Culling the TBR Pile 17

A blogger called Lia from Lost in a Story created a kind of meme thingy called Down the TBR Hole that aims to cut your TBR pile of the books you no longer want to read and remind yourself of the ones you do want to read.

The process:

Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
Order on ascending date added.
Take the first 5-10 (or more if you’re feeling adventurous) books.
Read the synopses of the books
Decide: keep it or should it go?

Culling the TBR Pile This Week:

Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne

So I was ready to keep this one because I really enjoy the typical fantasy-lite street urchin rise to power sort of thing, but after reading some reviews and finding out this has zero characterisation, a Mary-Sue heroine (and I do NOT use the term lightly so you know it must be real) and is generally rated poorly by my friends, I’m culling this one.

Winter Falls by Nicole Maggi

Isn’t this cover pretty? And hard to read.

Literally none of my friends have read this.

And not to be rude, but it sounds kind of derivative of Twilight what with a girl in a small town falling in love with a hot mysterious boy and then embroiled in an epic battle between good and evil. I don’t know if it actually is, because I haven’t read it, but at this point, I no longer want to. This one is getting culled.

The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare by M.G. Buehrlen

While I still find the concept interesting, this isn’t highly enough rated by my friends to warrant any more interest from me. I want something less romance and more adventure. This one is getting culled.

Sing Sweet Nightingale by Erica Cameron

This blurb doesn’t appeal to me anymore either. This one is getting culled.

Chantress Alchemy by Amy Butler Greenfield

I have this rule that if I haven’t read the first book in a series yet, I have to cull the remaining books in the series from my TBR. So even though I have Chantress and I still really want to read it, I have to cull its sequel, Chantess Alchemy.

Princess of Thorns by Stacey Jay

OK, while this has some mixed review from my friends, the blurb still appeals to me, and Twelfth Night is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays, so I still want to read this one. It stays.

Saving Rapunzel by Jamie Campbell

I know, I’m supposed to be a huge fan of fairytale retellings, but I literally cannot read them all and unfortunately this is one of the ones that has to be culled.

Killing Snow White by Jamie Campbell

Same as above. Culled.

Taken y Erin Bowman

Since this has generally negative reviews from my friends for reasons including the main character is an unlikable jerk and plot holes, I’ve lost interest and I’m going to cull it.

Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis

Snow White meets Star Wars with cage fighting? I am so there. This one is staying.

VERDICT

Removed: 8

Kept: 2

What do you think? Should I have kept any books? Have you read any, and what did you think of them? Let me know in the comments!

About Nemo

A lover of kittens and all things sparkly, Nemo has a degree in English Literature and specialises in reviewing contemporary, paranormal, mystery/thriller, historical, sci-fi and fantasy Young Adult fiction. She is especially drawn to novels about princesses, strong female friendships, magical powers, and assassins.