Top Ten Tuesday Archives - Page 9 of 12 - Brooke's Reviews and Sweeps

Outrageous Things I’ve Done for the Love of Books (Top Ten Tuesday)

By Brookelorren on April 9, 2019March 25, 201941 Comments

It’s Tuesday again, and my favorite thing about today is that it’s time for Top Ten Tuesday. Today’s topic is Outrageous Things I’ve Done for the Love of Books. My first thought was “I haven’t done anything outrageous for the love of books.” As you’ll see, that’s not quite true. As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl!

10. Bought a book on Vacation Because I Left My Copy at Home. I’ve read Legend in Spanish. Although I do sometimes read books in Spanish (and occasionally German or Russian) just to improve my language skills, the reason why I read Legend in Spanish is because I left my paperback copy at home while I went on vacation. After I bought the set for my neice as a Christmas gift, I really wanted to read the book again, so I bought it in Spanish so I could read it without buying the same thing twice.

9. Stay Up Late. Is there anybody that hasn’t stayed up to read? Ever? I’m sure this happens a lot, to a lot of us.

8. Spend a Lot of Money. I’m sure I’m not alone on this one. Yes, I get books from the library, and I get books on sale, but sometimes you just have to have the hardcover version of that book from your favorite author, or you have to read the book now and can’t wait.

7. Write Fanfiction. Most of my fanfiction (which I post on AO3) is based on books. I wrote two novellas that were based on bands when I was in high school, but you’re never going to read them. Most of my fanfics are short novels or novellas.

6. Learn Welsh. In the book I’m writing (see number 3 below) a lot of words in my story are based on Welsh. So I learned some. I’m not a proficient reader or speaker of the language, but I can say a few things.

5. Get Tickets to a Literature Conference. I haven’t gone yet, but I’m going to the Colorado Teen Literature Conference this upcoming weekend! Tickets weren’t free, and I have to get up über early, but I’m excited (and a little nervous, since I’ve never been to one of these things).

4. Spent the Night in the Dallas Cowboy’s Stadium Parking Lot. I wonder if I’m the only person that will be listing this one for Top Ten Tuesday. Probably. Did you know they lock up the parking lot in the middle of the night? Good thing I didn’t have to go to the bathroom. It was July too. Anyway, I was waiting there because I wanted Glenn Beck to sign my book. I ended up being first in line, and I met some really nice people there too.

3. Write a Novel. I’m not ready to query my original fiction work, THE BRIGHTNESS OF SHADOW, just yet, but I wrote it, and if I didn’t love books, I wouldn’t have written it.

2. Name my Kids After Book Characters. Yes, both of my kids are named after book characters (see the book below). They’re actually the second generation in my family to be named after elves. My middle name comes from Lady Galadriel of Lothlorien. While my real middle name isn’t actually Lorren, it’s close, and now you know that it ultimately derives from a Tolkein work.

1. Marry a Boy. I think I can say that this is probably the most outrageous thing I’ve done for the love of books. My then-boyfriend gave me Dragons of Autumn Twilight shortly after I met him. Not only that, he’s an author. What more could you ask for?

Of course, there’s a lot more to love about my husband than the fact that he gave me a book. But I can probably say that it helped, and certainly didn’t hurt.

So what outrageous things have you done for books? Are you glad you did them? Next week we’re talking about Rainy Day Reads. Any day is a good day to read, but I guess I’ll have to look into books that are good for rainy days. I’ll see you then!

Things that Make Me Want to Pick Up a Book (Top Ten Tuesday)

By Brookelorren on April 2, 2019April 1, 201938 Comments

Happy Tuesday! Once again it’s Top Ten Tuesday, where we make a list based on a new topic every week. This week’s topic is Things that Make Me Want to Pick Up a Book. As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! Let’s get started!

The Cover – So I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by it’s cover, but sometimes I do. Usually it’s for the better though: I’ll read a book with a bad cover, but sometimes an amazing cover will make me pick up a book that I might otherwise overlook for the time being. Wicked Fox is one of those books that I saw the cover of and I knew I had to read it.

I Like the Author’s Other Books – There are a couple of authors that, if they write it, I will buy it. They could write about the alphabet and I know it’d be good. Veronica Roth is one of them. There’s also a slowly growing list of authors where I love their books enough that if they write something, there’s a good chance I will buy it. I might like most of what they write, but the occasional story doesn’t appeal to me.

