top ten tuesday – Page 7 – The Bookish Libra

Top Ten Tuesday – 10 Books That are Perfect for Spooky Season

October 11, 2022/36 Comments/by Suzanne

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 Books I Read On Vacation. I haven’t really taken a vacation any time recently and I’m pretty sure I didn’t read much the last time I did, so I decided to go rogue this week and share some spooky season book recommendations instead. Now I don’t really read actual horror because I’m a big chicken, so if you’re looking for truly terrifying reads, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Aside from that, I think I have a pretty good variety here.

10 Books That are Perfect for Spooky Season

1. 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..” This is a fun witchy rom-com that features the second chance romance and enemies to lovers tropes.

2. THE KISS CURSE by Erin Sterling – “This follow-up to The Ex Hex features fan favorite Gwyn and the spine-tinglingly handsome Wells Penhallow as they battle a new band of witches and their own magical chemistry. When their professional competition leads to a very personal—and very hot—kiss, both Wells and Gwyn are determined to stay away from each other, convinced the kiss was just a magical fluke. But when a mysterious new coven of witches come to town and Gwyn’s powers begin fading, she and Wells must work together to figure out just what these new witches want and how to restore Gwyn’s magic before it’s too late.” I’m reading this one right now and loving it even more than the first book in the series!

3. THE VERY SECRET SOCIETY OF IRREGULAR WITCHES by Sangu Mandanna – “A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family–and a new love–changes the course of her life..” I reviewed this one on the blog a few weeks ago and just adored everything about it.

4. THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES by Alix E. Harrow – This is a wonderful story about sisterhood and suffragist witches who are determined to reclaim the power that men have historically denied them.

5. WILD IS THE WITCH by Rachel Griffin – “When eighteen-year-old witch Iris Gray accidentally enacts a curse that could have dire consequences, she must team up with a boy who hates witches to make sure her magic isn’t unleashed on the world.” Loved the haunting and atmospheric writing in this one and that the magic is so steeped in nature.

6. SPELLS FOR FORGETTING by Adrienne Young – “A deeply atmospheric story about ancestral magic, an unsolved murder, and a second chance at true love.”

7. YOU’LL BE THE DEATH OF ME by Karen McManus – “From the author of One of Us Is Lying comes a brand-new pulse-pounding thriller. It’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with murder when three old friends relive an epic ditch day, and it goes horribly–and fatally–wrong.” Honestly, if you enjoy YA thrillers, any of McManus’ novels are great choices for spooky season. I read this one over this past weekend and couldn’t put it down.

8. IN MY DREAMS I HOLD A KNIFE by Ashley Winstead – “A college reunion turns dark and deadly in this chilling and propulsive suspense novel about six friends, one unsolved murder, and the dark secrets they’ve been hiding from each other—and themselves—for a decade.” Another thriller that I devoured this weekend. If you enjoy dark academia, this is a great choice. It kept me guessing from beginning to end.

9. SIGN HERE by Claudia Lux – “A darkly humorous, surprisingly poignant, and utterly gripping debut novel about a guy who works in Hell (literally) and is on the cusp of a big promotion if only he can get one more member of the wealthy Harrison family to sell their soul..” This was my October Book of the Month pick and my current read and I’m loving the dark humor so much!

10. EMPIRE OF THE VAMPIRE by Jay Kristoff – “Gabriel de León is a silversaint: a member of a holy brotherhood dedicated to defending realm and church from the creatures of the night. But even the Silver Order couldn’t stem the tide once daylight failed us, and now, only Gabriel remains. Imprisoned by the very monsters he vowed to destroy, the last silversaint is forced to tell his story. A story of legendary battles and forbidden love, of faith lost and friendships won, of the Wars of the Blood and the Forever King and the quest for humanity’s last remaining hope: The Holy Grail.” This is a brick of a book at 739 pages, but I flew through it in 3 days. It’s a dark read, often gory and violent, definitely not for kids, but it’s also filled with tremendous emotion and passion as the last silversaint shares his often painful story.

* * * * * *

Question: Have you read any of these or are you planning to read any of them?

