Hello book lovers! Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is all about novellas and short stories. While I do read novellas and I like them, it takes a special kind of story to make me love it and give it a 5-cup rating, because usually I don't feel that there's enough page-time to get to that potential. That being said, there have been a few short stories that I adored enough to get to that high rating. Because of that, I'm going to split today's Top Ten list into two sub-lists: one for my top five favorite novellas, and one for my top five novellas I want to read. So without further ado, here are my
Top Five Favorite Novellas/Short Stories
- Flame's Dawn (+18) is the prequel to the Hell To Pay trilogy by Jillian David and let me tell you, it is as beautiful as it is heartbreaking. Beautiful, because you get to see how Barnaby and Jane met. Heartbreaking, because since this prequel is listed as the fourth story, and I read it last, I know how their story ends. Read my review here
- Fish Out Of Water (+18) tells the story of Harlow and her road to regaining her old self and overcoming the trauma of being kidnapped and tortured by the serial killer Charybdis. I have nothing else to say, except for the fact that this is Hailey Edwards, and y'all know I love basically everything I've read by her. Read my review here
- Another author that can do no wrong is Larissa Ione. I don't think I've ever been disappointed by anything this author has written, and I don't think I ever will. Her Guardian Angel (+18) is one of the 6 novellas part of the Lexi Blake Crossover Collection, and it continues Ione's collection of Demonica Underground of short stories. It's hard to pick a favorite in the D.U. collection, because each and every short story that has come out so far have provided both a way for me to calm my impatience until the first book in the Demonica spin-off is published AND a way to expand the universe of the Demonica as a whole. I ultimately settled for the latest novella, because out of all of the short stories, I feel like this one was the biggest game changer ever and I can't help but wonder if past events were similarly affected, the readers just never knew about it. And that's all I'm going to say, otherwise I'll start giving out spoilers and I don't want that. Read my review here
- Blood Red Kiss (+18) is an anthology that includes three of my favorite paranormal/urban fantasy writers on the planet: Kresley Cole, Larissa Ione, and Gena Showalter. Out of all the three short stories, I've only previously read The Warlord Wants Forever, by Kresley Cole. Rereading it has reminded me how much I actually enjoyed reading the Immortals After Dark series, and the added short stories by Ione and Showalter has made me want to try out the series these short stories are a part of. Read My Review Here
- Shade's Lady (+18) is a great short story about the National President of the Reapers MC, Shade, and how he found his perfect lady. It's a great story that I've read and reread many times, and each time I fall in love more and more with Wylde's characters. Read my review here
Top Five Novellas/Short Stories I Want To Read
- It's no secret that I love the Caster Chronicles series, so it really shouldn't be a big surprise that Dangerous Dream is on this list. I'm really curious to see everything involving Lena, Ethan, Link and Ridley, so even a short story will be enough for me. Of course, I'm planning a reread of the entire series before I can read the spin-off duology later this year, because why not?
- Although I wasn't the biggest fan of Partials, I am curious to read this prequel story, Isolation, if only because maybe this will give me a little bit of extra knowledge that may offer some incentive to keep reading the series. I still am curious to see what happens in the series, but not quite enough to make me want to find out right away.
- I talked about the fact that I loved Mila 2.0 in a previous edition of Top Ten Tuesday, so of course I'll do it again now. I'm very curious about Origins: The Fire, especially because I'm curious to see if and what will Mila and the readers discover in this novella. Very curious indeed.
- I seem to be more and more attracted to stories about villains lately and I've been interested in reading Fairest ever since I first heard about it. Hopefully I'll get to it sooner rather than later.
- The Dead House is my favorite psychological thriller/horror ever. I still can't make up my mind if it's the scariest paranormal horror ever or the most tragic psychological thriller ever, but either way I loved it. I feel like The Nadia Tapes can either answer my questions or have me question the book even more. I want to read this novella, but at the same time I am so, so, so scared of doing it. But I will read it!
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So this is it, guys, my Top 5 Favorite Novellas and my Top 5 Novellas I Want To Read. What about you? What are your favorite short stories? What about the short stories you want to read?
