Top Ten Tuesday: Going to the chapel… books with “wedding” in the title

Setting the mood with a song…

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 Books with the Word “[Insert Word Here]” in the Title, with the prompt: Choose a word and find ten books with that word in the title.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I’m in countdown mode until a family wedding at the end of May, so that’s what’s been on my brain, and that’s the word I’m going for! Here are ten eleven books — most of which I’ve read, plus one releasing in May that I can’t wait to read — with WEDDING in the title:

  1. Death at a Highland Wedding by Kelley Armstrong — May new release!
  2. The Wedding People by Alison Espach (my review)
  3. Amanda’s Wedding by Jenny Colgan — on my TBR
  4. On the Way to the Wedding by Julia Quinn (my review)
  5. An Island Wedding by Jenny Colgan (my review)
  6. The Wedding Setup by Sonali Dev
  7. The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory (my review)
  8. The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan (my review)
  9. Three Holidays and a Wedding by Uzma Jalaladdin and Marissa Stapley (my review )
  10. Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutanto (my review)
  11. My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding edited by P. N. Elrod

I originally had ten, but couldn’t resist adding #11 because the title makes me laugh every time I see it!

What word did you choose for this week’s prompt?

If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!

In case you’re interested in quick links to buying sites for the books mentioned above:

Note: These are affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no cost to you.

  1. Death at a Highland Wedding: AmazonBookshopLibro
  2. The Wedding People: AmazonBookshopLibro
  3. Amanda’s Wedding: AmazonBookshopLibro
  4. On the Way to the Wedding: AmazonBookshopLibro
  5. An Island Wedding: AmazonBookshopLibro
  6. The Wedding Setup: Amazon
  7. The Wedding Date: AmazonBookshopLibro
  8. The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle: AmazonBookshopLibro
  9. Three Holidays and a Wedding: AmazonBookshopLibro
  10. Four Aunties and a Wedding: AmazonBookshopLibro
  11. My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding: AmazonBookshop

Top Ten Tuesday: My Unpopular Bookish Opinions

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 My Unpopular Bookish Opinions.

That’s hard! But I’m up for giving it a try. Maybe these opinions are more popular than I realize, but here goes my attempt:

  1. The Twilight series is actually better than people think. If you read them when they came out, then you remember how all-consuming and impossible to put down these books were. Sure, we can (and do) poke lots of fun at the more ridiculous plot points… but these books were an amazing read at the time.
  2. Wuthering Heights will never appeal to me. I can’t see why this book is so beloved… and believe me, I’ve tried!
  3. Many “classic romantic couples” are dysfunctional as hell. Romeo and Juliet, I’m looking at you… not to mention Heathcliff and Catherine, and many more.
  4. Zombie fiction has passed its peak. Enough, already.
  5. Assassins and killers are not compelling protagonists. Books about killers seem to be all the rage, and I’ve actually read a couple of good ones — but no matter how you dress it up, I still can’t get behind having a murderer (no matter how great the cause!) as a lead character we’re supposed to root for.
  6. Grumpy love interests would just be jerks in real life. Romantic fiction is amazing, and I know people love the grumpy-sunshine trope… but I think so many of these guys would be actually insufferable if you met them in person.
  7. Fourth Wing is nonsense. Don’t throw rocks at me! I know I’m in the minority on this — but to me, this book is a weird mash-up of a [insert any YA about a special school here] + death + sex + dragons. It doesn’t work.
  8. Sprayed-edge books aren’t special anymore. I do love when there’s a gorgeous edition of a book I love, and I’ll happily buy one, but it seems like it’s becoming more and more standard for new releases to have the painted edges, no matter what it is (but especially in fantasy/romantasy). It’s starting to feel like too much of a good thing (and/or, just another excuse to raise prices for a new book).
  9. Reading stats can have a negative effect on reading. I’m guilty of falling into this trap: We set a reading goal to read xx number of books in a year, then plan our reading to make sure we meet that target. I think readers (again, including myself) who focus on the numbers, page counts, etc often end up avoiding longer or more challenging books out of fear of missing their targets.
  10. Celebrity books clubs are good for readers and the book industry. Don’t scoff! I have a post coming soon about celebrity book clubs in general, but my quick take is that there are some really great books that get attention because they’re book club picks, when they might have totally gone unnoticed otherwise. I think these type of clubs overall do a great service for the reading community.

I’ll just wrap things up with what I think should be a POPULAR opinion: People should read whatever they want! Read what makes you happy! That’s it, that’s all that matters.

What are your unpopular bookish opinions?

If you wrote a TTT post this week, please share your link!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Springy Covers

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 Books with Springy Covers. When I think of springy covers, I think of light colors, flowers… and the occasional cupcake too.

