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Showing posts with label Kate Morton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kate Morton. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Top Ten Tuesday (on a Wednesday): Favorite Books By Favorite Authors
I'm late to the party this week. Yesterday was a DAY, and I just wasn't up to crafting a TTT list. I was up all night with an upset stomach, so I finally just got out of bed in spite of the early hour. It's quiet and peaceful in my house, so it's the perfect time to make my belated list. This week's prompt is May Flowers, a follow-up to the April Showers one from a few weeks ago. Even though we haven't had much rain at all this year in the Phoenix area, we do have flowers blooming. The lantana in our backyard has been growing like crazy. I'm not sure how long it will last considering the crazy hot temps we've had this week. Our high yesterday was 105! Anyway, as much as I like flowers, I'm going to go rogue this week. Since I will be cruising the Yucatan on May 26, I'm going to jump ahead and do the theme for that week: My Favorite Books By My Favorite Authors (submitted by Cathy @What Cathy Read Next). Sounds like fun!
As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.
My Favorite Books By (Ten Eleven of) My Favorite Authors
The following authors aren't my ten absolute favorites. However, they are all writers I love and read often. More importantly, I can identify the one book of theirs that I love most. I can't necessarily do that with all of my favorite authors, you know? Or am I just weird? (I might just be weird. That's okay!) Here we go in alphabetical order:
1. A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong—I yap about Armstrong a lot because I enjoy her crime fiction so much. Her urban fantasy novels don't interest me at all, and I haven't loved her horror novels either. As much as I enjoy her Rockton/Haven's Rock series, the Rip Through Time series is my favorite. The books are less graphic than the Rockton/Haven's Rock ones and funnier. All of the installments are worth reading, the but the first one is the one I like best so far.
In A Rip Through Time, a modern-day homicide detective travels to Edinburgh, Scotland, to visit her dying grandmother. While taking a mind-clearing jog, she is assaulted in the same spot where a chambermaid was attacked exactly 150 years earlier. When Detective Atkinson wakes up, she's in Victorian Scotland inhabiting the body of the maid, who works for a physician who moonlights as a coroner. As a confused Mallory tries to figure out what is happening and how to get home, she realizes that her professional skills can be of great use to her boss, who helps the police catch killers. How can she help him without revealing that she's not actually an uneducated maid? And how in the world is she going to get home?
2. Bluebird by Sharon Cameron—This YA author pens historical novels centered around World War II as well as sci-fi/fantasy books. Bluebird is the former. It's about a young German woman who travels to the U.S. after the war in order to unmask the Nazi who spearheaded a series of psychological experiments performed on concentration camp prisoners. Absorbing and memorable, Bluebird is a stunner of a novel.
3. Exiles by Jane Harper—I've enjoyed every book I've read by Harper, but those starring federal investigator Aaron Falk are my favorite. Of those, I like Exiles best. It tells a quieter, more intimate story than the other installments in the series do, but it's still a compelling mystery/thriller in its own right. The mystery revolves around a young mother who goes missing at a town festival, leaving her infant behind.
4. The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth—Another Australian author, Hepworth writes domestic fiction with lots of warmth and wit. This novel, my favorite of hers, is my book club's selection for May, so I'll be happily rereading it before next Tuesday. As is indicated by the title, the story concerns sisters, twins Fern and Rose. Fern lives a carefully structured life, sticking religiously to her routines in order to keep her fragile psyche intact. Rose is one of her few friends, someone for whom she is profoundly grateful, so when Rose learns she can't have children, Fern offers to carry a baby for her. She just needs to find a father. That search begins a journey that will profoundly affect both sisters as old secrets surface and new tensions emerge between them.
5. The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee—Lee writes YA novels, most of which are historical fiction, featuring characters of Chinese descent. This one tells the story of 17-year-old Jo Kuan, a Chinese American who works as a maid for a wealthy, powerful family in Atlanta. Secretly, she also writes an advice column, doling out wisdom for genteel Southern ladies. As Jo's writing gains in popularity, she decides to use it to protest against the injustices she sees every day in her community. She's not prepared for the backlash those articles receive or the danger it will put her in if anyone discovers her secret identity. In the meantime, she's also grappling to understand her own mysterious past.
