Tag Archive for: top ten tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday – 10 Wintry Reads Perfect for Reading in Front of a Roaring Fire

 

op 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 freebie so I thought it would be fun to revisit a post I did a few years ago about wintry reads perfect to cozy up with by the fireplace.  Reading snuggled up by the fire is one of my favorite things to do in the winter time and although any book will do, there’s just something a little magical about reading a book that’s actually set during the winter, particularly if it’s a snowy setting.  Here’s a link to my original post and below are some mostly newer titles to add to it. I tried to add a pretty good variety of genres so hopefully there’s a little something for everyone. 🙂

 

 

10 Wintry Reads Perfect to Read in Front of a Roaring Fire

 

1. ONE BY ONE by Ruth Ware How about a murder mystery set in the mountains of France in a remote ski chalet that becomes buried by an avalanche? “Getting snowed in at a beautiful, rustic mountain chalet doesn’t sound like the worst problem in the world, especially when there’s a breathtaking vista, a cozy fire, and company to keep you warm. But what happens when that company is eight of your coworkers…and you can’t trust any of them?”

 

2. BEARTOWN by Fredrik Backman  – A hockey story set in a small town in Sweden that packs an incredible emotional punch. “People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys. Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected. Beartown explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain.”

 

3. A COURT OF FROST AND STARLIGHT by Sarah J. Maas – A festive interlude in the ACOTAR fantasy series that celebrates the Winter Solstice.  “Feyre, Rhys, and their close-knit circle of friends are still busy rebuilding the Night Court and the vastly changed world beyond. But Winter Solstice is finally near, and, with it, a hard-earned reprieve. Yet even the festive atmosphere can’t keep the shadows of the past from looming. As Feyre navigates her first Winter Solstice as High Lady, she finds that those dearest to her have more wounds than she anticipated—scars that will have a far-reaching impact on the future of their court. Narrated by Feyre and Rhysand, this wondrous tale of hope and promise picks up after A Court of Wings and Ruin and sets the stage for the thrilling events in the future books..

 

4. MIRACLE ON 5TH AVENUE by Sarah Morgan  – “It will take a Christmas miracle for two very different souls to find each other in this perfectly festive fairy tale of New York! Hopeless romantic Eva Jordan loves everything about Christmas. She might be spending the holidays alone this year, but when she’s given an opportunity to house-sit a spectacular penthouse on Fifth Avenue, she leaps at the chance. What better place to celebrate than in snow-kissed Manhattan? What she didn’t expect was to find the penthouse still occupied by its gorgeous—and mysterious—owner. Bestselling crime writer Lucas Blade is having the nightmare before Christmas. With a deadline and the anniversary of his wife’s death looming, he’s isolated himself in his penthouse with only his grief for company. He wants no interruptions, no decorations and he certainly doesn’t appreciate being distracted by his beautiful, bubbly new housekeeper. But when the blizzard of the century leaves Eva snowbound in his apartment, Lucas starts to open up to the magic she brings…This Christmas, is Lucas finally ready to trust that happily-ever-afters do exist?”

 

5. MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS by Agatha Christie  – Although Ruth Ware does a great job writing locked door mysteries, Agatha Christie is truly the Queen of them.  This one features a murder mystery set on a luxury train that is stalled on the tracks because of an avalanche.  What do you do when you’re stuck on a stranded train in the middle of nowhere with a killer in your midst?

 

6. LOVE AND LET BARK by Alanna Martin  – I actually just reviewed this book on my blog yesterday.  It’s a feel good, second chance romance that is set in snowy Alaska and that also feature a century-old family feud and a couple of scene-stealing adorable husky pups.

 

7. THE SECRET OF SNOW by Viola Shipman  – “A promise of heartfelt family traditions, humorously real experience, and the enduring power of love and friendship. Sonny Dunes, a SoCal meteorologist who knows only sunshine and seventy-two-degree days, is being replaced by an AI meteorologist, which the youthful station manager reasons “will never age, gain weight or renegotiate its contract.” The only station willing to give the fifty-year-old another shot is one in a famously nontropical place—her northern Michigan hometown.  Unearthing her carefully laid California roots, Sonny returns home and reacclimates to the painfully long, dark winters dominated by a Michigan phenomenon known as lake-effect snow. But beyond the complete physical shock to her system, she’s also forced to confront her past: her new boss, a former journalism classmate and mortal frenemy; more keenly, the death of a younger sister who loved the snow; and the mother who caused Sonny to leave. To distract herself from the unwelcome memories, Sonny decides to throw herself headfirst into all things winter to woo viewers and reclaim her success. From sledding and ice fishing to skiing and winter festivals, the merrymaking culminates with the town’s famed Winter Ice Sculpture Contest. Running the events is a widowed father and chamber of commerce director, whose genuine love of Michigan, winter and Sonny just might thaw her heart and restart her life in a way she never could have predicted.”

 

8. THE SIMPLE WILD by K.A. Tucker  – I was late to the party on this contemporary romance, but The Simple Wild (and the other two books in the series) definitely live up to the hype. There’s a very atmospheric remote small town Alaska setting and the book is filled with evolving relationships, especially Calla and Jonah as well as Calla and her estranged father. It’s the perfect blend of romance and family drama to keep you glued to the pages.

 

9. WINTER GARDEN by Kristin Hannah  – If you like a good tearjerker, Hannah’s books are always good choices.  The Great Alone made my list last time, so this time it’s Winter Garden, “a powerful, heartbreaking novel that illuminates the intricate mother-daughter bond and explores the enduring links between the present and the past.  Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. As children, the only connection between them was the Russian fairy tale Anya sometimes told the girls at night. On his deathbed, their father extracts a promise from the women in his life: the fairy tale will be told one last time—and all the way to the end. Thus begins an unexpected journey into the truth of Anya’s life in war-torn Leningrad, more than five decades ago. Alternating between the past and present, Meredith and Nina will finally hear the singular, harrowing story of their mother’s life, and what they learn is a secret so terrible and terrifying that it will shake the very foundation of their family and change who they believe they are.

