Top Ten Tuesday is a feature run by BrokeAndBookish each week. This week it’s all about underrated books and to be more subjective about it, I’m gonna see what’s underrated by having them be under 2,000 ratings on Goodreads. For those interested my Goodreads is here and I’m finally getting the hang of updating it! So without further ado, here are some underappreciated books I think you should read!

Techbitch by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza (51 ratings on Goodreads)
This book is some great chick-lit that doesn’t go for all the tropes you might expect it to. It’s about a woman coming back to work at a major fashion magazine to find her former assistant has been filling her roll and the whole magazine is going to become a digital one. It’s a great culture clash of ideas about PR and how magazines should be and it’s a lot of fun. My review is here.

 

Emancipated by M.G. Reyes (524 ratings on Goodreads)
Admittedly I hadn’t heard of this book till fairly recently but I really enjoyed it. It’s a contemporary YA about a house full of teenagers who have been emancipated from their parents or guardians for various reasons and they all have their own secrets and problems. It’s an addictive read. My review is here.

 

Rocket Girl Vol. 1: Times Squared by Brandon Montclare and Amy Reeder (913 ratings on Goodreads)
This comic is so fun and very feminist. DaYoung is a teenage cop from the future is sent back to 1986 to stop scientist creating a machine that will destroy the future. The art is brilliant; it really feels like DaYoung is flying through the pages (yeah she can fly because of her future tech) and while the 1980s setting is a lot of fun there is still a mystery to solve. My review is here.

Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor (1,621 ratings on Goodreads)
So I didn’t love this book, I did like it and it’s definitely underappreciated. It’s about an alien invasion happening in Lagos, Nigeria and when do you ever have sci-fi that isn’t either in outer space or set in America?! That alone makes it well-worth a read but it also has beautiful writing and it’s full of magical realism. It won’t be for everyone but it’s worth giving it a go. My review is here.

 

Five Ghosts Volume 1: The Haunting of Fabian Gray by Frank J. Barbiere and Chris Mooneyham (945 ratings on Goodreads)
This comic is like a pulp-fiction Indiana Jones meets supernatural elements and I love it! Fabian Gray is an explorer who thanks to a stone in his chest can gain the powers of five ghosts when he needs them, the ghosts are a detective, an archer, a wizard, a samurai and a vampire. Admittedly the first volume is a little slow because it’s setting everything up but do stick with it because it’s a series I love. My review is here.

 

Poe by J. Lincoln Fenn (883 ratings on Goodreads)
Poe is a horror book but it has humour as well. Poe is a sarcastic character that usually says and does exactly what you’d expect any normal person to do in the situations he finds himself which often involve ghosts and danger. Poe is a creepy book but the humour elements make it easier to handle. My review is here.

 

Seed by Lisa Heathfield (795 ratings on Goodreads)
This book often made me feel very uncomfortable because the setting is a cult and you as the reader can see this but the characters think all their strict and odd rules are just normal. Seed is a gripping story because you’re not sure what’s going to happen to the characters and if they are really safe. My review is here.

 

Secret Avengers Vol. 1: Let’s Have a Problem by Ales Kot and Micahel Walsh (878 ratings on Goodreads)
If you’ve been on my blog before you probably know how much I love this comic series – I even did a whole blog post about it! The Secret Avengers are Nick Fury, Phil Coulson, Black Widow, Spider-Woman, MODOK and Hawkeye and they are led by Maria Hill. It is such a fun, bright comic book that makes you laugh out loud while still having pretty epic battles and great character moments. If you need a gateway into the Marvel Comics I’d really recommend this series. My review is here.

Lost Boi by Sassafras Lowrey (201 ratings on Goodreads)
This book won’t be for everyone but it’s so different that I’ve got to talk about it. It’s a very queer retelling of Peter Pan that’s definitely not for younger readers as it features drugs, sex and dom/sub themes. It’s an unsettling and weird world and you’re guided through it by an unreliable narrator but it’s definitely the sort of book that sticks with you for a while. My review is here.

 

The Murdstone Trilogy by Mal Peet (484 ratings on Goodreads)
This book is possibly my favourite book of 2016 so far and no one I know has read it! It’s about a struggling author who needs to write a fantasy book and just when all hope is lost a creature that shouldn’t exist appears in his living room. It’s funny, weird and meta as Hell and is unlike anything I’ve ever read before. My review is here.

What books do you think are underappreciated and everyone should check out?