Hi and welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday post! And in true Laurie fashion, I’m tweaking this week’s theme a bit. The actual topic for this week is Books I Can’t Believe I’ve Never Read, but most of them stay unread for a reason. My own spin is pretty much adjacent to this topic, as I have plenty of unfinished series on my TBR. Some are nearly finished, some are far from finished or not even started. So, I twisted the topic a bit and made it into Book Series I Can’t Believe I’ve Never Finished. So, it’s time to call myself out once again. Please note: links in this post will direct you to the first book in the series, to avoid spoilers.
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.
- The Renegades by Rebecca Yarros – I only have the third book, Rebel, to finish. I started this series back in 2019 and liked the previous two books – Wilder and Nova – well enough, but never picked up this final one. I don’t know why, as I even own it. I think I should add this to a future monthly TBR to finally knock it off.
- Forbidden Royals by Julie Johnson – This is a series I’ve started in 2021, but only recently continued reading. I don’t know why, as I really enjoyed my time spent with those books. However, I only need to read The Diamond Empire to actually finish this series.
- Wait For You by Jay Lynn – this is Jennifer L. Armentrout’s pseudonym and whereas I had a good time with the first three books in this series, the other three are still left unread. I put a long gap in between the previous books, but there’s another three-year gap between Stay With Me (book 3) and Fall For Me (book 4).
- Rebel Blue Ranch by Lyla Sage – This is actually on me, because I was convinced that Swift and Saddled was the first book, so I bought them in the wrong order. Of course I needed Done and Dusted, so I had to wait a bit. Now it has been since late 2024 since I picked this series up, but I have to admit that I wasn’t fully convinced by the aforementioned first book. I mean, it’s just another cowboy romance with too little depth. Easy reads though.
- The Crimson Moth by Kristen Ciccarelli – I loved the first book, own the second, wanted to read it for a long while now, but still haven’t picked it up. In my defense, it is on my seasonal TBR. Or at least, I think it is, I haven’t checked.
- Chestnut Springs by Elsie Silver – I have to admit that I’ve lost interest in this series. In cowboy romances in general, many of them are so similar. I need something refreshing, groundbreaking. I know this is not what the genre is all about, neither cowboy romance, nor romance in general. However, it has been years since I read Heartless, the second book in this series. I finished it in 2024 and even though Powerless is waiting for me, I still haven’t picked it up. I also think the author is not evolving too much, as cowboy romance seems to be her niche. Unfortunately, you can only have so many of them before getting bored. Or at least, I can.
- Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber – Admittedly, I only have to read the final book, A Curse For True Love, but it has been years since I read The ballad of Never After. I finished that one in 2023 to be exact. Whoops.
- Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco – I read both Kingdom of the Wicked and Kingdom of the Cursed twice, in both English and Dutch. However, I wasn’t pleased with the latter one, so I never picked up Kingdom of the Feared. In fact, I didn’t even get a copy until like last year when it was on a discount. So, will I be able to dive into this series once again? I mean, it was in 2023 I finished the previous book as well.
- Contender by Taran Matharu – Okay okay, it can get worse. I only read The Chosen from this series, which was pleasant, but never picked up the rest. I still have to read both the Challenger and The Champion and it has been about seven years since I started this series. I read the first book in 2019, this is just so bad… And you know what? I own the entire series!
- The Aurora Cycle by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman – I wasn’t even sure whether I liked this series at first as it’s sci-fi, which is not my go-to genre at all. However, I listened to both Aurora Rising and Aurora Burning as audiobook, which was a very good decision. I pre-ordered Aurora’s End ahead of its release in 2021, but never gotten around to pick it up. And now, it has been years!
Okay, this is just the tip of the iceberg of series I can’t believe I have never finished. Do you have series you can’t believe you never continued and/or finished?
