Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 Summer Reads

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Once again, I’m joining in with the Top 5 Tuesday meme this week! Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by Bionic Bookworm, who posts the month’s topics at the start of each month. Today’s topic is Top 5 Summer Reads. This topic could go a few different ways… book set in the summer? books to read in the summer? books I’ve read in the summer? books about beaches? I guess I’ll do a little of everything — here’s my list of five books that are great to read in the summer or that have a summer theme!

1. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han:
The story of a teen girl and the two boys she spends every summer with at their families’ shared beach house is just so perfect for reading on a beach or by a pool. It’s surprisingly deeper than you might expect, getting into family loyalties and loss and grief. (It’s the first in a trilogy, and all three are good!)

2. Beach Read by Emily Henry
I just finished this terrific love story, set in a beach cottage over the course of an eventful summer. A perfect summer read!

3. Robots vs. Fairies edited by Dominik Parisien & Navah Wolfe
This awesome collection of robot and fairy stories includes several by favorite authors of mine (Including Seanan McGuire and John Scalzi), and maybe it’s because I took this on vacation with me a couple of years ago and read it on the beach, but I feel like it’s just so fun and entertaining and low commitment that it’s perfect for summer.

4. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
This book is sweetness and light, and so full of happiness that I can see it as a perfect summer reading option.

5. Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger
There’s no obvious connection to summer, but the four books of the Finishing School series are light, funny, and exciting, and feel to me like a perfect choice for reading poolside with a frosty drink in hand.

What do you consider summer reads? Let me know, and please share your Top 5 link if you have one!

19May2020

Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 Opening Lines

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

This is such a great topic! So many to choose from… but here are the five that come to mind for me:

1. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling

2. There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

3. I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife’s grave. Then I joined the army.
Old Man’s War by John Scalzi

4. Late one evening toward the end of March, a teenager picked up a double-barreled shotgun, walked in to the forest, put the gun to someone else’s forehead and pulled the trigger.
Beartown by Fredrik Backman

5. People disappear all the time.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

And one extra, because how can I leave out this classic?

6. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way […]
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

What are your favorite opening lines? Let me know, and please share your Top 5 link if you have one!

5May2020

Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 Cute Romances

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I’m not a big romance fan, but I do love a good love story every now and then, and I especially love when they’re light and sweet and enjoyable. Here are five adorable romances that I’ve really enjoyed:

Sept. 2013

1) Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell: I love Levi and Cath — and also Cath’s fanfiction romance between Simon and Baz.

2) Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory: Okay, maybe “cute” isn’t quite the right word for a romance between two fifty-somethings, but everything about their meeting is adorable — how could it not be when they meet on royal grounds and go horse riding, among other activities?

3) Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales: This Grease-themed YA story has plenty of sorrow and emotion, but it’s sweet and lovely as well.

4) Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan: The Little Beach Street Bakery trilogy is just out and out adorable. Two super cute people in an awkward, funny relationship, plus small-town shenanigans, and even a pet puffin! Plus recipes and descriptions of baked goods to die for.

5) Geekerella by Ashley Poston: A YA love story set at a Comic-con-ish festival, with intense fans and cosplay and a Cinderella story all rolled into one? Yes, please!

What are your favorite cute romances? Let me know, and please share your Top 5 link if you have one!

28Apr2020

Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 Series That I Want to Start

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Once again, I’m joining in with the Top 5 Tuesday meme this week! Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by Bionic Bookworm, who posts the month’s topics at the start of each month. Today’s topic is Top 5 Series I Want To Start. I love reading series, except I get super frustrated when I get involved and then have to wait a year or more for the next installment. Here are five series that I’ve been wanting to try for a while now. Wish me luck!

1) Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. I’m convinced that I’ll love it! But it’s so overwhelming… There are so many books, and so many different recommendations on where to start. What’s a Discworld newbie to do?

See what I mean? You need a diagram to read this series!

2) The Glamourist Histories by Mary Robinette Kowal: I’ve been talk about reading this series a lot this year — it’s one of my 2020 reading goals. I know I love the author, and I really like the sound of it (and the pretty covers).

3) Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny: I own the first book, and have friends who are wild about this series. I really need to get started, even though tackling a series with 16 books seems like a ginormous undertaking.

4) Kitty Norville series by Carrie Vaughn: I swore I wouldn’t start any more urban fantasy series… but I loved Bannerless and a few other books by this author, so why fight it?