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. Please check out her website for more TTT topics!
This weekโs topic is:
Books on My Summer 2025 to-Read List
Heir of Storms by. Lauryn Hamilton Murray
The very day Blaze came into the world, she almost drowned it. A Rain Singer born into one of the most powerful fire-wielding families in the empire, Blaze’s birth summoned a devastating storm that left thousands dead. She’s been hidden away ever since with a dark the same torrential power that branded her an outcast disappeared that fateful day. And sheโs not sure she wants it back.
When an unexpected invitation arrives for Blaze and her twin brother, Flint, to compete as future rulers of the empire, sheโs suddenly thrust into the limelight again — and into battle. Threats abound at the Golden Palace, where intrigue and romance await with not one but two handsome the enchanting Crown Prince and a dangerously alluring newcomer at court.
As Blaze explores her untapped power, she discovers the throne may be within her grasp. But in order to take it, sheโll have to leave behind the stories that others have told about her, and find the courage to write her own.
Atmosphere by. Taylor Jenkins Reid
Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASAโs Space Shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.
Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houstonโs Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.
As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.
Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.
Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, with complex protagonists, telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love, this time among the stars.
Rotts of Darkness by. Demi Winters
Traveling the Road of Bones was only the start of Heklaโs troubles.
The Bloodaxe Crew have arrived at the village of Istrรฉโbeleaguered and missing three of their members. They might be down in numbers, but Hekla โRib Smasherโ is determined theyโll complete their job all the defeat the evil mist with a heartbeat and keep the citizens of Istrรฉ safe. What she didnโt expect is for Istrรฉโs bull-headed chieftain to block her every move.
Exasperated, Hekla throws caution to the wind for a single passion-filled night. But to her horror, the mysterious, red-cloaked warrior to whom sheโd spilled her deepest secrets, is the Bloodaxe Crewโs new temporary leader and allyโEyvind Hakonsson.
Hekla must now learn to play by Eyvindโs rules while guarding her heart. But when it becomes clear that his plans align with the chieftainโs, Hekla takes matters into her own hands.
Nothing will stop her from keeping the innocent people of Istrรฉ safeโnot even the man who haunts her thoughts.
Join Hekla and the remnants of the Bloodaxe Crew as they battle the evil, poisonous mist threatening the citizens of Istrรฉโand perhaps all of รseldur. This Ashen Series novella should be read after Kingdom of Claw.
The Nightblood Prince by. Molly X. Chang
Two princes. One prophecy. A fate she cannot outrun.
The night Fei was born, a prophecy was made: she would one day become the Empress of All Empresses.
Torn from her family as a child and raised in the palace to one day marry the Crown Prince of the most powerful empire in the land, Fei has only ever known loneliness. When the opportunity arises to seize her own destiny for the first time in her life, Fei sets out to hunt a legendary tiger, knowing it might cost her everything. What she doesnโt expect is to fall under the mercy of Yexue, the beautiful runaway prince from a rival kingdom. Blessed by the night, harboring a dangerous magic, and capable of commanding an army of deadly vampires, Yexue could be the key to Fei gaining more than just her freedom.
But to outrun destiny, Fei must spark a wave of events that will change the world as she knows it. Torn between two princes and plagued by nightmares of bloodshed, she finds that the stars might be more inescapableโand more irresistibleโthan she ever considered before. . . .
Summer in the City by. Alex Aster
Twenty-seven-year-old screenwriter Elle has the chance of a lifetime to write a big-budget movie set in New York City. The only problem? Sheโs had writerโs block for months, and her screenplay is due at the end of the summer.
In a desperate attempt at inspiration, Elle ends up back in the city she swore she would never return to, in an apartment she could never afford (floor-to-ceiling windows, skyline views, and a new coffee shop to haunt included). Itโs the perfect place to write her screenplayโฆuntil she realizes her new neighbor is tech โBillionaire Bachelorโ Parker Warren, her stairwell hookup from two years ago. Itโs been a lovers-to-enemies situation ever since.
When seeing him again turns into a full night of hate-fueled writing, Elle realizes her enemy/twisted muse might just be the key to finishing her screenplay… if she can stand being around her polar opposite. She writes anonymously, and heโs on the cover of every business magazine. He frequents fancy red carpeted events, and she doesnโt like leaving her emotional support five block radius.
One summer. One wall apart. He needs to fake a buzzy relationship during his companyโs precarious acquisition. She needs to write a movie around a list of NYC locations. Both need a break from their unrelenting schedules, and a chance to rediscover the skyscraper glimmering, pizza crusted, sunlit charms of the city.
Summers always end, and so will this agreement. Itโs all pretend. Promise.
Until it isnโt.
Immortal Consequences by. I.V. Marie
Six students at Blackwood Academy, an enigmatic boarding school located at the edge of the afterlife, must compete for the once-in-eternity chance to change their fateโor risk remaining stuck in purgatory forever. An unputdownable debut full of hairpin twists, shock betrayals and world-defying love, for fans of The Atlas Six.
Welcome to Blackwood Academy: the legendary school located on the fringes of the afterlife. Once a pupil enters the academyโs arched gates, there is no way out . . . except for the Decennial, a once-in-a-decade celebration in which a single, worthy student is tested and given a choice: Graduate and join Blackwoodโs magical elite, or cross over to the mysterious Other Side.
This time, though, the rules have changed. This Decennial isnโt a celebrationโitโs a competition. And there can only be one victor.
Two academic archrivals, whose strange connection blurs the lines between obsession and hate.
