Top Five Wednesday is a weekly meme created by Lainey from GingerReadsLainey, and now hosted by Sam from ThoughtsonTomes. Link to join the goodreads page here.
Today’s Top Five Wednesday is about Gateway Books to Your Favorite Genre! Meaning, These are the books that I think are good starters for people who haven’t explored to my favorite genre, which is Fantasy (in general) and New Adult Contemporary.
Gateway Books To FANTASY READS
1.Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan.
Now I haven’t really finished the whole series, but books 1-3 were the first ever fantasy novels that I have read. Incase it’s your first time hearing about this series (?!), it’s actually a middle grade Greek mythology re-telling, so I guarantee it’s very easy to get in to!
2. Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas.
Now this series is the one that has gotten me obsessed with fantasy. This is borderline YA-NA, as all of her series (no matter what the bookstores say). Story follows a young assassin who has been captured for a year, where she’s now serving in a slave camp… she then was removed from the said camp to fight to become the King’s Champion, aka, to kill for His Highness. Maas’ writing is very easy to get in to, which I find myself appreciating as well. The first book was kinda slow because of the world building, but let me tell you that the series just gets better and better!
3. The Kiss of Deception trilogy by Mary E. Pearson.
A story about a princess getting arranged to be wed with a prince that she doesn’t know… who ends up running away and gets hunted by an assassin and the prince looks for her too?! Sign me up right! The thing here is that, the story is told in a way that you’re not sure who the prince is and also the assassin! Highly addicting, recommend 100%! My favorite read in 2014.
4. Sweet Evil trilogy by Wendy Higgins.
A story about demons who are based of the seven deadly sins. Young adult fantasy with action and darkness! The cover of the books arent pretty, so don’t judge it by the cover! I highly recommend this series!
5. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas.
Beauty and the Beast retelling! I was sold by that definition itself. Action, hot men, badass women, yes please! This is currently one of my favorite series, since A Court of Mist and Fury (book 2) is the best book I have read this year, by far. This series is also borderline young adult-new adult, but I would still, highly recommend this to ANYONE. Most people like this more than Throne of Glass, but either way they’re both amazing, imo!
Gateway Books To NEW ADULT CONTEMPORARY
Side note: new adult is not equivalent to literary porn or automatically erotica! This is just a common misconception. New adult fiction are those books with main characters that are 18-30 years of age. NA contemp tends to be focus on heavier issues than YA contemp, and is geared towards an older audience as well. Since a lot of starters with NA aren’t comfortable reading steamy scenes, I’ll give you guys a list of NA with light mature content. Nothing too wild.
1. Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover. This is my all time favorite new adult contemporary novel! It was short, sweet, and just so… heartfelt. So far, I have read all of CoHo’s books except the Never Never series and It Ends With Us, but MS is by far, my favorite of all of her books. I would recommend this book ANYDAY to anyone.
2. Wallbanger by Alice Clayton. Sounds dirty, I know, but this book is spot-on THE most hilarious new adult fiction that I have ever read. It does contain a bit of smut, but trust me, if you want a good laugh, READ WALLBANGER. Or anything by Alice Clayton. I hear her other books are just funny as well! This book is just iconic. I guarantee a huge laugh out loud session while reading it! This can be a bit heavier with the smutty scenes, but it’s really hilarious, I promise.
3. Fallen Too Far by Abby Glines. This series was so addicting! I remember binge-reading this series. Step-siblings?! It has that bad boy, good girl trope but it’s still addicting to read!
4. The Deal by Elle Kennedy. No one can ever go wrong with Elle Kennedy! Now I haven’t read the following books in this series, but this is all the feels. Light and funny, The Deal has great MCs! Swoon worthy, too! Highly, highly recommend.
5. Lev by Belle Aurora. This is one of my all time favorite NA reads! Everything about this book was just perfect. There were so many notable lines! This is a book I would read over and over again if I’d have the chance. The main characters were amazing, sometimes unrealistic, but overall, it’s a book that was stuck in my mind for a very long time. My favorite new adult in 2015.
Do note that books ARE subjective to readers, and there may be other people who aren’t fans of those that I’ve mentioned. Anyway, I would like to believe that these books made me love the genres mentioned!
Have any of you heard of these books? Tell me what YOU think! 🙂
A Literary Wanderer 
Love all these recommendations for NA. Thanks for suggesting The Deal…I’m going to read all the books this coming weekend until next month. October is going to be an Elle Kennedy book fest for me! Yipee!
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yess! Elle Kennedy is one of THE best ♡ enjoy ate Claire!
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Great recommendations!! I actually think Wallbanger was one of my first NA reads 😀
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Wallbanger was just one of the best, right?! Hahaha!
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I loved it! 😀
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Glad to see ACOTAR here, somebody recommended it to me and I got curious and I’m planning to pick it up. :))
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pick it up! ACOMAF’s the best book i’ve read by far this year!
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Aye! One of the many who thinks ACOTAR is better than TOG! HAHA. And I agree with A Court of Mist and Fury is also my best read this year as well! ♥
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