Category: Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. There is a new bookish question every week. This week is a freebie, so I decided go back to a topic I missed earlier and list my Top Ten Books Set in France. They are not in any order. Click on the cover to see either my review or the Amazon page.

One of Amanda’s wonderful adventures in Darlene Foster’s Amanda Travels series.

Time travel and Paris. A win.

I really enjoyed the latest from Danielle Steel about a 1958 debutante ball in Versailles.

The two books above are fantastic cozies set in Paris and featuring Julia Child as a supporting character.

The story of how some African Americans found more freedom in Paris after World War I.

The story of Barbe Nicole Ponsardin, a female champagne magnate during the Napoleonic Wars.

A compelling thriller set on Mont Blanc

The cover above is from the movie, but this is an amazing book about a British housekeeper who saves up for a custom dress from Christian Dior and travels to Paris to have it made.

A novel about a woman who leaves an unhappy life in Paris and learns about second chances and joy when she moves to Brittany in northwestern France.

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. There is a new topic every week. For Thanksgiving week in the U.S., here are the Top Ten Reasons I’m Thankful for Books

1. As a Christian, #1 will always be that the Bible introduced me to God and to Jesus.

2. I get to travel in time. (St. Mary’s Chonicles)

3. I meet amazing characters. (Chronicles of St. Mary’s by Jodi Taylor, Fourth Wing (Empyrean Series), Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter)

4. I get to visit magical lands and worlds (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings)

5. I learn something new. (The Woman With The Cure, Things We Didn’t Say, Songbird)

6. I visit important events in history (Things We Didn’t Say, Long Way Home)

7. I learn more about writing by reading talented authors (All of the above)

8. I get to try and solve a mystery (Murder at Wakehurst, Songbird)

9. I learn more about the place in which I live. (When Stone Wings Fly)

10. I get to revisit old friends whenever I want. (St. Mary’s Chronicles by Jodi Taylor, Harry Potter)

How about you? What are you most thankful for when it comes to books?

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. There is a new topic every week. This week’s topic is “Top Ten Mainstream Authors I Still Have Not Read.” I was not feeling that one, so I decided to do “Top Ten Books on my Netgalley Shelf.” I’m looking forward to all of these. The book descriptions below are all or part of the official book descriptions on Netgalley. You can click on the covers to learn more about the books.

It’s the summer of 1959 and the Palace of Versailles is hosting an event that will make history. It is an exclusive dusk-to-dawn ball in which a select group of American and French debutantes will be presented to international society and royalty. Four young women, all with something to prove, receive what some see as the invitation of a lifetime.

For all these young women, Paris and one transcendent night will change their lives forever. Bestselling author Danielle Steel extends an invitation to all, in The Ball at Versailles.

Jenna’s parents had finally given in, and there she was, at a New York club with her best friends, watching the legendary band Avenue A, carrying her demo in hopes of slipping it to the guitarist, Jake Kincade. Then, from the stage, Jake catches her eye, and smiles. It’s the best night of her life.
It’s the last night of her life.

Minutes later, Jake’s in the alley getting some fresh air, and the girl from the dance floor comes stumbling out, sick and confused and deathly pale. He tries to help, but it’s no use. He doesn’t know that someone in the crowd has jabbed her with a needle—and when his girlfriend Nadine arrives, she knows the only thing left to do for the girl is call her friend, Lieutenant Eve Dallas.

Daughters are the Ang family’s curse.

In 1948, civil war ravages the Chinese countryside, but in rural Shandong, the wealthy, landowning Angs are more concerned with their lack of an heir. Hai is the eldest of four girls and spends her days looking after her sisters. Headstrong Di, who is just a year younger, learns to hide in plain sight, and their mother—abused by the family for failing to birth a boy—finds her own small acts of rebellion in the kitchen. As the Communist army closes in on their town, the rest of the prosperous household flees, leaving behind the girls and their mother because they view them as useless mouths to feed.

Without an Ang male to punish, the land-seizing cadres choose Hai, as the eldest child, to stand trial for her family’s crimes. She barely survives their brutality. Realizing the worst is yet to come, the women plan their escape. Starving and penniless but resourceful, they forge travel permits and embark on a thousand-mile journey to confront the family that abandoned them.

Vibrant and scrappy Maggie McCleod tried not to get fired from her wartime orchestra, but her sharp tongue landed her in trouble, so an overseas adventure with the USO’s camp show promises a chance at a fresh start. Wealthy and elegant Catherine Duquette signs with the USO to leave behind her restrictive life of privilege and to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of the handsome pilot whose letters mysteriously stopped arriving.