6. The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner—I've read almost all of Meissner's books and this one, about the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, is the one that has lingered most in my mind. It stars Sophie Walen, an Irish woman who is so desperate to escape poverty in her homeland that she travels across the sea to become the mail-order bride of an American man she's never met before. She's confused by her silent stranger of a husband, although she quickly becomes enamored of his young, mute daughter. Although she doesn't know it yet, Sophie's life is about to be rocked to its core, not just by a deadly earthquake that will literally shake up her world but also by the unknown woman who will appear at her door, revealing shocking secrets that will change the course of both of their lives.
7. The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton—Morton's rich family sagas always sweep me away. Although I haven't loved her more recent books nearly as much as I do her older ones, I still consider her one of my favorite authors. Published in 2012, The Secret Keeper is about a woman who secretly witnesses a disturbing crime when she is 16 years old, an event that puts into question everything she knows about her mother. Fifty years later, Laurel is back home to celebrate her mom's 90th birthday. Realizing that time is running out to discover the truth about her mother, she determines to uncover all of the woman's many secrets.
8. How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny—Although I've only read 13 of the 20 books in the Armand Gamache series (the 21st comes out in October), it's one of my very favorite crime series. How the Light Gets In, #9, is set at Christmastime. Our hero, Inspector Armand Gamache, is at a low point in both his professional and personal life. When a friend in Three Pines invites him to come back to the quaint village to investigate a disappearance, he leaps at the chance to return to the place that always feels like home. Turns out, the missing woman is a celebrity who was once famous all over the world. What has happened to her? Because I hate to see my beloved Gamache suffer, How the Light Gets In was a bit of a painful read for me, but it's also a tender and heartening one.
9. The Spies of Shilling Lane by Jennifer Ryan—Ryan's latest two novels (one of which comes out next month) are set in the 1950s, but the rest of her books are all set during World War II. The Spies of Shilling Lane is my favorite of hers because although it has its poignant moments, it's mostly a fun, lively, madcap adventure. It stars the indomitable Mrs. Braithwaite, a hilarious queen bee who's knocked off her throne by her scandalous divorce. Indignant, she hies off to London to lick her wounds with her daughter, Betty, who has been in the city helping with war work. When Betty's timid landlord informs her mother that Betty is missing, Mrs. Braithwaite strong arms the reluctant landord into helping her locate her daughter. Turns out, her child has a much more complicated complicated life than Mrs. Braithwaite ever could have imagined, a life that will put all of them in grave danger.
10. Middle of the Night by Riley Sager—Final Girls is the only one of Sager's novels that I haven't read. I've enjoyed all of them, some more than others naturally, but Middle of the Night is my favorite. It's different from his other books, more gentle and moving. Never fear, though, it's just as riveting as his other thrillers. The story revolves around Ethan Marsh, a man who returns to the picture-perfect neighborhood he lived in as a child. It was there that, many years ago, his 10-year-old best friend disappeared during an overnight campout in Ethan's backyard. Already suffering from insomnia and disturbing nightmares, Ethan is plagued by strange things happening in the middle of the night. Signs of his missing friend keep appearing. Is someone playing a terrible joke on Ethan? Or has his long missing pal returned? What really happened the night of the campout? Ethan is determined to find out.
11. The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James—I love St. James' eerie thrillers. This one is set in a rundown motel in a dying town where strange things are known to happen. Viv Delaney reluctantly takes a job at the dumpy place with the goal of saving enough money to escape to New York City. It doesn't take long for her to realize that something is very wrong at her place of employment. There's a reason for the bad juju that emanates from the Sun Down Motel and she's going to uncover all its many secrets.
There you go, eleven of my favorite books by eleven of my favorite authors. Have you read any of them? Which are your favorite books by your favorite authors? I'd love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Tuesday, November 19, 2024
Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Adult Reads of 2024
Today's TTT prompt is: Top Ten Oldest (earliest published) Books On My TBR List, but I don't have many older titles on mine, so I went rogue. Since we're getting to the end of the year (2024 has whizzed by!), I thought I'd look at my favorite reads of the year. So far, I've read 195 books. I marked about 35 of them as favorites. Because there are so many, I'm going to make two lists, actually. This week, I'll look at adult titles; next week I'll talk about children's books. (To keep things simple, I'm not going to include rereads on either list.)
