Top Ten Tuesday #4: Top Ten Books If You Like Doctor Who

Top Ten Tuesday is an weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  Each week participants list their Top Ten choices for a weekly theme. This week's theme is: Top Ten Books If you like...

So one of my favorite TV shows ever would have to be the one, the only DOCTOR WHO! Not all of these are the conventional what you would think of, but there's just some books where I can't help but think of some aspect of Doctor Who.  In no order in particular.

 

Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Hmmm...I wonder where the Doctor travels...

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier
Time traveling?  Obviously this would be on this list.

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Aliens invading Earth.  Invading any planet really. Sounds familiar.

       

Pivot Point by Kasie West

Just the idea of manipulating time & seeing multiple futures.  Plus you have special powers.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Imagine Howl as the Doctor.  Imagine Sophie as a companion.  Imagine the Moving Castle as the Tardis.  BOOM.

Every Day by David Levithan
The struggle of loving someone it would be difficult to have.  And changing faces all the time (like regeneration?)  I wonder where I've heard that before... *sobs*



     

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
Will Herondale.  Need I say more?  And plus it takes place in London. 

The Host by Stephanie Meyer
Aliens.  Duh.  I think I underestimate sometimes how many different types of aliens are in Doctor Who.

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
I think of Alyss as Amy Pond and how her life kind of got turned upside down because no one believed her story or her past life.  It's actually scary how similar Alyss and Amy are.  At least that's how I see it.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST...

 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling

I think I was basing this more off of Rory than anyone else to be honest.  But all the magical adventures Harry faces feels like it could be in a Doctor Who episode.

This was a ton of fun putting together.  I love Doctor Who and it's one of my favorite shows and I wanted to challenge myself and see what I find.  Some of these books are my absolute favorites and I hope you feel inspired :)

What was your Top Ten?

 

Book Review: What I Thought Was True

Title/ Author:  What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick
Publisher/ Year:  Dial Books for Young Readers, 2014.
How I Read It:  Paperback (ARC!)
Why I Read It:  I entered a Goodreads First Reads giveaway & was lucky enough to win this ARC!
Rating: 3 stars out of 5

This is a stand alone novel by the author of My Life Next Door which I read last year!  It wasn't bad!

Summary from Goodreads:  Gwen Castle's Biggest Mistake Ever, Cassidy Somers, is slumming it as a yard boy on her Nantucket-esque island this summer. He's a rich kid from across the bridge in Stony Bay, and she hails from a family of fishermen and housecleaners who keep the island's summer people happy. Gwen worries a life of cleaning houses will be her fate too, but just when it looks like she'll never escape her past—or the island—Gwen's dad gives her some shocking advice. Sparks fly and secret histories unspool as Gwen spends a gorgeous, restless summer struggling to resolve what she thought was true—about the place she lives, the people she loves, and even herself—with what really is.

Quick Summary for those who have not read it yet:
This book was pretty entertaining but it was also everything I expected it to be.  I honestly wasn't a fan of Fitzpatrick's first book, My Life Next Door, so I didn't have the highest expectations of this, but I found the story so much more interesting and intriguing in this book.  The mystery in the story was one of the reasons I kept reading & the multiple relationships withing the story definitely gave a lot of perspective on how complicated love and truth  are.  I love contemporary but it didn't quite catch my attention as other contemporaries I read.  It wasn't a great read, but it wasn't a bad read either.  This took me days to read & the story either had high times or low times so it was hard for me to finish quickly.  I recommend this book for people who are mature enough to handle sexual situations and context within a story, or if you just really love romance.

The Review:
You know how they say never judge a book by its cover?  Well unfortunately I do that all the time.  It's a terrible habit.  I am very aware.  Anyway, I ADORED this cover.  The colors are beautiful and the title is typed pretty much perfectly on there and it just made me wish that summer was here already.  

