Top Ten Tuesday: I’ve gone with a freebie
21 July 2026
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Bookish Wishes, Mark Lawrence, SPFBO, That Artsy Reader Girl, 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:
Freebie: Ten Books I recently added to my wishlist
This brings me to the fact that recently I’ve added all ten of the Self Published Fantasy Blog Off (SPFBO) books to my list. For those of you who don’t know about SPFBO this is a competition, brainchild of Mark Lawrence, that is now in it’s eleventh year. Self published authors submit their books and ten judges (or teams of judges) are allocated 30 books each – they all choose a finalist which is then read by the other judges before a winner is chosen – there can be only one. I have taken part as a judge for the first ten years but stepped down for two reasons, firstly because I was struggling with the first phase of the competition, reading 30 books and narrowing it down to 1 book can be very difficult, secondly, there are so many fantastic book reviewers out there that I started to feel like I should give others a shot at judging.
Anyway, long story short. I always love the finalist stage where 10 books are selected by each judge or team of judges. These are the books, and I’m hoping to give them all a try and see how I get on, maybe choose a favourite of my own – and of course, no pressure, I don’t have to make the deadline and I have no book in the running so I can simply take my time and enjoy these – I know there will be ten fabulous reads here, I also recognise a few authors so I’m very excited. Take a look and see if there are any here you’d like to try:
I haven’t provided links today as I’m in a bit of a rush and also away at the moment, I’m hoping to do a more thorough post when I return that provides more detail on each of these finalists. But, I’ve provided a link here to Mark Lawrence’s finalist page which gives more details.
Do you fancy any of these?
Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Want to Read by New to Me Authors
14 July 2026
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: An Immaculate Deception, Aphrodite in Pieces, Assassins Anonymous, Book Review, book-blog, bookish, Books, Catherine Called Birdy, New to me authors, Newbourne Park, reading, That Artsy Reader Girl, The Court of Venus, The House That Eats the Dead, The Red Sacrament, These Silent Woods, Top Ten Tuesday, When The Wolf Comes Home
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 I Want to Read by New to Me Authors
Today’s list is a combination of books from my wishlist and owned books from my shelf that will be forthcoming reads. These are all new to me authors:
Wishlist:
The Red Sacrament by Sara Hinkley. I saw a fantastic review for this by Charlotte over at Bewitching Books, ravenous reads
When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy. I don’t always make a note of where my recommendations come from but I read a glowing review for this one over at Books Bones and Buffy’s blog.
Assassins Anonymous by Rob Hart – This book hit my wishlist, again, after reading a glowing review by Tammy at Books Bones and Buffy.
Catherine Called Birdy by Karen Cushman – I loved the sound of this and found it over at Lexlingua – some time ago.
These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham – I do own a copy of this one but haven’t managed to give myself time yet to pick it up. Check out this glorious review at the Bibliosanctum.
Shelf:
The House That Eats the Dead by Max Doty
Aphrodite in Pieces by Lauren Bear
An Immaculate Deception by Isabela Livino
The Court of Venus by Bel Banta
Newbourne Park by Jennifer Thorne
Have you read any of these authors or do you have these books on your shelves already?
Top Ten Tuesday plus Summer of Horror: Book Titles that Include the Word – House
7 July 2026
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Book Titles that Include the Word 'X', Books Bones and Buffy, House, Summer of Horror, That Artsy Reader Girl, 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:
Book Titles That Include the Word – House
I wanted to use the prompt to highlight a few darker reads and House definitely seems to fit that challenge. Here are my 10:
Have you read any of these? What did you think?
With links: The Haunting of Hill House, House of Splinters, It was Her House First, The House That Horror Built, A House with Good Bones, Incidents Around the House, The September House, The Last House on Needless Street, How to Sell a Haunted House and Starling House
Top Ten Tuesday: Anticipated Books for second half of 2026
30 June 2026
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Anticipated books for second half of 2026, That Artsy Reader Girl, 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:
Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2026
I love this topic, my own problem will be trying to contain my list to ten books.
The Amber Owl by Juliet Marillier
The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood by HG Parry
The Unknown by Riley Sager
A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett
Sea of Charms by Sarah Beth Durst
They Say A Girl Died Here by Sarah Pinborough
The Raven and the Reindeer by T Kingfisher
Kiss Slay Replay by Rachel Harrison
Serenity Falls by CJ Tuder
Mazywood by Tananarive Due
Worry Box by Chris Panatier
Newbourne Park by Jennifer Thorne
Sleepers in the Snow by Joanne Harris
The Porcelain Sisters by Daryl Gregory
Okay, I went slightly over – but how could I resist?
Summer of Horror: Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Handwriting on the Cover
9 June 2026
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Books Bons Buffy, Covers with Handwriting, Summer of Horror, That Artsy Reader Girl, 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 Handwriting on the Cover
It’s been a few weeks since I posted a TTT so I thought today’s prompt would be a great way to get back on track. Let’s take a look at some covers – and to make things a bit more difficult I’ve gone for covers that can fall under The Summer of Horror being hosted by Books Bones and Buffy.
Books and travelling with Lynn 