As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.
Top Ten Favorite Adult Reads of 2024
- in no particular order -
1. We Solve Murders by Richard Osman—I loved this hilarious murder mystery, the first in a planned series. It's funny, energetic, engrossing, and all sorts of entertaining.
2. I Know Who You Are: How An Amateur DNA Sleuth Unmasked the Golden State Killer and Changed Crime Fighting Forever by Barbara Rae-Venter—I'm a genealogist, so these types of books always appeal to me. In it, Rae-Venter discusses how she went from digging into her own family history to taking down a notorious serial killer with her mad research and analytical skills.
3. The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose—I adored The Maid and I really enjoyed this sequel as well. It's not quite as good as its predecessor, but it's still a fun mystery starring a quirky, lovable heroine with a unique view on life. Its bookish themes make it even more appealing.
4. The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King—This is a warm, uplifting biography of a wonderful man. I enjoyed learning about his life, his career, his philosophy, and especially the kind, compassionate way he treated everyone around him. Very inspiring.
5. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson—Another quirky murder mystery, this series opener is clever, funny, and twisty. It's also got a surprising amount of depth and poignancy.
6. Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James—Historical mysteries with gothic undertones are my jam, so I enjoyed this older novel by one of my favorite mystery/thriller authors. It's about a young woman in need of a fresh start who poses as a nurse to get a job at a remote asylum for World War I veterans dealing with shell shock. It's a strange place where eerie things happen and secrets abound...
7. Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda—After being disappointed by Miranda's last book (The Only Survivors), I was thrilled by her newest which is tense, twisty, and compelling. It's about a woman who returns to her hometown when she inherits her childhood home after her father's death. A drought has dried up the area, exposing secrets about the town and her family that refuse to stay hidden.
8. A Stranger in the Family by Jane Casey—I love the Maeve Kerrigan series, which just keeps getting better. This newest book is the 11th in the series. It has DS Kerrigan and her partner (and almost lover) DI Josh Derwent investigating the murders of a couple whose young daughter disappeared from her bedroom sixteen years ago. Are the two cases linked? As the duo work the case, they're also forced to confront their complicated feelings for one another.
9. Homecoming by Kate Morton—Morton is one of my favorite all-time authors, so it's no surprise that her newest is one of my favorite reads of the year (although I actually didn't love her last book, The Clockmaker's Daughter). This one features a London journalist who returns to her native Australia after her beloved grandmother falls down her attic steps. The tumble leaves the elderly woman confused. Her granddaughter is likewise puzzled. What was her frail grandmother doing in the forbidden attic? When the reporter discovers a true crime book in her grandmother's bedroom, it leads her on a journey into the depths of her own family history.
10. Disturbing the Dead by Kelley Armstrong—Armstrong writes some great mystery/thriller books. I especially enjoy her Rip Through Time series, which stars Mallory Atkinson, a modern-day homicide detective who wakes up in Victorian Edinburgh after she is assaulted in her own time. Although she remembers everything about herself, Mallory is now inhabiting the body of a scrappy young housemaid who works in the home of a handsome surgeon who moonlights as a medical examiner. While Mallory tries to figure out how to get home, she can't keep herself from using her knowledge and expertise to help her employer solve the murder cases that come into his home. By this third book, Dr. Gray knows who Mallory really is. Together, they look into a murder that occurred during the unwrapping of an ancient Egyptian mummy.
There you go, ten of my favorite books of 2024. Have you read any of them? What did you think? What are the books you've most enjoyed this year? I'd love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on yours. I also try to reply to comments left here (although I'm failing miserably at the moment).
Happy TTT!
Monday, August 12, 2024
The Bookish Books Reading Challenge: August Book Ideas and Link-Up for Reviews
I'm late with this post once again. Some months it's just impossible for me to get them done in time. I'm probably the only one who notices, but I still feel like a slacker. Sorry!
Anyway, July was a great month for me as far as bookish books go. I read these five:
Homecoming by Kate Morton—Funny enough, I can't remember why I marked this novel as bookish. My aging memory makes it tough to remember things sometimes! Ha ha.