The two women are joined by an eclectic group of performers–a scheming blues singer, a veteran tap dancer, and a brooding magician–but the harmony among their troupe is short-lived when their tour manager announces he will soon recommend one of them for a coveted job in the Hollywood spotlight. Each of the five members has a reason to want the contract, and they’ll do whatever is necessary to claim it. As their troupe travels closer to the dangerous battlefront in Tunisia, personal crises and wartime dangers only intensify, putting not only their careers but also their lives on the line.

As 1754 is drawing to a close, tensions between the French and the British on Canada’s Acadian shore are reaching a fever pitch. Seamstress Sylvie Galant and her family–French-speaking Acadians wishing to remain neutral–are caught in the middle, their land positioned between two forts flying rival flags. Amid preparations for the celebration of Noël, the talk is of unrest, coming war, and William Blackburn, the British Army Ranger raising havoc across North America’s borderlands.

As summer takes hold in 1755 and British ships appear on the horizon, Sylvie encounters Blackburn, who warns her of the coming invasion. Rather than participate in the forced removal of the Acadians from their land, he resigns his commission. But that cannot save Sylvie or her kin. Relocated on a ramshackle ship to Virginia, Sylvie struggles to pick up the pieces of her life. When her path crosses once more with William’s, they must work through the complex tangle of their shared, shattered past to navigate the present and forge an enduring future.

When the Blitz imperils the heart of a London neighborhood, three young women must use their fighting spirit to save the community’s beloved library in this novel based on true events from the author of The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir.

When the new deputy librarian, Juliet Lansdown, finds that Bethnal Green Library isn’t the bustling hub she is expecting, she becomes determined to breathe life back into it. But can she show the men in charge that a woman is up to the task of running the library, especially when a confrontation with her past threatens to derail her?

Katie Upwood is thrilled to be working at the library, although she is only there until she heads off to university in the fall. But after the death of her beau on the front line and amid tumultuous family strife, she finds herself harboring a life-changing secret with no one to turn to for help.

Sofie Baumann, a young Jewish refugee, came to London on a domestic service visa only to find herself working as a maid for a man who treats her abominably. She escapes to the library every chance she can, finding friendship in the literary community and aid in finding her sister, who is still trying to flee occupied Europe.

When a slew of bombs destroys the library, Juliet relocates the stacks to the local Underground station where the city’s residents shelter nightly, determined to lend out stories that will keep spirits up. But tragedy after tragedy threatens to unmoor the women and sever the ties of their community. Will Juliet, Kate, and Sofie be able to overcome their own troubles to save the library? Or will the beating heart of their neighborhood be lost forever?

April,1912: It’s the perfect finale to a Grand Tour of Europe—sailing home on the largest, most luxurious ocean liner ever built. For the Fortune sisters, the voyage offers a chance to reflect on the treasures of the past they’ve seen—magnificent castles and museums in Italy and France, the ruins of Greece and the Middle East—and contemplate the futures that await them.

For Alice, there’s foreboding mixed with her excitement. A fortune teller in Egypt gave her a dire warning about traveling at sea. And the freedom she has enjoyed on her travels contrasts with her fiancé’s plans for her return—a cossetted existence she’s no longer sure she wants.

Flora is also returning to a fiancé, a well-to-do banker of whom her parents heartily approve, as befits their most dutiful daughter. Yet the closer the wedding looms, the less sure Flora feels. Another man—charming, exasperating, completely unsuitable—occupies her thoughts, daring her to follow her own desires rather than settling for the wishes of others.

Youngest sister Mabel knows her parents arranged this Grand Tour to separate her from a jazz musician. But the secret truth is that Mabel has little interest in marrying at all, preferring to explore ideas of suffrage and reform—even if it forces a rift with her family.

Each sister grapples with the choices before her as the grand vessel glides through the Atlantic waters. Until, on an infamous night, fate intervenes, forever altering their lives . . .

Set in New York City in the heady aftermath of World War II when the men were coming home, the women were exhaling in relief, and everyone was having babies, The Trouble With You is the story of a young woman whose rosy future is upended in a single instant. Raised never to step out of bounds, educated in one of the Sister Seven Colleges for a career as a wife and mother, torn between her cousin Mimi who is determined to keep her a “nice girl”—the kind that marries a doctor—and her aunt Rose who has a rebellious past of her own, Fanny struggles to raise her young daughter and forge a new life by sheer will and pluck.

