Top Ten Tuesday {2} Books I ALMOST Put Down

Meme image from The Broke and The Bookish, host of Top Ten Tuesday

I've been meaning to do a TTT post for a few weeks now, and when I saw the topic for today I knew it was a perfect chance for me to participate!

Today I'm sharing the top ten books I almost put down... but didn't!

1. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein:
   
   I had the HARDEST time with the first half of this book! I was so bored with all the airplane talk, and my blogger friends INSISTED that I stick with it. And I'm so glad I did because this ended up being my favourite 2012 release!
2. Things I Can't Forget by Miranda Kenneally:
   
   Some of my experiences growing up were similar to Kate's (the main character) and I wasn't sure how I felt about that. It seemed like a book that might hit a little TOO close to home. But I ended up appreciating the story, and I think this is a particularly relevant contemporary.
3. Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood:
   
   As much as I love the idea of merpeople, I have a harder time with modern stories about them. But Lies Beneath was such a pleasant surprise for me!
4. Venom by Fiona Paul:
   
   I wasn't sure about Venom because of the cover, and even the description didn't sound that different from other books- but I ended up loving Venom and found it to be very well done!
5. The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski:
   
   Similar to my hesitate with Venom, The Winner's Curse wasn't a book I had planned on reading until I received a surprise copy. I decided to give it a shot and ended up LOVING it! It was much edgier than I anticipated and I loved that.
6. Losing It by Cora Carmack:
   
   This was my first "real" New Adult read and another one that I had no plans to read at first. I'm not a big fan of romance books in general, so I didn't think I'd like Losing It but it was actually a lot of fun and really sucked me in.
7. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins:
   
   Even though it's one of my favourite books now, I read the first book and almost didn't finish it because the first couple of chapters just seemed so silly to me - I honestly couldn't get past the name "Katniss"! 

And I can only think of 7 books - I rarely walk away from a book so there aren't too many like this for me! 

Team Peeta Crush Tournament

Hey guys!

So if you haven't heard of the YA Crush Tournament, I'm just going to quickly share with you what it's about and why it matters TODAY (of all days).

The Crush Tournament is a blog event hosted by YA Sisterhood where different guys from YA books go head to head in voting matches to see who will be crowned the ultimate YA Crush.

I'm the advocate for Team Peeta (from The Hunger Games). And we're up today against Daemon from Jennifer L. Armentrout's Lux series. Don't get me wrong, I also appreciate some Daemon in my life - but I'm pretty convinced that Peeta (and his breads and cakes) are really where it's at in terms of crush material.

You can check out the advocate posts and vote here.

But I also want to share with you what the incentives for today will be.

When Peeta reaches...

1500 votes: I'm going to give away an official Hunger Games 2013 movie calendar
2000 votes: Give away for EITHER The Hunger Games Unofficial Cookbook OR The Special Edition hardcover of The Hunger Games
2500 votes: Give away for EITHER audiobook download of any Hunger Games book (INT) OR pre-order of The Hunger Games [2-Disc DVD + Ultra-Violet Digital Copy] (US/Canada)

And if Peeta wins? I'll give away the entire trilogy in a boxed set OR you can choose one of the other prizes from above

How do you win?
Either leave a comment on this blog post right here, telling me you voted for Peeta or leaving me a link to where you shared the link to the match asking others to vote for Peeta.
OR ask others to vote on Twitter for Peeta by using BOTH the #TeamPeeta & #YACrushTourney hashtags in the tweet.
OR share the link on Facebook, by telling me where you shared Peeta's match on Facebook or by sharing my Team Peeta posts on my Facebook page.