Top Ten Tuesday (TTT) brought to you by The Broke and the Bookish.
January 17: Ten Underrated/Hidden Gem Books I’ve Read In The Past Year Or So
First off, I should warn you. I am a “recovering” engineer, and thus can be a little too analytical about things. The “underrated” piece of this is throwing me a bit. I mean, is this a book everyone else thinks is bad but you enjoyed? That’s how books work – not everyone loves the same books, which is what makes books so wonderful. So I’m going to just go with the “Hidden Gems” part. But a “hidden gem” can be tricky too. For our biggest assumption, we’ll assume that a “hidden gem” is not a huge blockbuster author (ie Dan Brown, Michael Connelly, Gillian Flynn, Rainbow Rowell, etc). I guess a hidden gem could be a lesser-known book by a big name author, but I don’t have any of those on my list, so let’s not complicate things any further.
Now just a few weeks ago, I thought Ready Player One was a hidden gem, but apparently everyone knows about this book. I loved Dumplin’, but I think everyone knows about that book, too. I mean, I heard about it from a ton of blogs which was why I picked it up in the first place. (And the terrific cover, but I digress.) And while The Murder of Mary Russell was a new find for me, it is actually the 14th book in the series, so loads of people must know about it.
I guess what I’m saying is, I will do my best here, and I apologize in advance if I think it’s a hidden gem that everyone has already discovered. Wouldn’t be the first time I’m late to the party.
So, based on my 2016 reads, here we go.
Hidden Gems I Read in 2016
Here are my top ten hidden gems from 2016, in order by author:
- Double Knot by Gretchen Archer
- Double Indemnity by James M. Cain
- The Hopefuls by Jennifer Close
- The Readaholics and the Falcon Fiasco by Laura DiSilverio
- Nooks & Crannies by Jessica Lawson
- Three Martini Lunch by Suzanne Rindell
- Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon
- Pasadena by Sherri L. Smith
- A Muddied Murder by Wendy Tyson
- The Delphi Effect by Rysa Walker
Now the majority of these were published in the last year. I did throw Double Indemnity in from 1936. It’s been a while since it was published, and I’m betting a lot of people overlook it. Great classic noir novel.
Now it’s your turn – what hidden gem do you have to recommend to me? Which book did I add as a hidden gem that everyone already knows about? I’m sure I’ve got at least one. 😉 Comment below, and link up to your own TTT if you’ve got one!
Hidden Staircase 
I loved “Try Not to Breathe”, but I also see a lot of titles here that I haven’t heard of. Time to head to Goodreads to see how many more belong on my To Read shelf… 🙂
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Oh good! I was successful in picking hidden gems then. You’ve usually read a lot of the same things. 🙂 Try Not to Breathe was so great!
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It really was – I’m waiting for her new book to be available on Netgalley.
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Ha I sorta overthought this one too, and I’m not sure if any of mine were really underrated per se, but whatever. 🙂 On to your list! A Muddied Murder and Three Martini Lunch have me curious. And Double Indemnity! Hmm…
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Well, I’ve only heard of 2 of these, so I think you did a good job. 😉 I’ve not read Double Indemnity, but the film is great! My kids and I loved Nooms and Crannies!
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Why on earth did my phone autocorrect Nooks to Nooms?!?!
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ha! Mine autocorrects to ridiculous stuff all the time! 🙂
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Thanks! If I remember correctly, I actually liked the film ending of Double Indemnity better than the book. That film was cast so well!
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Recovering analyst here so I feel your pain. I decided that for me underrated equaled less than 200 ratings on Goodreads but before that I was super stressed! I had a Laura DiSilverio on my list too. That series needs way more attention! I’m curious about Double Knot and I have A Muddied Murder on my TBR. Great list!
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I’m glad someone else had a hard time defining this too! 🙂 I figured it would just be me. LOL I’ve loved Laura DiSilverio ever since I discovered her Charlie Swift books, they were so funny. Double Knot was great, but I read Double Mint the year before and I was laughing out loud even more. It was _so_ funny. I need to read more in that series. Muddied Murder is a great cozy, I hope you like it!
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I so agree with Pasadena!!! I just read that book recently and was enchanted by it. So good.
My TTT.
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Yes, Pasadena was great! I loved the twists throughout. 🙂
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Double Indemnity is awesome – have you seen the movie? The adaptation is also pretty great! 🙂
Lauren @ Always Me
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Yes, I watched it after I read the book. Fred MacMurray was fantastic! – I just looked it up on IMDB to make sure I was spelling Mr. MacMurray’s name correctly and apparently they remade the film in 1973. I have not seen that version yet. 🙂
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