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.
This week, the topic is Books I Was Super Excited to Get My Hands on but Still Haven’t Read. Well, not surprisingly, I have a lot of books that would work for this prompt. lol
1. A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber
Series: Once Upon a Broken Heart #3
Page Length: 400
Publication Date: Oct. 24, 2023
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Synopsis: Blood will be shed, hearts will be stolen, and true love will be put to the test in A CURSE FOR TRUE LOVE, the breathtaking conclusion to Stephanie Garber’s #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling Once Upon A Broken Heart trilogy
Two villains, one girl, and a deadly battle for happily ever after.
Evangeline Fox ventured to the Magnificent North in search of her happy ending, and it seems as if she has it. She’s married to a handsome prince and lives in a legendary castle. But Evangeline has no idea of the devastating price she’s paid for this fairytale. She doesn’t know what she has lost, and her husband is determined to make sure she never finds out. . . . but first he must kill Jacks, the Prince of Hearts.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
2. The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
Page Length: 400
Publication Date: April 9, 2024
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Synopsis: In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family’s social position.
What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain’s king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England’s heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king’s favor.
Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition’s wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
3. Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson
Page Length: 400
Publication Date: Oct. 5, 2021
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Synopsis: The dead of Loraille do not rest.
Artemisia is training to be a Gray Sister, a nun who cleanses the bodies of the deceased so that their souls can pass on; otherwise, they will rise as spirits with a ravenous hunger for the living. She would rather deal with the dead than the living, who trade whispers about her scarred hands and troubled past.
When her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers, Artemisia defends it by awakening an ancient spirit bound to a saint’s relic. It is a revenant, a malevolent being that threatens to possess her the moment she drops her guard. Wielding its extraordinary power almost consumes her—but death has come to Loraille, and only a vespertine, a priestess trained to wield a high relic, has any chance of stopping it. With all knowledge of vespertines lost to time, Artemisia turns to the last remaining expert for help: the revenant itself.
As she unravels a sinister mystery of saints, secrets, and dark magic, her bond with the revenant grows. And when a hidden evil begins to surface, she discovers that facing this enemy might require her to betray everything she has been taught to believe—if the revenant doesn’t betray her first.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
4. Echoes and Empires by Morgan Rhodes
Series: Echoes and Empires #1
Page Length: 400
Publisher: Razorbill
Synopsis: A snarky seventeen-year-old must team up with an enigmatic criminal to cure herself of dangerous forbidden magic in the first book of a new fantasy duology from Morgan Rhodes, the New York Times bestselling author of the Falling Kingdoms series.
Josslyn Drake knows only three things about magic: it’s rare, illegal, and always deadly. So when she’s caught up in a robbery gone wrong at the Queen’s Gala and infected by a dangerous piece of magic—one that allows her to step into the memories of an infamously evil warlock—she finds herself living her worst nightmare. Joss needs the magic removed before it corrupts her soul and kills her. But in Ironport, the cost of doing magic is death, and seeking help might mean scheduling her own execution. There’s nobody she can trust.
Nobody, that is, except wanted criminal Jericho Nox, who offers her a deal: his help extracting the magic in exchange for the magic itself. And though she’s not thrilled to be working with a thief, especially one as infuriating (and infuriatingly handsome) as Jericho, Joss is desperate enough to accept.
But Jericho is nothing like Joss expects. The closer she grows with Jericho and the more she sees of the world outside her pampered life in the city, the more Joss begins to question the beliefs she’s always taken for granted—beliefs about right and wrong, about power and magic, and even about herself.
In an empire built on lies, the truth may be her greatest weapon.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
5. Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer
Series: Defy the Night #1
Page Length: 496
Publication Date: Sept. 14, 2021
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Synopsis: From New York Times bestselling author Brigid Kemmerer comes a blockbuster fantasy series about a kingdom divided by corruption, the prince desperately holding it together, and the girl who will risk everything to bring it crashing down.
