Top Ten Tuesday #374

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these, the Queen + Adam Lambert concert was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, I’ve been to a lot of great concerts before but I have to say, they definitely took it to the next level. It was well worth all the travel hell that we went through to get there, because of the rail strikes, it took us about 3 hours to get to the O2 via bus and then boat and then another 2 hours or so to get home, including an hour waiting in line after the concert for the boat back! It’s not the absolutely worst travel nightmare I’ve ever had, but it was getting pretty darn close. We finally have our move date set for next week, so this week is going to be a lot of finishing packing and making sure everything is ready to go. We’ve been planning this move for so long, it’s hard to believe that it’s actually almost time to go!

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, so that means another Top Ten Tuesday for you all, courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is our annual Summer TBR. I did do slightly better on my Winter TBR than I was expecting, I finished 5 of my list (7 if we’re counting the two comics I read separately as I combined them into one entry on the list), so half of the books on there, though obviously I read more books than that, I just deviated a lot from my TBR, a common theme recently. I’m hoping I will do better on my Summer TBR, but this is really just for guidance of some of the books I think I might like to read in the next few months, if I’m not feeling them, I fully plan to deviate and I’m not going to feel bad about it! Life is too short to read books you aren’t feeling in the mood for. So here we go, my Summer TBR:

1. Fix The System, Not The Women-Laura Bates

Okay, this is a slight cheat because I’m almost done with this book, I’m currently reading the last chapter! But hey, I like having low hanging fruit to check off my TBR. I have enjoyed this one, although not as much as her last book, Men Who Hate Women, it did feel like it got a little repetitive at times as she reinforces her points. Still a very powerful and insightful read and I loved that she actually offers solutions to the systemic problems that women face.

2. Good Girl, Bad Blood-Holly Jackson

I will admit, I’ve been kind of dipping in and out of this one as I’ve been very busy over the past couple of weeks and just haven’t really been sitting down to read. I’m really excited for this one though as I loved the first book, and would also love to finally get it ticked off my TBR as it’s appeared on I think every single one of my TBR lists for months!

3. Life After Life-Kate Atkinson

I just watched the BBC adaptation of this, having never even heard of the book before and I enjoyed it so much that I’ve decided to give the book a try (if you haven’t seen the show and you are based in the UK, I highly recommend it, it’s on BBC iPlayer and Thomasin McKenzie is brilliant). The audiobook is also narrated by Fenella Woolgar who plays Sister Hilda on Call The Midwife, so that’s exciting, I’m interested to see what she’s like as a narrator.

4. Once Upon A Broken Heart-Stephanie Garber

I’d really like to try and get to this book before the second book, The Ballad of Never After is released in September. I’ve heard such good things about it, so I’m super excited. I don’t know if I will get to it because I’ve been so slow with physical books recently, but once I’ve finished Good Girl, Bad Blood, this is definitely next on my list.

5. The Mad Girls of New York-Maya Rodale

This is one of my most anticipated reads of the year, I’m so excited for it! Ever since I first listened to a podcast episode about Nellie Bly a few years back, I’ve been super interested in her and her life so when I saw this book was coming out, it was an automatic TBR add for me. For anyone who is not aware of who Nellie was, she was an investigative reporter who went undercover in an infamous New York asylum for ten days to expose the reality of the cruel conditions there, a real trailblazer for women in journalism. I also love that this sounds like it’s going to be a series covering Nellie’s adventures, as she had a really fascinating life, she also travelled around the world in 72 days, in an attempt to recreate the fictional journey attempted by Phileas Fogg in the book Around The World In Eighty Days.

6. Bloomsbury Girls-Natalie Jenner

You know when you read a synopsis for a book and you just feel like that book was created for you? That’s how Bloomsbury Girls feels for me! Historical fiction following women working in a London bookshop in the 1950s and fighting back against the inequality they face in their workplace? Count me in!

7. The Librarian Spy-Madeline Martin

I really enjoyed The Last Bookshop In London when I read it last year, so naturally Martin’s second historical fiction went straight onto my TBR, especially when I saw that it would once again be narrated by my favourite audiobook narrator Saskia Maarleveld. I love books centred around female spies, so when you add in the fact that the spy in this book is posing as a librarian to do her work, you definitely have a winner for me! It comes out at the end of July, so I’ll definitely be getting the audiobook in August/September.

8. Ten Steps To Nanette-Hannah Gadsby

I love a good memoir, and listening to Hannah Gadsby talk to Deborah Frances-White about her memoir on The Guilty Feminist had me in such stitches that I just had to add the book to my TBR. I really enjoyed Nanette, it’s such a brilliant show so I’m excited to get some more insight into Hannah Gadsby’s life and the creation of that show here.

9. Looking For Jane-Heather Marshall

This seems like an unfortunately timely book to be adding to my TBR with the news that has come out of the US recently of the rolling back of abortion rights in many states after the overturning of Roe V Wade. This book follows an underground abortion network in Canada in the 1970s & 80s, based on the real Jane Collective who would help women access abortions before the procedure was legalised. This book has basically everything for me, historical, centred on women and reproductive rights, so I really hope it lives up to my excitement!

10. The Society For Soulless Girls-Laura Steven

I’ll admit, I didn’t have much luck with The Love Hypothesis when I tried reading it earlier this year, but Laura Steven’s upcoming release sounds far more up my street. It’s a sapphic dark academia retelling of Jekyll and Hyde, following two students as they attempt to uncover the truth behind a series of supernatural murders. Sounds great right?

So there we have it, my planned Summer TBR reads! I probably won’t read all of these, but as I’m planning on reading about 7 of them on audiobook, I should at least have a good chance of finishing those! How about you? What’s on your Summer TBR this year? Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Let me know in the comments!

I’ll be back next week with another Top Ten Tuesday, it’s another annual topic for us, our Most Anticipated Books Releasing In The Second Half of 2022 (how rude for this topic to come around so quickly when I haven’t even read most of my anticipated from the first half of 2022 yet!) which is always a fun one to do.

Top Ten Tuesday #373

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these, mine has been fairly quiet as per usual. In a rarity for me, you’re getting a pre-scheduled post this week, my mum and I are going to Queen + Adam Lambert’s concert tonight which I’m super excited for as we’ve had to wait for over a year due to COVID rescheduling, but we had to go down to London yesterday due to the rail strikes taking place this week, because it’s just our luck that there would be strikes happening on the same week that we needed to be London for something! Thankfully we have managed to work out alternative transport to the O2, so fingers crossed that it all goes okay!

