Top Ten Tuesday: Winter TBR 2019-2020

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and the meme moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. This week's Top Ten Tuesday asks bloggers to list their top ten books on the winter TBR list. The following titles are in no particular order.

1. Don't Read the Comments by Eric Smith is about two teens who bond over video games. One streams and supports her family by playing a certain video game. The other spends his free time writing games for a local developer while his mothers wants him to pursue a career as a doctor. Of course their worlds collide because of their interest in videogames.

2. Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen is about Ever Wong who gets sent from Ohio to Taiwan to learn Mandarin during the summer. However, the program that Ever attends is infamously known as a teen meet-market nicknamed Loveboat.

3. The Circus Rose by Betsy Cornwell is advertised as 'a queer retelling of “Snow White and Rose Red' in which teenage twins battle evil religious extremists to save their loves and their circus family." I always enjoy reading Cornwell's retellings of fairy tales and I cannot wait to read this novel.

4. The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski is a LGBTQIA+ fantasy about different castes. It's the first book in a series. Nirrim is of a low caste. Those low castes are forbidden from sampling sweets or wearing colors. Sid talks about a rumor where the High Caste possesses magic and Sid encourages Nirrim to seek magic.

5. Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare is the first book in The Last Hours, the sequel series to The Infernal Devices trilogy. Clare highlights the Edwardian London time period where James and Lucie Herondale are teens who associate with the Blackthorns and the Carstairs. Follow Will's and Tessa's children with their friends as they battle for what is right. For those who don't know, The Infernal Devices is one of my all-time favorite series. I cannot wait to read more about the children of TID.

6. Harley in the Sky by Akemi Dawn Bowman is about a trapeze artist whose parents run a circus in Las Vegas. After an argument with her parents, Harley joins rival traveling circus Maison du Mystère where she is thrown into a brutal yet beautiful world.

7. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo is Bardugo's first adult novel and is book one in a series. Alex Stern has a traumatic and complex history. At the hospital, she was given a second chance. A chance to attend prestigious Yale but at a cost. Alex is tasked to monitor the secret societies at Yale. I am intrigued to see what direction Bardugo takes.

8. Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Rosemary Valero-O'Connell. I am getting into a lot of graphic novels lately and many people recommended this one. Laura Dean is a popular girl in school and a total heartbreaker because she isn't a good girlfriend. Young love and relationships are explored in this graphic novel. It helps readers see how to embrace a healthy relationship and how to ditch the toxic ones.

9. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan is a book that has been on my TBR for a long time. I am actually currently listening to this title via audiobook. It's quite enjoyable via audiobook. I am very picky when it comes to audiobooks but the narrator does well with all character voices and points of view. For those who don't know, Nicholas Young invites his girlfriend, Rebecca Chu, to attend a wedding in his home country of Singapore. However, Rachel doesn't know that Nick is very well off and part of the elite social class. Here readers explore the gossiping, the high expectations to be met, old money vs new money and the glitz and glamour of the super-rich.

10. Buttermilk Graffiti by Edward Lee is a biography and cookbook in one. Readers can dive in and be immersed in the history of food. Lee describes his experience traveling around the United States and sampling some of the best food. He talks about how food has a story behind the recipe and how immigrants built the melting-pot of American food. I am currently reading this book now and I am enjoying it a lot.

What books are on your Winter TBR list? There are so many awesome books to read but such little time. I am going to try to pick up all these books on this list to read. A couple I am currently reading and the rest are on my docket to read.