters, this is the one for you.
3. Pitch Black by Courtney Alameda – Publication Date: February 20th 2018; Ratings: 458 – I was so surprised by how much I enjoyed this sci-fi/horror novel. If you’re building your October TBR, maybe consider this one?
4. A Dash of Trouble by Anna Meriano – Publication Date: January 2nd 2018; Ratings: 633 – I love a good, charming middle grade novel. Leo was such a sweet character and I love how the author combined baking and magic.
5. The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Publication Date: October 24 2017; Ratings: 786 – This is my favorite read in 2018 and I’m so sad that more people haven’t read it. If you’re a fan of Charlie N. Holmberg’s The Paper Magician or Zen Cho’s Sorcerer to the Crown, this ought to be your next read.
6. Not Now, Not Ever by Lily Anderson – Publication Date: November 21st 2017; Ratings: 509 – I can’t for the life of me figure out why Lily Anderson isn’t a more popular author. Her books are always so much fun and she writes the most witty characters. Never has an author made me laugh so much.
7. The Hollow Girl by Hillary Monahan – Publication Date: October 10th 2017; Ratings: 310 – This book is really good and really underrated. After finishing this novel about magic and revenge, I feel like we’ve all been sleeping on this author.
8. The Victoria in My Head by Janelle Milanes – Publication Date: September 19th 2017; Ratings: 219 – I would love to read more fluffy books with Latinx protagonists, but as of now, this is one of very few.
9. Odd & True by Cat Winters – Publication Date: September 12th 2017; Ratings: 893 – I haven’t come across too many bloggers who’ve read this one, but I was immediately drawn to it because at its heart are two sisters. The paranormal element, with its many spooky creatures, sealed the deal for me.
10. Star-Touched Stories by Roshani Chokshi – Publication Date: August 8th 2018; Ratings: 296 – I may be jumping the gun on this one. It only came out a month ago, but Roshani Chokshi has graced us with her writing again. We should all be devouring this short-story collection.
Have you read any of these books? Which book do you wish more people read? Let me know in the comments and be sure to leave me a link to your own TTT post, so I can visit.
I’m sad to say I haven’t read any of these! Eek! They do look good.
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I hope you can take a closer look at these, they are all worth the read!
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Pitch Black looks awesome. And Star Touches Stories- I want to read more anthologies, it just seems like a great way to try new authors, and sometimes I just like reading a shorter, self contained story.
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Loved Pitch Black so much. Star-Touched Stories is a short story novella, but yes, anthologies are a great way to be introduced to new authors.
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“The Beautiful Ones” looks really pretty… and Lily’s book looks like SO MUCH FUN. Which is exactly my kind of book. Plus witty characters never hurts a story. 🙂
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Loved The Beautiful Ones so much. You must try out Lily Anderson’s book. The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You is an excellent place to start.
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Haven’t heard of any but Odd and True seems cool!
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Anything by Cat Winters is usually a good bet.
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I love this list! Pitch Dark was soooo good. ❤ I'm hoping to read A Dash of Trouble and The Hollow Girl before the year is out, as they're both eARCs I have that I forgot to read before they released (oops).
— Destiny @ Howling Libraries
T10T: Scared of the Hype!
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Yay, I’m so glad! Pitch Dark was fantastic. A Dash of Trouble and The Hollow Girl are both really good. I hope you enjoy both!
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Thank you, I hope so, too! 😀
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This might be my all time favorite Top Ten Tuesday, so many great hidden gems!! Not Now, Not Ever sounds really awesome especially.
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Yes, I love discovering less known books and anything Lily Anderson touches is amazing.
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I’ve seen Odd & True a few times in bookstores and it sounds like a great read! It’s sad that I haven’t seen that many people have read in it my Instagram and blogging circles. I’ll be sure to pick it up next time I see it 🙂
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I think I only know of a couple of other bloggers who enjoy Cat Winters’ books, so I’m not surprised.
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Is it her writing style or is it because there just isn’t much hype about her books?
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I think it’s the genre she writes it. Hype for horror books is rare.
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I predicted it and i hope it comes true, but horror is going to come back this year…sometime haha I hope so!
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I hope so. I love horror.
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More people need to read Courtney Alameda!
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I completely agree. I am eagerly waiting for whatever she releases next.
