Showing posts with label Top Ten Tuesday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Top Ten Tuesday. Show all posts

These are a few of my favorite things...

December 29, 2020


Happy Tuesday and welcome to another TTT! This meme is hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. I hope everyone had an amazing holiday! Christmas around my house was very different this year, but I still got the privilege of watching my children's delight as they opened their presents. So still a win! Anyhoo... this week's TTT theme is Favorite Books of 2020 and while I found quite a few great reads this year, many of them weren't published/released this year. So here are the ones put out in 2020... and yes, I realize that this is way more than 10 books.

Contemporary Romance



Dark Romance



Fantasy Romance



Paranormal Romance



Romantic Suspense



SciFi Romance



Young Adult Fantasy





Do you have any books listed as favorites for 2020? Leave a comment below and tell me all about it! And if you've got your very own TTT post, leave me the link to it so I can come and check it out.

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe time ringing in the new year. Happy reading!


xo, Natalie

Ten of the 2021 Winter Releases I've Got My Eyes On

December 22, 2020

books I want

Happy Tuesday and welcome to another TTT! This meme is hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. Christmas is just 3 days away and I'm obviously distracted. I can't wait!! I don't know why watching my children open their gifts gives me so much joy :) Anyhoo, this week's TTT theme is Books I Hope Santa Brings and since I did this post last week (oops), I decided to figure out what books on the Goodreads anticipated releases lists that I would be interested in.

In no particular order...

Make It Sweet by Kristen Callihan
Release: February 23, 2021

Life for Emma isn’t good. The world knows her as Princess Anya on Dark Castle, but then her character gets the axe—literally. The cherry on top is finding her boyfriend in bed with another woman. She needs a break, and sanctuary comes in the form of Rosemont, a gorgeous estate in California promising rest and relaxation.

Then she meets the owner’s equally gorgeous grandson, ex–hockey player and current recluse Lucian Osmond, and she sees her own pain and yearning reflected in his eyes.

He’s charming when he wants to be but also secretive and gruff, with protective walls as thick as Emma’s own. Despite a growing attraction, they avoid each other.

But then there’s an impromptu nighttime skinny-dip, and Lucian’s luscious homemade tarts and cream cakes start arriving at Emma’s door, tempting her to taste life again…

In trying to stay apart, they only grow closer—and their broken pieces just might fit together and make them whole.

an untitled third book in the Gilded Wolves series by Roshani Chokshi
Release: 2021


Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert
Release: March 9, 2021

Eve Brown is a certified hot mess. No matter how hard she strives to do right, her life always goes horribly wrong—so she’s given up trying. But when her personal brand of chaos ruins an expensive wedding (someone had to liberate those poor doves), her parents draw the line. It's time for Eve to grow up and prove herself—even though she's not entirely sure how…

Jacob Wayne is in control. Always. The bed and breakfast owner’s on a mission to dominate the hospitality industry—and he expects nothing less than perfection. So when a purple-haired tornado of a woman turns up out of the blue to interview for his open chef position, he tells her the brutal truth: not a chance in hell. Then she hits him with her car—supposedly by accident. Yeah, right.

Now his arm is broken, his B&B is understaffed, and the dangerously unpredictable Eve is fluttering around, trying to help. Before long, she’s infiltrated his work, his kitchen—and his spare bedroom. Jacob hates everything about it. Or rather, he should. Sunny, chaotic Eve is his natural-born nemesis, but the longer these two enemies spend in close quarters, the more their animosity turns into something else. Like Eve, the heat between them is impossible to ignore—and it’s melting Jacob’s frosty exterior.

Lore by Alexandra Bracken
Release: January 5, 2021

Every seven years, the Agon begins. As punishment for a past rebellion, nine Greek gods are forced to walk the earth as mortals, hunted by the descendants of ancient bloodlines, all eager to kill a god and seize their divine power and immortality.

