Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books On My Summer To-Read List (Part One)

It's Tuesday again! How did that happen? This summer is just zipping by...The heat is crazy here in the Phoenix area, so I've been hibernating inside wth the air conditioning on high. I have a backyard pool, but it's way too hot to read out there. I'd melt in an instant. Even the pool water is on the warm side! At any rate, this week's TTT prompt is: Bookish Wishes. This topic comes up twice a year, and I've never felt entirely comfortable with it. The idea is that you list books that you would like to own, including your Amazon wishlist, and other bloggers can gift those titles to you if they feel so inclined. Like I said, not my thing. Instead, I'm going to start next week's list early, and make it a two-parter. That topic is much more to my liking: Top Ten Books On My Summer 2026 To-Read List. I could make a Top 100 list on this topic—choosing 20 will be a cinch.

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

Top Ten Books On My Summer To-Read List (Part One)

1. Building 903 by Lois Lowry (available September 29, 2026)—I just received an e-ARC of this upcoming middle-grade dystopian novel from a children's fiction icon. It sounds intriguing. The story revolves around twin siblings who live in a world that is controlled by a tyrannical leader. Because the citizens feel comfortable and safe, they allow it, even though many despise the person in charge. When one of the twins disappears, no one wants to entertain such unpleasantless. Then, a 135-year-old woman lets the remaining twin in on a secret that might help her locate the missing child: books are portals that can lead to truth, freedom, and answers.

2. The Killing Time by Elly Griffiths (available November 17, 2026)—I loved The Frozen People, the first installment in a new time travel murder mystery series, so I was thrilled to get an e-ARC of the sequel. In this outing, Detective Ali Dawson is investigating the cold case of a boy who purportedly committed suicide by jumping off a tall building. She believes he was manipulated by a psychic who convinced him he could fly. Although Ali's team has been forbidden from time travelling after a major problem during their last visit to the past, she know she needs more insight into her current case. A quick dip back in time can't hurt, right? Naturally, things immediately begin to go awry.

3. A Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen—Her Royal Spyness was such a fun read that I'm eager to continue on with the series. Once I learned that the late Katherine Kellgren—one of my favorite audiobook narrators—voices the series, I grabbed an audiobook of A Royal Pain from Audible. This time around, Lady Georgie has been asked by the Queen of England to entertain a Bavarian princess. When you're a penniless aristocrat, that's a lot easier said than done. Caught up in the whirlwind of trying to make her London home look like a palace, complete with a serving staff she can't afford to hire, and attempting to cure the princess of some bad habits, Georgie barely has time to think about the dead body the royal may have had a hand in murdering...

4. A Dreadful Splendor by B.R. Myers—Lark recently raved about this Gothic murder mystery on her blog, and I immediately added it to my TBR list. The story is about a young con woman in Victorian England who poses as a spiritualist in order to sucker the wealthy out of their pocket money. When she's jailed for fraud, a stranger offers her a way to earn her freedom: convince a young nobleman that his recently deceased wife is resting in peace. Although it seems like an easy task, it's not. The husband believes his spouse was murdered and he wants the fake psychic to help him prove it. 

5. Rook by Sharon Cameron—Other than her forthcoming novel, Up From the Ashes (available October 6, 2026), I've read all of Cameron's books but this one. Its plot is a little hard to explain, so here's the publisher's version:

History has a way of repeating itself. In the Sunken City that was once Paris, all who oppose the new revolution are being put to the blade. Except for those who disappear from their prison cells, a red-tipped rook feather left in their place. Is the mysterious Red Rook a savior of the innocent or a criminal?

Meanwhile, across the sea in the Commonwealth, Sophia Bellamy's arranged marriage to the wealthy René Hasard is the last chance to save her family from ruin. But when the search for the Red Rook comes straight to her doorstep, Sophia discovers that her fiancé is not all he seems. Which is only fair, because neither is she.

As the Red Rook grows bolder and the stakes grow higher, Sophia and René find themselves locked in a tantalizing game of cat and mouse. Daring intrigue, delicious romance, and spine-tingling suspense fill the pages of this extraordinary tale from award-winning author Sharon Cameron.

6. Sanctuary by James Cleary—In a post-apocalyptic U.S., half the country is drowning in water and the other half is suffocating from deadly dust. Having prepared for this eventuality, billionaire John Brandt, along with his family and their security team, are retreating to the underground mansion he has been preparing. They're not the only ones desperate to find safety, however. A fierce group of raiders are also headed to the Sanctuary, and they will do anything to take it for themselves.

7. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke—Piranesi isn't my usual type of read, but it's my book club's pick for June. Here's the official blurb:

Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has.

In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend, the Other. At other times he brings tributes of food to the Dead. But mostly, he is alone.

Messages begin to appear, scratched out in chalk on the pavements. There is someone new in the House. But who are they and what do they want? Are they a friend or do they bring destruction and madness as the Other claims?

Lost texts must be found; secrets must be uncovered. The world that Piranesi thought he knew is becoming strange and dangerous.

The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.

8. The Castaways by Lucy Clarke—I've been enjoying Clarke's destination thrillers lately. This one is about a woman who is filled with regret and grief after missing a vacation to Fiji that she was supposed to go on with her sister two years ago. Her sister's small plane disappeared, presumably crashed, assumedly killing all aboard. When the pilot suddenly shows up in Fiji claiming amnesia, the sister who was left behind travels to the country to figure out what really happened to her missing sibling.

9. An Artful Dodge by Karen Odden—This historical novel concerns a notorious all-female thieving ring in Victorian England. Twenty-year-old Kit Jimeson is the gang's best swindler, but she's ready to be done with that life. She's been saving her earnings so that both she and her younger sister can attempt an honest, respectable existence. Just as Kit's about to walk away, the gang's former leader returns with revenge on her mind. Kit is her most valuable weapon, and she won't let her go without a fight. Kit can only win her freedom by pulling off an impossible heist, one that will more than likely lead her straight to the hangman's noose.

10. The Séance Garden by Juliet Blackwell (available July 28, 2026)—Although her academic career is focused on the historical and societal significance of the occult, Professor Harper Grae is a long-time skeptic. Until she sees something otherworldly that she can't explain while on a cheesy ghost tour in Monterey, California. When the tour stumbles across the dead body of a local artist, Harper finds herself embroiled in the ensuing murder investigation. Learning that this is not the only woman to die on this particular property, the professor is forced to ask herself if it's possible the home is haunted.

There you go, ten books I want to read this summer. Have you read any of them? Which appeals to you most? I'd love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

Happy TTT!