Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they come up with a topic and invite whoever wants to add their own list to their own blog.
There’s really nothing I hate more than picking up a book, thinking it’s something, and then it turns out it’s NOTHING like I thought. Conversely, I sort of love when a book leaves my expectations totally shocked and is definitely not what I expected. I know… I’m a walking enigma.
On the one hand, it’s great going into a book thinking it’s going to be about one thing and it turns out to take a twist so crazy-like that it leaves you breathless and shocked, like a sudden dip on a roller-coaster that you didn’t know was coming. But on the other, how much does it suck when you get all dead set on a book being something and ends up being totally lame and nothing like you imagined?! Bah deceivers!
Here are my Top Ten Books that were totally deceiving:
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – I was pleasantly (okay, awesomely) creeped out by this book, but it was nothing like I was expecting. There were so many plot twists by the end of the book I wasn’t even sure if I was reading the same book I had gone in reading!
Fallen – The cover of this one deceived me. It looks like some angsty, emo book and it completely wasn’t!
Texas Gothic – Again, this is one of those books where the cover doesn’t match the plot. It was fresh and fun, sexy… the cover? Not so much.
Saving Francesca – The back of this book makes it seem like a fun, cutesy story about a girl who goes to an all-boys school and the crazy antics she gets into. Um, yeah… this book is NOTHING like that.
Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married – Like Saving Francesca, this book’s premise promised fun, crazy antics of a 20-something dealing with stresses of her life and dating. While it pretty much met these expectations, I found so much more in it that was deeper and surprisingly relatable.
Jane Eyre – Although we all know that plot shocker is coming, I feel like this book is totally deceiving. It’s supposed to be a romantic story about a governess falling in love with her employer and them living happily ever after. He’s not supposed to have a crazy wife locked up in the attic!
Destined – It was supposed to be so good! Sadly, it was not. Pretty covers do not always equal good books.
Stardust – I really loved this movie… It’s one of my favorite rainy-day afternoon movies, especially Robert Di Nero dancing in drag. I had such high expectations for the book… but it was so deceiving! It was much darker than I expected it to be. Sad day!
Evermore series – This one promised such good things and really fell flat. I thought it was going to be this tale of love-torn lovers… and it ended up being a tale of whining because two people can’t have sex.
The Forest of Hands and Teeth – It wasn’t until AFTER I finished this book that I realized it was about zombies. Calling them “unconsecrated” totally deceived me into thinking they were something else besides zombies.
The Grown-Up YA 
Great list Candice! I haven’t read any of these books yet, but I remember you saying that the cover of Texas Gothic doesn’t really fit the book when you reviewed it. Still going to read it, though, because COWBOY and magic things.
But I totally agree that sometimes deceiving is a GOOD thing! And sometimes it sucks. Sad face.
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Yes!!! PLEASE read Texas Gothic – I think you will really enjoy it. Mostly for the hot cowboy. 🙂
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Such a good list, my dear. I totally agree with you on Saving Francesca. The cover I had was orange and navy and had these sute little cartoon drawings of kids in school uniforms. But the subject matter, although funny at times, was so much deeper and more emotional. I love that book, but the cover really doesn’t match.
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I’ve seen that one – so misleading!
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I agree on Fallen. I knew what Forest was about when I started, but cover isn’t the best for that one either. ~Maggie
Vote for us to go to BEA!!
http://gonepecanla.wordpress.com/
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I’m not sure where my head was with Forest… It just didn’t click with me that they were zombies! Dur! haha
And I’ll totally go vote for you, as long as you bring me back some goodies! 🙂 (I’ll vote anyway… goodies or no!)
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Bahahaha you crack me up with not knowing that The Forest of Hands And Teeth was about zombies until the end. LOLOLOLOLOLOL. Sorry, I shouldn’t laugh, but that legit makes the rest of my afternoon.
Also I am just going to avoid Evermore, I think.
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Haha, yeah…. I was a little slow. Go ahead and laugh. Glad I made your afternoon! Also… Evermore is okay, it really is. The rest of the series? Big thumbs down.
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I think I was surprised by the zombies in Forest of Hands and Teeth too. Such a strange and dark book. I think I’d be more open to it now. Yes, I’m wary of the pretty covers too – they so often disappoint.
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Forest was actually really pretty good. Wasn’t so much a “zombie” book and had a few good twists in it.
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I have been eyeing Texas Gothic- I think I will read it after your thumbs up! Great list- Fallen made mine too (what are those fingerless gloves about!?! Gah!)
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Yay, I hope you’ll read it. I really enjoyed it so much! And I know… fingerless gloves? What is this? A Madonna video from the 1980s? 🙂
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Thanks! Here at Gone Pecan we always share! Here’s hoping I can go and I’ll have something to give! Spread the word! ~Maggie.
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I also find Jane Eyre a bit deceptive… when I first read it as a teen, I thought it was a love story. When I reread it as a college student, I realized it was actually about Jane as an independent woman. And I’ve reread it a million more times, too, always finding something I missed the last time around!
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