Top Ten Tuesday #361

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these, I had a really great time at VE Schwab’s Gallant event on Friday, it was so nice to be back in a room with other readers again and has me even more excited for YALC’s return in July. I also had a lovely meal out with my parents on Sunday as it was Mother’s Day here in the UK.

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, so that means another Top Ten Tuesday, courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Today’s topic was meant to be 21st Century Books That We Think Will Become Classics but I wasn’t really feeling that one, “classics” has kind of negative connotation for me because of how much I HATED studying a lot of those books for GCSE English, so I wouldn’t necessarily want to link any of the books I love with that term! Anyway, instead, I’m going to go back to a perennial standby, and talk about 10 Recent Additions To My TBR, quite a few of which I’ve added after seeing on other Top Ten Tuesday lists!:

1. When We Were Dragons-Kelly Barnhill-Added March 2022

I added this one after seeing it on a Top Ten Tuesday list a couple of weeks back and thinking it sounded really good: it’s about an alternative 1950s America where thousands of women, sick of the rampant misogyny of the time period, transformed into dragons. SOUNDS SO COOL, NO? Anyway it comes out in May, and I’m super excited to read it.

2. Firekeeper’s Daughter-Angeline Boulley-Added March 2022

I will fully admit that this one is 1000% a cover add, every time I see the gorgeous cover of this book, I want to read it. It does sound really good though, I’ve never read anything by a Native American author before and I always love a murder mystery, so I’m excited to see how this one turns out.

3. Bad Girls Never Say Die-Jennifer Mathieu-Added March 2022

This is a reimagining of The Outsiders, which I will freely admit, I’ve never actually read! I really enjoyed Moxie though, and I’ve been wanting to read something else by Mathieu for a while, and this sounds right up my street.

4. A Restless Truth (The Last Binding #2)-Freya Marske-Added March 2022

The second instalment in The Last Binding trilogy is set to follow Robin’s sister Maud, and whilst I will admit, I was hoping for a direct continuation and don’t quite understand how following Maud is going to continue the story started in A Marvellous Light, I am excited for the spotlight to be on the women in the story after the very male heavy A Marvellous Light.

5. Mad Honey-Jodi Picoult & Jennifer Finney Boylan-Added March 2022

Whilst I skipped Jodi Picoult’s most recent solo release Wish You Were Here (not ready to read about the pandemic), I’m definitely excited for her upcoming November release, co-written with Jennifer Finney Boylan. This sounds like it might be a return to some of the “courtroom drama” that I so loved in Jodi Picoult’s earlier books, and after The Book Of Two Ways was a bit of a damp squib for me and I skipped out on Wish You Were Here due to the subject matter, I’m hoping this will be somewhat of a return to form for Jodi Picoult.

6. The Ballad of Never After-Stephanie Garber-Added March 2022

Admittedly, yes, I have not yet read Once Upon A Broken Heart. However, I have great confidence that I will love it, having seen so many positive reviews and having really enjoyed Garber’s Caraval trilogy. Plus, I wanted to get the secret cover, so I had to pre-order it. I still have until September to read Once Upon A Broken Heart before this comes out, so hopefully I will!

7. Reader, I Murdered Him-Betsy Cornwell-Added March 2022

This is another one that I saw on a Top Ten Tuesday earlier in the month and it just sounded so right up my street that I had to add it to my TBR. Two Victorian women becoming vigilantes to protect their friends from abusive men? YES PLEASE.

8. Looking For Jane-Heather Marshall-Added February 2022

This one sounds so up my street, it’s about an underground abortion network in the 1970s and 80s in Canada and apparently based on a real network called the Jane Collective which actually did provide safe abortions for women in Canada in the 60s, 70s and 80s whilst the procedure was still illegal. It sounds really interesting and I have to admit, not a part of history that I’m massively familiar with, I’ve not read any historical fiction based in Canada before, so I’m really excited to read this one.

9. The Library of The Dead-T.L. Huchu-Added January 2022

This is one I’ve been seeing a lot when I’ve been browsing in Waterstones, and it sounds really good. I love anything set in Edinburgh as it’s one of my favourite cities, and this definitely sounds suitably creepy as the main character Ropa, is a ghostalker, who is able to communicate with Edinburgh’s dead. Plus, anything with Library in the title is an automatic win for me.

10. The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections-Eva Jurczyk-Added January 2022

This was another one I added after seeing it on someone’s Top Ten Tuesday list, and I’ll admit, largely for the title as it sounded very intriguing. It follows librarian Liesel as she investigates the disappearances of her colleagues and the library’s most prized manuscript, this is basically combining two things I love: books and mysteries, so I can’t wait to read it. I’ve not been able to find it anywhere yet, I was hoping it might be on Audible but it doesn’t seem to be, so I’ll have to keep checking back, or else get the Kindle edition.

So there we go, those are some of the books I’ve added to my TBR recently. Have you read any of these (of the ones that are out, I know I’ve got quite a few upcoming releases on here)? Are any also on your TBR? What books have you added to your TBR recently? Let me know in the comments!

I’ll be back next week with another Top Ten Tuesday, it’s one of our annual Freebies, so I’m going to be talking about Adult Historical Fiction Books On My TBR, as one of my 2022 goals was to read more Adult Historical Fiction.