 

10. IN THE MIDST OF WINTER by Isabel Allende  – “In the Midst of Winter begins with a minor traffic accident—which becomes the catalyst for an unexpected and moving love story between two people who thought they were deep into the winter of their lives. Richard Bowmaster—a 60-year-old human rights scholar—hits the car of Evelyn Ortega—a young, undocumented immigrant from Guatemala—in the middle of a snowstorm in Brooklyn. What at first seems just a small inconvenience takes an unforeseen and far more serious turn when Evelyn turns up at the professor’s house seeking help. At a loss, the professor asks his tenant Lucia Maraz—a 62-year-old lecturer from Chile—for her advice. These three very different people are brought together in a mesmerizing story that moves from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala in the recent past to 1970s Chile and Brazil, sparking the beginning of a long overdue love story between Richard and Lucia.”

 

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Question:  Do you enjoy reading by the fire?  Have you read any of these yet?

Top Ten Tuesday – The One Where I Share Bookish Memories

 

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 Bookish Memories (Share stories of your reading life as a child, events you’ve gone to, books that made an impression on you, noteworthy experiences with books, authors you’ve met, etc. Reminisce with me!).  I’ve never attended a bookish event or met an author so I decided to take a stroll down memory lane and share a few highlights of my bookish life.

(My post is also a little shout-out to Friends since I wrote all of my memories like they’re episode titles from the show.)

10 Bookish Episodes from My Life

  1. The one where my Dad taught me how to read using Little Golden Books. This will always be one of my favorite childhood memories.
  1. The one where I cried my eyes out because I thought I had lost a library book (Bambi by Felix Salten) and therefore would never be allowed to check out books from my elementary school library again. So traumatizing!
  1. The one where getting to go to the Scholastic Book Fair when it came to my school was like Christmas. So many books!
  1. The one where I felt so grown up in middle school because I was allowed to read To Kill a Mockingbird, which was banned in a lot of schools.
  1. The one where, as a young teen, I used to hide in my grandmother’s house so I could secretly read the steamy historical romance novels I had pilfered from her bedroom.
  1. The one where I took so many literature classes for “fun” in college that I ended up adding English as a Double Major.
  1. The one where I had such an addiction to collecting books that I convinced my husband to convert our formal living room, which never got used, into a home office with wall to wall built in bookshelves. My sanctuary.
  1. The one where I felt the need to find more people to share my love of books with so I started a book blog. 😊
  1. The one where I read the entire Harry Potter series aloud to my son because I wanted to foster a love of reading in him at a young age.
  1. The one where I realized that one of my bffs loves to read as much as I do, so I invited her to guest post on my blog. Hi Sharon!  😊

 

 

Top Ten Tuesday – The Romance Edition: 10 Couples I’d Love an Update On

 

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 actually Characters I’d Love An Update On (Where are they now that the book is over?).  Since I’ve been mostly reading romance novels since the start of the pandemic, I decided to give this topic a romantic twist and focus on some of my favorite couples.  I have to say that I’ve been very lucky in the sense that many of the romance novels I read have been books in a series so there have been plenty of opportunities to revisit favorite couples and see how they’re doing.  Today I’m  focusing on books where I haven’t had that opportunity.  Sometimes we get nice little epilogues that give a glimpse into the future, but not always.  When I become invested in a couple getting their much deserved happily ever after, I would love to be able to revisit them at some point and know that it truly was a happily ever after for them.  Are they still together?  Are those grumpy/sunshine relationships still working out? Do they now have little grumpy/sunshines running around?

Also, I guess if you haven’t read these books yet but are planning to, my list could maybe considered spoilery since I’m obviously telling you who’s together at the end of their respective books.  But then again, don’t we read romances for the HEA in the first place?  That it’s more about the journey to the HEA rather than guessing who ends up together?  I don’t know. I’m just babbling.  I guess look away if you don’t want to know the couples’ names, lol.

10 Couples I’d Love an Update On

 

 

1. Teddy and Everett from Very Sincerely Yours

2.  Josh and Hazel from Josh & Hazels’ Guide to Not Dating

3.  Eve and Jacob from Act Your Age, Eve Brown

4.  Rosaline and Harry from Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake

5. Nina and Tom from The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

6. January and Augustus from Beach Read

7.  Alex and Henry from Red, White & Royal Blue

8.  Stella and Michael from The Kiss Quotient

9. Olive and Adam from The Love Hypothesis

10. Jess and River from The Soulmate Equation

 

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Question:  Have you read any of these? Would you like to know what they’re up to these days? 

Top Ten Tuesday – If You Like This, Try That (the Retellings edition)

 

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 actually Books to Read If You Love/Loved X (X can be a genre, specific book, author, movie/TV show, etc.).  I decided to focus on various retellings since I enjoy them so much and because there are so many good ones out there.

If You Like This, Try That (the Retellings edition)

 

1. If you like Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, try these:

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev.  “It is a truth universally acknowledged that only in an overachieving Indian American family can a genius daughter be considered a black sheep…” A fun contemporary retelling featuring the aforementioned black sheep and an infuriating but sexy chef.

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin.  “A modern-day Muslim Pride and Prejudice for a new generation of love.”

Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price.  “A retelling of Pride and Prejudice that reimagines the iconic settings, characters, and romances in a whodunit.”

 

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2. If you like Cinderella, try these:

Cinder by Marissa Meyer.  A fairytale retelling with a sci-fi twist that features Cinderella as a mechanic…and a Cyborg.

Geekerella by Ashley Poston.  Cinderella goes to the con in this fandom-fueled twist on the classic fairy tale.

If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy.  A fun Cinderella retelling featuring plus-sized Cindy, who becomes a body positivity icon for women everywhere.

 

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3. If you like The Little Mermaid, try these:

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo.

Sea Witch by Sarah Henning.

Part of Your World: a Twisted Tale by Liz Braswell.

All three of these are origin stories for Ursula, the sea witch.

 

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4. If you like Alice in Wonderland, try these:

Heartless by Marissa Meyer.  An origin story for the Queen of Hearts

Unbirthday by Liz Braswell.  “What if Wonderland was in peril and Alice was very, very late?”