The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry by Anna Rose Johnson—When Lucy's caregiver dies, she is taken in by a kind family of lighthouse keepers who lives on a remote island in the middle of Lake Superior. The orphaned, grief-stricken child must adjust to a very different sort of life than she's known before. One of her saving graces is reading. She eagerly anticipates the arrival of a sort of floating library that delivers books to island inhabitants every month. So cool!
The Improbable Tales of Baskerville Hall by Ali Standish—The first in a middle-grade mystery series, this book features a young Arthur Conan Doyle. He's recruited to attend a secret school for extraordinary students. There, he meets a colorful group of children, has many adventures, and—at the very end—is introduced to the famous detective who will be his mentor, Sherlock Holmes.
Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney—Books aren't a huge theme in this mystery/thriller, but one of the main characters is a librarian in a women's prison. She talks about the power of reading in her life and in the lives of the inmates.
Library Girl by Polly Horvath (available September 10, 2024)—This middle-grade story is about a girl who is left in a library as an infant and raised at the library in secret by a group of librarians. As much as I loved the premise, the book fell flat for me. It's far-fetched (naturally), but it's also dull and old-fashioned. It does make some lovely statements about books and reading, though.
I also read this one that seemed like it would be bookish but really wasn't:
The Secret Library by Kekla Magoon—Another middle-grade novel, this one is about a girl who finds a mysterious map left for her by her beloved grandfather, who has just died. It leads her to a library full of objects that look like books, but are actually stored secrets. So, the title refers to a library full of secrets instead of a book library that no one knows about. Disappointing!
Library Girl and The Secret Library were pretty meh reads for me, but I enjoyed the others.
What bookish books am I planning to read in August? This one looks really cute, although I might save it for later in the year:
Recommended for You by Laura Silverman—This YA rom-com is about two teenagers who work at an Atlanta bookstore. When their boss announces a contest giving a large cash prize to the employee who sells the most books over the holidays, they become bitter rivals in an escalating game. Naturally, they fall for each other while competing for the big prize.
How about you? What bookish books have you been reading? Which are you planning to dive into this month?
If you are participating in the 2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge, please use the widget below to link-up your August reviews. If you're not signed up for the challenge yet, what are you waiting for? Click here to join the party.
Thursday, July 04, 2024
The Bookish Books Reading Challenge: July Book Ideas and Link-Up for Reviews
Happy Independence Day/Fourth of July to all my U.S. readers! Do you have any fun plans for the day? We usually head to Utah for the holiday, but we decided to stay home this year and chillax. My husband and I already spent a couple hours in our pool. It's been ridiculously hot here in the Phoenix area, so the only time our pool really feels cool is in the early morning. Our high today is supposed to be 113. Needless to say, we're going to be hibernating inside until it's time to watch fireworks on our balcony tonight. It will be a nice, quiet day for us just relaxing at home. That's how I like my holidays. Whatever you have planned for the Fourth, I hope you have a lot of fun and, most importantly, stay safe.
In June, I read a grand total of ONE bookish book. Yikes! (I'm rocking all of my other reading challenges this year, but I'm way behind on this one. What kind of challenge host am I? LOL)
I'm a big fan of Jennifer Ryan's World War II novels. I've read all of them and enjoyed them all, with The Spies of Shilling Lane and The Kitchen Front being my favorites. Because of its subject matter, I thought The Underground Library might beat out the others, but it didn't. I liked it. I didn't love it.
The story concerns three young women from different circumstances who are brought together because of a library that is set up in a London Tube station during the Blitz. Amidst the fear and destruction of war, books bring comfort, entertainment, and escape to those who find shelter there. The library also creates a friendship between the trio of women that brings them the camaraderie, support, and belonging they all need.
All of Ryan's books are set during World War II. In spite of that, they're warm, uplifting, hopeful, and even funny. I highly recommend them. Of the five novels Ryan has written, this one would be #4 on my list of favorites. Just sayin'.
You'll be happy to know that I've already read one bookish book in July. Homecoming by Kate Morton isn't overtly bookish, but there are a lot of bookish elements in it that I'll talk about next month. I'm also considering these for July reads:
The Secret Library by Kekla Magoon—I've already talked about this middle-grade novel about a girl who discovers a library full of books that are literally portals to different dimensions. Candlewick Press just sent me a copy of this book to review, so hopefully, I can get to it soon.
