Happy Top Ten Tuesday!  Today’s topic is all about sophomore novels.

Four of these are sophomore novels that I can’t wait to read:

• The Archived by Victoria Schwab
• The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan
• Devoted by Jennifer Mathieu
• Armada by Ernest Cline

And the remaining six are sophomore novels I loved just as much as, if not more than, the author’s debut:

• Ricochet by Krista & Becca Ritchie
• Rebel Angels by Libba Bray
• Golden Son by Pierce Brown
• Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
• Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
• What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick

What are your feelings on debuts vs. sophomore novels?  Do you usually prefer one over the other?  I find that sometimes a great debut gets my hopes up too high for the author’s sophomore novel, but other times I find that the author has really grown since writing their debut, and the follow up is even better.

   Goodreads   Amazon

This book was all over my feed earlier this year. Like, I swear, if my Goodreads friends weren’t reviewing it, they were liking and commenting on other reviews of it. And the consensus was generally positive, so I put it on my Amazon wish list, because that’s what I do with books I really want to read, but not right this second. And so it sat there for a few months, until I got a notification that the price dropped, and then I snapped it up and devoured it. Why did I wait?

Anyway, everybody knows that I love a good friends-to-lovers story. It’s literally my favorite trope ever. Sincerely, Carter is a good example of what I like in this genre.

Arizona and Carter, BFF’s since the fourth – or maybe fifth – grade, have kept it strictly platonic for years. Ask them if they’ve ever thought about romance, and they’ll laugh and tell you absolutely not, they think of each other like siblings. It’s a perfect friendship, until one day they realize their mutual attraction. Where did these feelings come from? Should they ignore them? Should they go for it? Can their friendship take it?

The book begins fairly low on the drama scale, and I am all for that. Carter and Arizona have amazing chemistry, and I absolutely loved all the flashbacks and memories throughout. It just made their relationship feel that much stronger. The drama/angst level does pick up with an intentional misunderstanding, and I was so frustrated with these two that I didn’t know what to do with myself… but I had to keep reading. The book wraps up quickly, a little too quickly if you ask me, but luckily I was late enough to the party that Sincerely, Arizona was already out by the time I finished.

Overall, Sincerely, Carter is a really well-written example of what I like in my friends-to-lovers stories. It’s equally cute, funny, and steamy, and I’ll definitely keep an eye out for other books by this author.

Final rating: 

★★★★☆