The kingdom of Kandala is on the brink of disaster. Rifts between sectors have only worsened since a sickness began ravaging the land, and within the Royal Palace, the king holds a tenuous peace with a ruthless hand.
King Harristan was thrust into power after his parents’ shocking assassination, leaving the younger Prince Corrick to take on the brutal role of the King’s Justice. The brothers have learned to react mercilessly to any sign of rebellion–it’s the only way to maintain order when the sickness can strike anywhere, and the only known cure, an elixir made from delicate Moonflower petals, is severely limited.
Out in the Wilds, apothecary apprentice Tessa Cade is tired of seeing her neighbors die, their suffering ignored by the unyielding royals. Every night, she and her best friend Wes risk their lives to steal Moonflower petals and distribute the elixir to those who need it most–but it’s still not enough.
As rumors spread that the cure no longer works and sparks of rebellion begin to flare, a particularly cruel act from the King’s Justice makes Tessa desperate enough to try the impossible: sneaking into the palace. But what she finds upon her arrival makes her wonder if it’s even possible to fix Kandala without destroying it first.
Set in a richly imaginative world with striking similarities to our own, Brigid Kemmerer’s captivating new series is about those with power and those without . . . and what happens when someone is brave enough to imagine a new future.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
6. This Woven Kingdom by Tehereh Mafi
Series: This Woven Kingdom #1
Page Length: 512
Publisher: HarperCollins
Synopsis: Clashing empires, forbidden romance, and a long-forgotten queen destined to save her people—bestselling author Tahereh Mafi’s first in an epic, romantic trilogy inspired by Persian mythology.
To all the world, Alizeh is a disposable servant, not the long-lost heir to an ancient Jinn kingdom forced to hide in plain sight.
The crown prince, Kamran, has heard the prophecies foretelling the death of his king. But he could never have imagined that the servant girl with the strange eyes, the girl he can’t put out of his mind, would one day soon uproot his kingdom—and the world.
Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Tomi Adeyemi, and Sabaa Tahir, this is the explosive first book in a new fantasy trilogy from the New York Times bestselling and National Book Award-nominated author Tahereh Mafi.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
7. Only a Monster by Vanessa Len
Series: Monsters #1
Page Length: 416
Publisher: HarperTeen
Synopsis: It should have been the perfect summer. Sent to stay with her late mother’s eccentric family in London, sixteen-year-old Joan is determined to enjoy herself. She loves her nerdy job at the historic Holland House, and when her super cute co-worker Nick asks her on a date, it feels like everything is falling into place.
But she soon learns the truth. Her family aren’t just eccentric: they’re monsters, with terrifying, hidden powers. And Nick isn’t just a cute boy: he’s a legendary monster slayer, who will do anything to bring them down.
As she battles Nick, Joan is forced to work with the beautiful and ruthless Aaron Oliver, heir to a monster family that hates her own. She’ll have to embrace her own monstrousness if she is to save herself, and her family. Because in this story . . .
. . . she is not the hero.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
8. These Hollow Vows by Lexi Ryan
Series: These Hollow Vows #1
Page Length: 464
Publisher: HMH
Synopsis: Brie hates the Fae and refuses to have anything to do with them, even if that means starving on the street. But when her sister is sold to the sadistic king of the Unseelie court to pay a debt, she’ll do whatever it takes to get her back—including making a deal with the king himself to steal three magical relics from the Seelie court.
Gaining unfettered access to the Seelie court is easier said than done. Brie’s only choice is to pose as a potential bride for Prince Ronan, and she soon finds herself falling for him. Unwilling to let her heart distract her, she accepts help from a band of Unseelie misfits with their own secret agenda. As Brie spends time with their mysterious leader, Finn, she struggles to resist his seductive charm.
