Top 10 Tuesday: Ten Books Set Outside the US

Well hi there, avid readers from all over the world! This week I’m gonna take you through my ‘around the world’ reading experience, because today’s theme is Ten Books Set Outside the US ♦

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

After some times scrolling through my goodreads shelves, I found out that apparently I only read books set in US, Europe, and Asia 😦 Ditching the US, that only left us with Europe and Asia. Let’s break it down.

Harry Potter by JK Rowling

Do I even need to explain? No? I assume everyone loves or at least likes Harry Potter, right? Right??? 😉 As far as I can remember, Harry Potter is the first book (well actually, movie, because I watched the first 4 movies first before binge-reading the books) that made me fall in love with British accent! ♥ The settings are just SO beautiful that I actually want to visit them! Hogwarts, Kings Cross Station and the super famous platform 9 3/4, Hogsmeade Village, The Leaky Cauldron… the lists are endless! No wonder it’s on the top of my list ♦

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

Not only did we experience nowadays London as the setting, we also experienced London in 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, and pretty much every other years because this book is about time traveler! Initially, I tend to shy away from time traveling books because The Time Traveler’s Wife kinda crept me up… but this one is pretty awesome! It’s a German literature translated into English and probably several other languages as well so it must be some good stuff isn’t it? It’s legit 😛 The book also shows us the culture from early London. Every time they travel to the past, they wear a custom made costume to look the part. Kind of ridiculous to imagine the characters with wigs and laces but superfun!

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Me Before You takes place in a small town in England which I actually forget because I have like 985068 stuffs to remember other than the name of small town from a book… so, forgive me :’) It is described as a small suburban outside London, or as Will phrased it, “this is a kind of place where people come to when they got tired of actually living”. Hahaha. We readers get a lot of glimpses of the setting (which name I still haven’t recalled) as we follow Lou and Will’s journey to travel and make the most of their time.

The story itself is so beautiful and successfully left me sobbing like a lunatic. It’s profound, which is good, because I love books that give me FEELS </3 </3 Hence I love this book so much!

Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

I have raved about this book and put it on a couple of my previous TTTs so I know I probably shouldn’t bother again… but with this week theme?? How could this book not make the list?!! It is set in not one, not two, but THREE romantic cities in the world! ♥♥♥ okay to be fair one of them is Manhattan so it doesn’t count. But Paris and Barcelona? Yes please! And among the three books in the series, I can say that Stephanie Perkins successfully brings her A-game with this book!

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

This wonderful piece of literature takes place in Prague, Czech Republic. I remember getting very excited about the setting and the language the first time I read the book. I immediately googled Prague and was mesmerized by its beauty. The fact that the boook doesn’t take place in the US or London or any other mainstream big cities adds a touch of exotic feels for the book.

The story is also exquisitely written. Reading this felt like uncovering a mass of layers without knowing what’s inside. All puzzles clicked on the right time. I love how the timing goes back on forth, from present to past to present to ancient times and present again. The title of each chapter was also well picked. Everything fit perfectly and I totally deemed Laini Taylor as one of my auto read author ♣

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

I’m NEVER a big fan of historical fiction because I get bored easily and tend to DNF books from this genre, but this one is awesome! Okay… I admit I picked it up on a whim, I mean, have you looked at the cover? Well hello, gorgeous! ♥ One of my best bookish decision. Code Name Verity is set all over Europe, from England to Scotland to France. I thought this was a story about war. But boy I was wrong, this is about friendship.

The book was split into two parts, Part I was from Julie’s POV and Part II was Maddie’s. It was a bit slow and there were several unimportant details but I love the narrating voices. The stories were intertwined perfectly in a way that gave me chill and confusion BUT IN A GOOD WAY. Totally in a good way. It has a sequel called Rose Under Fire. I don’t plan to read it, at least not anytime soon… but SHOULD I?

My very own continent! I might not be the biggest patriotic person out there but I sure get thrilled every time I read a book set in Asia ♦

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

TWATD was my first encounter with Arabian Fantasy and it was a big step on my reading milestone! Khalid was the Caliph of Khorasan which I HAD NO IDEA WHERE so I turned to google to find out where it is. Turned out it’s in Afghanistan, within South and Central Asia, thus making this book a part of the list. It’s been previously featured on some of my TTTs so I’m not gonna rave about it again, but bottom line is this book seriously rocks and is gorgeous and if you haven’t read it yet, PLEASE DO. Immediately 😛

Tiger’s Curse by Colleen Houck

This book has so many flaws in the sense that the characters are too perfect and boring and there’s love triangle which I thoroughly dislike, but it describes India as a beautiful, wonderful country! I used to watch Bollywood movies (umm yes they sing and dance way too much but the stories give me feels) so India isn’t new for me. Never actually liked it before but Tiger’s Curse successfully brought my attention to the best parts of India. It’s exotic! Also, I often eat Indian foods and I’m not a fan BUT this book made the foods sound super delicious.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder takes place in New Beijing, China. I ALWAYS want to visit China, especially the great wall of China because it looks so awesome and massive. I was also excited for this book to take place so close to my home country! It’s rare for a YA fantasy books written by American author to take place in Asia… or is it not and I’ve been living under a rock? Cinder is also one of my favorite retelling. It combines original elements from Cinderella with Sailormoon and also cyborgs! How much cooler could we get than that? And you know how much I love retelling so it’s a must-read for me ♥

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

Though I’m not a fan of it, the book still has what it takes to make it to the list. Another beautifully described Indian setting. Okay maybe not so much, since most of the story takes place in some imaginary place called Akaran, but it still counts! (Also I’m running out of books for the list but let’s just pretend I’m not). I always love story that takes place in a kingdom. I love to see how people live in court and The Star-Touched Queen gave us that. It describes not only the setting but also the culture and and custom of Bharata. Told in a flowery and poetic writing, it’s sort of dazzling ♦

Pssstt… there will be a sequel called A Crown of Wishes!

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That’s it, my top 10 books set outside the US! What do you think? Got any of them on your list as well? And what countries/continents do you wish to appear more on books? Mine would be Spain, Russia, Japan, and obviously South East Asia! Drop some comments and link me to your own TTTs! Happy Tuesday ♥♥♥

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