So here we go — my top ten books that give me spring vibes:

  1. Pat of Silver Bush by L. M. Montgomery
  2. Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady
  3. The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner
  4. Ready or Not by Cara Bastone
  5. Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez
  6. The Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan
  7. Jane in Love by Rachel Givney
  8. Cotillion by Georgette Heyer
  9. All’s Fair in Love and War by Virginia Heath
  10. A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey

What books make you think of spring?

If you wrote a TTT post this week, please share your link!

Top Ten Tuesday: Just foolin’…

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 April Fools Day-themed — officially, it’s Books You’d be a Fool Not to Read. That didn’t really call to me, so I’m taking a simpler approach and highlighting ten books with “fool” in the title.

First, a bunch that I’ve read:

1) Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell: A terrific novel set behind the scenes in Shakespeare’s time. (review)

2) Fool Moon by Jim Butcher: The 2nd book in the Dresden series. This is one of the books that made me realize — yup, I’m hooked!

3) The Queen’s Fool by Philippa Gregory: My first book by this author. I loved the way a Jewish woman serves as a viewpoint into the court of Queen Mary.

4) Fool by Christopher Moore: A brilliant (and super funny) King Lear retelling! Still one of my favorite Moore books.

5) The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers by Margaret George: One of the first Tudor novels I ever read. I remember being totally immersed.

6) Fool’s Paradise by Dale Walker: Non-fiction travelogue about Saudi Arabia. I read this so long ago that I barely remember it — but I do know I enjoyed it at the time.

And to round out my list, a few more that fit my foolish topic:

7) Bloody Fool for Love by William Ritter: It’s a Buffy Spike prequel! How can I resist? I hope to read this later this year, maybe as a nice summer diversion.

8) A Fool and His Honey by Charlaine Harris: This is the 6th book in the Aurora Teagarden series, which I haven’t read… but I’ve been meaning to give it a try, since I’ve enjoyed so many other of her books.

9) Fools Rush In by Kristan Higgins: A few bookish friends have recommended this author over the years, and this book looks especially cute!

10) Gimpel the Fool and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer: I feel like I should have read this story already! I know I’ve heard about it, and we definitely had books of stories by this author in my house growing up.

Happy April Fool’s Day! Do you have any other “foolish” books to recommend?

If you wrote a TTT post this week, please share your link!

End note: Since I mentioned Buffy… Fool for Love is one of my favorite Buffy episodes (season 5, episode 7), and since it fits the theme, I thought I’d end with a little photo montage!

Top Ten Tuesday: It’s all above LOVE… My ten favorite love stories from this past year of reading (new & improved for 2025)

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 twelve favorite love stories that I read in the past year:

  1. Every Summer After by Carley Fortune (review)
  2. Love You a Latke by Amanda Elliot (review)
  3. The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right by Suzanne Allain (review)
  4. Better Than Fiction by Alexis Martin (review)
  5. Pardon My Frenchie by Farrah Rochon (review)
  6. My Vampire Plus-One by Jenna Levine (review)
  7. The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima (review)
  8. Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell (review)
  9. Finding Mr. Write by Kelley Armstrong (review)
  10. Funny Story by Emily Henry (review)
  11. The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest (review)
  12. The Only Game in Town by Lacie Waldon (review)

Yes, I went to twelve! I just couldn’t decide which to drop, and had to hold myself back from including even more!

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!

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Top Ten Tuesday: 2024 Releases I Was Excited to Read but Still Haven’t Gotten To

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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 2024 Releases I Was Excited to Read but Still Haven’t Gotten To, with the added question: will you be prioritizing these this year?

This was a surprisingly tough topic. I did a pretty good job in 2024 of reading the books I was most excited about. Of the remaining 2024 releases on my TBR list, I can really only name seven that fit the excited description — the rest are maybe, someday books, but not truly high priorities.

Here are my seven books for this week’s list:

1) Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis

Synopsis: Welcome to the Grand Abeona Hotel: home of the finest food, the sweetest service, and the very best views the galaxy has to offer. All year round it moves from planet to planet, system to system, pampering guests across the furthest reaches of the milky way. The last word in sub-orbital luxury—and an absolute magnet for intrigue. Intrigues such as: Why are there love poems in the lobby inbox? How many Imperial spies are currently on board? What is the true purpose of the Problem Solver’s conference? And perhaps most pertinently—who is driving the ship?

Priority for 2025? Yes, I do really want to read this one, and I’m on my library’s hold list.

2) The Naturalist Society by Carrie Vaughn

Synopsis: In this magical tale of self-discovery from New York Times bestselling author Carrie Vaughn, a young widow taps into the power that will change the world—if the man’s world she lives in doesn’t destroy her and her newfound friends first.

Priority for 2025? Yes. I’ve enjoyed so many of this author’s books, and bought a Kindle edition as soon as it was released.

