Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week is a freebie! So we get to choose a topic that we want to feature. I’m choosing gateway books because it’s something that I haven’t really talked about before. For me, gateway books are the ones that convinced me to try more from that particular category or genre. They don’t necessarily have to be the books that were my introduction to that space. In no particular order, here are my picks:
Adult urban fantasy: Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews
Romantic science fiction: Silent Blade by Ilona Andrews
Fairy tale retelling: The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
Magic realism: Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
Graphic novel / comics: Trese by Budjette Tan and KaJo Baldisimo
Historical fiction: A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson
Aussie YA: Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Filipino romance: The Breakup Diaries by Maya O. Calica and Fairy Tale Fail by Mina V. Esguerra
Adult contemporary romance: Something About You by Julie James
New adult sports romance: The Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen (actually the whole Ivy Years series)
I feel like I could go on and on with this topic, I just have to go way back like starting from books that I read as a child. These were the ones that were from the past couple of years. What about you, what are some of your gateway books? 🙂
Chachic's Book Nook 
What a wonderful idea for a list. What a wonderful idea in general too! I’ve never heard anyone talking about gateway books but now that I see you mentioned it, it makes me want to find more of this sort of books so that I could perhaps find new genres to love. Great job!
Thank you, glad you like it! I have seen other blogging people talk about gateway books but for some reason, I never considered doing it until yesterday’s TTT. I’m sure you probably have your own gateway books, you should have to look back to remember them. 🙂
Ooh. Great choice, Chachic. I love gateway books. That’s a might fine list.
Gateway books are just so much fun to discover, aren’t they? I wouldn’t mind hearing what titles would make it to your list. 😛
Fun topic! I like a lot of these books but none was a gateway one for me.
When I checked my blog to see if I’ve ever featured gateway books, your guest post for Amour et Florand popped up. So I was reminded that Laura Florand is your gateway for adult romance (and Melina Marchetta for YA romance). 😀
Awesome gateway books! Ditto on Ilona Andrews and Garden Spells. They make really great introductions to their genres.
I’ve tried other urban fantasy series after I fell in love with Kate Daniels but I haven’t found one that I love as much as Ilona and Gordon’s books. Same for romantic sci fi and magic realism!
Yeah, that’s a hard one to top. I really like Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld series though. Those two are tied for my favorite urban fantasy series.
Interesting! I’d have to check it out then.
I adore Ilona Andrews. There isn’t a single book they wrote I didn’t at least enjoy, and most I love. Gateway books are the best. Join us… join us…
My TTT
YASSS! I even enjoyed their short fiction like Days of Swine and Roses and A Mere Formality. Seriously cannot wait for the sequel to Burn for Me. I haven’t read the Innkeeper books and Alphas: Origins.
The Innkeeper books are great–I read them in the free installments on their blog, and then the finished product.
Origins is in an anthology, too, if you didn’t know. (Angels & Demons)
I really don’t know why I haven’t been in the mood to read the Innkeeper books yet. Yep, I know Origins is also in anthology. LOL I don’t have a copy of the anthology or the standalone.
We have the same gateway books for Aussie YA and magical realism! This is such a great list and theme choice. I think I’m going to do this list for this week’s TTT too. That is, if you don’t mind me copying? 🙂
Gorabels! Although now it’s Top Ten Thursday na. 😛 Good to know we have the same gateway books for two categories/genres.
Never heard of the term gateway books. Will have to ponder what mine are. I love that “The Goose Girl” is on here, though! One of my favs 🙂
I’m glad you’re now aware of what gateway books are! Yep, I also love The Goose Girl, definitely made me want to read more fairy tale retellings. And now that’s one of my favorite genres.
I’m with you on Garden Spells – the ultimate comfort read!
Garden Spells is really lovely! I liked it more than the other Sarah Addison Allen books I read (although they were also good).
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