Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
Today’s topic is Dynamic Duos. This is such a fun topic! I focused on dynamic friendships and some couples that started off as friends and turned into more.
1. Bryce & Danika – House of Earth and Blood
Title: House of Earth and Blood
Series: Crescent City #1
Publication Date: March 3, 2020
Synopsis: Bound by blood.
Tempted by desire.
Unleashed by destiny.
Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life—working hard all day and partying all night—until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She’ll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.
Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose—to assassinate his boss’s enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he’s offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.
As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City’s underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion—one that could set them both free, if they’d only let it.
With unforgettable characters, sizzling romance, and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom—and the power of love.
2. Adraa & Jatin – Cast in Firelight
Title: Cast in Firelight
Author: Dana Swift
Series: Wickery (Book 1)
Page Length: 448
Publication Date: Jan. 19, 2020
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Synopsis: Adraa is the royal heir of Belwar, a talented witch on the cusp of taking her royal ceremony test, and a girl who just wants to prove her worth to her people.
Jatin is the royal heir to Naupure, a competitive wizard who’s mastered all nine colors of magic, and a boy anxious to return home for the first time since he was a child.
Together, their arranged marriage will unite two of Wickery’s most powerful kingdoms. But after years of rivalry from afar, Adraa and Jatin only agree on one thing: their reunion will be anything but sweet.
Only, destiny has other plans and with the criminal underbelly of Belwar suddenly making a move for control, their paths cross…and neither realizes who the other is, adopting separate secret identities instead.
Between dodging deathly spells and keeping their true selves hidden, the pair must learn to put their trust in the other if either is to uncover the real threat. Now Wickery’s fate is in the hands of rivals..? Fiancées..? Partners..? Whatever they are, it’s complicated and bound for greatness or destruction.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
3. Katria & Sean – Wintersfall
Title: Wintersfall
Author: Sarah Westill
Series: Gen-Heirs: The Guardians of Sziveria #1
Page Length: 388
Publication Date: June 3, 2021
Synopsis: A Gen-Heir to her assassin father’s legacy, Katria Nachemir will do almost anything to find the person responsible for murdering her mother and sister. Even become an assassin herself. In exchange for a deeper investigation into their deaths, she agrees to be a member of an Intel Guardian team, despite knowing the path is the last one her father would wish her to take.
Generations of dark family history have left Sean Blackbain, Primary Guardian Wintersfall, with limited choices. Either remain in Sziveria to face the whispers, or become the leader of a team and disappear.
Three years later, a botched assignment sends the team home, and a shocking detail is revealed concerning Sean and Katria’s government contracts. They’re married. With Sean’s tainted past, and Katria’s carefully guarded family secret, neither are prepared for marriage.
Exploring the murders of Katria’s family proves to be dangerous, and Sean realizes he’ll do anything to keep his wife safe. As they work together to discover the intricate lengths an unknown enemy has gone to keep the truth hidden, the passion they denied for so long begins to boil over. The bonds of their relationship are tested as the professional lines engrained between them blur.
4. Chiara & Ren – Untethered
Title: Untethered
Author: Kaylynn Flanders
Series: Shielded #2
Page Length: 464
Publication Date: July 20, 2021
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Synopsis: Although King Atháren’s sister, Jennesara, saved Hálendi from the Gray Mage, the reprieve came at a steep price–the life of their father. Now Ren rules over a divided kingdom, with some who want him dead, and a Medallion that warns of worse trouble brewing in the south.
As second born, Princess Chiara is the perfect Turian royal–perfectly invisible. She longs to help restore peace on the Plateau, but with no magic and no fighting skills, she doesn’t stand a chance against a mage. So when a member of the Turian royal family goes missing and Chiara finds a clue about the rumored resting place of the mages’ long-lost artifacts, she decides it’s time to be seen.
As Ren’s and Chiara’s paths cross, they find the depth of the mages’ hold on the Plateau is more powerful than anyone suspected, and that they must learn to trust themselves, and each other, before the mages retrieve their artifacts and become too powerful to ever defeat.
5. Astra & Luoko – Of Shade and Shadow
Title: Of Shade and Shadow: The Exiled
Author: Niamh Schmid and Rebecca Schmid
Series: A Daughter’s Ransom #1
Page Length: 391
Publication Date: Dec. 19, 2020
Synopsis: The Great War is won… so everyone tells her. But even with her brother now king, Astra Verzaer knows the fight is far from over. When her sudden exile finds her alone in the dreary country of Merimeethia with only the aloof Prince Louko for company, she digs deeper in vain attempts to find proof of her suspicions.
Series Synopsis: The TetraWorlds live in ignorance of each other’s existence. One fallen behind in a Medieval time of fantastic and dangerous creatures, another fallen asleep in the comfort of their Victorian age, and the last torn apart by its own Modern innovation. When a dark threat rises up against them–one so quiet that none know to stop it, a Guard from each world must be called to protect their planet’s source. But what will happen when these worlds entwine?
6. Gavin & Julie – The Mistletoe Trap
Title: The Mistletoe Trap
Author: Cindi Madsen
Series: Heart in the Game (Book 2)
Page Length: 400
Publisher: Entangled
Publication Date: Nov. 16, 2020
Synopsis: From the moment Julie sees her best friend, Gavin, in the airport, it’s like no time at all has gone by instead of months and months. No matter how long they’ve been apart, their relationship has always been steady, comfortable, and decidedly just friends. Even though their meddling parents have hung what seems like unlimited amounts of mistletoe everywhere she goes this holiday season, Julie knows some things will never change.
