Category: Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Books Featuring Travel

Posted May 19, 2025 by Jana in Top Ten Tuesday / 26 Comments

Welcome to another TTT! This week’s topic is books featuring travel. I LOVE traveling, and these ten books will take you away on some of the best vacations I could ever dream of!

1. The Tourist Attraction by Sarah Morgenthaler takes you to small town Alaska, where everybody knows your name.
I know I talk about this book a lot. Sorry, not sorry.

2. Christmas At Frozen Falls by Kiley Dunbar takes you to a stunning resort in the even more stunning Lapland for Northern Lights peeping and sled rides.
I also talk about this book a lot. I’m trying to find more favorite books, I swear.

3. The Gem Thief by Sian Ann Bessey takes you on board a luxury cruise liner that’s touring the Mediterranean.

4. Operation White Christmas by Nikki Edwards takes you to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls!
Also, there’s a baby llama. You’re welcome.

5. Love, Lucy by April Lindner takes you to Florence, Italy!

6. Starry Night by Debbie Macomber takes you to the Alaskan wilderness, where you’ll probably fall in love.

7. Sleigh Bells in the Snow by Sarah Morgan takes you to the cozy Snow Crystal Ski Resort, where you’ll also probably fall in love.

8. Gentlemen Prefer Nerds by Joan Kilby takes you on a hunt for a jewel thief in Australia!

9. Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard takes you backpacking in Belize!

10. Just One Day by Gayle Forman whisks you off to Paris for the best sightseeing trip ever.

Do you have any recommendations for books that take place in amazing locations?
Those kinds of books are my favorite, and I can’t ever find enough of them.

 

Five Ways in Which My Blogging Habits Have Changed Over Time

Posted May 12, 2025 by Jana in About Me, Top Ten Tuesday / 14 Comments

Welcome to another TTT! This week’s topic is Ways in Which My Blogging/Review Style Has Changed Over Time, and was submitted by submitted by Susan @ Bloggin’ ’bout Books. I decided to tweak this a little because there’s no way I can find 10 ways my style has changed. But even this tweaked topic is still a bit of a tricky one for me, as I’m not sure I’ve changed much since I started reviewing books waaaaaay back in 2011. But I’ll see what I can do!

*30 minutes later* Ok, I’m changing this to five ways my blogging habits have changed because this is too hard. LOL

1. I am pickier about the books I accept for review. I used to accept almost anything I thought I might like because I wanted to get some experience, show that I’m trustworthy, and build a name for myself in the blogging world. I’m pickier now, which helps me keep my reading schedule under control and allows me more freedom to be a mood reader.

2. I am more willing to DNF books, which means I write way fewer negative reviews than I used to. I used to make myself finish every book in the beginning, even if I wasn’t enjoying it, so I ended up writing more negative reviews. Now that I DNF (and sometimes quickly), I get to spend more time gushing about the books I love and promoting authors rather than talking about why a book didn’t work for me. I love this, and it’s what kept me reviewing all these years later.

3. I’ve switched up the kinds of books I review! I used to read YA almost exclusively. My reading habits changed, and so did my review habits. I now focus primarily on adult romance, with the occasional mystery and historical fiction novel thrown in here and there.

4. I quit summarizing the book in my reviews. I actually quit this very soon after I started reviewing. It takes forever and why not just use the summary the publisher paid someone to write in the first place? It helps avoid spoilers, it saves time, it avoids redundancy, and it’s allowed my readers to find my thoughts easily without having to slog through a synopsis they most likely don’t need since they already read the official one (or one written by another reviewer). I really don’t love it when I go to read someone’s review and 95% of the review is their own summary of the book (which is often too detailed and gives away the entire book), followed by a couple generic sentences saying that they either liked it or didn’t. I’d much rather know what you liked and what you didn’t like and why you felt that way than read another summary.

5. I’ve allowed myself to write shorter reviews. I used to think that long, detailed reviews were preferred but then I realized I didn’t like reading long, detailed reviews from other people! And I don’t like writing them myself! Now that I’ve shortened my reviews it doesn’t feel like such a chore to write them… and I’m writing more. Imagine that!

How have your blogging/reviewing habits or style changed since you started reviewing books?