When she gets a job as a secretary to the “queen” of radio serials—never to be referred to as soaps—she discovers she likes working, and through her friendship with an actress who stars in the series and a man who writes them, comes face to face with the blacklist which is destroying careers and wrecking lives. Ultimately, Fanny must decide between playing it safe or doing what she knows is right in this vivid evocation of a world that seems at once light years away and strangely immediate.

From the time she was a young girl, Luisa Voekler has loved solving puzzles and cracking codes. Brilliant and logical, she’s a natural to quickly climb the career ladder at the CIA. But while her coworkers have moved on to thrilling Cold War assignments—especially in the exhilarating era of the late 1980s—Luisa’s work remains stuck in the past decoding messages from World War II.

Journalist Haris Voekler grew up a proud East Berliner. But as his eyes open to the realities of postwar East Germany, he realizes that the Soviet promises of a better future are not coming to fruition. After the Berlin Wall goes up, Haris finds himself separated from his young daughter and all alone after his wife dies. There’s only one way to reach his family—by sending coded letters to his father-in-law who lives on the other side of the Iron Curtain.

When Luisa Voekler discovers a secret cache of letters written by the father she has long presumed dead, she learns the truth about her grandfather’s work, her father’s identity, and why she has never progressed in her career. With little more than a rudimentary plan and hope, she journeys to Berlin and risks everything to free her father and get him out of East Berlin alive.

As Luisa and Haris take turns telling their stories, events speed toward one of the twentieth century’s most dramatic moments—the fall of the Berlin Wall and that night’s promise of freedom, truth, and reconciliation for those who have lived, for twenty-eight years, behind the bleak shadow of the Iron Curtain’s most iconic symbol.

July 1982. Lydia Wienewski’s dream has finally come true: Lydia’s Lakeside Cafe and Bakery, selling delicious Polish-American fare on the shore of Lake Erie, is now open and her fortunes are looking up. Even her old nemesis and tutor, the irascible Madame Delphine, has made time to sample Lydia’s delectable pierogi, with some of her students in tow.

But when Lydia finds Madame Delphine dead in the water, her lakeside dream turns into a nightmare. Was it a bizarre suicide, or brutal murder? As Lydia and Grandma Mary investigate, they discover that there was more to Madame Delphine than meets the eye, and quickly find themselves drawn into an increasingly perilous situation! Can they uncover the truth about Madame Delphine’s untimely death?

How about you? What books on your shelf are you excited about reading?

Top Ten Tuesday is run by That Artsy Reader Girl. There is a new topic every week.

What a great topic! Below see ten titles that would make great newspaper headlines! This was fun and challenging, but I think I found some good ones.

This topic is a tough one. Can you think of any book titles that would make good book headlines?

Top Ten Tuesday is run by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Welcome to another TTT! This week’s topic is all about weather! What books have you read/do you want to read that have weather-related words in the title or on the cover image? Words/images like storm, rain, blizzard, flood, lightning, hail, snow, wind, etc. all count for this! If you click on the covers, you will be taken either to my review/spotlight of the book or to the Amazon description.

Can you think of any favorites with weather-related words or pictures on the cover?

Top Ten Tuesday is sponsored by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is: Reading Goals I Want To Accomplish Before the End of the Year.

Here are my Top Ten Reading Goals For The Rest of the Year

1. I want to get 30 days ahead of the books on my Netgalley Shelf. I’m only about a week ahead right now.
2. I would like to get the number of books on my Netgalley shelf down below 20. I’m doing better. I have 23 right now.
3. I have four books to read by December 15th for Historical Novels Review so I must get those done.
4. I also have to read three books for the Book Bloggers Novel of the Year panel by December 15th.
5. After reading #3 and #4, my new goal is to not take on too many more books for December.
6. I want to finish all my current Christmas books before the month of December.
7. I want to put aside time during Christmas week to just read for pleasure. Too many deadlines
8. I would like to make my Goodreads challenge goal of 125 books. I’m already at 95.
9. I want to spend more time doing my Bookstagram reviews. I have neglected them for too long.
10. I need to get caught up on reading and commenting on the blogs of others. That is something I enjoy, but sometimes I don’t have enough time to read them all.

Do you have any reading goals before the end of the year?

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.

The list below includes my ten favorite books I’m reading this fall. They do not necessarily have to be fall-themed. The list is in no particular order, and the book descriptions are from Netgalley.

