Top Ten Tuesday – Ten Standalone Books That Need a Sequel

 

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!

This week’s TTT topic is Standalone Books That Need a Sequel.  I actually found this topic extremely difficult, mainly because so few of the books I read aren’t standalones.  I’m a huge series reader so I had to think long and hard to come up with ten books that met the criteria.  What all of my picks have in common is that they’re all contemporaries and they don’t all necessarily need a sequel.  It’s more a case of I became so attached to the characters in them that I’d love to be able to just check back in with them and see how they’re doing.

 

via GIPHY

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10 Standalone Books That Need a Sequel

 

STARFISH by Akemi Dawn Bowman

FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell

FAR FROM THE TREE by Robin Benway

THE BEAUTY THAT REMAINS by Ashley Woodfolk

THE UPSIDE OF UNREQUITED by Becky Albertalli

WHAT IF IT’S US by Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera

THE HATE U GIVE by Angie Thomas

A QUIET KIND OF THUNDER by Sara Barnard

I HAVE LOST MY WAY by Gayle Forman

DEAR MARTIN by Nic Stone

 

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What are some standalone books you’d love to read sequels for?

52 replies
  1. Angela
    Angela says:

    I thought this week’s topic was really hard, too, I didn’t even attempt it! Sometimes I would like to revisit characters again, but even if a book has an open ending, I’m generally ok with just using my imagination!

  2. Diana
    Diana says:

    Great list! I wouldn’t mind a sequel of THUG because I loved the book so much though it did have a satisfactory conclusion. Your post reminds me that I need to read Dear Martin soon.

    • Suzanne
      Suzanne says:

      I agree. I loved the conclusion for THUG but would just really love to check in on the characters and see how they’re doing.

  3. Jordan Rose
    Jordan Rose says:

    Ooh a sequel to The Hate U Give would be great! This was a hard one for me as well–I never realize just how many series I read until I have to look for standalones, haha.

  4. verushka
    verushka says:

    This week’s meme is reminding me of so much goodness I had lost track of! Dear Martin in particular how did I forget about that goodness!

  5. Sam@wlabb
    Sam@wlabb says:

    I read 6 of these, and absolutely would want to catch up with the characters. I think Fangirl should cover all four years of college. Let’s graduate with the gang.

  6. Greg
    Greg says:

    Contemporaries do lend themselves to needing a sequel sometimes haha! Maybe because they’re more realistic storylines in some cases, and as life rolls on we want to know more about their fictional lives as well? At any rate I would love to have more Fangirl!

  7. Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight
    Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight says:

    I’m more of a series person, but it’s mostly because one book with a set of characters is not enough for me, so I’d probably be able to think of some books for this lol. When I like characters, I also want more time with them!

  8. Kelly
    Kelly says:

    What If It’s Us felt like such a messy book altogether for me. Glorified stalking, emotional manipulation and that ending! It felt like a real cop out. Having such an open ending doesn’t allow readers any sort of closure, I personally struggle and feel as though I’ve wasted my time reading without having a solid ending. I was hoping the trend would have died out when John Green lost popularity but it’s just continued. Authors, cut that shit out!

    • Suzanne
      Suzanne says:

      I’m not a big fan of open endings either. I like for the standalones I read to actually feel finished when I read the last page.

  9. Di @ Book Reviews by Di
    Di @ Book Reviews by Di says:

    Ahh, firstly, I adore Joey. 🙂

    I hardly ever read standalones and I hardly ever read contemporaries! So I’ll have to keep this list in mind for when I’m feeling like I need to rectify that. 🙂

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