Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books Dealing With Tough Topics

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week a new top ten list is posted for us bloggers to share the books we love and discuss anything book related! To see more details about Top Ten Tuesday click HERE. 

I am so behind on all of my posts, and I apologize guys! I had my last final this morning, and have been celebrating that its summer ever since. So now I have come in for the night, and am ready to bang out some new posts, prepare yourselves :)

This week's TTT is top ten books dealing with tough topics. As mentioned by The Broke and the Bookish, this can be anything from abuse, suicide, grief, to whatever speaks to you personally. This week is the opposite of last week's light and fluffy books we discussed (You can find mine HERE). Here is my line-up:

1) Still Alice by Lisa Genova: This book deals with a family member who has been diagnosed with Alzheimers Disease. The main character in Still Alice tells her story of her life with Alzheimers.

2) Fifty Shades Series by E.L. James: Alright guys, don't laugh at me. If you usually read my posts, you probably noticed that this pops up in almost all of my top ten Tuesdays. I really do love this book. In this book the characters are dealing with a rough childhood. I do not want to go into detail for those who have not read it, but those of you that have should know what I am talking about. 

3) The Help by Kathryn Stockett: I am sure most of you know what this book is about, even if you have not read it or seen the movie. Just in case you do not or you want a refresher, this is a book about life as a black maid in 1962. I absolutely love this book, if you have not read it I highly recommend it. 

4) Wait for You by J. Lynn: I actually just did a review on this book! You can see it HERE. In this book, the main character is trying to run away from her past where she was raped. This book was an amazing story. The rape is hinted at a lot in the first part of the book so we, as readers, are able to figure out the basic story of what happened to our leading lady, Avery, pretty quickly but as the story develops it tells you more about what happend to her in her past and what made her run.

5) Slammed by Colleen Hoover: I am actually still reading this book, but I can tell you that it has already made its way up to an all time favorite. I started this book just wanting to read about a love story but got so much more. This book has me going on a crazy emotional roller coaster. I am not sure about everything, even if I was I would not want to ruin it for you, but the main characters in this book have had and are going through a lot of loss in their lives. Their stories are heartbreaking. I can't wait to finish this book and give you a review :)

6) The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks: Really any of his books are devastating, bu this one is my favorite. I always end up crying like a baby with his books, in this one especially. This is a story about a girl and her little brother who go to live with their Dad for a summer. At the end of the summer... Eh, that is too much of a spoiler. Just be prepared to cry if you have not read this one yet. 

7) My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult: This is a book about a young girl who has been conceived and raised to donate blood (and whatever else is needed) for her sister with cancer. In this book the young girl is fighting her parents for the rights to her own body so her parents can no longer force her to donate for her sister. This book had me crying constantly. It is such a touching, yet heartbreaking story about this young girl. If you have not read this, I highly recommend it. 

8) Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer: This book is the story of a boy who lost his dad in the 9/11 attacks in New York. The main character is on a journey to find lock a key fits into, with the belief that it will help him accept his father's death.

9) Broken by William Cope Moyers: This book is a true story about Cope's drug addiction and recovery. It has been so long since I have read it, that I cannot remember much else unfortunately. I had to read this book for an addictions class I took my freshman year of college, and it was definitely an intense read. 

10) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling: The main character in this book is 11 years old. Both of his parents were murdered when he was a baby. Now he is stuck living with his horrible Aunt and Uncle and their bratty, spoiled son. Every day his life is miserable, the poor kid even has to sleep in a closet under the stairs. Then he gets his Hogwarts letter :) 

Sorry guys, but I had to put that last one on there. I was getting really depressed by my list and thought some Harry Potter would make it better :) Anyway I hope you enjoyed this and it didn't make you too sad. There is a lot of death and loss mentioned here. This was actually a pretty hard topic for me. As much as I love the books with tough topics, I usually go for the light, fluffy reads because they make a good happy escape. 

What books are on your list this week??

Review: Wait for You by J. Lynn

Wait for You (Wait for You, #1) by J. Lynn AKA Jennifer L. Armentrout

Book: Wait for You (Wait for You, #1) by J. Lynn

Published: February 26th 2013 by J. Lynn

My rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: New Adult 

*this book does contain mature, adult content

Goodreads Summary:

"Some things are worth waiting for…

Traveling thousands of miles from home to enter college is the only way nineteen-year-old Avery Morgansten can escape what happened at the Halloween party five years ago—an event that forever changed her life. All she needs to do is make it to her classes on time, make sure the bracelet on her left wrist stays in place, not draw any attention to herself, and maybe—please God—make a few friends, because surely that would be a nice change of pace. The one thing she didn’t need and never planned on was capturing the attention of the one guy who could shatter the precarious future she’s building for herself.

Some things are worth experiencing…

Cameron Hamilton is six feet and three inches of swoon-worthy hotness, complete with a pair of striking blue eyes and a remarkable ability to make her want things she believed were irrevocably stolen from her. She knows she needs to stay away from him, but Cam is freaking everywhere, with his charm, his witty banter, and that damn dimple that’s just so… so lickable. Getting involved with him is dangerous, but when ignoring the simmering tension that sparks whenever they are around each other becomes impossible, he brings out a side of her she never knew existed.