I Like the Author – While this might seem like a repeat of the last reason, it’s not. If I know an author in person, interact with them on Twitter, etc. then I’m more likely to pick up their book. Walking With Angels is my husband’s book, so of course I read that one. I don’t read all of my friend’s books, but I’m more likely to.

People Keep Talking About It – If enough people tell me about how wonderful a book is, I’m likely to at least look at it to see if it sounds interesting. I heard so many people talking about how wonderful the Six of Crows duology was, and then King of Scars, that I decided to start reading Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha Verse books (they’re great, by the way).

Comp Titles – If I like a book’s comp titles, I’m more likely to want to read it. To be honest, I wasn’t really impressed with The Tiger at Midnight‘s cover, but one of its comp titles is Legend, and I just have to read it.

It’s Popular – Some people don’t like to read hyped books, but more often than not, books are popular for a reason. Goodreads has a Listopia feature which has lists of the most popular YA books from different years. My TBR is so packed that I don’t always rely on this any more, but I do sometimes.

It’s Part of a Series I Already Love – It doesn’t take much to make me read the second or third book in a series that I already enjoy. I’ll typically pre-order books like that months in advance. I’ve already pre-ordered Rebel, and Queen of Nothing became the first book coming out in 2020 that I’ve already pre-ordered.

Twitter Made Me Do It – Whoever is behind The Incorrect Cruel Prince Twitter account is a marketing genius. While I would have eventually read The Cruel Prince, it definitely moved up a few slots in my TBR because of that Twitter account.

It’s On Sale – I’m a sucker for Amazon’s monthly sales. Or if a book goes on sale for the weekend and I see it on Twitter. I won’t buy any book because it goes on sale, but if it’s a book that seemed interesting and it goes on sale, I’ll probably get it. I got Ace of Shades for only $1.99.

It’s an ARC that Fits Into My Schedule – I attempt to review one ARC every week. Sometimes I get approved for the big books that everybody is talking about. Other times, I need to find an ARC that is publishing within a certain time frame that I can download immediately. Even though I might have unread ARCs available, publishers typically don’t like reviews out too far ahead of time, so I have to wait on them. Into the Hollow was a book that was coming out at the right time and looked interesting, so I picked it up.

There are other things that will make me pick up a book, like an amazing-sounding story. Often, it’s a combination of several factors.

What things will make you pick up a book? Next week, we’ll talk about outrageous things that I’ve done for the love of books. I didn’t think there was anything at first, but… I have a few that probably most people haven’t done. See you then!

Observations About Audiobooks (Top Ten Tuesday)

By Brookelorren on March 26, 2019March 25, 201938 Comments

Hello! It’s Tuesday again, and you know what that means! Top Ten Tuesday! Today we’re talking about Audiobooks. I don’t listen to a lot of audiobooks, so I’m just going to make ten random observations about them. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl!

Audiobooks allow you to get more reading done. I listened to Fangirl on audiobook last fall. It’s possible that if I hadn’t listened to it on audiobook, I’d still be saying “someday I’ll have to read this book.”

Audiobooks help you pronounce names correctly. I recently listened to Legend on Audiobook. I’ve read the story several times, but I wanted to listen to it on audiobook for a very specific reason: I discovered that I was butchering the pronunciation of some of the names. I didn’t know how to correctly pronouce Iparis, Metaias, Kaede, and even Batalla Hall. After reading this book on paper a lot of times, I figured if I listened to the book on audiobook I could beat the incorrect pronunciations out of my head.

Sometimes audiobook accents are really annoying. If I recall, Frostblood was a book which was pronounced with a British accent. While I enjoyed the book, I was really annoyed by it. I don’t know if it was because the reader has a British accent or if they think because it’s in some medievally-Europe setting that it needs one… all I know is, if I ever get a book published and they make an audiobook, my characters don’t speak with British accents.

Some books are more disturbing on audiobook. I got Pennies from Amazon.com free on both audiobook and in print. The subject matter of this book can be disturbing enough to read, but I found it even more difficult to listen to on audiobook. I might be able to get more reading done this way, but I just can’t do books with disturbing subject matter this way.

Audiobooks make great walking companions. I listened to The Great Influenza on audiobook years ago, back when I used to live in Arizona. I’d walk back behind my house, listening to this book at about midnight. If you have a good audiobook, there’s great motivation to get out and walk!

I typically don’t listen to my favorite books on audiobook. This is probably just me, but I often find audiobooks as a way to get extra reading in. So I don’t always listen to the books I’m most excited about on audiobook. Daughter of the Pirate King didn’t end up being my favorite (although I’d try other series by this author).