Inheritance is the first in The Lost Bride Trilogy by #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts—a tale of tragedies, loves found and lost, and a family haunted for generations.

1806: Astrid Poole sits in her bridal clothes, overwhelmed with happiness. But before her marriage can be consummated, she is murdered, and the circle of gold torn from her finger. Her last words are a promise to Collin never to leave him…

Graphic designer Sonya MacTavish is stunned to learn that her late father had a twin he never knew about—and that her newly discovered uncle, Collin Poole, has left her almost everything he owned, including a majestic Victorian house on the Maine coast, which the lawyer admits is a “little” haunted.

It’s the summer of 1959 and the Palace of Versailles is hosting an event that will make history. It is an exclusive dusk-to-dawn ball in which a select group of American and French debutantes will be presented to international society and royalty. Four young women, all with something to prove, receive what some see as the invitation of a lifetime.

An epic story of love, betrayal, and art that spans decades, through the horrors of World War II to 21st century America, inspired by an actual porcelain factory in Dachau.

Two lovers caught at the crossroads of history.
A daughter’s search for the truth.

Germany, 1929. At a festive gathering of young bohemians in Weimar, two young artists, Max, a skilled Jewish architect, and Bettina, a celebrated avant-garde painter, are drawn to each other and begin a whirlwind romance. Their respective talents transport them to the dazzling lights of Berlin, but this bright beginning is quickly dimmed by the rising threat of Nazism. Max is arrested and sent to the concentration camp at Dachau where only his talent at making exquisite porcelain figures stands between him and seemingly certain death. Desperate to save her lover, Bettina risks everything to rescue him and escape Germany.

America, 1993. Clara, Bettina’s daughter, embarks on a journey to trace her roots and determine the identity of her father, a secret her mother has kept from her for reasons she’s never understood. Clara’s quest to piece together the puzzle of her origins transports us back in time to the darkness of Nazi Germany, where life is lived on a razor’s edge and deception and death lurk around every corner. Survival depends on strength, loyalty, and knowing true friend from hidden foe. And as Clara digs further, she begins to question why her mother was so determined to leave the truth of her harrowing past behind…

The Porcelain Maker is a powerful novel of enduring love and courage in the face of appalling brutality as a daughter seeks to unlock the mystery of her past.

When Lady Petra Forsyth’s fiancé and soulmate dies just weeks ahead of their wedding, she makes the shocking proclamation—in front of London’s loosest lips—that she will never remarry. A woman of independent means, Petra sees no reason to cede her wealth and freedom to any man now that the love of her life has passed, nor does she intend to become confined to her country home. Instead, she uses her title to gain access to elite spaces and enjoy the best of society without expectations.

n 2012, art historian Gwen Morris travels to England’s Lake District to appraise the paintings and antiques of an old family friend, hoping to prove herself to her prestigious grandfather. While at Longdale Manor, she meets David Bradford–the owner’s handsome grandson–who is desperate to save the crumbling estate by turning it into a luxury hotel. When Gwen stumbles upon a one-hundred-year-old journal and an intricately carved shepherd’s staff similar to one in a photo of her parents, she’s left searching for answers.

In 1912, after her father’s death, Charlotte Harper uncovers a painful family secret she can only confess to her journal. She and her family travel to the Lake District to stay on a sheep farm, hoping eventually to find a home with Charlotte’s grandfather at Longdale Manor, but old wounds and bitter regrets make it a difficult challenge. As Charlotte grows closer to shepherd Ian Storey and rebuilds her shattered faith, she must decide whether she will ever trust in love again.

From miniature donkeys to enormous draft horses, from regal Arabian stallions to sassy Shetland ponies, horses and other equines bring us delight and comfort whenever we encounter them. Even more so, perhaps, when humans and horses are brought together through a rescue. Whether someone has started a rescue ranch on purpose or circumstances align to match up the right horse with the right person, stories of second chances warm our hearts and restore our hope.

England in 1932 is in the grip of the Great Depression. Author of a much-loved but not very successful biography, Stella Douglas is a bit depressed herself. When she’s summoned to see her editor in London, she dreads being told her writing career is over before it’s even started.

But much to her surprise, she finds she is being commissioned to write a history of food in England and how the English like to eat. It’s to be quintessentially English and will remind English housewives of the old ways, and English men of the glory of their country. The publishers hope such a book will lift the spirits of the nation.

The only problem is—all English food is actually quite terrible (and anything good is from elsewhere). 

