Underrated Books That Are Actually Good
So basically and officially, it's now a week for me before I am off for college. I know I haven't been active during this time either, but that was because my charger literally snapped into two pieces; and my laptop being the old passed out shit, ran out of charge pretty quickly. Plus, brain was in a limbo. Ah well, enough said, here's what we're talking about today.
1. The Host: Stephenie Meyer
The fact that we're starting off with a Stephenie Meyer book might come off as a shock to a lot other people right now. If anyone knows me well, they have been exposed to the sheer amount of Stephenie Meyer hate and Twilight hate I've made no effort of hiding or being subtle about. Believe me, when I got this book as a gift on my birthday, I was so damn skeptical of it because I'd gained bad experience from her other series. Like seriously, that shit was scarring and Twilight might be the reason I'll possibly never touch a book with vampires or werewolves ever again. But this book has my heart, seriously. The plot and the worldbuilding are surprisingly not a headache and the characters are actually likeable this time. The main character is actually more focused on the surroundings and the circumstances and literally not fantasizing about how hot and broody and mysterious the male lead. And there's none of the creepy 'I like watching you sleep' shit. The book's emotional, compelling, romantic and it's literally an adrenaline rush most of the time. Also found family trope is executed so well here. This proves that Stephenie Meyer was actually capable of writing the good stuff instead of fulfilling her weird fantasies through a vampire and a werewolf.
2. The Love And Lies of Rukhsana Ali: Sabina Khan
I remember coming across this book because someone in a server I was in had really liked this book, and actually none of the other people in the server had read it, so they actually couldn't discuss it with anyone. And since I was getting back into some serious reading again, I thought, why not try it out? It's not like it would physically harm me. And safe to say that I really fell in love with this book. Mostly because of Rukhsana's character. I literally resonate with her so much it's unreal, because being I, too am a person of the LGBTQIA+ community brought up in a traditional Bengali household. I mean, I am usually open about my sexuality and stuff but I literally haven't been able to come out to my parents because they have always been vocal about their 'dislike' [for lack of a better word] of LGBT people. And the blatant sexism, good lord, don't even let me bring that up right now because goodness gracious that will take up most of the blog. I mean, I literally felt like I was the person who was narrating the story because the exact same things happen in my day-to-day life, except I'm not cool enough to be able to be invited to parties. But yeah, this book's really good and it made me feel a lot of things. I don't really remember most of them, but yeah, it is worth reading.
3. Descendant of The Crane: Joan He
Normalize getting scarred by books at this point. I mean, is a book any good if it doesn't scar you forever? Unless it's Heartstopper of course, that shit releases an insane amount of serotonin simply while reading it. Speaking of serotonin, I am in severe need of some. Depression has been real bad these days and it's so hard not to spiral. Anyways, with the book. I don't think I've seen BookTok or Bookstagram actually advertise anything about this book and it's a great crime that they haven't. Because this book is a masterpiece. Like a fucking masterpiece because the plot, the story, the plot twists, just *chef's kiss*. And the betrayal just SLAPS. There are a lot of betrayal moments in this book, but some of them just appear out of nowhere and kill you in the end. Especially Caiyan's betrayal. I literally did not expect that happening. And it hurt me so much, you know. I wish the author wrote the sequel to this, but they said that this will be a standalone. I need a sequel to this ASAP.
4. House of Cards: Sara Ferrando Estarlich
So one of the major reasons I added this book in the list, is because it actually deserves it. The author thinks that their work is trash and it literally is not, otherwise it wouldn't have made on this list. Though sometimes I try to slap that negative thought about them, but never mind. I remember reading this book because I was [still am] a petty little shit and couldn't actually wait for the physical copy. I really liked the dystopia X fantasy vibes that were in the book, like I really dig that. Also the fact that it was a post-apocalyptic fantasy also digs up a lot of interest me. You know me, I see anything pertaining to an apocalypse, I'll read it. Another thing I actually, really loved was the healthy polyamory rep. Like seriously, being a polyamorous person myself, it is so rare to actually find healthy polyamorous relationships in fiction, the other exception being Iron Widow and that was a banger novel.
5. Places No One Knows: Brenna Yovanoff
Like genuinely, I'm kinda surprised this novel isn't on Booktok either. This book has a similar vibe to a very famous book Alone With You In The Ether by Olivie Blake, and in general is a very trippy novel. I doubt a lot of people will like it because the synopsis doesn't really do the book justice and since it mentions dreams a lot, it is kind of hard to differentiate between dreams and reality. But both of the characters are fucked up and have some real serious mental health problems and they always make use of masks to prevent others from knowing that they're fucked up people. And the fact that these fucked up people find solace in one another is absolutely lovely. And also Malang Title Track like fits it so well, it's actually scary. It scratches my head in a way I cannot even describe.
6. Tell The Wolves I'm Home: Karol Rifka Brunt
Now to be honest, I was in love with this book. Like so much in love with this book that I cried for hours after reading this. One look at the first chapter, and you wouldn't find anything interesting to look at, but as you go deeper and deeper into this book, you'll see the wonders that it actually has to produce. It is in fact, a bit slow in the beginning, and hence might be the reason why a lot of people avoid it. But I think it has a great portrayal for introverts and is an even bigger coming of age novel. I've read quite a handful of coming of age novels this year and this one takes the cake. The emotional growth of not only the main characters, but also the whole cast is literally so realistic and vivid it almost made me cry. Sometimes we just need to look over the apparent bad and find the hidden good in stuff, like June tried to find in Toby. Toby was simply misunderstood in my opinion I guess. He'd done a bad thing in life, but he was human and he'd loved deeply and I think he deserved so much better than the treatment meted out to him.
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