There are so many popular authors that I have not read and I am so ashamed! My hope is that by posting this I will be inspired to pick up a book by some of these authors! Please let me know in the comments what book by these authors I should read first and if I should avoid and of them entirely!
Brandon Sanderson- I have heard nothing but good things about his writing! I really want to get in to high fantasy and this seems like a great place to start!
Sarah J. Maas- I am really torn on whether or not to even read Sarah J. Maas! I have heard such mixed things about her books! Please I would love to know your opinions!
Marie Lu- I have been meaning to read Marie Lu for years! I am so excited to read Warcross but I would love to read one of her other series first. Which series should I start with?
Scott Westerfeld- To be honest I do not see myself ever reading anything by Scott Westerfeld. I feel like I missed the boat on the Uglies series, and it is not as beloved as it once was. I know very little about his other books! 
Stephen King- I have always wanted to read a King novel but I don’t even know where to begin. I am so intimidated by the size of his books! Any suggestions on which book is a good one to start with would be so appreciated!
Colleen Hoover- I have heard some not so great things about her books, and I have also heard amazing things about them. I get the impression that Colleen Hoover is one of those authors who you either love or hate and there is no in between. I am curious about which side I would fall on!
There are so many popular authors that I have not read! I am looking forward to reading all your opinions on these authors!
Brandon Sanderson is fantastic. I used to love Stephen King when I was a teenager but have since grown out of it. If I were to suggest anything about King, it would be to read his older stuff.
Thank you! I am leaning toward trying The Shining since it is a story I am familiar with!
I have so many issues with Stephen King. If I were you, I will start reading The Shining which is one of the best (in my opinion) He usually has problems with the ending of the books or using the “fantastic” or “fantasy” elements on his novels.
Hope you can take a look at my blog!
Thank you for sharing!
Thank you!!! I was leaning to reading The Shining since it is arguably his most popular book! I have heard other people mention his endings as well! I will look at your blog for sure 😊
Thank you!! <3
I tried to read Storm of the Century, and at some point I put it down, lit my chimney, and threw the book in… haha
I started it reading at work but I had to stop… procrastinating is not well seeing, but I do wasn't procrastinating, I was reading haha
I haven’t read anything by Marie Lu either! And I really want to because the premises of her books sound amazing!
Also I have many Brandon Sanderson’s books on my TBR but I’m a bit aprehensive ’cause he has lately said not so many great things and I don’t really want to support that.
I did not know that about Brandon Sanderson. I will have to do some research. I am one of those people who has a hard time separately the art from the artist!
I remember picking Marie Lu because everyone were loving Day and June . But honestly , Marie Lu is not as amazing as they’d have you believe . She’s not bad and she’s good – but doesn’t live up to the hype .
That is good to know! I prefer to go in to books with my expectations not too high!
So sad to hear that! I’m still going to give her a try just to see if I like it😊
I think you should read Sarah J Maas! She’s my favourite author. Not only is does she have intriguing plots, she’s also extremely good at character development! I also think she writes very realistic issues that a lot of other fantasy authors don’t go near, for example PTSD, not every girl is a virgin who has her first time with the love of her life, realistic love where people are changed by certain events and maybe don’t fit together with their significant other quite so well afterwards, and more! Sorry for the novel lol!
This is great! Thanks for this! I love that she discusses PTSD! It only make sense that some characters in fantasy novels would experience it. Which of her series should I start with?
That’s tough, I have a hard time deciding which one I like better lol .. ACOTAR has less books so it would be quicker to start there and see how you feel about her books! But you can’t go wrong starting with TOG either because they’re both amazing! Also just so you know her books tend to get even better with every new book in the series lol, AND they never go in the direction you expect 😏😏 I really hope you enjoy them!!
I haven’t read Marie’s Legendy trilogy, but The Young Elites is really fantastic!
Thank you! That the series I am more interested in reading!
I really want to read Brandon Sanderson, his work looks awesome!
I read Carrie by Stephen King, which is not a big book and liked it very much!
I forgot about Carrie! That’s sounds like a good place to start! Thanks!
I haven’t read any Lu, Sanderson or Westerfield either and only one Stephen King so can’t help much on them (although Misery is really good).
I would recommend Maas as I loved the early books in Throne of Glass. CoHo is a bit of a mixed bag, some I’ve loved (It Ends With Us), some were meh (Ugly Love).
I’m thinking I might just read Throne of Glass and see what I think! 😊
I am reading my first B Sand book (The Way of Kings) and I have to admit that his writing is fantastic and his worlds are far above anything else I have read!
I have not read Westerfeld (well technically I started and put on hold the books Uglies a while back but I only got like a chapter in) and I have not read Stephen King either.
I am in the obsessed with Colleen Hoover camp on her books … they are life as far as I am concerned! Super dramatic though but so very emotional and heart wrenching.
I’m glad to hear you are enjoying Sanderson!
I think I might read It Ends With Us and see what I think! 😀
Maybe Someday and Ugly Love are my favorites.
Enjoy your reading 🙂
Thank you!! 😊
Maas is a weird author and she is not really consistent . The TOG #1 & 2 suck and if I’m being honest , TOG #3 sucked too . But the next two books were so amazing I can’t even believe it’s Sarah who wrote it ! And then I went into the ACOTAR and it sucked again , only for ACOMAF to be real great . And then here we went with ACOWAR this year which sucked royally . Urgh ,her writing is pretty bad but she’s still great . And I haven’t read Stephen King either . I’ve been meaning to , but I’ve never found the motivation to pick his .
