Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week the topic is
Books On My Autumn 2020 TBR
Here are my picks . . .
1. Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust
Blurb from Goodreads:There was and there
was not, as all stories begin, a princess cursed to be poisonous to the
touch. But for Soraya, who has lived her life hidden away, apart from
her family, safe only in her gardens, it's not just a story.
As
the day of her twin brother's wedding approaches, Soraya must decide if
she's willing to step outside of the shadows for the first time. Below
in the dungeon is a demon who holds knowledge that she craves, the
answer to her freedom. And above is a young man who isn't afraid of her,
whose eyes linger not with fear, but with an understanding of who she
is beneath the poison.
Soraya thought she knew her place in the
world, but when her choices lead to consequences she never imagined, she
begins to question who she is and who she is becoming . . . human or
demon. Princess or monster.
2. Queen of Coin and Whispers (Queen of Coin and Whispers, #1) by Helena Corcoran
'She loved me as I loved her, fierce as a bloodied blade'
When
Lia, an idealistic queen, falls for Xania, her new spymaster--who took
the job to avenge her murdered father--they realise all isn't fair in
love and treason.
Lia won’t mourn her uncle: he's left her a
bankrupt kingdom considered easy pickings by its neighbours. She’s sworn
to be a better ruler, but if she wants to push through her reforms, she
needs to beat the Court at its own games. For years, Xania's been
determined to uncover her father's murderer. She finally gets a chance
when Lia gives her a choice: become her new spymaster, or take a one way
trip to the executioner’s axe. It’s an easy decision.
When they
fall for each other, their love complicates Lia’s responsibilities and
Xania’s plans for vengeance. As they're drawn together amid royal
suitors and new diplomats, they uncover treason that could not only end
Lia’s reign, but ruin their weakened country. They must decide not only
what to sacrifice for duty, but also for each other.
3. The Austen Girls by Lucy Worsley
Would she ever find a real-life husband? Would she even find a partner to dance with at tonight's ball? She just didn't know.
Anna Austen has always been told she must
marry rich. Her future depends upon it. While her dear cousin Fanny has
a little more choice, she too is under pressure to find a suitor.
But how can either girl know what she wants? Is finding love even an
option? The only person who seems to have answers is their Aunt Jane.
She has never married. In fact, she's perfectly happy, so surely being
single can't be such a bad thing?
The time will come for each
of the Austen girls to become the heroines of their own stories. Will
they follow in Jane's footsteps?
4. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
Camino Rios lives for
the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But
this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives
at the airport to see crowds of crying people...
In New York
City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal's office, where her mother
is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane
crash.
Separated by distance-and Papi's secrets-the two girls
are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their
lives are forever altered. And then, when it seems like they've lost
everything of their father, they learn of each other.
Papi's
death uncovers all the painful truths he kept hidden, and the love he
divided across an ocean. And now, Yahaira and Camino are both left to
grapple with what this new sister means to them, and what it will now
take to keep their dreams alive.
5. The Whispers of War by Julia Kelly
In August of 1939, as
Britain watches the headlines in fear of another devastating war with
Germany, three childhood friends must choose between friendship or
country. Erstwhile socialite Nora is determined to find her place in the
Home Office’s Air Raid Precautions Department, matchmaker Hazel tries
to mask two closely guarded secrets with irrepressible optimism, and
German expat Marie worries that she and her family might face
imprisonment in an internment camp if war is declared. When Germany
invades Poland and tensions on the home front rise, Marie is labeled an
enemy alien, and the three friends find themselves fighting together to
keep her free at any cost.
6. The Library of the Unwritten (Hell's Library, #1) by A.J. Hackwith
Join the library and
raise hell in the first book of a stunning new fantasy series, where
books unfinished by their authors reside within the Unwritten Wing of
the devil's own library, and restless characters will emerge from out of
their pages...
Every book left unfinished by its author is filed
away in the Unwritten Wing, a neutral space in Hell presided over by
Claire, its head librarian. Along with repairing and organizing books,
her job consists of keeping an eye on restless stories whose characters
risk materialising and escaping the library.
When a Hero escapes
from his book and goes in search of his author, Claire must track and
capture him with the help of former muse and current assistant Brevity
and nervous demon courier Leto. But what should have been a simple
retrieval goes horrifyingly wrong, in a chase that threatens to reshape
the boundaries between Heaven, Hell... and Earth.
7. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
After a whirlwind
romance and a honeymoon in Italy, the innocent young heroine and the
dashing Maxim de Winter return to his country estate, Manderley. But the
unsettling memory of Rebecca, the first Mrs de Winter, still lingers
within. The timid bride must overcome her husbands oppressive silences
and the sullen hostility of the sinister housekeeper, Mrs Danvers, to
confront the emotional horror of the past.
8. Dune (Dune, #1) by Frank Hebert
Melange, or 'spice', is
the most valuable - and rarest - element in the universe; a drug that
does everything from increasing a person's life-span to making
intersteller travel possible. And it can only be found on a single
planet: the inhospitable desert world Arrakis.
Whoever controls Arrakis controls the spice. And whoever controls the spice controls the universe.
When
the Emperor transfers stewardship of Arrakis from the noble House
Harkonnen to House Atreides, the Harkonnens fight back, murdering Duke
Leto Atreides. Paul, his son, and Lady Jessica, his concubine, flee into
the desert. On the point of death, they are rescued by a band for
Fremen, the native people of Arrakis, who control Arrakis' second great
resource: the giant worms that burrow beneath the burning desert sands.
In
order to avenge his father and retake Arrakis from the Harkonnens, Paul
must earn the trust of the Fremen and lead a tiny army against the
innumerable forces aligned against them.
And his journey will change the universe.
9. Wicked Fox (Gumiho, #1) by Kat Cho
Eighteen-year-old Gu
Miyoung has a secret--she's a gumiho, a nine-tailed fox who must devour
the energy of men in order to survive. Because so few believe in the old
tales anymore, and with so many evil men no one will miss, the modern
city of Seoul is the perfect place to hide and hunt.
But after
feeding one full moon, Miyoung crosses paths with Jihoon, a human boy,
being attacked by a goblin deep in the forest. Against her better
judgment, she violates the rules of survival to rescue the boy, losing
her fox bead--her gumiho soul--in the process.
Jihoon knows
Miyoung is more than just a beautiful girl--he saw her nine tails the
night she saved his life. His grandmother used to tell him stories of
the gumiho, of their power and the danger they pose to humans. He's
drawn to her anyway.
With murderous forces lurking in the
background, Miyoung and Jihoon develop a tenuous friendship that
blossoms into something more. But when a young shaman tries to reunite
Miyoung with her bead, the consequences are disastrous . . . forcing
Miyoung to choose between her immortal life and Jihoon's.
10. An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1) by Sabaa Tahir
Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death.
When
Laia’s grandparents are brutally murdered and her brother arrested for
treason by the empire, the only people she has left to turn to are the
rebels.
But in exchange for their help in saving her brother,
they demand that Laia spy on the ruthless Commandant of Blackcliff, the
Empire’s greatest military academy. Should she fail it’s more than her
brother’s freedom at risk . . . Laia’s very life is at stake.
There,
she meets Elias, the academy’s finest soldier. But Elias wants only to
be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will
soon realize that their destinies are intertwined – and that their
choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.
Have you read any of these books?
What are you planning to read this autumn/spring?
