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’s topic is a throwback freebie, so I decided on:
Books I LOVED with Fewer Than 2000 Ratings on Goodreads
I was surprised that some of these books had under 2000 ratings! Let’s take a look.
1. The Song of Penelope
Author: Claire North
Series: The Songs of Penelope #3
Page Length: 464
Publication Date: June 4, 2024
Publisher: Orbit Books
Synopsis: Following the critically acclaimed Ithaca and House of Odysseus comes the final novel in Claire North’s Songs of Penelope trilogy – an exquisite, gripping tale that breathes life into ancient myth. This is the story of Penelope of Ithaca, famed wife of Odysseus, as it has never been told before.
Many years ago, Odysseus sailed to war and never returned. For twenty years his wife Penelope and the women of Ithaca have guarded the isle against suitors and rival kings. But peace cannot be kept forever, and the balance of power is about to break . . .A beggar has arrived at the Palace. Salt-crusted and ocean-battered, he is scorned by the suitors – but Penelope recognises in him something her husband, Odysseus, returned at last. Yet this Odysseus is no hero. By returning to the island in disguise, he is not merely plotting his revenge against the suitors – vengeance that will spark a civil war – but he’s testing the loyalty of his queen. Has she been faithful to him all these years? And how much blood is Odysseus willing to shed to be sure?
The song of Penelope is ending, and the song of Odysseus must ring through Ithaca’s halls. But first, Penelope must use all her cunning to win a war for the fate of the island and keep her family alive, whatever the cost . . .
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
2. Royal Decoy
Author: Heather Frost
Series: Fate of Eyrinthia #1
Page Length: 370
Publication Date: June 18, 2020
Synopsis: A SERVANT blackmailed into becoming a princess’s decoy.
A BODYGUARD determined to keep her alive.
A PRINCE forced to execute his father’s brutal laws.
A PRISONER used to keep him compliant.
A WORLD on the brink of war.
In one horrible night, Clare goes from kitchen maid to royal decoy. She has three months to become the princess’s perfect double so she can ensure her betrothal to an enemy prince. Desperate to survive, Clare throws herself into self-defense training, taught by her distractingly attractive bodyguard. The danger increases when a ruthless assassin begins stalking her, intent on ending the tenuous peace.
Across the northern mountains, Prince Grayson is his father’s ultimate weapon. He carries out the king’s harsh orders because the one person he cares about is his father’s prisoner. Grayson’s silent obedience is tested when his father plans to exploit the marriage alliance between two of their greatest enemies. If Grayson submits, the blood of thousands will spill. If he resists, the girl who means everything to him will die.
The fate of Eyrinthia hangs in the balance. Some want peace. Some want war. All will be thrown into chaos.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
3. Beneath Cruel Fathoms
Author: Anela Deen
Series: The Bitter Sea Trilogy (Book 1)
Page Length: 386
Publication Date: May 2019
Publisher: Fine Fables Press
Synopsis: After a violent storm destroys her ship, Isaura Johansdottir knows better than to hope she’ll be rescued from Eisland’s vast Failock Sea. Adrift and alone, her plans to start over lost, it’s a tragic conclusion after the disastrous end of her marriage—until she’s saved by Leonel, one of the merfolk, a creature long believed extinct. In repayment for her life, Leonel enlists her help to investigate the Failock’s mysterious and deadly plague of squalls. But when Isaura discovers Eisland’s ruthless new Lord commands the storms, her life will be in more danger on land than it ever was at sea.
As guardian of the Fathoms, Leonel must find the cause of unnatural storms ravaging the tidal currents and destroying the sea life. There are rumors of dark magic stirring in the Orom Abyss, the resting place of old, vanquished gods who tried to submerge the land millennia ago. Yet without proof, no one in King Ægir’s court will listen to him. And if it’s discovered he broke the Blue Laws to save a shipwrecked landweller, he might not survive the consequences.
As storms spread, Leonel and Isaura uncover secrets as forbidden as the bond that grows between them. Betrayal lurks in the restless sea, and when ancient powers lay siege to Eisland’s coast, the truth may be drowned along with everything else.
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LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
4. If the Duke Dares
Author: Darcy Burke
Series: Rogue Rules #1
Page Length: 321
Publication Date: Jan. 30, 2024
Publisher: Zealous Quill Press
Synopsis: Incorrigible flirt Acton Loxley, Duke of Wellsbourne is in need of a duchess. En route to greet a potential bride, he encounters a most intriguing and captivating widow who completely distracts him from his task. However, she disappears before he can deepen their acquaintance. Acton begrudgingly goes to meet his bride, unaware she and the widow are one and the same.
