Top Ten Tuesday (19)

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: Top Ten Books That Broke Your Heart a Little.

1. Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
I stumbled across this as a teenager in my local library and picked it up expecting a standard paranormal romance...but it isn't. This is a more realistic love story where people aren't perfect and don't necessarily react in the best ways, ending up in a totally different place to what I expected.

2. Daughters of Darkness by L.J. Smith
It is a little difficult to talk about why this book broke my heart without revealing huge parts of the plot, but one of the characters makes a choice to go off and become worthy before taking what they want. How could a line like "see you next year...with slain dragon" not break your heart a little?

3. Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Acheron had been a favourite character of mine from the start of the Dark Hunter series so when it came to his own book I couldn't wait. I knew his past had been bad, but the first half of this book shows exactly how bad. This didn't just break my heart...it shattered it.

4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
I would not be surprised if this pops up on a lot of lists this week purely because of the body count. J.K. Rowling didn't hold back and some of my favourite characters didn't survive this book. Two of the death scenes were particularly heartwrenching, not to mention unexpected :(

5. Dance with the Devil by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Zarek is another tortured hero but it isn't just Zarek's past that broke my heart. His entire life is a torment thanks to a sadistic deity and this book takes place as a divine judge is sent to determine whether he is too dangerous to live. But even as Zarek embraces his insanity, his truly sweet hidden side sneaks out and that is what broke my heart.

6. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
At an event with Maggie Stiefvater last year she announced one of the things she hoped to do with her books was to make the reader cry. With me, she succeeded - and I rarely ever cry at books. Some how she's managed to create incredibly realistic heartwrenching stories that succeed in making her readers cry, especially with the end of Shiver.

7. Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward
Zsadist is another one of those broken characters who you fall in love with only to end up with your heart bleeding over what happened in their past. Zsadist also doesn't think he is worthy of love anymore so he pushes everyone away, especially those who truly love him.

8. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
The scene when Edward leaves is heartwrenching, but that is not the part of New Moon that managed to break my heart. Nope - my heart was broken by four little pages: OCTOBER. NOVEMBER. DECEMBER. JANUARY. The fact that Bella's life loses meaning without Edward is more painful than anything else from the book.

9. The Haunted by Jessica Verday
This book has one of the few cliffhangers that I don't hate. The end of the book changes everything for Abby and Caspian and left me completely crushed. I haven't managed to read the final installment yet but I'm desperately hoping it gives these guys the happy ending they deserve.

10. Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon
My final pick didn't break my heart because of the storyline, but because of a single event. The main character Grace has a library of her books tucked away in her home and a psycho breaks in and shreds them. Her reaction combined with the details of the book massacre (we're talking destroyed first editions here), and the reaction of hunky Julian totally broke my heart.