Tag Archive for: top ten tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday – Be My Valentine – My Favorite Book Covers that Feature Hearts

 

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 Love Freebie in honor of Valentine’s Day so I’ve decided to use the freebie to showcase some of my favorite covers that feature hearts.  I actually ended up with 13 but couldn’t decide which three to cut so I decided to keep them all.

 

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My Favorite Book Covers that Feature Hearts

(in no particular order)

 

HOW TO BUILD A HEART by Maria Padian

HEARTS MADE FOR BREAKING by Jen Klein

THE ANATOMICAL SHAPE OF A HEART by Jenn Bennett

FIRST & THEN by Emma Mills

ALEX & ELIZA by Melissa de la Cruz

CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT by Brigid Kemmerer

BEAUTIFUL BROKEN HEARTS by Kami Garcia

HEARTLESS by Marissa Meyer

THE START OF ME AND YOU by Emery Lord

CHANGE OF HEART by Jodi Picoult

Do you have any favorite covers that feature hearts?

Top Ten Tuesday – Books On My TBR I Predict Will Be 5-Star Reads

 

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 Books On My TBR I Predict Will Be 5-Star Reads.  This topic makes me a little nervous since it reminds me how much I’ve hyped these books in my own mind. Some, like The Queen of Nothing and The Toll, are finales for beloved series, while others like The Starless Sea, Chasing Lucky, and Ninth House are new books by favorite authors.  Fingers crossed I haven’t set unreasonable expectations for them, but anyway, as of right now, these are books I’m predicting will be 5-star reads for me.

 

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Books On My TBR I Predict Will Be 5-Star Reads

(in no particular order)

 

THE QUEEN OF NOTHING by Holly Black

THE STARLESS SEA by Erin Morganstern

THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY by Alix E. Harrow

THE TWO LIVES OF LYDIA BIRD by Josie Silver

CHASING LUCKY by Jenn Bennett

A HEART SO FIERCE AND BROKEN by Brigid Kemmerer

THE DARK CORNERS OF THE NIGHT by Meg Gardiner

SHOREFALL by Robert Jackson Bennett

NINTH HOUSE by Leigh Bardugo

THE TOLL by Neal Shusterman

 

* * * * *

 

What books from your TBR do you predict will be 5 star reads?

Top Ten Tuesday – I’ve Been Framed – My Favorite Book Covers that Feature Eye Glasses

 

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 Book Cover Freebie (choose what kind(s) of covers you want to talk about: prettiest, most unique, most misleading, weirdest, most memorable, creepiest, ugliest, etc.).

I decided to focus on book covers that feature eyewear.  I don’t know if it’s because I wear glasses myself or what, but I’m always drawn to covers with glasses. Regular glasses, sunglasses, goggles, you name it, they all grab my attention.  I’ve put together a collage of some of my favorites to share with you today.  If you want to know more about any of the books I’ve featured, use the links below.

 

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My Favorite Book Covers that Feature Eye Glasses

(in no particular order)

 

WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE by Maria Semple

MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER by Oyinkan Braithwaite

THE REMAINS OF THE DAY by Kazuo Ishiguro

FUMBLED by Alexa Martin

DEATH PREFERS BLONDES by Caleb Roehrig

SLAY by Brittney Morris

THE HEART PRINCIPLE by Helen Hoang

THE BOOKISH LIFE OF NINA HILL by Abbi Waxman

AMERICAN ROYALS by Katherine McGee

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS by J.K. Rowling

 

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Do you have any favorite covers that feature glasses?

Top Ten Tuesday – The 10 Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf

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 The 10 Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf. This was of course an easy topic since even though I say my goal is to read the books I own, I still can’t seem to stop adding new books to my collection.  I will say I did have to go back all the way to the beginning of December to come up with ten new titles though so I’d consider that baby steps in getting myself under control when it comes to accumulating books faster than I can ever hope to read them.