When Persephone Barclay’s younger sister is compromised, Persephone must wed before the scandal spreads. Her parents scramble to present her to the Duke of Wellsbourne; except he’s precisely the kind of rogue she has now vowed to avoid. Taking flight to avoid a match, Persephone runs straight into her would-be betrothed and pretends to be someone else. But dash it all, the duke proves to be irresistibly charming! If she remains in his company, she’ll end up in the wicked scoundrel’s clutches.
Even worse, her second attempt at escape lands her in increasingly poor circumstances. With nowhere to turn and her safety at risk, she may have to accept help from the one man who threatens her resolve—and her reputation.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
5. Of Cages and Crowns
Author: Brianna Joy Crump
Series: The Culled Crown #1
Page Length: 432
Publication Date: Nov. 22, 2022
Publisher: Wattpad Books
Synopsis: For goddess-touched girls, there is only one destiny: the Culling
From the moment Monroe Benson is born with a mark on her hand and the ability to summon fire from her fingertips, her life will never be her own. She’s goddess-touched, which means she’s destined to participate in the Culling, an age-old competition to determine the next queen of Erydia. For most of her seventeen years, her family has managed to keep Monroe–and her powers–hidden. But now, as Queen Viera calls for the Culling to start, and war looms on the horizon, Monroe can no longer hide. She must face her destiny whether she wants to or not.
For the ten goddess-touched girls, all with different powers, the inevitably of this fight to the death has always ruled their lives. The tradition is both barbaric and cruel, but to make matters worse–Monroe isn’t prepared. She hasn’t trained her whole life for this day. She doesn’t want to be in the spotlight. She doesn’t want the crown.
While Monroe struggles with her fate, a rebellion is brewing in the castle and in the country. A group called the Culled are banding together; their goal–to topple the monarchy. And the more they rise, the more merciless Viera is with her kingdom, recruiting younger and younger people from poorer and poorer places to fight in a war no one wants to be waging.
When Monroe finds herself on the front lines of the rebellion’s inner circle, only one thing stands in her way: Cohen. The queen’s son and the man who will be king. The pair grows close, yet Cohen’s dedication to duty, to family, to tradition stands in stark contrast to the boy Monroe sees at night in the kitchens, secretly making the two of them a snack.
As the fight crescendos around them, and the death of innocents is a force to bear, the choices Monroe makes will reverberate through the kingdom . . . and her heart forever.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
6. Esperance
Author: Heather Frost
Series: Esperance Trilogy #1
Publication Date: Nov. 18, 2022
Synopsis: Twelve strangers. Six marriages. One year in Esperance.
Amryn has many reasons to hate the empire. Her latest is her forced marriage to General Carver Vincetti, also known as the Butcher. If he learns even one of her secrets, he will kill her. And Amryn has many secrets. Not only is she an empath with forbidden magic, she’s also a newly recruited rebel intent on destroying the empire—starting at Esperance.
Carver knows the rebels have infiltrated the remote temple of Esperance. His job is to find them before they can wreck the emperor’s new peace. Despite the demons that haunt him, Carver thinks he’s ready for this new mission—but he’s not prepared for Amryn. From her fiery red hair to her surprising wit, his new wife has captured his attention. Now he just has to determine if she’s the enemy.
When the newly married couples become targets in a violent game, Esperance becomes more dangerous than anyone anticipated. Carver and Amryn are about to discover that no one is exactly who they appear to be—especially each other.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
7. The Duke’s Dark Secret
Author: Courtney McCaskill
Series: The Astley Chronicles
Page Length: 340
Publication Date: Nov. 9, 2023
Publisher: Hazel Grove Books
Synopsis: Secrets, Lies, and a Lock Ever since her father’s unexpected death, Cecilia Chenoweth has felt like the heroine of a bad Gothic novel. In addition to leaving her alone and destitute, her father made a deathbed confession that it was no mere fever that took her mother’s life some twenty years ago. Then he pressed a sinister key into her hands, bidding her to go forth and uncover the truth. If only she knew where to find the lock that will open to the mysterious key…
Cold, Bold, and Dangerous to Know There is one man who recognizes the black key bearing the emblem of a Marcus Latimer, the newly minted Duke of Trevissick. Now that his abusive father is rotting in hell where he belongs, Marcus is eager for his life to stop resembling a bad Gothic novel. No one would ever have thought to pair the dangerously handsome duke with the meek little rector’s daughter. But as he helps Cecilia on her quest, Marcus discovers a well of passion hiding behind her sloe eyes that may just be a match for his own.
