Hill, dale, mountain, valley, ocean, swamp, gorge, narrow...there are hundreds of words to describe the geographical wonders of our world. Not surprisingly, many of them show up in the titles of books. Using this list as my guide, it didn't take me long to gather a bunch of them for today's TTT prompt: Top Ten Books With Geographical Terms in the Title (suggested by Lisa at Hopewell's Public Library of Life). I tweaked it just a tad by focusing on books on my TBR list. 

If you want to join in the TTT fun (and you do!), click on over to That Artsy Reader Girl for all the details.

1. These Silent Woods by Kami Cunningham Grant—It just so happens that my current read fits this week's topic. I'm enjoying this quietly compelling novel about a man and his 8-year-old daughter whose peaceful life in an isolated cabin is threatened by a string of events that could expose a dangerous secret from the past and destroy their idyllic existence forever. 

2. The Saints of Swallow Hill by Donna Everhart—In the middle of the Depression, a desperate widow disguises herself as a man in order to get a job at a turpentine camp in Georgia. Despite the grimness of her situation, she begins to envision a new life for herself, if only she can come to terms with the sins of her past.

3. The Quarry Girls by Jess Lourey—Thrillers about small towns with big secrets always appeal to me. This one concerns a Minnesota town where teenage girls are disappearing. Heather and Brenda are keeping a secret about something disturbing they saw one night. Are the incidents connected? Too scared to go to the authorities, Heather decides to investigate on her own...

4. Smile Beach Murder by Alicia Bessette—The first installment in a cozy mystery series, this one stars Callie, a woman who returns to her hometown in the Outer Banks after being laid off from her job as a reporter. Still haunted by the death of her mother, who fell from the top of the local lighthouse, Callie is shocked when another woman dies in the same manner. She doesn't believe either woman committed suicide, as the rumors suggest, so what did happen? Callie is determined to find out.

5. The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding by Lydia Kang—It's 1942 and the Fielding siblings are doing what they can for the war effort on the home front. When they discover a mysterious stranger hiding under their back stairs, they're drawn into her web, but who is she? And what does she want from them? Can they trust the enigmatic stranger or should they turn her in to the authorities?

6. On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family by Lisa See—In this non-fiction book, See tells her family's story, starting with the emigration of her great-great grandfather from China to California.

7. Loch Down Abbey by Beth Cowan-Erskine—I've mentioned this dark comedy/murder mystery set in Scotland before. It sounds clever and funny.

8. The Lost Girls of Willowbrook by Ellen Marie Wiseman—Based on a true story, this historical novel is about Sage Winters, a girl who discovers her dead sister is actually alive. Sage knew her sister was different than other people, but does she really deserve to be institutionalized at the Willowbrook State School? Sage vows to find out the truth about her sister and the infamous school for herself, no matter what it takes.

9. The Marsh House by Zoë Somerville—This dual-timeline novel tells the story of two women in different eras and the mysterious, secret-filled house that ties them together.

10. Race to the Bottom of the Sea by Lindsay Eager—This rollicking middle-grade adventure tells the tale of Fidelia Quail, an 11-year-old who's wracked by guilt after her parents are killed in an accident involving a submarine Fidelia invented. When she's kidnapped by a treasure-obssessed pirate, she must use her vast knowledge of the sea to help him find what he seeks in order to avoid walking the plank. The discovery that her pirate captor is more than he seems throws her for a loop and plunges her head-first into a puzzling mystery.

There you are, ten books with geographical terms in the titles that I want to read. Have you read any of these? What did you think? Which titles and terms are on your list today? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

Happy TTT!      