Top Ten Tuesday – 5 Indie Book Stores I Love & 5 I Really Want to Visit

October 4, 2022/34 Comments/by Suzanne

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 Favorite Bookstores OR Bookstores I’d Love to Visit. I decided to focus my list on Indie bookstores but couldn’t think of 10 I loved or 10 I wanted to visit, so I’ve split my list in half to share 5 of each.

* * * * *

5 Bookstores I Love

1. The Strand, NYC

The Strand will always make my list of favorite Indie bookstores. I try to stop by every time I visit NYC.

Why? 18 miles of books, some of the coolest bookish merchandise, and loads of amazing author events.

* * * * *

2. Fountain Bookstore, Richmond, VA

Credit: https://www.instagram.com/fountainbookstore/

If you ever find yourself in the Richmond, VA area, I highly recommend stopping by Fountain Bookstore in the quaint and quirky Carytown area. They have a great selection of books and merchandise, signed books, tons of staff recommendations which are always reliably good reads, and they also have a full schedule of author events.

* * * * *

3. Riverby Books, Fredericksburg, VA

Credit: https://www.instagram.com/riverbybooksfxbg/

This is a fantastic Indie bookstore right in my own town. The shop has an extensive collection of used books, they buy and sell rare books, and the store is just super cute with lots of little reading nooks tucked into every corner.

* * * * *

4. Green Valley Book Fair, Mount Crawford, VA

Credit: https://www.facebook.com/greenvalleybookfair

The Green Valley Book Fair is tucked away in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Prior to the Covid pandemic, for a couple of weeks, 5 or 6 times a year, the book fair would open and book lovers would come from all over to purchase deeply discounted books. Their selection has always been vast and the prices great. Where so many businesses failed during the pandemic, the Green Valley Book Fair completely changed the way they operated in order to survive. Since everything was closed, they started a mail order business so that book lovers could still get the discounted books they love and they even expanded their inventory to include items like jigsaw puzzles for those who Covid kept at home. Once things started to open back up, they began to open year round 5 days a week, and continued to offer their mail service as well as curbside pickup. I love this bookfair, both for its great prices and extensive selection, but also because of their resilience and determination.

* * * * *

5. CHOP SUEY BOOKS, Richmond, VA

Credit: https://www.instagram.com/chopsueybooks/

Chop Suey Books is another fantastic bookstore in the Carytown area of Richmond. They have a fun, quirky storefront, a cat mascot named Wonton, and they buy and sell used books.

* * * * *

5 Bookstores I Really Want to Visit

6. THE BOOKWORM BOX Bookstore, Sulphur Springs, TX

This is the bookstore that Colleen Hoover and her sisters own. Enough said, lol. Not enough? Here’s a little more detail: “The Bookworm Box is a one-of-a-kind specialty bookstore with signed books donated by the authors. All profit is donated to various charities with over $1,000,000.00 donated since opening the doors in 2015. The Bookworm Box holds special events and exclusive signings with best-selling authors such as EL James, Tarryn Fisher, Anna Todd, Caroline Kepnes and Colleen Hoover.”

* * * * *

7. BLUEBIRD & CO., Crozet, VA

Credit: https://www.instagram.com/bluebirdandco/

Even though this book shop is only about an hour away from me, I had never heard of it until Elle Cosimano happened to mention on her social media a while back that she was doing an event there. I unfortunately couldn’t attend the event, but looking at their instagram page, the store is just as adorable on the inside as it is on the outside so I need to visit it someday soon.

* * * * *

8. POWELL’S BOOKS, Portland, OR

Credit: https://www.powells.com/

According to their website, Powell’s is the World’s Largest Independent Bookstore. I have no idea if that is still true or not, but it’s enough to make me want to visit it. They apparently have a very extensive inventory of used books and, and they buy and sell books.

* * * * *

9. McNally Jackson Books, NYC

Credit: https://www.instagram.com/mcnallyjackson/

Even though I visit NYC pretty often, I’ve somehow never made it to this shop and I need to remedy that. It just looks so cozy and quaint and apparently it has a nice cafe in it as well.

