Top Ten Tuesday – 10 Reads to Dive into over the Thanksgiving Holiday
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is a Thankful Freebie in honor of this week’s Thanksgiving holiday. I couldn’t really think of anything specifically ‘thankful’ to post about that I haven’t done in previous years so instead, I’m going to share some books I think would make fabulous reads to dive into over the long holiday weekend. Had enough of your family? Don’t want to get caught up in the madness of the Black Friday shopping ritual? I’ve got you covered!
My list is heavy on what I consider to be fun and romantic reads, and I’m very heavy on socially awkward, introverted main characters since I’ll be reveling in my own social awkwardness the entire holiday weekend, haha. But I’ve also included a few more serious reads, including a thriller and some science fiction. And finally, to help get you in the holiday spirit since Christmas is right around the corner, I’ve included a favorite holiday read that has a wonderful focus on sisters and family.
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10 Reads to Dive into over the Thanksgiving Holiday
1. EVVIE DRAKE STARTS OVER by Linda Holmes
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2. THE BOOKISH LIFE OF NINA HILL by Abbi Waxman
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3. RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE by Casey McQuiston
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4. THE BROMANCE BOOK CLUB by Lyssa Kay Adams
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5. THE ACCIDENTAL BEAUTY QUEEN by Teri Wilson
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6. THINGS YOU SAVE IN A FIRE by Katherine Center
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7. THE GIRL HE USED TO KNOW by Tracey Garvais Graves
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8. THE TURN OF THE KEY by Ruth Ware
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9. RECURSION by Blake Crouch
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10. THE CHRISTMAS SISTERS by Sarah Morgan
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HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL WHO ARE CELEBRATING THIS WEEK!
Mini Reviews for King of Scars, Evvie Drake Starts Over, and More
I’ve gotten a lot of reading done during the month of November, but I haven’t really posted many reviews so far. I guess it’s because I didn’t really have many November ARCs and decided to focus more on backlist reads rather than getting a jump on my December ARCs. Even though most of these are older books, I still wanted to share a few thoughts on each one, especially for anyone else who might still have these titles on their TBR. These are really off-the-cuff, nothing fancy, just my gut reaction to each book.
Hands Up Goodreads FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author. All opinions are my own.
Hands Up by Stephen Clark deals with the all-too-relevant topic of young black men being shot by white police officers. According to the officers involved in the shooting at the center of Hands Up, the shooting was the result of a routine traffic stop gone tragically wrong. Their statements suggest that the young black man they pulled over abruptly became violent and attacked one of them, and that he was then shot in self-defense. The bulk of the story deals with the fall out on all sides, as the victim’s family seeks justice and as further investigations into the incident reveal that things aren’t nearly so clear cut as the officers would have everyone believe.
In many ways this novel reminded me of Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give, but where it differs and brings something new to the table is that the story is presented not just from the victim’s loved ones, but it is also presented from the point of view of the officer who pulled the trigger. That unique perspective gives a lot of insight as to not only what is going through his mind, but it also gives us a glimpse into how things are handled from the law enforcement side of this kind of incident. There was one romantic encounter that I wasn’t really sold on, but overall this was a very compelling read that explores not just the shooting itself, but also the search for truth, the fight for justice, and the desire for revenge. Hands Up also digs deeper and exposes the cover ups, abuse of power, and especially the underlying racism that is still unfortunately all too prevalent in our society. If you’re looking for a fast-paced, powerful and timely novel that will leave you with so much to think about, I definitely recommend Hands Up. 3.5 STARS
King of Scars (Nikolai Duology, #1) Goodreads Leigh Bardugo’s King of Scars was one of my most anticipated reads of 2019. It actually came out in January and I bought a copy as soon as it came out, but then I got nervous about the possibility of it not living up to all of the hype so I set it aside. It took me until November to work up the nerve to pick up the book and now I feel dumb for putting it off because of course it lived up to the hype for me. It was wonderful! I love that this duology focuses on Nikolai Lantsov from the Grishaverse trilogy. He was a beloved character who took a dark and tragic turn in the original trilogy so it was great to be able to continue with his journey and see if he could overcome the obstacles that now face him. While I adored Nikolai just as much in this book as I did when we met him in the earlier books, a surprise favorite character this time around ended up being Zoya, one of the Grishas that I wasn’t especially fond of before. I love how Bardugo fleshed out her character more in this book so that her strengths really shine through and compliment Nikolai. It becomes easy to see why he trusts her so inherently. I found the pacing a little slow in a couple of spots, but overall it was just a fantastic read. I also loved all of the shoutouts to characters like Kaz and the gang from Bardugo’s Six of Crows novels. Reading King of Scars felt like coming home to one of my favorite fantasy worlds. and I look forward to the second book. 4.5 STARS