 

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5. If you like Beauty and the Beast, try these:

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas.  A Beauty and the Beast retelling featuring Fae.

Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston.  A Beauty and the Beast retelling set in the world of fandom at ExcelsiCon.

 

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6. If you like Jane Eyre, try these:

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins.  A contemporary take on Jane Eyre’s mad woman in the attic.

Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye.  “Reader, I murdered him.”  A Gothic retelling of Jane Eyre.

 

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7. If you like Peter Pan, try these:

Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. A fun prequel to the classic Peter Pan story.

Lost Boy by Christina Henry.  The true story of Captain Hook.

 

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8. If you like Snow White, try these:

 

Winter by Marissa Meyer.  Snow White but with a sci fi twist

Mirror, Mirror by Jen Calonita.  “What if the Evil Queen poisoned the Prince?”

 

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9. If you like 101 Dalmatians, try these:

Cruelty by K.B. Everly.

Hello, Cruel Heart by Maureen Johnson.

Two fun origin stories for Cruella de Vil.

 

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10. If you like A Christmas Carol, try these:

Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva.  A historical fiction retelling that puts Dickens in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge.

The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand.  “On Christmas Eve five years ago, Holly was visited by three ghosts who showed her how selfish and spoiled she’d become. They tried to convince her to mend her ways. She didn’t.  And then she died. Now she’s stuck working for the top-secret company Project Scrooge–as the latest Ghost of Christmas Past.”

 

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Question:  Do you enjoy retellings?  Have you read any of these yet?

Top Ten Tuesday – 10 New Holiday Reads for Your TBR

 

op 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 actually Memorable Things Characters Have Said (quotes from book characters that have stuck with you), but I wasn’t feeling it so I decided it would be fun to share some of the great holiday fiction that has come out this year.  If you love holiday reads as much as I do, you’re going to want to put these titles on your reading list. I’ve read and loved two of them so far, A Holly Jolly Diwali and Christmas in Peachtree Bluff, and look forward to diving into the other eight this holiday season.  🙂

 

10 New Holiday Reads for Your TBR

 

1. THE CHRISTMAS BOOKSHOP by Jenny Colgan “When the department store she works in closes for good, Carmen has perilously little cash and few options. She doesn’t want to move in with her perfect sister Sofia, in Sofia’s perfect house with her perfect children and her perfectly ordered Edinburgh life. Frankly, Sofia doesn’t exactly want Carmen there either. Her sister has always been sarcastic and difficult. But Sofia has yet another baby on the way, a mother desperate to see her daughters get along, and a client who needs a retail assistant for his ailing bookshop, so welcoming Carmen might still have some benefits for everyone. At Sofia’s behest, Carmen is thrown into the daily workings of old Mr. McCredie’s ancient bookshop on the streets of the old dark city. Can she use her design skills to revamp the store and bring it back to popularity in time to benefit from Christmas shopping traffic? Can she choose between bad boy literary rock star Blair and quiet Quaker student Oke? And will she heal the rift with the most important people of all: her family?”

 

2. THE CHRISTMAS ESCAPE by Sarah Morgan  – “It was supposed to be Christy Sullivan’s perfect Christmas getaway—a trip to Lapland with her family and best friend, Alix. But facing a make-or-break marriage crisis, Christy desperately needs time alone with her husband. Her solution? Alix can take Christy’s little daughter to Lapland, and they will reunite there for Christmas Day. It’s a big ask, but what else are friends for? There’s nothing Alix won’t do for Christy. But Christy’s request to save Christmas is giving Alix sleepless nights. She knows something is wrong, but for the first time ever, Christy isn’t talking. And even the Arctic temperatures in Lapland aren’t enough to dampen the seriously inconvenient sizzle Alix is developing for Zac, a fellow guest and nemesis from her past. As secrets unravel and unexpected romance shines under the northern lights, can Christy and Alix’s Christmas escape give them the courage to fight for the relationships they really want, and save the precious gift of each other’s friendship?”

 

3. DEAR SANTA by Debbie Macomber – “Lindy Carmichael isn’t feeling particularly joyful when she returns home to Wenatchee, Washington, for Christmas. The man she thought was “the one” has cheated on her with her best friend, and she feels completely devoid of creativity in her graphic-design job. Not even carolers or Christmas cookies can cheer her up–but Lindy’s mother, Ellen, remembers an old tradition that might lift her daughter’s spirits.  Reading through a box of childhood letters to Santa and reminiscing about what she’d wished for as a young girl may be just the inspiration Lindy needs. With Ellen’s encouragement, she decides to write a new letter to Santa, one that will encourage her to have faith and believe just as she’d done all those years ago. Little does Lindy know that this exercise in gratitude will cause her wishes to unfold before her in miraculous ways. And, thanks to some fateful twists of Christmas magic–especially an unexpected connection with a handsome former classmate–Lindy ultimately realizes that there is truly no place like home for the holidays. In Dear Santa, Debbie Macomber celebrates the joys of Christmas blessings, old and new.

 

4. THE HOLIDAY SWAP by Maggie Knox  – “A feel-good, holiday-themed romantic comedy about identical twins who switch lives in the days leading up to Christmas–perfect for fans of Christina Lauren’s In a Holidaze and Josie Silver’s One Day in December.

All they want for Christmas is a different life. When chef Charlie Goodwin gets hit on the head on the L.A. set of her reality baking show, she loses a lot more than consciousness; she also loses her ability to taste and smell–both critical to her success as show judge. Meanwhile, Charlie’s identical twin, Cass, is frantically trying to hold her own life together back in their quaint mountain hometown while running the family’s bustling bakery and dealing with her ex, who won’t get the memo that they’re over. With only days until Christmas, a desperate Charlie asks Cass to do something they haven’t done since they were kids: switch places. Looking for her own escape from reality, Cass agrees. But temporarily trading lives proves more complicated than they imagined, especially when rugged firefighter Jake Greenman and gorgeous physician’s assistant Miguel Rodriguez are thrown into the mix. Will the twins’ identity swap be a recipe for disaster, or does it have all the right ingredients for getting their lives back on track?

