Top Ten Tuesday (9)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by the Broke and the Bookish where a new top ten list is posted each week. This week is: Ten Books That I Read That Were Outside Of My Comfort Zone (whether you liked them or not).

1. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
This was my first ever zombie book, which I mostly picked up because the blurb makes Mary's village sound very similar to the movie The Village. I enjoyed it, but ended up having my comfort zone pushed in a way I hadn't expected. The scene with the baby just creeped me out and is the reason why I haven't read any further in the series.

2. The Harrowing by Alexandra Sokoloff
My first ever horror picked up to fill out a 3 for £5 book deal which ended up succeeding where every horror movie I've ever seen failed. It scared the pants off of me and was read in a single nail biting session because no power on this Earth could have made me put it down until I knew what happened. Even then I was tempted to sleep with the light on.

3. Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
This is the book that got me to start reading fantasy. I'd read Tolkein as a kid, but nothing else. I saw this in the library and picked it up thinking I might read it while I was visiting family. I ended up rationing the pages and ordering the entire trilogy from amazon so it was waiting for me on my return home. An awesome read :)

4. Your Planet or Mine by Susan Grant
Aliens! I don't usually read science fiction, and the idea of an alien romance was more than a little odd for me. I picked this up to fill the Y part of a Read-the-Alphabet challenge as I literally couldn't think of anything else. It was okay, but I definitely prefer my sci-fi on TV - give me Roswell, the X Files or Firefly and I'm a happy girl.

5. Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon
When I first moved into adult paranormal books, I started with urban fantasy and gradually moved toward paranormal romance. I really wanted to read the Dark-Hunters but heard it was best to start with this (technically a prequel to the series). The title and blurb really pushed my comfort zone, but not only did I manage to buy it without blushing too much I loved it and have read the entire series multiple times.

6. The Lovely Bones by Alice Seabold
This was totally out of my comfort zone because of the storyline, and still pretty much is. I'm glad I've read it, but I found it to be really difficult to read emotionally and I don't think I'd read another book like it.

7. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Another book I read because of an awesome movie trailer (*cough* Twilight *cough*). I wouldn't have read it without seeing the trailer because I hadn't heard of the author before. It's a great read though, and now I'm totally hooked on the author.

8. Get a Clue by Jill Shalvis
This was my first romantic suspense and I read it because the Book Depository really messed up my order (this was supposed to be Thunder Moon by Lori Handeland) and let me keep the mistake. I really love it. I'd never have read it otherwise but it's sweet and romantic with a brilliant mystery

9. Candy Apple Dead by Sammi Carter
I brought this purely because it has candy recipes in. I didn't even know that cozy mysteries existed before I read this, but it started an addiction and now I'm hooked. I'd never been interested in mysteries but these are great gentle reads (there's little-to-no sex, violence, swearing, drugs etc) and usually have a clever mystery to solve.


10. Her Notorious Viscount by Jenna Petersen
My ultimate "out of my comfort zone" read. I don't read historical romance, and even after this it is still out of my comfort zone. I was bored waiting for a delivery a few years ago so I read the first quarter or so of this on the publisher's website. I fell in love with the characters and desperately want to know what happened next so I ordered a copy and read it as soon as it arrived.