Happy Tuesday, everyone! Today’s Top 10 Tuesday prompt is Books I Had VERY Strong Emotions About (Any emotion! Did a book make you super happy or sad? Angry? Terrified? Surprised?).

The main reason most people read books, I assume, is to feel something. If we read to learn, we want to feel enlightened. If we read to escape the real world, we want to feel safe and secure. No matter what our goals are when we read, we are seeking some feeling or emotion.

Sometimes, however, emotions you were not expecting can happen when reading a book. There have been many times in my life when I have read a book to feel relaxed, and I will end the book angry or frustrated about something that happened between the pages. I have also read a book to distract myself from stressful situations in my life, and suddenly, I find myself crying because a book hit so much harder than I was initially expecting.

Reading can elicit any emotion, whether expected or unexpected. I could talk all day about some of the reactions and feelings I had towards all ten of these books. This post would probably have thousands of words. Because of this, I decided to only go into depth with the ones I am most passionate about.

Here are ten books that made me feel some type of emotions stronger than usual.

NOTE: Because books that typically make people feel emotions deal with some tough topics, I included a list of trigger warnings for each book listed at the end of this post.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Artsy Reader.

The Reading List

The first book that comes to mind when I think of “strong emotions” is The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams. I don’t really know what I thought the book was going to be about, but for some reason, I went into the book thinking I was going to read a romance. Looking back, I am not entirely sure why I thought this, but imagine my surprise when I was driving home from the city (it’s about a two-hour drive), and I was sobbing hysterically to the audiobook.

Now, this isn’t me saying I disliked this book. Far from it. This book was actually one of my top 10 favorite books of 2023. I am just saying that if you choose to read this one (which I highly recommend you do), prepare to feel some feelings.

Carrie Soto is Back

I did not think I would get so worked up from a book about a sport I know nothing about. I have never cared about tennis in my life, but somehow, I cared so much while reading that I started crying. I will probably read anything that Taylor Jenkins Reid writes at this point.

The Perfect Marriage

To switch up the tone a bit, here is a book that made me so angry I wanted to stop reading at the 15% mark. The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose was a book that I read for my hometown book club. This is the only reason I decided to finish this book. I had read a book by Jeneva Rose in the past, and I didn’t hate it. I was actually looking forward to reading this thriller, especially after I started seeing so many great reviews for it online.

All I will share with you (to avoid spoilers) are some of the comments I left on my Kindle. I typically do not leave comments, only highlights, but I was getting really worked up while reading this one!

“Ewwwww.”
“Lol courtrooms don’t just let that happen like that.”
“Yeah, okay 🙄 her mans wouldn’t catch that.”
“Homieeeee, she’s literally working your case; talking to the sheriff about the case is not suspicious AT ALL 🙄”
“If I read a variant of this phrase one more time, I’m going to lose it.”
“I literally f***ing can’t right now.”
“THE F***ING F**KHEAD STUPIDITY ON THIS GUY F**K”
“I actually hate this book.”

And finally, here is my one-sentence review: “I almost never give one-star ratings, but I cannot think of one thing I liked in this book 🙁”

It actually is kind of funny to read some of these comments I left, especially now that it has been almost 16 months since I read it. But still, I consider this one of my most hated books of all time.

The Hating Game

Another book that brought me so much anger was The Hating Game. After I finished reading it, I was so confused. I was annoyed the entire time, and I couldn’t think of anything I really enjoyed. However, I thought it was just me because this was one of the most popular books when I read it (in 2020). I decided to give the book to my friend in hopes that she would like it, but she hated it too! Just for fun, we gave it to another close friend, and we all basically started our own little book club meeting by ranting about this book.

We even got together a few months ago to watch the movie adaptation (which was almost as bad as the book, in my opinion). While I did hate this book, I also think this book contributed to me becoming closer friends with those two, so I also consider this book a win?

Big Nick Energy

This one made me feel icky for one reason and one reason only: the use of the word “mewing” during a spicy scene. I do not know why that word bothers me so much, but it really does take me out of a story. I did enjoy the book for the most part, but I still cannot read that word and not physically cringe.

How to Sell a Haunted House

I will simply leave you with my Goodreads review of this book: “This was the definition of ‘too much.'”

Actually, here are two other (two-starred) reviews that I thought were hilarious: “If you wanna read a book about Doodle Bob from Spongebob, this is for you” and “lost it at the radical puppet group backstory.”

How to Kill Your Family

I remember reading this book for book club in bed pretty late at night. I was actually going to give the book three stars because while I didn’t love it, I also didn’t completely hate it. Then I read the last 3% of the book. I have never switched gears so fast.

A completely unrelated comment...shout out to my boyfriend, who listens to me rant for thirty minutes even though we should have been sleeping an hour earlier.

Transcendent Kingdom

Back to books that made my heart hurt, Transcendent Kingdom is a recent read that really left a mark on me. I read this book earlier in the year as part of my Physical TBR challenge. I don’t remember how long I owned this book, but I know it had been on my shelf for at least a year before I picked it up. It was one of those books that I knew would involve more serious topics, but I didn’t think it would impact me as much as it did.

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega

I did not expect this Young Adult novel to pack so much of a punch. I think this book is extremely important, and it made me feel seen. Even though I am currently 27 years old, I teach high schoolers. I not only want to provide them with book recommendations that could help them, but I also never want to lose touch with how some of them may be feeling.

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega is a book that would have gotten me through a lot when I was younger. It is also one of the reasons I continue to read new YA books as much as I can.

They Both Die at the End

I know I have written about this book before, but They Both Die at the End is a book I hope I never forget about. With a title like this one, one would think that I would have expected something sad to happen. But I was still surprised when I ended up crying in my bathtub at 2 a.m. while reading this book. I recommend this book to anyone who will listen to me.

Trigger Warnings:

The Reading List: depression, death of a loved one, cancer, suicide
Carrie Soto is Back: cancer, death of a loved one
The Perfect Marriage: infidelity, sexual assault (brief mention), murder
The Hating Game: ableism, emotional abuse, sexual harassment
Big Nick Energy: emotional abuse, domestic abuse, toxic relationship, stalking
How to Sell a Haunted House: death of parent, injury/Injury detail (one eye-related), child death,
How to Kill Your Family: child abandonment, death, eating disorders, emotional abuse
Transcendent Kingdom: addiction, mental illness, racism, suicide attempt, death of a loved one
Fat Chance, Charlie Vega: fatphobia, dieting, toxic mother/daughter relationships, death of a parent
They Both Die at the End: Animal death, child death, gang violence, death of a family member, gun violence, mental illness

I really enjoyed writing this post! Sometimes, I put too much pressure on myself to read more books, especially since I have a book blog and a bookstagram account. But seeing the books that made me feel something, whether those feelings are bad or good, reminds me that there is more to life than reading “as a job.” Reading really is not only fun but impactful.

What is the first book that comes to mind when you think “I had strong feelings?” Let me know in the comments!