This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic asks the old cliché question:  If you were stranded on a deserted island, which books would you want to have with you?  Really, the only one I'd need would be How to Get Yourself Rescued From a Deserted Island for Dummies.  That would get me off the island and back to my large home library pronto.  Voilà!  Problem solved.  Since this prompt (obviously) didn't really speak to me, I decided to spin it a little to make it more fun.  How about Top Ten Most Memorable Books With An Island Setting instead?  I've read lots of books set on islands big and small.  For this list, I'm going to focus on the latter.

If you want to hop on the TTT train, click on over to That Artsy Reader Girl for all the details.

(in no particular order)

1.  Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery—This novel, the first in a beloved series, is set on Prince Edward Island, Canada.

2.  And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie—Eight strangers are invited to Soldier Island, a fictional speck of land on the English coast, in this classic murder mystery. 

3.  Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton—On another made-up island, this one near Costa Rica, dinosaurs are alive, well, and available for viewing if you've got the dough.  Sounds awesome.  Until things start to go horrifically awry...

4.  Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko—This historical middle-grade novel, the first in a series, is about a boy who lives with his family on California's Alcatraz Island.  Before reading this series, it had never occurred to me that children might have lived in the vicinity of the infamous prison, but they absolutely did!  Crazy.

5.  The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See—Jeju, a small Korean island, is the setting for this fascinating historical.  It's about the island's female free divers, traditionally the breadwinners for their families, and how their trade changes over time.

6.  Death in the Family by Tessa Wegert—The first in a compelling mystery/thriller series, this one is set on a private island in the Thousand Islands region of New York state.  When a murder occurs during a family get together, Detective Shana Merchant and her partner are called out to investigate.  Atmospheric and engrossing, it's a tense page-turner.

7.  Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton—Bolton's written a bunch of intense thrillers, but this one is my favorite.  It takes place in the U.K.-owned Falkland Islands.  The mystery concerns a missing child whose disappearance in such an isolated and dangerous locale is at first assumed to be a tragic accident, but is soon determined to be something much more sinister...

8.  Moloka'i by Alan Brennert—Set on Hawaii's famous island leper colony, this is an intriguing and eye-opening historical novel.

9.  The Lewis Trilogy (The Blackhouse; The Lewis Man; The Chessmen) by Peter May—Scotland's Hebrides Islands are the setting for this atmospheric trio of mysteries.

10.  The Weight of Lies by Emily Carpenter—In this tense family drama, a woman visits fictional Bonny Island, Georgia, the setting for a horror novel turned cult classic written by her mother.  Determined to write a biting tell-all, she uncovers some astonishing secrets about her own family and past.

There you have it, ten memorable novels I've read that are set on small islands.  Have you read any of them?  What are your favorite books with small island settings?  Which titles would you like to have with you on a deserted island?  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!  

(Note:  While this review will not contain spoilers for Killer Kung Pao by Vivien Chien, it may inadvertently reveal plot surprises from earlier installments in the Noodle Shop Mystery series.  As always, I recommend reading books in a series in order.)  

As manager of Ho Lee Noodle House, her family's popular Chinese restaurant, Lana Lee is always at the center of the action in Cleveland's Asia Village shopping center.  Dealing with her overbearing mother and annoyingly perfect sister causes enough drama for the 28-year-old, but there's always tension and intrigue boiling among Asia Village's many strong personalities.  Add in the center's weirdly high murder rate and she's got a lot on her plate...

When Lana witnesses an altercation in the parking lot between two aging village divas—competitive mahjong player Millie Mao and heartless tea shop owner June Yi—she has no idea that one of them will soon end up dead  When Millie is electrocuted during a pedicure, it becomes apparent that it was no accident.  Did the argument in the parking lot lead June to kill Millie?  Is there someone else who had it in for the mahjong matron?  Although her detective boyfriend warns Lana to stay out of it, she's once again on the case.  Can she solve Asia Village's latest murder?  

I'm a big fan of Vivien Chien's Noodle Shop mysteries.  The series is fun, light-hearted, and entertaining.  Like most cozies, the books are a little silly and a lot far-fetched, but who cares?  They're easy, enjoyable, clean reads.  That being said, Killer Kung Pao—the sixth installment—might be my least favorite of them.  Why?  Although Chien's characters are always fun, the mystery in this one is a bit...lackluster.  The book is still a fast, engaging read; it's just not as compelling as some of its predecessors.  A bummer, yes, but not one that will keep me from continuing with this series.  Even the less satisfying books are more enjoyable for me than other cozies.

(Readalikes:  Other books in the Noodle Shop Mystery series, as well as culinary cozies by Ellie Alexander, Amanda Flower, Eve Calder, etc.)

Young Ladies of Quality do not snoop.  Nor do they spy on their neighbors.  Or study masculine subjects like science, law, and forensics.  And they certainly do not express a morbid interest in something as vulgar as murder.  In fact—in the opinion of 12-year-old Myrtle Hardcastle—Young Ladies of Quality do not do anything of interest.  Why would she want to be one of them?  Although "Morbid Myrtle" is shunned by the other girls, she's not about to give up reading her father's law books and peering through her late mother's microscope.  Everyone else might despair of her antics, but Myrtle knows she will be far happier pursuing her unique studies than sipping tea in a frilly dress in someone's stifling parlor.

