Tag Archives: TTT

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Characters I’d Follow On Social Media

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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 Characters I’d Follow On Social Media. That’s a tough one! But sure, I’ll play along. Here are a bunch of fictional characters who I’d bet would be oodles of fun on social media.

1. Claire Fraser (Outlander): No better source for handy medical tips and instructions on how to grow your own penicillin.

2. Verity Price (InCryptid series by Seanan McGuire): For super impressive free running videos, plus maybe some tango lessons too.

3. Catherine Morland (Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen): You just know she’d be an awesome book blogger, right? Or actually, fan fiction would probably be perfect for Catherine, especially if there are vampires and haunted houses involved.

4. Emma Woodhouse (Emma by Jane Austen): For all the gossip, of course!

5. Geralt of Rivia (Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski): Okay, granted, Geralt himself is pretty anti-social… but I could see Jaskier setting up a fan site and getting tons of followers while he creates memes about Geralt’s latest battles.

6. Emma Sheridan (Finding Fraser by KC Dyer): This one might be almost too obvious. In the book, Emma goes off to Scotland to find her very own Jamie Fraser, and blogs about it. So why not follow along?

7. Lara Jean Covey (Lara Jean books by Jenny Han): She’s so adorable! You know her posts would be the highlight of your day.

8. Prudence Maccon Akeldama (Custard Protocol series): Prudence is snarky and funny, goes on mad adventures, and has the BEST social connections.

9. Evelyn Hugo (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid): All the glamour! All the Hollywood scandals!

10. Paul Sheldon (Misery by Stephen King): Because I’m his biggest fan.

And hey, if you really want to see fictional characters having fun with technology, check out this amazing book:

What characters would you want to follow on social media?

Please share your thoughts, and if you wrote a TTT post this week, please share your link!

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Top Ten Tuesday: Ten books that gave me severe book hangovers

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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 Last Ten Books That Gave Me a Book Hangover.

Instead of the most recent 10, I thought I’d go with a mix of older and newer books that gave me HUGE book hangovers.

 

1. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Of course. This is a world I entered and never wanted to leave. And maybe that accounts for how many times I’ve reread the series!

2. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell: Another I’ve reread multiple times. And no matter how many times I read it, it still packs a punch.

3. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer: Don’t laugh!! It makes me cringe now, but thinking back to the early days of Twilight mania, as soon as I finished this book, I started it over again from the beginning, because I was on a trip, didn’t have New Moon with me, and couldn’t even think about reading anything else but this book, over and over again!

4. The Newsflesh series by Mira Grant: Honestly, I just could not get these books out of my mind. Once I started, I couldn’t stop until I’d read all the books and stories. Amazing!

5. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger: Another one that I had to start over from the beginning as soon as I finished reading it.

6. A Witch in Time by Constance Sayers: This book hasn’t even been released yet! It’s coming soon (early March — don’t miss out!), and I hope it’s a big success. I have not been able to get the story out of my head since finishing it. (Check out my review, if you’re interested!)

7. Our War by Craig DiLouie: Ooh boy, this book was devastating and disturbing, and with everything going on in our country these days, it’s no wonder that I find myself flashing back to scenes from this book.

8. The Pact by Jodi Picoult: This was the first book I ever read by Jodi Picoult, and it just about killed me. I couldn’t not shake this book off for a long, long time.

9. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein: Man, this book made me ugly cry so hard. I’m still not over it.

10. All the Winters After by Seré Prince Halverson: I loved the characters, the setting, and the plot itself, and just wanted more and more when it was done.

What books have left you with book hangovers?

Please share your thoughts, and if you wrote a TTT post this week, please share your link!

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

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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 Love Freebie, which means we all put our own spin on the topic of LOVE.

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.

9. The Summer series by Jenny Han: Not quite as wonderful as the Lara Jean books, but still sweet and touching.

10. Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center: Powerful and moving.

There you have it! But enough about me… 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!

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

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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 Books On My TBR I Predict Will Be 5-Star Reads. Fun, right? I may not have a crystal ball, but I have a pretty strong feeling that these books are going to rock!

