Top Ten Tuesday: The One Where She Attempts March (Book) Madness… Sorta

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In the spirit of March Madness that is practically over, I decided to attempt a fun approach to this week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic. Originally, we were supposed to talk about the last 10 books we’d given 5 stars to, but we all know that I just don’t do that. Of course, there was the option to talk about the 10 best books (or, conversely, the 10 worst ones), but why be completely normal? Instead, I decided to set up my own bracket for the last 21 books I’ve read (plus one I put on hold) and pit them against each other in my own little version of March madness. Enjoy!

To begin, I ranked all the participants from best to worst (which proved to be fairly difficult when it came down to ranking Saga Volumes 1-5). From there, I just let my ratings feelings do the talking. Here’s what I came up with:

Major props to challonge.com without which there would be no March (Book) Madness. Click on the image to enlarge.

All-in-all, the game was fun once I actually figured out what I was doing… I may or may not have done this two or three times. I’ll never tell! Every single time, though, the top 2 books remained the same. As with many contests I’ve personally entered, I’m only going to highlight the top (and bottom) 3. So, bear with me here. Ahem.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present your 2016 Battle of the Books Winners!

THE BEST:

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
I’m not sure if I will ever quite be over how amazing I thought this book was. I can’t believe it took me so long to even find out that Schwab exists because her kind of excellence needs to be shared with the world pronto. I can’t wait to blow through A Gathering of Shadows with just as much gusto (if not more because Lila Bard). Also, this is the only book I’ve verbally recommended to real life friends, so there’s that.

THE NOT-SO-BEST:

Under His Kilt by Melissa Blue
Meh. You win some, you lose some. If you want to know exactly why I wasn’t too fond of this book, you can check out my recent review. It just wasn’t what I was expecting at all. No kilts whatsoever, man. #stillbitter. Warning: This is an adult romance novel with adult themes, if you know what I mean.

THE BEST:

EVERY SINGLE VOLUME OF SAGA AVAILABLE by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
I am aware that it won third up there, but I just couldn’t bring myself to actually place it down there. This comic book series is my absolute favorite. I picked it up back in February (?) and ended up binge reading every available volume in the span of two weeks. Now, I’m just not-so-patiently waiting for the sixth volume to grace my presence in July. I don’t have much longer now, right? RIGHT?!

THE NOT-SO-BEST:

A Wallflower Christmas by Lisa Kleypas
Bro. I read this book after I had devoured Kleypas’ Wallflower series, and I fully expected a fluff-filled story that wouldn’t take itself too seriously. That’s what Christmas novellas are for me– a cute way to wrap up the lives of the people you’ve been following. However, A Wallflower Christmas tried to accomplish so much in such a small amount of time… Not to mention the fact that it introduced two new main characters– neither of whom was of any interest to me. Le sigh.

 
AKA… There are no third place gifs, so you get slow-clapping Kerry Washington instead.

THE BEST:

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
My love for this book knows no bounds. Seriously, I still sit around smiling whenever I think of this book. I will gush about this one to anyone who will listen. It was the coming of age story I needed to read… even though I can admit that I didn’t think that during the first quarter of the book. Also, I totally figured out who Blue was, and it was glorious!

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Certainly you didn’t think I was going to forget about the glory that is this book. I fell in love with the story of Ari and Dante. Sáenz crafted such a wonderfully poetic book that still has my mind reeling. You can read me shout my undying love to the world book community here.

THE NOT-SO-BEST:

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
[/calmly waits for the TLC stans to wage war against me] I’m not saying it was horrible because it wasn’t. It just happened to be near the bottom of the 21 books I’d actually finished since January. You can read all of my feels on the matter at hand in this snazzy review.

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