* * * * *

10. NEW DOMINION BOOKSHOP, Charlottesville, VA

Credit: https://www.instagram.com/new_dominion_bookshop/

This is yet another Indie bookshop that is only about an hour from me but I’ve yet to make it there. New Dominion is the oldest independent bookstore in my state and the picture I chose to represent it features the stunning rose garden they have. Some of the other photos on their Instagram page show bookclubs meeting in the garden as well as some author events. It just looks so lovely and peaceful and I would love to experience it in person.

* * * * *

Question: Have you visited any of these shops?

Top Ten Tuesday – 10 Book Covers That Feature Typography I Like

September 27, 2022/46 Comments/by Suzanne

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 Typographic Book Covers (Book covers with a design that is all or mostly all words. You can also choose to do books with nice typography if that’s easier!). I’m not even going to lie; this topic really threw me for a loop even with the definition of a typographic book cover supplied for us. For the longest time I couldn’t think of a single title that fit the description and even now I’m not convinced that most of these do but we’re just going to pretend I did a great job with this topic, okay? Haha!

10 Book Covers That Feature Typography I Like

1. CARAVAL by Stephanie Garber

2. IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS by Therese Anne Fowler

3. THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE by V.E. Schwab

4. GOOD GIRL, BAD BLOOD by Holly Jackson

5. THE IT GIRL by Ruth Ware

6. NINTH HOUSE by Leigh Bardugo

7. NOVEMBER 9 by Colleen Hoover

8. TO SIR, WITH LOVE by Lauren Layne

9. SURVIVE THE NIGHT by Riley Sager

10. WITH YOU ALL THE WAY by Cynthia Hand

* * * * * *

Question: Have you read any of these?

Top Ten Tuesday – Books on my Fall 2022 TBR

September 20, 2022/56 Comments/by Suzanne

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 Fall 2022 TBR. I always enjoy this topic because I’m curious to see what my fellow book bloggers are planning to read next. I am still on my quest to read more of the books I already own, so today I’m sharing a mix of ARCs and books from my own shelves that I’m hoping to read this fall. The Guncle and Killers of a Certain Age are definite reads because my library holds for the audiobooks both came in this week.

Books on My Fall 2022 TBR

1. THE GUNCLE by Steven Rowley – “From the bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus and The Editor comes a warm and deeply funny novel about a once-famous sitcom star whose unexpected family tragedy leaves him with his niece and nephew.”

2. KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE by Deanna Raybourn – “They’ve spent their lives as the deadliest assassins in a clandestine international organization, but now that they’re sixty years old, four women friends can’t just retire – it’s kill or be killed in this action-packed thriller.”

3. RUNNING WILD by K.A. Tucker – “From the internationally bestselling author of The Simple Wild comes the story of a woman at a crossroads in her life, struggling between the safe route and the one that will only lead to more heartbreak.”

4. REMINDERS OF HIM by Colleen Hoover – “A troubled young mother yearns for a shot at redemption in this heartbreaking yet hopeful story from #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover.”

5. SPELLS FOR FORGETTING by Adrienne Young – “A deeply atmospheric story about ancestral magic, an unsolved murder, and a second chance at true love.”

6. THE WILDERWOMEN by Ruth Emmie Lang – “Two supernatural sisters uncover their curious past while searching for their missing mother.”

7. BEFORE I DO by Sophie Cousens – “What would you do if ‘the one that got away’ turned up the night before your wedding?”

8. EMPIRE OF THE VAMPIRE by Jay Kristoff – “Gabriel de León is a silversaint: a member of a holy brotherhood dedicated to defending realm and church from the creatures of the night. But even the Silver Order couldn’t stem the tide once daylight failed us, and now, only Gabriel remains. Imprisoned by the very monsters he vowed to destroy, the last silversaint is forced to tell his story. A story of legendary battles and forbidden love, of faith lost and friendships won, of the Wars of the Blood and the Forever King and the quest for humanity’s last remaining hope: The Holy Grail.”

9. WHEN IN ROME by Sarah Adams – “Opposites certainly attract for the stranded pop star and small-town baker in this charming slice of romance from the author of the TikTok sensation The Cheat Sheet.”

