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#Top10Tuesday: Neglected 2016 Releases

Top10Tuesday

It’s time for another Top 10 Tuesday!!! For those of you who don’t know, Top 10 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the folks over at The Broke and the Bookish! This week, I will be highlighting the books that I meant to read in 2016 and just didn’t have the time to. I still totally 100% want to read all of these books! Let’s hope I can make some time this year! Here are the top 10 books I neglected in 2016, but still really want to read!


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Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

She’s more gunpowder than girl—and the fate of the desert lies in her hands. Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. But there’s nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can’t wait to escape from. Destined to wind up “wed or dead,” Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. When she meets Jin, a mysterious and devastatingly handsome foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route. But in all her years spent dreaming of leaving home, she never imagined she’d gallop away on a mythical horse, fleeing the murderous Sultan’s army, with a fugitive who’s wanted for treason. And she’d never have predicted she’d fall in love with him… or that he’d help her unlock the powerful truth of who she really is.


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Holding Up The Universe by Jennifer Niven

Everyone thinks they know Libby Strout, the girl once dubbed “America’s Fattest Teen.” But no one’s taken the time to look past her weight to get to know who she really is. Following her mom’s death, she’s been picking up the pieces in the privacy of her home, dealing with her heartbroken father and her own grief. Now, Libby’s ready: for high school, for new friends, for love, and for every possibility life has to offer. In that moment, I know the part I want to play here at MVB High. I want to be the girl who can do anything. Everyone thinks they know Jack Masselin, too. Yes, he’s got swagger, but he’s also mastered the impossible art of giving people what they want, of fitting in. What no one knows is that Jack has a newly acquired secret: he can’t recognize faces. Even his own brothers are strangers to him. He’s the guy who can re-engineer and rebuild anything, but he can’t understand what’s going on with the inner workings of his brain. So he tells himself to play it cool: Be charming. Be hilarious. Don’t get too close to anyone. Until he meets Libby. When the two get tangled up in a cruel high school game—which lands them in group counseling and community service—Libby and Jack are both pissed, and then surprised. Because the more time they spend together, the less alone they feel. Because sometimes when you meet someone, it changes the world, theirs and yours.


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When We Collided by Emery Lord

We are seventeen and shattered and still dancing. We have messy, throbbing hearts, and we are stronger than anyone could ever know…Jonah never thought a girl like Vivi would come along. Vivi didn’t know Jonah would light up her world. Neither of them expected a summer like this…a summer that would rewrite their futures. In an unflinching story about new love, old wounds, and forces beyond our control, two teens find that when you collide with the right person at just the right time, it will change you forever.


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Patient H.M. by Luke Dittrich

In the late 1930s, in asylums and hospitals across America, a group of renowned neurosurgeons embarked on a campaign to develop and refine a new class of brain operation—the lobotomy—that they hoped would eradicate everything from schizophrenia to homosexuality. These “psychosurgeons,” as they called themselves, occupied a gray zone between medical research and medical practice, and ended up subjecting untold numbers of people to the types of surgical experiments once limited to chimpanzees. The most important test subject to emerge from this largely untold chapter in American history was a twenty-seven-year-old factory worker named Henry Molaison. In 1953, Henry—who suffered from severe epilepsy—received a radical new version of the lobotomy, one that targeted the most mysterious structures in the brain. The operation failed to eliminate Henry’s seizures, but it did have an unintended effect: Henry left the operating room profoundly amnesic, unable to create new long-term memories. Over the next sixty years, Patient H.M., as Henry was known, became the most studied individual in the history of neuroscience, a human guinea pig who would teach us much of what we know about memory today. Luke Dittrich uses the case of Patient H.M. as a starting point for a kaleidoscopic journey, one that moves from the first recorded brain surgeries in ancient Egypt to the cutting-edge laboratories of MIT. He takes readers inside the old asylums and operating theaters where psychosurgeons conducted their human experiments, and behind the scenes of a bitter custody battle over the ownership of the most important brain in the world. Throughout, Dittrich delves into the enduring mysteries of the mind while exposing troubling stories of just how far we’ve gone in our pursuit of knowledge. It is also, at times, a deeply personal journey. Dittrich’s grandfather was the brilliant, morally complex surgeon who operated on Molaison—and thousands of other patients. The author’s investigation into the dark roots of modern memory science ultimately forces him to confront unsettling secrets in his own family history, and to reveal the tragedy that fueled his grandfather’s relentless experimentation—experimentation that would revolutionize our understanding of ourselves.