Anyway, it’s Tuesday so that means another Top Ten Tuesday courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. I wasn’t really feeling this week’s topic of Bookish Wishes, so I’m going rogue again this week and instead doing something I saw Alicia @ A Kernel of Nonsense do on her blog back when we did the Book Quote Freebie last month and sharing 10 Random Quotes From Books On My TBR. Basically I picked 10 random books off my shelf, put the numbers between 1-50 into a random number generator on my computer and picked out the first quote I could see on that page. It did get a little tricky as some of the numbers came up with pages that didn’t have dialogue in the book, so I had to try multiple times to get a page that did, and I don’t think the quotes I’ve come out with are as good as Alicia’s but hey, that shows they truly were randomly chosen! So here we go, some random quotes from books on my TBR:

1. “Just tell me if you have him, please.” -Lexi, The Near Witch, VE Schwab

The Near Witch is one of very few Schwab books I have yet to read and I have to admit, I’m a little apprehensive, because I’ve not been the biggest fan of her earlier books, but I still think it will be interesting to read her debut and see where she started from.

2. “Marie, are you in there?” -Mirabelle, An Affair of Poisons, Addie Thorley

I really need to get to this one sometime soon because it sounds great, an alchemist unwittingly creates a poison which is used to murder Louis XIV and incite a rebellion? YES PLEASE.

3. “Never been readier.” -Daemon, Circle of Shadows, Evelyn Skye

I have to admit, a fairly boring quote but it was the first one on the random page I picked. The book sounds way more interesting than this quote, it’s about two trainee warriors studying magic and fighting in order to protect their kingdom and in order to prove themselves worthy as warriors, they infiltrate a group of soldiers during a scouting mission. I really enjoyed The Crown’s Game, so I hope I enjoy this one too.

4. “I saw something horrible. A vision of death.” -Xifeng, Forest of A Thousand Lanterns, Julie C. Dao

I love, love, love villain stories, Forest of A Thousand Lanterns is a retelling of the Evil Queen legend and this quote has me even more excited to read it. Visions of death can only mean carnage is in store in this book!

5. “You were almost a Robin. After you were born, I told the nurse that was your name, though I knew your Dad preferred Lily because lily of the valley was in bloom when we bought the house.” -Brenda, The Paris Library, Janet Skielsen Charles

I really need to get to The Paris Library soon because it SOUNDS SO GOOD. It’s about the American Library in Paris and the librarian’s role in the French Resistance during the Nazi Occupation, and it just sounds so up my street. I’ve been on a big historical fiction kick recently, so there’s a good chance I’ll read this sooner rather than later.

6. “Sorry about last night, I can’t remember much.”-Lucas, Mina and The Undead, Amy McCaw

Doesn’t give much away, but I am intrigued as to what Lucas may have done that he needs to apologise for! Amy was my secret sister when we both did the Secret Sister Project on Twitter in 2017/18, so I really want to support her in her writing career. I’ve never been a huge vampire person, but Mina and The Undead does sound fun, so I want to see what it’s like.

7. “You’re lucky you got accepted to Godwin your first year at Dalloway.” -Leonie, A Lesson In Vengeance, Victoria Lee

I’m so excited for this one, witchy sapphic dark academia just sounds like such a blast!

8. “Be present,” “Stop wandering. How much power do you feel?” -Bryde, Mister Impossible, Maggie Stiefvater

I assume this is Bryde training Hennessey in how to use her dream powers? Or something like that. Anyway, I do really need to get around to Mister Impossible but I have completely forgotten what happened in Call Down The Hawk since I read it two years ago so I may need to refresh myself on that first before I can dive into the sequel.

9. “Why you getting undressed? Ain’t you going to work?” -Abe, The Foundling, Stacey Halls

My friend Hannah really liked The Foundling and she got it for me for Christmas about two years ago, so I really do need to get to it at some point! This quote doesn’t really tell me much, but from what I’ve read about it (it’s about a woman who tries to reclaim her illegitimate daughter from the foundling hospital she left her at, only to discover that someone pretending to be her has already done so), it sounds very interesting and I look forward to reading it.

10. “I would rather die than spend the rest of my life in Naimes.” -Marguerite, Vespertine, Margaret Rogerson

So many questions. Where is Naimes? What’s so bad about it you’d rather die than be there? I will admit, Margaret Rogerson’s books have always had a bit of “great concept, lacks execution” for me, but Vespertine did sound so cool that I just had to get: a nun-in-training who cleanses the bodies of the dead awakens a deadly spirit in order to defend her home but finds herself almost overcome in the process and has to find a way to control the spirit in order to save her home and herself.

So there we go, those are some random quotes from books on my TBR. Are any of these books on your TBR? Have you read them? What did you think of them? If any of them aren’t on your TBR, have these quotes inspired you to look into them? Let me know in the comments!

Next week’s topic is our annual Summer TBR topic which is always very fun, even if I do fail on my TBRs more often than not!

Top Ten Tuesday #372

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these, mine has been fairly quiet, though we’re getting ready to move in a couple of weeks’ time, so the packing has (unfortunately) begun.

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, and so that means another Top Ten Tuesday courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. I wasn’t feeling the topic this week as I’ve never really been a big fan of epilogues, so instead I thought I’d do something for Pride Month and share some Books By LGBTQ+ Authors on My TBR. As with the last time I did this topic, I’ve only chosen books by authors who have spoken about their sexuality online, as I didn’t want to presume anything, or accidentally out anyone!. All the books also feature at least one or more LGBTQ+ characters:

1. All Of Us Villains-Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman

I’m so excited for this one, I’m really hoping I can get around it to this year, though I don’t think I will before the sequel comes out in September. It sounds so me as well, it’s basically The Hunger Games with magic apparently and everyone’s a villain. Everyone’s a villain is one of my favourite tropes, so this sounds right up my street.

2. The City of Dusk-Tara Sim

I have to admit, I don’t know a massive amount about this, but I loved Tara Sim’s Timekeeper trilogy, and I’ve been wanting to read something new by her for a while, so I thought her adult debut would be a good place to start. All I really know about it is that its dark and it has LGBTQ+ characters, and honestly that’s all I really need to know!

3. A Day of Fallen Night-Samantha Shannon

I have to admit, I’m already a little intimidated by this one because I know it’s going to be HUGE, but I did enjoy Priory, and I’d like to read more in that world. I’m hoping that this one has even more dragons though!

4. Ten Steps To Nanette-Hannah Gadsby

I love Hannah Gadsby, and I really enjoyed both her specials on Netflix, so I was already excited to read it and then the absolutely hilarious episode of The Guilty Feminist with her speaking to Deborah Frances-White about this book absolutely sealed it for me. This will definitely be an audiobook listen sometime in the near future.