When I saw today's prompt—Top Ten Books Set in Places I'd Love to Visit (Real or Fictional)—it sounded familiar. I was sure I'd done this topic before sometime in the past and yet, no matter how hard I searched my blog, I couldn't find a list with that theme. Although a few settings came immediately to mind (Hogwarts, Avonlea, Narnia, etc.), I struggled to come up with a bigger list than that, even though there are many settings that come alive so vividly in books that I long to step foot inside them. Nevertheless, I decided to focus on just one of those places: Scotland. You may remember that I traveled to the U.K. last year for sightseeing and family history exploration and that I did, indeed, visit the country. It enchanted me so much that I've been planning a return trip ever since I got home (in fact, we've been putting a lot of our new home purchased on a British Airways credit card to rack up travel points). So, today, I'm going to cheat a little and share with you ten books on my TBR that are set in a place I would love to revisit. 

If you want to join in the TTT fun, head on over to That Artsy Reader Girl for all the details.

1.  Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin—As much as I love his homeland and mysteries, I've never read anything by this Scottish author. Knots and Crosses is the first installment in his well-known Inspector Rebus series and I think it's high time I read it!

2. Women of the Dunes by Sarah Maine—Libby Snow's third great-grandmother was obsessed with the legend of Ulla, a Viking maiden who washed up on shore with the almost lifeless body of her husband, inspiring fantastical tales and epic poems. When Libby, an archaeologist, receives permission to dig in the place Ulla allegedly appeared on Scotland's western coast, she discovers the bones of a much newer corpse. The stories of Ulla and Libby entwine with that of the dead woman as Libby searches for answers to explain the murder that caused her death.

3. Loch Down Abbey by Beth Cowan-Erskine—Another murder mystery, this one revolves around the Inverkillen Family, residents of the titular home. With a mysterious illness running rampant through Scotland, the whole country is in a panic. The Inverkillens are already dealing with an alarming toilet paper shortage and Nanny's inconvenient death when Lord Inverkillen is found dead. Because of the lockdown keeping everyone at home, the only suspects in his murder are members of his family and staff. It's up to the head housekeeper to figure out who did him in.

4. 500 Miles From You by Jenny Colgan—Colgan is a Scottish author who writes fun, upbeat rom-coms. This one is the third entry in her Scottish Bookshop series. I enjoyed the first two and am looking forward to this newest installment. 

5. Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon—Written in the 1930s, this if the first book in a trilogy about a woman whose quiet pastoral life in Scotland is changed forever by World War I.

6. Lockdown by Peter May—Speaking of lockdowns, I'm intrigued by the premise of this novel by one of my favorite Scottish mystery writers. I thought it was set in Scotland, but it's actually set in London. Oops! Oh well, it still sounds compelling, especially since it was written over 15 years ago but so closely mirrors what we've all experienced recently with the global pandemic.

7. The Cracked Spine by Paige Shelton—This is the first installment in a cozy mystery series set in an Edinburgh bookshop. It features an American armchair traveler who makes an impulsive decision to accept a position at a bookstore in Scotland. Things get off to a cracking start when a valuable artifact goes missing and her boss's sister gets herself murdered. 

8. The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley—Another series opener, this one revolves around a woman who retreats to Scotland to write a novel based on a 1708 Jacobite effort to return an exiled James Stewart to his homeland in order to reclaim his crown. Writing from the perspective of one of her own ancestors, the writer soon realizes her strange obsession with the story may be a case of ancestral memory, making her the only person who knows what really happened that fateful day...

9. The Distant Echo by Val McDermid—McDermid is another Scottish mystery writer that I somehow have not read yet. This novel is the first in her Inspector Kate Pirie series and centers around a cold case homicide that opens old wounds and exposes long-buried secrets. 

10. Bone Deep by Sandra Ireland—Mac is working on a compilation of local folktales and legends when her only child, Arthur, insists she needs an assistant to help her. Lucie, who moves into a cottage on Mac's property, seems a little too interested in the secrets Mac's working hard to protect. Unbeknownst to Mac, Lucie has secrets of her own.

There you go, ten (okay, nine) books on my TBR list that are set in beautiful Scotland. Have you read any of them? What did you think? Are there any others I should add to my list? Which books did you highlight today? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog. 

Happy TTT!