Top Ten Tuesdays: Books that Will Make You Swoon

 Top Ten Tuesday topic is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is Top Ten Books that Will Make You Swoon.

1. A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb: I loooved this book. It's impossible not to relate to Helen and James's connection, and the writings is just so beautiful.

2. Persuasion by Jane Austen: All Jane Austen books are swoonworthy in their own way, but the dynamic between Anne and Captain Wentworth is my personal favorite. And that letter!

3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: Oh, Peeta, Peeta, Peeta.

4. If I Stay/Where She Went by Gayle Forman: This duo is so sad, but I totally fell in love with Mia's family, best friend Kim, and boyfriend Adam (I suppose that's why it was so sad).

5. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion: Before reading this book I never in a million years would've considered zombies swoonworthy, but here we are. Even the heavy-handed Romeo and Juliet allusions couldn't keep this book from being absolutely adorable.

6. The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade: I was super-skeptical about this book, but Alona and Will were just so cute together.

7. Anything by Rainbow Rowell: Seriously, Fangirl, Attachments, Eleanor and Park, they'll all make you melt inside.

8. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux: I haven't read this book in ages because I loved it so much when I was younger that I'm afraid it can never live up to my memories of it.

9. Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding:I first read this when I was fifteen and even though it's about thirtysomethings it will forever remind me of teenage girl conversations about perfect guys.

10: I Don't Want to Kill You by Dan Wells: I feel a bit creepy putting this on the list since it's not really the warm, feel-good series you'd normally associate with the term "swoonworthy," but what the hell. I picked this, the third in the series, because I loved the dynamic between John and Marcy.

Book 17: You Look Different in Real Life

I'm a huge fan of the Seven Up documentary series, so when I read a summary for You Look Different in Real Life, I just had to get the book. This novel is about Justine, one of the children featured in a documentary series called Five at Six, which focuses on five children at six years old, and then again at eleven, and so on for every five years. Now it's time to start filming Five at Sixteen, and Justine, one of the viewer favorites from the first two movies, is insecure about coming across as a disappointment in the new film. She has no hobbies, her friendships have imploded since the last documentary, and she's just not where her sassy eleven-year-old self had envisioned she'd be. Every character here has a lot to deal with on individual level, and they're all so likable. I loved the complex relationships, especially between the five kids and their past selves (although Ian, Justine's recently ex-boyfriend, felt a little red herring), and everything just unfolded perfectly. My favorite book this year so far. A+

Book 16: Stranger with My Face by Lois Duncan

I hate how the ebook editions of these have been "updated" for modern readers! Just let the story have happened in the early eighties; that's much easier on my suspension of disbelief than awkwardly explaining away cell phones and e-mails. Stranger with My Face is an atmospheric, spooky book taking place on an isolated New England island (one of my favorite spooky settings). Teenage Laurie is being spotted in places she hadn't been and soon begins seeing a spectre that looks eerily like herself. Astral projection is a rare enough book topic (for me at least) that it held my interest, and I loved Laurie's family and her friends Helen and Jeff.

Book 15: The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P by Adelle Waldman

New York intellectual Nate Piven begins a relationship with "nice and smart or smart and nice" Hannah as a series of interactions with angry, indifferent, or broken-hearted ex-girlfriends (and lovely platonic friend Aurit) prompts him to reexamine his behavior with women. The heart of the book is in the clever conversations and small observations. Reading this book, seeing the love interest through the eyes of the male protagonist, I just kept thinking, "Oh man, I've been there." It was a little uncomfortable reading Waldman's unblinking depiction of Nate watching confident, intelligent Hannah crumble into an insecure, clingy shadow of herself, but Waldman is definitely talented at depicting the crazy-making back-and-forth of power in a relationship. Nate walked a fine line between relatable and despicable, and I really admire how evident Waldman made his faults to the reader even as they remained a mystery to Nate himself. It's not really fun being inside his head, but it's a worthwhile read nonetheless.

Book 14: Gunnerkrigg Court Vol. 4 by Tom Siddell

Another Gunnerkrigg book! I'm always amazed at stuff I catch when reading these in book form that I missed when I read it online. Everyone ought to at least give this series a try, especially since you can read the whole thing free online. It's so good!

Book 13: Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

 Beauty Queens is about a group of teen beauty pageant contestants stranded on a desert island after a plane crash. Over the course of their stay on the island, they discover an evil corporation's secret volcano lair, a marooned ship of pirates, and lots of secrets about each other. This is sort of like Libba Bray's feminist, satirical take on an all-girl Lord of the Flies. Her commentary on consumerism and reality TV I found quite funny, but while I agree with the heart of her message on girl power and sisterhood, it just felt a little too preachy to work for me. It's a weird position to be in as a reader, to be in essence agreeing with the book yet still feeling put off by its tone, which seemed a bit patronizing. I did enjoy learning more about each character and seeing them interact with each other. A lot of the  humor fell flat for me as well, but I could see it working for other people. 3/5

Book 12: Help at any Cost by Maia Szalavitz

I bought this book after reading this Cracked article on the troubled-teen industry, wilderness camps and faux therapeutic facilities that ostensibly help rehabilitate teens with drug problems, eating disorders, behavioral problems, and a whole host of other problems parents might find troubling in their teenaged children. In reality, as Szalavitz reveals, many of these programs have no licensed therapists on staff and are usually run by teenagers themselves, totally unequipped to deal with addiction, and there have been a number of suspicious deaths from the children in their care.

This was definitely not a fun read, but it was engrossing and informative. The individual accounts of the kids that Szalavitz provides are harrowing, especially the long-lasting effects of the therapy/brainwashing. It's incredible that this industry has been allowed to operate under so little regulation for so long, and hopefully by bringing more attention to these programs books like these can help to change that.