I've been MIA with Top Ten Tuesday lately and on the blog in general. Life's been busy. I just got back from an Alaska cruise and a family reunion in the Seattle area. Stepping out of the Phoenix airport into oven-hot temps very early this morning was a rude awakening after all the lovely, cool (but not all that cold) PNW weather. I'm hot, exhausted, and still nauseous from a bumpy plane ride, BUT I'm happy to be home!

Today's TTT prompt is all about series. I love sinking into series, where I can enjoy characters, settings, and stories. I'm in the middle of so many of them that I started keeping a spreadsheet to keep them all in order. The topic is Top Ten Favorite Books From Ten Favorite Book Series. That's too big of a challenge for my tired, aging brain, so I'm just going to give you my top ten favorite series. How's that?  

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

Top Ten Favorite Book Series 

(Covers are for the first book in each series, not necessarily my favorite one.)

1. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (middle-grade fantasy)

2. Armand Gamache by Louise Penny (adult murder mystery)

3. Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer (YA historical fiction/action adventure)

4. Rockton/Haven's Rock by Kelley Armstrong (adult murder mystery)

5. Myrtle Hardcastle by Elizabeth C. Bunce (middle-grade historical fiction/mystery)

6. Tempe Brennan by Kathy Reichs (adult murder mystery)

7. Alcatraz by Gennifer Choldenko (middle-grade historical fiction)

8. Aaron Falk by Jane Harper (adult murder mystery)

9. Veronica Speedwell by Deanna Raybourn (adult historical fiction/mystery)

10. Jane/Mary books by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows (YA historical fiction/alternate history/supernatural)

There you go, ten of my favorite book series. Have you read any of them? What are your favorite series? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

If you know anything about my taste in books, you know how unusual it is for me to read anything even close to high fantasy. (To be honest, I'm not sure I even understand what that term means!) Even though I'm really not into the genre, I have enjoyed my dips into Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere series (empire? realm? universe?). The original Mistborn novels were my first foray into the author's sphere and Tress of the Emerald Sea is my latest. I enjoyed the former, but I adored the latter. Let's just say that while fantasy still isn't my jam, if it's written by Sanderson, I've learned to at least give it a chance.

Not gonna lie, I'm not quite sure how Tress of the Emerald Sea fits into the Cosmere series (Goodreads says it's installment #28 and #1 of the Secret Projects). I just know that it works fine as a standalone. It isn't necessary to read the previous books to get what's going on in this one, although I think I read somewhere that there are some characters in this book that have appeared in other Cosmere novels.

Although she has managed to escape certain death at the hands of the cruel captain—at least for now— there are plenty of other ways for her to meet her maker on the open spore sea. With danger without and just as much (if not more) within, she must navigate her way through her very precarious situation in order to find and rescue Charlie. In the meantime, there's a deadly date with an evil Sorceress to look forward to...

To the FTC, with love: I bought a copy of Tress of the Emerald Sea with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger. Ha ha.

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.