5. A Lesson In Vengeance-Victoria Lee

I definitely want to get more onto the dark academia train because it just sounds so up my street, but I’ve not read all that many yet. This definitely seems like a great place to start, it’s sapphic, set in a boarding school and has witches and murder, all of those things are things I enjoy, so I’m definitely looking forward to this one. It’s probably going to be an autumn read, much as I don’t generally read seasonally, this gives off such Halloween vibes that it just seems rude to read it any other time of year.

6. A Kingdom For A Stage-Heidi Heilig

I read For A Muse of Fire ages ago, and I kept meaning to get to the sequel but I still haven’t. I thought For A Muse of Fire was really creative with it’s combination of South East Asian culture with French colonialism and I really loved that heroine was bipolar because I honestly can’t think of many contemporary books with a bipolar MC, let alone fantasy ones. I have completely forgotten what happened in the first book though, so I may need to look up a recap before I dive into this one!

7. These Feathered Flames-Alexandra Overy

Sister stories are like catnip to me, so naturally when I saw this one, I was immediately excited. I love books that are based off folklore that I’m not necessarily familiar with, and I admit, I’ve never heard of the Firebird story. Plus it has a sapphic enemies to lovers to romance and I’m definitely there for that!

8. Reader, I Murdered Him-Betsy Cornwell

Now granted, I didn’t much like Jane Eyre when I read it for school (I actually never finished it, I got about halfway through and then gave up!) so you wouldn’t think a sequel of sorts would be my cup of tea (to give you an idea of how soon I gave up with the original Jane Eyre, I had no idea Rochester even had a ward) but it turns out all Jane Eyre needed to make me like it was murder, female vigilantes and a sapphic love story. Who knew?

9. A Restless Truth-Freya Marske

I wasn’t the biggest fan of A Marvellous Light, but it seems like the women take centre stage in this one and I am all for that. More Adelaide Morrissey please! I’ve seen this described as lesbian Knives Out on a boat which sounds just fun enough to work and I really loved Maud in the first one, so I’m looking forward to seeing her adventures this time.

10. Scavenge The Stars-Tara Sim

Another Tara Sim one I know, but I have a few of hers to catch up on, I’ve not read any since Firestarter in 2018. This is a gender swapped retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo and whilst I have to admit, I’ve not read the original book, it sounds really fun. I would probably have read this one before now, but I’ve not been able to find it anywhere in the UK, so it’s been on the back burner for a while.

So there we go, those are some LGBTQ+ books by LGBTQ+ authors on my list, have you read any of these (I know a couple are yet to be released, so of the ones that are out!)? Which do you recommend I start with? Do you have any recommendations for me (especially if they are queer BIPOC authors because I know I am sorely lacking those on my TBR and would love to have more)? Let me know in the comments!

Next week’s topic is meant to be Bookish Wishes where we share our wishlists but I feel kind of uncomfortable asking strangers to buy me books (lovely as I think the idea is! Plus I am about to move and I think if I acquire anymore books before I do then my mum will probably get quite annoyed!). So instead, I’m going to do something I saw Alicia from A Kernel Of Nonsense do a few weeks back when we did our quote freebie and sharing 10 Random Quotes From Books On My TBR. It should be both fun and hopefully relatively straightforward.

Top Ten Tuesday #371

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these, we’ve just come off a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, so that was nice, mine was fairly chill, mostly reading and watching TV.

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, and so that means another Top Ten Tuesday, courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Today we’re talking Books With A Unit of Time In The Title which seems straightforward enough. Here we go:

1. Dog Days: A Year With Olive and Mabel-Andrew Cotter

We have a winner on two counts, as this title has both “Days” and “Year”. Kind of a niche one, Andrew Cotter is a UK sports commentator whose Labradors Olive and Mabel went viral on the internet during the initial COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 when he posted a video of them eating their breakfast whilst he commentated on it. This is his second book about the two dogs and is basically a diary of their experiences over the pandemic (it’s much funnier than I’m making it sound!).

2. The Midnight Library-Matt Haig

Slightly more specific than the units of time examples that Jana gave us, but it still counts, I think! I read this one last year, and I wasn’t a huge fan of it, it was a little too slow and introspective for me and I found the whole thing just didn’t really live up to my expectations of the super cool concept (The Midnight Library of the title is basically a limbo between life and death, which for the main character takes the form of a library, and she is able to live out all the different possible lives she could have had if she’d made different choices).

3. Seasons of War-Derek Landy

The 13th Skulduggery Pleasant book follows Valkyrie and Skulduggery over the course of a year (so through the different “Seasons” of the title) as they aim to prevent war. It’s probably my least favourite of the Phase 2 books I’ve read so far, I found it very messy, there were way too many plot threads that the story was trying to tackle and the pacing was just UGH SO SLOW. I’ve actually yet to read the final two books in the series because I was so disappointed with this one, but I’m sure I will at some point.

4. Spin The Dawn-Elizabeth Lim

I was so disappointed in this one, it sounded so cool, Project Runway meets Mulan but in actuality, the most creative part of the book (the tailoring contest) was breezed past, the main character’s development was completely stifled in favour of the romance and the main character managed everything without any significant obstacles, so the stakes just felt super low. I said at the time I might try the sequel but that was two years ago and in the time since, I’ve not really felt like reading more from this world, so I’m not sure I will. The “Dawn” of the title, I guess refers to the fact that one of the things she has to do in the book is create a dress from the sun.

5. Night Spinner-Addie Thorley

One of the best underrated books I’ve read over the past couple of years, it’s a retelling of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but gender swapped and set in this arctic tundra for most of the book. The title refers to the main character’s power over the night which has caused her to be isolated from everyone after an accident with her powers wiped out a merchant caravan. I really recommend this one, it was such a creative retelling, though the sequel did leave something to be desired.

6. 13 Minutes-Sarah Pinborough

Fairly self explanatory this one, I think! This book is kind of like if Mean Girls was a murder mystery, one of the main characters, Tasha drowns and is clinically dead for 13 minutes but she survives and has no memory of what happened to her, and spends the book trying to work out if it was an accident, suicide attempt or if someone tried to murder her. It’s incredibly fun and twisty, and a really good look at how toxic some teenage girl friendships can be.

7. Split Second-Sophie McKenzie

This book is just as intense as the title suggests, it starts with a bombing that changes everything for the main characters. It’s pretty much non-stop edge of your seat action throughout, and if you’d like a dystopian type book, which a) isn’t set in the US and b) where the world portrayed could quite easily happen, it’s not all that far off from our current situation, then I would highly recommend this one.