Evvie Drake Starts Over Goodreads I picked up Linda Holmes’ latest novel Evvie Drake Starts Over after reading so many rave reviews from my fellow bloggers. I’m so glad I did too because this truly was just a delightful read in every way. I adored everything about Evvie and found her very relatable. I also felt tremendous sympathy for her as she is trying to start her life anew as a widow under the watchful eyes of her friends and neighbors. Gotta love those small town settings! I also loved Dean right away too. He’s charming and kind, and he’s also a professional baseball pitcher whose career has basically tanked because he suddenly and inexplicably couldn’t pitch anymore. Looking for someplace remote where he can retreat and regroup, Dean finds his way to the town where Evvie lives. The two cross paths when Evvie’s best friend Andy suggests that Evvie should rent a room to Dean. I absolutely loved the chemistry between Evvie and Dean from the moment they meet each other. They are sweet and funny together, and I also liked their vulnerability as they are both working through things in their personal lives. If you’re looking for a wonderful, heartfelt read that explores relatable themes such as friendship, grief, overcoming adversity, and most importantly, love, Evvie Drake Starts Over is a must-read. 4.5 STARS
The Start of Me and You (The Start of Me and You, #1) Goodreads Emery Lord is one of my favorite contemporary authors so when I saw she has a new book, The Map from Here to There, coming out in January, I immediately requested an ARC. I didn’t realize until after my request was accepted that it’s actually the second book in a series and I hadn’t read the first book yet. Oops! Anyway, I set out to remedy that right away and snagged a copy of The Start of Me and You, the first book in the series. I hardly even know where to start with how much I loved this book. It truly has everything I love in my contemporary reads all rolled into one practically flawless story. I adored Paige and her circle of friends. Nobody does female friendships as well as Emery Lord and she really hits it out of the park with this group. I also love a good coming of age story and that’s what we get with Paige as she is trying to rediscover who she is and not be defined by tragic events from her past. There is also a sweet romance that rounds the story out really nicely. The relationship develops in such a natural way that even someone like me who is sometimes iffy when it comes to romance was totally on board with it. As if all of that wasn’t enough, there is also so much nerdy goodness to love. There’s Quizbowl, great scenes that take place in AP English class, and best of all, plenty of fun Pride and Prejudice references for all of the Austen fans out there. As you can imagine, I devoured The Start of Me and You in just a couple of sittings and now can’t wait to continue Paige’s story in the second book. 4.5 STARS
Top Ten Tuesday – Ten Changes in My Reading Life
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is Changes In My Reading Life (Maybe you like different genres or topics, maybe you read faster than you used to, maybe you only like standalones now). This was a pretty easy topic for me because my reading habits have definitely changed a lot over the years and most especially since I started blogging. Here are ten changes that came to mind right away as I considered this topic.
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10 Changes In My Reading Life
1. My books read per year count has increased dramatically, especially since I started blogging.
I used to set my Goodreads goal at 40-45 books a year and sometimes struggled to reach that goal. In the past three years, however, I’ve now read close to 100 books a year. This year has been my best reading year by far with a total of 131 books as of the time of me writing this post.
2. I read more new releases.
This change is a double-edged sword because while I love read ARCs and all of the latest releases, my backlist has gotten out of control from where I’ve neglected it so much in recent years. One of my goals for 2020 is to really increase the number of backlist books I read.
3. I have a new appreciation for Romance.
I attribute this change to finally choosing better books that feature romances. I apparently sucked at picking them on my own, but thanks to some great recs from my fellows bloggers, Sam and Tanya in particular, I’m having much better luck with romance reads than ever before.
4. I read less classics.
I have mixed feelings about this change too because I actually enjoy reading them and still have a list of ones I hope to get to at some point. I’ve just pushed them aside in favor of newer books for a few years now.
5. I read more ebooks than printed books.
This is probably one of the biggest changes in my reading habits because I was very old school for a while there. I completely rejected anything to do with ebooks. No particular reason other than I’m stubborn as a mule and sometimes hate change, lol. I’m all about the ebooks now, to the extent that sometimes even if I own a paper copy of the book, I’ll still get the ebook because I love the portability of it. Those behemoth George R.R. Martin books immediate come to mind.
6. I now embrace audiobooks.
I know, right? This old schooler has really gotten on the technology bandwagon in 2019, lol. The first time I tried audiobooks, it was back when you could only get them on CD. I’m lazy and that was just too much work for me. I also struggled because the narrator’s voice was so slow. Enter e-audiobooks and apps where you can speed up the narration and color me sold on audiobooks!
7. Reading isn’t just for nighttime anymore.
This one is definitely a change that took place once I started blogging. For me, reading used to pretty much exclusively happen at night right before bedtime. Even though I’d always carry a book around with me, I rarely made time to read during the day. That all changed when I started blogging and now I try to sneak a few pages here and there at every opportunity throughout the day.
8. I buy more books.
Part of this is just due to the fact that I’m better off financially now than in the past, but it’s also because I consider myself a book collector as well. I want that home library feeling where I’m surrounded by all of my favorite books.
9. Less re-reading.
I have a few favorites that I still like to re-read occasionally, but by and large, I rarely find myself re-reading these days. I think this is mainly just lack of time because I’m reading and reviewing so many new releases. I even tried to do a re-reading challenge a couple of years ago and failed miserably at it.
10. I read more seasonal/holiday themed books now than ever before.
With the exception of A Christmas Carol, up until recently, I’ve never had much interest in seasonal or holiday reads, but I’ve developed an appreciation for them in recent years. Like with so many other changes I’ve noticed, I attribute this to getting some great recs from bloggers and realizing that holiday reads, especially Christmas ones, can be all kind of fun. This change has also been accompanied by a newfound love for Hallmark Christmas movies. Maybe I’m just the Grinch and my heart has grown three sizes lately, lol.
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What are some changes you’ve noticed in your own reading habits over the years?