#TopTenTuesday Books I Enjoyed But Are Rarely Talked About

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

The rules are simple:

• Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want.
• Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to The Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.
• Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists.
• Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.

This week’s topic is Books I Enjoyed But I Rarely Talk About. My slight twist on the topic is to focus on books I loved but which few others talk about.  In other words, hidden gems.  To generate my list I sorted my Goodreads Read shelf to find books published before 2019 to which I gave 5 stars but that have less than 200 ratings or reviews.  Some have a lot less.  In fact, I was shocked by how few some of them still have!

It’s probably significant that a lot of them are published either by small publishers or self-published, demonstrating how difficult it is to grab readers’ attention in a crowded marketplace.  Of course, that’s where us book bloggers come in! Links from the book title will take you to my review.

If you’re interested in finding more ‘hidden gems’ check out my earlier post on a similar topic.

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The Moving Blade (Detective Hiroshi #2) by Michael Pronko (Published in Raked Gravel Press in September 2018, 165 ratings and 48 reviews)

When the top American diplomat in Tokyo, Bernard Mattson, is killed, he leaves more than a lifetime of successful Japan-American negotiations. He leaves a missing manuscript, boxes of research, a lost keynote speech and a tangled web of relations.

Read my review of the previous book in the series The Last Train here.

The Cold North Sea (Ingo Finch #2) by Jeff Dawson (published by Canelo in December 2018, 60 ratings, 9 reviews)

A game of spies, a brutal murder, the fate of an Empire…

The North Sea, October 1904 – When Russian warships bombard the Hull trawler fleet, killing innocent fishermen, public outrage pushes Britain and Russia to the brink of war, the sparks from which could inflame the entire Continent.

Read my review of the previous book in the series, No Ordinary Killing here.

The Glass Diplomat by S. R. Wilsher (published in August 2018, 8 ratings, 8 reviews)

In 1973 Chile, thirteen-year-old English schoolboy Charlie Norton watches his father walk into the night and never return. Taken in by diplomat Tomas Abrego, his life becomes intricately linked to the family.

Read my review of the author’s previous book, The Good Father.

Blackbird Road (Jake Caldwell #3) by James L. Weaver (published by Lakewater Press in September 2018, 26 ratings, 18 reviews)

With his wedding day fast approaching and his PI boss heading out of town, ex-mob enforcer Jake Caldwell decides to take one more job before a much needed vacation. But in a matter of days, his client is assassinated and her six-year-old son kidnapped. Jake needs to stay one step ahead of the bad guys if he’s to have any future at all.

Read my reviews of the previous books in the series, Poor Boy Road and Ares Road.

The Price of Compassion (The Golden City #4) by A. B. Michaels (published by Red Trumpet Press in August 2018, 51 ratings, 18 reviews)

April 18, 1906. San Francisco has just been shattered by a massive earthquake and is in the throes of an even more deadly fire. During the chaos, gifted surgeon Tom Justice makes a life-changing decision that wreaks havoc on his body, mind, and spirit.

The facts of the case are troubling; they’ll have you asking the question: “What would I have done?”

The Black Earth by Philip Kazan (published by Allison & Busby in April 2018, 55 ratings, 7 reviews)

1922. When the Turkish Army occupies Smyrna, Zoë Haggitiris escapes with her family, only to lose everything.

Alone in a sea of desperate strangers, her life is touched, for a moment, by a young English boy, Tom Collyer, also lost, before the compassion of a stranger leads her into a new life.

El Hacho by Luis Carrasco (published by Epoque Press in February 2018, 39 ratings, 22 reviews)

Set in the stark beauty of the Andalusian mountains the book tells the story of Curro, an olive farmer determined to honour his family tradition in the face of drought, deluge and the lucrative temptations of a rapidly modernising Spain.

Entanglement by Katy Mahood (published by The Borough Press in March 2018, 153 ratings, 49 reviews)

2007. At the end of a momentous day, Charlie, Stella and John cross paths under the arches of Paddington Station. As Charlie locks eyes with Stella across the platform, a brief, powerful spark of recognition flashes between them.

But they are strangers aren’t they?

Sleeping Through War by Jackie Carreira (published by Matador in January 2018, 37 ratings, 25 reviews)

The year is 1968 and the world is changing forever. During the month of May, students are rioting and workers are striking across the globe, civil rights are being fought and died for, nuclear bombs are being tested, there are major conflicts on every continent, and war is raging in Vietnam.

Against this volatile background, three women strive to keep everything together.

Smile of the Wolf by Tim Leach (published by Head of Zeus in July 2018, 152 ratings, 30 reviews)

Eleventh-century Iceland. One night in the darkness of winter, two friends set out on an adventure but end up killing a man. Kjaran, a traveling poet who trades songs for food and shelter, and Gunnar, a feared warrior, must make a choice: conceal the deed or confess to the crime and pay the blood price to the family.

What ‘hidden gems’ have you read that deserve to be talked about more?