Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by Jana of That Artsy Reading Girl! This is a weekly fun discussion where we’re given a topic to discuss ten of whatever (usually) bookish things fits that list for that week.
This week’s topic is all about the books that live in our heads rent free, the books that we can’t stop thinking about, the ones whose characters stand out to us, make us want to jump back into their pages and worlds, the books that make us want to keep and stay being readers.
I think about these books and characters either all the time or on occasion, and I’m not mad about it lol
Click on a cover to go to its Goodreads page!
This synopsis is from the first book, A Court of Thorns and Roses, as this is the second book:
When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.
At least, he’s not a beast all the time.
As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.
From bestselling author Sarah J. Maas comes a seductive, breathtaking book that blends romance, adventure, and faerie lore into an unforgettable read.
This should come as a surprise to no one, but this series and world live completely rent free in my mind. I love the world and the characters a lot, and the series means a lot to me as they were there for me during a lot of rough times in my life, and during moments of healing, so I couldn’t not have this in my list. Check out my (long ago) review here!
Filled with mystery and an intriguingly rich magic system, Tracy Deonn’s YA contemporary fantasy Legendborn offers the dark allure of City of Bones with a modern-day twist on a classic legend and a lot of Southern Black Girl Magic.
After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC-Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape — until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus.
A flying demon feeding on human energies.
A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down.
And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts — and fails — to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.
The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.
She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets — and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down — or join the fight.
Legendborn is a series that has a special place in my heart, and Tracy Deonn is a gem. I got to meet her for her signing for Oathbound and thank her for writing grief the way she does because of how I also lost my mom and how I got to see a bit of myself in Bree through that piece. Not only that, but I really enjoyed the Arthurian magic, the Root magic, the mystery, the social commentary, and more. This series is so fun, and I cannot wait for the next installment! Check out my review here!
Hendrix Barry lives a fabulous life. She has phenomenal friends, a loving family, and a thriving business that places her in the entertainment industry’s rarefied air. Your vision board? She’s probably living it.
She’s a woman with goals, dreams, ambitions—always striving upward. And in the midst of everything, she’s facing her toughest challenge caring for an aging parent. Who has time for romance? From her experience, there’s a low ROI on relationships. Anyway, she hasn’t met the man who can keep up with her. Until…him.
Tech mogul Maverick Bell is a dilemma wrapped in an exquisitely tailored suit and knee-melting charm. From their first charged glance at the summer’s hottest party, Hendrix feels like she’s met her match. Only he can’t be. Mav may be the first to make her feel this seen and desired, but he’s the last one she can have. Forbidden fruit is the juiciest, and this man is off limits if she plans to stay the course she’s set for herself.
But when Maverick gives chase—pursuing her, spoiling her, understanding her—is it time to let herself have something more?
I’ve explained in my review of this book, but this story will forever live in my head and my heart because of the content within and how seen I felt due to the Alzheimer’s representation and how it feels to be the daughter of the mother who has it. It’s such a hard place to be in and can feel extremely isolating, but Kennedy Ryan did a phenomenal job of writing exactly what it’s like. She did her research, and she did it well. The romance, of course, was also glorious, but this story between the mother and daughter is why it will remain in my heart and head forever.
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.
And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.
Or does he?
An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could deliver, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian—while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.
This book was such a fun audiobook, and I loved all of the science that was included in it. I’m quite a space nerd, so this was definitely a book for me. The story was fun and engaging, but of course the star of the show was our buddy Rocky when he gets introduced, and the budding friendship that Grace and Rocky form as they’re the only two in a very fraught circumstance in their systems. I definitely recommend this one, and I also recently watched the movie; it was a great adaptation, though they changed much of it to be for a much broader audience. It was still very fun and I recommend the movie as well. Check out my review here!
Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles.
But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass, a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.
In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.
After all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for…
Of course I can’t have a list like this without mentioning the Daevabad trilogy. This trilogy became an all time favorite last year when I read it, and it will forever have a special place in my head and heart. It was such a well written series and I had so much fun reading it. It was emotional, high stakes, political, beautiful, and so well done. I loved it so much. Check out my review here!