8. Days of Blood and Starlight-Laini Taylor

I have to admit, I hated this book so much that I’ve put off reading the third book for years, and actually may never read it at this point. It’s so dark and depressing and slow that I felt so bogged down by it and the angsty relationship drama just wasn’t for me. Also the completely unnecessary scene where Thiago attempts to rape Karou was just too much for me, Laini Taylor has a tendency to use rape as a plot device in her books and it’s not something I’m here for, so I’m not sure I will ever read the third book in this series.

9. Zero Hour-Mark Walden

I have to admit, it’s been a few years since I read this one, so I don’t quite remember what happened in it! I remember finding it really fun when I read it, but not so much about the plot details. Anyway, it’s the sixth book in the series, so sharing plot details would be super spoilery anyway. The main gist of the series is that it’s set at a school for villains, where kids with the greatest potential to become supervillains are brought for training in the art of villainy. If you always find yourself rooting for the bad guys, I definitely recommend this series.

10. One Day-David Nicholls

I will freely admit, I hate this book. The main characters are both terrible people, and added to that, they’re not interesting terrible people so I wasn’t rooting for either of them, which is kind of vital when you’re wanting to tell a love story. But it did fit the category of “Book With A Unit of Time” in its title, so here it is.

So there we go, those are some Books With Units Of Time In Their Titles. Have you read any of these? Did you enjoy them? What books with units of time in their titles did you have on this week’s list? Let me know in the comments!

Next week’s Top Ten Tuesday is supposed to be Books I Wish Had An Epilogue, but I’m not a big fan of epilogues, I honestly can’t think of many I’ve liked, so it’s not something I generally look for in the books I read. So I’m going to switch things up, and as it’s Pride Month, I’m going to share some Books By LGBTQ+ authors on my TBR, I’m sure it’s one I’ve done before, but it’s an evergreen topic, so I’m sure I’ll be able to find plenty more!

Top Ten Tuesday #370

Hi all! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these, mine was as usual fairly quiet and getting even quieter because once again we’ve hit a lull period at the vaccination centre.

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, and so that means another Top Ten Tuesday, courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Today’s topic was supposed to be Comfort Reads, but believe it or not, I don’t actually tend to go to books when I need comforting. Instead, I usually watch some familiar and favourite TV shows and movies, so that’s what I’m going to be sharing today instead, for my 370th Top Ten Tuesday. Here are some of my Comfort TV Shows/Movies:

1. Friends

Yes, Friends is massively dated but the first notes of the theme song and I can’t help but feel instantly soothed. There is something eminently comforting about a show that you’ve seen so many times that you can practically recite it word for word, so Friends is always something I turn to when I need something familiar, or just need something on in the background whilst I work.

2. Gilmore Girls

I’m actually currently in the middle of my annual rewatch of Gilmore Girls, there’s something about returning to Stars Hollow with Lorelai and Rory that instantly makes me feel better, and I never get bored of spending time with them no matter how many times I’ve seen the show (and it is many by now).

3. Gossip Girl

We’re talking OG Gossip Girl here, not reboot GG, because reboot GG SUCKS. Whenever I’m needing a dose of over the top drama, I always come back to Gossip Girl, even if the later series did significantly decline in quality!

4. Merlin

Merlin never fails to make me laugh so when I need a dose of funny, escapist fantasy, it’s definitely one that I find myself turning to often! If you’ve not seen the BBC retelling of Arthurian legends, I highly recommend it, it’s a lot of fun.

5. Heartland

I’m very sad that Netflix UK has taken off the first six series of Heartland, not least because that means that I can’t rewatch my top two favourite series of the show whenever I want (S3 and S5 if you’re interested), but also because it means doing a full rewatch is now impossible, unless I wanted to pay for the first six seasons on Amazon Prime (which I don’t). But anyway, this show is one I always find comforting to return to, I love the horses and the beautiful Canadian scenery, and the close knit family dynamics.

6. 10 Things I Hate About You

I’ve actually lost count of how many times I’ve seen this film by now, but whenever I need a serotonin boost, Heath Ledger singing “I Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” to Julia Stiles from the school bleachers really does the trick!

7. Hairspray (2007)

Hairspray is one of those musicals that never fails to make you smile, so whenever I need cheering up, I tend to go for either this or Mamma Mia. By the end, I’m singing and dancing along so much that I’ve forgotten whatever made me sad in the first place!

8. The Great British Bake Off

There’s something about watching people get incredibly stressed over baking that is just perfect comfort material apparently! It’s incredibly low stakes competition (they win a cake stand!) and everyone helps each other and it’s just like a warm hug on dark Autumn evenings. I can’t wait for it to come back in September!

9. Legally Blonde

Another one of those films that I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve watched it. It’s just such a fun film that I never get bored of, no matter how many times I watch it.

10. Moulin Rouge!

Okay, maybe an odd choice for a comforting film, given that the entire premise is tragic, but it is my favourite movie of all time and aside from the very end, is actually a lot of fun to watch with all the bombastic musical numbers and the incredible costumes!

So there we go, those are some of my Comfort TV Shows/Movies. Have you seen any of these? Did you enjoy them? What TV Shows or Movies do you turn to when you need comforting? Let me know in the comments!

I’ll be back next week with another Top Ten Tuesday, this time we’re doing Books With A Unit of Time In The Title. I’m not sure how many books I’ve read that come under this category, but I guess we’ll see!

Top Ten Tuesday #369

Hi all! Hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these, once again, nothing much new to report here.

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, and so that means another Top Ten Tuesday, courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is a Book Quote Freebie, but instead of deciding on a particular theme for my quotes, I thought I’d just share a selection of the Best Quotes From My Ten Most Recent Reads. These will go from my most recent reads down to the furthest back. So here we go:

1. “Museums never like to grapple with their history of colonialism. If you remove everything that was looted, then what’s left?” -Irene Chen, Portrait of A Thief

I had my issues with Portrait of A Thief, but it did raise some interesting points about museums and the ongoing discussions about objects stolen from other countries through colonialism.

2. “Life isn’t always going to be war….and you’ll do yourself a grave disservice if you live your every moment-not just your wartime moments but your gentler ones-by a standard as harsh as never miss.” -Eleanor Roosevelt, The Diamond Eye

This snippet comes from one of my absolute favourite moments of The Diamond Eye, when Mila and Eleanor are talking about failure, and how women put so much pressure on themselves to always succeed and feel they are never allowed to fail. It’s such a beautiful moment as we’ve seen Mila constantly striving for perfection throughout the whole book, that it’s lovely to see Eleanor reassuring her here that perfection is an impossible standard for anyone and it’s okay to fail sometimes.