Long ago, Lore Perseous fled that brutal world in the wake of her family's sadistic murder by a rival line, turning her back on the hunt's promises of eternal glory. For years she's pushed away any thought of revenge against the man--now a god--responsible for their deaths.

Yet as the next hunt dawns over New York City, two participants seek out her help: Castor, a childhood friend of Lore believed long dead, and a gravely wounded Athena, among the last of the original gods.

The goddess offers an alliance against their mutual enemy and, at last, a way for Lore to leave the Agon behind forever. But Lore's decision to bind her fate to Athena's and rejoin the hunt will come at a deadly cost--and still may not be enough to stop the rise of a new god with the power to bring humanity to its knees.

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas
Release: January 12, 2021

If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison.

Life’s not perfect, but with a fly girlfriend and a cousin who always has his back, Mav’s got everything under control.

Until, that is, Maverick finds out he’s a father.

Suddenly he has a baby, Seven, who depends on him for everything. But it’s not so easy to sling dope, finish school, and raise a child. So when he’s offered the chance to go straight, he takes it. In a world where he’s expected to amount to nothing, maybe Mav can prove he’s different.

When King Lord blood runs through your veins, though, you can't just walk away. Loyalty, revenge, and responsibility threaten to tear Mav apart, especially after the brutal murder of a loved one. He’ll have to figure out for himself what it really means to be a man.

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
Release: February 9, 2021

Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. Already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, Deka prays for red blood so she can finally feel like she belongs.

But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity--and Deka knows she will face a consequence worse than death.

Then a mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. They are called alaki--near-immortals with rare gifts. And they are the only ones who can stop the empire's greatest threat.

Knowing the dangers that lie ahead yet yearning for acceptance, Deka decides to leave the only life she's ever known. But as she journeys to the capital to train for the biggest battle of her life, she will discover that the great walled city holds many surprises. Nothing and no one are quite what they seem to be--not even Deka herself.

The Crown of Gilded Bones by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Release: April 20, 2021

She's been the victim and the survivor…

Poppy never dreamed she would find the love she’s found with Prince Casteel. She wants to revel in her happiness but first they must free his brother and find hers. It’s a dangerous mission and one with far-reaching consequences neither dreamed of. Because Poppy is the Chosen, the Blessed. The true ruler of Atlantia. She carries the blood of the King of Gods within her. By right the crown and the kingdom are hers.

The enemy and the warrior…

Poppy has only ever wanted to control her own life, not the lives of others, but now she must choose to either forsake her birthright or seize the gilded crown and become the Queen of Flesh and Fire. But as the kingdoms’ dark sins and blood-drenched secrets finally unravel, a long-forgotten power rises to pose a genuine threat. And they will stop at nothing to ensure that the crown never sits upon Poppy’s head.

A lover and heartmate…

But the greatest threat to them and to Atlantia is what awaits in the far west, where the Queen of Blood and Ash has her own plans, ones she has waited hundreds of years to carry out. Poppy and Casteel must consider the impossible—travel to the Lands of the Gods and wake the King himself. And as shocking secrets and the harshest betrayals come to light, and enemies emerge to threaten everything Poppy and Casteel have fought for, they will discover just how far they are willing to go for their people—and each other.

And now she will become Queen…

Gods & Monsters by Shelby Mahurin
Release: August 31, 2021


an untitled second book of the Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas
Release: November 2, 2021


A Vow So Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer
Release: January 26, 2021

Face your fears, fight the battle.
Emberfall is crumbling fast, torn between those who believe Rhen is the rightful prince and those who are eager to begin a new era under Grey, the true heir. Grey has agreed to wait two months before attacking Emberfall, and in that time, Rhen has turned away from everyone—even Harper, as she desperately tries to help him find a path to peace.

Fight the battle, save the kingdom.
Meanwhile, Lia Mara struggles to rule Syhl Shallow with a gentler hand than her mother. But after enjoying decades of peace once magic was driven out of their lands, some of her subjects are angry Lia Mara has an enchanted prince and magical scraver by her side. As Grey's deadline draws nearer, Lia Mara questions if she can be the queen her country needs.