3) The Prisoner’s Throne by Holly Black

Synopsis: An imprisoned prince. A vengeful queen. And a battle that will determine the future of Elfhame... From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black comes the stunning blood-soaked conclusion to the Stolen Heir duology.

Priority for 2025? Sigh. Unlikely. The Stolen Heir didn’t wow me the way the original Elfhame trilogy did, and by the time The Prisoner’s Throne came out, I barely remembered what had happened in The Stolen Heir. I’d need to reread the first book before reading the second, and right now, that’s not something I see happening.

4) My Salty Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

Synopsis: Perfect for fans of The Princess Bride and A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, New York Times bestselling authors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows are back with a fantastical, romantical, and piratical historical fantasy remix that marries the story of The Little Mermaid with the life and times of infamous lady pirate Mary Read.

Priority for 2025: Yes! Or at least, I hope so. I have two other “Mary” books to read first (My Contrary Mary and My Imaginary Mary)… but I love the sound of all three, and definitely want to make an attempt!

5) The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields

Synopsis: The Honey Witch of Innisfree can never find true love. That is her curse to bear. But when a young woman who doesn’t believe in magic arrives on her island, sparks fly in this deliciously sweet debut novel of magic, hope, and love overcoming all.

Priority for 2025? Maybe. I’m interested, and I have a copy in my Kindle library… but I can’t say that it’s a burning priority at the moment.

6) Annie Bot by Sierra Green

Synopsis: Annie Bot was created to be the perfect girlfriend for her human owner, Doug. Designed to satisfy his emotional and physical needs, she has dinner ready for him every night, wears the cute outfits he orders for her, and adjusts her libido to suit his moods. True, she’s not the greatest at keeping Doug’s place spotless, but she’s trying to please him. She’s trying hard. She’s learning, too.

Priority for 2025? This is a big of a cheat, because this is coming up for me as a book group book, so I’ll definitely be reading it!

7) Storybook Ending by Poppy Alexander

Synopsis: From the author of The Littlest Library—a heartwarming novel about a widowed children’s book author who moves into a cottage in the English countryside and finds herself face-to-face with the handsome and brooding blacksmith who lives next door.

Priority for 2025? Yes! I only came across this book late in the year, but the cover drew me in right away, and I’m looking forward to curling up with it when I’m in the mood for a cozy romance.

What 2024 releases do you still hope to read in 2025? Have you read any from my list? If so, which do you recommend?

If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!

Top Ten Tuesday: New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2024

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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 New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2024.

I did a Top 5 Tuesday post on this same topic at the end of December… but there are so many new-to-me authors I enjoyed in 2024, so why not highlight even more? Check out my previous post, here, and don’t miss the T5T fun with Meeghan Reads!

First, here are the five new-to-me authors I features on my T5T post:

  1. Carley Fortune — I’ve now read all three of her available novels!
  2. Ali Brady — Same — three read, eagerly awaiting a new release!
  3. Meg Shaffer – Read two!
  4. Emilia Hart – Read one, waiting for her upcoming release in March
  5. Julie Leong – Read her debut, and hope there are more books soon to come

And now, even more! Here are ten more new-to-me authors I read in 2024 — all of whom are authors whose books I’ll be looking for in the future as well:

  1. Douglas Preston
  2. Ayelet Tsabari
  3. Holly Gramazio
  4. Ray Nayler
  5. Sarah Beth Durst
  6. Toshikazu Kawaguchi
  7. Katherine Rundell
  8. Alexa Martin
  9. Hildur Knutsdottir
  10. Virginia Heath

Which new-to-you authors did you discover in 2024?

If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!

Top Ten Tuesday: The Ten Most Recent Additions to My Kindle Library

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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 The Ten Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection.

I’ve bought a few hardcover editions of favorite books over the last several weeks, but since those are all books that I’ve already read (and in some cases, already have in my e-library), I thought I’d focus on my greatest buying temptation: Kindle books. I can’t resist a good Kindle price break, even though the result is having more e-books than I have time to read. It’s not the worst problem to have!

Here are the ten Kindle books I’ve added most recently:

  1. Burn by Peter Heller
  2. Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce
  3. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
  4. One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware
  5. Ready or Not by Cara Bastone
  6. Says Who? by Anne Curzan
  7. The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
  8. The Glory by Herman Wouk
  9. The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry
  10. There’s Something About Mira by Sonali Dev

Have you read any of my recent additions? What books have you bought most recently?

If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!

Top Ten Tuesday & Top 5 Tuesday: Bookish Goals for 2025

It’s Tuesday… the listiest day of the week!

I enjoy two different Tuesday memes, and once again, their topics align this week — so I’m linking up with both.

