Top Five Tuesday – Books I haven’t read yet

It’s Top Five Tuesday which is hosted by Meeghan Reads, every week we’re given a book related topic and we choose our top five! This week we’ve got to choose five books that we wanted to read this year but haven’t yet, I’ve been pretty good this year, I’ve got through most of the books I wanted to but here are five that I may hve neglected:

1. The Pearl Sister by Lucinda Riley

It’s been a while since I finished The Shadow Sister which precedes this but it keeps getting bumped down my list! I love this series and I need to get a wriggle on and read the last three.

2. The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

Ever since I watched The Witcher on Netflix I’ve been desperate to read the books! Someone has just leant me the first three in the series so I can’t wait to read all of Geralt’s adventures.

3. The Unseen by Katherine Webb

I added this to my TBR list four years ago and it’s been creeping it’s way up but I still haven’t got around to it, it’s historical fiction set in the early 1900s with a mystery and suspense, my type of book!

4. Anne Boleyn: A King’s Obsession by Alison Weir

I started Alison Weir’s Six Queens series a while ago, each book focuses on one of Henry VIII’s wives. Her book about Katherine of Aragon was so detailed and incredibly written I felt like I knew more about Katherine than before, she felt far more real. I can’t wait to read Weir’s book about Anne Boleyn, I’ll probably be quite emotional as well.

5. Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom

I’ve been wanting to read more from C.J. Sansom ever since I read Dominion which was a terrifying take on what-if Britain made peace with Nazi Germany. It was so well written I was completely gripped, I need to get my hands on Winter in Madrid!

Do you have any books you were meant to read this year but haven’t yet?

Top Five Tuesday – A-Z Authors

A new Top Five Tuesday, the prompts are created by Bionic Book Worm. This month’s topics are A-Z authors, this week it’s U-Z, these were definately tricky! I hope you are all safe and well in this strange time.

W: Alison Weir

Weir writes some of the best historical fiction out there, she is also a historian which is probably why she’s so good! Her Six Tudor Queens series is so brilliant. The books are written almost as acurate as biographies, I feel as if I really know the Queens and what they went through. If you are interested in the Tudors I strongly recommend her.

W: Katherine Webb

I read The Legacy a while ago and loved it. It’s set at a gorgeous old house, sisters Erica and Beth used to spend their summers their as children. One summer the girls’ cousin goes missing which tears the family apart. The sisters return as adults and are flooded with memories. This is my favourite style of book, set in an old house with a mystery surrounding it. I’ve got Katherine Webb’s other books on my tbr list and I’m excited to get to them.

W: Jacqueline Wilson

Jacqueline Wilson was one of my favourite authors as a child, her characters were always relatable and brilliant in their own way. It makes me nostalgic just thinking about them! My favourites were probably Midnight, The Diamond Girls and The Lottie Project. I haven’t read them in a long time but I love the memory of them.

Y: Heather Young

I haven’t yet read any of Heather Young’s books, but The Lost Girls is in my tbr list. The book begins in 1935 in Minnesota. Emily goes missing at only six-years-old, her mother never recovers and stays at the lake house for the rest of her days, hoping her daughter will come back. Emily’s sisters also stay with their mother. One of the sisters writes down the events of that summer sixty years later, before she dies, she leaves her notes and the lake house to her grandniece, Justine. I love a historical mystery so I’m really looking forward to reading this.

Z: Markus Zusak

The Book Thief is one of my favourite books ever, the way it’s written with Death as the narrator is so clever. It is set in Germany during WWII, we follow Liesel who has been fostered by a couple because her mother couldn’t look after her. Liesel wants to learn to read and tries to teach herself using a book she found at her brother’s graveside, The Gravedigger’s Handbook. This story is powerful and beautifully written.

I hope you are all safe and well in this strange time, take care.

Top Five Tuesday – Most Anticipated Books For 2020

A new Top Five Tuesday, the prompts are created by Bionic Book Worm. This week’s topic is the books published this year that I’m most looking forward to reading. There are lots to choose from but here are my favourites:

1. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Publication date: May 2020

This is another book set in Panem but this story starts with the tenth Hunger Games. I had no idea this was happening and I’m so excited!

2. Katheryn Howard: The Scandalous Queen by Alison Weir

Publication date: May 2020

This will be the fifth book in Weir’s Tudor Queen series. The other books in the series are so detailed, I felt like I knew the queens so much better than before so I’m really looking forward to reading Kitty’s story.

3. Dark and Deepest Red by Anne-Marie McLemore

Publication date: January 2020

The book is set in the 1500s and surrounds the dancing fever that spread through Strasbourg. This phenomenon has fascinated me for ages ever since I listened to the Hysteria podcast and they did an episode on it. People literally danced until they collapsed or died, there was no music and the ‘fever’ spread rapidly. The book is fictional but I love historical fiction!

4. The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner

Publication date: May 2020

This is based on a true story and set just after WWII, Jane Austen’s house is still owned by her remaining relatives but they are struggling to keep the estate going. A group of disparate individuals come together to preserve both Jane Austen’s home and her legacy. These people; a laborer, a young widow, the local doctor, and a movie star, among others, could not be more different and yet they are united in their love for the works and words of Austen. It sounds like such a wholesome book and Jane Austen’s house isn’t that far from where I live, it’s lovely there.

5. Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

Publication date: August 2020

Set in the future, this book follows the journey of some of the world’s last birds and the woman who is chasing them. Franny arrives in remote Greenland with one purpose: to find the world’s last flock of Arctic terns and follow them on their final migration. This sounds so beautiful and sad and the premise reminds me of one of my favourite childhood films Fly Away Home.

Top Five Tuesday – Series I Need to Finish

A new Top Five Tuesday, the prompts are created by Bionic Book Worm. I’m actually doing quite well at keeping up with series I’ve started, I don’t like to read similar books in a row so I do space out books by the same authors etc. These are all on my on my TBR list some are quite low down but shhh…

1. The Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley

I started reading these books this year, I’ve read the first two which were wonderful. They each focus on one of the sisters who were adopted from around the world by their father who recently passed away. He left them clues and coordinates to where they’re from in case they want to find out one day. I’m going to start the third book soon The Shadow Sister which follows Star and her journey to discovery in England.

2. Frieda Klein series by Nicci French

I have only two books left of this series, they are waiting on my bookshelf right now! I have taken my time with this one, I forgot it for a while, the first book was published in 2011 and the last in 2018. Frieda is a psychologist who liases with the police when they need help on cases. But trouble seems to follow her, she has a stalker who has followed her since the first book, he once saved her life. But he faked his own death so no one will believe Frieda when she claims it’s him that’s harming others around her.

3. Tudor Legacy series by Laura Andersen

This is the second series surrounding the Tudors, Elizabeth is now queen after her brother Henry died. It’s been fifteen years since the first series finished, Elizabeth has a child! And so do her dear friends Minuette and Dominic. As always at Tudor court there are spies and drama, I’ve only read the first book so far but the second isn’t far away.

4. Discworld series by Terry Pratchett

Although these books don’t have to be read in chronological order, each is a stand alone, they all take place on the strange Discworld and usually in the city of Ankh-Morpork. I love these books, I’ve lost count of how many I’ve read but I’ve still got many to go yet there are forty one in total!

5. Six Tudor Queens series by Alison Weir

I’ve only read the first of this series but it was so detailed and felt like a biography of Katherine of Aragon and her life in England. I am excited to read Anne Boleyn’s book because she has always fascinated me.

That’s all of them, I can’t believe it’s autumn already! Are there any series you have yet to finish or have forgotten?