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, the topic is a Halloween Freebie, and I decided to do books with orange or black covers. Let’s check them out!
1. The Bones Beneath My Skin
Author: T.J. Klune
Pub. Date: Feb. 4, 2025
Page Length: 416
Publisher: Tor
Synopsis: A spine-tingling thriller by New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, about a 10-year-old girl with an impossible power, her father, and an unlikely stranger, who come together to confront the dangerous forces that want her at all costs. A strange story of family, love, comets, and bacon. Perfect for fans of Stranger Things.
In the spring of 1995, Nate Cartwright has lost everything: his parents are dead, his older brother wants nothing to do with him, and he’s been fired from his job as a journalist in Washington DC. With nothing left to lose, he returns to his family’s summer cabin outside the small mountain town of Roseland, Oregon to try and find some sense of direction. The cabin should be empty. It’s not. Inside is a man named Alex. And with him is an extraordinary little girl who calls herself Artemis Darth Vader. Artemis, who isn’t exactly as she appears.
Soon it becomes clear that Nate must make a choice: let himself drown in the memories of his past, or fight for a future he never thought possible. Because the girl is special. And forces are descending upon them who want nothing more than to control her.
2. The Ordeals
Author: Rachel Greenlaw
Page Length: 384
Pub. Date: Oct. 7, 2025
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Synopsis: Twenty-year-old Sophia DeWinter has only known life bound to her cruel uncle, the Collector, thanks to a blood bond he exacted from her as a child. When she learns of Killmarth College, an elite academy for magic wielders outside of the Collector’s control, she knows it is her only chance to finally break free. But to gain entry, she will have to compete against other illusionists, masquiers, botanists, and alchemists in a series of brutal trials that many hopefuls don’t survive—the Ordeals.
Sophia knows her skills as an illusionist are weak; she only makes it through the first challenge by teaming up with a powerful (and insufferably sexy) botanist, Alden Locke. To make it out alive, she will have to hone her magic and learn to identify who is a rival, who could be an ally, and who is a murderer.
Because now, not only does she have to protect her heart, but her very life. Hopefuls are being viciously picked off one by one between the challenges. In her haste to escape the Collector’s trap, Sophia may have fled straight towards her own death sentence.
3. The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam
Author: Megan Bannen
Series: Hart & Mercy #3
Page Length: 432
Pub. Date: July 8, 2025
Publisher: Orbit
Synopsis: Immortal demigod Rosie Fox has been patrolling Tanria for decades, but lately, the job has been losing its luster. After one hundred and fifty-seven years of being alive, everything is beginning to lose its luster. When Rosie dies (again) by electrocution (again) after poking around inside a portal choked with shadowy thorns only she can see, she feels stuck in the rut that is her unending life.
Thanks to Rosie’s meddling, the portal’s inventor, Dr. Adam Lee, must come in person to repair the damage. When all the portals begin to break down, he declares an emergency evacuation of Tanria. In the mad rush to get out, Rosie and Adam end up trapped inside the Mist. Together.
And uptight Adam Lee in his bespoke menswear seems to know a lot more about what’s happening than he lets on….
Rosie is determined to crack the shell of his cool exterior. But the more she learns about Adam, the more she realizes that they both have personal histories as tangled and thorny as the plant that has them trapped inside the Mist. Maybe two people who have found themselves stuck in this life can find a way to unstick each other … just when their time on this earth seems to be running out.
4. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Author: V.E. Schwab
Page Length: 444
Publication Date: Oct. 6, 2020
Publisher: Tor Books
Synopsis: France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.
But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.