Some things should never be kept quiet…

But when Avery starts receiving threatening emails and phone calls forcing her to face a past she wants silenced, she’s has no other choice but to acknowledge that someone is refusing to allow her to let go of that night when everything changed. When the devastating truth comes out, will she resurface this time with one less scar? And can Cam be there to help her or will he be dragged down with her?

And some things are worth fighting for…"

This is the first book I have read in the Bout of Books Read-A-Thon :)

I LOVED this book! (I'm pretty sure I say that exact phrase in just about every review I do haha, sorry guys). But for real, this book was great. It's possibly one of my new favorites. This is the first JLA book I have read, and if all of her books are this good (and I have heard they are) it will most certainly not be the last! 

After reading Fallen Too Far (Here's my review) and Never Too Far (I have not done a review for this one yet, but I'll get around to it soon hopefully!) by Abbi Glines I was in a serious funk. I'm not really sure why but I took about a week off from reading. I don't know if it was the books or just the fact that I have been reading constantly for a month straight after not reading consistently for about a year, but I needed a break. I think I started reading 3 or 4 different books and just couldn't decide what to read. Finally, I picked this book up and told myself I wasn't allowed to stop. And I didn't. Two nights in a row I was up until 4:30 AM reading. Not smart considering its my finals week, but that's beside the point. This book brought me out of my funk, just in time for the Bout of Books Read-A-Thon! Thank goodness :)

Reasons I enjoyed this book:

-This book had everything, literally guys.. ALL THE FEELS. I would be laughing one moment, crying the next, and then in love 5 seconds later. This book discussed some rough topics, but it had some light and funny moments too. I really felt like I could get into it and desperately wanted to know what would happen next!

-College. I really loved that the characters in this book were in college. I felt like I could relate to them better than I have to some books in the past. This just all felt like a realistic relationship to me, not something that was created overnight but a good relationship that was built over time. 

-Real issues. I know I mentioned this already, but it is a big reason why I enjoyed this book so much. These characters have been through some serious crap, and they are struggling to form a relationship and work through their issues together. In many books, the characters are stupid and make their own problems, but Cam and Avery are working through their past and learning to not let it consume who they are all while trying to form a relationship. 

Things I did not enjoy about this book:

-The end, really felt like the end. I find that a lot of authors tend really paint a picture of the story making you feel like you are a part of the book, until the end. Once you get to the last few chapters, it is often more of the author telling you how the story ends, rather than feeling like you are living in it. The time chunks that are skipped get larger and soon enough you find that you missed out on a good 3 months of the story. I get that it may not be an important 3 months, but when this happens I feel like I have been pushed out of the book and really am just reading about what happens. I dont know if that makes any since to you guys, but in my head thats how it works. That is how I felt toward the end of this book. It may have been just me, but weather it was my subconscious preparing me for the end of the book, or something everyone else feels too, I was a little disappointed when I was done. 

Overall: EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK. I loved it :) I would give this book a good 5 stars! I can't wait for the second book!

Have you read this book? What did you think of it?

*UPDATED* Bout of Books 7.0 Read-A-Thon

Hey guys! I am participating in the Bout of Books Read-A-Thon :) I could not be more excited!! I won't be able to read the whole time, I have to work and finish up my finals. But I am planning on using this to destress after my last final on Tuesday.

For those of you who do not know bout the Bout of Books readathon, It is a week long read a thon that is about to start! (literally in 3 minuets). It is a week long and starts at midnight May 13! You can clink HERE for more information!

I do not have any goals yet, because I want to get this posted quick!! I will update this post soon with my official goals :)

Happy reading :)

*UPDATED GOALS LIST*
Time I plan to devote to reading: Since I will be working and finishing up my finals, it will vary each day.  Overall, I want to read a minimum of 3 or 4 hours a day.

My goals: 
-Read at least 4 books. I usually knock out 2 a week. I am a bit of a slow reader and tend to get distracted easily. On top of that I will be working somet this week also, so I can't get too in over my head!
-Comment on 5 blogs participating each day
-Read at least 3 hours each day
-Update daily on sidebar
-Post a review for each book I finish
-Update twitter as often as I want :) (At least a few times a day)

Just in case you aren't following me on twitter and want to!
Follow @NalasBookCorner

Books I plan to Choose from: 
-Wait for You by J. Lynn (finish)
-Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins 
-The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot
-Crash by Nicole Williams 
-Slammed by Colleen Hoover
-On the Island by Tracey Gravis-Graves
-Captive in the Dark by CJ Roberts 
-Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
-Swoon by Nina Malkin

I know I will not finish all of these books, but there is no way I can determine what I will read when the time comes to pick a new book. It really just depends on my mood at the time. So this is the list I will (try my hardest) to choose my books from! I will update daily and keep you guys posted on how my read-a-thon is going :) 

Please feel free to comment and update me on your read-a-thon as well :)