Top 5 Wednesday: Underrated Books of 2016

Hello and welcome to my Top 5 Wednesday post!

T5W is a weekly meme is hosted by Sam @ThoughtsOnTomes.  You can visit the Goodreads T5W group for more info.

It has been a hot minute since I’ve participated in a T5W, but I liked this week’s theme, so here we are 🙂

This week’s theme is…

January 25th: Favorite Underrated Books
-Give some love to those books that aren’t as widely talked about. Those hidden gems. Those books that maybe used to be popular but people have forgotten about and they still deserve some love.

I decided to spin this one to books that have under 6,000 ratings on Goodreads and limit it to books published in 2016.  Theses are books that I read and enjoyed in 2016, but that I feel are not getting the attention they deserve…

*All titles link to Goodreads

» The Summer That Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel

Number of ratings on Goodreads: 1,274 ratings

Average rating on Goodreads: 4.07 stars

Honestly this was my favorite book of 2016, so I am shocked that more people haven’t read this one.  Most of my book blogger friends who read this book enjoyed it as much as I did, so what’s the deal?  Did you enjoy To Kill A Mockingbird?  Then you will love this book!

*You can read my review here → Book Review: The Summer that Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel & my interview with the author here → Author Interview: Tiffany McDaniel, Author of The Summer That Melted Everything

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» Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn

Number of ratings on Goodreads: 1,839 ratings

Average rating on Goodreads: 3.85 stars

When we think of ‘Jamaica’ most of us think paradise, but Here Comes the Sun gives us a peak into the cut-throat tourist industry there.  This book was so much more than what I was anticipating.  Dennis-Benn tackles many tough topics like race issues, homophobia, rape, prostitution and sexism all in one book.  This was also my first book with a lesbian main character.  This would make an excellent book club selection!

*Review to come

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» The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis

Number of ratings on Goodreads: 3,999 ratings

Average rating on Goodreads: 4.27 stars

This was my favorite Young Adult book of 2016.  I was a little apprehensive to read this book, but I was hooked from the very first sentence:

“This is how I kill someone.”

McGinnis does something in The Female of the Species that I hadn’t seen before in a YA book: she tackles rape culture.  If things like rape and sexual assault are addressed in YA, it tends to be a “watered down” account.  Mindy does not hold back even though her target audience is YA, but rather she tells it like it is.  Which is, in my opinion, what teens NEED to hear.

*You can read my review here → Book Review: The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis

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» The One-in-a-Million Boy by Monica Wood

Number of ratings on Goodreads: 5,732 ratings

Average rating on Goodreads: 4.15 stars

Don’t let the cover fool you, this is not a middle grade book.  Did you read and enjoy A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman?  Then you would love this book too.  Such a beautiful story about life.  I adored Ona and in my mind I totally paired her up with Ove.

*Review to come

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» June by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

Number of ratings on Goodreads: 1,514 ratings

Average rating on Goodreads: 3.79 stars

June is one of those stories that has two different stories going on: one in the present and one in the past.  Despite not caring for the storyline that takes place in the present, I really enjoyed this book.  I was also pleasantly surprised to see it included a transgendered main character, which seems to be rare in the historical fiction genre.

*You can read my review here → Book Review: June by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

Do you know of any underrated books from 2016?

*Feel free to link to your own T5W