5. The Dagger and the Flame
Author: Catherine Doyle
Series: The City of Fantome
Page Length: 528
Pub. Date: Oct. 1, 2024
Synopsis: In the dark underbelly of a beautiful city, two rival assassins are pitted against each other in a deadly game of revenge, where the most dangerous mistake of all is falling in love…
In Fantome, a kingdom of cobbled streets, flickering lamplight, beautiful buildings, and secret catacombs, Shade-magic is a scarce and deadly commodity controlled by two enemy the Cloaks and the Daggers – the thieves and the assassins. On the night of her mother’s murder, 17-year-old Seraphine runs for her life. Seeking sanctuary with the Cloaks, Sera’s heart is set on revenge. But are her secret abilities a match for the dark-haired boy whose quicksilver eyes follow her around the city?
Nothing can prepare Sera for the moment she finally comes face-to-face with Ransom, heir to the Order of Daggers. And Ransom is shocked to discover that this unassuming farmgirl wields a strange and blazing magic he has never seen before… Among rumours of monsters stalking the streets and the rival guilds grappling for control of Fantome’s underworld, Sera and Ransom are drawn together by something more than just magic and must face a deadly choice – forgiveness or vengeance? Kiss or kill? Dagger or Flame?
6. Vilest Things
Author: Chloe Gong
Series: Flesh and False Gods #2
Page Length: 384
Pub. Date: Sept. 10, 2024
Synopsis: Calla Tuoleimi has succeeded in the impossible. Despite the odds, she has won San-Er’s bloody games and eliminated King Kasa, her tyrant uncle and the former ruler of Talin. She serves now as royal advisor to Kasa’s adopted son, August Shenzhi, who has risen to the throne.
Only Calla knows it isn’t really August.
Anton Makusa is still furious about Calla’s betrayal in the final round of the games. In an impossible feat, he took over August’s body to survive, and has no intention of giving up this newfound power. But when his first love, the beautiful, explosive Otta Avia, awakens from a years-long coma and reveals a secret that threatens the monarchy’s authority over Talin, chaos erupts. As tensions come to a boiling point, Calla and Anton must set their conflicts aside and head to the kingdom’s far reaches to prevent anarchy… even if their empire might be better off burning.
7. Full Speed to a Crash Landing
Author: Beth Revis
Series: Chaotic Orbits #1
Page Length: 192
Publication Date: Aug. 6, 2024
Synopsis: A high octane sexy space heist from New York Times-bestselling author Beth Revis, the first in a novella trilogy.
Ada Lamarr may have gotten to the spaceship wreck first, but looter’s rights won’t get her far when she’s got a hole in the side of her ship and her spacesuit is almost out of air. Fortunately for her, help arrives in the form of a government salvage crew—and while they reluctantly rescue her from certain death, they are not pleased to have an unexpected passenger along on their classified mission.
But Ada doesn’t care—all that matters to her is enjoying their fine food and sweet, sweet oxygen—until Rian White, the government agent in charge, starts to suspect that there’s more to Ada than meets the eye. He’s not wrong—but he’s so pretty that Ada is perfectly happy to keep him paying attention to her—at least until she can complete the job she was sent to pull off. But as quick as Ada is, Rian might be quicker—and she may not be entirely sure who’s manipulating who until it’s too late…
A phenomenally fun novella that kicks off a trilogy of sexy space heists and romantic tension, Full Speed to a Crash Landing is packed with great characters and full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the end.
8. A Dark and Drowning Tide
Author: Allison Saft
Page Length: 384
Publication Date: Sept 17, 2024
Publisher: Del Rey
Synopsis: A sharp-tongued folklorist must pair up with her academic rival to solve their mentor’s murder in this lush and enthralling sapphic fantasy romance from the New York Times bestselling author of A Far Wilder Magic .
Lorelei Kaskel, a folklorist with a quick temper and an even quicker wit, is on an expedition with six eccentric nobles in search of a fabled spring. The magical spring promises untold power, which the king wants to harness to secure his reign of the embattled country of Brunnestaad. Lorelei is determined to use this opportunity to prove herself and make her wildest, most impossible dream come to become a naturalist, able to travel freely to lands she’s only ever read about.
