Books I Read that Need More Love

By Brookelorren on 34 Comments

Hello!  It’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday!  Today is a freebie topic, and I was thinking I’d do a post on books that need a little more love.  I guess it’s a similar topic to Hidden Gems, which we did in September, but I’m first focusing on books that I read as ARCs.  Did you know that the average traditionally published book only sells 3,000 copies in its lifetime?  More than likely, a lot of the books we talk about on Top Ten Tuesday sell more than that, but there are books that get mentioned on occasion that probably don’t.  So today I’d like to talk about some books that probably need more love.

Frequency CoverFrequency by Christopher Krovatin is one of those books that I think about when I think about books that need more love.  I thought it was fantastic, and I loved all the musical influence in the book.  I don’t really hear much about this book, and figure it probably needs some more love.

Into the Hollow coverInto the Hollow by Lynn Vroman was another book that I really loved.  It had a unique setting, I loved the characters, and the story, about a girl who had a messed up family who falls in love with another kid with a messed up family, was really good.  I was sad to see this not get more attention than it did.

The Wren Hunt coverThe Wren Hunt by Mary Watson was a beautiful book.  I loved the unique setting, the magic was different than what I’ve seen before, and it had something of a Romeo and Juliet kinda vibe with the feuding families and all.  I’d love to see this gaining more people’s interest.

Crow Flight CoverI’m not sure what it is about books named after birds not getting enough love, but I loved Crow Flight by Susan Cunningham.  I mentioned in my review that this book had me at computers, but I loved the mystery surrounding this, as well as the characters.  Too bad this book didn’t have much marketing behind it, because I thought it was great.

Echoes coverThe next three books ended up on my Hidden Gems list, but I think Echoes by Alice Reeds deserved a little bit more love than it got.  I absolutely couldn’t put this book down, and read it in a day.  I really wish that it could have a sequel (there is a little bit of a cliffhanger at the end) but it probably won’t.  I saw Ms. Reeds pitching another book idea during #PitMad, so it looks like she’s doing something else.  I’d love to read more of her books, because I loved this one.

My Real Name is Hanna coverMy Real Name is Hanna, by Tara Lynn Masih, also got a mention during Hidden Gems week, but this is another book that deserves more love than it did.  Maybe the whole Holocaust setting was a little too dreary for some people.  I thought the book was great though.

Never Stop Walking CoverI didn’t read Never Stop Walking, by Christina Rickardsson, as an ARC, but this is another book that I thought should have gotten more attention than it did.  We read about hellish fictional places all the time… this book is about an actual hellish place that still exists today — slums in Brazil.  It also talks about her adoption and going to live in a wildly different culture.  Maybe it’s too real for people to actually want to face.

Ever the Hunted CoverI can’t tell you how much love Ever the Hunted and Ever the Brave got, but I haven’t heard a great deal about Once a King, the last book in the Clash of Kingdoms series.  Ever the Hunted is number 55 on the Goodreads YA Novels of 2016 list (Ever the Brave is number 123), so I’m guessing that these books could have used a little more love at the time as well.

When Elephants Fly coverWhen Elephants Fly by Nancy Richardson Fischer could have gotten a little more attention than it did as well.  Lately there has been a lot of emphasis placed on mental health, and books that talk about it, and the main character of this book is worried about her own mental health.  I let my daughter read it, as she’s been struggling with depression.  I guess that publishers can only promote so many books…

Fawkes coverFawkes by Nadine Brandes might have gotten a little more attention than some of these other books, but there were quite a few huge releases over the summer, and this book seemed to get drowned out by a lot of the bigger names.  Nevertheless, it was a pretty good book, and probably could have used a little bit more attention than it did.

So there’s my list this week of books that I read (mostly as ARCs) that could have used a little more love than they did.  I’m looking forward to see what ideas everybody else came up with this week for Top Ten Tuesday!  Next week I’m going to talk about my Winter 2018/2019 TBR!  And we’ll see how I did on my Fall TBR as well!  See you then!

34 comments

    1. Oh that’s really good to hear. It was one of those twisty books that, even though the ending had a cliffhanger, seemed like maybe that was how it was supposed to be? But I’m glad we get to find out the rest.

      Authors don’t get a lot of marketing help from publishers unless they really think your book is going to be big, especially if you’re a debut. I spend a lot of time on Twitter, and that’s on purpose… even though I don’t expect to have a book ready to query until next summer, it doesn’t hurt to have people interested in you long before your book is published.

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  2. Only 3,000 copies? Makes me think about all the amazing books that will never get the recognition they deserve. And then there’s the Fifty Shades books. There is no justice. That’s why it’s important that we get to talk about some of the overlooked gems.

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    1. I agree. Authors of lesser-known books are often appreciative when you talk about their books too. I would want people to do the same for me when (some day in the distant future) I have a book come out.

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  3. Oh hey, it’s always cool to see people talking about less well-known books–there are plenty of great ones out there, but sometimes finding them can be tough.

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    1. Netgalley is great for finding these books… plus they’re free! The only downside is that sometimes the books really aren’t all that great, and some are just okay. You also have to review them, but I do that anyway since I have a book blog.

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    1. The stats are worse for self-published authors (that number is about 250)! It just shows you that authors really need to market themselves if they want to sell books, and the earlier the better!

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  13. I didn’t know about that 3,000-thing! Definitely a fun bookish fact, although also a bit of a disappointing one.. It sucks that so many books don’t get the attention they deserve.

    Both The Wren Hunt and Fawked are on my “want to read”. I’m really hoping to get my hands on those sometime. Eventually. 🙂 Can’t really justify buying even more books at this point, haha.

    Awesome topic for this week’s freebie!

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  14. OMG, I read My Real Name is Hanna as an ARC and thought the same thing . It deserves more love. I don’t usually read novels sets in Holocaust period but this one managed to capture my interest. I thought it was emotional too. :)’

    most of the books in your list are on my TBR and reading your post, I think I need to put them on my immediate TBR.

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    1. 🙂 Awesome!

      Authors of these lesser-known books are often appreciative when you send them compliments about your book too. That’s another reason to read these lesser-known gems!

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  16. Only 3,000!? Really? That is kind of sad if you think about it. And that probably takes into account the ones who sell millions, so… the true count is probably lower for the under-the-radar books. I really want to read Echoes, it sounds so good! And When Elephants Fly, which I have! So it is nice to hear good things about these books!
    Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight recently posted…Review & Giveaway: The Prisoner by Sara AllynMy Profile

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    1. The 3,000 number makes me sad, especially since these are traditionally published books.

      It makes me happy to be a book blogger and an author, knowing this figure. We literally can help our author friends out by talking about their books. If trad published books average 3,000 and self published books average 250, we really are making a difference by talking about our favorite books.

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