 

5. A HOLLY JOLLY DIWALI by Sonya Lalli  – “One type-A data analyst discovers her free-spirited side on an impulsive journey from bustling Mumbai to the gorgeous beaches of Goa and finds love waiting for her on Christmas morning.  Twenty-nine-year-old Niki Randhawa has always made practical decisions. Despite her love for music and art, she became an analyst for the stability. She’s always stuck close to home, in case her family needed her. And she’s always dated guys that seem good on paper, rather than the ones who give her butterflies. When she’s laid off, Niki realizes that practical hasn’t exactly paid off for her. So for the first time ever, she throws caution to the wind and books a last-minute flight for her friend Diya’s wedding.  Niki arrives in India just in time to celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, where she meets London musician Sameer Mukherji. Maybe it’s the splendor of Mumbai or the magic of the holiday season, but Niki is immediately drawn to Sam. At the wedding, the champagne flows and their flirtatious banter makes it clear that the attraction is mutual. When Niki and Sam join Diya, her husband and their friends on a group honeymoon, their connection grows deeper. Free-spirited Sam helps Niki get in touch with her passionate and creative side, and with her Indian roots. When she gets a new job offer back home, Niki must decide what she wants out of the next chapter of her life–to cling to the straight and narrow like always, or to take a leap of faith and live the kind of bold life the old Niki never would have dreamed of.”

 

6. THE MATZAH BALL by Jean Meltzer  – “Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt is a nice Jewish girl with a shameful secret: she loves Christmas. For a decade she’s hidden her career as a Christmas romance novelist from her family. Her talent has made her a bestseller even as her chronic illness has always kept the kind of love she writes about out of reach. But when her diversity-conscious publisher insists she write a Hanukkah romance, her well of inspiration suddenly runs dry. Hanukkah’s not magical. It’s not merry. It’s not Christmas. Desperate not to lose her contract, Rachel’s determined to find her muse at the Matzah Ball, a Jewish music celebration on the last night of Hanukkah, even if it means working with her summer camp archenemy—Jacob Greenberg. Though Rachel and Jacob haven’t seen each other since they were kids, their grudge still glows brighter than a menorah. But as they spend more time together, Rachel finds herself drawn to Hanukkah—and Jacob—in a way she never expected. Maybe this holiday of lights will be the spark she needed to set her heart ablaze. 

 

7. NICK AND NOEL’S CHRISTMAS PLAYLIST  – “Nick Winters and Noel Carter have known each other their whole lives. After years of shared family holidays, working together on the Winters’ Christmas tree farm, and being each other’s safe haven, they wouldn’t dream of crossing the line from friends to something more….But when Nick comes home for the holidays after serving overseas and finds that his long-term girlfriend has decided to get her stocking stuffed elsewhere, Noel is there to pick him up and show him that instead of a Blue Christmas he can still have a Wonderful Christmastime without his cheating ex.  A night on the town and an impulsive kiss later has Noel thinking that perhaps this year they’ll be rockin’ around the Christmas tree as a couple, but only if the ghost – er rather – girlfriend of Nick’s Christmas past doesn’t decide to haunt their holiday…. “

 

8. CHRISTMAS IN PEACHTREE BLUFF by Kristy Woodson Harvey  – “When the Murphy women are in trouble, they always know they can turn to their mother, Ansley. So when eldest daughter Caroline and her husband, James, announce they are divorcing—and fifteen-year-old daughter Vivi acts out in response—Caroline, at her wits end, can’t think of anything to do besides leave her with Ansley in Peachtree Bluff for the holidays. After all, how much trouble can one teenager get into on a tiny island? Quite a lot, as it turns out.  As the “storm of the century” heads toward Peachtree Bluff, Ansley and her husband, Jack, with Vivi in tow, are grateful they’re planning to leave for the trip of a lifetime. But Vivi’s recklessness forces the trio to shelter in place during the worst hurricane Peachtree has ever seen. With no power, no provisions, and the water rising, the circumstances become dire very quickly…and the Murphy sisters, who evacuated to New York, soon realize it’s up to them to conduct a rescue mission. With the bridges closed and no way to access Peachtree Bluff by land or air, they set sail on Caroline’s boat, The Starlite Sisters, determined to rebuild their beloved town—as well as their family.

In “pitch-perfect tones” (Publishers Weekly) and written with her signature Southern charm, New York Times bestselling author Kristy Woodson Harvey explores the magic of Christmas, the power of forgiveness, and the importance of family in a tale that reminds us that, no matter the circumstances, home is always where we belong—especially during the holidays. ”

 

9. THE SANTA SUIT by Mary Kay Andrews  – “When newly-divorced Ivy Perkins buys an old farmhouse sight unseen, she is definitely looking for a change in her life. The Four Roses, as the farmhouse is called, is a labor of love—but Ivy didn’t bargain on just how much labor. The previous family left so much furniture and so much junk, that it’s a full-time job sorting through all of it.  At the top of a closet, Ivy finds an old Santa suit—beautifully made and decades old. In the pocket of a suit she finds a note written in a childish hand: it’s from a little girl who has one Christmas wish, and that is for her father to return home from the war. This discovery sets Ivy off on a mission. Who wrote the note? Did the man ever come home? What mysteries did the Rose family hold? Ivy’s quest brings her into the community, at a time when all she wanted to do was be left alone and nurse her wounds. But the magic of Christmas makes miracles happen, and Ivy just might find more than she ever thought possible: a welcoming town, a family reunited, a mystery solved, and a second chance at love.

