Top Ten Tuesday: My Most Recent (Favourite) Reads

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.

It’s Tuesday again and this week’s TTT is going to seem a little repetitive since I have recently shared what I’ve read last month here.

Instead, I will share my last 4 to 5 star rated books in 2021 so far because they warrant just more notice and love! If anything catches your eye, please try and find a copy for yourself because I more than recommend these to anyone who is even remotely interested in their descriptions.

1. The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna (review)

A beautiful first book in a new fantasy world, a girl faces her inner demon (literally) when she realizes her blood bleeds a different colour. Her salvation? An offer to fight as the monster she is for the kingdom against savage beasts.

2. Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan (review)

An own-voices story featuring a Bangladeshi girl who navigates familial expectations and her own desire to choose for herself. The tipping point? The hot bad boy of their high school falling for her while she mentors him in English.

3. A Pho Love Story by Loan Le (review)

You’ve got to read this on a full stomach! A beautiful own-voices novel about the Vietnamese culture, food and immigrant experience as two teenagers from feuding, Vietnamese restaurant families realize they have more in common with each other, including love, than they were led to believe.

4. Love in English by Maria E. Andreu (review)

Written with beautiful poems interspersed between short chapters, an Argentinian girl navigates a new school in a new country after recently immigrated to the States, trying to fit into the American culture while wondering if she’s losing herself in the process.

5. Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch (review)

When travelling was possible, right? This cute romance set under Tuscany skies follows a girl moving to live with her long-lost father while unravelling the mysteries behind her mother’s past in Italy she had never been told about.

6. Lore by Alexandra Bracken (review)

A harrowing week-long event set every 7 years where the gods are set upon the city to be hunted by humans who want to claim godhood, the last standing blood relative of a house descended from Greek mythology is thrown back into this world she’s left behind that would change everything she knew about this ritual

7. Influence by Sara Shepard and Lilia Buckingham (review)

Feeling like a Gen Z? This book follows 3 influencers as they navigate the challenges of being in the spotlight and scrutiny of the public. What was more surprising? When someone in their circle dies in unexpected ways.

8. Game Changer by Neal Shusterman (review)

A mind-blowing novel that tackles all sorts of societal issues, from racism to sexism, as the protagonist falls between alternate worlds, learning more about himself and the world around him in the process.

9. Vicious Spirits by Kat Cho (review)

The second book in this Korean mythology, a group of friends that may not all be human embark to save the world from a rip between this world and the next as spirits flood in to unleash chaos on Earth.

10 A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik (review)

While it may be a school of magic, it sure ain’t Hogwarts. This school literally tries to kill you, and the biggest challenge yet? Trying to stay alive long enough to actually graduate, especially when your magical affinity is for chaos and death that you begrudgingly don’t want to use on your fellow classmates (yet).

And there we have it! Those are the books I’ve enjoyed the most so far in the first third of the year. I hope there will only be more great reads in 2021!

Let me know in the comments below if you’ve read or liked any of these titles! Or even better, if you have any recommendations for me.