Top 5 Tuesday: Books I Wish Had TV Adaptations

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Bionic Book Worm and is now hosted by Meeghan Reads. This week’s topic is Top 5 Books I Wish Had TV Adaptations.

This week’s prompt was a bit more challenging for me this week because so many books I would put on this list are actually becoming TV series already! I’m so happy that many more young adult books are being adapted to screen nowadays. Even if they’re not perfectly true to their source material, I’m happy that more authors are getting an opportunity to see their creations come alive in a different way.

1. Christy Miller series by Robin Jones Gunn

This series defines my teenage years and I have such a deep connection with the books. It’s a Christian young adult series that follows a Wisconsin girl who spends the summer with her aunt and uncle in Newport Beach, California. She falls in love with one of the surfers and he introduces her to the concept of having a real relationship with Jesus, not just an I-attend-church type of vibe. The original series has 12 books and the author has gone on to write the characters through their college lives, their marriage, and her newest books focus on them becoming parents. There are so many ups and downs in the series from Christy’s family moving across the U.S. to the love interest, Todd, cutting off their relationship at times to Christy selecting a life path only to find out that it really isn’t for her. There’s loads of material that could be used in a TV show adaptation and a few of Gunn’s books have already made it to the screen on the Hallmark channel. I’d love to see Christy Miller take a spot as well.

2. Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter

Another somewhat lengthy series, Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls books would make an epic TV show. They follow a group of girls who are being trained as spies while growing up. The first book is very lighthearted but the series deepens into a complicated storyline as the books go on, full of dark secrets and dark plans. I haven’t managed to finish the series yet but this is exactly the type of material I would’ve loved seeing as a teen.

3. Mediator series by Meg Cabot

If you haven’t read the Mediator series by Meg Cabot and you’re partial to paranormal, you need to. The main character Susannah, or “Suze” for short, is one of the funniest characters I’ve ever read in YA. She has such a spunky, interesting personality and the books are laced with humor even though they have some heavy material at times. Suze is able to see the dead and she works to help the spirits she encounters pass to the other side. But there’s one spirit that remains throughout the six main books (there’s also a brand new seventh one now written as an adult novel) who haunts her house, unable to remember what happened to him so he can pass on. Jesse the ghost is definitely book boyfriend material and I’d love to see what a TV show could do with the CGI and the source material.

4. An Ember in the Ashes series by Sabaa Tahir

Although I’ve only read the first two books in this series, I know enough to think it would make a great TV show adaptation. Not only is the worldbuilding really interesting for this series, I think the character development and the characters’ inner struggles would bring a deeper level than typically seen in teen shows. They might have to tone down the violence to make it work or up the age rating but I’d be so down to see this series brought to screen. (Also I’d love to see how the masks work because I never fully understood while reading. Was that just me?) The books follow a young girl who goes undercover to spy on a military academy to try to save her brother. While she’s there, she makes a connection with one of the training soldiers who deep-down wants nothing to do with the tyranny that reigns in their world. There is truly so much drama and twists just in the first two books. I really need to finish this series this year.

5. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

I feel like The Lunar Chronicles should be self-explanatory. Four main books featuring retellings of classic fairy tales with a sci-fi/dystopian twist. What more could you want in a TV show? I think these books would make an epic series, especially if they were able to pull off all of the CGI. The worldbuilding is so strong and I still think that Levana, the main antagonist, is one of the best villains created in YA. I’d love to see a book per season adapted so we could get the full effect but I truly hope we get to see these book on screen some day.

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Are you excited for some of the new book-to-TV adaptations that are coming out? What would be your top pick to see adapted? Let me know in the comments below and happy reading!

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