Top Ten Book Endings That Left Me With My Mouth Hanging Open

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. You can find upcoming topics at their Top Ten Tuesday page.

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

I expect to see this book on a lot of people's lists. A very beloved character dies at the end, and that was highly unanticipated. At least, I never saw that coming. When my parents saw the movie, they were in denial at the end and expected to see a resurrection in the 7th movie. I was just like "Sorry Mom and Dad, but said character is gone for good' (Am I being too cautious by not revealing this spoiler? Are any Harry Potter spoilers a secret anymore?)

2. Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy, #3) by Richelle Mead

Noooooo! This can't be! Not Dimitri!! Those were my only thoughts at the end of this book. You just don't expect these things to happen to main characters. It was only the third book in the series (out of six), so I had no idea where this turn of events would lead.


3. Rebecca by Daphe du Maurier

The last sixty pages of Rebecca really sucked me in. I was so keyed up as I tried to guess what would happen to Maxim. I came up with half a dozen scenarios in my head, all of them worse (as in unhappy) endings than what actually happened. I was never so invested in trying to figure out the mystery in a book before. Wow. It was a trip.

4. Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz

WORST CLIFFHANGER EVER!!! I am dying for the second book in this series. I refuse to believe that Freya's soul-mate is actually evil. I mean, he's her true love and has been for centuries. It would be way too sad.

5. Hamlet by William Shakespeare

I'm not a huge fan of plays. I like them alright, but every play I've read has been for a class. However, Hamlet I genuinely love and I've reread it a couple of times for pleasure. I think one of the main reasons for that is how mindblowing the ending is. The last scene is just death after death after death. There's no break from the mayhem. The play ends with a bunch of dead bodies littering the floor.

6. The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong

I thought this book was pretty slow for the majority of it. I still really enjoyed it, but there wasn't any action in it at all. That is, there wasn't any action until the very end (as in the last ten pages) when the characters are suddenly being hit from all sides and fighting for their lives.

7. Shadowland (The Immortals, #3) by Alyson Noel

Ugh. This book frustated the heck out of me, and the ending was so awful. I can't believe the decision that Ever made regarding Haven. Hasn't she learned not to trust her impulses by now? I found myself disliking Ever more and more as I was getting into the series and that choice she made at the end of book 3 was the last straw for me. I utterly hated her after that and I decided to stop reading the series. I'm sorry to anyone who loves this series, but I just couldn't handle the characters anymore. I was getting way too annoyed with most of them and the ones that didn't frustrate me were still not quite likeable. I just felt neutral towards them. It didn't make any sense to continue a series that I wasn't enjoying.

8. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

I honestly did not see the twist coming. I was so certain about the identity of the blue-blood woman who was having an affair and the reveal at the end truly came as a surprise to me. I feel like I'm the only one who felt this way though. Based on the reviews I've read, no one else seemed to be thrown by the ending.

9. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

This seems to be a love it or hate it type of book. I, personally, loved it. I can't say that the ending really surprised me because I never completely trusted Elspeth, but it did leave me wondering if Elspeth ever actually had good intentions toward Valentina or if she was just purely manipulative.

10. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

This book didn't actually leave me "with me mouth hanging open," but I needed a tenth book and this was the best one I could think of. I just reviewed it on this blog and I mentioned that the ending was a nail-biter, which is true. There were very little pages left and Miranda was stranded out in the snow, waiting to die. I had no idea how this story was going to conclude, and as the pages dwindled down I was actually getting nervous that the book would just end with Miranda freezing in the snow.