Gavin is well-aware his family’s wanted him and Julie to get together since forever, even though he’s been friend-zoned since they could talk—and he’s been happy to play that role. After all, as the new starting quarterback for the San Antonio Mustangs, he’s got enough on his plate without adding romance to the mix.
But between playing elves in the holiday bazaar to nights spent one-on-one watching rom-coms or soaking in their town’s hot springs, suddenly the “reverse parent trap” they’ve fallen into is actually starting to work. But this could be one scheme where letting themselves get trapped might be way too dangerous.
7. Marilee & Darius – Mazarine
Title: Mazarine
Author: Cece Louise
Series: The Forest Tales #3
Publication Date: June 22, 2021
Synopsis: She’s cursed. He’s dead. How far will they go to change their fates?
Princess Marilee is cursed. A mermaid by day and a human by night, she made a fateful decision that has left her trapped between two worlds.
Disgraced Prince Darius is dead. At least, that’s what he wants everyone to think when he’s thrown overboard from a prison ship.
When Marilee and Darius meet, they reluctantly make a deal—Darius will help Marilee return to her family in exchange for enough money so he can disappear forever.
A doomed girl and a condemned man. Can they find redemption, or will they be lost to an unforgiving sea?
8. Cora & Liam – Lost With You
Title: Lost With You
Author: Anna Lenore
Series: Lost and Found #1
Page Length: 370
Publication Date: Oct. 8, 2021
Synopsis: A tragic act of fate becomes an epic journey toward love…
Tired of following in her father’s footsteps at his small, uninspiring catering business, Cora is in desperate need of a new adventure, booking a week-long trip to New Zealand. But when she finds herself stranded in the middle of the Pacific after a horrific plane crash, the real adventure begins, and she’s forced to learn how to keep herself alive.
But she’s not the only survivor…
Liam Montgomery is the last person she expected to find washed ashore with her. He’s tall, dark, ruggedly handsome, and he’s a movie star—the one who’s danced in her fantasies for months.
At first, it all seems like a mirage, but it’s real. Liam is now her sole companion, and they soon find out how important it is to lean on each other in their new, unforgiving reality. Tensions rise, danger strikes, and they both learn what it truly means to fight for their lives…and for love.
9. Kamila & Rohan – Kamila Knows Best
Title: Kamila Knows Best
Author: Farah Heron
Page Length: 368
Publication Date: March 8, 2022
Publisher: Forever
Synopsis: Kamila Hussain’s life might not be perfect, but, whew, it’s close. She lives a life of comfort, filled with her elaborate Bollywood movie parties, a dog with more Instagram followers than most reality stars, a job she loves, and an endless array of friends who clearly need her help finding love. In fact, Kamila is so busy with her friends’ love lives, she’s hardly given any thought to her own . . .
Fortunately, Kamila has Rohan Nasser. A longtime friend of the family, he’s hugely successful, with the deliciously lean, firm body of a rock climber. Only lately, Kamila’s “harmless flirting” with Rohan is making her insides do a little bhangra dance.
But between planning the local shelter’s puppy prom, throwing a huge work event, and proving to everyone that she’s got it all figured out, Kamila isn’t letting herself get distracted—until her secret nemesis returns to town with an eye for Rohan. Suddenly, it seems like the more Kamila tries to plan, the more things are starting to unravel—and her perfectly ordered life is about to be turned upside down.
10. Hannah & Will – When We’re Thirty
Title: When We’re Thirty
Author: Casey Dembowski
Page Length: 297
Publication Date: April 27, 2021
Publisher: Red Adept Publishing
Synopsis: Two friends. One pact. The performance of their lives.
Hannah Abbott is stuck in a dead-end relationship and at a job she loves but that barely pays the bills. The four walls of her tiny New York City apartment have never seemed so small. She’s barely toasted her thirtieth birthday when her old college friend Will knocks on her door with an unexpected proposal.
Will Thorne never forgot the marriage pact he made with Hannah, but he also never imagined he’d be the one to initiate it. One ex-fiancée and an almost-career-ending mistake later, however, he finds himself outside Hannah’s door, on bended knee, to collect on their graduation-night pinky promise.
With both of their futures at stake, Hannah and Will take a leap of faith.
Now, all they have to do is convince their friends and family that they’re madly in love. As long as they follow the list of rules they’ve drafted, everything should go smoothly. Except Will has never been good with rules, and Hannah can’t stop overthinking the sleeping arrangements. Turning thirty has never been so promising.
Who are some of your favorite dynamic duos? Comment below!!
Bryce and Danika ❤️ I’m reading House of Sky and Breath right now and seeing all of Danika’s secrets being revealed. Great list!
I can’t wait to read your thoughts when you finish the story! It went in so many different directions that I didn’t expect.
I finished last night and I’m processing my thoughts on it right now lol. But you are right, it went in so many different directions!
I loved Gavin and Julie! Nice picks!
They’re the best! Thanks!
Bryce and Danika!! Great list but there’s a lot on here I haven’t read yet but I want to!!
Thanks! I love Bryce and Danika! So much to unpack there
Great picks, Julie! I adooore Adraa & Jatin and I loved Gavin & Julie too 😍 That was such a great friends-to-lovers romance! Can’t wait to meet Bryce and Danika too (hopefully this year lol)!
lol – HOEAB is definitely a time commitment!