Top Ten Tuesday: V.A.L.E.N.T.I.N.E.S. Backlist

Top Ten Tuesday #53

Happy Tuesday, book nerds!

I’m writing this intro as I sit in the lobby of my new dentist, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. I don’t know what it is about the dentist, but I get freaked out every single time I have to go in for an appointment. 🙈 I’ve had anxiety all day, but luckily, by the time y’all are reading this I will have survived.

Beyond that, today is officially day 2 of Contemporary-A-Thon Round 6, so hopefully I’ve made some progress in my overly ambitious TBR.
Now that the life updates are done, let’s move on to TOP TEN TUESDAY!Hosted by Jana at ThatArtsyReaderGirl, this week’s topic is “Love Freebie.” This open-ended prompt works out quite nicely for me since I’m notorious for doing my own thing every week. 😆

I decided to devote this week’s topic to romantic reads that have been on my TBR for a hot minute that also fit into a Valentine’s Day-themed acronym/acrostic. Y’all have supported my attempts to do this in the past (i.e. my Thanksgiving TTT) so it made sense to try it again!

Check out my Top Ten V.A.L.E.N.T.I.N.E.S. Backlist!

1) V

A Very Large Expanse Of Sea by Tahereh Mafi 

Released: 10/16/18 ★ Current Rating: 4.25 ★ On TBR: 11/06/18

Opening lines: “We always seemed to be moving, always for the better, always to make our lives better, whatever. I couldn’t keep up with the emotional whiplash.”

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2) A

Atheists Who Kneel And Pray by Tarryn Fisher

Released: 07/13/17 ★ Current Rating: 4.28 ★ On TBR: 03/06/18

Opening lines: “The first time I saw him I had a splinter in my finger. I was wiping down the bar and there was a nick in the wood. My thumb happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

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3) L

Lovely War by Julie Berry 

Released: 03/05/19 ★ Current Rating: 4.28 ★ On TBR: 11/09/18

Opening lines: “It is early evening in the lobby of an elegant Manhattan hotel. Crystal prisms dangling from the chandeliers glow with soft electric light. On velvet couches near the fire, couples sit close, the men in officers’ uniform, the women in evening wear, resting their heads on their gentlemen’s shoulders.”

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4) E

Everything Under The Sun by Jessica Redmerski

Released: 08/28/17 ★ Current Rating: 4.11 ★ On TBR: 07/10/18

Opening lines: “I burst through the front door of my small house, my face alight with excitement, hair disheveled and dirty like it always was, a water-soaked backpack tossed over my shoulder.”

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5) N

Night Music by Jenn Marie Thorne 

Released: 03/19/19 ★ Current Rating: 3.85 ★ On TBR: 03/19/19

Opening lines: “A stranger was playing my piano. My piano, untouched for months, purring under his fingers like a stray cat. More than purring…singing, leaping, laughing, dying, all in the time it took me to stumble-run downstairs.”

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6) T

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

Released: 04/05/16 ★ Current Rating: 4.09 ★ On TBR: 07/05/18

Opening lines: “Seven hundred and thirty-three days after my mom died, forty-five days after my dad eloped with a stranger he met on the Internet, thirty days after we then up and moved to California, and only seven days after starting as a junior at a brand-new school where I know approximately no one, an email arrives.”

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7) I

Infini by Krista & Becca Ritchie

Released: 01/31/17 ★ Current Rating: 4.17 ★ On TBR: 07/05/18

Opening lines: “I cup my phone and read the email. Everyone in the Masquerade’s backstage dressing room pauses to check their cells. I hate mass company emails — almost as much as I hate personal company emails.”

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8) N

Nevermore by Kelly Creagh 

Released: 08/31/10 ★ Current Rating: 3.87 ★ On TBR: 02/10/20*

Opening lines: “By the end of fourth period, Isobel’s espresso buzz from that morning’s venti latte had long since worn off.”

*I apparently hadn’t marked this on Goodreads until now🤦🏻‍♀️, but I’ve owned a copy I purchased from the library for years so…

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9) E

Eerie by C.M. McCoy

Released: 12/19/15 ★ Current Rating: 4.34 ★ On TBR: 11/05/18

Opening lines: “Professor Simeon Woodfork shuffled into the observatory shivering wildly and waving his papers, as expected. Asher knew he was coming — he’d sensed his approach.”

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10) S

Storm And Silence by Robert Thier

Released: 03/19/16 ★ Current Rating: 4.50 ★ On TBR: 11/05/18

Opening lines: “The young man’s reflection glared back at me out of the shop window, suspicion etched into his roundish face. He probably thought I was doubting whether he looked manly enough, and, to be honest, I was.”

Thus concludes another round of Top Ten Tuesday. I hope you enjoyed my twist on the “Love Freebie,” and that you found one or two new books to add to your TBR. Have you read any of these romance-based reads? What did YOU do for the twist this week? Let me know below!

AND, AS ALWAYS: HAPPY READING!

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