3. “Would you add that which I cannot tell you to your prayers?”

“Everyday, sister”

-Manizheh and Rustam, The River of Silver, SA Chakraborty

This exchange happens in Manizheh’s story in The River of Silver, and I won’t spoil what it’s about in case you haven’t read any of the Daevabad books, but it’s a very poignant and emotional moment between the siblings.

4. “Because if even a single woman was involved, they wouldn’t have decided that a man who’d been working there one day was a more likely source of information than a woman who had been there for years.” -Adelaide Morrissey, A Marvellous Light, Freya Marske

This made me practically snort with laughter whilst I was listening to the audiobook. I love Miss Morrissey and I hope she’s featured even more in the second book so that we get treated to even more wonderful zingers like this one.

5. “My pain was never more valuable than his potential.” -Chanel Miller, Know My Name

There were so many amazing, powerful lines from Chanel’s memoir, but this one from her victim impact statement is one that has definitely stuck with me since reading.

6. “Could it be possible that for the first time in my life, I’ve found a place to belong?” -Rosalind Franklin, Her Hidden Genius, Marie Benedict

Poor Rosalind, the amount of misogyny she had to deal with and the lack of credit for her work on DNA within her lifetime was just maddening!

7. “Darling, you must never become accustomed to the extraordinary and the outrageous. If you do, little by little, you’ll learn to accept anything.” -Arvid Harnack, Resistance Women, Jennifer Chiaverini

I realise the irony in my choosing a quote from a man for a book called Resistance Women, but this was just one that stuck with me after reading, I think it’s just as relevant now as for the situation Arvid is talking about in the 1930s.

8. “On a few occasions it did look as if Olive was trying to sidle into the conversation with an amusing anecdote of her own, or more likely to see if they might drop some crumbs her way-or even, such is her hopeful nature, that they would offer to fetch her a platter of assorted snacks from the buffet.” -Dog Days: A Year With Olive and Mabel, Andrew Cotter

This made me laugh out loud because having had a Labrador myself, their love of and constant seeking out of food is pretty legendary.

9. “Whenever you hear a story about villainous women, you should ask who is telling the story.” -This Poison Heart, Kalynn Bayron

I have to admit, I can’t remember the name of the professor that Briseis was speaking to in this conversation, but I really loved the point she made as so many women have been villainised throughout history and it really does all depend on who is doing the telling.

10. “We tell people to follow their dreams, but you can only dream of what you can imagine, and depending on where you come from, your imagination can be quite limited.” -Born A Crime: Stories From A South African Childhood, Trevor Noah

There are a lot of really funny moments in this book, but I thought I’d choose a more poignant quote to end on, since funny as it is, this book does also deal with a lot of serious issues, many of which still affect South Africa today.

So there we go, those are some quotes from ten of my most recent reads. Have you read any of these books? Did you enjoy them? What have you been reading recently? Let me know in the comments!

I’ll be back next week with another Top Ten Tuesday, the topic this time is Comfort Reads but in all honesty, I tend to have Comfort TV Shows/Movies more than books, so I think I’ll share some of those instead.

Top Ten Tuesday #368

Hi all! I hope you’ve had a good week since I last did one of these, mine has once again been fairly quiet, just more work as usual.

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, and so that means another Top Ten Tuesday, courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is Books I Was So Excited To Get and Still Haven’t Read, and buckle in, because this is going to be A LONG ONE. I am the queen of being really excited to get books and procrastinating reading them for years, so we’re looking at double edition of TTT today (actually it’s Top Twenty Two Tuesday, I couldn’t even stop myself at twenty!):

1. Off The Page-Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer (Bought In 2016)

I was so excited for this sequel because I really enjoyed the first book, Between The Lines, but then it just kind of got lost in the shuffle of other books and I never got around to it. I’m actually not so sure if I would enjoy it now as I’m quite a bit older than I was when I read Between The Lines, and cutesy YA romance is not really my thing anymore (not that it really was back then to be honest, but I think I did enjoy the occasional one at 16/17 whereas I really don’t now).

2. Wintergirls-Laurie Halse Anderson (Bought at YALC in 2016)

Honestly, I think this one may have been a discount buy on the YALC Sunday in 2016, but I do remember being excited for it because I’d heard a lot of good things about it. Since then I’ve read one of Halse Anderson’s other books, Speak, and I wasn’t a huge fan, I would still like to try this one but my excitement has waned somewhat since I bought it.

3. The Fixer-Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Received in 2017)

I got this in one of my #otspsecretsister parcels, a kind of all year round Secret Santa that a group of bloggers (Brittany, Alyssa and Amy) used to run on Twitter, and it was super fun, I did it for a couple of years. Anyway, this book was one of the books I received in my parcels for the project, and it sounds really fun, it’s about a teenager whose sister is a political fixer in DC and she accidentally falls into being a “fixer” for her high school.

4. Inkheart-Cornelia Funke (Bought in 2017)

I bought this when I had a day out book shopping in Edinburgh, it’s one of those books that I wish I’d read as a kid, but kind of missed out on. I still really want to read it, the whole idea of being able to read characters out of books is catnip to me, but it’s been in storage for a while (along with a lot of my books, I just wasn’t able to bring them all back from Uni) so I’m not sure when I’ll get to read it. Whenever all my stuff is finally in one place if that ever happens!

5. A Court of Wings and Ruin-Sarah J Maas (Bought at YALC in 2017)

This is kind of cheat one, because I did start reading it last year but just wasn’t really in the mood. Honestly, though I liked ACOMAF, I was never as big a fan of the ACOTAR series as I was the Throne of Glass series, and the more Sarah J Maas books you read, the more you realise they’re kind of same-y. I don’t think I’ll read A Court of Silver Flames, so I don’t think I’ll feel massively bad if I bow out of ACOTAR here, though I may decide to come back to it at some point.

6. Every Word-Ellie Marney (Received in 2017)

I got this as a birthday gift from a former Secret Sister, but again, I’ve just not got around to reading it. I would definitely still like to though, as I remember enjoying the first book in the series, and it’s a really fun take on a Sherlock retelling.

7. The Guilty Feminist-Deborah Frances-White (Bought in 2018)

I’m a feminist but……I bought this book when I went to one of Deborah’s tour stops for it in 2018 and it’s been sitting on my shelf gathering dust, along with several other feminist non-fiction books that I say I’ll read and then proceed to leave for years. I really will read this one one day as I do love the podcast, but an hour or so a week of the podcast is a much smaller time commitment!