But sometimes I find books I want to continue… in print. I thought Furyborn was a good book, but I was a little confused by the time switching of the book, especially at first. I think it would have been easier for me if I had read it as a print book. I’d like to continue this series… in print.

Sometimes you can get good deals on audiobooks. I found Storm Glass for free on audiobook. I ended up liking it so much that when I saw the sequels to this book go on sale for $1.99 each, I ended up buying them.

But sometimes they can be expensive. Everless was a good audiobook, but I got it from the library. If I wanted to buy this book, it would cost $28.99 (the Kindle edition is $9.99). I suppose if you get an Audible membership you can get them for a better price. That might be the way to go, because the wait at my library is pretty long for audiobooks.

My overall take on audiobooks: I like how audiobooks give me the option of getting more reading done, although I prefer the print format better. After writing this topic today, I went and subscribed to an Audible membership, because there’s always room for more reading in your life, right?

So what do you think about audiobooks? Do you like to listen to them? When do you listen to them the most? Should I get an Audible subscription so I can get more reading in?

Next week, we’re going to talk about Things That Make Me Want to Pick Up a Book. See you then!

Books on My Spring 2019 TBR

By Brookelorren on March 19, 2019March 18, 201941 Comments

Hello and welcome to another addition of Top Ten Tuesday, where we talk about our favorite books. This week, we’re going to talk about books that we plan to read this spring. As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl!

First, let’s see how I did with my Winter 2018/19 TBR:

Empire of Storms/Tower of Dawn — Sarah J. Maas: Read
A Thousand Perfect Notes — C.G. Drews: Read
Twisted Roots — Shelly Goodman Wright: Read
The Girl King — Mimi Yu: Read
The Gilded Wolves — Roshani Chokshi: Read
The Invisible War — Ailsa Wild et. al.: Read
Shadow and Bone — Leigh Bardugo: Read
A Court of Thorns and Roses — Sarah J. Maas: Read
The Bear and the Nightingale — Katherine Arden: Unread
Sky in the Deep — Adrienne Young — Unread

8/10 books isn’t bad. Especially since one of the books on the list is actually composed of two very long books.

So here are some books I want to read this spring:

I’ve been reading the Throne of Glass books since last summer. I have one more book to go: Kingdom of Ash. The book kind of fell into my cart at Walmart last November, so I don’t have to wait for the library to get it for me.

Don’t you love it when you say “I have to read this series” for the longest time, and then you finally get around to reading the series and you love it? Well, I finally read the first two books in the Grisha Verse over the winter, and I just started reading this final book on Sunday night. I have the Six of Crows duology on audiobook to read as soon as I’m done with this one. Then I’ll have to read King of Scars, but there are other authors I want to read too, so I might not get to them this spring.

I pre-ordered The Priory of the Orange Tree, and even though it magically appeared on my Kindle on the evening of February 25th, I still haven’t read it yet. I got Four Dead Queens the same day, and since Four Dead Queens was shorter, I read it first. But it looks like it’s time to read this lovely little dragon book… at least sometime this spring.

I still want to read The Bear and the Nightingale. Even though the cover is pretty snowy. Sometimes it snows as late as May or June around here, so if I read it in the early spring, the mood might still match the weather. We just had a blizzard that kept me home from work last week, so the weather might match the cover for a while.

Since I’ve been doing pretty well with actually reading the books that I put on these seasonal TBRs, I figure I might as well roll over this book as well. Hopefully I’ll get to Sky in the Deep soon.

I scored an ARC for King of Fools, so I’ll definitely be reading this one, because I hope to write a review before it publishes. Whenever Amanda Foody talks about it on Twitter, I get excited to read it.

Another book I have an ARC for is Spin the Dawn. This book doesn’t come out until early July, but I hope to read this one this spring, so I can have the review out a few weeks in advance.

Ever since I saw a tweet from the author saying that The Tiger at Midnight had Legend as one of its comps, I knew I had to read it. I was hoping to see it on Netgalley, but since it’s not there and the book comes out next month, I pre-ordered it (the Kindle edition was a pretty good deal).

Ghosts of the Shadow Market doesn’t come out until June, but I pre-ordered it months ago. I’ll probably start reading this one on release day. Its 624 pages, so I probably won’t finish it on release day.