Top Ten Utah Authors Whose Books I’ve Read

Posted May 5, 2025 by Jana in Top Ten Tuesday / 19 Comments

Welcome to another TTT! This week’s topic is Authors (or books by authors) Who Live In My State/Country and was submitted by Jennifer @ Funk-N-Fiction! I chose to feature ten Utah authors whose books I’ve read and enjoyed! We have a LOT of authors here. I chose the ones like best, but I’ve read books by many more! The one single asterisk below indicates which author I’ve met!

1. Christina Hobbs, half of Christina Lauren
2. Shannon Hale
3. Ally Condie
4. Kasey Stockton
5. Louise Plummer
6. Brandon Sanderson*
7. Lisa Mangum
8. Joanna Barker
9. Martha Keyes
10. Becca Wilhite

Which authors live where you live? Have you met any of them?

Top Ten Books with the Word “Good” in the Title

Posted April 28, 2025 by Jana in Top Ten Tuesday / 18 Comments

Welcome to another TTT! This week’s topic is: Books with the Word “[Insert Word Here]” in the Title. All you do is choose a word and find ten books with that word in the title. I had a hard time picking a word, so I just went with a word from my most recent read: Good. It ended up working really well for me! I’ve got some stupendous books on today’s list, most of which I haven’t read yet and am very excited to get to soon!

Good Spirits by B.K. Borison (Just finished this one and loved it!)
The Scandalous, Dissolute, No-Good Mr. Wright by Tessa Dare
The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost by Rachel Friedman
A Good Debutante’s Guide to Ruin by Sophie Jordan
Good Time by Jana Aston
The Good, the Bad, and the Duke by Janna MacGregor
A Good Duke Is Hard to Find by Christina Britton
Too Good to Be Real by Melonie Johnson
Good Duke Gone Wild by Bethany Bennett
Too Good to Be True by Lauren Blakely

I am super surprised at how heavy this list is on historical romance! I wasn’t expecting that at all, but I’m not complaining!

What word did you pick this week?

Top Ten Books That Surprised Me

Posted April 21, 2025 by Jana in Top Ten Tuesday / 31 Comments

Welcome to another TTT! This week’s topic is: Books That Surprised Me (in a good or bad way). I don’t know about you, but I am not great at remembering a ton of details about all the books I read. So this topic is hard for me! I’ve decided I’m going to handle it a little differently than I’d originally thought. I’ve searched my blog with the keyword “surprised” and am including the book title and the sentence of my review that included that keyword. I’ll also link you to my review instead of Goodreads like I usually do (unless my mini review was in a previous TTT post or survey, as is the case at least once here), if you need context and would like read more about the book. Goodreads links can be found in each of the reviews, so you’ve still got a fast way to go add it to your TBR if you’d like to!

1. Night by Eli Wiesel
“I was super surprised to find such a heartbreaking book that could lift me up at the same time.”

2. Never Gamble Your Heart by Lindsay Lovise
“I love this found family, and was so pleasantly surprised by how sweet and tender their relationships are with each other.”

3. Never Blow a Kiss by Lindsay Lovise
“The ending surprised me!”

4. What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon
“The time travel aspect also really surprised me, and I loved how it tied it all together.”

5. Ciao for Now by Kate Bromley
“So I’m surprised and happy to say I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a kind of Devil Wears Prada-esque fashion story set in Italy, with a slew of characters to fall in love with.”

6. Just Like Magicby Sarah Hogle
“I’m not going to lie, I was surprised that Sarah Hogle could craft such a wild, zany story that both warmed my heart and confused me greatly at times.”

7. Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas
“I was so pleasantly surprised and delighted by the man that Rhys is during this scene.”

8. Captivate by Vanessa Garden
“I was pleasantly surprised to find that this world is super unique and gorgeous.”

9. The Governess Game by Tessa Dare
“I actually really liked these girls and their antics, which surprised me since I’m not usually a fan of children in romance novels.”

10. Gentlemen Prefer Nerds by Joan Kilby
“What surprised me the most, though, was the comedic element the author threw in.”

Are you surprised by any of my picks? (lol see what I did there?)
What book or books have surprised you?