As two kingdoms come closer to conflict, loyalties are tested, love is threatened, and an old enemy resurfaces who could destroy them all, in this stunning conclusion to bestselling author Brigid Kemmerer’s Cursebreaker series.



What books do you want for Christmas? Tell me in the comments below! If you have your own TTT, leave a link to it below so I can check out your post too. Happy reading!

xo, Natalie

Ten Books on my Christmas Wish List

December 15, 2020

Christmas Wish List
Happy Tuesday and welcome to another TTT! This meme is hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. I can't believe how close we are to Christmas. TEN DAYS!! Anyhoo... This week's theme is Books On My Winter 2020-2021 TBR. Since I kinda tackled that in my last post, I've decided to show you what I want to find under my tree.

Christmas Wish List

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole - thriller
Fable by Adrienne Young - ya fantasy
These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong - ya fantasy
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab - historical fiction
Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco - ya fantasy
The Camelot Betrayal by Kiersten White - ya fantasy
How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole - contemporary romance
Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout - ya fantasy
Dead Pretty by Samantha Towle - thriller
Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron - ya fantasy




What books are you looking forward to getting this season? If you've got a TTT, leave a link to it below so I can check out your post too. Happy reading!


xo, Natalie

Baby It's Cold Outside

December 08, 2020

winter holiday reads books
Happy Tuesday and welcome to another TTT! This meme is hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. I've missed a few of these, but I'M BACKKKKK!!!! This week's theme is a Holiday/Seasonal Freebie (holiday books/covers/titles, wintry reads, snow on cover, cool color covers, takes place in cold settings, cozy scenes on cover, etc.). Although I'm a winter baby, and December is my birthday month, I've never actually compiled a list like this. I've never really planned for this season before so I appreciated this week's theme for pushing me to do so now. The following are books that are winter/holiday themed or books that are being released this winter that I would love to have the pleasure to read.

That cover though 😍😍 I just need to get started on book one
Release: March 2, 2021
Add it to Goodreads

Emil and Brighton Rey defied the odds. They beat the Blood Casters and escaped with their lives–or so they thought. When Brighton drank the Reaper’s Blood, he believed it would make him invincible, but instead the potion is killing him.

In Emil’s race to find an antidote that will not only save his brother but also rid him of his own unwanted phoenix powers, he will have to dig deep into the very past lives he’s trying to outrun. Though he needs the help of the Spell Walkers now more than ever, their ranks are fracturing, with Maribelle’s thirst for revenge sending her down a dangerous path.

Meanwhile, Ness is being abused by Senator Iron for political gain, his rare shifting ability making him a dangerous weapon. As much as Ness longs to send Emil a signal, he knows the best way to keep Emil safe from his corrupt father is to keep him at a distance.

The battle for peace is playing out like an intricate game of chess, and as the pieces on the board move into place, Emil starts to realize that he may have been competing against the wrong enemy all along.

I've been eager to try this author so why not do it with the first book in a new series...
Release: December 1, 2020
Add it to Goodreads

When Shanti Mohapi weds the king of Njaza, her dream of becoming a queen finally comes true. But it’s nothing like she imagined. Shanti and her husband may share an immediate and powerful attraction, but her subjects see her as an outsider, and everything she was taught about being the perfect wife goes disastrously wrong.

A king must rule with an iron fist, and newly crowned King Sanyu was born perfectly fitted for the gauntlet, even if he wishes he weren’t. He agrees to take a wife as is required of him, though he doesn’t expect to actually fall in love. Even more vexing? His beguiling new queen seems to have the answers to his country’s problems—except no one will listen to her.

By day, they lead separate lives. By night, she wears the crown, and he bows to her demands in matters of politics and passion. When turmoil erupts in their kingdom and their marriage, Shanti goes on the run, and Sanyu must learn whether he has what it takes both to lead his people and to catch his queen.