 

10. A SEASON FOR SECOND CHANCES by Jenny Bayliss  – “Annie Sharpe’s spark for life has fizzled out. Her kids are grown up, her restaurant is doing just fine on its own, and her twenty-six-year marriage has come to an unceremonious end. Untethered for the first time in her adult life, she finds a winter guardian position in a historic seaside home and decides to leave her city life behind for a brand-new beginning.  When she arrives in Willow Bay, Annie is enamored by the charming house, the invigorating sea breeze, and the town’s rich seasonal traditions. Not to mention, her neighbors receive her with open arms–that is, all except the surly nephew of the homeowner, whose grand plans for the property are at odds with her residency. As Christmas approaches, tensions and tides rise in Willow Bay, and Annie’s future seems less and less certain. But with a little can-do spirit and holiday magic, the most difficult time of her life will become…a season for second chances.”

 

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Question:  Do you enjoy holiday reads?  Have you read any of these yet?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Would Hand to Someone Who Claims to Not Like Reading Romance

 

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 actually Books I Would Hand to Someone Who Claims to Not Like Reading.  I’ve been on such a romance kick lately after years of saying I didn’t like reading romances.  I was mostly reading my grandmother’s old historical romances and they just didn’t appeal to me.  It turns out, I just wasn’t reading the right kind of romances.  As soon as I picked up my first contemporary romance, I was hooked and have been devouring them ever since.  Rom-coms seems to be my preference of late, but I also just finally read my first Colleen Hoover book the other day and can attest that I’m also a fan of the more emotional, dramatic romances that rip your heart out and have you reaching for the teaching.  All of that said, today I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite romances, ones that I would definitely hand to someone I was trying to convince that they’d like romance as soon as they found the right book.  Most of these are standalones, but there are a few books from series included as well, including The Bromance Book Club, The Brown Sisters, and Wild.

 

Books I Would Hand to Someone Who Claims to Not Like Reading Romance

 

1. PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION by Emily Henry “Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.  Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven’t spoken since.  Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.  Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?”

 

2. THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS by Ali Hazelwood  – “As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn’t believe in lasting romantic relationships–but her best friend does, and that’s what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.  That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor–and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford’s reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive’s career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding…six-pack abs.  Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.”

 

3. THE SIMPLE WILD by K.A. Tucker – “Calla Fletcher wasn’t even two when her mother took her and fled the Alaskan wild, unable to handle the isolation of the extreme, rural lifestyle, leaving behind Calla’s father, Wren Fletcher, in the process. Calla never looked back, and at twenty-six, a busy life in Toronto is all she knows. But when Calla learns that Wren’s days may be numbered, she knows that it’s time to make the long trip back to the remote frontier town where she was born. She braves the roaming wildlife, the odd daylight hours, the exorbitant prices, and even the occasional—dear God—outhouse, all for the chance to connect with her father: a man who, despite his many faults, she can’t help but care for. While she struggles to adjust to this rugged environment, Jonah—the unkempt, obnoxious, and proud Alaskan pilot who helps keep her father’s charter plane company operational—can’t imagine calling anywhere else home. And he’s clearly waiting with one hand on the throttle to fly this city girl back to where she belongs, convinced that she’s too pampered to handle the wild. Jonah is probably right, but Calla is determined to prove him wrong. Soon, she finds herself forming an unexpected bond with the burly pilot. As his undercurrent of disapproval dwindles, it’s replaced by friendship—or perhaps something deeper? But Calla is not in Alaska to stay and Jonah will never leave. It would be foolish of her to kindle a romance, to take the same path her parents tried—and failed at—years ago. It’s a simple truth that turns out to be not so simple after all.”

 

4. ACT YOUR AGE, EVE BROWN by Talia Hibbert  – “Eve Brown is a certified hot mess. No matter how hard she strives to do right, her life always goes horribly wrong—so she’s given up trying. But when her personal brand of chaos ruins an expensive wedding (someone had to liberate those poor doves), her parents draw the line. It’s time for Eve to grow up and prove herself—even though she’s not entirely sure how… Jacob Wayne is in control. Always. The bed and breakfast owner’s on a mission to dominate the hospitality industry—and he expects nothing less than perfection. So when a purple-haired tornado of a woman turns up out of the blue to interview for his open chef position, he tells her the brutal truth: not a chance in hell. Then she hits him with her car—supposedly by accident. Yeah, right. Now his arm is broken, his B&B is understaffed, and the dangerously unpredictable Eve is fluttering around, trying to help. Before long, she’s infiltrated his work, his kitchen—and his spare bedroom. Jacob hates everything about it. Or rather, he should. Sunny, chaotic Eve is his natural-born nemesis, but the longer these two enemies spend in close quarters, the more their animosity turns into something else. Like Eve, the heat between them is impossible to ignore—and it’s melting Jacob’s frosty exterior.”

 

5. RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE by Casey McQuiston  – “First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations. The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?”

 

6. THE KISS QUOTIENT by Helen Hoang  – “Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases—a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.  It doesn’t help that Stella has Asperger’s and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice—with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can’t afford to turn down Stella’s offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan—from foreplay to more-than-missionary position… Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but to crave all the other things he’s making her feel. Soon, their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic…”

 

7. THE SOULMATE EQUATION by Christina Lauren  – “Single mom Jess Davis is a data and statistics wizard, but no amount of number crunching can convince her to step back into the dating world. Raised by her grandparents–who now help raise her seven-year-old daughter, Juno–Jess has been left behind too often to feel comfortable letting anyone in. After all, her father’s never been around, her hard-partying mother disappeared when she was six, and her ex decided he wasn’t “father material” before Juno was even born. Jess holds her loved ones close, but working constantly to stay afloat is hard…and lonely.  But then Jess hears about GeneticAlly, a buzzy new DNA-based matchmaking company that’s predicted to change dating forever. Finding a soulmate through DNA? The reliability of numbers: This Jess understands. At least she thought she did, until her test shows an unheard-of 98% compatibility with another subject in the database: GeneticAlly’s founder, Dr. River Pena. This is one number she can’t wrap her head around, because she already knows Dr. Pena. The stuck-up, stubborn man is without a doubt not her soulmate. But GeneticAlly has a proposition: Get to know him and we’ll pay you. Jess–who is barely making ends meet–is in no position to turn it down, despite her skepticism about the project and her dislike for River. As the pair are dragged from one event to the next as the “Diamond” pairing that could make GeneticAlly a mint in stock prices, Jess begins to realize that there might be more to the scientist–and the science behind a soulmate–than she thought.”

