Happy Tuesday everyone! This week’s prompt was “Books I’m Worried I Might Not Love as Much the Second Time Around.” I was really excited to participate in this week’s topic because there are so many books on my bookshelf that I think about rereading, but I am scared I won’t like it as much as I did before.

A few years back, I read The Fault in Our Stars, and while I still enjoyed it, I didn’t love it as much as I used to (this was my FAVORITE book in junior high/high school–I have read it over 10 times in my life!!). I am someone who thrives on nostalgia, and I hate when things get ruined for me.

Even so, I decided to challenge myself this year. All of the books I chose for this list are books I still physically own. By the end of the year, I want to have reread ALL of these books. I think it will be time for some of them to find a new home if I do not care for the story anymore. Note: I am only doing SIX books though, since I decided to add a challenge to this prompt.

I would love to know your thoughts on any of the books from my list! Let me know in the comments which one I should reread first!

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Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia
Published on May 30, 2017
Genres: Contemporary, Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 432
Format: Hardcover

Eighteen-year-old Eliza Mirk is the anonymous creator of the wildly popular webcomic Monstrous Sea, but when a new boy at school tempts her to live a life offline, everything she’s worked for begins to crumble.In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, and friendless. Online, Eliza is LadyConstellation, anonymous creator of a popular webcomic called Monstrous Sea. With millions of followers and fans throughout the world, Eliza’s persona is popular. Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves her digital community.

Then Wallace Warland transfers to her school and Eliza begins to wonder if a life offline might be worthwhile. But when Eliza’s secret is accidentally shared with the world, everything she’s built—her story, her relationship with Wallace, and even her sanity—begins to fall apart.

With pages from Eliza’s webcomic, as well as screenshots from Eliza’s online forums, this book will appeal to fans of Noelle Stevenson’s Nimona and Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl.

I read this in 2017, and it was one of my favorite reads of that year! I have not read it since because I am scared I will not enjoy it as much the second time around. I was 19 when I first read this book–I am now 27. I do still love to read YA fiction, but I am very particular about the types of YA books I read. I’ve thought about rereading this one many times, but I have never been in the mood for it. It might be one I pick up again. If I don’t like it, I’ll donate it to my classroom library!

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Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Published on October 8, 2019
Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Mystery
Pages: 448
Format: Hardcover
Goodreads

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug-dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. In fact, by age twenty, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most prestigious universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?

Still searching for answers, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. Their eight windowless “tombs” are the well-known haunts of the rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street’s biggest players. But their occult activities are more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive. They tamper with forbidden magic. They raise the dead. And, sometimes, they prey on the living.

I specifically put this on this list because I haven’t read book two yet. I bought the sequel, Hell Bent, the day it was released A YEAR AGO. It has been a few years since I had picked up Ninth House, so my plan was to reread it before continuing the series. One year later, and I have barely even looked at it.

I LOVED Ninth House when I first read it, but it was a long book. I am scared that I will not enjoy it as much the second time around, especially since I remember most of the ending. However, I really want to get to book two this year, so I will suck it up!!

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Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
Published on January 22, 2013
Genres: Contemporary, Fiction
Pages: 440
Format: Paperback

In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five....In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world, or you can just jump off it. In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge. Sterling is a small, ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens -- until the day its complacency is shattered by a shocking act of violence. In the aftermath, the town's residents must not only seek justice in order to begin healing but also come to terms with the role they played in the tragedy.

For them, the lines between truth and fiction, right and wrong, insider and outsider have been obscured forever. Josie Cormier, the teenage daughter of the judge sitting on the case, could be the state's best witness, but she can't remember what happened in front of her own eyes. And as the trial progresses, fault lines between the high school and the adult community begin to show, destroying the closest of friendships and families. Told with the straightforward style for which she has become known, it asks simple questions that have no easy answers: Can your own child become a mystery to you? What does it mean to be different in our society? Is it ever okay for a victim to strike back? And who -- if anyone -- has the right to judge someone else?

I first read this book in high school (2014ish) and read it a second time in 2016. I even have this book listed as one of my all-time favorite books. I haven’t touched the book since.