 

  1. A Killing Frost by Seanan McGuire: My #1 pick for 5-star status, because how could the new Toby Daye book be anything but amazing?
  2. Smoke Bitten by Patricia Briggs: Same as above, but insert “Mercy Thompson”…
  3. The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal: I love the Lady Astronaut books so much
  4. Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey: Releasing this week! I’ve loved her other books, so I have high hopes for this one.
  5. The Book of Koli by M. R. Carey: Another author I know I can count on!
  6. Time After Time by LIsa Grunwald: There’s always room on my shelf for a timey-wimey story.
  7. The Goblin Emperor by Katherin Addison: Not a new release, but a book from my shelf that I’m determined to finally read.
  8. The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman: Also not a new release, but I’m excited to read it.
  9. The Deep by Alma Katsu: I can’t imagine not loving this.
  10. In Five Years by Rebecca Searle: I just love the sound of the plot.

What are your five-star predictions for 2020? Do we have any in common?

Please share your thoughts, and if you wrote a TTT post this week, please share your link!

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Top Ten Tuesday: Cover Elements I Love & Loathe

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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 Book Cover Freebie – meaning we come up with our own spin on the topic, so long as it relates to book covers.

I thought I’d keep it simple and highlight types of covers that I love… plus a couple that I loathe.

I LOVE:

1. Covers featuring dreamy characters gazing out to sea — my favorite example being this lovely cover for The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley:

2. Bright colors on a black background: Maybe it became popular back with Twilight, but I’m always a sucker for the bright-on-black look.

3. Cutesy cartoon-y romance covers:

4. Cheesy 70s covers:

5. Moody urban fantasy heroes:

6. A series with a committed cover theme:

7. Bonkers looks for a bonkers book — such as these covers for books by Grady Hendrix:

8. Covers full of YUM — I’m not a foodie, but I do love a good cupcake!

 

And just a couple types of covers that I LOATHE:

9. Bare chests. Muscles. Tattoos. Muscle-y tattooed chests. You get what I mean.

[Note: Sorry — I started looking for images to go with this one, and I just couldn’t. For whatever reason, this type of cover makes me cringe SO much.]

10. Movie/TV tie-ins. I mean, I love a great adaptation as much as anyone, but I still prefer my book covers to be just book covers, not pictures of movie or TV stars. Even for my beloved Outlander series, I’d still take an old-fashioned cover over the new Jamie/Claire/TV cover (and don’t get me wrong, I adore the TV series!)

 

Are there certain types of covers that you love or loathe? Let me know what you think!

And if you wrote a TTT post this week, please share your link.

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Top Ten Tuesday: The Ten Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf

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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 Bookshelf. I’m going to double up here and highlight two sets of ten — the ten most recent physical books I purchased, as well as the ten most recent Kindle books I added.

My most recent print additions:

And my ten most recent e-books:
[Note: I tend to grab e-books I’m interested in whenever I see a price break, which is the case with most of these…]

Have you read any of these? Which do you think should go to the top of my priority list?

And what are your most recent additions to your shelves? Please share your TTT links!

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Top Ten Tuesday: New-to-Me Authors I Read In 2019

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snowy10

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 Discoveries I Made In 2019. For this week’s list, I thought I’d use a favorite annual topic, focusing on new-to-me authors I had the pleasure of “discovering” during the past year.

Here are some of the great books I read in 2019 that are by authors I’d never read before:

1) John Boyne — Now that I’ve read The Heart’s Invisible Furies, I must read more of his work.

2) Craig DiLouie — I loved the two powerful and disturbing novels by this author that I read in 2019: One of Us and Our War.

3) L. M. Montgomery – I finally read the Anne of Green Gables series — all eight books! In this new year, I hope to read some of her other works as well.

4) Christina Henry – I loved The Girl in Red and The Mermaid. Now I need to read everything else she’s written.

5) Leigh Bardugo — I really enjoyed the complicated, creepy Ninth House. I’m not sure that I’m interested in reading her YA books, but I certainly want a sequel to Ninth House!

6) Theodora Goss — The Thorn and the Blossom was beautiful, and I got a huge kick out of The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter. I’ll be continuing that series shortly, I hope.

7) Kelli Estes – Today We Go Home is a powerful dual-timeline narrative focusing on women at war. Now that I’ve read it, I need to read her earlier novel which I missed when it was one of my book group’s picks. Talented writer!

8) T. Kingfisher – The Twisted Ones was perfectly creepy (and has great humor and a great dog). I’ll be wanting to read more by this author too!

9) Alix E. Harrow — Her debut novel The Ten Thousand Doors of January was brilliant. Can’t wait to see what she does next!

10) Lindy West — I don’t read a lot of non-fiction, but I’m so glad I made time for Shrill. This author has a lot to say, and knows how to say it.