8. Everyday Sexism-Laura Bates (Received in 2018)

I got this one as a Christmas gift in 2018, and ironically, have read one of Laura’s more recent books since then! It’s another of the previously aforementioned sad languishing feminist non-fiction. I will read it at some point, as I really loved Men Who Hate Women and plan to listen to her newest book on audio, but I’m not quite sure when.

9. Feminists Don’t Wear Pink-Scarlett Curtis and contributors (Bought in 2018)

I pre-ordered this, went to Waterstones to pick it up ON PUBLICATION DAY……and have yet to read it. I keep telling myself I’ll start reading some of the essays in between reading other books, but have I done that yet? Of course not! I really will, I think it’s just a case of being in the mood for non-fiction.

10. The Tyrant’s Tomb-Rick Riordan (Bought in 2019)

This one’s a toughie because honestly, really not been feeling The Trials of Apollo, I think I have reached the stage where I feel too old for Rick Riordan books, which is a shame because he’s been a favourite author for so long….but also not surprising as I’m 25 and his books are aimed at the 9-12 set! I did at one point think I would finish the series out, but I’m just not feeling the pull.

11. Good Girl, Bad Blood-Holly Jackson (Bought in 2020)

I got this one fairly soon after finishing A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder, thinking I’d read it right away and then I just….didn’t. I’ve planned to pick it up several times in the last couple of years, but having such an awful slump in 2021, and still not really reading as many physical books as I once was, I just haven’t got around to it yet. Hopefully when my physical book reading starts to pick up again, this will be one of the first I get to.

12. Only Ashes Remain-Rebecca Schaeffer (Bought in 2020)

I bought this one off Amazon (yes, I know, I know, but I do very rarely use Amazon for books that aren’t audiobooks now) right after finishing the first one, I was so excited to dive in….and then I just didn’t. A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder came up as the book of the month in my Book Club on Goodreads and I really wanted to join in with that, and then somehow I just kept finding other books I’d rather read. I did really enjoy the first one though, so I’m sure I will get to this at some point, and now that the series is complete, I do have slightly more impetus to.

13. Where Dreams Descend-Janella Angeles (Bought In 2020)

This is another one that I started last year, and then just wasn’t in the mood for because reading slump. I fully intend to go back to it, as it sounds so up my street, but I just wanted to give myself the best chance of enjoying it and I knew I wasn’t going to the way my reading mood was last year. Hopefully soon!

14. Rule of Wolves-Leigh Bardugo (Bought In 2021)

I was actually really in the mood to read this after watching Shadow and Bone last year, as I really wanted to dive back into the Grishaverse. But because of aforementioned reading slump, a gigantic book was hardly going to help matters, so I decided to put it off until I felt more in the mood for a chunkster. Honestly not sure when that will be as I’m still not really feeling like reading long books now, but we shall see. I will finish out the Grishaverse at some point (or at least this part of it, I know Leigh has indicated there will be another Six of Crows book further down the line and you guys know I will be all over that).

15. Dead or Alive-Derek Landy (Bought in 2021)

I was really excited for this, pre-reading Seasons of War, but then I read Seasons of War towards the end of 2020/beginning of 2021 and I just didn’t like it much, definitely my least favourite instalment of the new Skulduggery books, so Dead or Alive kind of slipped down my priority list. I would definitely like to get to Dead or Alive, and Until The End at some point, but much like Rule of Wolves, they’re both kind of chunky and I need to be in a particular mood for chunky books!

16. Mister Impossible-Maggie Stiefvater (Bought In 2021)

I will admit I wasn’t enamoured with Call Down The Hawk, but I was still excited to see more Ronan and so naturally I pre-ordered it. But then my massive reading slump happened last year and I just didn’t get around to 90% of the books I planned to. Hopefully once my reading has settled back into something like normal, I will get around to this.

17. City of Spells-Alexandra Christo (Bought in 2021)

I pre-ordered this one last year as I loved Into The Crooked Place and was super excited for it, but then I got into a reading slump, and well just never got around to it. I think I may have actually lent this one to a friend so I’m not sure if I actually have it at the moment……I guess I’ll find out when I pack up all my books to move!

18. Bridge of Souls-VE Schwab (Bought in 2021)

Another victim of my 2021 reading slump. I really wish it had happened in any other year, because I had SO MANY NEW BOOKS I was excited for last year and did I read ANY OF THEM? Well some on audio, but largely no. I’m sure this is one I will get to this year because it’s nice and short, and I’d like to finish out Cassidy Blake’s adventures (Schwab has said this is it for now, but that there might be more in the future, which I really hope there is because I rarely read MG anymore, but I really enjoyed the first two books in this series).

19. Endgame-Malorie Blackman (Bought in 2021)

After just finishing the second season of Noughts and Crosses last week (YES, a certain event from the books did hit me just as hard on screen, and even though I knew it was coming, I was still almost crying by the end.) I definitely do feel quite motivated to finish out the book series, even if I didn’t love Crossfire as much as I was hoping for. Again, this is one I probably would have read last year had not it been for the slump.

20. Once Upon A Broken Heart-Stephanie Garber (Bought in 2021)

AGH I’M SO EXCITED FOR THIS ONE. This is probably going to be the next one I dive into after finishing Gallant, because I just can’t wait anymore, I’ve heard such good things and I want to see for myself. Again, I would have read it last year if I’d been in a better reading mood, but better late than never right? And this way, I will have Ballad waiting for me soon after, so it’s really a good thing I didn’t read it straight away and have to wait a year. Good planning…..not procrastination at all…..

21. The Bronzed Beasts-Roshani Chokshi (Bought in 2021)

Of all the victims of the Great Reading Slump of 2021, this is probably the one I was most disappointed not to get to. The Silvered Serpents ending on such a wicked cliffhanger, I was so excited to get The Bronzed Beasts and by the time it arrived….just not feeling it anymore. Definitely a high priority one for this year though, I need to find out how the story ends.

22. All of Us Villains-Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman (Bought in 2021)

Again, I’m just calling this one good planning so I can read the two books in the duology back to back (I say, knowing full well that I absolutely WILL leave the second book a good year before I read it, probably even more). This one sounds super good and I do love villains but it’s another victim of the slump! Hopefully this year.

So there we go, those are all the books I was so excited to get and still haven’t read (aka the victims of Jo’s great reading slump of 2021 + a few extras). Have you read any of these books? Did you enjoy them? Any I should absolutely prioritise? Are you good at reading books when you get them or do you procrastinate horribly like me? Let me know in the comments!

