Top 10 Books on my Fall TBR Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. Check out some of my other related posts like my September TBR list and fall bingo ideas for more books! I’m going to try not to repeat a lot from the lists linked above and really focus on the top books on my TBR. I know fall technically extends into the majority of December, but my holiday TBRs get a little crazy… I don’t want to get sidetracked. This post will feature my planned books for my book club over the next few months, general fall-oriented reads (like heavier stories or spooky ones), and general books I need to get to. EOY Book Club Picks     Yes, my book club has already picked our books for the next few months! We read quite a few series-starters last year, so we decided it only makes sense to plan our months based on when the sequels come out. We noticed a gap between now and when LADY’S GUIDE’s releases in October, so we added in a fun and quick romance choose-your-own-adventure (MY LADY’S CHOOSING) for late September. We have the next NOAH SHAW book for November and ARCHENEMIES for December. […]

Hidden Gems – Books & Authors Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. In honor of my 200th Top Ten Tuesday post, I decided to do a giveaway! This week’s topic is PERFECT for it because all of these books and authors need more recognition and love. The giveaway at the bottom of the post will allow one person (international if The Book Depository ships to you) to win a copy of one of the books featured in this post. I decided to focus this post on specific books as well as authors in general, so there could be more than 10 books to pick from here. Away we go! Marci Lyn Curtis      Not only is Marci incredibly sweet, her books are straight up wonderful and some of my all-time favorites. I love how she manages to mix humor in with sadness or more serious topics, without her books ever feeling preachy or too “issue-y” … hopefully that makes sense LOL. I loved both of these and I don’t know if I could pick a real favorite between the two, which is why she gets a double shoutout here. Both feature humorous and/or snarky MCs and cute boys and so much […]

Bingeworthy TV Shows Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. For a non-bookish twist in honor of the upcoming fall TV season, we’re chatting about bingeworthy shows or movies for this TTT! I love more personal posts (or non-book at least), so this is great. I have actually been quite terrible about watching TV in the last 6 months though. Younger Okay this is a MUST for all book bloggers, as it takes place in the publishing world! Liza decides to fake her age to get a job at a publishing house and her secret slowly gets revealed to everyone in her life. There’s a love triangle with two amazing guys I’m obsessed with (hopping in the gif above). It’s such a great show with good female friendships! The Bold Type Speaking of female friendships, hoooo boy is this the most girl power-y show right now. It takes place at a magazine (equally as fun as a publishing house) and involves three best friends. All of them are awesome and unique in their own ways. They talk candidly about juuuust about everything: sex, relationships, diversity, feminism, work, etc. American Vandal Here’s a different one for ya. I loooved this show and the […]

Boarding School Books Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I’m always a fan of these back to school-oriented freebies because there are endless possibilities. (This time around, Jana suggested: In honor of school starting back up soon, come up with your own topic that fits the theme of school or learning! Books that take place at school/boarding school/during study abroad, books you read in school, textbooks you liked/didn’t like, non-fiction books you loved or want to read, etc.) Some topics that I’ve done in the past are here in case you’re curious: books & backpacks and required reading at the BL High School. This time around, I decided to feature some books about boarding school or fancy private schools. This was inspired by Nick asking me if I’d read any good ones lately, since people are pretty well-aware of how much I love this book setting! I’ve featured private school books as read-bait and other boarding school books in various posts. Without further ado, here are some boarding school books! On the TBR    The Deceivers by Kristen Simmons | Welcome to Vale Hall, the school for aspiring con artists… When Brynn Hilder is recruited to Vale, it seems like the elite academy is […]

Books That Have Pulled Me Out of a Reading Slump Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. The topic for this week is books that will pull you out of a reading slump, but I honestly feel like slumps come in too many varieties! Sometimes I personally get burned out of a genre that then causes a reading slump. Other times I just don’t have any motivation to read anything. I thought I would share instead some of the books that have personally gotten ME out of a reading slump – see if they may help you too! Go-To Slump-Breaking Series The Program series by Suzanne Young (Not pictured: The Complication) I think this has to be the number one slump-buster for me. I have counted on every book in this series to break me out of a slump… and it’s worked each time. I love her writing style because it’s easy to read and so addicting. The stories had me turning pages SO quickly; I could not stop reading any of these installments. I have to show them all here because there aren’t words to describe how helpful all of these were to my reading life. Specific Books that Broke Slumps    […]