Are you a fan of any of these new-to-me authors? Are there any of their works that you’d particularly recommend?

What bookish discoveries did you make in 2019? Please share your TTT links!

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Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Book Releases for the First Half of 2020 (plus July!)

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snowy10

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 Book Releases for the First Half of 2020.

I do fee like I’ve covered this topic already in previous TTT posts (like my winter 2020 TBR list and a list of upcoming ARCs), but what the heck — I never get tired of making top 10 lists! So, here are ten MORE books releasing between now and the middle of July that I’m super excited to read.

  1. Parable of the Sower graphic novel (1/28)
  2. Meat Cute by Gail Carriger (2/16)
  3. When We Were Magic by Sarah Gaily (3/3)
  4. The Book of Koli by M. R. Carey (4/14)
  5. Malorie by Josh Malerman (5/19)
  6. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (5/19)
  7. The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner (5/26)
  8. The Ghosts of Sherwood by Carrie Vaughn (6/9)
  9. Peace Talks (The Dresden Files, #16) by Jim Butcher (7/14)
  10. The Relentless Moon (Lady Astronaut, #3) by Mary Robinette Kowal (7/14)

What new releases are you most looking forward to in 2020? Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Books I Read In 2019

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snowy10

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 Favorite Books I Read In 2019.

According to my Goodreads records for 2019, I gave a five-star rating to 63 books in 2019! So how am I supposed to narrow my list down to just ten?

Quick answer: I can’t. So, for this week’s Top 10 Tuesday, I’m sharing my 15 favorite books for 2019! (Review links are included where available — click through if you want to know more about any of these EXCELLENT books…)

  1. Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Reid Jenkins (review)
  2. Circe by Madeline Miller (review)
  3. A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C. A. Fletcher (review)
  4. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson (review)
  5. The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal — a re-read, but I loved it all over again, so it belongs on this list! (review)
  6. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery (review)
  7. Our War by Craig DiLouie (review)
  8. The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See (review)
  9. The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne — my final 5-star read of the year! No review yet, but I loved this book!!
  10. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn (review)
  11. Today We Go Home by Kelli Estes (review)
  12. The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman (review)
  13. Wanderers by Chuck Wendig (review)
  14. Recursion by Blake Crouch (review)
  15. The Beka Cooper trilogy by Tamora Pierce (review)

And wait, there’s more! After posting, I realized that I left off another book that was definitely a favorite book of 2019, and I just couldn’t let it go!

16. The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow (review) — I’m not sure how I missed this amazing book when I put my list together! Whew, I feel better now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What were your favorite books of 2019? Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top ten bookish gifts I’d love to find by the light of my menorah (2019)

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snowy10

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 I Hope to Find Under My Tree — but I switched it up a bit to reflect my holiday celebrations!

My TTT list is partially wish list items, and partially things I’d probably never buy myself, but would 100% be happy to have as gifts. (And yes, some of these are repeats from previous years. A reader can dream, can’t she?) Anyway, practically no one buys me books as gifts, because they all assume I already have ALL the books.

1. There are a few music biographies that I probably wouldn’t buy myself, but I’d love to receive as gifts:

2. I came across this adorable DIY bookstore craft kit. Doesn’t it look like fun? (Available to order via Signals catalog)

3. I love board games, so there are a bunch I might put on a wish list, but sticking with a bookish theme, I think this one looks perfect for book lovers:

 

4. These Penguin hardcovers have been on my want list for years:

penguin-sci-fi

5. This is a hold-over from previous years’ lists. I will always want this Pendleton blanket, but would never actually spend that kind of money on it. (Plus, I don’t think Pendleton is still making them, so good luck tracking one down!)

6. The October Daye series by Seanan McGuire is one of my very favorites, and this fall the first book, Rosemary & Rue, was reissued in hardcover with a bonus novella. And the fangirl in me absolutely wants a copy (even though I already own the paperback and the e-book).

 

7. Any fun, cute bookish accessory, like bookmarks, bookends, mugs, etc!

(Note: My daughter actually just gave me two of these items — the poster and the first lines mug — so I’m a very happy camper and a super blessed mom!)

8, 9, 10, and beyond: Books that I’d love to own, and have either (a) borrowed from the library, (b) read the e-book, (c) listened to the audiobook, or (d) recently added to my TBR list:

Wishing all a peaceful, joyous holiday season!

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