Welcome back to another Top 5 Saturday! Just in case you don’t know Top 5 Saturday is a weekly meme created by Mandy @ Devouring Books and it’s where we list the top five books (they can be books on your TBR, favourite books, books you loved/hated) based on the week’s topic. You can see the upcoming schedule at the end of my post 🙂 This week’s topic is actually: Hyped Books.
There are so many hyped books so this list really could be endless. While I’m always eager to know what the hyped books are, I’m also quite wary of them because I’m intimidated by the hype and I’m always worried that I won’t end up liking the book half as much as everyone else! Though I do get caught up in the hype and I quite often cave in and pre-order or buy the book not long after its been released, they usually end up sitting on my physical/kindle shelves for… A long time before they actually get read. I know you know what I’m talking about, right?! Here are some more “recent” hyped books that I’ve been telling myself to read but have still not picked up!
These Violent Delights
The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery.
A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal.
But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule.
Fix Her Up
Georgette Castle’s family runs the best home renovation business in town, but she picked balloons instead of blueprints and they haven’t taken her seriously since. Frankly, she’s over it. Georgie loves planning children’s birthday parties and making people laugh, just not at her own expense. She’s determined to fix herself up into a Woman of the World… whatever that means.
Phase one: new framework for her business (a website from this decade, perhaps?)
Phase two: a gut-reno on her wardrobe (fyi, leggings are pants.)
Phase three: updates to her exterior (do people still wax?)
Phase four: put herself on the market (and stop crushing on Travis Ford!) Read more…
Cinderella Is Dead
It’s 200 years after Cinderella found her prince, but the fairy tale is over. Teen girls are now required to appear at the Annual Ball, where the men of the kingdom select wives based on a girl’s display of finery. If a suitable match is not found, the girls not chosen are never heard from again.
Sixteen-year-old Sophia would much rather marry Erin, her childhood best friend, than parade in front of suitors. At the ball, Sophia makes the desperate decision to flee, and finds herself hiding in Cinderella’s mausoleum. There, she meets Constance, the last known descendant of Cinderella and her step sisters. Together they vow to bring down the king once and for all–and in the process, they learn that there’s more to Cinderella’s story than they ever knew . . .
Beach Read
Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.
They’re polar opposites.
In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block.
Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.
The Starless Sea
Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood. Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues—a bee, a key, and a sword—that lead him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to an ancient library hidden far below the surface of the earth. Read more…
AUGUST/FEBRUARY SCHEDULE:
28 August: People on the Cover04 September: Intimidating Books- 11 September: Hyped Books
- 18 September: Fast Paced Books
- 25 September: Illustrated Covers
- 02 October: Magical Books
Do you stay away from hyped books or are you easily suckered in by all the hype? Do you also buy all the hyped books but… leave them sitting on the shelf for a while after you get them? 😂
dinipandareads 
Ahh I meant to read These Violent Delights last month and never got around to it but I just got an ARC of the sequel so I really need to pick it up!
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Ooh, that’s good motivation to pick a book up soon 🙂 I hope you enjoy it!
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Me too! I have high hopes that I will love it
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Great list! The Starless Sea, I remember that being so hyped and I got too afraid to read it haha – I didn’t want to be disappointed.
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Haha, yep, that’s also why I tend to avoid the very hyped books because I’m scared to be disappointed 🙈 the hype can be quite intimidating!
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So the ones I have tried to read on this list didn’t work for me. 🤣 Hype can be so bad at times!
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That’s so freaking true and that’s why it bums me out sometimes 😂
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These Violent Delights has been on my tbr for a while but the sequel is coming out soon so I definitely think I will pick it up this month. I’ve heard so many good things about it, and I’ve been promised that it has an amazing enemies-to-lovers story so I just really hope I love it!
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Ooh, this has made me decide to put off reading it even longer and wait until the sequel comes out 😂 I’ve heard a lot of good things about it too, so I hope we both enjoy it! Happy reading 😊
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I tread carefully with hyped books. Some are good, some are bad. Basically, I just wait and hear what other people think and then decide. But, I will say this – they often have gorgeous covers!
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Yep, definitely agree that the majority of them have gorgeous covers that make it so hard for me to resist buying them 😂
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Fix Her Up was good, but I liked the next two books in the series more.
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Fix Her Up was huge on bookstagram when it came out but I have seen some mixed reviews for it lately. But I’m looking forward to reading more Tessa Bailey cos I had a taste of her books earlier this year and really enjoyed them!
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My favorite of hers are the Girl series. I highly recommend it.
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I still need to read Cinderella is Dead and The Starless Sea. I enjoyed the others, though.
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I read These Violent Delights and loved it! The Starless Sea is pretty intimidating. It’s been on my TBR for a while now and I still haven’t read it. 🙈
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