The expedition gets off to a harrowing start when its leader—Lorelei’s beloved mentor—is murdered in her quarters aboard their ship. The suspects are her five remaining expedition mates, each with their own motive. The only person Lorelei knows must be innocent is her longtime academic rival, the insufferably gallant and maddeningly beautiful Sylvia von Wolff. Now in charge of the expedition, Lorelei must find the spring before the murderer strikes again—and a coup begins in earnest.
But there are other dangers lurking in the forests that rearrange themselves at night, rivers with slumbering dragons waiting beneath the water, and shapeshifting beasts out for blood.
As Lorelei and Sylvia grudgingly work together to uncover the truth—and resist their growing feelings for one another—they discover that their professor had secrets of her own. Secrets that make Lorelei question whether justice is worth pursuing, or if this kingdom is worth saving at all.
9. The Phoenix Keeper
Author: S.A. Maclean
Page Length: 481
Publication Date: Aug. 13, 2024
Publisher: Orbit
Synopsis: A socially awkward but determined phoenix keeper must partner with her longtime rival to save her beloved exhibit from falling into obscurity in this charming, romantic fantasy debut.
Aila is a little obsessed with phoenixes. As head phoenix keeper at a world-renowned zoo for magical creatures, her childhood dream of conserving critically endangered firebirds seems closer than ever. There’s just one glaring her zoo’s breeding program hasn’t functioned for a decade. When a tragic phoenix-nabbing cripples the flagship program at a neighbouring zoo, Aila must prove her derelict facilities are fit to take the reins. But saving a species takes more than stellar animal handling skills. Carnivorous water horses, tempestuous thunderhawks — Aila has no problem wrangling beasts. Inspiring zoo patrons? That’s another story. Finding the courage to ask for help from the hot dragon keeper at a neighbouring exhibit? Virtually impossible. And don’t get Aila started on her arch-rival from the glamorous leader of the zoo’s wildly popular griffin show, who’s convinced that Aila’s beloved phoenix would serve better as a performer than a conservation exhibit. Aided by both friends and enemies, Aila must conquer her social anxiety if she is to restore her breeding programme. With the world watching and the threat of poachers looming, Aila’s success isn’t only a matter of keeping her the future of a species depends on her.
10. The Backtrack
Author: Erin La Rosa
Page Length: 304
Publication Date: July 16, 2024
Publisher: Canary Street Press
Synopsis: Life, rewound …
Nearly twenty years ago, Sam Leto left her small hometown of Tybee Island, Georgia, to pursue her dreams of becoming a pilot. While she’d prefer to keep flying away from her painful childhood memories, her beloved grandmother Pearl decides it’s time to sell the family home. Reluctantly, Sam is summoned back to pack up the house.
The 2000s nostalgia from Sam’s old bedroom hits Fall Out Boy posters, drawers of roll-on body glitter and even her favorite CD player with a mixtape from her best friend, Damon Rocha. Damon was always a safe place and Sam often wonders what if her teenage self admitted her feelings for him back then…
Mysteriously, the CD player still works all these years later. And somehow it has the power to show Sam an alternate version of her life.
Song by song, Sam receives flashbacks from her past—senior prom, graduation, leaving home. But the memories aren’t as she remembers them; they show what could have been. Suddenly, Sam knows exactly what would have happened if she’d taken a chance with Damon—and she can’t help feeling she made a terrible mistake leaving Tybee all those years ago.
Great choice of topic and cover picks! This reminds me I still have Phoenix Keeper on my TBR 🤭 I should probably get to it, lol.
Thanks, Dini! I really enjoyed The Phoenix Keeper. I hope you do, too, if you get a chance to read it!
Orange and black is the perfect duo for Halloween!! 🙂
I loved The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue! And I need to still get to The Bones Beneath My Skin. Happy Halloween already!
Great topic, and great mix of covers!!
Thank you!!
Nice choices!
Thanks, Yolanda!