So I was hanging out with my girls yesterday, (that would be Tatiana, Sylvia and Paulina, my girls from iFandoms Collide) and of course, most of our conversations center around books. Books books books. I run a young adult book blog, as well as Sylvia, Tatiana runs a Mortal Instruments site and Paulina runs a Divergent site.

Anyway, we obviously were talking about all these books and how we absolutely cannot wait until the sequels or final books, like Allegiant and City of Heavenly Fire and books like that.

And its SO true. There are so many books out there that I just can’t wait for. I can’t wait for Origin by Jennifer L. Armentrout, and House of Hades by Rick Riordan and Allegiant by Veronica Roth and Champion by Marie Lu, and SO so so so many more.

Because let’s face it, these authors? They know exactly how to torture us, how to leave us hanging, dying for the next book, counting down the days just to find out what happens next .

So this is the inspiration for this week’s Tuesday Top Ten: the top ten cliffhangers. These nine books (and one movie) leave us hanging, cursing the authors and lamenting over the fact that we have to wait days, months, years to find out what happens next.

So here it goes guys, my favorite cliffhangers…that both left me excited and pissed off. In good ways of course :)

I am going to warn you guys right now, I’m talking about cliffhangers. Which means if you haven’t read these books, it includes spoilers. Just deal with it. Haha. Skip the ones you haven’t read yet!

10. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins 

Suzanne Collins is a brutal lady who is fully capable of breaking all of our hearts and she seriously did that with Catching Fire. Honestly, she is SO lucky that I picked up this series literally like a few days before Mockingjay came out. If I would have had to wait all that time like the original fans did…I’d probably die. What a ridiculous ending. Like HOW DARE YOU Suzanne Collins for ending Catching Fire with the words “District 12 is Gone!” Like, how could you do that? I knew that there were rumblings of a rebellion going on, but I honestly didn’t expect this plan that they had come up with to actually work, or to lead to what it did. One minute, they’re trying to eliminate opponents in the arena, the next thing you know, Katniss is basically blowing up the arena and being taken away. It was insane. All this action is suddenly happening and you don’t know what’s going on, and then it just ends. It ends with the line that District 12 is gone, Katniss’s home is gone. You don’t know if her mother or Prim or Madge or anyone is safe. You don’t know anything. It just ends. I swear, I almost threw the book across the room.

9. Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout 

I like these books a lot. I think Jennifer Armentrout creates a really fun, sci-fi book, with a lot of epic sexiness in it too. But there’s a lot of awesome sci-fi in it. I think people might look at a cover like this and be deterred from it because it looks like a romance novel, but it is SO much more than that. That being said, in this book, there’s a lot built up to this moment where Katy, Daemon, and the rest break into a facility to get Beth back. And here’s the thing, you know its not going to go perfectly. What plan ever goes perfectly? I’ll tell you: none. Ever. Never. So I knew something was going to go down, and I knew I was getting close to the end so I had a feeling it was going to be a pretty epic ending. What I didn’t expect was for it to end with Daemon, safe, and Katy, stuck inside, facing the very people that she needs to stay very, very far away from. She’s stuck! She turns away from Daemon to face whats coming after them and then it just ends! How could you do that to me? I was like, NO WAY! And now I have to wait until August 27th to find out what happens next. Who knows what happened to Katy!

8. The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson 

I tend to throw my books across the room, either when I’m like “that book was TERRIBLE” or when a book makes you so mad but in a good way. That’s exactly what The Crown of Embers did…except I had to hold myself back because I was reading this book on my Kindle. Probably not a good idea to throw that. But damn, does Rae Carson create an amazing fantasy world and weave a great story. She’s talented writer, but oh was I SO angry when I read the end of this novel. There had been so much going on, Elisa was on this impossible quest to find something that she didn’t even really know exists, she nearly dies, escapes, and is finally going to head home and hopefully bring her kingdom back together…and then the love of her life, Hector, though he doesn’t know it yet, is taken from her. Yanked away from her and now she has to go and rescue him, before they hurt him or torture him or kill him. I was SO MAD. All I could think of was…no, Elisa has to bring her kingdom back together, and she needs to save her people, and there’s already been way too much drama for this book AND NOW YOU TOOK AWAY HECTOR! I was not pleased about having to wait until August 27th for that but I was lucky enough to get my hands on an ARC so I know what happens :)

7. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo 

OHMYGOD Leigh Bardugo is AMAZING. I am so into her books and I only picked them up a month ago! But I am officially addicted. She gives us an intricate fantasy world with incredible characters and an addicting story. She has inspired me so much with her books, and her world that I just started a fansite for her trilogy called The Grisha Army, and you should totally check it out! Anyway, that being said, and taken care of, Siege and Storm came out one week ago today. And I am STILL reeling over what happened in this book. I’m not going to spoil too much on this one because it just came out and I really am pushing people to read this series, but what Leigh does to her main character, Alina, is incredible. The kind of power she gives her, the motivations, the situations. You don’t see that ending coming in the slightest and when it does, you’re left, jaw dropped, heart racing, hoping for more pages, and knowing that you aren’t going to get any more. Rune and Rising, the third book, has no cover, no release date, nothing, of course, since Siege and Storm came out just last week. But I don’t know if I’ll make it, I need to know what happens with Alina and Mal and the Darkling and Sturmhond and all of them.

6. Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Oh Veronica Roth, you sneaky talented lady you know. Actually I can’t call you lady because that’s weird; you’re six months younger than me haha. But oh how dare you! The thing you have to understand about the Divergent series is that I purchased the first book on my Kindle and stayed up until about…I think one a.m.-ish to read it. Insurgent had just come out THAT day and so I immediately downloaded Insurgent and read it in about 3 or 4 hours. I distinctly remember the sun coming up as I finished that book. And I couldn’t even believe it. I was exhausted and uncomfortable and my eyes were burning and I was like…you did NOT just do this. You did not just end it that way, Veronica Roth. How dare you? And like I said, I read this book the day it came out, which is May 1st, 2012. The release date for Allegiant is October 27th. I’ve been waiting FOREVER it seems like to find out what is going to happen next. The very last line of the book is “Then the shouting begins.” SERIOUSLY? I can’t even handle it. I need to know what is going on…and I’ll have waited a year and half by the time I know.

5. Prodigy by Marie Lu 

This has major spoilers. Don’t read this if you’ve never read Prodigy before. Seriously.

Marie Lu, you are an absolute genius. In a world where we are constantly getting new young adult dystopian series, you are an author that stands out amongst them all and I truly believe this. I know so many people who are over the whole dystopian books thing but this is one series I will pressure you to try, even if you’re over it. Its totally worth it. Its an absolutely amazing, one-of-a-kind series :) But this book…it almost feels like it would be the last book of the series, in a way. A lot of things happen to make it seem like a conclusion but then it completely 180s on you! Sure, there’s a leader but its a shaky leader and a shaky government and a government that is NOT supported by outside governments. And yay, maybe June and Day can finally get to be together but June is offered a position that would keep her away from Day, permanently and she doesn’t want to do that but then Day tells her to do it, and you learn that he does it because he is DYING. Day, the MAIN CHARACTER OF THE NOVEL BESIDES JUNE, is dying. How…how…how…NO! There’s NO way this is happening right now. Luckily enough, Prodigy came out in January of this year, and we only have to wait until November, not even a full year. Because I NEED to find out what happens next. You can’t kill a main character, you just can’t!

4. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare 

This is one of my favorite cliffhangers mostly because its absolutely hilarious. Seriously if you have not read these books yet, do not read this. Because it will kill the entire book series for you. You’re brought into the world of Shadowhunters, by Clary, a normal sixteen year old girl whose mom is kidnapped and she then finds out she’s a Shadowhunter and she meets super hot Jace Wayland and they’re trying to find a way to get her mom back and they learn she was once married to an evil guy named Valentine and he kidnapped her. All this fun, awesome, dramatic stuff is going on. And just when you think, there’s going to be this battle scene and things are going to mostly work out, and then you learn that Jace’s father is Valentine, and that Clary’s father is Valentine and that they’re brother and sister…and they’re falling in love. And you’re like…no, no way. No way is this happening right now. How, what, but, he’s and she’s and they…what?! I went out and bought City of Ashes the next morning, basically as soon as the bookstore opened because I was like…this can’t be right, this is NOT right. What a great way to get people to continue to read your books, Cassie, seriously.

