Top Ten Tuesday | Books on My Winter 2023-2024 To-Read List

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.

Happy Tuesday, mersquad! Can you believe it’s already almost halfway through December? Just a few more days and then we are at the home stretch before the end of the year. I don’t know what it is about November and December, but once we get to those months, it feels like time goes by so quickly that the new year hits us when we least expect it. Maybe because of the end-of-year holidays and how there’s not as much working we want to do. Maybe.

This week’s topic is our Winter Reading To-Read List. I’m so not good at committing to reading lists, but I can think of some books that I do want to read this winter. The last time I did a TTT Reading list, I only read two of the books on that list! I’m also supposed to be part of my library’s Winter Reading Challenge in January, with an added element to it. I’m one of four staff that is participating to see who DOESN’T get slimed by making sure I don’t read the least amount of books. Honestly, I’ve been thinking about it, and based on some of the other participants’ reading speed, I may be the one to get slimed. It’s okay though, because it’s going to be fun regardless.

Could you imagine if we had a slime machine like Nickelodeon?! I would be terrified. Would it get out of my hair?! I don’t know!

So let’s finally get to the list of books that I want to read, and will hopefully read, during this Winter.

[1]- Ben and Beatriz – Katalina Gamarra

This is one of the books that I wanted to read to catch up on all of my romance books that I’ve borrowed from my local library. This was one of the books that was voted for on my Instagram post, and to be honest, this is one that I have been wanting to read for a while now. I think I said that already, but it’s still valid. Plus, look at that cover? It’s to die for.

[2]- Bet On It – Jodie Slaughter

This was another book that was voted for on my Instagram post. Plus, look at that gorgeous cover, and that beautiful FMC! I love me some fat beautiful girls on the cover, with a sense of style. Why? Because I want to be like that when I grow up. Or now, even. Just gotta work on my fashion sense.

[3]- Fall of Ruin and Wrath – Jennifer L. Armentrout

This is one of my book club reads for Bookish Chaos. I’ve been trying to keep up with all of the reads for the year. I think the only month I missed was January because I wasn’t part of the group then. So this is the only book club that I’m in that I actually read all of the books for! Something to be proud of since I usually lose momentum towards the beginning of the year. Most of the choices were great. I think there was only one book that I wasn’t really into, but I could be wrong. Maybe one or two, but that’s pretty good odds for completing a whole year’s worth! This is one of two books that I would need to read for December for the book club.

[4]- Sugar and Spite – Gail D. Villanueva

This is the second book for Bookish Chaos that I need to read. I actually need to hurry up and read this one because this looks freaking amazing. Plus I love having magic involved in my books – I guess that’s why I’m a fantasy type of gal – and the cover again is so amazing! Illustrated covers are my absolute favorite if I’m honest, and this looks like a book that I would enjoy. Although I am seeing people mention a pet death as a trigger warning, and I know it’s going to break my heart. I hate when pets leave us. Let’s see how it’s handled in this MG novel.

[5]- The Lotus Flower Champion – Pintip & Love Dunn

I freaking adore Pintip so much! And when I heard the news that she was co-writing a novel with her daughter Love, I knew I had to read it. I’m so glad my library’s copy arrived because it is ALL MINE now! Well, until I’m done, but I do plan on getting a copy for my personal library at some point. It looks amazing, and I love that Pintip and Love got to work on this together. I hope they do more books together, like P.C. and Kierstin Cast did with The House of Night series. Mother/daugther author duos are the coolest ever.

[6]- Black Girls Must Die Exhausted – Jayne Allen

This is one of the series that I wanted to read this year, but since I didn’t get to it, I want to make sure that I read it in January. Why specifically January? Because there is an Epic Reads yearly challenge that I plan on doing, and their prompt for January is to read the first book in a series. This would definitely qualify for that.

[7]- Fake Dates and Mooncakes – Sher Lee

NoveList also has their 2024 Reading Challenge, and their January prompt is to read a 2023 Debut. This book, which has been on my list for a while now, was a 2023 Debut, and it’s pretty short too, so I gotta try it out. It looks super cute, and I want to see what I think about it.

[8]- Black Girl, Call Home – Jasmine Mans

I don’t normally do poetry – or any non-fiction books really – but I’m going to try to read this one for the Diverse Baseline Challenge. I’m hoping that I like this one – or at least can make sure I get through this. Again, this is nothing against poetry or anything, but I just don’t like reading it really. I was surprised that I read one this year, and I think I did because it was given to me as part of my Ready Reads Subscription, and it was an audiobook so it was easier for me to get through. It was interesting though.

[9]- Witch of Wild Things – Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

Not only do I absolutely adore How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe, but I adore Raquel Vasquez Gilliland! I have this on my list to read, and since it should fit the prompt of Latine author for Diverse Baseline, I’ll get to read it for January! It’s also kind of short too, which I’m surprised about, but I’m not complaining.

[10]- No Filter and Other Lies – Crystal Maldonado

Yet another author that I love that I haven’t read their second book yet! Fat Chance, Charlie Vega was one of my all time favorite books, and now it’s time to read this one. It also fits the fat main character prompt for Diverse Baseline, so I get to include it. I’m really one of the worst in reading books as soon as they come out but at least that means I get some backlist books to choose from for these reading challanges.

Oh gosh, you have no idea how long this took me to write! Mostly because I kept trying to figure out what the heck I was going to pick, and then trying to make sure that I formatted the post in a way that I thought would be okay. This was good practice to getting back into making these posts, because these are usually the ones that I spend a lot of time on. I’m very proud of myself though, and I’m happy to share it with you today! Don’t forget to share with me your links so I can visit! I know I’ll have the Linksy to look at but in case I don’t see all of them, I’d love to see yours.

See you soon!