I Knew Absolutely Nothing About These Books I Ended Up Loving



It's time for Top Ten Tuesday and this weeks topic is:


Best Books I Picked Up On a Whim

So these are all those books I picked up without knowing anything about the book. A lot of the books I read are ones I have heard so much about or seen everywhere, so this is a lot harder now. But before I was a blogger, especially as a kid, I found some of my favourite reads by just picking up a book in a book store at random and buying it.

Northern Lights (His Dark Materials, #1) Noughts & Crosses (Noughts & Crosses, #1) The Sight The Declaration (The Declaration, #1) 

excited awesome rami malek so awesomeNorthern Lights by Philip Pullman: This book is such a classic now that it is hard to imagine a time where I wouldn't have known about this book. But child me had never heard of it. And I received it in a bag of books from my nan one year. I was intrigued by the cover - mine at the time had a girl on it, a polar bear and it just looked really cool to seven year old me. So I picked this up and ended up completely falling in love with it. I'd found a new favourite series and I still count this as one of my top favourite series of all time.

Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman: This was a book I randomly selected off a bookshelf one day in the bookshop. My parents bought it for me and I devoured it in one sitting and was left desperate for more. I got to this series so early that I had to wait for the sequels and every single wait was painful. I think I will forever love this series.

the hunger games catching fire katniss everdeen peeta peeta melarkThe Sight by David Clement-Davies: This book is truly one of the most underrated books of all time! It should be read way more than it is and it should be gushed about endlessly. I picked this up as a kid in a bookshop whilst my parents were shopping for college books for my sister, so I would have been eleven at the time. I saw this cover and was drawn to it, I picked it up and started reading it in the store. I was sucked into the story and couldn't put the book down, thankfully my parents bought it for me and I got to finish it. I was in love, this book was so incredible and I just wanted to hunt down every David Clement-Davies book and read them all. I highly recommend this, Fire Bringer and Fell.

The Declaration by Gemma Malley: This was a book I picked up on a whim when I first started working in public libraries. I was browsing the shelves and came across this book and thought it sounded interesting. It's a YA dystopian and I read it in one sitting, and instantly moved on to the next book in the series. I really enjoyed this series and have been meaning to reread it for years. 

The Lost Daughter Blue DiarySleepless (Bird of Stone, #1) Dangerous Girls

The Lost Daughter by Diane Chamberlain: I found this book when I was trying to find something to read after I had devoured every single published Jodi Picoult book at the time - I was obsessed. I came across this in a bookshop and noted how the cover was similar to the JP ones, which made me assume they were similar books. I read the back and it sounded really interesting, so I bought it. I loved this book, it kept me guessing up until the end. I definitely want to reread this book. If you're a fan of Jodi Picoult's books then I definitely recommend giving this a try. 

sad upset crying leonardo dicaprio cryBlue Diary by Alice Hoffman: One I found whilst working in public libraries. I was shelving it in nd noticed the cover was interesting and decided to read the blurb, it sounded interesting so I borrowed it. I loved this book but it also broke me quite a book and made me cry so much. This was a very tough book to read. This is another one for fans of Jodi Picoult.

Sleepless by Tracey Ward: This was one of the first books I reviewed for my blog and I had heard zero about it, it had no reviews online. But I decided to give it a chance as it sounded interesting. It involved time travel and romance. It ended up being an awesome read and I have been waiting for the sequel ever since. 

parks and recreation crazy what amy poehler confusedDangerous Girls by Abigail Haas: Yes, I know that I use any excuse to bring this book up. I can't help myself, this book was fucking awesome and more people need to read it. I want an endless supply of YA from Haas, so more people need to read her books for this to happen. This is a YA thriller that is so good it will keep you up until the early hours of the morning reading it, just because you need to know how it ends. 


Saga, Volume 1 Vain (The Seven Deadly, #1)

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan: This is a very recent read and this has started my new obsession with graphic novels, I can't get enough of them. Saga is a graphic novel that contains some of my new favourite characters of all time. The two leads are absolutely hilarious and their romance is just utterly adorable to me. These volumes have quickly become one of my all time favourite stories and I am eagerly awaiting the release of the sixth volume, I already have it preordered. Since reading this three or four weeks ago, I have now read twelve other graphic novel volumes and this is the best series I have found so far. If you want to start reading graphic novels, I highly recommend starting with these. 

Vain by Fisher Amelie: This was a book I found whilst trying to get some more new adult books after reading and loving The Sea of Tranquility. I adored that book and needed more stories like it. Vain came up on a list of books others had bought after buying The Sea of Tranquility, so I decided to order it. I finally read it the other day and it ended up being a 5/5 read for me. I struggle a lot with NA books but this one just completely worked for me. I loved the character growth over the course of this novel and that there wasn't dreaded instalove! After finishing it, I went and bought the next two books in the series.

What books have you picked up on a whim and ended up absolutely loving? Or do you only buy books you know a lot about or have been recommended?


I have spoken a lot (I'm totally not sorry!) about my love of Instagram and how much I love taking bookish photos for it. I recently reached 6,000 followers on there and thought it was a good time to do a giveaway. I am offering £30 worth of books to the winner - the winner gets to choose their books from Book Depository. To find out how to enter GO HERE.


