Top Ten Tuesday #168

Hi guys! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these, I’ve just been working, I’m at my summer job for the next five weeks, so that will basically be all of my life updates until it’s over! It’s going well, I’m completely shattered, but I did get to do some book shopping when the kids had free time in London last weekend and ended up with 4 new books, 2 more than I had intended-what can I say, I’d had a stressful week and book shopping soothes me!

Anyway, once again, I’m taking the short window of time I have before I have to get to work to give you guys another Top Ten Tuesday, thanks to Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Today we’re meant to be talking about our favourite novellas/short stories, but since I’m not a massive novella/short story fan, I’m taking an old topic from The Broke and The Bookish (previous runners) archive and talking about my Top Ten Favourite Standalone Novels, since I flail about series’ near constantly and don’t talk about my favourite standalones nearly enough, so today, I’m going to share my favourite books that are not part of a series:

1. The Book Thief-Markus Zusak

The Book Thief is one of my absolute favourite books, honestly I’m not sure I’ll ever read another historical fiction that I love quite as much as this one, though I’ve read a few that have come pretty darn close. Liesel’s story is beautiful and heartbreaking and just so touching, it’s definitely one of those books that has wedged itself in my heart and is unlikely to ever leave.

2. Daughter of The Burning City-Amanda Foody

This is one that I read this year, YA fantasy standalones are so very rare and whilst I almost wish that this did have a series because there are definitely more stories that could come out of this world, having only a single book made this YA fantasy/murder mystery hybrid even more unique.

3. By A Charm and A Curse-Jaime Questell

Another fun little YA fantasy standalone I read this year, this book is like a cross between Snow White and Pinocchio in this dark circus setting and it was so cool, I wish more people were talking about this book!

4. My Sister’s Keeper-Jodi Picoult

My first ever Jodi Picoult book and the one that made me fall in love with her books, the sister relationship at the heart of this book is just amazing and it really makes you think about how much you would be willing to give up if your sister’s health depended on you. Plus that ending really smacked me in the gut and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it for years!

5. Between Shades of Gray-Ruta Sepetys

THIS BOOK GUYS. I swear I never physically cry at books, but as soon as I read “That morning my brother’s life was worth a pocket watch”, the tears started. This book is so harsh and harrowing and yet beautifully hopeful. Honestly if you guys want a historical fiction about a different part of WWII, then definitely give this one a try. I cannot wait for the movie!

6. Dangerous Girls-Abigail Haas

There is a book called Dangerous Boys by the same author, but they are unrelated standalones not companions or sequels. Genuinely this book is the book that I hold all YA thrillers up to now, and nothing has blown my mind yet quite as much as this one did, that ending was just…..ugh I can’t even talk about it, but it’s the best, most twisted YA thriller I’ve ever read.

7. Cross My Heart-Carmen Reid

Another historical (apparently a lot of the standalones I love are historicals) that I absolutely loved, it was so fast paced and exciting and I’ve never read any books about the Belgian Resistance before, so it was great to learn about something new!

8. Matilda-Roald Dahl

One of my favourite books as a child (in fact Roald Dahl was one of my favourite childhood authors), I feel like reading Matilda is a bookworm right of passage!

9. Ballet Shoes-Noel Streatfeild

Another one of my childhood favourites, the sisters relationship in this is just amazing and I loved the idea of found families-heck I still do.

10. Blind Beauty-KM Peyton

KM Peyton was one of my favourite horse authors when I was a kid, I loved the Flambards books, but this one was my personal favourite, all about a troubled kid and her horse on their path to winning the Grand National, it’s such a beautiful and heartwarming, if at times sad, story.

So there we have it, my favourite standalone novels. Have you read any of these? Did you like them? What are your favourite standalone novels? Let me know in the comments!

Next week’s topic is Books With Sensory Reading Memories, so I’m going with one of the suggested ideas for interpreting this topic, and talking about Books I Read Whilst On Holiday. In the meantime, I’m not entirely sure when I will have new content for you next, as I am super busy with work, but I’m hoping to get a discussion post, probably an updated YALC tips post up very soon!