Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Surprised Me (Good or Bad way)

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish,
And has recently moved to That Artsy Reader Girl's site. 

To take part, just pick your top ten, and add the link here.

Good

1) UnRaveling You series by Jessica Sorensen

  I have read a lot of books by this author, and this is her best work. The urban fantasy she wrote, while entertaining, has a lot of cliche's that make it not as good as it could have been. But, this series is just amazing. One of the best Contemporary Romance series's out there.

2) God's Play by H.D. Lynn

    I think I was expecting sort of a more cut-and-paste Urban Fantasy book, but this book was far more enjoyable than I thought it was going to be. I still wish there was more. It's a standalone book.

3) Freeks by Amanda Hocking

    I am wary of stand-alone books, and there are very few that I like and even fewer that I love. This one falls between the two. I almost loved it, but there were was a pacing issue near the end that kept me from loving it. It's still amazing

4) Storm by Brigid Kemmerer

    In a time when I only read unknown or lesser known writers, I found my share of diamonds in the ruff, this is one of the shiniest. There is a small matter in the writing that I would change, and that is making the book first-person POV with dual pov's of Chris and Becca (the two main characters). I just think the book would have worked just slightly better. Either way, this book is so addictively good, that I was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable it was to read, and honestly is the best portrayal for teens, especially male teens, I have ever read. Even though it's been a while since I was a teen.

5) Elei's Chronicles by Crystalla Thoma

    Another from my days of lesser-known writers/authors. Possibly the most interesting Dystopia I have ever read. A world where everybody has a parasite, and that parasite gives you some kind of advantage or disadvantage, but with Elei he has two dangerous parasites that counteract each other giving him some crazy advantages. It's been a while since I've read this. But I don't think I would like it any less if I read it again. It's just too interesting to hate as far as I'm concerned.

Bad

1) Through Fire & Sea by Nicole Luiken
   So much potential. Alternate universes, people who can travel between their alternate bodies, and use mirrors to watch those other worlds. Sounds great! Sadly, for me, this book just fell a little flat with boring unlikeable characters.

2) Soleil by Jacqueline Garlick
    An underwhelming ending to a very strange series. While none of the books in this series blew me away, this last one was just a touch too weird for me to really love.

3) The Queen of the Tearling  by Erika Johansen
     The hype was not real with this book, for me anyway.  I know a lot of people liked this book, but for the life of me I could barely get through those opening chapters. I was expecting greatness from this book. Not just because all the endless praise I heard, but because of the synopsis. Sadly, this book let me down.

4) Syrena Legacy Series by Anna Banks
    This series had so much potential. I really like the mythos of merfolk, but from the start of book one, I just kept not liking the book as much as I wanted to. From the often strange dialog between characters to the switching between first and third-person, this series just didn't live up. I haven't read the third book in the series and I am on the fence if I should bother or not. I haven't read the second book since around the time it came out 5 years ago, so I'm just really not sure if it's worth it.

5) Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton
    This was the biggest disappointment of 2015, of the books I can remember reading. I was pumped to read this when I read the synopsis, but everything was just not as good as I had hoped. I DNF'd this book.