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ODD & TRUE is one that I have sitting in a pile with books I really really want to read soon!! Also, PITCH DARK is one I got from the publisher, but you are right– I’ve seen nothing of it!! Maybe I will squeeze it into my Halloween reading!
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I hope you can get to both! They are great reads that deserves a lot more attention.
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I just couldn’t get into Star-Touched Stories and I’m so sad about it – I wanted to love it so much! But, I don’t know if the original Star-Touched Queen can be topped! Happy Tuesday!
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That’s too bad. I really enjoyed the original duology.
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Not Now, Not Ever made my short list. I cannot imagine why more people have not read this book by now. It’s so smart and funny. I adored it. I hate myself, because I have been meaning to read Bruja for a while (soon, I swear!). I really enjoyed the first book, and actually do want to continue the story. Victoria was fun and cute too. I like Milanes’ stories.
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Lily Anderson is fantastic. I wish more people appreciated her. I hope you enjoy Bruja Born when you do get around to it! I’m really looking forward to Analee!
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I love Love, Sugar, Magic too it’s so unique and colorful! I love Roshani’s writing in Aru Shah but I haven’t read her YA novel yet, I’ve heard great thiings though, so I can’t wait to read them!! Great list Alicia!
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Oh yay, I’m so glad you enjoyed the MG read as well! Roshani amazes me with her writing. I need to get to Aru Shah sometime soon.
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The cover of Bruja Born is so eerily lovely! Labyrinth Lost is a book I’ve been meaning to pick up.
Great list!
* TTT: Hidden Gems + giveaway 🌻🌻🌻
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I love the cover for Bruja Born. It really captures the essence of the novel. I hope you get a chance to pick up Labyrinth Lost, the series is fantastic.
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Yep, will do!
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The Victoria in my Head sounds really good!
My TTT post!
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Really enjoyed the lightheartedness in that one and am really looking forward to her sophomore novel.
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These are great hidden gems! I wasn’t familiar with any of them before reading through. I set a bar on Goodreads as well but bumped it to 5000 reviews, so impressed you could find so many under 1k! “Shame the Stars” sounds especially interesting, I live in Texas and am unfamiliar with that bit of history as well!
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I wasn’t sure I could come up with ten, but turns out there are a lot of hidden gems I’ve read over the past year. Yes, Shame the Stars was eye-opening because I had no idea this had happened.
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Bruja Born was a fantastic sequel! I’ve got Pitch Dark and Odd & True on my tbr. 🙂
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I’m always stoked to see other people who’ve enjoyed Bruja Born. Hope you enjoy those two!
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Ah The Hollow Girl-I added it to my TBR, but sadly still haven’t read it yet!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2018/09/11/top-ten-tuesday-176/
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Hope you get a chance to read it soon. It deserves so much more attention.
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I hope so too, it sounds really good.
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A Dash of Trouble and Odd and True sound good. I’ll have to look into them. Here is my Top Ten Tuesday.
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Yay, I’m glad to hear it!
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I haven’t read any of these. I haven’t even heard of some of them. Thanks for sharing! I’ll have to check out the middlegrade book. I need to read more of those.
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Yes, you should. A Dash of Trouble is so much fun.
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I’m familiar with almost all of these books, but that may be because bloggers draw attention to them and the general public doesn’t notice. Also, you read loads of books with diverse casts; maybe the rest of the world needs to learn how to keep up with you!
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Well I can’t disagree there. I’m actually kind of sad that most of these are by Latinx authors. I need more people to read them.
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I feel like I saw Bruja Born on a lot of people’s “can’t wait” list but then I never really heard anything about it!! Great list!
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Yeah, I reviewed an ARC of it, but after its release I haven’t seen too many people review it.
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Yeah, I haven’t seen much. I saw it at my library but didn’t pick it up bc I haven’t heard much!
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Well, it’s a really good sequel and I ended up liking it more than the first novel.
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Okay, great to know!! I’ll pick it up next time. 🙂
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I haven’t read any of these… yet. Shame the Stars, Pitch Dark, and Bruja Born sound interesting though.
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All fantastic! Hope you get a chance to pick up one of them soon.
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You know how much I love A Dash of Trouble! I still need to read Bruja Born, I liked Labyrinth Lost a lot.
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I am almost certain you will enjoy Bruja Born just as much.
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