Two Hearts on a Perilous Path But Cecilia’s search for the truth about her mother’s death unearths dark secrets from Marcus’s past, secrets that will destroy the new life he has built for his beloved sister and condemn one of the few people he cares about to death. What will he do when he is forced to choose between loyalty… and love?
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
8. Rise of the Vicious Princess
Author: C.J. Redwine
Page Length: 400
Publication Date: June 14, 2022
Synopsis: The first in a YA political fantasy duology about a fierce princess determined to bring lasting peace to her kingdom regardless of the cost to her heart.
Princess Charis Willowthorn is the dutiful sword of Calera. Raised to be ruthless and cunning, her only goal is to hold her war-torn kingdom together long enough to find a path toward peace with their ancient foe, Montevallo, even if the cost is her own heart.
When violence erupts in the castle itself and an unseen enemy begins sinking Calera’s ships, Charis realizes a threat much greater than Montevallo is coming for her people. So she forms a plan. By day, she is Calera’s formidable princess intent on forging an alliance with Montevallo. By night, she disguises herself as a smuggler and roams the sea with a trusted group of loyalists, hunting for their new enemies. And through it all, there’s the one boy she can’t have—who guards her life but steals her heart.
But her enemies are much closer than Charis realizes, and her heart isn’t the only thing she has left to lose.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
9. Say Yes to the Princess
Author: Charis Michaels
Series: Hidden Royals #1
Page Length: 384
Publication Date: July 11, 2023
Publisher: Avon
Synopsis: A hidden princess…
Princess Regine Elise Adelaide d’Orleans is no longer a princess, but she’s also no commoner. She’s obscure French royalty, exiled to England in the aftermath of the revolution. She lives as a glorified houseguest of the British Royal family, guarded and gilded, but also trapped.
The cynical outcast…
Mr. Killian Crewes serves as the “Royal Fixer” in St. James’s Palace, making messy situations disappear. As the second son of an earl, cleaning up indiscretions was hardly Killian’s goal in life, but his mother’s notoriety makes him less of a peer, and more a member of staff.
A royal scandal…
When Princess Elise spots her long-lost brother in a crowded market, she’s determined to find him. But her search puts the palace in an uncomfortable position, and they hire Killian to seduce the princess to distract her from meddling. Except, no one anticipated that Killian would be the one seduced instead. Now he’s risking everything for the lonely princess–his job, her reputation, and both of their hearts.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
10. A Legacy of Darkness
Author: J.M. Wallace
Series: A Legacy of Darkness #1
Publication Date: Oct. 10, 2021
Synopsis: A reluctant King haunted by his father’s actions.
A Druid girl haunted by her bloody childhood.
And an impossible quest to save their country…
Gripping and action-packed, A Legacy of Darkness is an adrenaline-filled, high fantasy of sword and sorcery, mythical creatures, and a charming cast of characters, perfect for fans of Cinda Williams Chima and Holly Black.
Darkness spreads through the kingdom of Asterion. Shaye Wistari witnesses it with her own eyes as she returns home from across the sea. Fearful of the monsters lurking in the waters to the East, she must revisit the bloody memories of her childhood.
When the newly crowned King tracks her down to enlist her help, she learns only she, the last of the Druid line, can save the country she has tried to leave behind.
Paired with the son of the man who slaughtered her people and stole her magic, she sets off on an impossible quest to save the innocent citizens of Asterion.
Alongside a group of unlikely allies, Shaye embarks on a desperate journey to reclaim her power and face the ghosts of her past. She must confront her own demons, or the darkness will overtake her, leaving Asterion vulnerable to destruction.
A Legacy of Darkness is the first book in this exciting fantasy trilogy. From it, you can expect danger, political intrigue, and thrilling passion, as Shaye and King Sorin fight the darkness closing in on them.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
What a great way to showcase underappreciated books, Julie. There are a few of these series/trilogies that intrigue me. I will keep this list handy to choose from when looking for a fantasy or Victorian Romance.
Thanks, Carla! I hope you enjoy them if you get a chance to read any of them!
A few of these I still have to read like Of Cages and Crowns! Great topic. I think I am going to do the same because I am very curious what will be on my list haha.
Yes! I saw yours!! It’s such a great topic!
Royal Decoy and Esperance are both on my TBR so I’m glad to see you loved them!
Ooooh, I love all of her books! I hope you enjoy them if you get a chance to read them. 🙂
This is such a great topic! I didn’t realize Song of Penelope had that few of ratings!!
Me either! I was kind of surprised about that one.