Centuries before, robots of Panga gained self-awareness, laid down their tools, wandered, en masse into the wilderness, never to be seen again. They faded into myth and urban legend.
Now the life of the tea monk who tells this story is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of “what do people need?” is answered. But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how. They will need to ask it a lot. Chambers’ series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?
This novella sci-fi duology was right up my alley and lives rent free in my head because it has a lot of philosophy in it that I felt like it dove into in a respectful way and that was very introspective. I found myself engaged and intrigued, and I love how Becky Chambers writes thanks to this book and cannot wait to pick up more of her books.
The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.
What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?
The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries—including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo’s dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? And if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?
Welcome to Weep.
It’s been a long time since I read this book, and I never finished the duology, but Laini Taylor’s writing is so lyrical and beautiful that there are just parts of this story and these characters that have lived rent free in my head all of this time. I’m going to go back to it eventually and reread it and finish the duology, but for now I just wanted to share that even after all of this time, yes, they’re still there, and yes, I remember. (If you know the story, then that statement makes sense lol) Check out my review here!
Around the world, black hand prints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.
In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.
Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious “errands”, she speaks many languages – not all of them human – and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.
When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?
I had to include the other work of Taylor’s that I read over a decade ago, but Daughter of Smoke and Bone has characters and moments that have stuck with me all of this time and live rent free in my head. It’s a trilogy I want to reread but am hesitant to do so because I’m worried I won’t love it as much through a reread than when I originally read it. However, from what I remember, I loved the story, the tragedies, the heartache, the romance. It was such a beautiful story. Check out my review here!
Clashing empires, forbidden romance, and a long-forgotten queen destined to save her people—Tahereh Mafi’s first in an epic, romantic trilogy inspired by Persian mythology.
To all the world, Alizeh is a disposable servant, not the long-lost heir to an ancient Jinn kingdom forced to hide in plain sight.
The crown prince, Kamran, has heard the prophecies foretelling the death of his king. But he could never have imagined that the servant girl with the strange eyes, the girl he can’t put out of his mind, would one day soon uproot his kingdom—and the world.
This series was full of so much tension you could cut it with a knife, my god. I cannot wait for the final book to come out, but the first four books were so well done that they just live in a pocket dimension in my head, waiting to be set free again. There was so much drama, so much angst, so much YEARNING. God, I need the next book lol But seriously, I loved the perspectives we got, the twists, the magic, how the dynamics between characters shifted, and more. Check out my review here!
Spice trader Cinnamon’s quiet life is turned upside down when she ends up on a quest with a fiery demon in this irreverently quirky rom-com fantasy that is sweet, steamy, and funny as hell—perfect for fans of Legends & Lattes and The Dragon’s Bride.
All she wanted to do was live her life in peace—maybe get a cat, expand the family spice farm. Really, anything that didn’t involve going on an adventure where an orc might rip her face off. But they say the Goddess has favorite, and if so, Cin is clearly not one of them…
After saving the demon Fallon in a wine-drunk stupor, all Fallon wants to do is kill an evil witch enslaving his people. And, who can blame him? But he’s dragging Cinnamon along for the ride. On the bright side, at least he keeps burning off his shirt.
This series lives rent free in my head simply for the humor. I’ve never laughed out loud so much reading than I have with this trilogy. The millennial humor is real and soooo funny! Not only is this trilogy a spicy romance, but there’s also fantasy elements, which were super fun! Honestly, if you’re intimidated by the fantasy genre but you love romance, check these out because the fantasy elements are easy to follow, and the plots are just pure fun. Check out my review here!
And there you have it! Ten books or series that live rent free in my head. It’s funny how some books or characters just stick with you even after so many years of not reading a story, isn’t it? It’s like they literally find a space in your head and your heart to move in. I don’t mind, though, because so many of them have become so special to me for one reason or another.
What’s a book that you can’t get out your head? Do you reread those books that live rent free in your head? Let me know in the comments below!
Reader Rayna 
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