I’ll be back next week with another Top Ten Tuesday, this time it’s a Book Quote Freebie (and I’m off work so you’ll actually get it at a reasonable hour for a change!). I’ve done quite a lot of Quotes on a theme for my Thursday Quotables though, so instead of doing ten quotes all on the same theme, I’m just going to share the Best Quotes From My Ten Most Recent Reads, with the best quote for each book.

Top Ten Tuesday #367

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these, mine has been fairly quiet, I’ve just been working as usual.

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, and so that means another Top Ten Tuesday, courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is Bookish Characters, so I thought I’d just talk about ten of my favourite bookish characters. I was a little worried this list would be quite similar to one I did a few years back on Characters Who Would Make Good Book Club Leaders, but I’ve read a lot of books since then and only about half of this list is the same! So I think that’s reasonably good going:

1. Hermione Granger-Harry Potter series-JK Rowling

I do try to limit my Harry Potter features as much as possible these days, given that JK Rowling is…..awful to put it mildly, but I couldn’t talk about my favourite bookish characters without mentioning Hermione! Hermione was one of the first characters I read about that really felt like me (although I have to say, I was never as studious as she was!) and so she’ll always have a special place in my heart. And without her, Ron and Harry would not have made it past book one…..

2. Annabeth Chase-Percy Jackson and The Olympians-Rick Riordan

Who’s excited for the Percy Jackson Disney+ series? I’m super excited, I can’t wait to see how the trio do, and so happy to see actual kids in the roles! Annabeth I love for a lot of the same reasons as Hermione, but I also thought it was so cool to see a kid with dyslexia who still really loves reading even though it’s not always easy for her.

3. Liesel Meminger-The Book Thief-Markus Zusak

The way Liesel just wants to devour stories, just loves words so much that she would do anything for them, I feel that. Though I don’t think I’d resort to stealing…..though she does steal quite a few from book burnings, so maybe it’s more like liberating? Anyway, I just love her and the joy and power that she is able to find from words and stories.

4. Grace Bennett-The Last Bookshop In London-Madeline Martin

Honestly, if I had to describe Grace Bennett, it would basically be, Liesel Meminger as a grown up but English and with less book stealing. The two are eerily similar! What I loved most about Grace though was getting to see her foster a love of reading as an adult, so many books about readers show them discovering their passion as kids, which is great, but it was also really cool to see a book where the MC hasn’t had a lifelong passion for books but through finding the right book for her, is able to open a door into a whole world of reading!

5. Matilda Wormwood-Matilda-Roald Dahl

As a book loving kid, Matilda just had my whole heart. Her coming back from the library with a trolley full of books…..I could definitely relate to that, I never had a trolley, but I would always take out huge stacks of books every week from the library and read them as fast as I could before coming back the next week to devour more!

6. Alizayd Al-Qahtani-The Daevabad Trilogy-SA Chakraborty

As far as I can tell, Ali is less a fiction reader, and more a reader of history and thick economics documents, but a book nerd is a book nerd, no matter what you love to read about! The fact that he and Nahri bonded over him teaching her how to read definitely endeared me to him where I’d initially been lukewarm. Nothing turns a bookworm to your side faster than knowing you are one of us!

7. Edwin Courcey-A Marvellous Light-Freya Marske

HE USED MAGIC TO BUILD HIS OWN LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM. I can’t even with how beautifully nerdy and wonderful that is. Edwin is a prickly bookworm with a secret heart of gold and for that we must protect him at all costs. I was slightly lukewarm with A Marvellous Light overall, but my love for Edwin and Robin definitely kept me reading.

8. Enrique Mercado-Lopez-The Gilded Wolves Trilogy-Roshani Chokshi

I would love to just sit down with Enrique over a large slice of cake and chat about history. I think we’d have an amazing time!

9. Aelin Galathynius-Throne of Glass series-Sarah J Maas

I have an Aelin quote on my wall: “I can survive well enough on my own if given the proper reading material.” And honestly? Same Aelin, same. I wasn’t actually a massive fan of Aelin in the beginning but she grew on me over the course of the books, and I think her love of reading definitely helped that.

10. Mila Pavlichenko-The Diamond Eye-Kate Quinn

All of Kate Quinn’s characters in her books I’ve read so far have been readers, which is understandable that authors pass on their passions to their characters, but Mila was actually a real person and one of the things that immediately endeared her to me was her passion for history as that’s obviously something I share. I loved the fact that her dissertation was on such a niche nerdy topic and that she brought it to the battlefield with her!

So there we go, those are some of my favourite bookish characters, both new and old! Have you read any of these books? Who are some of your favourite bookish characters? Let me know in the comments!

I’ll be back next week with another Top Ten Tuesday, we’re talking Books I Was So Excited To Get But Still Haven’t Read, and OH BOY. This could be a long one.

Top Ten Tuesday #366

Hi all! I hope you’ve all had a good week, after my very busy last week, I’ve had a fairly quiet Bank Holiday weekend, which was much appreciated.

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, and so that means time for another Top Ten Tuesday, courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week is One Word Reviews For The Last Ten Books I Read, which was an idea submitted by Susan @ Bloggin’ Bout Books. Tough one, Susan! I always have a tendency to be very wordy in my reviews, and I’m not so good at summing up my thoughts into just a couple of words (or in this case, a single word), so this is going to be a challenge for me, but I’ll give it a go (I will also link to my full reviews for the ones I’ve done them for if you’d like to see my more detailed thoughts):

1. The Diamond Eye-Kate Quinn

Engaging.

2. The River of Silver: Tales From The Daevabad Trilogy-S.A. Chakraborty

Uneven.

3. A Marvellous Light-Freya Marske

Meandering.

4. Know My Name-Chanel Miller

Powerful.

5. Her Hidden Genius-Marie Benedict

Disappointing.

6. Resistance Women-Jennifer Chiaverini

Long.

7. Dog Days: A Year In The Life of Olive and Mabel-Andrew Cotter

Funny.

8. This Poison Heart-Kalynn Bayron

Slow.

9. Born A Crime: Stories From A South African Childhood-Trevor Noah

Hilarious.

10. The Nobleman’s Guide To Scandal and Shipwrecks-Mackenzi Lee

Heavy.

So there we go, it’s a fairly short one from me today, but that’s what the topic called for! Have you read any of these books? Did you enjoy them? What would your one word review for any of them be? Let me know in the comments!

I’ll be back next week with another Top Ten Tuesday, this time we’re talking about Bookish Characters, which is always a fun one to do, and hopefully one I’ve not done before? At least not recently anyway!

