Top Ten Tuesday #22
Happy Tuesday, book nerds!
As many of you know my sister-in-law’s wedding is going down THIS WEEKEND!! Because we’re less than a week out, I’m officially in bridesmaid mode:
I’m going to do my best to maintain my blogging schedule, but hope you can forgive me in the event of a slip/lag in response time.
In non-wedding news, it’s time for TOP TEN TUESDAY hosted by Jana at ThatArtsyReaderGirl.
This week’s topic is supposed to be: “Books I Disliked/Hated, But Am Really Glad I Read.” The problem with that is I’ve kind of already done that post. 
Please feel free to check out my selections from my struggle post to see if we shared any titles!! But since that left me without a prompt for today, I decided to pick one of the topics from when I’ll be in Italy! Odds are I won’t be posting in Rome so the June 19th topic seemed liked a safe bet!My self-assigned filler topic is: Books to Read By the Pool/At the Beach. So get in the beachy mindset because it’s time for my TOP TEN POOLSIDE READS*.
*Heads up: I did break this post into poolside go-to authors, genres, and subgenres.*
1) Any Contemporary by Emily Giffin
The contemporary genre just seems synonymous to beach reads to me. They’re light, entertaining, and pair perfectly with your cocktail of choice. Emily Giffin is the first contemporary author I can vividly remember reading poolside during Texas summers.
2) Always Never Yours by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka
The newest contemporary I’ve read (which would make a fabulous addition to any beach tote) was the Shakespeare-inspired Always Never Yours. I’m a big fan of Shakespearean retellings and could see any of the above titles being a great pool companion.
3) Any Contemporary by Emma Mills 
Full disclosure: As A Midsummer Night’s Dream retelling, Foolish Hearts, should have been bunched with the Shakespeare squad in #2. However, because it was written by Emma Mills, and because her contemps are super summer worthy, I had to separate it from the pack.
4) Bright Side series by Kim Holden
If you’ve been following me for a bit, you know I’m down for this series. In fact, I wrote about it in my FIRST EVER TTT prompt. I add it here because sometimes I’m not vibing the feel-good summer romance. Sometimes I’m looking for a little heartache with an uplifting message. If you identify READ THIS SERIES!
5) Anything by Colleen Hoover
I couldn’t bring up heartbreaking reads without bringing up my girl CoHo. I think I read everything she’d written up-to-date (obviously not all pictured here) the summer I discovered her books. Her reads led to lots of tears, but also to a killer tan. If you’re looking for heavier topics for your summer binges, feel free to check these out.
6) Anything by the Erin Watt duo. Particularly the Royals Series. 
If Shakespeare or sob stories aren’t your scene, maybe you’d rather try something with steam. These angsty reads do receive mixed reviews from the bookish community, but they provide some killer cliffhangers and ab-tastic plot lines without the “embarrassing” covers. If you take them poolside, just make sure you have the next installment close by!
7) The Beach Thriller by Various Authors
Sometimes the romance genre is simply a beach overreach. And if I need to get away from the contemp arena I’ll turn to my second poolside genre of choice: thrillers. There’s something to be said about trying to solve the season’s hottest whodunnit over some rays and a fruity frozen concoction. Here’s some of the mysteries I’ve cracked with soaking in some Vitamin D.
8) Celebrity Autobiographies by Various Famous People
Many of my recent beach visits have been company sponsored, which seems like an appropriate time to learn from some of my favorite onscreen ladies. The journeys in these books are often relatable, interesting, and chock-full of inspirational quotes making them a perfect pool pal.
9) Fairytale Retellings by Various Authors 
I’m not gonna lie, I rarely take science fiction or fantasy reads to the beach anymore. Usually those worlds are so immersive and they require more brain power than I’m willing to expend while in a bathing suit. When I was younger though, I was all about the fairytale retellings joining me poolside.
10) Royals by Rachel Hawkins and other Royal Wedding Reads. 
With Prince Harry’s wedding coming up this Saturday, I couldn’t fathom planning a beach reading list without including a royal wedding subgenre. And yes, I know by June the wedding will be old news, but hey, it’s currently 90+ degrees in Texas so I’m already in that frame of mind.
Hope y’all enjoyed getting into a summer mindset for my poolside reads list! Have you read any of these beach-worthy titles? What genre is your go-to?
ALSO, did you check out my “hard to get through” reads in the link above? Did we share any books on that list? Let me know below!
And, as always: Happy Reading!
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