I bought The Poppy War last summer when it was on sale. It’s one of the books I meant to read last year, but never got around to. There’s way too many of those. But at least there’s several older books on my Spring TBR, so I’m getting some of them read.

So that’s my Spring TBR. Some old, some new, one that I’ll borrow, some that are blue. What’s on your Spring TBR? Did you manage to read most of the books on your Winter TBR, or do you prefer to wing it most of the time?

Next week I’ll be posting about Audiobooks. I don’t read a lot of audiobooks, so I’ll probably post 10 random thoughts about them in general and ones I’ve read specifically.

Books I Have to Read More of NOW!

By Brookelorren on March 12, 2019October 5, 201932 Comments

Hello! Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, where we take a topic and come up with ten books to make our list. This meme is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! Today’s topic is supposed to be “Stand Alone Books that Need a Sequel” but I don’t read a ton of stand-alone books, so I’m just going to write about books that I want to read more of. Stat!

Sky Without Stars doesn’t even come out yet, but I already need the next book! This book is amazing! I’m sure you’ll hear me fangirl about this book for a long time into the future. This book is based on Les Miserables, and it’s also supposed to have a Lunar Chronicles vibe to it… so maybe I should read the other two while I’m waiting. I got the Lunar Chronicles when they were on sale over Black Friday weekend, so I don’t have the excuse that I’m waiting for the library to get it…

I really need to read Les Miserables. It’s a brick of a book, but considering that I love not one, but two, books based on it, I figure there’s a good chance I’ll like the original as well. Legend was originally based on Les Miserables, and it happens to be one of my favorite books, and the next book, Rebel, comes out October 1st! Are the ARCs for this one out yet?

Four Dead Queens is a stand-alone… for now. I did hear some rumblings that maybe… someday… there would be another book, but I’d love to see more from this universe. If not, I definitely want to see more from this author.

Another book I’d love to see more of is Into the Hollow. I read it last year, and couldn’t put it down. It definitely didn’t get enough marketing when it came out. I enjoyed it a lot, and I think that there are more things I’d like to see from these characters.

After the way The Wicked King ended… yes I need the next book in this series now! I just have to find out what happens next! There isn’t a release date for this one yet, but it’s supposed to be 2020. Is it 2020 yet?

I really loved Fangirl and I’d love to see more of Cath and… her love interest (trying not to give away spoilers here). There’s a lot more that I could see in this world, although I don’t expect to see any more.

Carve the Mark was a duology, but I’d love to see what happens after The Fates Divide. Fortunately, there are a couple of short stories from this world coming out in Veronica Roth’s new book, The End and other Beginnings, which comes out October 1st (lots of bookmail for me that day).

I’d like to see more of what happens to the characters in Crow Flight. I thought they were interesting enough, and I’d love to see where life takes them.

Muse of Nightmares was left open-ended, which opens itself up to fanfiction, or maybe another book? I don’t think there are plans for more in this series, but I wouldn’t mind seeing more of Lazlo and Sarai as they continue their adventures. Maybe they’ll get a true happy ending after all.

I’m pretty sure I’ve heard from the author that Enchantée is not going to be a stand-alone book, and that would make my heart so happy. This book was wonderful, and I’d absolutely love to read more about this story. After the French Revolution, there was the Terror. How would the characters go through that? Oh, how I hope to see more of this book!

So what about you? Are there stand-alone books that you wish were made into duologies, trilogies, or more? Or do you read a lot of series and wish the book fairies would send another book your way immediately? I love to see your response.

Next week we’re sharing what books are on your Spring TBR! And we’ll find out how well I did on my Winter TBR.

Book Places I Don’t Want to Visit

By Brookelorren on February 26, 2019February 25, 201930 Comments

Today is Top Ten Tuesday, and the topic is supposed to be “Places Mentioned in Books That I’d Like to Visit” but I actually did that topic in October, and I’m not sure too much has changed since then. So I’m going to go the opposite direction and do places I DON’T want to visit. Some of the places I wouldn’t want to visit are dependent on the time frame too. If that’s the case, I’ll mention that.

I suppose if they do the topic of “Bookish Places I Don’t Want to Visit” as an official topic in a few months, maybe I’ll have more places I do want to visit by then. Anyway, as always, TTT is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

The setting of Red Queen – Nope. It might be an okay place ten years after the conclusion of War Storm, but during the series, I don’t think so. There’s a war going on, and it doesn’t really matter if you’re a red or a silver, it’s not really an appealing place. I think I’ll skip a vacation here.