 

8. IT HAPPENED ONE SUMMER by Tessa Bailey  – “Piper Bellinger is fashionable, influential, and her reputation as a wild child means the paparazzi are constantly on her heels. When too much champagne and an out-of-control rooftop party lands Piper in the slammer, her stepfather decides enough is enough. So he cuts her off, and sends Piper and her sister to learn some responsibility running their late father’s dive bar… in Washington. Piper hasn’t even been in Westport for five minutes when she meets big, bearded sea captain Brendan, who thinks she won’t last a week outside of Beverly Hills. So what if Piper can’t do math, and the idea of sleeping in a shabby apartment with bunk beds gives her hives. How bad could it really be? She’s determined to show her stepfather—and the hot, grumpy local—that she’s more than a pretty face. Except it’s a small town and everywhere she turns, she bumps into Brendan. The fun-loving socialite and the gruff fisherman are polar opposites, but there’s an undeniable attraction simmering between them. Piper doesn’t want any distractions, especially feelings for a man who sails off into the sunset for weeks at a time. Yet as she reconnects with her past and begins to feel at home in Westport, Piper starts to wonder if the cold, glamorous life she knew is what she truly wants. LA is calling her name, but Brendan—and this town full of memories—may have already caught her heart.”

 

9. VERY SINCERELY YOURS by Kerry Winfrey  – “Teddy Phillips never thought she’d still be spending every day surrounded by toys at almost thirty years old. But working at a vintage toy store is pretty much all she has going on in her life after being unceremoniously dumped by her longtime boyfriend. The one joy that she’s kept is her not-so-guilty pleasure: Everett’s Place, a local children’s show hosted by Everett St. James, a man whom Teddy finds very soothing . . . and, okay, cute.  Teddy finds the courage to write to him, feeling slightly like one of the children who write to him on his show. He always gives sound advice and seems like he has everything figured out–and he pretty much does: Everett has a great support system, wonderful friends, and his dream job. But there’s still that persistent feeling in the back of his mind that something’s missing.  When a woman named Theodora starts writing to Everett, he is drawn to her honesty and vulnerability. They continue writing to each other, all the while living their lives without meeting. When their worlds collide, however, they must both let go of their fears and figure out what they truly want–and if the future they want includes each other.”

 

10. THE BROMANCE BOOK CLUB by Lyssa Kay Adams  – “The first rule of book club: You don’t talk about book club.  Nashville Legends second baseman Gavin Scott’s marriage is in major league trouble. He’s recently discovered a humiliating secret: his wife Thea has always faked the Big O. When he loses his cool at the revelation, it’s the final straw on their already strained relationship. Thea asks for a divorce, and Gavin realizes he’s let his pride and fear get the better of him.  Welcome to the Bromance Book Club.  Distraught and desperate, Gavin finds help from an unlikely source: a secret romance book club made up of Nashville’s top alpha men. With the help of their current read, a steamy Regency titled Courting the Countess, the guys coach Gavin on saving his marriage. But it’ll take a lot more than flowery words and grand gestures for this hapless Romeo to find his inner hero and win back the trust of his wife.”

 

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Question:  What romance novels would you hand to someone who claims not to like reading romance?

Top Ten Tuesday – Halloween Freebie – My Favorite Books That Feature Ghosts

 

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 Halloween freebie.  Since I already shared some entertaining witchy reads for your TBR a couple of weeks ago, I thought it would be fun today to share some of my favorite books that feature ghosts.  Now keep in mind that I’m a huge chicken so most of my selections feature ghosts that aren’t scary at all and that in some cases are actually funny or even just charming and delightful.  I did include a few reads that are actually spooky and a little scary, but nothing that I would truly classify as horror.

10 of My Favorite Books That Feature Ghosts

 

1. CITY OF GHOSTS by Victoria Schwab (middle grade fantasy) – Cassidy Blake’s parents are The Inspecters, a (somewhat inept) ghost-hunting team. But Cass herself can REALLY see ghosts. In fact, her best friend, Jacob, just happens to be one. When The Inspecters head to ultra-haunted Edinburgh, Scotland, for their new TV show, Cass—and Jacob—come along. In Scotland, Cass is surrounded by ghosts, not all of them friendly. Then she meets Lara, a girl who can also see the dead. But Lara tells Cassidy that as an In-betweener, their job is to send ghosts permanently beyond the Veil. Cass isn’t sure about her new mission, but she does know the sinister Red Raven haunting the city doesn’t belong in her world. Cassidy’s powers will draw her into an epic fight that stretches through the worlds of the living and the dead, in order to save herself.

 

2. A BRIDGE ACROSS THE OCEAN by Susan Meissner  – Post WWII historical fiction that features a dual timeline and a haunted ocean liner that used to transport war brides across the Atlantic. 

 

3. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK by Neil Gaiman – Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a perfectly normal boy. Well, he would be perfectly normal if he didn’t live in a graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor the world of the dead. There are dangers and adventures for Bod in the graveyard: the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer; a gravestone entrance to a desert that leads to the city of ghouls; friendship with a witch, and so much more. But it is in the land of the living that real danger lurks, for it is there that the man Jack lives and he has already killed Bod’s family.

 

4. HOME BEFORE DARK by Riley Sager  – In this thriller from New York Times bestseller Riley Sager, a woman returns to the house made famous by her father’s bestselling horror memoir. Is the place really haunted by evil forces, as her father claimed? Or are there more earthbound—and dangerous—secrets hidden within its walls?

 

5. THE KINDRED SPIRITS SUPPER CLUB by Amy E. Reichert  – For Sabrina Monroe, moving back home to the Wisconsin Dells–the self-described Waterpark Capital of the World–means returning to the Monroe family curse: the women in her family can see spirits who come to them for help with unfinished business. But Sabrina’s always redirected the needy spirits to her mom, who’s much better suited for the job. The one exception has always been Molly, a bubbly rom-com loving ghost, who stuck by Sabrina’s side all through her lonely childhood.

