Today’s Top Ten Tuesday Topic is Technically “Popular Books that Lived Up to the Hype,” but since I’ve really only been paying attention to new releases of books for a few months now (in fact, I missed the fact that my favorite author had a book coming out last year until after it was out), I can’t tell you which books were hyped and which books were not. So… I will be posting the top 10 most popular YA books (according to the Goodreads YA by year lists) from the last 5 years that I loved.
As usual, if a book is part of a series and multiple books of a series are eligible for this list, they will be listed together. And as always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
10. Our tenth book to make the list is Summer Days and Summer Nights, which I just finished a little over a week ago. It was the 26th most popular book on the Goodreads YA list of 2016. If I were to redo this list in a couple of months it probably wouldn’t make the list (since there are a lot of books that were more popular that I have yet to read) but today it makes the list.
9. Number nine on the list is The Wrath & the Dawn, by Renée Ahdieh. Since I haven’t read The Rose and the Dagger yet, only this book makes the list. The first week of June was a Renée Ahdieh week this year, as I read this book on June 3rd and immediately read Smoke in the Sun on June 4th (I was so excited because it arrived a day early, LOL). Renée Ahdieh is the first of two authors to have to books (or book series) to make this list.
8. The second author to have two books on this week’s list is Marie Lu. All three books in the Young Elites series were fairly popular on the Goodreads YA lists (The Young Elites was #14 in 2014, The Rose Society was #11 in 2015, and The Midnight Star was #15 in 2016).
7. Lazlo might have a Strange name, but Strange the Dreamer was a very popular book, and I loved it as well. I can’t wait for Muse of Nightmares later on this year, but since that one hasn’t been released yet, it’s not eligible for this list.
6. Warcross is the second Marie Lu book to make this list. It was the 6th most popular book on the Goodreads YA list of 2017, although it was my #1 book from last year. Since I haven’t read Wildcard yet, it’s not eligible for this list, although I’d be willing to bet a year’s salary that I will like it once I get to read it this September.
5. Caraval was the fifth most popular book of 2017, and it comes in on today’s list at number five. Since I still haven’t read Legendary, that book does not make today’s list, but chances are I will probably like it once I get the chance to read it.
4. Number four on today’s list is the other Renée Ahdieh book, Flame in the Mist. Because I also loved Smoke in the Sun, that book also places here. Flame in the Mist was the fourth most popular book of 2017.
3. Veronica Roth’s Carve the Mark was immensely popular last year, coming in at number three on the Goodreads list as well as on today’s list. I also loved The Fates Divide, so that also gets a spot here on today’s list.
2. Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes books get the number two spot this week. A Torch Against the Night and A Reaper at the Gates also share this spot. The first two books in this series were both number 6 on the Goodreads list in 2015 and 2016, but A Reaper at the Gates is number 3 on the 2018 list, which is why it ranks so high here (in case of a tie, the newer book wins out).
1. I just finished Red Queen on Saturday, so it barely makes its debut on this web site by only a few days. It was the second most popular book on the 2015 Goodreads list (#1 was Winter, which I haven’t read yet), and so it makes top spot on this week’s list. I have not read any of the other books in this series yet, so this is the only one in the series that is eligible for this week’s list.And that’s this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, tracking the most popular YA books released in the last five years that I have read and loved. Have you read any of these? What is your favorite popular YA book?