[Top Ten Tuesday] Backlist Books I Want to Read

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish but is currently being run by That Artsy Reader Girl. A prompt is given each week, and I hope to do it every week so I always have something going up on Tuesdays. This week I am talking about some of the books I've had backlisted for so long and still haven't read them. Blacklist books are books that came out at least over like a year ago or more and you still haven't gotten around to reading it. For me it's a lot of books I bought on my kindle or are on my shelves and I've just taken an embarrassingly long time to finally pick them up. If you have read any of these and think that any should be on the top of my TBR then tell me!

So let's jump right into it!

Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller

This is a book that I do not own but I also haven't been able to get it out of my head. I am not even particularly a huge fan of pirates, I just hear this book series is a lot of fun and I am hoping that 2019 may be the year I give it a try.



Synopsis
There will be plenty of time for me to beat him soundly once I’ve gotten what I came for.

Sent on a mission to retrieve an ancient hidden map—the key to a legendary treasure trove—seventeen-year-old pirate captain Alosa deliberately allows herself to be captured by her enemies, giving her the perfect opportunity to search their ship.

More than a match for the ruthless pirate crew, Alosa has only one thing standing between her and the map: her captor, the unexpectedly clever and unfairly attractive first mate, Riden. But not to worry, for Alosa has a few tricks up her sleeve, and no lone pirate can stop the Daughter of the Pirate King.

Sabriel by Garth Nix

I hear so many great things about Garth Nix but especially his Abhorsen series. I know it's considered a fantasy series that people are really nostalgic about because they read it when they were young readers. It makes me want to read it because I have always been a huge fan of middle grade fantasy. I think, like Harry Potter, the books mature and get darker as the series progresses, which is something I love.


Synopsis
Sent to a boarding school in Ancelstierre as a young child, Sabriel has had little experience with the random power of Free Magic or the Dead who refuse to stay dead in the Old Kingdom. But during her final semester, her father, the Abhorsen, goes missing, and Sabriel knows she must enter the Old Kingdom to find him.

With Sabriel, the first installment in the Abhorsen series, Garth Nix exploded onto the fantasy scene as a rising star, in a novel that takes readers to a world where the line between the living and the dead isn't always clear—and sometimes disappears altogether.

Nightlife by Rob Thomas

I read a good chunk of this series in high school with a few of my friends and I really loved them. I really want to re-read at least the first one and see if I love them as much as I previously did. I am actually really excited to give it a shot because I remember how much I loved it and I am excited to get back into this world.

Synopsis
There are monsters among us. There always have been and there always will be. I’ve known that since I can remember, just like I’ve always known I was one ... Well, half of one, anyway.

Welcome to New York City - a troll under the Brooklyn Bridge, a boggle in Central Park, and a beautiful vampire in a penthouse on the Upper East Side. Most humans are oblivious to the preternatural nightlife around them, but Cal Leandros is only half human.

His father’s dark lineage is the stuff of nightmares – and his entire otherworldly elf race are after Cal. His half brother, Niko, gave up college to keep them on the run for four years, but now the Grendel monsters are back. And Cal is about to learn why they want him. He is the key to unleashing their hell on earth. The fate of the human world will be decided in the fight of Cal’s life...

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder 

This is a book that has been staring at me every time I scroll through my kindle for a book to read and I keep pushing it to the bottom of my  TBR. I don't even know why because I think it'll be a series I really like. I am hoping 2019 is the year I am better at reading the books I've been hoarding and not reading. If it is, Poison Study will be on my TBR. 

Synopsis
Murder, mayhem and magic…

Locked in a coffin-like darkness, there is nothing to distract me from my memories of killing Reyad. He deserved to die—but according to the law, so do I. Here in Ixia, the punishment for murder is death. And now I wait for the hangman's noose.

But the same law that condemns me may also save me. Ixia's food taster—chosen to ensure that the Commander's food is not poisoned—has died. And by law, the next prisoner who is scheduled to be executed—me—must be offered the position.

The First Fifteen  Lives of Harry August by Claire  North 

I bought this book on a whim because it was on clearance at a book store for less than $5 and I had heard it was good. I continue to hear that it's a great book and it makes me really excited to read it. I just still haven't read it yet. It sounds so good. 