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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 Bookish Goals for 2025, with the prompt: How many books do you want to read this year? Are you hoping to read outside your comfort zone? Are there books you meant to read last year but never got to? Are there new-to-you authors you’re hoping to read?

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Meeghan Reads — and the topic is Top 5 bookish resolutions for 2025, with the prompt: What are 5 bookish resolutions you want to achieve in 2025? Any reading challenges you will be signing up for? Or would you like to focus on a specific genre or diversity to read more from? (Click here to see Meeghan’s upcoming T5T topics for January – March)

Isn’t it great when Tuesday topics fit together? I’m not necessarily answering their specific prompt questions — focusing more on my reading and book-shelving habits than on the specific books I want to read. (And not that much has changed from this time last year — I could probably just copy and paste my entire post from 2024 and call it a day!)

My goals are less about numbers, genres, or challenges. Instead, I’ll talk about my intentions: I intend to improve some of my reading and bookish habits, although my focus may shift during the year. Below are goals (intentions) that I’ll try to keep in mind as 2025 rolls along.

Read whatever I feel like, as much as I can. I say this every year… and every year it’s worth repeating! I’m always happiest when I read without a plan. It’s a wonderful feeling! Apart from ARCs and book group books, this is the approach that works for me… which is why I tend not to participate in very few (if any) reading challenges.

Keep ARC requests manageable, and keep up with the ARCs I’ve committed to. I’m a little over-extended for the first few months of 2025, but once I read all my February and March ARCs, my commitments should be much more under control. I intend to slow down on requesting any additional ARCs, other than ARCs for books I intend to read upon release no matter what.

Plan ahead to make time for my book group books. We have our book-of-the-month picks all set for 2025, and I’d like to be more thoughtful about planning my reading time so I include these books without feeling pressure or worrying about deadlines.

Commit to reading (or sampling) my priority series for 2025, which I highlighted in my series-to-read post for this year.

Keep my Goodreads challenge goal realistic. I’ve ended up exceeding my Goodreads challenge goal during each of the past several years, but that has a lot to do with including graphic novels and children’s books in the mix. Which is great, and I love when that happens, but I don’t want to assume it’ll be true every year. I’m starting with a more modest number to keep the pressure off and allow time for reading bigger books too, if I feel like it. And if I find myself ahead of target by mid-year, I can always adjust to a more ambitious goal.

Remember to note the format of the books I read. This isn’t a big deal, but I’ve been noticing that I tend to read certain genres via audiobook and others via print, and I probably should say which is which in my reviews. Not that it truly matters, but the audio experience can be very different than the print experience, and even just for my own reference, I’d like to be more consistent about classifying books correctly.

Continue finding time for classics. I’ve been participating in the Classics Club spins for the past couple of years, which I love — but I have a big list of classics yet to read, and I’d like to carve out some time for at least one or two outside of the “spin cycle”.

Continue to pare down the number of physical books on my shelves, and be mindful about which I keep and which I send on their way. 2024 was the year where one of my dreams came true, and I finally installed my very own Little Free Library. I’ve begun sorting my many, many books into keepers and non-keepers. For the ones I no longer feel the need to own, I’m trying to sell the ones in best condition on Pango Books, and most of the others are going into the LFL.

Do a big audiobook reread: I’ve been wanting to do an audio re-read of the Green Creek series by TJ Klune. I haven’t started yet — the books are long, and I only want to start when I know I’ll have both the time and the focus to listen to the four books in the series straight through.

What are your bookish goals for 2025? Whatever they may be… wishing you lots of bookish delights!

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2025

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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 Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2025.

Despite good intentions (read more from my shelves! request fewer ARCs!), I find myself with an absolute TON of ARCs and preorders for new books releasing over the next few months. Yes, I’m looking forward to reading them all (that’s why I requested/ordered them!), but it feels like a lot to keep up with, no matter how amazing they’ll all be.

Still — I really am excited about reading these upcoming new releases!

Here are (just some of) the books I can’t wait to read in the first half of 2025:

Listed in order of release date:

  1. The Sirens by Emilia Hart (3/4/2025)
  2. The Tomb of Dragons (Cemeteries of Amalo, #3) by Katherine Addison (3/11/2025)
  3. The Martian Contingency (Lady Astronaut, #4) by Mary Robinette Kowal (3/18/2025)
  4. When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi (3/25/2025)
  5. Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (4/1/2025)
  6. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (4/22/2025)
  7. Overgrowth by Mira Grant (5/6/2025)
  8. Death at a Highland Wedding (A Rip Through Time, #4) by Kelley Armstrong (5/20/2025)
  9. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (6/3/2025)
  10. The Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady (6/3/2024)
  11. One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune (5/22/2025)

Yes, that’s eleven, not ten: I just couldn’t decide which one to drop!

What upcoming new releases are you most excited for? If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!