Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books I Struggled to Get Into But Ended Up Loving

I’ve been wanting to jump into some memes and Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish is always so much fun!

This week’s prompt was: Ten Books I Struggled to Get Into But Ended Up Loving or Ten Books That Were A Chore To Get Through or Ten Books I've Most Recently Put Down. I decided to go with Ten Books I Struggled to Get Into But Ended Up Loving.

1—Outlander by Diana Gabaldon—Outlander first came to my attention about 6 or 7 years ago when my cousins started reading it and because they promised kilted highlander yumminess, I jumped in and purchased a copy. Sadly, I couldn’t make it past chapter two. I just wasn’t feeling Frank or Claire so I set the book aside. When I found out it was being made into a series that looked tempting, I knew I had to read the books. Thankfully, I finally clicked with the book and now I’m an ob-sassenach.  

 

2—Sommersgate House by Kristen Ashley—this one was a victim of boring narration and now that I’ve finally picked up the actual book, I can’t put it down.

 

3—Kiss My Boots by Harper Sloan—this one started so slow and the heroine was going back and forth trying to figure out if she wanted to let the hero back into her life and I was so sure this one was going to be a DNF. I’m so glad I stuck with this because I loved it and, after chapter three, I couldn’t put it down.

 

4—The Legal Briefs Series by Emma Chase— Overruled, the first book in the series, nearly ruined the entire series for me because Stanton, the hero, was a total tosser, he still makes me growly. Then I gave the second book, Sustained, a try and Jake saved the series for me.

 

5— Starry Night by Debbie Macomber—the heroine’s a journalist sent to do a story on the hero and I nearly DNFd this one because I’m not a fan of the trope but the novel surprised me and it became one of my favorite Christmas romances.

 

6— Perdita by Hilary Scharper—I’m always up for a good gothic but this one started out rough with journal entry after journal entry but once the ‘info dump’ was over, I really enjoyed this one.

 

7— Hot & Bothered by Kate Meader—this one started out a little off kilter with all the push and pull between the main characters but once they figured out what they wanted I couldn’t get enough and it’s on my keeper shelf.

 

8— Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen by Vicki Delany—the first book in cozy mysteries are always a little hard to get into but this one lagged although once the characters and town was established, I really enjoyed this one.

 

9— True Deceptions Veronica Forand—I didn’t realize this was the second book in a series so I lacked the who’s who when I started it but once I figured out what was going on I devoured this book.

 

10— Under His Skin by Stacey O’Neale—this was a whole new subgenre for me so it took a bit of time for me to click with this alien world. In the end, I loved it.