Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My Winter 2025-2026 to-Read List
16 December 2025
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Books on my Winter 2025-2026 to-read list, TBR, That Artsy Reader Girl, Top Ten Tuesday, Wishlist

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic. Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here. This week’s prompt is:
Books On My Winter 2025-2026 to-Read List
I’ve split this into two groups. Books that are on my shelves and books that are on my wishlist:
Books on my Shelves:
Enchanting the Fae Queen by Stephanie Burgis
A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St James
Nightshade and Oak by Molly O’Neill
A Forest Darkly by AG Slatter
Temple Fall by RL Boyle
Books on my Wishlist:
The Storm by Rachel Hawkins
My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney
Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett
Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward
The Wolf and the Crown of Blood by Elizabeth May
Top Ten Tuesday: Books Set in Snowy Places
9 December 2025
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: A Haunting in the Arctic, Books Set in Snowy Places, Shiver, That Artsy Reader Girl, The Bear and the Nightingale, The Gathering, The Glass Hotel, The Hunting Party, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Shining, The Snow Child, The Wolf in the Whale, Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic. Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here. This week’s prompt is:
Books Set in Snowy Places
1. The Shining by Stephen King
2. The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis
3. The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel
4. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
5. The Bear and the Nightingale (The Winternight Trilogy) by Katherine Arden
6. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
7. The Gathering by CJ Tudor
8. A Haunting in the Arctic by CJ Cooke
9. Shiver by Allie Reynolds
10. The Wolf in the Whale by Jordanna Max Brodsky
I have to say there are some excellent books above and I had quite a few more that I could have shared. I highly recommend all of these.
What about you? Do you have any other books that you would add to this list?
Top Ten Tuesday: Modern Books You Think Will Be Classics In The Future
18 November 2025
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fantasy, reading, That Artsy Reader Girl, Top Ten Tuesday

Today is the first Top Ten Tuesday I’ve participated in for a while, mainly because of being busy and personal reasons, but, I’m getting back on track and, I love this topic. So, here’s my take on modern books (which I’m taking to mean recently written as oppose to contemporary setting – although, obviously, you could interpret it either way) that I think could be classics in the future:
King Sorrow by Joe Hill – I haven’t written my review for this one yet but I absolutely loved it. It’s a chunkster of a book but it’s so good that it doesn’t feel that way.
The Everlasting by Alix E Harrow – this is another recent read that I loved. Again, I haven’t posted my review yet (which will follow shortly) but this was so good. The writing is fantastic, the story is totally absorbing, literally a story that spreads across the ages.
Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E Harrow – yes, two books by the same author on this list. It probably seems a little indulgent but I love her books and this particular book is like a love letter to readers.
Station Eleven, the Glass Hotel and Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandell. This is not a series as such but the books all interconnect in ways that you wouldn’t be aware of without having read the others. Basically, each book is a standalone and brilliant in it’s own right but if you have the pleasure of reading all three, well, it’s really quite mind blowing.
The Justice of Kings, The Tyranny of Faith and The Trials of Empire by Richard Swan. Fantasy books with murder mysteries, epic in their scopo but with a more modern feel in terms of ease of reading, great writing and totally gripping. I would love to see these books become recognised for the scope, writing and originality.
A Dowry of Blood by ST Gibson. I’m not always a fan of classic retellings but this story works. Told from the point of view of one of Dracula’s ‘bride’s this is a dark tale of doubt and seduction and based itself on a ‘classic’ I would love to see it last the test of time.
A Boy and His Dog at the end of the World. Such a fantastic tale, told in a way to deliver a really powerful twist. I loved it and didn’t see it coming.
The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar. Oh dear me, how much did I love this book? Ridiculously so. It’s an absolute keeper. A new story told in a way that brings all the charm of many older classics but easily readable and with hints of fantasy.
The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden. The Bear and the Nightingale, The Girl in the Tower, The Winter of the Witch. This series is so good, beautiful writing, fairytale fantasy and Russian Folklore. Quite mesmerising.
Finally, The Broken Empire series by Mark Lawrence. This series definitely falls into the ‘grimdark’ genre (and, as such, maybe isn’t for everyone) but being the first of it’s kind that I read it felt so unique and unusual, plus the writing is superb and the overall scope, of not only this series, but all the following series by this author, well, it really is impressive.
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Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Honorifics in the Title
15 July 2025
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Books with Honorifics in the Title, That Artsy Reader Girl, The Broke and the Bookish, Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic. Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here. This week’s prompt is:
Books with Honorifics in the Title
Not sure how well this one works but I’m thinking of roles that people become known as – so ‘the scholar, the priest, etc.
The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door by HG Parry
The Maid’s Secret by Nita Prose
Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis (two honorifics in this book!)
The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister
The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell
The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins
Priest of Bones by Peter McLean
The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman
The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the second half of 2025
5 July 2025
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2025, That Artsy Reader Girl, Top Ten Tuesday
This was a recent prompt for one of the Top Ten Tuesdays that I unfortunately missed but still wanted to post something to highlight some of the books that I’m really looking forward to for the rest of the year. I won’t include my July reads as I’ll be including those in this week’s weekly/monthly wrap up. I’ve stuck to ten to fit in with the original TTT post although I could easily have doubled this because there are some fantastic books waiting to be released this year. Without further ado here are some of the books on my shelves that I can’t wait to read:
The Bone Raiders by Jackson Ford
This is a new-to-me author that I can’t wait to tuck into – just look at that cover and I love the description, plus, you pretty much had me with ‘fire-breathing lizards’.
The Last Soul Among Wolves by Melissa Caruso (The Echo Archives #2)
I absolutely loved The Last Hour Between Worlds, such a fantastic world and incredible imagination, I loved Kembral Thorne and can’t wait to see what she gets up to in this second instalment. If you haven’t started reading this series yet I highly recommend it.
Hemlock and Silver by T Kingfisher
Put simply I cannot resist reading anything that this author writes and a retelling (or reimagining) of Snow White – what? Colour me happy. That is all
Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham
Another author that I’m loving and the sound of this Southern thriller totally wowed me. Check it out at the link above.
Play Nice by Rachel Harrison
Another author that I find myself unable to resist. I’ve read three winning books recently from this author, Cackle, Black Sheep and So Thirsty and the description of this sounds like another winner – a haunted/possessed house. Sign me up.
House of Splinters by Laura Purcell
Laura Purcell is the absolute Queen of All Things Gothic. I love her writing and actually performed a little happy dance when I saw this forthcoming read about a haunted house.
Ring the Bells by CK McDonnell (Stranger Times #5)
This series is an absolute must. I’m loving it and don’t ever want it to end.
The Last Witch by CJ Cooke
CJ Cooke is a fantastic author who manages to create stories simply dripping with atmosphere. A Haunting in the Arctic is absolutely brilliant and I highly recommend it. I can’t wait to read this historical horror.
King Sorrow by Joe Hill
This book is literally a beast. It clocks in at almost 900 pages and is already receiving some great reviews. I am about as excited to pick this up as a person can be. I’m practically fizzing with anticipation.
The Blackfire Blade by James Logan (The Last Legacy #2)
The Silverblood Promise was one of my top ten reads for 2024 so you may be able to imagine how excited I am to read this next instalment. Obviously, I’m going to wait until nearer the release date but I’m not sure I’ll make it to October – the anticipation may drive me crazy.
That’s if for now – let me know what books are on your ‘most anticipated’ list for 2025.






























