Top Ten Tuesday #365

Hi all! Hope you’ve all had a good week, I’ve had a bit of a whirlwind last couple of days, I had a job interview in London yesterday and went to this really cool exhibition at the British Library today, it’s all about the news and the way it’s been told over several centuries, and they had so many cool artefacts from across history right up to the present day. If you’re in London, I would definitely recommend it, it’s running till the 21st August. One of my personal favourite exhibits was a news clipping on the Jack The Ripper murders, but the stories go even further back, there was even an article from the time of the Great Fire of London! I have to admit it was kind of the perfect exhibition for me as it combined two things I love to nerd out about: history and news!

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, and so that means it’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday, courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week is a cover freebie, which I know you guys always love, so I’ve decided to share my favourite Red, White and Black covers in honour of my fave author VE Schwab, who often has this colour scheme on her book covers (and no, the covers will not all be her books!). I decided to make this one a bit trickier for myself in only using covers that had all three colours on them, but it turns out it wasn’t actually that hard: lots of covers use this combination! So here we go:

1. Children of Blood and Bone-Tomi Adeyemi

I love this cover, I think it’s really striking, the whole dark background and the white hair really makes the red in the text and the headscarf pop and I love that the Black MC is front and centre on the cover.

2. Ruin and Rising-Leigh Bardugo

I actually prefer the redesigned cover for this with the firebird on it because I just like those designs better, but this fit the brief for the colours I was going for this week. I do like the red, I think that’s very striking, I’m just not really a big fan of what I think is meant to be the palace design (the black building).

3. Romanov-Nadine Brandes

I love the colours on this so much, the red and the gold feel very Christmassy to me, though it’s not a Christmas set story! The white is only really in the title text, but it’s there, so I’m counting it. I think the colour combinations on this are just genius, the red, the white, the black & gold, it just all goes together so well, and there’s such intricate little details like the drops of blood, ugh just so gorgeous.

4. A Psalm of Storms and Silence-Roseanne A. Brown

I love the designs on these covers so much, they’re so intricate, and gorgeous and so wonderfully reflective of the West African inspired setting and again, it’s great to see two Black characters front and centre on a cover like this. I almost wish I’d read this in physical copy so I could have the gorgeous covers on my shelf, but I can’t regret it too much as Jordan Cobb and AJ Beckles are fabulous narrators.

5. Ace of Shades-Amanda Foody

This is definitely my favourite of the three Shadow Game UK covers, the colours are so vivid, and I love the level of detail. From the card suits making up the background of the cover to the silhouette of the City of Sin, to the playing cards falling down around the title, it’s all just so cleverly put together and I really love it. The other two covers for the series are fine, but I just like the colours and design of this one the best (and was slightly sad they changed the UK cover colour for Queen of Volts from purple to green).

6. Caraval-Stephanie Garber

Okay so this one may be a tad more tenuous than some of the others on the list, but there is a splash of red at the centre of the starburst there, so I’m counting it! I love the simplicity of all these covers, the designs are all actually fairly simple, but the colours really make them pop.

7. A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder-Holly Jackson

All three books in the series would have worked for this prompt, but I chose the first one for the simple reason that it’s the only one I’ve read! A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder is neither the prettiest nor most exciting cover I’ve got on this list, but it works for what it needs to do and the idea of having the cover be Pip’s “murder board” is pretty cool.

8. Death Bringer-Derek Landy

I really miss the old style Skulduggery Pleasant covers, the style for the most recent instalments in the series is similar, but it’s not quite the same, it’s hard to put my finger on exactly what has changed about them, but I don’t like them as much! I could have used Bedlam, a later book in the series for this prompt too, but I liked this book better so I went with it. This is one of my favourite covers of the whole series actually, the colours really pop and I love the design of Skulduggery and Val in the graveyard.

9. Heartless-Marissa Meyer

This is another of those books that I really wish I’d read as a physical copy rather than as an e-ARC because the cover is so pretty. I love the way the hearts are incorporated so much into the design, from the leaves to Cath’s face, to the A in the title, it’s very fitting for a Queen of Hearts origin story.

10. The Night Circus-Erin Morgenstern

This just barely qualifies but the red of the scarf, and the little hints in the title mean it just scrapes in there. I actually wasn’t a big fan of The Night Circus (I know, shock horror) but I do really love this cover, I think it’s a great example of where minimalism on a book cover can actually be more outstanding than books with super splashy colours all over them.

11. Not Even Bones-Rebecca Schaeffer

Another example where minimalism really works for the book. The design of this with the blood and the scalpel is such a good idea for a book where the main character’s job is dissecting supernatural creatures and it also gets across the creepy aspect of the book really well.

12. A Conjuring of Light-VE Schwab

Yes we made it to the author that inspired this whole list (this is what I get for doing it in alphabetical order!). I honestly could have chosen any number of VE Schwab’s books for this list as she’s had the red, white, black colour combination on many of her books but I chose A Conjuring of Light for the simple reason that I think the colours pop the most on the black background (as compared to the white background of ADSOM and the red of AGOS). I’m so curious to see whether the red, white, black theme continues with Threads of Power or if the covers go in a whole new direction. We’ve not had a grey background for Grey London yet…..though grey is really not the best colour for a book cover!

13. Unwind-Neal Shusterman

The covers of this series get the creep factor so right, that eye staring out of the DNA helix will always haunt me! Red, white and black are a great combination for spooky covers and the combination of the colour and the design here has you instantly knowing, before you even open the book or look at the blurb…..this is going to be a creepy book.

14. The Scorpio Races-Maggie Stiefvater

I don’t know what cover gods Maggie Stiefvater has working for her….but she’s never had a bad cover (okay, that’s a slight lie, the Mister Impossible cover was not great). You get the point though, her covers are generally always on the money. I actually picked up The Scorpio Races based on this cover alone, and though I didn’t completely love it, it did lead me to The Raven Boys, so I will be forever grateful for that.

15. Enchantee-Gita Trelease

This is another one where I really wish I’d got the physical copy rather than the e-arc because it’s so pretty. I love the little details like the two different Camilles in the gates, one from her Paris life and one from her Versailles life, I love how ornate and beautiful the gates are, the little card suit symbols embedded in the cover (as gambling is a big part of the book) and of course the balloon at the top is so gorgeous.

So there we have it, those are some covers with Red, White and Black covers for your viewing pleasure this week. And those are just the ones I’ve read, this list would probably have been way longer if I’d included my TBR books too! Have you read any of these books? Do you like red, white and black as a colour combination on covers? Or do you prefer brighter covers? Let me know in the comments!

I’ll be back next week for another Top Ten Tuesday, this time we’re doing One Word Reviews For The Last Ten Books I Read. I am probably going to find this difficult, as an incredibly wordy person, but hey, at least you know you’ll be getting a short post from me next week!