 

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The 10 Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf

 

1. ALWAYS THE LAST TO KNOW by Kristan Higgins

(Find out what it’s about…)

* * * * *

 

2. THE TWO LIVES OF LYDIA BIRD by Josie Silver

(Find out what it’s about…)

* * * * *

 

3.  AYESHA AT LAST by Uzma Jalaluddin

(Find out what it’s about…)

* * * * *

 

4. THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY by Alix E. Harrow

(Find out what it’s about…)

* * * * *

 

5. ROMANOV by Nadine Brandes

(Find out what it’s about…)

* * * * *

 

6. THE PRISONER’S WIFE by Maggie Brookes

(Find out what it’s about…)

* * * * *

 

7. THE VINE WITCH by Luanne G. Smith

(Find out what it’s about…)

* * * * *

 

8. TO HAVE AND TO HOAX by Martha Waters

(Find out what it’s about…)

* * * * *

 

9. THE BIG FINISH by Brooke Fossey

(Find out what it’s about…)

* * * * *

 

10. THE HAMILTON AFFAIR by Elizabeth Cobbs

(Find out what it’s about…)

* * * * *

 

Question:  What are some of the latest additions to your bookshelf?

Top Ten Tuesday – My Reading/Blogging Goals for 2020

 

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 Bookish Discoveries I Made In 2019 (these could be books, authors, blogs, websites, apps, products, etc.).  I wasn’t really feeling that topic so I decided today would be a good day to talk about my reading and blogging goals instead.  Those goals are driven by things that happened (or probably more accurately, didn’t happen) in 2019, so it’s not totally off topic, right?

Anyway, I don’t have a ton of goals because I honestly just want to have fun and enjoy my reading and the bookish community in 2020, but there are still a few things I’d really like to focus on in my bookish life.

 

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My Reading and Blogging Goals for 2020

 

1)  My number one goal this year is to read more of the books I own.  ARCs are great of course, but I have so many unread books piling up around me that I don’t really even have room for more at this point.  Something’s got to give.  To that end, the only challenge I’m taking part in aside from Goodreads is the Beat the Backlist Challenge.  I’ve set a goal there of reading at least 50 books from my backlist so here’s hoping I put a serious dent in my unread shelves. (Of course so that I can make room for more unread books, lol).

 

2)  I really want to only participate in blog tours where I have already requested a review book.  As of right now, I have three more blog tours on my calendar for January and February but they are specifically for books I had already been approved for and I really want to stick with this so that I don’t accidentally over commit and create stress for myself.

 

3)  Finish or at least make major progress in the following series:

  • Throne of Glass
  • An Ember in the Ashes
  • The Nevernight Chronicle
  • Arc of a Scythe
  • Red Winter
  • The Wrath and the Dawn
  • The Folk of the Air
  • Cursebreakers

 

4)  Aside from wrapping up those series, I actually really want to focus more on standalones this year.

 

5)  I really want to focus more on my Bookstagram account.  Right now I typically only post once, maybe twice a week so I’d like to bump that up to 2-3 times a week.  I’d also like to focus more on actually interacting more with the bookstagram community.  Sometimes I’m just so short for time that I just ‘like’ photos without commenting and I really want to make more time for commenting since I think it’s important.

 

6)  Try books by at least five authors who have been on my TBR for years.  My priorities are as follows:

  • Martha Wells
  • Becky Chambers
  • Ilona Andrews
  • Louise Penny
  • TJ Klune

 

7)  I’m not officially signing up for the Discussion challenge this year, but I would still like to aim for at least 12 discussion posts this year.  I always feel bad because I love doing the discussion posts, but when I’m short on time, those are always the ones I kick to the curb since they take longer to do.

8)  I really want to be more consistent when it comes to blog hopping.  I’m still debating the best method to achieve this – devoting specific days to it vs. just trying to squeeze in a bit here and there as I have time, but I need to figure out a better system for myself.  Right now I’m just consistently inconsistent.

