Top Ten Tuesday: It’s all above LOVE… My ten favorite love stories from this past year of reading (new & improved for 2024)

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Love Freebie, which means we all put our own spin on the topic of LOVE.

Focusing on my favorite love stories from the books I’ve read recently has become my go-to topic for the “love freebie” TTT topic — I’ve been keeping it going since 2020! Here are my ten favorite love stories that I read in the past year:

Once More With Feeling by Elissa Sussman (review)
The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner (review)
Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan (review)
With Love, From Cold World by Alicia Thompson (review)
Queen Charlotte by Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhimes (review)
The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren (review)
Hello Stranger by Katherine Center (review)
Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer (review)
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston (review)
Trish Doller trilogy (Float Plan, The Suite Spot, Off the Map) (review, review, and review!)

What were the best love stories you read during the past year?

If you wrote a TTT post this week, please share your link and let me know your topic!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Save

14Feb2023

Top Ten Tuesday: It’s all above LOVE… My ten favorite love stories from this past year of reading (new & improved for 2023)

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

1. Boyfriend Material and Husband Material by Alexis Hall: I read both of these in 2022, and loved the development of the main characters’ relationship.

2. Tokyo Dreaming by Emiko Jean: This secretly-a-princess duology is a wonderful treat, and I really enjoyed the main character’s romantic dilemmas.

3. An Island Wedding by Jenny Colgan: The 5th and final book in the Mure series is a wonderful wrap-up (despite my frustration over one dangling plotline). So many of the characters get happily-ever-afters, which is great, because five books in, I adore these characters so much.

4. The Comeback by Lily Chu: The romance — between a non-famous woman and her incognito houseguest who ends up being one of K-pop’s biggest idols of all times — is definitely wish-fulfillment, but it’s just so much fun. Loved the audiobook!

5. The No-Show by Beth O’Leary: This book is heart-breaking as well as entertaining, and it takes quite a while to feel anything but exasperated with the male lead… but then? Boom. Loved this book, and highly recommend reading it with as little info in advance as possible.

6. Not Your Average Hot Guy by Gwenda Bond: I’m including this here because it’s so, so silly, and because I’m pretty sure this is the only book I’ve ever read with a romance between a woman who works in her family’s escape room business and the (literal) Prince of Hell.

7. By the Book by Jasmine Guillory: What’s not to love about a modern-day retelling of Beauty and the Beast?

8. A Season for Second Chances by Jenny Bayliss: I love a good small-town, new-chance-at-love story, and this one has so many great ingredients — lovely setting, a café, a sea rescue, and grown-ups in relationships!

9. Heading Over the Hill by Judy Leigh: Main characters Dawnie and Billy are absolutely #couplegoals! I need to read more (much more!) by this author.

10. The Unplanned Life of Josie Hale by Stephanie Eding: When’s the last time you read a romance with a single, pregnant woman as the main character? This was a first for me, and I really enjoyed it.

What were the best love stories you read during the past year?

If you wrote a TTT post this week, please share your link and let me know your topic!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Save

8Feb2022

Top Ten Tuesday: It’s all above LOVE… My ten favorite love stories from this past year of reading (new & improved for 2022)

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Just like I did for the February Love Freebie TTT posts in 2020 and 2021, I’m going to keep it simple and highlight my ten favorite love stories that I read in the past year:

1. Heartstopper graphic novels by Alice Oseman: I just want to give the main characters all the hugs! These books are sweet and funny and also heart-breaking at times.

2. The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer: Reading a romance novel with a Jewish holiday as its central plot point was so much fun.

3. Incense and Sensibility by Sonali Dev: I’m loving this author’s series of Austen adaptations! (Next one will be an Emma retelling, and I can’t wait!)

4. Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon: You didn’t think I’d write a list of favorite love stories and not include Outlander, did you? There’s SO much going on in this book — battles and danger and journeys and more — but Jamie and Claire’s love story is still the heart and soul of the series.

5. Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell: A terrific science fiction adventure with a compelling romance at its center.

6. All the Feels by Olivia Dade: Another fun, steamy romance set in the same fanfic-centric world as Spoiler Alert.

7. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry: I loved this friends-to-lovers-to-not-friends-to-lovers tale! It’s quirky and funny and sincere, and just so much fun.

