The Books On My “Prize Shelf” Part One

The first thing you would see if you walked into my bedroom would be… Well, the mint green walls and loft bed, but the next thing you would see would be all the books.

Bookshelf in the corner, books on shelves under the bed, books stacked on the floor, but the crowning glory of my book collection is the single shelf running along the top part of the wall by my bed. That shelf was a recent addition when the amount of books I had outgrew the spaces for books. But what most people who walked into my room wouldn’t realize is that those books are placed where they are for very specific reasons. They earned their spots. And the best spot for a book to hold in Charissa Franklin’s bedroom is the loft bed shelf. 

So which books are up there, and how did they earn that spot? 

Right off the bat we have The Hunger Games. To be fair, I stole those books from the family library the moment I finished reading them. I would love to write a whole review on those books, but then we would be here forever. So we’ll stick with a few quick reasons. The obvious one is because I love them and they’re amazing. Honestly, I find those books fascinating, despite their disturbing premise. Suzanne Collins’s writing is just descriptive enough and so detailed. This collection also includes the prequel to this series, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Because that book is quite possibly even better than its predecessors. 

Next off is The Princess of the Midnight Ball and the other two books in the series. Those books are there because I love the way Jessica Day George retold the fairytale of The Twelve Dancing Princesses through the perspectives of one of the princesses and the gardener who saves them. I actually started the series with the third book, but it didn’t matter too much because they are all different characters –one of the sisters. The follow up book is a retelling of Cinderella, and the one after it draws some of its inspiration from Little Red Riding Hood.

You’ll find Jessica Day George’s books scattered all throughout my room, and for good reason. She has a vast ability to write in different genres and themes. This series specifically is mostly romance with touches of adventure, and I think she writes the romantic part in such a sweet, innocent way. There’s touches of enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, and just plain old strangers to lovers through the three books. 

Following closely behind is Percy Jackson and the Gods of Olympus.  Percy Jackson… I have loved Percy Jackson since the moment I read it. The humor perfectly balances the action, the books are clean and just straight-up good. I’d heard that Percy Jackson was a less cool Harry Potter, but that is completely not true. I like Percy as a character more than Harry, but that is a conversation for another time. 

After Percy Jackson comes Dust, by Kara Swanson. I love this book because it doesn’t shy away from hard topics. It talks about darkness without fear, but without glory either. It uses the dark to show the light. I also love the romance 🥰 It’s such a good example of two hurt, scarred people finding each other. I also have the second book in the duology up there –Shadow. 

Laura Martin claims the next spot with both her Edge of Extinction series AND her standalone book Hoax for Hire. Martin is up there because she is such a funny writer. She has amazing humor with just enough seriousness that I, a teenage girl with a taste for fantasy,  actually quite liked reading books with a main character of a twelve year-old boy. And that’s quite an achievement. (I can also attest that twelve year-old boys like these books, so that says something about her writing) 

The final series I’ll be mentioning today (because to be honest, we’ve only gotten through half and I prefer to keep these posts short) is the Books of Bayern by Shannon Hale. I already have a whole blog post about this series, which you should totally go check out if you want more of me ranting about how good they are. Here I’ll stick with storytelling. That’s what earned Hale her spot up there. Also her romance is pretty dang sweet too. If you hadn’t figured it out by now, yes, I am a romantic sap when it comes to fiction. I like it with another main plot though. 

So to cap it all off, I’ll make things nice and simple. Each book, with the reason it’s up there. 

The Hunger Games: Excellent writing and plot.

Princess of the Midnight Ball: Adorable romance. 

Percy Jackson: All around amazing! 

Dust: Brutally honest but encouraging. 

Laura Martin books: Hilarious. 

Books of Bayern: Fairytale-like storytelling. 

I’ll see you soon for part two!!