Her personal life starts looking up when Ray, the new local restaurateur, invites Sabrina to his supper club, where he flirts with her over his famous Brandy Old-Fashioneds. He’s charming and handsome, but Sabrina tells herself she doesn’t have time for romance–she needs to focus on finding a job. Except the longer she’s in the Dells, the harder it is to resist her feelings for Ray. Who can turn down a cute guy with a fondness for rescue dogs and an obsession with perfecting his fried cheese curds recipe?

 

6. THE RAVEN CYCLE by Maggie Stiefvater  – A YA paranormal fantasy series about a group of boys at a private school where one of the main characters turns out to be a ghost.  It’s a “spellbinding series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.”

 

7. SHADOWLAND by Meg Cabot  – Suze is a mediator — a liaison between the living and the dead. In other words, she sees dead people. And they won’t leave her alone until she helps them resolve their unfinished business with the living. But Jesse, the hot ghost haunting her bedroom, doesn’t seem to need her help. Which is a relief, because Suze has just moved to sunny California and plans to start fresh, with trips to the mall instead of the cemetery, and surfing instead of spectral visitations. But the very first day at her new school, Suze realizes it’s not that easy. There’s a ghost with revenge on her mind … and Suze happens to be in the way.

 

8. THE SUN DOWN MOTEL by Simone St. James  – (paranormal thriller) – The secrets lurking in a rundown roadside motel ensnare a young woman, just as they did her aunt thirty-five years before, in this new atmospheric suspense novel from the national bestselling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls.

Upstate NY, 1982. Every small town like Fell, New York, has a place like the Sun Down Motel. Some customers are from out of town, passing through on their way to someplace better. Some are locals, trying to hide their secrets. Viv Delaney works as the night clerk to pay for her move to New York City. But something isn’t right at the Sun Down, and before long she’s determined to uncover all of the secrets hidden…

Haunted motel anyone?

 

9. UNDER THE WHISPERING DOOR by T.J. Klune  – When a reaper comes to collect Wallace Price from his own funeral, Wallace suspects he really might be dead. Instead of leading him directly to the afterlife, the reaper takes him to a small village. On the outskirts, off the path through the woods, tucked between mountains, is a particular tea shop, run by a man named Hugo. Hugo is the tea shop’s owner to locals and the ferryman to souls who need to cross over.

But Wallace isn’t ready to abandon the life he barely lived. With Hugo’s help he finally starts to learn about all the things he missed in life. When the Manager, a curious and powerful being, arrives at the tea shop and gives Wallace one week to cross over, Wallace sets about living a lifetime in seven days.  Under the Whispering Door is a contemporary fantasy about a ghost who refuses to cross over and the ferryman he falls in love with.

 

10. THE WHOLE TOWN’S TALKING by Fannie Flagg  – Elmwood Springs, Missouri, is a small town like any other, but something strange is happening at the cemetery. Still Meadows, as it’s called, is anything but still. Original, profound, The Whole Town’s Talking, a novel in the tradition of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and Flagg’s own Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven, tells the story of Lordor Nordstrom, his Swedish mail-order bride, Katrina, and their neighbors and descendants as they live, love, die, and carry on in mysterious and surprising ways. Lordor Nordstrom created, in his wisdom, not only a lively town and a prosperous legacy for himself but also a beautiful final resting place for his family, friends, and neighbors yet to come. “Resting place” turns out to be a bit of a misnomer, however. Odd things begin to happen, and it starts the whole town talking.

With her wild imagination, great storytelling, and deep understanding of folly and the human heart, the beloved Fannie Flagg tells an unforgettable story of life, afterlife, and the remarkable goings-on of ordinary people. In The Whole Town’s Talking, she reminds us that community is vital, life is a gift, and love never dies.

 

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Question:  Do you have any favorite books that feature ghosts?  Have you read any of these?

Top Ten Tuesday – Online Resources That Enhance 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 Online Resources for Book Lovers (what websites, podcasts, apps, etc. do you use that make your reading life better?).  I almost skipped this week’s topic because I just couldn’t think of anything beyond Goodreads at first.  I put on my thinking cap though and was finally able to come up with a complete list of resources that just make my book-loving heart happy.

Online Resources That Enhance My Reading Life

 

1. Goodreads.com  – It probably goes without saying that this is the main online resource I use in my reading life.  I use it to track my reading, to reads reviews to see what new books I might want to read, and to keep my reading wishlist all in one place.

2. Overdrive.com  – A way to read ebooks and listen to audiobooks for free, that works through my local library?  Heck yes!

3. Scribd.com – Pay a reasonable monthly fee and read as many ebooks and listen to as many audiobooks as you want.  They have a pretty decent selection, including new releases, so I use it when I’m way down the list for library holds and am too impatient to wait.

4. Kindle App  – I have this app installed on every device I have and love that any ebook I’m reading will sync across all of the devices. This is my preferred app for reading ARCs as well as other ebooks.

5. Audible App  – I don’t buy too many audiobooks but my husband has a subscription to Audible so I’ll occasionally use his credit to get audiobooks that are Audible exclusives.  One of my favorite things about this app is that it has more reading speed options than any other reading app I use.

6. Get Booked Podcast  – I don’t really listen to many podcasts but I tried Get Booked from Book Riot and enjoyed it.  Who can resist a weekly show that gives personalized book recommendations to help grow your TBR?  LOL!

7. Novel Pairings Podcast  – Again, I don’t listen to many podcasts but I came across this one and thought it was fun.  The goal of this podcast is to make classic novels “readable, relevant, and fun.”

8. Bookoutlet.com  –  I’m kind of cheating here since this is more about book collecting than it is actually reading, but anywho, I use this site to buy cheap copies of books I want for my collection.  You can sometimes catch some pretty amazing sales and pick up titles you’re looking for as low as $1.99. I pick up a lot of older books this way, especially if I’m trying to read an author’s backlist and can’t find it on any of the other sites and apps I use.

9. Bookbeau.com  – This is another site that isn’t really about reading but that just enhances my overall love of books.  They sell book sleeves and other great bookish merchandise.