Pre-Revolutionary War France (Enchantée) – There are a lot of historical places I’d like to visit, but if I were to visit the time period of Enchantée, I’d want to do it as an observer only. This would have been a nightmare of a place. First, if you’re poor, you’re probably starving. The crops had been terrible and there really wasn’t enough food for everybody. If you were rich, you were expected to be the king’s lapdog. No thanks. I wouldn’t mind seeing this place in a holodeck as a ghost where nobody could see me, but I don’t really want to live here.

Ukraine during the Holodomor (Red Famine). Another real place and real time period I wouldn’t want to visit, except as one of those ghosts that couldn’t interact or be seen by anybody else. The Holodomor was a time period in the last century where Stalin tried to starve the Ukrainians because they wouldn’t go along with his farm collectivization program. I haven’t read this book yet, but I know enough about this ugly little period of history that I don’t want to go there.

Several locations in The Last Year of the War. I would not have wanted to be set to one of the Japanese/German internment camps that the United States set up during World War II, despite the propaganda videos that show how happy the people were in them (I’m sure they weren’t). Then, I wouldn’t want to be in Germany or Japan during the end of World War II or right afterwards. I have a German textbook that was printed in the 1970s and even then, local calls were still expensive to make and most people didn’t have phones. That was 30 years after the war ended! So no, I think I’ll avoid taking a trip to this location.

Australia of A Thousand Perfect Notes. I absolutely adore Australia. I spent five weeks there many years ago, and it was wonderful. I spent time in Sydney, Cairns, Brisbane, even went to Canberra… and I loved it. But the people in A Thousand Perfect Notes have really rough lives. I’d love to visit Australia again someday, bu I’ll skip this particular neighborhood, if at all possible.

Weep of Strange the Dreamer. I’d love to visit Lazlo’s library, but Weep would have been a terribly depressing place. There’s this big monstrous metal structure hanging over the city, casting a shadow over the whole place, the whole town has recent memories of how the gods used to steal the people away, no thanks. I might want to visit the setting of this series after the conclusion of Muse of Nightmares, but not before.

Thule, Queen of Air and Darkness. I love the Los Angeles setting of The Dark Artifices, but I wouldn’t want to live in Thule, which is an alternate world that split off when… well, I wont give spoilers, but something bad happened during The Dark War in Thule. We’ll see more of Thule in The Wicked Powers, which I’m glad about, but I don’t want to visit Thule, even if I want to read about it.

The world of An Ember in the Ashes. I doubt it matters whether you are in a powerful position or not in this world, it seems like a terrible place to live. You’d always live in fear, and war comes to the land. Maybe this place won’t be so bad after Ember 4 (I don’t know), but as it stands now, I’ll stay away.

Brazil of Never Stop Walking. There are probably a lot of wonderful places to visit in Brazil. I wouldn’t pass up a trip there if offered. However, the particular locations that Christina Rickardsson talks about in her memoir… I’ll stay very far away from. Places where corrupt police shoot children, where kids live on the street and are vulnerable to exploitation or might have to kill to live… I’ll stay away from there.

Germany before World War II (Defying Hitler). Maybe Germany would be a good place to avoid entirely between say… 1900 and 1960? But I would’t want to spend too much time there in the days leading up to World War II, when people were trying to live with runaway inflation. After inflation was under control, they had to live with Adolph Hitler’s rise to power. No thanks.

So there you have it. Ten places mentioned in books that I wouldn’t want to visit. I look forward to seeing the places that you would like to visit, or maybe you went another direction like I did.

Books I LOVED with Fewer Than 2000 Ratings on Goodreads

By Brookelorren on February 19, 2019October 5, 201936 Comments

Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! Today’s topic is “Books I LOVED with Fewer than 2000 Ratings on Goodreads.” This is another of those “hidden gems” kind of weeks, which is a good thing. There are SO many amazing books out there that not as many people have heard of. So here are some of my favorites that are lesser known, defined this week as books with 2000 or fewer ratings on Goodreads.

I really enjoyed Crow Flight by Susan Cunningham. One of the things that drew me to the book was the whole computer thing: the characters bond over an artificial intelligence simulation that they do together. There was a lot more to the book that I enjoyed than just that though. There was a puzzle to be solved here that was fun.

I liked Frequency by Christopher Krovatin as well. I was drawn to the book by the whole music aspect. I liked the characters, and even the villain was somewhat sympathetic. As I write this, it only has 22 ratings on Goodreads, which is far too low.