Favorite Book Blog Features Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I feel like we’ve done this before (aside from the favorite bookstagram one) but I can’t seem to find it. I don’t follow a lot of non-blog-related book sites because I don’t think they’re niche enough. I follow blogs and friends because they read widely but similarly to me… and I trust their recs more than Buzzfeed! I decided to do a slightly different spin on the topic of “favorite bookish websites or blogs” and do my favorite FEATURES on some of my favorite blogs. Like, whenever they come up in my Feedly, I get all excited to see them. There are plenty of fave bloggers but sometimes certain posts just scream my name when they’re in my feed. Here are some of them! (1) Bookish Bingo @ Pretty Deadly Reviews I get excited for a new bingo card each season like nobody’s business. They post wrap-ups from the previous season and then the new card the following day. There’s just something about a fresh challenge, bingo card, planner page, month… I love so much! I’ve filled cards before, which is a huge accomplishment IMO. (2) I’ve Got You Covered @ A […]

Mashing Books/Characters Together Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I was a little concerned about this topic when I first saw it because I am so bad at things like this lol. I like the idea though! This week we’re talking about books we would mash together or combine into one big epic book. I went the literal route for some of these, where I squished some characters and stories together, but I also did a few other iterations. Juniper Lemon meets The Unlikelies I loved both of these quirky books! The group called The Unlikelies was a group of, yes, unlikely friends coming together to act as low-key superheros in their town. They were all different (Breakfast Club style) and I just get a feeling that Juniper Lemon would fit in well with their crew. She could use some light and to spread kindness after everything she dealt with. Young Widows Club meets Young Wives Club Yes, this is probably a very obvious mash-up given the titles and premises, but I’m going for it. I’m all about the low-hanging fruit for today’s post. I didn’t love either one of these books, so maybe if the annoying MC from the Widows […]

Popular Books that Lived Up to the Hype Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. There’s one book that immediately comes to mind for me, which you’ll see below (and I’ve talked about so often – sorry not sorry). I often get caught up in the hype machine and wrote a whole post about it. I’m going to include a lot of the books from that post because I clearly don’t focus on hype as much as I used to. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli | I loved this book so much and the movie was JUST AS CUTE. I listened to the audio of this one a little bit after it was released, when the hype was super strong and scary. So glad I listened to everyone’s advice and went for it! My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick | I’ve now read two out of her three books and I really loved this one. I didn’t like the companion/sequel to this and have yet to read her second release. This was the one story, so far, that lived up to the hype. Very cute and enjoyable, with some heavy moments. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang | Okay yes […]

Books with Sensory Reading Memories Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. This is such a fun topic! I actually wrote a post about bookish memories back in 2017, where I spoke about certain books evoking memories. This topic is about sensory reading memories, which is similar. This TTT will be about specific settings, smells, sights, foods, etc. that I specifically remember when I think of a book I’ve read. (Yes, there will be duplication from my old post.) By the Pool and Outside    I read a lot of books by the pool (especially at Chris’s parents house), but the first two here are the ones that I most vividly remember. Chris’s mom made me a cute smoothie (which was delicious) while reading the Three Day Summer. Caraval was another one because I read it while laying on a towel, when I usually am in a chair or in the water. I know, that’s weird to remember, but I just do. I had the bound manuscript and remember reading it in July when the book was released in the following January. Confessions of a High School Disaster was read in one sitting at our old apartment before we moved to Maine. Chris was skateboarding outside our […]

Favorite Books Under 200 pages Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. The topic for this one is technically favorite novellas or short stories. I decided to go with favorite short books in general, all under 200 pages. I read a lot of short contemps but they usually will end up over 200, so this list will likely be “novella” books or short companion stories that I loved. Just One Night by Gayle Forman | I loved this duo, so the follow-up novella that shows some kind of “epilogue” about the couple really tied things together for me. I’m someone who loves follow-ups like that. It seriously gives you the ending you want and deserve. We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | We did a Book Buddies post on this and both agreed that it’s a nice refresher for those who already know why we should all be feminists, and it could be a nice introduction to people who don’t currently understand why. Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide by JK Rowling | I enjoyed all three of these Pottermore novellas, but this was my favorite for some reason. Learning about the random objects, rooms, etc. around the school was more fascinating for me […]