I have heard that about TOG before! I just don’t know if I want to read 3 sucky books just to get to the good ones!
Hopefully this Halloween I will be motivated to read a Stephen King. Seems like the perfect time for it!
I’d probably have to , too . It’s weird when people keep talking about how great King is and you have no idea what they’re talking about :3
I actually have books by any of these authors either. 😜
Yes! That makes me feel better! 😝
For Stephen King…it depends on what types of books you read. For horror, I’d say The Shining, that was my first horror book from him and I loved it, for non-horror I’d say The Green Mile, for a mix of both I’d say Different Seasons, which is a collection of novellas, two of which were adapted into highly popular movies you must’ve heard of sometime in your life. The second one (the horror one) is skippable to me, it’s not my favorite, and I haven’t gotten around to the last one.
I am desperate to pick up a Sarah J Mass book, I have the first book in ACOTAR and Throne of Glass to read and I must start one of the series soon!
I can’t wait to see what you think about them!
I’ve only read one Colleen Hoover book and while I enjoyed that one I’m not typically drawn to her other books. I’ve only read the Mistborn trilogy but it’s a great series and has a fascinating and complex world and characters. I should get to reading more of Sanderson’s works. I’ve not read an SJMass book and I have no intention of doing so.
Which Colleen Hoover book did you read?
The Mistborn trilogy is really the one that I am most interested in! 😊
Hopeless. It was what I expected it to be. A lot of angst and romance and enjoyable overall but not a favourite book.
For Stephen King I recommend The Shining, IT and Misery. (I’m actually reading IT again right no to get ready for the new movie come September!) I actually like his endings because they make the horror aspect so much scarier – the storyline ends but the horror aspect of that storyline doesn’t; whatever the scariness in the novel was it goes unresolved so it’s like it’s still out there to haunt us.
Haven’t read any non-horror King though.
I am definitely debating between The Shining, Misery, or Carrie! I will have to psych myself up to read IT! Clowns are my biggest fear… All because I saw the movie as a kid!
That is interesting to know about his endings. Thanks!!
Hahaha I’m so glad I’m not the only who hasn’t read ALL of those books! Sometimes I think I’m too late to jump on the wagon, and steering clear of spoilers isn’t working out for the YAs. But I am planning on reading Brandon Sanderson and Stephen Kind. The former only because I’m becoming a huge fan of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series and Sanderson was the one who wrote the last three books of that series.
For King, I agree with a lot of the others in terms of Misery. Great book, not too long and entertaining enough that eleven year old me enjoyed it. ‘It’ is good until the last part but that’s a BIG book. With Sarah J Maas, I found all her books to be meh until I read A Court of Mist and Fury which was fantastic. ACOWAR was good too, not amazing, but good.
I’ve read one Sanderson book, The Final Empire. He’s a wonderful writer! Go for it!
I’ve heard so many amazing things about Marie Lu! Perhaps I should also check her out too. 😊
Thanks for a your suggestions Ashley! 😊
No worries, Kristin! Happy reading!
I haven’t read King’s or Sanderson’s work, but I’ve read everyone else’s and they’re definitely worth checking out! They’re all amazing authors with amazing books, especially Lu and Maas. I love Lu’s Legend trilogy and Maas’s ACOTAR series!
Thanks! I think I am going to start with Marie Lu!!
You should definitely read Legend!! It’s one of my favourites
Oh good! I can’t wait to get in to it!!
Ah Stephen King I love the guy! So I would recommend if you’re looking for scary The Shinning obviously (I would also suggest Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, End of Watch (those are a trilogy)) Not scary I would suggest 11/22/63.
The Uglies series I remember liking, but I don’t think it’s the best thing out there. I do plan to re-read it sometime in the future!
I forgot all about 11/22/63! That’s a great suggestion!
I am open to reading Uglies! I would probably buy it if I found it at a good price!
I hope you enjoy it! 😀
I’d check Amazon, they might have it at a good price.
This post definitely inspired me- because I haven’t read anything by any of these authors either. I have been reading to read Legend, by Marie Lu, so hopefully I can do that soon. 😊
Yay I am so glad! Hopefully we will both get around to reading Legend soon!
I love Stephen King, but I have a lot of his books to read yet. My favorite so far by him is 11/22/63. While it is a big book, it is amazing. Especially if you love time travel or history. I have a review for IT up on my blog if you’d be interested in reading that. It was actually the first review I ever put up.
I also want to add that I have not read Sanderson, Maas, or Hoover either.
I have read Marie Lu’s Legend series and I really enjoyed that! I’ve also read Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series and I liked it, but idk about how I would feel about it now, as I read it probably 10 years ago.
I am definitely going to check out your review!
Legend is probably going to be the first book I read from any of these authors!
I really liked the Legend series! I hope you enjoy it as well 🙂
Ah, I hadn’t even seen you’d done this! I did one on Tuesday for my replacement Top Ten Tuesday post! The only person I’ve read from your list is Stephen King (and I love his stuff() but that’s probably because we read different genres mainly! 😀 I hope you like all the authors work when you get round to reading them! 😀
I wanna read all these books
I can’t recommend them enough!!
Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series is a must-read, especially if you’re looking to delve into high fantasy! And Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series is a lot of fun, despite its flaws.
As for Stephen King, I feel like The Shining is a good place to start. Happy reading! 😊
I am determined to at least read the first book in the Mistborn series this year!
I am thinking I will read The Shining and maybe another Stephen King novel this halloween!
Yesss, Mistborn is honestly one of my favorite series after Harry Potter and Game of Thrones! (That is high praise.) 😂
I hope you enjoy it!