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Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Nuevel

A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand. Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved—its origins, architects, and purpose unknown. Its carbon dating defies belief; military reports are redacted; theories are floated, then rejected. But some can never stop searching for answers. Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top secret team to crack the hand’s code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the provenance of the relic. What’s clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unraveling history’s most perplexing discovery—and figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result prove to be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?


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Jerkbait by Mia Siegert

Even though they’re identical, Tristan isn’t close to his twin Robbie at all—until Robbie tries to kill himself. Forced to share a room to prevent Robbie from hurting himself, the brothers begin to feel the weight of each other’s lives on the ice, and off. Tristan starts seeing his twin not as a hockey star whose shadow Tristan can’t escape, but a struggling gay teen terrified about coming out in the professional sports world. Robbie’s future in the NHL is plagued by anxiety and the mounting pressure from their dad, coach, and scouts, while Tristan desperately fights to create his own future, not as a hockey player but a musical theatre performer. As their season progresses and friends turn out to be enemies, Robbie finds solace in an online stranger known only as “Jimmy2416.” Between keeping Robbie’s secret and saving him from taking his life, Tristan is given the final call: sacrifice his dream for a brother he barely knows, or pursue his own path. How far is Robbie willing to go—and more importantly, how far is Tristan willing to go to help him?


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Genius: The Game by Leopoldo Gout

Trust no one. Every camera is an eye. Every microphone an ear. Find me and we can stop him together. The Game: Get ready for Zero Hour as 200 geniuses from around the world go head to head in a competition hand-devised by India’s youngest CEO and visionary. The Players: Rex– One of the best programmers/hackers in the world, this 16-year-old Mexican-American is determined to find his missing brother. Tunde– This 14-year-old self-taught engineering genius has drawn the attention of a ruthless military warlord by single-handedly bringing electricity and internet to his small Nigerian village. Painted Wolf– One of China’s most respected activist bloggers, this mysterious 16-year-old is being pulled into the spotlight by her father’s new deal with a corrupt Chinese official. The Stakes: Are higher than you can imagine. Like life and death. Welcome to the revolution. And get ready to run.


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You Know Me Well by David Levithan and Nina LaCour

Who knows you well? Your best friend? Your boyfriend or girlfriend? A stranger you meet on a crazy night? No one, really? Mark and Kate have sat next to each other for an entire year, but have never spoken. For whatever reason, their paths outside of class have never crossed. That is, until Kate spots Mark miles away from home, out in the city for a wild, unexpected night. Kate is lost, having just run away from a chance to finally meet the girl she has been in love with from afar. Mark, meanwhile, is in love with his best friend Ryan, who may or may not feel the same way. When Kate and Mark meet up, little do they know how important they will become to each other—and how, in a very short time, they will know each other better than any of the people who are supposed to know them more.


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Kids of Appetite by David Arnold

Victor Benucci and Madeline Falco have a story to tell. It begins with the death of Vic’s father. It ends with the murder of Mad’s uncle. The Hackensack Police Department would very much like to hear it. But in order to tell their story, Vic and Mad must focus on all the chapters in between. This is a story about: 1. A coded mission to scatter ashes across New Jersey. 2. The momentous nature of the Palisades in winter. 3. One dormant submarine. 4. Two songs about flowers. 5. Being cool in the traditional sense. 6. Sunsets & ice cream & orchards & graveyards. 7. Simultaneous extreme opposites. 8. A narrow escape from a war-torn country. 9. A story collector. 10. How to listen to someone who does not talk. 11. Falling in love with a painting. 12. Falling in love with a song. 13. Falling in love.


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Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed. The sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault. Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But while the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy’s most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion. When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station’s wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren’t just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands. But relax. They’ve totally got this. They hope. Once again told through a compelling dossier of emails, IMs, classified files, transcripts, and schematics, Gemina raises the stakes of the Illuminae Files, hurling readers into an enthralling new story that will leave them breathless.