10. RUNAWAY GROOMSMAN by Meghan Quinn – “From USA Today and Amazon Charts bestselling author Meghan Quinn comes a heartfelt romantic comedy about new beginnings and finding the romanticized happily ever after in the most unlikely of places.”

* * * * * *

Question: Have you read any of these or are you planning to read any of them?

Top Ten Tuesday: Ahoy Mateys! Ten Books with “Sea” in the Title

September 13, 2022/42 Comments/by Suzanne

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 with Geographical Terms in the Title (for example: mountain, island, latitude/longitude, ash, bay, beach, border, canyon, cape, city, cliff, coast, country, desert, epicenter, hamlet, highway, jungle, ocean, park, sea, shore, tide, valley, etc. When I started looking on my shelves for books that fit the topic, I noticed that half the titles I found had the word “sea” in them, so I took that as a sign and set out to find five more “sea” titles. Below is what I came up with.

Ten Books with “Sea” in the Title

1. THE STARLESS SEA by Erin Morganstern

2. SALT TO THE SEA by Ruta Sepetys

3. SEA OF TRANQUILITY by Emily St. John Mandel

4. THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA by T.J. Klune

5. THE GIRL THE SEA GAVE BACK by Adrienne Young

6. THE SEA WITCH by Sarah Henning

7. SEAFIRE by Natalie C. Parker

8. A VERY LARGE EXPANSE OF SEA by Tahereh Mafi

9. PERCY JACKSON: THE SEA OF MONSTERS by Rick Riordan

10. THE ISLAND OF SEA WOMEN by Lisa See

* * * * * *

Question: Have you read any of these?

Top Ten Tuesday – 10 Books I Loved So Much I Had to Get a Copy for My Personal Library

September 6, 2022/20 Comments/by Suzanne

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 10 Books I Loved So Much I Had to Get a Copy for My Personal Library. Even though I read a lot of ebooks, including ARCS and listen to a lot of audiobooks these days, I’m still a collector of physical books at heart. If I love a book, I want to display it on my shelves. Below are just a few of the many books that I originally either listened to or read some kind of e-version and decided I just had to have a physical copy after falling in love with the story.

10 Books I Loved So Much I Had to Get a Copy for My Personal Library

1. LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus

2. IT ENDS WITH US by Colleen Hoover

3. THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid

4. THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA by T.J. Klune

5. THE SIMPLE WILD Series by K.A. Tucker

6. THE PRACTICAL MAGIC Series by Alice Hoffman

7. RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE by Casey McQuiston

8. THE BOOKISH LIFE OF NINA HILL by Abbi Waxman

9. THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS by Ali Hazelwood

10. BEACH READ by Emily Henry

* * * * * *

Question: Have you read any of these?

Top Ten Tuesday – It’s Back to School Time: Ten of My Favorite Reads with an Academic Setting

August 30, 2022/40 Comments/by Suzanne

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 School Freebie (In honor of school starting up soon, come up with a topic that somehow ties to school/education. The book could be set at school/college, characters could be teachers, books with school supplies on the cover, nonfiction titles, books that taught you something or how to do something, your favorite required reading in school, books you think should be required reading, your favorite banned books, etc.).

The last time we had a school freebie I shared 10 of my favorite reads that are set in school. That was a few years ago so I decided it would be fun to do the same post but updated for newer favorites. I’ve got a pretty wide selection here, from thrillers to romance, both Adult and YA so some are set in high schools while others are set at colleges or universities.

10 of My Favorite Reads with an Academic Setting

1. THE IT GIRL by Ruth Ware

The “It” girl at Oxford is murdered and the list of possible suspects is a mile long because the “It” girl was also a mean girl.

2. SEE YOU YESTERDAY by Rachel Lynn Solomon

A YA romance with a major Groundhog’s Day vibe set at a college where two students

find themselves reliving the first day of college over and over again.

3. A BRUSH WITH LOVE by Mazey Eddings

A super cute romance that is set in a dental school.

4. AS IF ON CUE by Marisa Kanter

An enemies-to-lovers romance that features A pair of fierce foes are forced to work together to save the arts at their high school.

5. PERFECT ON PAPER by Sophie Gonzales

A bisexual girl who gives anonymous love advice to her classmates is hired by the hot guy to help him get his ex back.

