Top Ten Tuesday #110 – Less Drama, More Plot

Posted February 7, 2017 by Lillian in Features / 5 Comments

Mom-Top Ten

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. They’d love to share their lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Happy Tuesday y’all! This week’s topic is “Top Ten Books I Wish Had (More/Less) X In Them.” I had to think about this one for a few minutes. If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you know I’m a bit of a prude and that I can’t stand teen drama, which is why I read little contemporary YA and usually steer clear of erotica. However occasionally these things leak into my other favorite genres and usually I’m surprised by this. For me the angst typically takes away from the plot and could easily be left out of the book or at the very least toned down. SO for my topic today, I’m listing ten books I wish had less drama in them. (Please note that just because the book is on the list doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the book.) As always, these are in no particular order, covers/titles link to Amazon (affiliate), Goodreads, or blog review.

Ten Books I Wish Had Less Drama

Book Cover for "The Winner's Crime" by Marie RutkoskiBook Cover for "The Heir" by Kiera CassBook Cover for the Twilight Saga Complete Collection by Stephanie Meyer

The Saven Series by Siobhan DavisNow please do not misunderstand me when this series is added to the list. I LOVE this series. It’s a fast-paced, sci-fi dystopia that hooked its teeth into me and wouldn’t let go until I’d read the conclusion. However, there is a lot of teen angst in this series, especially in the first two books, not so much towards the end. The main character Sadie is not your typical teen but definitely has the hormones and thought process of a normal teen and there are times in those first few books I caught myself rolling my eyes. That said I do love the series and Sadie matures a lot through the course of the series.

The Winner’s Crime by Marie RutkoskiThis book was painful to read. I enjoyed it, but I cringed and may have yelled at the characters a bit. Kestrel and Arin are separated for a majority of the book. Arin feels betrayed and is angry, not just a little angry but like full on rage. Kestrel is working as a spy for Arin. Most of this book’s problems could have been prevented if the two of them were just honest with each other.

The Heir by Kiera CassPrincess Eadlyn…do I really need another reason to have this book on my list? Eadlyn is not who I expected to be the product of America and Maxon, but in saying that she grows a ton in her two books during the series. She’s spoiled and very analytical in her thought process. She also creates drama without realizing it and is quite sneaky.

Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer: After enjoying the first three books of the series, I had to force myself to read this one. It was bad, mainly the Jacob monologue in the center of the book. I could have done without him mooning over Bella for 200 pages. It was just bad….

Book Cover for "Kiss of Fire" by Rebecca Ethington

City of Glass by Cassandra ClareI loved this book, but I hated the drama/angst between Clary and Jace. Jace is her brother, at least at this point Clary and Jace both still believe that. So WHY would you still pursue your feelings for one another?! It’s just….ewwwww!!!! Yes the reader can feel the attraction between the two but yuck. I was thoroughly grossed out by them and myself for wanting something to happen so they could be together. (Yes, I’ve now read the next book and know that they can be together.)

The Royals series by Erin WattI surprised myself by not only picking up this YA contemporary series but enjoying it. It is full of angst and drama though, mainly for that shock and awe factor, but it is still there and the driving force behind the books. Now I didn’t mind the drama for the most part, but there was more than necessary. Personally I think the authors should have stuck with the main characters instead of adding even more drama from the other, secondary characters. It was too much and raised more questions that had no answers.

Kiss of Fire by Rebecca EthingtonNow if you’ve followed my blog since the beginning you know this is one of my favorite authors and my favorite series. However book one is full of teen angst up until about the halfway mark and then Joclyn learns the truth about Ryland and magic and the book makes a 180. Now there is still drama, especially where her and Ry are concerned but it is toned down and focuses more on the fantasy elements.

Book Cover for "Beginnings: Obsidian & Onyx" by Jennifer L ArmentroutBook Cover for "Every Day" by David LevithanBook Cover for "Splintered" by A.G. Howard

The Lux series by Jennifer L. ArmentroutAnother favorite series that makes this list. The first book more so than any of the others in the series is full of teen angst. The kind where the character acts like she despises the love interest but secretly lusts after him…that kind. It isn’t too bad because….hello Daemon 😀 But I could have done with more scifi then the drama.

Every Day by David LevithanHonestly this book had such amazing potential in my eyes. I LOVE sci fi and the main character’s ability of being like a sentient being with no body and waking up in someone else’s body every day was intriguing. BUT the execution fell flat to me. I kept reading because it was such a highly rated book but maybe I missed something?! What makes this a good book? It was full of drama and teen angst as the being fell in love with one of the people he/she meets during one of its body switches. It then proceeds to stalk said girl and doesn’t understand why she can’t love it back. Am I the only one bothered by this?! This book pretty much ignored what the character was and focused entirely on teen romance. Honestly it was a political message not so secretly snuck into a scifi book. I got that, but could have done without it.

Splintered Trilogy by A.G. HowardAgain a favorite series, but this series if full of teen angst. I hated with a passion the love triangle in this series and how it was concluded, but I loved the series. I could have done without the triangle and the drama it added though. Because, really why would she choose anyone but Morpheus 😉


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5 responses to “Top Ten Tuesday #110 – Less Drama, More Plot

  1. I can see what you mean about the Lux books. Though I love them too much to judge them harshly! I am blinded by the Daemon…I mean my Daemon…err…Daemon! Lol!! I agree with you about those points on Splintered though. That was not my favorite love triangle. Nor was the way it was resolved…basically by noting having a good resolution. I had some trust issues with Morpheus sadly, I was more Team Jeb! I’m sorry if this ruins our friendship! 😉 But hey, at least it means WE don’t have to fight over the same guy! LOL!

    Great topic and picks!!

    Here’s my Tuesday Post

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower 🙂
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  2. I was kind of stumped on this one too. I don’t know if I interpreted the topic right. I love what you picked. Sometimes all that makes up a book is 90% drama and 10% plot. It gets old.

  3. I’m allergic to teen drama, but I love good YA fantasy. So I went on a quest to find great YA fantasy books without teen drama and love triangles, made a seven post series on my blog, here is the 7th post with links to all the previous posts: YA fantasy without love triangles.
    I think we should be blog sisters!

    And the new book I features in my WoW post also qualifies as one, no teen drama and lots of plot and magic: Waiting on Wednesday

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