HONOURABLE MENTION

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Tattoo Atlas by Tim Floreen

A year ago, Rem Braithwaite watched his classmate Franklin Kettle commit a horrific crime. Now, apart from the nightmares, life has gone back to normal for Rem. Franklin was caught, convicted, and put away in juvenile detention for what he did. The ordeal seems to be over. Until Rem’s mother selects Franklin as a test subject for an experimental brain procedure intended to “cure” him of his cruel and violent impulses. Suddenly Rem’s memories of that day start coming back to the surface. His nightmares become worse than ever. Plus he has serious doubts about whether his mother’s procedure will even work. Can evil really just be turned off? Then, as part of Franklin’s follow-up testing, he and Rem are brought face to face, and Rem discovers…Franklin does seem different. Despite everything, Rem finds himself becoming friends with Franklin. Maybe even something more than friends. But when another of their classmates turns up dead, Rem’s world turns upside-down yet again. Franklin insists that he’s innocent, that he’s cured, but Rem doesn’t know what to believe. Is someone else responsible for this new murder, or is Franklin fated to stay a monster forever? And can Rem find out the answer to this question before the killer, whoever it is, comes after him too?


There you have it! My top 10 neglected 2016 reads! Do we have any similar choices? What did you mean to read in 2016 but didn’t get around to?

Thank you for reading!

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21 thoughts on “#Top10Tuesday: Neglected 2016 Releases

    1. Good to know! I keep hearing good things about Rebel of The Sands! Here’s to hoping we get the chance to read some previous releases soon!

      Liked by 1 person

  1. I’ve read the first two and didn’t really enjoy them, not bad per say, but definitely not enjoyable for me. I did like the diversity of characters in Holding Up the Universe, but as somebody who has struggled with being overweight pretty much her whole life, I was expecting to connect with the character more and I didn’t. It was like a skinny person was writing the character, which I guess was how it was. Though, weirdly enough, I didn’t connect with Dumplin either..

    I’m eagerly waiting for Gemina to hit the stores for me. I want to buy the hardcover version because the dust-jacket is so beautiful but of course they have now changed into paperbacks over here. I freakin hate it..

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    1. Isn’t it the worst when you read something hoping that you’ll be able to relate to the character or story based on the synopsis of the novel, only to start reading it and it feels completely disconnected? That’s exactly how I feel when books discuss anxiety and characters with anxiety and I feel no connection to them.

      Have you checked Book Depository for the hardcovers of Gemina?! So it was just switched from having hardbacks to only paperbacks recently? :O

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      1. I haven’t ordered books from online in ages. But I guess I have to do that because it’s like the worst when the series doesn’t match! 😂 And indeed, the most connected I’ve felt actually was Duff but she was simply curvy so yeah. That book was great though, only book I’ve literally read in one sitting… twice. 😬 A lot better than the movie!!

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      2. Haha it’s the opposite for me! I always order from Chapters (Canada’s version of Barnes and Noble) because the online prices are so much cheaper!

        I also really enjoyed reading DUFF! I didn’t hate the movie, but I definitely agree that the book was better!

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      3. I feel like the movie lost the most important element of the book which was casual sex.. I feel like so many teen movies shy away from being a bit less available for everyone, rather than being thought provoking and actually showing casual sex. Mae Whitman was perfectly cast but they made her into this joke, especially that outfit tryout scene, like.. meh. All I want to do now is reread Duff. 😀

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      4. RIGHT?! I don’t understand why North American film/television is so toned down (with some exceptions of course). I watch shows from Europe that air at the same time as some televisions shows would in North America and they are so completely different. They feel more real and I think North American just has to stop being so conservative sometimes…

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      5. I’m pretty sure it’s for religious reasons.. Scandinavia and Estonia for example are not very religious at all, and Scandinavian TV shows are really amazing these past few years! I mean, look how many US adaptations have been Scandinavian inspired. And oh, let’s not even discuss UK, they go all out!

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      6. That makes sense for sure. Oh man, the UK goes hard hahaha! The more we talk about Scandinavia the more I wish I could travel/live there haha! It seems like such a perfect place!

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      7. haha I know what you mean! Subtitles can be a pain! If I could recommend any Xavier Dolan film as your French films for the year (assuming you haven’t watched them yet) I highly highly recommend!

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  2. Gemina is on my priority list this year. I was fully intending on reading it at the time of its release but I’d just got back from a stint in New Zealand and I needed to start saving haha. I know that the book follows a new set of characters but I am praying that Kady and Ezra have a part to play in the book.

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    1. oooh that sounds like fun! I hope to get to New Zealand one day hopefully! I’m so excited about Gemina! I can’t believe I haven’t picked it up yet! I hope they have a part in it as well, even if it’s small!

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  3. I’ve only read Rebel Of The Sands but I liked it! I hope I get to Sleeping Giants this year, because I think it’s a book I’d really like. I hope you like all of the books on your list, when you get to read them!

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