The Library Thief by Kuchenga Shenjé—The reviews on this historical novel are mixed, but I think it sounds interesting. It's about a mixed-race Jamaican woman who was brought to London by her white father when she was a baby. Light enough to pass as white, Florence is schooled in her father's bookbinding trade. When she disgraces him, he throws her out, but she manages to secure a position restoring a lord's collection of rare books. His household is full of puzzles and mysteries, one of which may lead to answers about herself that Florence is desperate to find.
The Words We Lost by Nicole Deese—This Christian novel revolves around Ingrid Erikson, a senior acquisitions editor for a San Francisco publisher. When her BFF, bestselling author Cecelia Campbell, dies, it throws Ingrid into a tailspin. Having lost the ability to escape into fiction, she's desperate to find another way to get closure. So, when Cecelia's cousin—who also happens to be the man who once broke Ingrid's heart completely—comes to Ingrid with a request from beyond the grave, she can't say no.
We'll see what I actually end up reading this month, but I'm hoping one or two of these will be on the list. I'm going on my first cruise in a few weeks. so I'll likely take a couple of these with me to Alaska.
What bookish books are you planning to read this month?
If you are participating in the 2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge, please use the widget below to link-up your July reviews. If you're not signed up for the challenge yet, what are you waiting for? Click here to join the party.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
Top Ten Tuesday: And There They Still Sit...
I'm a little late to the party, but I'm here. Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
I don't know about you, but I have a bad habit of getting excited about a book, acquiring said book, and then totally forgetting the book exists in the world, let alone right there on my bookshelf or Kindle. Sound familiar at all? Today's TTT topic is all about this weird, inexplicable phenomenon: Top Ten Books I Couldn't Wait to Get My Hands On and Still Haven't Read. This is another one of those prompts that could have been a Top One Hundred list, but ain't nobody wanna read that, so I'll restrain myself and stick to the assignment. While I definitely have older examples, the volumes on my list are the first ten that caught my eye while I was perusing my bookshelves.
As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.
1. Homecoming by Kate Morton—This is the first book that came to mind for this topic. I adore Morton and get excited every time she publishes. Extra so this go around because I didn't love her last novel. (There's a first time for everything, I guess.) Homecoming has gotten great reviews. I just need to read it already. The story is about a journalist living in England who returns to her native Australia to care for her elderly grandmother. While poking about in the older woman's attic, she discovers intriguing clues that propel her to investigate a 60-year-old unsolved murder that, shockingly, seems to have ties to her family.
2. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann—Like all buzzy books, this one had a long waitlist at my library, so I bought myself a copy...which has been gathering dust on my bookshelf ever since! It's the nonfiction account of a British ship that wrecked in 1742. Two groups of survivors arrived home at different times and in separate cobbled-together vessels. With wildly different stories about what happened to them, the question became: What really happened aboard the Wager?
3. Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng—I'm always up for a unique dystopian novel and this one caught my attention as soon as I heard about it. I even bought a copy to enjoy at my leisure, although I planned to get to it sooner rather than later. Hasn't happened yet. It's about a young Asian American boy living in a tumultuous new world that is trying to regroup following years of economic chaos and angry violence. The government says that anything "unpatriotic" (including the poems his mother wrote before she abandoned him) should be eradicated. When he gets a mysterious letter with only a drawing on it, it sends him on a daring journey to find the mother he hasn't seen in three years.
4. Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese—This historical novel tells the reimagined story of the woman who inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne's most famous character, Hester Prynne. I really should pick it up one of these days!
5. Fly Away by Kristin Hannah—After loving Hannah's most recent novels, I wanted to read some of her backlist ones. I purchased this one only to later realize it was the second book in a duology. Oops! Once I read Firefly Lane, I'll get to this sequel, which continues the story of the great friendship between Tully Hart and Kate Ryan.
6. How to Keep House While Drowning by K.C. Davis—While my housekeeping skills can always use refining, I hear this slim self-help book really isn't about cleaning at all. Lots of my busy mom friends have recommended this to me as a guide that helped them feel better about all they're doing and get rid of the shame and guilt they feel over not being able to accomplish as much as they want to in their long, crazy days filled with constant cleaning, cooking, childcare, etc.