Synopsis
Some stories cannot be told in just one lifetime. Harry August is on his deathbed. Again.
No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes.
Until now.
As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. "I nearly missed you, Doctor August," she says. "I need to send a message."
This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.

Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas 

I am re-reading this series before I get to Tower of Dawn, but I am so excited to finally get to it and Kingdom of Ash. But especially Tower of Dawn because I not only heard from people who are lukewarm about the series love this book but Chaol is my favorite guy character. I am really hoping it is good and I am so excited for some Chaol character development.

Synopsis 
Chaol Westfall has always defined himself by his unwavering loyalty, his strength, and his position as the Captain of the Guard. But all of that has changed since the glass castle shattered, since his men were slaughtered, since the King of Adarlan spared him from a killing blow, but left his body broken.

His only shot at recovery lies with the legendary healers of the Torre Cesme in Antica—the stronghold of the southern continent's mighty empire. And with war looming over Dorian and Aelin back home, their survival might lie with Chaol and Nesryn convincing its rulers to ally with them.

But what they discover in Antica will change them both—and be more vital to saving Erilea than they could have imagined.

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden 

I don't think I've read a review by one of my most trusted friend reviewers that wasn't incredibly positive about this book. Which is what motivated me to snag a copy on my kindle. But I still haven't read it. However, the snowy forest on the book makes me want to read it in December, so that's the plan. Fingers crossed I don't back out because  I am so excited for this book. 

Synopsis
At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn't mind--she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse's fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil.

After Vasilisa's mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa's new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.

And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa's stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent.

As danger circles, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on dangerous gifts she has long concealed--this, in order to protect her family from a threat that seems to have stepped from her nurse's most frightening tales.

Red Rising by Pierce Brown 

This is a fantasy book series that has so much hype surrounding it, and honestly I am really pumped to read it and see what I think. I have had it on my kindle for far too long. This is one I will be reading if not the end of this year definitely sometime next year.

Synopsis
"I live for the dream that my children will be born free," she says. "That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them."

"I live for you," I say sadly.

Eo kisses my cheek. "Then you must live for more."

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.

Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity's overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society's ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies... even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes 

This is the sequel to Falling Kingdoms (which will be the synopsis below, to avoid spoiling you guys!) but I need to re-read Falling Kingdoms first. After I finish Throne of Glass I am hoping to read this series next (and then maybe after that Cassandra Clare's books). I own the first 3-4 on my kindle so I have no excuses. I really enjoyed the first one years ago when I read it.

Synopsis
In the three kingdoms of Mytica, magic has long been forgotten. And while hard-won peace has reigned for centuries, a deadly unrest now simmers below the surface.

As the rulers of each kingdom grapple for power, the lives of their subjects are brutally transformed... and four key players, royals and rebels alike, find their fates forever intertwined. Cleo, Jonas, Lucia, and Magnus are caught in a dizzying world of treacherous betrayals, shocking murders, secret alliances, and even unforeseen love.

The only outcome that's certain is that kingdoms will fall. Who will emerge triumphant when all they know has collapsed?

It's the eve of war.... Choose your side.

Princess: Raised in pampered luxury, Cleo must now embark on a rough and treacherous journey into enemy territory in search of magic long thought extinct.

Rebel: Jonas, enraged at injustice, lashes out against the forces of oppression that have kept his country cruelly impoverished. To his shock, he finds himself the leader of a people's revolution centuries in the making.

Sorceress: Lucia, adopted at birth into the royal family, discovers the truth about her past—and the supernatural legacy she is destined to wield.
Heir: Bred for aggression and trained to conquer, firstborn son Magnus begins to realize that the heart can be more lethal than the sword....

Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy

I own all of Julie Murphy books on my kindle, including Side Effects May Vary. This is the only one I haven't read yet but I am hoping to soon. It's her debut novel and I hear it's really great. Which makes sense, because the rest of her books are amazing so I don't doubt it. Julie Murphy is known for making me sob like a baby, and this seems like such a tearjerker. So hopefully I read it soon.

Snyopsis
When sixteen-year-old Alice is diagnosed with leukemia, she vows to spend her final months righting wrongs. So she convinces her best friend, Harvey, to help her with a crazy bucket list that's as much about revenge as it is about hope.

But just when Alice's scores are settled, she goes into remission, and now she must face the consequences of all she's said and done.

  

Thanks for reading!