The characters were a nice touch.  It wasn't your typical, "nice girl meets bad boy" or "two misfits" or "love at first sight" or "best friends become lovers" kind of situations (well with the exception of Vivie and Nic).  Well first let's meet our main characters:  Gwen and Cass have a unique history and a lot of mystery and excitement to their relationship & I think what really kept me reading was waiting for the "thing" to be unveiled:  the story behind why Cassidy Somers was Gwen Castle's Biggest Mistake Ever.  Now before we discover this "Big Mistake" I have to say I thought the "Polar Bear Plunge" story was absolutely adorable.  At that point, I believed they both were equals to each other and truly cared for each other, which made the kiss there so adorable.   I bounced back and forth between whether or not I loved these characters.  Gwen is known for her reputation & everyone on the swim team thought she was easy.  Everyone saw her as a slut except for Cass, who saw her differently.  When they eventually did it, it was clear that the two of them were in love with each other.  But Cass being an idiot didn't realize his swim buddies were expecting him to "get lucky" with Gwen & that hurt her.  If I were in Gwen's place, I would not have gotten back with Cass, as sweet as he is.  That's just my personal opinion.  I am a strong feminist, so that makes sense.  But I do forgive Cass for what he did.  It wasn't his fault, even though it kind of was.  At the same time, Gwen frustrated me.  She couldn't make up her mind and whenever she started getting close to Cass again, she blamed him for only wanting her for her body instead of for her.  After pages of hearing the banter, I was just waiting for them to either make up and be together or just stop each other's misery and stay broken up.  Cass was a great part of this book though.  I do have to admit.

Other characters that stood out were obviously Nic and Vivie.  Nic and Vivie's relationship was a challenging one but one that I'm glad Fitzpatrick brought up.  It reminds everyone that there is no such thing as a perfect relationship.  Well, Gwen's and Cass's relationship isn't near perfect.  But Nic and Vivie's was the "best friends becoming lovers" or "lovers since childhood" kind of thing.  They seemed like the perfect couple until you see the reality that not everything will work out.  What you think is true (haha) won't always be true in some cases.  Vivie was happy with Nic, but her feelings changed for him when she started hanging with Spence.  That's the thing about feelings, they change all the time and sometimes you just can't stop it.  I really felt for Nic by the end of this book.  He was the one character with absolutely everything to lose.  And he did lose the things he loved.  Not everyone has the happy ending they expect.  

I could talk about so many more things I loved like Emory or the old lady she cared for who finds pleasure in books I shouldn't even be reading, or disliked but overall I think you get my point.  Not everything is going to be cookiecutter, and not everyone is perfect.  Not every situation is perfect.  But sometimes we need to be reminded about that.

Overall this book was only okay for me.  It could have been better or a lot shorter than it was.  It was unnecessarily long and I think the book could have ended 100 pages sooner.  I've posted what I love and what I like and what I didn't like but maybe it's just me and my opinion.  Maybe you'll end up loving it!  But in conclusion, I did like this book.  As I said before, it really does get me in the mood for summer time and all that jazz.

Bout of Books 10!

I've been in such a book reading slump and posting slump lately, because of a lot of things.  Especially school.  I've had so many drafts of book reviews, movie reviews and other stuff I've been wanting to do, but time hasn't been in my favor & I believe a reread is in need for my reviews to be spot on.  This summer, after I graduate on June 1, I will be devoting a lot of time to reading and updating this blog.  Surprisingly on Goodreads (which you all are free to add me on if you wish just to see what I'm up to book wise!), I'm only one book behind, but I haven't had a lot of time to read now that AP tests are coming up.

SO as a way to get back on track, I've decided to join Bout of Books!  If you don't know what Bout of Books is, check out the blurb below!

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 12th and runs through Sunday, May 18th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 10 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I am very excited for this and as a way to challenge myself and hopefully get back into my reading mode that I was going at last year.  Because of my busy senior schedule (and my lack of commitment and motivation) I'm not gonna be setting a goal just yet.  You'll have to wait and see :)