9)  Blogging ahead more is another big goal of mine. I doubt I’ll ever be one who has weeks and weeks’ worth of posts ready to go, but I’d love to at least get to a point where I get all of my posts for the upcoming week ready to go over the weekend.  I get so stressed when I wait until the last minute to work on posts.

10) Finally, my overall reading goal for 2020 is to read at least 150 books. I managed to read 153 in 2019 and that was with 2 1/2 George R.R. Martin bricks thrown in the mix, so I’m hoping 150 will be doable this year, especially since I have now fully embraced audiobooks.

Top Ten Tuesday – Most Anticipated Book Releases for the First Half of 2020

 

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 Most Anticipated Book Releases for the First Half of 2020.  I have so many anticipated releases for the first half of the year that it was nearly impossible to pick just ten.  The ones I’ve chosen to feature this week are new releases from favorite authors, new books in some of my favorite series, and a MacBeth retelling that sounds really good.

Happy reading, everyone!  I can’t wait to read all of your most anticipated lists!

 

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Most Anticipated Book Releases for the First Half of 2020

(in no particular order)

 

UNDERCOVER BROMANCE by Lyssa Kay Adams

SHOREFALL by Robert Jackson Bennett

THE HONEY-DON’T LIST by Christina Lauren

THE DARK CORNERS OF THE NIGHT by Meg Gardiner

FOUL IS FAIR by Hannah Capin

YOU ARE NOT ALONE by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

YES NO MAYBE SO by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed

A HEART SO FIERCE AND BROKEN by Brigid Kemmerer

THE UNWILLING by John Hart

HOUSE OF EARTH AND BLOOD by Sarah J. Maas

 

* * * * *

 

What were some of your most anticipated releases for the first half of 2020?  Do we share any?

Top Ten Tuesday – Best Books I Read in 2019

 

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 Best Books I Read in 2019.  I had a great reading year so it was tough to narrow down to a list of favorites.  I’m actually sharing my Top 13 today because I couldn’t narrow to just 10 favorites.  In looking at my year, the one thing that really struck me was that only one fantasy novel made my Best Of list, while several romances did make the cut.  That is a huge change for me and very symbolic of the slump I was in this year when it came to fantasy.  I’m thrilled that I had so many great romance reads since that’s usually an area where I struggle, but I really hope I have better luck with fantasy in 2020.

Happy New Year, everyone!  Here’s to a great reading year for us all in 2020!

 

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Best Books I Read in 2019

(in no particular order)

 

THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid

DAISY JONES & THE SIX by Taylor Jenkins Reid

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens

RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE by Casey McQuiston

A CURSE SO DARK AND LONELY by Brigid Kemmerer

RECURSION by Blake Crouch

THE BROMANCE BOOK CLUB by Lyssa Kay Adams

THE BOOKISH LIFE OF NINA HILL by Abbi Waxman

THINGS YOU SAVE IN A FIRE by Katherine Center

BECOMING by Michelle Obama

THE WORLD THAT WE KNEW by Alice Hoffman

CILKA’S JOURNEY by Heather Morris

LOCK EVERY DOOR by Riley Sager

 

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What were some of your favorite reads of 2019?  Do we share any favorites?

Top Ten Tuesday – Books I Hope to Find Under My Christmas Tree

 

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 Books I Hope to Find Under My Christmas Tree.  I honestly didn’t ask for any books this year, but even when I don’t, I usually get at least a couple of gift cards to the bookstore so here are some books I’d consider purchasing with those cards.

Wishing a very Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates the holiday!

 

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Books I Hope to Find Under My Christmas Tree

 

 

1. THE TESTAMENTS by Margaret Atwood

* * * * *

 

2. DARKDAWN by Jay Kristoff

 

* * * * *

 

3.  CHILDREN OF VIRTUE AND VENGEANCE by Tomi Adeyemi

 

* * * * *

 

4. DEV1AT3 by Jay Kristoff

* * * * *

 

5. CAPTURING THE DEVIL by Kerri Maniscalco

 

* * * * *

 

6. THE LAST YEAR OF THE WAR by Susan Meissner

(or any other books from Meissner’s backlist)

* * * * *

 

7. THE RECKLESS OATH WE MADE by Bryn Greenwood

 

* * * * *

 

8. NECESSARY LIES by Diane Chamberlain

(or any other titles from her backlist)

* * * * *

 

9. FOOLISH HEARTS by Emma Mills

(or any other books from Mills’ backlist)

* * * * *

 

10. WINTER GARDEN by Kristin Hannah

* * * * *

 

 

Question:  Are you hoping to get any books this Christmas?