Into the Hollow by Lynn Vroman is another book that I loved, but as of this writing it only has 34 ratings on Goodreads. I loved the setting, and I loved how the characters were from difficult home situations but overcame that and found each other. I’m sad that more people don’t know about it.

The Wren Hunt by Mary Watson got a few more ratings (currently at 627), but it should be a more well-known book. It has something of a Romeo and Juliet vibe, a great Irish setting, and Celtic magic. It’s unfortunate that I don’t hear more about this book.

When I started to figure out what books I was going to include in this week’s list, I was pretty sure that there wouldn’t be anything from Marie Lu on this list. Last year, Wildcard was one of the hottest ARCs out there, after all. However, Life After Legend only has 688 ratings on Goodreads, while Life After Legend II only has 47 ratings. I loved them both, so even though they’re short (22 and 5 pages, respectively), they belong on this list. The lack of reviews could be because they’re hard to find. Life After Legend was originally given as a Warcross pre-order gift (I’m still looking for an original if you have one you’re willing to sell), but now is available at the back of the paperback version of Warcross. Life After Legend II was a Wildcard pre-order gift; if I were to guess, it’ll probably be included at the end of the paperback version of Wildcard or with Rebel.

Echoes by Alice Reeds only has 265 ratings on Goodreads. Fortunately, there is a sequel planned for Echoes called Fissures, which should come out in winter 2020. It’s not on Goodreads yet, but Ms. Reeds has announced that there will be one.

I loved Erin Summerill’s books Ever the Hunted and Ever the Brave. Ever the Hunted has over 7000 ratings, but Ever the Brave has only 1773 ratings. The third book, Once a King, has less, but I haven’t read it yet.

My favorite book that I read last year was Enchantée by Gita Trelease. I was pretty much hooked from the first page. I was very surprised to see it only had 319 ratings (as of this writing). Newer books are on average going to have fewer ratings, but this one should have more.

Spectacle by Jodie Lynn Zdrok was another five-star book for me that I read this year. I absolutely loved it! It currently has only 71 ratings. It definitely needs some more hype!

I really liked Mike Chen’s Here and Now and Then, but it only has 184 ratings on Goodreads. This time-travel story was beautiful and left me in tears at the end. I hope that it gets to see a lot more love.

So there you have it! Ten books that need more ratings on Goodreads. What stories did you love that need more love on Goodreads? I can’t wait to see what you have to say.

Next week is supposed to be Places Mentioned in Books That I’d Like to Visit. I did a post like this last October, so I’m going to go in the exact opposite direction and mention places I definitely don’t want to visit.

Favorite Couples in Books

By Brookelorren on February 12, 2019February 11, 201933 Comments

Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday! Valentine’s Day is coming up, so this week we’re talking about favorite couples in books! Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Fangirling on Friday’s topic is also about couples in relationships, so I’m combining topics, so consider this my Fangirling on Friday post too (a few days early)!

Dune (Day/June) – Legend

Day and June are absolutely my most favorite couple! They’re so cute together. They both go through so much, and they both are willing to sacrifice for each other. I just love them. After Champion, I was heartbroken because of what happened. I love them so much, I’ve written a lot of fanfiction about the two of them.

I loved Life After Legend and Life After Legend II. I’m eagerly anticipating Rebel, the fourth Legend book, this fall!

FourTris – Divergent

Four and Tris were probably the very first Young Adult couple that I fell in love with. I absolutely loved them together, and for me, they belong together forever.

Of course, the ending of Allegiant was heartbreaking to me. I wasn’t about to accept it. That’s what got me into fanfiction. Divergent fanfiction is fun to read, and I’ve written some Divergent fanfiction myself.

Adelina/Magiano – The Young Elites

Another couple that I’m absolutely in love with is Adelina and Magiano from The Young Elites. Even though Adelina is evil, Magiano is a good influence on her. It seems like I have a thing for cinnamon roll boys and the girls that love them… anyway, this is another story that broke my heart, but I’ve also written fanfiction to heal my heart. I haven’t published it yet, but I’m working on it.

Clace (Jace/Clary) – Mortal Instruments

Clary and Jace are a couple that I love as well. I ship them so much. Even though there’s other couples in The Mortal Instruments, they’re my favorites. Over the course of this six-book series, they go through so many trials, but they are always there for each other.

One of my favorite lines from Jace is “Break up with Clary? Are you insane?”