My daughters and I really enjoyed The Hate U Give so reading this is a no-brainer
Release: January 12, 2021
Add it to Goodreads

If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison.

Life’s not perfect, but with a fly girlfriend and a cousin who always has his back, Mav’s got everything under control.

Until, that is, Maverick finds out he’s a father.

Suddenly he has a baby, Seven, who depends on him for everything. But it’s not so easy to sling dope, finish school, and raise a child. So when he’s offered the chance to go straight, he takes it. In a world where he’s expected to amount to nothing, maybe Mav can prove he’s different.

When King Lord blood runs through your veins, though, you can't just walk away. Loyalty, revenge, and responsibility threaten to tear Mav apart, especially after the brutal murder of a loved one. He’ll have to figure out for himself what it really means to be a man.

I've wanted to read this one for quite some time. There are so many reviews for it, many of which have big opinions on this book's worth, and I really need to know how I feel about it.
Release: March 6, 2014
Add it to Goodreads

BOY Novak turns twenty and decides to try for a brand-new life. Flax Hill, Massachusetts, isn’t exactly a welcoming town, but it does have the virtue of being the last stop on the bus route she took from New York. Flax Hill is also the hometown of Arturo Whitman—craftsman, widower, and father of Snow. SNOW is mild-mannered, radiant and deeply cherished—exactly the sort of little girl Boy never was, and Boy is utterly beguiled by her. If Snow displays a certain inscrutability at times, that’s simply a characteristic she shares with her father, harmless until Boy gives birth to Snow’s sister, Bird. When BIRD is born Boy is forced to re-evaluate the image Arturo’s family have presented to her, and Boy, Snow and Bird are broken apart. Sparkling with wit and vibrancy, Boy, Snow, Bird is a deeply moving novel about three women and the strange connection between them.

It's the cover again. How could I pass this book up? The blurb's great too.
Release: March 2, 2021
Add it to Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Valeria is one of the only survivors of the freeze, a dark magical hold Knnot Mountain unleashed over her village. Everyone, including her family, is trapped in an unbreakable sheet of ice. Ever since, she’s been on the run from the Czar, who is determined to imprison any who managed to escape. Valeria finds refuge with the Thieves Guild, doing odd jobs with her best friend Alik, the only piece of home she has left.

That is, until he is brutally murdered.

A year later, she discovers Alik is alive and being held against his will. To buy his freedom, she must lead a group of cutthroats and thieves on a perilous expedition to the very mountain that claimed her family. Only something sinister slumbers in the heart of Knnot.

And it has waited years for release.

Yup. I still haven't tried Kresley Cole. And yet, I have a ton of her books on my shelves. I have read Gena Showalter and this bundle looks good.
Release: October 13, 2009
Add it to Goodreads

Kresley Cole - Untouchable (Immortals After Dark #7) - Murdoch Wroth will stop at nothing to claim Daniela - the delicate Valkyrie who makes his heart beat for the first time in three hundred years. Yet the exquisite Danii is part ice fey, and her freezing skin can't be touched by anyone but her own kind without inflicting pain beyond measure. Can they conquer an agony of frustration and slake the overwhelming desire burning between them?

Gena Showalter - Tempt Me Eternally (Alien Huntress #4.5) - With only skin-to-skin contact, Aleaha Love can change her appearance, assume any identity. Now she’s an AIR (Alien Investigation and Removal) agent on a mission to capture a group of otherworldly warriors. Only she is held captive when dangerously seductive Breean, a golden-skinned, iron-willed commander, threatens her new life - and for the first time, Aleaha wants only to be herself.

One of my favorite authors is starting a new series and I cannot wait!!
Release: January 12, 2021
Add it to Goodreads

Lynnwood Thatcher Windsor has lived a lot of lies. Seen a lot of good men go down.

But he will not stand by and watch as the world he’s built from the ground up burns to ashes before his eyes. Even if he has to build an army to combat the problem he sees brewing around him.

One step at a time, he carefully lays out his plan, building layer after careful layer until everything is where he wants it to be.