3. Empire Strikes Back-Star Wars by George Lucas 

The one movie on the list. I was trying to keep it all books but…I had to put it on there because it is one of the BEST cliffhangers of ALL time. The only reason its number 3 and not number 1 is because this movie and the following movie, both came up before I was even born so it wasn’t a huge cliffhanger for me, personally. I watched this movie for the first time when I was about five years old so it probably didn’t have the same impact on me as it would have if I had seen it for the first time, in theaters, at an older age. But its an amazing cliffhanger. Literally everything has gone to CRAP! Han Solo is frozen in carbonite and taken away to Jabba’s palace. The rebellion is feeling less than spectacular. Yoda and Obi Wan are hinting that there is “another” that could save the galaxy from the Empire and the Sith influence. And Luke! Luke has just found out that the person he must take down, the person he has to face and get rid of….is his FATHER! What an amazing moment in movie history. George Lucas kept this a secret from pretty much EVERYONE, and it was the most shocking moment, and the best cliffhanger. I’ve never felt more defeated at the end of a movie, ever. I don’t know how people waited to find out what happened next, I don’t think I could have handled that.

2. Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

This book. This book KILLED me. There were so many feels, yanking you in about a hundred different directions. The biggest thing that I just loved about this book is that we finally get the whole gang, both old characters and new characters of the Heroes of Olympus all together in one book. Jason, Piper, Leo, Hazel, Frank, Percy, Annabeth, they’re all together now. And Percy and Annabeth are finally back together and they’re so cute and in love and I’m shipping them so hard, and then they get separated because Annabeth has to go on her own little separate quest for the Mark of Athena. But then they end up back together, he comes for her and you think, everything is going to be okay! We’re all going to get this statue out of this big ol’ hole in the ground and we’re going to restore peace between the Romans and the Greeks and we’re going to save the world! Yeah, of course, that wouldn’t be the way it happened. Percy and Annabeth get themselves into an impossible situation and they literally FALL INTO TARTARUS! They fall into the inescapable part of the Underworld…and then the book ends. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read this. I thought for sure it was a joke. I kept turning the pages, hoping there was more. I am seriously counting down the days for The House of Hades this fall. I need my Percabeth back!

1. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

Of course this is number one. This isn’t so much as a single cliffhanger; its more of a….how dare you leave us with such a defeated feeling and now we have to wait for the last book? The Half Blood Prince was released in July of 2006 and we didn’t get Deathly Hallows until July of 2007. A whole year of utter pain and agony, waiting to find out what happened next. And J.K. Rowling is amazing; she doesn’t reveal ANYTHING. No spoilers, no snippets, no sneak peeks. She just releases the title and the title doesn’t tell us anything. Half Blood Prince ends Dumbledore’s death, Hogwarts torn apart, the revelation that Snape is still a Death Eater (I mean, as far as we know) and just KILLED Dumbledore, and that Harry has to find these Horcruxes, which can be anywhere in the entire world, and its just…its like Empire Strikes Back all over again. You just feel so defeated. Dumbledore is dead, and he’s the head of the Order of the Phoenix…and the Horcrux they just went to go and find is a fake, and Snape…Snape is a BAD guy and everyone is just so sad and Harry just broke up with Ginny, and its just sad, sad, sad feelings all around. But its also excited and anxious feelings too because Harry isn’t coming back, and he’s going to go hunting for these Horcruxes and he’s going to go hunting for Snape and Voldemort and its just SO EPIC.

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So I hope you all enjoyed this week’s edition of the Tuesday Top Ten, and I hope I didn’t ruin too many books for you, because I would NEVER want to do that.

And don’t forget to check out some previous Top Ten Tuesdays!

If you guys have any ideas for some Top Ten lists, please contact me :) I am running out of ideas!

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE CLIFFHANGERS? AS ALWAYS, SHARE IN THE COMMENTS!