8. The Stand-In by Lily Chu: I had a great time listening to this audiobook, about an ordinary woman introduced to the glamorous world of movie stars, and finding love along the way.

9. Donut Fall in Love by Jackie Lau: Another falling-in-love-with-a-celebrity romance, but with baked goods!! I mean, how could I possibly resist?

10. The Sweetest Remedy by Jane Igharo: A lovely story about family and connection and yes, finding true love.

What were the best love stories you read during the past year?

If you wrote a TTT post this week, please share your link and let me know your topic!

And PS – Happy (early) Valentine’s Day!

Save

And PPS — Since this post is going up on February 8th…

Happy Anniversary to us! 24 years ago today, my husband and I said “I do” in a cute little wedding chapel in Reno, Nevada!

9Feb2021

Top Ten Tuesday: It’s all above LOVE… My ten favorite love stories from this past year of reading (new & improved for 2021)

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Just like I did for February 2020’s Love Freebie TTT, I’m going to keep it simple and highlight my ten favorite love stories that I read in the past year:

1. The Duke & I by Julia Quinn: Like just about everyone else, I have firmly jumped onto the Bridgerton bandwagon! I loved the Netflix show, and I’m finding the books pretty charming and fluffy too.

2. The Glamourist Histories by Mary Robinette Kowal: This five-volume historical-fiction-with-magic series is EVERYTHING, and includes one of my very favorite fictional couples, Jane and Vincent, who embody what a truly loving partnership of equals can and should be. LOVE these books.

3. Recipe For Persuasion by Sonali Dev: A spice-infused retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, set at a cooking competition show with sweet romance and great characters. Lots of fun.

4. Folk of the Air trilogy by Holly Black: I seem to take every opportunity to talk about these books! This is not a romance series, but there is a great love story mixed in with all the intrigue and scheming and magical goings-on.

5. Time After Time by Lisa Grunwald: I totally fell for the love story at the heart of this timey-wimey tale. Bonus points for taking place in Grand Central Station in New York, which is just an ultra-romantic setting, in my humble opinion.

6. Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade: Sweet and sizzling romance, plus fanfic and fandoms and body positivity… great read!

7. A Stitch In Time by Kelley Armstrong: More timey-wimey goodness! A timeslip romance that’s well-done, full of mystery and passion, with an awesome setting in a haunted house on the moors.

8. Well Met and Well Played by Jen DeLuca: What could be better than romance at a Ren Faire? How about two romances at two Ren Faires? Can’t wait for book #3 to come out later this year.

9. The Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan: I always love this author’s books, but this one especially appealed to me, and I loved the love story at its heart, which is both a story about a couple falling in love, but also about a woman finding love for the children she’s hired to take care of. All around sweet and lovely.

10. Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston: The Once Upon a Con series is so much fun, and the mismatched pair at the heart of this geeky love story are really sweet.

What were the best love stories you read during the past year?

If you wrote a TTT post this week, please share your link and let me know your topic!

And PS – Happy (early) Valentine’s Day!

Save

11Feb2020

Top Ten Tuesday: It’s all above LOVE… My ten favorite love stories from this past year of reading.

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I thought I’d keep it simple, and highlight my ten favorite love stories that I read in the past year:

1. Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory: A love story where the main characters are in their 50s and HOT? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!

2. Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston: Sticking with the royal theme — just such an adorable story.

3. The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary: A super cute set-up with great follow-through.

4. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Just breathtaking.

5. The Unkindest Tide by Seanan McGuire. Okay, technically not a love story… but this urban fantasy series includes one of my favorite fictional couples, Toby and Tybalt, so it counts!

6. The Dinner List by Rebecca Searle: This is another that’s not an obvious choice, but there is a love story at the heart of this unusual novel, and its power grows over the course of the book.

7. Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy: Yes, true, this also isn’t a love story exactly… but this outstanding prequel to Anne of Green Gables features a truly poignant, sad tale of unfulfilled love that absolutely broke my heart.

8. Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Henry: I know many fans of this author duo didn’t adore this book, but I did! I thought it was sweet and charming and just right for me.