This week we have an interesting topic, as I often find my opinions on a book can change dramatically over the course of the story. I can go from loving it to hating it, or from hating it to loving it. Sometimes books start out strong, but sometimes you nearly give up on them but then they end up surprising you in the end. T5W is a group hosted on Goodreads, if you’d like to participate check it out here.
1) The Princess Companion by Melanie Cellier – I was ready to dislike this book. I read it as part of a book club and was a little biased towards it before I started. Something about the description just didn’t grab me. When I started reading I wasn’t that invested either, but really got into it. I wouldn’t say I ended up loving it, but definitely enjoyed it more than I was expecting.
2) The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh – The opening of this book didn’t hook me. I remember feeling like I’d been dumped right in the thick of things without any chance to connect to the protagonist. In some ways it was good that it got to the point, but it also meant that when Shazi was thrown into a dangerous situation right at the beginning, I didn’t have any connection to her character yet and didn’t feel invested in her fate. As the book went on however it definitely grew on me.
3) Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead – A friend recommended this book to me a long time before I actually read it. I was expecting not to like it. I’d read so many YA paranormal books and been disappointed. So I was pleasantly surprised that I really enjoyed this one.
4) You by Caroline Kepnes – The use of second person point of view is so rare that it felt really strange reading this book. I wasn’t sure I wanted to carry on. But actually, the second person POV was really effective and added to the creepiness. It was a bit slow in places but by the end I was hooked.
5) Delirium by Lauren Oliver – Since I could tell from the description of the book that this would be a romance-focused dystopia (rarely my cup of tea), I went in bracing myself for disappointment. However it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. I love Lauren Oliver’s writing style, which probably helped, and ended up liking this much more than I thought I would.
The Last Book On The Left 
I refused to read The Wrath and the Dawn for a while because I didn’t like the idea of Shazi falling in love with her best friend’s killer. But then I read it and really liked it, so what do I know?
It’s funny how your opinion of a book can change! I wasn’t sure about that aspect of that book either but it’s definitely better when you read it.
Vampire Academy was on my list, too. I completely forgot about Delirium, but it could have been on my list for the same reason (romance dystopia isn’t something I’d gravitate toward). Great list :)
Yes I was pleasantly surprised by Delirium. Thanks :)