7. The Silo trilogy by Hugh Howey—Dystopian novels have always been my jam. I loved Wool when I read it, so much so that I bought a boxed set of the three-volume series. Have I read Shift or Dust? No, no I have not. The story is about apocalypse survivors who have been living through the fallout underground. Tired of the confinement, some of them want to bust out and take their chances on the outside. They get their wish, for good or ill...
8. Daughter of Moloka'i by Alan Brennert—Moloka'i is an impactful historical novel that I still think about even though it's been years since I read it. Since I liked it so much, I purchased the sequel. I feel like I need to re-read the first book to remember who's who and what's what before I move on with the story, but I've yet to actually do it because as much as I may have enjoyed a book, I'm not much for re-reading.
9. What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon—Of the three books I've read by Harmon, I adored two of them (Where the Lost Wander and A Girl Called Samson). This time-slip novel is one of her most well-loved. It's about a woman grieving the death of her beloved grandfather, who always regaled her with stories of his childhood in Ireland. Sucked back to that time period, she finds herself the unwitting guardian of a young boy. Even if she could return to her time, could she bear to leave the child she is coming to love as her own?
10. The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn—I feel like the last hist-fic lover on the planet that hasn't read anything by Quinn. This is the book of hers I most want to read. Based on a true story, it's about a bookish student who is forced to take up a gun and defend her native Ukraine from Hitler's oncoming invasion. She soon becomes a proficient killer, a national hero, and a friend of Eleanor Roosevelt. Then an old enemy comes calling...
There you go, ten books I was really excited to read and still haven't gotten to. What's on your shelf of shame? I'd love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on yours.
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
20 Books of Summer Reading Challenge
Cathy over at 746 Books has been hosting her fun 20 Books of Summer event for ten years now, but I only heard about it last year. Even though it's about the chillest reading challenge ever, I didn't *quite* finish it on my first go 'round. I'll do better this year!
The challenge runs from June 1 - September 1 and the aim is simple: cross books off your TBR list. You can choose to read the full 20 books or do a 15 or 10 book version or whatever you want. You can even change your challenge list at any time. The point is to perk up your summer reading with a fun, no-pressure challenge. I'm in. How about you?
Here's my tentative list of books I want to read for the challenge. Once if officially begins, I'll update my progress on this post.
1. The Women by Kristin Hannah
2. Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon finished 07.20.24
3. Trouble at the Tangerine by Gillian McDunn finished June 23, 2024
4. Things We Didn't Say by Amy Lynn Green
5. Middle of the Night by Riley Sager (available June 18, 2024) finished 07.05.24
6. Weather Girl by Rachel Solomon
8. Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan
9. The Maid by Nita Prose (re-read)
10. Nothing Else But Miracles by Kate Albus
11. A Deadly Endeavor by Jenny Adams finished 07.08.24
12. The Underground Library by Jennifer Ryan finished June 6, 2024
13. Of Manners and Murder by Anastasia Hastings
14. Light and Air by Mindy Nichols Wendell finished 06.21.24
16. The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King finished 07.04.24
17. Why We Read: On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out by Shannon Reed
18. The Mystery of Locked Rooms by Lindsay Currie finished June 9, 2024
19. Sleeping Spells and Dragon Scales by Wendy S. Swore
20. The Words We Lost by Nicole Deese
I'm hoping this is a good mix of serious stuff and more lighthearted stories. We'll see. Wish me luck!
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Meant to Read in 2023 But Didn't Get To
We all have books we planned to read in 2023 that are still sitting on our shelves or Kindles still unopened. Today's TTT prompt is all about those poor, neglected babies: Top Ten Books I Meant to Read in 2023 But Didn't Get To. To avoid making this a Top 500 list, I went through the seasonal TBR lists I posted for TTT last year and assembled today's list from those that I have still not yet read. Shockingly, there were only 16. (It helps that I didn't make a list for winter, although I did make two-parters for both summer and fall!) Of the 16 left over, I DNF'd one and there are five that I was really only reading to fulfill prompts from challenges I was trying to finish before the end of the year. Since I don't need them now and none of them were super calling to me anyway, I deleted them from my TBR list. After subtracting those titles, I had exactly ten books left that I still want to read. Perfect!
Before I get to that, though, be sure to head on over to That Artsy Reader Girl and give our TTT hostess with the mostest some love.