10. Fly Paper Products – Literary Gifts for Book Lovers  – Yet another retail site that feeds my bookish addiction.  They sell so many great bookish gift items. I especially love their wooden bookmarks and their mugs.

 

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Question:  Do you have any websites or apps that enhance your life as a reader?  

Top Ten Tuesday – 10 Witchy Reads for Your Spooky Season TBR

 

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 actually supposed to be Favorite Book Settings.  I’ve done similar topics a few times and couldn’t think of any book settings I hadn’t already covered, so I thought it would be fun to go rogue and share some of the latest witchy reads that have come out in 2021.  I know not everyone enjoys scary books for spooky season, so I’m hoping I’ve found enough of a variety of titles that everyone can find something they enjoy.

 

10 Witchy Reads for Your Spooky Season TBR

 

1. THE ORPHAN WITCH by Paige Crutcher  – “Mystical, magical, and wildly original, THE ORPHAN WITCH is a great story from an exciting new voice in fantasy. Persephone May is a witch for the ages, a tough, uncompromising, powerful time walker with a wicked gaze and a heart of gold. Her journey to find her family and herself and the lost witches of Wile Ilse is both rollicking adventure and intimate exploration. If Alice Hoffman and Sara Addison Allen had a witchy love child, she would be Paige Crutcher. Do not miss this beautifully realized debut!”— JT Ellison, New York Times bestselling author of HER DARK LIES

2. PAYBACK’S A WITCH by Lana Harper  – Chilling Adventures of Sabrina meets The L Word in this fresh, sizzling rom-com by Lana Harper.

3. THE BOOK OF MAGIC by Alice HoffmanMaster storyteller Alice Hoffman brings us the conclusion of the Practical Magic series in a spellbinding and enchanting final Owens novel brimming with lyric beauty and vivid characters. The Book of Magic is a breathtaking conclusion that celebrates mothers and daughters, sisters and brothers, and anyone who has ever been in love.

4. THE NATURE OF WITCHES by Rachel Griffin  – Practical Magic meets Twister in this debut contemporary fantasy standalone about heartbreaking power, the terror of our collapsing atmosphere, and the ways we unknowingly change our fate.

5. THE EX HEX by Erin Sterling  – New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins, writing as Erin Sterling, casts a spell with a spine-tingling romance full of wishes, witches, and hexes gone wrong.

6. THE WITCH’S HEART by Genevieve Gornichec  – When a banished witch falls in love with the legendary trickster Loki, she risks the wrath of the gods in this moving, subversive debut novel that reimagines Norse mythology.

7. THE WITCH HAVEN by Sasha Peyton Smith  – The Last Magician meets The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy in this thrilling and atmospheric historical fantasy following a young woman who discovers she has magical powers and is thrust into a battle between witches and wizards.

8. WITCH PLEASE by Ann Aguirre  –  Practical Magic meets Gilmore Girls in this adorable witchy rom-com with: 1) A bisexual virgin baker with a curse, 2) A witch looking to avoid romantic entanglements, and 3) A chemistry between them that causes literal sparks

9. HOUR OF THE WITCH by Chris Bohjalian  – A twisting, tightly plotted novel of historical suspense from one of our greatest storytellers, Hour of the Witch is a timely and terrifying story of socially sanctioned brutality and the original American witch hunt.

10. CACKLE by Rachel Harrison  – A darkly funny, frightening novel about a young woman learning how to take what she wants from a witch who may be too good to be true, from the author of The Return.

 

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Question:  Do you have a special TBR for spooky season?  

Top Ten Tuesday – Bookish Pet Peeves

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 Bookish Pet Peeves.  I almost skipped this topic because I just couldn’t imagine that I could come up with ten things that really annoyed me, but man, once I got rolling, I surprised myself as to how many bookish pet peeves I actually do have.  Some are related to books themselves, but more are related to my interactions with other people while I’m reading.  (Side note: Excuse the awful photos.  I took most of them myself and did it late at night with no time to properly stage or edit).

My Top 10 Bookish Pet Peeves

 

1. Series covers that don’t match.  I love to collect hard copies of my favorite series, but I absolutely hate it when I end up with mismatched covers.  The one pictured is my own fault honestly because I ordered the wrong cover for the first book and have yet to go back and replace it, but I will do it at some point because it bothers me every time I look at my shelves and see that mismatched book, lol.

 

2.  Stickers on books.  Seriously, why is this even a thing?  The only thing worse than the sticker itself is that even if you can manage to get it off without tearing the cover, you end up with ugly, sticky gunk everywhere.  To borrow a phrase from Marie Kondo, this does not spark joy.

 

3.  When all of my library holds become available at the same time and there’s no way humanly possible to get them all read before they’re due.  Again, my fault because I always have the maximum number of holds allowed, but still annoying…

 

4.  Movie or TV Tie-In Covers.  I don’t even know why these bother me so much but they always do, haha.  I guess I just typically prefer the original cover that was designed for a book.

 

5. People talking to me while I’m trying to read.  I can understand walking in the room and starting to say something before realizing that I’m reading, but if a person then continues to talk, assuming that what I’m doing is worthy of being disrupted?  Just NO.

 

6.  When I lend people books and they either don’t return them at all or take forever to return them, and/or they return them damaged.

 

7.  People who ask me why I love to read so much and then proceed to tell me all of the reasons why they hate reading.  Why do they think I care?

 

8.  Love Triangles in Books.  I’m sure there are plenty of authors out there who write them beautifully, but I still just usually get annoyed by them.  I’m looking at you, Red Queen.

 

9. Insta-Love in Books.  Even though I’ve developed a newfound appreciation for romance during the pandemic, I’m not quite a romantic enough to believe in Insta-Love so it typically annoys me when I come across it in books.

 

10. When my cat sits on my book or kindle while I’m trying to read.  No, not really, I actually think it’s hilarious, lol.  I just couldn’t think of a real pet peeve for number 10 so I figured I’d share a pet instead. 🙂

 

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Question:  Do we share any bookish pet peeves?