Top Ten Tuesday – Books from My Winter TBR I’m Most Excited For

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 Winter TBR.  My Winter TBR is sure to be way more than ten books so I’ve decided to narrow down what I’m sharing this week to the ten reads I’m most looking forward to. Well, at the time I’m writing this post anyway.  Such is the life of a mood reader, haha.  You can click on each book cover to learn more about what kind of reads I’m excited about this fall. I’ve also actually included 12 entries, 10 ARCS but then 2 from my backlist that I really wanted to read this year but ran out of time.  Those are backlist priorities for me.

 

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Books from My Winter TBR I’m Most Excited For

 

1. BIG LIES IN A SMALL TOWN by Diane Chamberlain

* * * * *

 

2. THE VANISHED BIRDS by Simon Jimenez

* * * * *

 

3.  THE DARK CORNERS OF THE NIGHT by Meg Gardiner

* * * * *

 

4. UNDERCOVER BROMANCE by Lyssa Kay Adams

* * * * *

 

5. SCAVENGE THE STARS by Tara Sim

* * * * *

 

6. THE OTHER PEOPLE by C.J. Tudor

* * * * *

 

7. FOUL IS FAIR by Hannah Capin

* * * * *

 

8. OF CURSES AND KISSES by Sandhya Menon

* * * * *

 

9 THE SUN DOWN MOTEL by Simone St. James

* * * * *

 

10 YOU WERE THERE TOO by Colleen Oakley

* * * * *

 

11. THE LONG WAY TO A SMALL, ANGRY PLANET by Becky Chambers

* * * * *

 

12. ALL SYSTEMS RED by Martha Wells

* * * * *

 

 

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Question:  Are you planning to read any of these books this winter?

Top Ten Tuesday – Reading Fails: 10 Books I Totally Planned to Read This Year But Probably Won’t

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 another Freebie.  Since we’re fast approaching the end of the year, I’ve been reflecting on the books I’ve read this year, and even more so, on the books I had every intention of reading this year but somehow still didn’t get to.  I know I still have a few weeks left to try to make this list happen but with the holidays and the January 2020 ARCs I’m starting to work my way through, I just don’t think these reads are going to happen before the end of 2019.  I definitely still plan to read all of them though so I’m sure these titles will end up as part of my backlist challenge next year.  While I was compiling this list, I also did a little “spring” cleaning and purged about 40 titles from my Goodreads “Want to Read” Shelf because I’ve just completely lost interest in them.  I’m sure it won’t be long before I find 40 more to add in their places, but it felt good to finally get rid of some titles that I’ve been scrolling past for 4-5 years.

 

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10 Books I Totally Planned to Read This Year But Probably Won’t

 

1. AURORA RISING by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

* * * * *

 

2. SORCERY OF THORNS by Margaret Rogerson

* * * * *

 

3.  CIRCE by Madeline Miller

* * * * *

 

4. A DANCE WITH DRAGONS by George R.R. Martin

* * * * *

 

5. UPROOTED by Naomi Novik

* * * * *

 

6. NINTH HOUSE by Leigh Bardugo

* * * * *

 

7. DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE by Laini Taylor

* * * * *

 

8. THE LONG WAY TO A SMALL, ANGRY PLANET by Becky Chambers

* * * * *

 

9. ALL SYSTEMS RED by Martha Wells

* * * * *

 

10. GODS OF JADE AND SHADOW by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

* * * * *

 

 

 

Question:  Do you have any books you were determined to read this year but somehow still haven’t?