#TopTenTuesday Books To Read In Troubled Times

Top Ten Tuesday new

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 That 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 a freebie on the theme of Book Genres. Although not exactly a genre, my list is made up of books I’ve read that all have – in some way – a positive message, whether that be the kindness of others or the possibility of second chances. I think we need all the uplifting messages we can get at the moment. Links from the titles will take you to my review.


The Hopes and Dreams of Lucy Baker by Jenni Keer – Meet Lucy, aged 25, and Brenda, aged 79. Neighbours, and unlikely friends.

The Olive Garden Choir by Leah Fleming – In this bittersweet tale of love and loss, people quite literally find their voices – showing that life can begin again when you let go of the past

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Armin – A recipe for happiness: four women, one medieval Italian castle, plenty of wisteria, and solitude as needed.

Birdie & Jude by Phyllis H. Moore – A serendipitous meeting on a beach in Galveston before a hurricane forces two strangers to take shelter with each other.

The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle – Delicious but never indulgent, sweet with just the right amount of bitter

The House That Alice Built by Chris Penhall – Perhaps the most important part of the lesson for Alice is that you don’t always need a house to be at home

The Summer of Impossible Things by Rowan Coleman – “Love outlasts even death. It’s present in every moment, even those filled with darkness; it’s never exhausted, it never gives up or wavers. It’s the one force of the universe that will never be captured by an equation or […] science.”

El Hacho by Luis Carrascoa poignant and compelling story of struggle and hope.

The Secrets of Primrose Square by Claudia Carroll – a story of finding a way through grief, the importance of a sense of community [and] having the courage to make a new start.

The Unlikely Heroics of Sam Holloway by Rhys Thomas – The two most important things in life are to be brave and to be good.

What books have brought you joy or comfort recently?

A Look Back At My Winter 2019/20 TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. One of last year’s topics was My Winter 2019/20 TBR and I thought it would be fun to check how many I actually read. I have to say, given my past record on lists like this, the results were surprising.

I wonder if it will be a similar story when I come to look back on My Spring 2020 TBR?


Payback (DI Charley Mann #1) by R.C. Bridgestock – the first in a new crime series from the husband and wife team behind the novels featuring DI Jack Dylan. Read and reviewed (links from titles will take you to my review)

Mrs. P’s Book of Secrets by Lorna Gray – ‘There are no white shrouded spectres here, no wailing ghouls. Just the echoes of those who have passed, whispering that history is set to repeat itself.’ Read and reviewed

A Messy Affair (Lena Szarka Mystery #3) by Elizabeth Mundy – Lena Szarka, a Hungarian cleaner working in London, is forced to brush up on her detective skills for a third time when her cousin Sarika is plunged into danger. Read and reviewed

The Other You by J.S. Monroe – a ‘gripping and addictive’ new thriller for 2020. Read and reviewed

The Lady of the Ravens by Joanna Hickson – Two women – servant, Joan Vaux and Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry VII – with two very different destinies are drawn together in the shadow of the Tower of London. Read and reviewed

Hitler’s Secret (Tom Wilde #4)by Rory Clements – set in 1941, Cambridge history professor, Tom Wilde is asked by an American intelligence officer to help smuggle a mysterious package out of Nazi Germany. Read and reviewed

The Bermondsey Bookshop by Mary Gibson – set in 1920s London, an inspiring story of struggle against poverty, hunger and cruel family secrets. Read and reviewed

Requiem for a Knave by Laura Carlin – from the author of The Wicked Cometh, what’s described as ‘a dark, page-turning tale of passion and romance in the darkest of places’. Read and reviewed

The Recovery of Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel – described as ‘a chilling exploration into obsession, reconciliation and revenge’. Read and reviewed

Real Life by Adeline Dieudonne – described as ‘a fierce and poetic debut on surviving the wilderness of family life’. Read and reviewed

Well, what do you know – a full house! Of course, it did help that a lot of the books I put on my list were for blog tours. If you had a Winter TBR list, did you get through all the books you planned to read?