Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This week’s topic is: Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time

This is actually last week’s topic, but I missed it! And I like it better than this week’s topic, Fictional Crushes! And I do what I want!

1. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Michelle Hodkin: Looking back, I realize that I’ve already done this Top Ten list back in 2018, and this book is one of the only two to make a second appearance here.

Why I Wanna Read It Again for the First Time: The first time I read this book, I was enthralled from the first line. “My name is not Mara Dyer but my lawyer told me I had to choose something.”

It’s chilling, and it made me need to keep reading. I sped through it, needing to figure the mysteries out and needing to see slow burn between Mara and Noah finally ignite. I had to pause at page 170, where I stopped breathing right along with everyone else on the page. I can tell you that the line “My girl is talented” made me shiver, made me stop and read it again. And it doesn’t make sense out of context, if you haven’t read this one it sounds ridiculous for it to physically affect me. BUT IT DID. This is also the first and only book that has ever caused me to turn right back to page 1 immediately after finishing. —

2. The Loneliest Girl in the Universe, Lauren James: I adored this book to my very core. I believe my rating was HOLY SH*T! This book is so different than I thought it was going to be in the BEST way. I went into it expecting a sci-fi that maybe has a little romance somehow even though Romy is alone on her spaceship. And it is that!

Why I Wanna Read It Again for the First Time: But then 2/3 of the way through everything completely changes and you are in a totally different book! It totally changes subgenres and I want to be back in it and get to experience the jaw-dropping moment when I realized what had just happened.

3. You’d Be Mine, Erin Hahn: I was skeptical of this one. I picked it at YallWest one year and it went to the bottom of my TBR because I don’t like country music and I don’t like religion and I knew those were both big factors. I started following the author on Twitter and was really digging how her politics matched up with mine and how liberal she seemed. I decided to take a chance and hope that the religion wasn’t overbearing, and–

Why I Wanna Read It Again for the First Time: It wasn’t at all! And I didn’t care that it was about country music at all, because it wasn’t really about that. It was about Annie and Clay and grief and healing. I want to make that discovery again, I want to get caught up in this quiet little book that I didn’t see coming. I want the excitement of the author actually reading and responding to my Tweets about her book, not even knowing that it would lead to talking to Erin all the time.

4. Froi of the Exiles, Melina Marchetta: This one is actually the second in a series. But I remember how much I Ioved the first one, and was so excited to start this one. I was so excited when it was wonderful and had zero second book syndrome. The Lumatere Chronicles is the best fantasy trilogy, this quiet little sleeper series that I found by clicking around on Goodreads (I have found a LOT of books this way. Just start clicking into the “Readers Also Enjoyed” box at the top right of the page and you’ll be amazed and where you eventually wind up.

Why I Wanna Read It Again for the First Time: I remember that feeling of closing book 1 and being able to open book 2 immediately because I didn’t read them until the full series was published. I remember the excitement that stuck with me the entire time I was reading, the little butterflies in my stomach as I realized how wildly romantic the books were, how vivid the world Melina created was. It would be lovely to still know that I had two whole books in the trilogy to read.

5. Together We Caught Fire, Eva V. Gibson: It is no secret how much I love Eva and her books. This was her debut, and a couple of Tweets later badabing badaboom we were BFF. She has asked me to host the cover reveal for her second book, she has WRITTEN ME AND CUBERT INTO THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, but it all started because of this quiet little advance copy that a friend sent me.

Why I Wanna Read It Again for the First Time: The first time I read this book I was on a red-eye going from LAX to my sister’s place in FL, and I just jammed through this for the whole ride. I was supposed to be sleeping, but I was so hooked on the characters and their lives that sleep was just not happening. Losing sleep over a good book? Always worth it.

If You’re Out There, Katy Loutzenhiser: Here is another one that flipped the script halfway through and changed genres and I am just SO HERE FOR THAT. I think a lot of people like to know what they’re getting into, but I LOVE a good twist, and I usually see things coming. So if you can catch me by surprise? OOH I’M INTO IT.

Why I Wanna Read It Again for the First Time: It was like a thriller disguised as a contemporary! You think it’s this nice little book about friendships ending and a cute romance and then it turns on it’s head and you’re in a thriller where everything you thought you knew is WRONG WRONG WRONG.

Have a Little Faith in Me, Sonia Hartl: This is one of my favorite books of all time. I’ve read it countless times since it was published in 2019, and will read it countless times more. I honestly think it should be required reading for all sex-education classes. It presents consent in such a clear way and such a DIFFERENT way–I saw things about myself and my life that I had never seen before. I consider myself to be pretty progressive, and Sonia still had me sitting up straighter, saying, “OH.”

Why I Wanna Read It Again for the First Time: This is one I want to go back and read when I was in high school. I want to give it to 14-year-old me and have her start learning then what sex and consent really meant, and to read about the experience with religion and realize how scarily similar it was to mine–maybe I would have started questioning things earlier, let myself feel the shame a little less.

On the Island, Tracy Garvis Graves: Another one I found just roaming through Goodreads. I read it way back when it was just a little self-published book, and was so proud of the author when a traditional publishing house picked it up and rereleased it.

Why I Wanna Read It Again for the First Time: I was living in San Francisco when I read this one, and have very vivid memories of walking the streets there, being so anxious to get home so that I could read more. I’ve always loved disaster/survival movies, but this was one of the first novels I ever found in the genre.

If This Gets Out, Sophie Gonzales & Cale Dietrich: This one is so new that it’s not even out yet–it releases early this December. I screamed when I got an early copy because the premise sounded SO good: a queer boy band romance. I didn’t need to know anything more. This is another one I read on the plane from LAX to my sister this July. I didn’t even care when my flight was delayed two hours because it was just more time to read.

Why I Wanna Read It Again for the First Time: I wanted to read it again from the moment it ended, and I wish I could read it again for the first time because it was just SO. GOOD. It was everything I hoped it was going to be and more. It made me so happy, and I can’t wait until it’s out so everyone in the world can read it.

Red, White & Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston: Oh, this book. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways: It’s funny, it’s sexy, it’s political, it’s romantic as hell. I loved every minute of it and I honestly don’t know how many times I’ve read it. I think I had read it four times before it was even published. I loved it so much that I won a bid for charity and got an annotated copy from Casey. It didn’t feel right to keep all the secrets to myself, so I started a blog series that chronicled them. If you’ve never seen them, start here!

Why I Wanna Read It Again for the First Time: I don’t think I have ever cried from romantic stress before, but it happened here in between happy and sad crying. I want to read about the turkeys for the first time, I want to hear Henry call Alex a strumpet for the first time, and I want to read New Years Eve all over again for the first time.

WOW THIS TOOK FOREVER I HOPE YOU LIKED IT.