6. FOR YOUR OWN GOOD by Samantha Downing

A twisty thriller set at a prestigious private school where the Teacher of the Year is determined to teach everyone a lesson.

Teddy knows best and you’d better stay out of his way if you know what’s good for you…

7. THIS MAY END BADLY by Samantha Markum

A longtime rivalry between two boarding school escalates and spirals into pure chaos

when it’s announced that the two schools will be merging into one. The students just aren’t having it…

8. I KISSED SHARA WHEELER by Casey McQuiston

Shara Wheeler and Chloe Green are locked in a fierce race to win the title of class valedictorian. When Shara abruptly goes missing but leaves clues to her whereabouts, Chloe decides to play the game and find her. Because really, it’s just not as satisfying to win valedictorian because your rival stopped coming to school.

9. NINTH HOUSE by Leigh Bardugo

Set at Yale, this is a dark fantasy read that features Ivy League secret societies.

10. MY OXFORD YEAR by Julia Whelan

Set at Oxford, this is an emotional story about a determined young woman eager to make her mark in the world

and the handsome man who introduces her to an incredible love that will irrevocably alter her future.

* * * * * *

Question: Have you read any of these?

Top Ten Tuesday – Completed Series I Wish Had More Books

August 23, 2022/34 Comments/by Suzanne

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 Completed Series I Wish Had More Books. I actually struggled with this topic a bit, mainly because in my mind, if an author is still alive and writing, I always have a hope that the series they’ve written could eventually have more books. I selected some favorites that I am assuming are finished, but I was lazy and didn’t research, so my bad if it has already been announced that more books are forthcoming and I missed it (or heard about and forgot, haha).

(Possibly) Completed Series I Wish Had More Books

1. PEACHTREE BLUFF SERIES by Kristy Woodson Harvey

2. SIX OF CROWS DUOLOGY by Leigh Bardugo

3. THE LUNAR CHRONICLES BY MARISSA MEYER

4. THE BROWN SISTERS by Talia Hibbert

5. THE WINTERNIGHT TRILOGY by Katherine Arden

6. RED WINTER TRILOGY by Annette Marie

7. STALKING JACK THE RIPPER SERIES by Kerri Maniscalco

8. THE ILLUMINAE FILES by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

9. SHADES OF MAGIC by V.E. Schwab

10. ARC OF A SCYTHE by Neal Shusterman

* * * * * *

Question: Have you read any of these?

Top Ten Tuesday – Books I Love That Were Written Over Ten Years Ago

August 16, 2022/38 Comments/by Suzanne

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 Love That Were Written Over Ten Years Ago. I think I focused mainly on classics the last time we did a similar topic so I decided to go a different and somewhat convoluted route this time. I went back eleven years to 2011, and counted backwards from there to 2002, figuring out what my favorite book published in each of those years was. It was an interesting journey for me to see how long I’ve had eclectic reading tastes and jumped from genre to genre.

Books I Love That Were Written Over Ten Years Ago

1. THE NIGHT CIRCUS by Erin Morganstern (2011)

2. ROOM by Emma Donoghue (2010)

3. THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE by Stieg Larsson (2009)

4. THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins (2008)

5. A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS by Khaled Hosseini (2007)

6. THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak (2006)

7. HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE by JKR (2005)

8. MY SISTER’S KEEPER by Jodi Picoult (2004)

9. THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA by Lauren Weisberger (2003)

10. THE NANNY DIARIES by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus (2002)

* * * * * *

Question: Have you read any of these?

Top Ten Tuesday: One-Word Reviews for the Last 10 Books I Read But Didn’t Review on the Blog

August 9, 2022/49 Comments/by Suzanne

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 Hilarious Book Titles, but I wasn’t feeling that one so I decided to revisit a topic from a few months ago that I really enjoyed – One-Word Reviews for the Last Ten Books I Read But Didn’t Review on the Blog. I’ve been really knocking out books from my own shelves this year, but I haven’t been spending much time reviewing them on this site. I like how this topic allows me to at least briefly share what else I’ve been reading lately.