28 comments:

  1. Everyone is raging about Dangerous Girls and honestly, I don't know why I haven't picked it up yet. I told myself I would get it after I heard a lot of booktubers talking about it but haven't found the time yet. Thanks for sharing again and now it's for sure going on my Amazon wishlist.

    Alex @ The Book's Buzz

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  2. I think I picked up The Sight after reading Alice Borchardt's Legends of the Wolf series, and I loved it. It's still on my shelves somewhere. I've just looked David Clement-Davies up on Goodreads and there's a sequel! Sleepless sounds like an interesting read, even though it doesn't include wolves ;) I'll have to look into that one.

    One of my favourite things about going to the library is picking up books I've never heard of and never feeling like I've wasted my money if I don't like them. Gotta love your library.

    - Lorraine (http://www.insanitysandwich.com)

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  3. I don't really go to bookshops and pick books at random because I think buying a book without knowing too much about it is a pretty big commitment. Especially when you have a limited amount of money to be spending! But I do go to the library and pick books up at random which is why I can understand this as well. Noughts and Crosses I knew about when I read it. I haven't read any of these other ones though... so I have plenty of recommendations to add to my list now.

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  4. I absolutely love it when I go into a book absolutely blind and fall in love with it, it's the best.

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  5. Oh wow! Those are all totally new to me reads there!

    Here's my Tuesday Post

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower :)

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  6. I really enjoyed Noughts and Crosses - a completely reverse of our world! And Northern Lights! That was a beautifully written book, I really liked the whole plot!

    Cloe @ Mornings and Epilogues

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  7. Dangerous Girls!! I just read that and it was AMAZING!

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  8. I can't imagine having to wait between books for Noughts and Crosses - that would be terrible! (For the first three anyway, I never bothered with the fourth one.) Great list :D

    My TTT: http://whenitdoes.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/top-ten-tuesday-ten-books-i-read-on-whim.html

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  9. I have read exactly none of these! I think I read a preview or something for Dangerous Girls and then wandered off (as is my nature) and didn't pursue it. Perhaps I should pick it up...

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  10. Noughts & Crosses is amazing! I borrowed it from my local library a few years ago and it's stuck with me. Great list! :)

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  11. I'm yet to read Northern Lights although I've had it on my shelf for a while.
    Must agree with you, I bring up Dangerous Girls at every opportunity too.
    Great list, ours is here - http://twobookthieves.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/ten-books-picked-up-on-whim.html

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  12. Oooh Blue Diary looks really intriguing. I'll have to check it out. :-)

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  13. You make all of these sound so good! This is very dangerous for my TBR! I've been wanting to read Saga for awhile - especially since I"m not much of a graphic novel reader and now I'm adding The Site to my TBR as well. It sounds great!

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  14. I hadn't heard of any of these books before except for Dangerous Girls. Perhaps I need to check them out a bit further.

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  15. What a great list! I really want to read Dangerous Girls and have wanted that book for a while. I saw it on Book Outlet recently and know that I will go back and buy it...not on a whim, this time, though. :)

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  16. I pretty much pick up books on recommendation like 90% of the time these days?? THEY'RE ARE JUST SO MANY REC'S OUT THERE AHHHH. And I often pick up books because I like the author *nods* But pre-blogging? oh that was a different matter entirely. XD 😂 I read books just because they looked interesting on the library shelf! And I did find some excellent reads that way. I JUST WANT TO READ ALL THE BOOKS AHHHHHH.
    (Also now I seriously want Saga! I just read my first true graphic novel this week and = in love. I neeeed to read more. hehe.)

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  17. I love Noughts & Crosses. I haven't read the rest of the series but I hope I will get to it in the future.

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  18. I've been meaning to read Saga for ages and it's never happened 0_o. I also really, really want to read Dangerous Girls and Noughts and Crosses. *sighs* so many books and not enough time.

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  19. Great list! It's been a really long time since I've read anything by Alice Hoffman. I should pick-up another of hers.

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  20. AHH. So many fabulous books! The only one I've read on this list is Dangerous Girls (which absolutely blew me away), but I'm definitely going to give the other books you've mentioned a try. Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous choices! <3

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  21. So many great books in your list. I want to try reading Alice Hoffman :)

    Sya @ Bookish Sya

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  22. I'm not sure if I've read Northern Lights or not but it sound familiar. Nice list, Charnell!

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  23. I finally decided to pick up Saga after hearing your raving about it!

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  24. Dangerous Girls was on my list this week too! Yay someone else who has read Noughts and Crosses! I feel like it's such an old series that everyone forgets about it.
    My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2016/05/17/top-ten-tuesday-57/

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  25. The Sight! I picked that one up on a whim as well, totally forgot about that! All I remember is that I bawled my eyes out when I read it. It was so sad but so beautifully written and emotional!

    - Kritika @ Snowflakes & Spider silk

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  26. I've only read Dangerous Girls, but it was amazing. One of my favorite books. Great list, though. Thanks for sharing, and for stopping by my TTT earlier. :)

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  27. I don't know why I didn't think of Noughts and Crosses, that was picked up on such a whim and I fell head over heels in love with the entire series. I purchased Saga on a whim last month but I haven't had a chance to read it yet - I'll be doing that soon.

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  28. Great list! i haven't heard of many of these, but I definitely have been meaning to read Dangerous Girls; seeing all your praise for it makes me want to read it even more lol

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