T5W is hosted by Gabriela @ Violet Hawthorne on YouTube. You can check this Goodreads Group for weekly discussion topics. This week’s prompt is Top of the TBR, books you’re meaning to read this year but didn’t get to in the first half. For this prompt, I only picked books that I already own because, let’s face it, I’m far more likely to pick up a book I already own. Some of these are recent releases and others are ones I’ve put off for too long.
My Top 5 TBR Books
1. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.
But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.
Thanks to a great 3-4-2 sale Amazon was having, I finally have a copy of The Hate U Give. It has been on my tbr for a long time, but I’ve recently undertaken a personal goal to diversify my reads, which pushes this book to the forefront when I might have overlooked it. I’m hoping I can squeeze it in this month.
2. Beach Read by Emily Henry
A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters.
Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.
They’re polar opposites.
In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block.
Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.
I have heard nothing, but good things about this book. Summer is usually a time when I read more contemporary romance, so I knew Beach Read would be the perfect one to pick up. This book was so difficult to get a hold of. It was constantly sold out everywhere I checked. Now that I finally have a copy, I know I could sit down and read it in a day. I just need to pick the day.
3. The Boundless by Anna Bright
This breathtaking sequel to The Beholder will take you on a journey into a darkly sparkling fairy tale, perfect for fans of The Selection and Caraval.
I didn’t want to give the full summary because it contains spoilers for the first book. The Beholder was a surprising favorite of mine earlier in the year and I’m dying to know what happens. This is really more of a guilty pleasure read. The writing isn’t brilliant and it’s often compared to a fantasy version of the Bachelorette, but something about it captured my attention and I’m determined to read the sequel this year.
4. Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
What happens when America’s First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales?
When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius―his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There’s only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse.
Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instragramable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through? Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue proves: true love isn’t always diplomatic.
This is another book that has been on my tbr for way too long. I actually meant to read it last month, but my TBR got revised to include more diversity. This book has long been touted as one of the great contemporary gay romances, but I pushed it aside in favor of books by #ownvoices.
5. Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir
The highly anticipated third book in #1 New York Times bestselling author Sabaa Tahir’s EMBER QUARTET.
Y’all I bought this book over 2 YEARS AGO and yet, it sits unread on my shelf. I am determined for this to be the year that I read Reaper since the last book is due out in December. The first two books in this series were so amazing. Unfortunately, there has been so much time between book releases that I find myself losing interest and forgetting the story. A reread may be in order before I tackle the third book.
What books are top on your tbr for the remainder of the year?
The Hate U Give sounds like a perfect book for the current times. Hope it is a good one! 🙂
I’ve heard really good things!
As a high school English teacher, I’ve actually taught THUG to sophomores. It really is a great read for our current times, and there’s so much more to it than simple entertainment. Good luck and enjoy!
Yay! I’m so glad to hear that. I have heard only good things about it and look forward to reading it.
I wanted to read Red White and Royal Blue, but I can’t remember why I never put it on my TBR. Good list though!
Thank you! I’m hoping it’s as good as all the hype!
Cool post
Thanks!
Welcome