When Myrtle's 79-year-old neighbor, a cross old woman who grew prize-winning flowers, is found dead in her sprawling home, no one thinks much about it.  Only Myrtle thinks there's something fishy about Minerva Wodehouse's death.  Then, relatives the dead woman never once mentioned start coming out of the woodwork with greed glinting in their eyes.  All of them are acting shifty, which just confirms Myrtle's suspicions—Mrs. Wodehouse was murdered!  Since no one takes her accusations and observations seriously, the young sleuth knows it's up to her to bring Minerva's killer to justice.  Can Myrtle solve the mystery?  Is there even a case to investigate, or is Myrtle letting her imagination run amok once again?

I listened to Premeditated Myrtle, the first book in Elizabeth C. Bunce's Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery series, on audio and was totally charmed by the experience!  Myrtle is a delightful heroine.  Not only is she whip smart, but she's also perpetually curious and dangerously impulsive, two traits that get her into scrape after scrape.  Her warm relationship with her faithful governess, Ada Judson, is one of the loveliest parts of the novel.  The plot is also exciting, with plenty of twists to keep the reader/listener engaged.  Bethan Rose Young does an excellent job with the audiobook narration, which makes the story come alive even more.  Needless to say, I very much enjoyed this funny, entertaining, classic-feeling mystery novel.  I will absolutely be reading (or listening to) the sequels.

(Readalikes:  Hm, I can't think of anything.  Can you?)

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find

Have you ever gotten so caught up in a book that you end up racing through it in one sitting, hardly daring to breathe, let alone get up and go to the bathroom?  What kinds of reads are most likely to have that effect on you?  I've zipped through plenty of books in one go, even taking my book with me to the bathroom, the kitchen table (I always read when I eat alone anyway), and to a college football game that I'm told was pretty exciting.  Usually, the books I literally can't put down are in the mystery/thriller genre.  Not always, as you'll see from the list below, but most of the time.  The way they're written—usually with short chapters, lots of action, snappy dialogue, and cliffhangers all over the dang place—makes them ideal for whipping through in one sitting.  Today's Top Ten Tuesday prompt is all about these kinds of reads.  I looked through my recent reading notes to find the last ten books that I sped through in one go (more or less).  Since I love me a good page-turner, I'm excited to see everyone's answers.

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

Top Ten Most Recent Books I Read in One Sitting   

1.  The Lion of Mars by Jennifer L. Holm—Middle-grade books are easy to read in one sitting since they're generally short and written with kid-sized attention spans in mind.  This one, the first I had read by Holm, charmed me with its warmth and feel-good story.  I loved it so much that I proceeded to zoom through three more of the author's books.  I'm currently listening to another of hers.

2.  The Opposite of Everyone by Joshilyn Jackson—I'm a big fan of Jackson's warm-hearted Southern family dramas/sagas.  I somehow missed reading this one, which came out in 2016.  It tells a compelling story about a woman seeking answers about her estranged mother—and the surprise she left behind when she died. 

3.  The Quality of Silence by Rosamund Lupton—Although this mystery/thriller—about a mother and daughter traveling through the Alaskan wilderness in search of their missing husband and father—is a pretty tense read, I'm not sure I would have buzzed through it in one sitting if it weren't for the fact that I needed something to entertain me while my daughter got her hair done.  Getting a silk press, then having your very thick, curly hair straightened is not a quick process.  Needless to say, I got a lot of reading done during that appointment!

4.  The Disappearing Act by Catherine Steadman—I've read all of Steadman's thrillers, so I knew this one—her newest—would have me flying through the pages.  It did.  The story is about a British actress who comes to Hollywood during the chaotic pilot season.  She meets an enigmatic American actress, who later disappears.  At least it seems like she did.  Did she really vanish?  Or is the Brit going crazy?

5.  The Girls in the Stilt House by Kelly Mustian—This debut Southern mystery kept me totally riveted.  It's about an impoverished, abused young woman whose life changes irrevocably when her father is killed in a very unexpected way.  Suddenly, she finds herself in an unlikely partnership with a stranger, who has her own stake in covering up the man's death.

6.  The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny—The Inspector Gamache books are more about the characters than the mysteries at their centers, so I don't generally buzz through them in one sitting.  However, since I took this one on a trip with me, I spent a lot of time with it in airports and on airplanes.  It's another compelling installment in a series that I love.

7.  Shiver by Allie Reynolds—Despite the fact that this thriller is filled with unlikable characters, it's still a gripping read that had me burning through the pages with bated breath.  It's a locked-room mystery set in an isolated ski lodge with a storm bearing down on a group of acquaintances who are already feeling uneasy in each other's presence.

8.  Atomic Habits by James Clear—I don't read a lot of self-help books, but I found this one so engaging and inspiring that I read it in a matter of hours.  It gives some excellent advice on how to break damaging habits and create healthy new ones.

9.  The Wrong Family by Tarryn Fisher—This one has such a crazy, can't-look-away premise that I just...didn't.  I don't want to say too much about the story because the less you know going into it, the better, I think.

10.  We Are All the Same in the Dark by Julia Heaberlin—Gritty and atmospheric, this thriller was so absorbing that I read it pretty much in one go.  It's about a haunted detective who's desperate to solve two different, but seemingly connected, cases in her small Texas town.

There you have it, ten books that I read in one sitting.  Have you read any of these?  What did you think?  Which books kept you glued to your seat?  Which are your go-to authors for riveting, one-sitting reads?  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!