Every part is impeccably played, his pawns are in the perfect place, and then she barrels into his life, totally scattering every single piece he’s set in motion.

The bad thing is, she doesn’t even realize how badly she’s messed up until she’s roused the beast.

***

The day that Six Ines Broussard met Lynnwood Thatcher Windsor was the worst day of her life.

First, she has a public breakup with a man she’s not even dating. Second, she has to deal with a black-tie event that she’d rather gouge her eyes out than to go to. Third, she then has to sit at a table for hours on end with the one man she despises.

Just wanting a break, she thinks she’ll lose herself for a few hours and do what she loves to do best—spend time by herself and go for a walk in the middle of nowhere, spot some birds, and get a little sun. Only, her day doesn’t go nearly as planned.

She walks right into the middle of hell. And at the center of it? Lynnwood Thatcher. The mayor. The man that she took one glance at on the night of his inauguration and dismissed as boring. A total stick in the mud.

Only, he’s not so boring shirtless, in the middle of nowhere, doing things that are very illegal.

At first, she’s appalled. Then her interest gets piqued. Stuck-up suit is hot! And he has tattoos. Oh, and let’s not forget one hell of a mouth on him!

Then he goes and kidnaps her, and she realizes that nobody is quite as hot as you thought they were when they’re now holding you hostage.

I still haven't read from this author either, but I do have a bunch of her books to read. This is one of them.
Release: June 3, 2014
Add it to Goodreads

Assassin. Soldier. Arrow. That is who Vasic is, who he will always be. His soul drenched in blood, his conscience heavy with the weight of all he’s done, he exists in the shadows, far from the hope his people can almost touch—if only they do not first drown in the murderous insanity of a lethal contagion. To stop the wave of death, Vasic must complete the simplest and most difficult mission of his life.

For if the Psy race is to survive, the empaths must wake…

Having rebuilt her life after medical “treatment” that violated her mind and sought to stifle her abilities, Ivy should have run from the black-clad Arrow with eyes of winter frost. But Ivy Jane has never done what she should. Now, she'll fight for her people, and for this Arrow who stands as her living shield, yet believes he is beyond redemption. But as the world turns to screaming crimson, even Ivy’s fierce will may not be enough to save Vasic from the cold darkness…

I am so intrigued by this book and need to read the first one too.
Release: February 18, 2021
Add it to Goodreads

After so many years yearning for the gift of magic, Arrah has the one thing she’s always wanted—at a terrible price. Now the last surviving witchdoctor, she’s been left to pick up the shattered pieces of a family that betrayed her, a kingdom in shambles, and long-buried secrets about who she is.

Desperate not to repeat her mother’s mistakes, Arrah must return to the tribal lands to search for help from the remnants of her parents’ people. But the Demon King’s shadow looms closer than she thinks. And as Arrah struggles to unravel her connection to him, defeating him begins to seem more and more impossible—if it’s something she can bring herself to do at all.

Tarryn Fisher's thrillers are always twisted must-reads.
Release: December 29, 2020
Add it to Goodreads

Have you ever been wrong about someone?

Juno was wrong about Winnie Crouch.

Before moving in with the Crouch family, Juno thought Winnie and her husband, Nigel, had the perfect marriage, the perfect son—the perfect life. Only now that she’s living in their beautiful house, she sees the cracks in the crumbling facade are too deep to ignore.

Still, she isn’t one to judge. After her grim diagnosis, the retired therapist simply wants a place to live out the rest of her days in peace. But that peace is shattered the day Juno overhears a chilling conversation between Winnie and Nigel…

She shouldn’t get involved.

She really shouldn’t.

But this could be her chance to make a few things right.

Because if you thought Juno didn’t have a secret of her own, then you were wrong about her, too.



Have you made a list of winter or holiday reads? What books are you looking forward to reading this season? If you've got a TTT, leave a link to it below so I can check out your post too. Happy reading!

xo, Natalie