So Stella sets about inviting recipes from all corners of England, in the hope of discovering a hidden culinary gem. But what she discovers is oatcakes and gravy and lots and lots of potatoes. 

Longing for something more thrilling, she heads off to speak to the nation’s housewives. But when her car breaks down and the dashing and charismatic antiques dealer Freddie springs to her rescue, she is led in a very different direction…

Full of wit, life, and—against all odds—delicious food, Good Taste is a story of discovery and one woman’s desire to make her own way as a modern woman.

International resort developer Nigel Goodwin has traveled all the way from London, England to Misty Murphy’s little corner of North Carolina and bought out the Mountaintop Lodge for the week prior to Christmas. Their intention? To pitch an exclusive new resort concept to wealthy American investors.

But locals are at odds over the idea, and when a group comes to the lodge to express their worries to Mr. Goodwin and the potential investors, a blizzard hits Beech Mountain. Like the weather outside, things quickly get frosty, and Misty has to call local police to intervene. Handyman Rocky Crowder plows the lodge’s drive and, in an attempt to regain a jovial holiday atmosphere, smooths the snow pile into a makeshift sledding hill for the guests to enjoy.

Misty’s boys have finished their exams and are “home” from college for the winter break, planning to spend most of their time snowboarding at the ski resort. While taking a few runs down Rocky’s sledding hill, they discover a funny-looking, nose-shaped rock. Only it’s not a rock. It’s the frozen nose of Nigel Goodwin, who’s found dead and buried under the mound of snow.

Who put the developer on ice and why?

1861, Donegal, Ireland

Ten years ago Declan Conaghan’s father died in the Great Famine, and since then, Declan has kept his promise to keep his family out of the workhouse. But all that is threatened with the arrival of new landlord, John Adair. Adair is quick to cause trouble and fear among his tenants. When he turns them off his land, Declan has no option but to break his promise…

Declan is in despair until he receives a letter from America offering him the chance of a new life and salvation for his family. But it would mean signing up to the US Army and fighting for Lincoln. Despite knowing nothing of war, or US politics, Declan leaves behind all he knows.

Set against the wild landscapes of Ireland and the turbulent times of the American Civil War, this sweeping narrative takes us on an epic journey to understand the strength and endurance of the human spirit.

1940, England: Evelyne Redfern, known as “The Parisian Orphan” as a child, is working on the line at a munitions factory in wartime London. When Mr. Fletcher, one of her father’s old friends, spots Evelyne on a night out, Evelyne finds herself plunged into the world of Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s cabinet war rooms.

However, shortly after she settles into her new role as a secretary, one of the girls at work is murdered, and Evelyne must use all of her amateur sleuthing expertise to find the killer. But doing so puts her right in the path of David Poole, a cagey minister’s aide who seems determined to thwart her investigations. That is, until Evelyne finds out David’s real mission is to root out a mole selling government secrets to Britain’s enemies, and the pair begrudgingly team up.

With her quick wit, sharp eyes, and determination, will Evelyne be able to find out who’s been selling England’s secrets and catch a killer, all while battling her growing attraction to David?

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How about you? What is on your reading list this fall?

Top Ten Tuesday is run by That Artsy Reader Girl.

I love this topic this week. Top Ten Character Relationships. These do not have to be romantic relationships. They can be relationships between friends, family, pets, etc.

10. Laura and Pa Ingalls. The greatest father/daughter relationship on the prairie. Pa and Half-Pint.

9. Aslan and Lucy. In the Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan helps all the Pevensies. But He and Lucy are the closest, probably because she believes in Narnia the most.

8. Max, Markham, and Peterson. In The Chronicles of St. Mary’s, these three friends always find themselves in the most danger, and the most trouble, as they hop around the timeline protecting history.

7. Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy: The original enemies to lovers.

6. Dan B. Davis and Petronius the Arbiter (Pete). My favorite book ever, The Door into Summer, stars a man who has been wronged and his faithful cat, Pete. Pete is always looking for the door into summer.

5. Enola Holmes and Sherlock Holmes. This is a newer book series by Nancy Springer, but I’m already a fan of the brother/sister relationship between Enola and Sherlock.

4. Anne Shirley and Diana Barry: The “bosom friends” from childhood in Anne of Green Gables.

3. Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Three friends who helped save the wizarding world.

2. Harry and Dumbledore. Their relationship had almost a grandfather/grandson vibe that I loved.

1. Frodo and Sam: The greatest friendship in one of the greatest book series of all time.

That’s my top ten. What character relationships are your favorite?