Top Ten Books I Meant to Read in 2023 But Didn't Get To
(selected from my 2023 TTT seasonal TBR lists and in no particular order)
1. Homecoming by Kate Morton—Morton is one of my favorite all-time authors, so this book was one of my most anticipated reads of 2023. It's a chunkster, though, so the beginning of a new year really is the perfect time to finally read it.
The story concerns Jess, an out-of-work London journalist who is called home to Australia after her beloved grandmother suffers a debilitating fall. Jess is surprised to learn that her grandma took a tumble after being in her attic, a place that has always been forbidden. As the journalist starts digging into the secrets the attic holds, she makes some shocking discoveries about her family's involvement in a 60-year-old crime.
2. The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson—This historical novel is based on a real librarian who risked her own safety to run a library inside London's Bethnal Green tube station during World War II.
3. We Love to Entertain by Sarah Strohmeyer—This thriller revolves around a married couple, real estate investors who are involved in a tense competition sponsored by a popular real estate app. Winning could mean big bucks in endorsements as well as a league of new followers. The couple is in the middle of remodeling a home in Vermont when they both disappear, leaving a bloody trail in their wake. What happened to the dynamic duo?
The story is about Avalyn, a girl with asthma whose parents relocate to a cleaner town in order to help her breathe better. It's working—until a strange new boy comes to town. Adam's dirty, unkempt appearance makes him a target for bullies. Although Avalyn wants to befriend him, the grit that always surrounds him is dangerous for her lungs. Besides, there's something decidedly odd about the way unlikely dust storms seem to rise up when he experiences strong emotions...
5. It Ends at Midnight by Harriet Tyce—There's been a rash of thrillers lately that involve a group of old friends reconvening, only to have the secrets and misdeeds of their pasts come back to haunt them. It's one of my favorite tropes—as long as it's done well. This thriller brings old friends back together for a glitzy party in Edinburgh, Scotland. The party, naturally, does not go quite as planned.
6. Crow Mary by Kathleen Grissom—This historical novel features a 16-year-old Crow Native woman who marries a white fur trader in 1872. On their travels together, they witness a mob of drunk white traders murder a group of Nakota men in Montana and take half a dozen of their women captive. Although Mary Crow begs her husband to save the captives, he refuses. Arming herself with two guns, Mary rushes in to do the job herself, setting off a string of events that forces a bloody clash between two already warring cultures. The story is inspired by a real woman, making it all the more intriguing.
7. Artifice by Sharon Cameron—I adore Cameron's books, so I'm excited to read her newest. It concerns Isa de Smit, a young woman who grew up in Amsterdam's colorful art world. As the Nazis invade her hometown, her friends are disappearing and valuable paintings are being confiscated. Desperate for money to help the Resistance, Isa starts selling forgeries of famous artwork to the Nazis. Her scheme goes off perfectly until someone finds out what she's doing. Can Isa save herself and her friends from a ruthless enemy that has no problem killing everyone in their path?
8. Hour Glass by Michelle Rene—This western is set in the lawless town of Deadwood, South Dakota, where two orphaned children find a collection of colorful individuals who unexpectedly become family.
9. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid—When reclusive Evelyn Hugo, an aging Hollywood actress, finally decides to tell her life story to the press, she chooses an obscure reporter named Monique Grant. A shocked Monique listens in fascination as Evelyn reveals her incredible tale, one that—shockingly—intersects with Monique's own.
10. Last Call at the Nightingale by Katharine Schellman—The first installment in a historical mystery series, this novel features a Prohibition-era seamstress who's desperate to escape her tedious, poverty-stricken life. She finds freedom and escape at a secret dance hall where anything goes. When she discovers a dead body behind the club, she becomes embroiled in a dangerous murder investigation.
There you go, ten books I meant to read in 2023 but didn't quite get to. I don't know how many of them I'll get to in 2024, but they're at least all still on my TBR list somewhere. How about you? Which books from last year's TBR list are you rolling over to this year? I'd love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.
Happy TTT!
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2026 Goodreads Reading Challenge
2024 - Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction
2023 - Middle Grade Fiction
2022 - Middle Grade Fiction
2021 - Middle Grade Fiction
2020 - Middle Grade Fiction