I think this biggest reason I am scared to reread this one is the content. I am now a high school teacher and books that cover topics such as school shootings hit so much harder than they used to. I had to skip the school shooting episode of One Tree Hill during my rewatch because I couldn’t stomach it. I want to attempt to reread it, especially because it is still sitting on my bookshelf, but I am not sure I will react this time around.

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Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Published on May 3, 2022
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Fiction, Romance
Pages: 416
Format: Hardcover

One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn't see coming...

Nora Stephens' life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.

Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away—with visions of a small town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.

If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.

Book Lovers was my favorite read of 2022. I loved this book so much, I read it in a day and then immediately forced my book club members to read the book too. Before this book, I had enjoyed Emily Henry’s previous novel Beach Read, but I don’t know what it was about Book Lovers…I was obsessed.

Part of the reason I am nervous to reread this one is because I did not enjoy Henry’s most recent release, Happy Place. I am not sure if her formula is getting too repetitive for me, but I am scared I will not view Book Lovers the same way as before.

Another reason is that my romance reading taste has changed A LOT in the last year. In 2022, I hardly read any romance, but in 2023, it was my most read genre. I just don’t know if I’ll get the same feels as I did the first time around.

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It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
Published on July 13, 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Spicy
Pages: 397
Format: Audiobook, Paperback

Piper Bellinger is fashionable, influential, and her reputation as a wild child means the paparazzi are constantly on her heels. When too much champagne and an out-of-control rooftop party lands Piper in the slammer, her stepfather decides enough is enough. So he cuts her off, and sends Piper and her sister to learn some responsibility running their late father’s dive bar... in Washington.

Piper hasn’t even been in Westport for five minutes when she meets big, bearded sea captain Brendan, who thinks she won’t last a week outside of Beverly Hills. So what if Piper can’t do math, and the idea of sleeping in a shabby apartment with bunk beds gives her hives. How bad could it really be? She’s determined to show her stepfather—and the hot, grumpy local—that she’s more than a pretty face.

Except it’s a small town and everywhere she turns, she bumps into Brendan. The fun-loving socialite and the gruff fisherman are polar opposites, but there’s an undeniable attraction simmering between them. Piper doesn’t want any distractions, especially feelings for a man who sails off into the sunset for weeks at a time. Yet as she reconnects with her past and begins to feel at home in Westport, Piper starts to wonder if the cold, glamorous life she knew is what she truly wants. LA is calling her name, but Brendan—and this town full of memories—may have already caught her heart.

Ahh, It Happened One Summer. The book that made me throw myself into the romance genre. I read this towards the end of 2022, and wow, I remember living for EVERY SECOND of this book.

Same as with the book above, my romance reading tastes have changed since I first read this book. I am more aware of my favorite tropes, and I am a little more picky when it comes to romance reads. But, the biggest reason I am nervous to reread this one? I did not like the other Tessa Bailey books I have read since.

Now, I only have read two other books by Bailey–Hook, Line, and Sinker and My Killer Vacation–but I gave both of those books two stars. I HATED My Killer Vacation. I know she has a lot of books, but it makes me worried that I won’t think the book is as strong as I remember.

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A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Published on May 2, 2017
Genres: Fantasy, Adult
Pages: 656
Format: Paperback

“Tell me what you see.”
“A world divided in two.”

Feyre survived Amarantha's clutches to return to the Spring Court-but at a steep cost. Though she now has the powers of the High Fae, her heart remains human, and it can't forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin's people.

Nor has Feyre forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court. As Feyre navigates its dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms-and she might be key to stopping it. But only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future-and the future of a world torn apart.

#1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Sarah J. Maas expands Feyre's world beyond even her wildest imagination in this seductive and stunning sequel to A Court of Thorns and Roses.

In 2021, I did something I never thought I was going to do… I read the ACOTAR series.

While I gave books 1, 3, and 4 four stars, A Court of Mist and Fury was a 5 STAR READ. I recently gave my copies to my friend to read and hearing her reactions to book 2 specifically made me want to read it all over again! I think if I reread this book, I’d have to watch a summary on Book 1. I really don’t care to rehash the rest of the series, especially because there hasn’t been a new book in a while.

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And there you have it! Six books I am scared to reread, but I am going to do it anyways! I think I am leaning towards tackling Ninth House first since I want to read this sequel this year too!

Question of the Day

What is a book you loved that you are unsure you could read again?

Until next time, xx