Akos/Cyra – Carve the Mark

I love Akos and Cyra together as well. They’re perfect for each other. Cyra causes pain to anybody that touches her because of her currentgift, and Akos disrupts the currentstream, which helps take away her pain. It’s a good thing that they end up liking each other!

I’ve written fanfiction for all five of the above couples. I guess that’s just a thing I have… if I don’t have enough of them, I write more!

Mariko/Ōkami – Flame in the Mist

Do I really need a reason to like them together? I just think they’re kinda hot as a couple. They had sparks flying even before Ōkami realized that Mariko was not a boy — which he found disturbing.

Will/Tessa – The Infernal Devices

I loved Will and Tessa together, and it was one of the reasons why I ugly-cried through the last two chapters of Clockwork Princess. Cassandra Clare masterfully dealt with the whole mess of how Tessa loved both him and Jem. I can’t wait to read more of their family’s story in Chain of Gold later this year.

Elias/Laia – An Ember in the Ashes

I feel for this couple so much. They just can’t seem to get a break. And now we have to wait until 2020 to find out what happens to them! Ms. Tahir, you have to put them together! If she doesn’t, there’s always fanfiction. Because they need each other. I need them to be together, finally.

Lazlo/Sarah – Strange the Dreamer

I love Lazlo and Sarah together. It’s so sweet how they meet in dreams and have their first kisses together and all that. And then they have to be broken apart…

But this story ends on a hopeful note. And there’s always fanfiction?

Free/Cole – Into the Hollow

There wasn’t a tenth couple that really jumped out at me when I thought of couples in books. I didn’t want to say Jude/Cardan because although I like them together, they’re a fairly toxic couple. But I really liked Free and Cole in Into the Hollow. This is a book that I didn’t think got enough love when it came out.

Free and Cole are such a wonderful couple together. They both come from dysfunctional homes that they’re embarrassed about, but they want to make a better life for themselves. And they’re good for each other as a couple. They might not be the first couple that I think about when I think of book couples on Valentine’s Day, but I loved this book, and I loved them together.

So what about you? What OTPs do you dream about or love? Yes, I’ve literally dreamed about some of these (and one dream became the basis for my book, The Brightness of Shadow). I can’t wait to see what everybody says this week.

On next week’s edition of Top Ten Tuesday, we’re going to talk about books that I loved that have less than 2000 ratings on Goodreads. Most of these books aren’t eligible for that (although I was surprised about one book). For Fangirling on Friday, we’ll be talking about slow-burn romances. A couple of these might show up again there. Be back then!

Books That Have Been on My TBR the Longest

By Brookelorren on February 5, 2019February 4, 201929 Comments

It’s Tuesday again, and Welcome to this week’s Top Ten Tuesday! As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Today’s topic was supposed to be “Upcoming Releases I’m On the Fence About” but it seemed a little negative to me and I just put a book on my TBR suddenly without thinking about it much, so I’m doing “Books on MY TBR the Longest that I Still Haven’t Read”. It goes well with the most recent TBR additions, which we did last week. So here goes:

One of the oldest books on my TBR is 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West. These books with the years on them are usually pretty interesting. Lately, I’ve found that history is a great way to find ideas for the books I’m writing too. This book has been on my TBR forever.

To be honest with you, I’m actually not grabbing the books added last on my TBR. I have some entries from 2013… and then they go straight to 2018. So I’m going to mix it up a bit because otherwise it would be really boring. A Court of Thorns and Roses was one of my oldest 2018 adds.

You’ll probably see a pattern between the oldest books on my TBR and the books I added in 2018. Anyway, New Deal or Raw Deal? was a book I added in 2013. There’s a lot of controversy regarding the whole New Deal and I don’t think there’s a clear-cut answer, because it did some good things and some not-so-good things. I suppose what we’re going through today might be looked upon history the same way. Anyway, here’s another book to learn about the past.

Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu is another one of my oldest TBR entries from 2018. It’s going to have to stay on my TBR for about another year, because it’s not supposed to be released until 2020. I think it’s supposed to come out in the spring though, so maybe I can start begging for an ARC by the end of this year at least?

The Real Thomas Jefferson: The True Story of America’s Philosopher of Freedom is another book I added in 2013. These books are really thick, but the type is pretty large. I still haven’t read this one yet though.

Here’s another book that has been on my TBR for a while that hasn’t been released yet. I’m pretty sure I’ll be reading Kingdom of Back long before I end up reading The Winds of Winter.