One girl driven solely by ambition, and another plagued by memories of the love she lost.
And a charming playboy who never cared for anyoneโuntil he met the academyโs newest student.
Each of these six students has their own motivation to win . . . and their own secret to hide. But what none of them know? They arenโt the only ones playing Blackwoodโs game. And if they lose. . . some fates are worse than death.
A Curse Carved in Bone by. Danielle L. Jensen
A shield maiden fights to break the shackles of prophecyโand to overcome the betrayal of the man who broke her heartโin this searing conclusion to the Norse-inspired fantasy romance duology that began with the bestselling A Fate Inked in Blood.
The secret of her divine heritage revealed, Freya finds herself on a path that will see thousands of lives lost to the magic in her blood. Desperate to avoid this dark fate, she risks an alliance with Skalandโs greatest enemy to seek answers from the seer who foretold her futureโthe same seer who sent Bjorn to kill her.
While Freya still seethes with rage over Bjornโs betrayal, the blood oaths that bind her demand that she keep him close as she hunts for a way to avert the looming war. Her magic draws her to the front lines of an old enmity, embroiling her with Nordelandโs Unfatedโchildren of the gods who serve the king she was raised to fear. The same king who, unlike Bjorn, is now willing to fight at her back. For despite the desire that burns hot between Bjorn and Freya, his growing distrust of her chosen path threatens to drag them further apart.
As war approaches, gods and mortals must choose their weapons. Yet the fiercest battle will be the one Freya wages within herself. With the magic of two goddesses burning in her veins, she must weave the threads of destiny to decide her own fate: Will she be the shield that protects her people or the curse that destroys them?
Great Big Beautiful Life by. Emily Henry
Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping new novel from Emily Henry.
Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And theyโre both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years–or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the 20th Century.
When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which sheโll choose the person whoโll tell her story, there are three things keeping Aliceโs head in the game.
One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Aliceโand she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.
Two: Sheโs ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication
Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.
But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they canโt swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time theyโre in the same room.
And itโs becoming abundantly clear that their storyโjust like the tale Margaretโs spinningโcould be a mystery, tragedy, or love balladโฆdepending on whoโs telling it.
Arcana Academy by. Elise Kova
A woman who wields magical tarot cards lands herself in a false engagement with the headmaster of a mysterious academy in this first installment of an enthralling romantasy series from the bestselling author of A Deal with the Elf King.
Clara Graysword has survived the underworld of Eclipse City through thievery, luck, and a whole lot of illegal magic. After a job gone awry, Clara is sentenced to a lifetime in prison for inking tarot cards-a rare power reserved for practitioners at the elite Arcana Academy.
Just when it seems her luck has run dry, the academy’s enigmatic headmaster, Prince Kaelis, offers her an escape-for a price. Kaelis believes that Clara is the perfect tool to help him steal a tarot card from the king and use it to re-create an all-powerful card long lost to time.
In order to conceal her identity and keep her close, Kaelis brings Clara to Arcana Academy, introducing her as the newest first-year student and his bride-to-be.
Thrust into a world of arcane magic and royal intrigue, where one misstep will send her back to prison or worse, Clara finds that the prince she swore to hate may not be what he seems. But can she risk giving him power over the world-and her heart? Or will she take it for herself?
The Nightshade God by. Hannah Whitten
The Nightshade Crown is in the hands of a ruthless god. Lore will stop at nothing to defeat him and save the troubled prince and tortured priest ensnared in his wicked plot, in this final installment of this lush, romantic, New York Times bestselling fantasy series from breakout star Hannah Whitten.
Lore has failed. She couldnโt save King Bastian from the rotten god speaking voices in his mind. She couldnโt save her allies from being scattered across the continentโtheir own lesser gods whispering to them in their dreams. She couldnโt save her beautiful, corrupt city from the dark power beneath the catacombs. And she couldnโt save herself.
Banished to the Burnt Isles, Lore must use every skill she earned on the streets of Dellaire to survive the prison colony and figure out a way to defeat the power thatโs captured everything and everyone she holds dear. When a surprise ally joins her on the Burnt Isles she realizes the way forward may lie on the island itself. Somehow, her friends must help her collect the far-scattered pieces of the broken Fountโthe source of all the godโs powersโand bring them back together on the Burnt Isles, returning all magic to its source and destroying, once and for all, the gods corrupting the land.
But as Lore gets closer to her goal, her magic grows strongerโฆ and to a woman whoโs always had to fight for survival, that kind of power may be hard to give up.
What’s on your TTT?
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Top Ten Tuesday Topics:
May 6:ย Authors (or books by authors) Who Live In My State/Country (submitted by Jennifer @ Funk-N-Fiction)
May 13:ย Ways in Which My Blogging/Review Style Has Changed Over Time (submitted by Susan @ย Blogginโ โbout Books)
May 20:ย Books that Feature Travel
May 27:ย Animal Companions (These animals can be real or fantasy!) (submitted by P.S. I Love Books)
June 3:ย Summer Freebie (Pick any topic you can think of that fits into the category of โsummerโ. If itโs winter where you are, switch it up!)
June 10: Bookish Wishes (List the top 10 books youโd love to own and include a link to your wishlist so that people can grant your wishes. Make sure you link your wishlist to your mailing address or include the email address associated with your e-reader in the list description so people know how to get the book to you. After you post, jump around the Linky and grant a wish or two if youโd like. Please donโt feel obligated to send anything to anyone!)
June 17:ย Books on My Summer 2025 to-Read List
June 24:ย Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2025