Caught between two dangerous courts, Brie must decide who to trust with her loyalty. And with her heart.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
9. A Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: Flesh & Fire #1
Publication Date: Oct. 15th
Publisher: Blue Box Press
Synopsis: Born shrouded in the veil of the Primals, a Maiden as the Fates promised, Seraphena Mierel’s future has never been hers. Chosen before birth to uphold the desperate deal her ancestor struck to save his people, Sera must leave behind her life and offer herself to the Primal of Death as his Consort.
However, Sera’s real destiny is the most closely guarded secret in all of Lasania—she’s not the well protected Maiden but an assassin with one mission—one target. Make the Primal of Death fall in love, become his weakness, and then…end him. If she fails, she dooms her kingdom to a slow demise at the hands of the Rot.
Sera has always known what she is. Chosen. Consort. Assassin. Weapon. A specter never fully formed yet drenched in blood. A monster. Until him. Until the Primal of Death’s unexpected words and deeds chase away the darkness gathering inside her. And his seductive touch ignites a passion she’s never allowed herself to feel and cannot feel for him. But Sera has never had a choice. Either way, her life is forfeit—it always has been, as she has been forever touched by Life and Death.
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
10. The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston
Page Length: 352
Publication Date: June 27, 2023
Publisher: Berkley
Synopsis: Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.
So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: stay busy, work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.
And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.
Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.
Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.
After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.
An overworked book publicist with a perfectly planned future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate…only to discover he lives seven years in the past, in this witty and wise new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dead Romantics.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Have you read any of these? Which would you recommend? Comment below!
The Seven Year Slip is sooo good! I hope you get the chance to read these someday😁
Thanks, Tammy. Me too! I’ve read and loved several of her books, so I have a feeling I’ll love this one too.
The Familiar is on both of our lists. I can’t even find my copy of the physical book 🤦🏻♀️. Hope you get to read some of them soon!
lol I hate when that happens. Hopefully, you find it soon!
I have a few of these books on my tbr that I’ve yet to get too as well.. oops!
Hopefully, we’ll both get to them soon. lol
I had The Seven Year Slip on my list today too! You’ve also reminded me that I have This Woven Kingdom on my TBR thanks to my Illumicrate sub and I’d be down to buddy read it sometime, if you’re keen? 🙂
Absolutely! It sounds really good. Just let me know when! 🙂
I liked a lot of the books on your list! I’m disappointed that Vespertine will never get a sequel.
The Seven Year Slip is so so good 😀
I’ve also yet to get around to Defy the Night — I loved her previous trilogy so much, I’ve been almost scared to start this one…
I feel the same way. I’ve heard mixed things about the series, so I’m hesitant. lol
Seven Year Slip, Vespertine, This Woven Kingdom, Only A Monster, Defy the Night, and I still need to read book 2&3 in the Garber series. A lot in common here!!
I’m not surprised. We have such similar tastes. lol I see a lot of buddy reads in our future!
hahaha.. yes!!! 🙂
The Familiar and This Woven Kingdom are both on my TBR atm… This Woven Kingdom for far too long lol. I hope you enjoy all these when you pick them up 🙂
Thanks Becky. You too!
Same for me with THE FAMILIAR! Although, I technically did start it. I’ve read THESE HOLLOW VOWS, which I really liked…but I need to finish the duology lol. The second book is one I want to read this year.
I hope you enjoy book 2 when you read it, Celeste! 🙂
You’ve got so many books on here that I read and loved, but also a few that are on my TBR (as usual). I love how much our reading taste overlaps. I’ve got a copy of Only a Monster that has been staring at me from my shelf – maybe it’s time to schedule our next buddy read? I also have to read the second book in These Hollow Vows, but it’s been so long since I read the first one, that I’d definitely need to do a reread.
I enjoyed Vespertine!
Yay! It sounds really good!
I enjoyed a few of these books on your list especially Defy the Night! I hope you get to read all of these!
Thanks, Yolanda!
So many pretty covers! Of these, I’ve read The Seven-Year Slip, and loved it!
Nice! I love her books!