Throughout history, most of the world’s population has not lived under conditions that we would consider to be free. The Miracle of Freedom: 7 Tipping Points that Saved the World covers seven major events form history, going all the way back to the days of the Assyrians, that led to freedom for people. And I still haven’t read this book, even though I put this on my list in 2013.

All the Little Lights by Jamie McGuire sounded like a good book, and I added it to my Goodreads to try to win a contest, but I still haven’t read it yet. It still sounds like a good book, about two people who become friends, are separated, and then are reunited again, with some trouble brewing too.

Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy sounds like an interesting book. This was another period of history where a lot of people didn’t trust each other. I still haven’t read this book yet, but I really should someday.

When I first heard of the Holodomor, where Stalin tried to starve the Ukrainians, I thought it was a fascinating period of history that I wanted to learn more about. Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine sounded like an interesting book when it came out, but there was a wait list at the library and I didn’t want to wait for it. When I last went to Barnes and Noble with some money to spend, they didn’t have it. So I still haven’t read it.

So there you have it: some of the oldest books on my TBR. I think I’ll read A Court of Thorns and Roses fairly soon… I am on the waiting list at the library for it… but who knows when I’ll get to the others. What’s one of the books that have been on your TBR for a LOOOONG time? I’m looking forward to seeing what books people are on the fence about this week!

Next week: My favorite couples in books.

The Ten Most Recent Additions to My TBR

By Brookelorren on January 29, 2019January 28, 201926 Comments

It’s Tuesday again, which means another edition of Top Ten Tuesday! Today’s Topic is “The Ten Most Recent Additions to my TBR”. I am writing this slightly in advance, so it might change a bit, but these are what was added to my TBR when I wrote this.

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl!

The Queen of Nothing – Holly Black

I stayed up to finish The Wicked King on the day that I got it. I didn’t want to put it down. While the ending wasn’t a huge cliffhanger (I mean, nobody got stabbed right before the end or anything), I certainly want to find out what happens next. ASAP. I’ll be looking for ARCs of this when it comes out.

The Tiger at Midnight – Swati Teerdhala

This description from the author: “I’m the author of THE TIGER AT MIDNIGHT, which is LEGEND x AN EMBER IN THE ASHES set in a fantastical ancient India.” completely got me. She must be a mind reader or something, because I fangirl over both those books. All the time. I need to read this book! Can I get an ARC? I’ll be stalking Netgalley for this one.

Once & Future – Amy Rose Capetta

A gender-bent King Arthur retelling set in the future? Sign me up. This was another book I found from Top Ten Tuesday bloggers.

Babel: Around the World in Twenty Languages – Gaston Dorren

I’m a polyglot, so I’m always learning languages. If you learned twenty languages, you could speak to half of the population. This book sounded pretty interesting.

Sweet on You – Becky Wade

This is another Top Ten Tuesday book that I saw that looked good. Since it’s part of a trilogy, I guess I have to read the others first?

Song of the Abyss – Makiia Lucier

I still haven’t read Isle of Blood and Stone yet, but it’s in my TBR Jar. The second book is Song of the Abyss, which I added to my TBR because I was trying to win it. It looks good. Hopefully I’ll get to read it soon.

Blood Heir – Amélie Wen Zhao

I love how this story is Russian-inspired. I see it on Twitter all the time, and the author seems nice too. I’m looking forward to reading it! I requested an ARC on Netgalley; I hope I get approved.

The Underground Railroad – Colson Whitehead

I saw this book last summer and it looked interesting, but then I forgot about it. Another person’s Top Ten Tuesday post reminded me about it, so it ended up on my TBR.

The Land of Yesterday – K. A. Reynolds

The cover to this book is gorgeous! It looks like such a cute book. It’s a middle grade book that I plan to read and have my boy read too. My library doesn’t have it (gasp) but I ordered it through inter-library loan.

Ghosts of the Shadow Market – Cassandra Clare

I’ve pre-ordered this book already, so guess what I’ll be reading on June 4th? This book tells a bunch of short stories involving different shadowhunters throughout history, as seen from the eyes of Brother Zechariah (Jem Carstairs). Looking forward to reading it!

So there’s your Top Ten Tuesday for this week. Next week is supposed to be “Upcoming Releases I’m on the Fence About” but after writing it I realized I didn’t want to be so negative, so I changed it to a post on the books that have been on my TBR the longest.

What books did you recently add to your TBR? Are you inspired by other people’s TTTs like I am?