Books That Were Better Than You Were Expecting

This is part of my new series I'm trying this month, might continue longer if I and others like it. So, for my first question...

Books That Were Better Than You Were Expecting

I'll confess, I have went into books thinking 'well, I'm not going to like that'. I guess it's a case of me wanting to say that I have read it, but not really expecting to like it. I do hope I'm not the only one that does that kind of stuff - but anyway.

There are, in all honesty, several books that I have read in the past year or so that totally blew the expectations I had out of the water. I finally settled on the two books that I've got because: one, I rated both of them five stars and, two, I was figuring that they would each be a three star book at best.

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
Okay, I'll admit it, this wasn't the first Brandon Sanderson book I read. The first one I read was Elantris. I had heard such good things about it, but it just wasn't for me. It was too plodding. I know, I know, I'm the only one that thinks that. Everyone else that read Elantris was taken by it. So, even though I didn't have good luck with his work, when I saw this book at my local Wal-Mart, I just had to buy it. I blame the steam-powered horse on the cover. Anyway, I really wasn't expecting much from this book, but it was absolutely amazing.

The Crown Conspiracy by Michael J. Sullivan
This book sat on my 'to-buy' shelf at Goodreads for almost six months - and I looked at it at least four times and nearly ordered it. Honestly, as much as I love fantasy, I've not really had much experience with non-Dungeons and Dragons fantasy - and a lot of those that I have bought/looked at were too gritty for me. Even some of the books written by females were too gritty and filled with adult situations for me so... I was a little frightened of this one - especially considering that the cover looks like something a fan of Ernest Hemingway would be reading. (Nothing wrong with that, but this is a seriously misleading cover. From that I thought it was going to be a very normal, epic fantasy.) Anyway, ignoring my fear of the cover, I finally read it last year and was almost immediately introduced to my favorite fantasy series ever. I'm just now finishing up the last book in the series and I seriously love this series and am so glad I took a chance on something I wasn't sure about.

So, there you go. Do you have any books that were better than you were expecting? Let me know, I'd love to hear any pleasant surprises you've had.