Earl Grey Books

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is a genre freebie. I thought it might be fun to switch things up and talk about some books outside of my comfort genres that I loved, as well as some still on my TBR. So let’s get to it.

Grimspace (Sirantha Jan #1) by Ann Aguirre

I’m very behind on my reviews right now, but I read this one in early February and absolutely loved it. It’s a sci-fi which is pretty far out of my comfort zone, but it was filled with all the stuff I love—found families, banter, romance, and I just had such a fun time reading it.

There Was Still Love by Favel Parrett

For the most part I really don’t enjoy literary fiction. I just don’t enjoy the tropes and types of stories, but there are a couple of exceptions. This one is an absolutely beautiful story about family, particularly the relationships we have with our grandparents. It made me sob for a good twenty minutes after finishing it.

Murder at the Brightwell (Amory Ames Mystery #1) by Ashley Weaver

I’d describe this series as a sort of cosy historical mystery—it takes place in the 30s and feels a little Christie-ish. Before last December I really didn’t read this sort of thing outside of Christie, but I tried this one and a few others and I really enjoyed it. I think this is my favourite of the ones I did try—it’s a fun read and I really enjoy Amory as a character. My library copy of book three just came in so I’ll be reading that this week.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

It probably makes sense that if I don’t like literary and I don’t like thriller/mystery, that I wouldn’t like a mash-up of those too but Celeste Ng makes it work. I think the reason I enjoyed this so much was because Ng has a beautiful but easy and engaging way of telling a story. I usually don’t read (or care about) this kind of family story but she is fantastic at making you care.

Spoiler Alert (Spoiler Alert #1) by Olivia Dade

I’m a huge contemporary romance fan now but when I read this last year, I really wasn’t. Olivia Dade opened me up to this sort of contemporary romance—it’s fun but there’s some serious topics too without it being Colleen Hoover level. I’ve read lots of fantastic books in this genre now, but this one definitely has a special place.

All Our Yesterdays by Natalia Ginzburg

I picked this one up in preparation for my favourite yearly readathon, Eurovisionathon. This is literary fiction set in Italy between 1939 and 1944 and follows two families over that period. I have no idea what it’s about otherwise but I’ve heard wonderful things about Natalia Ginzburg.

Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves by Meg Long

This is YA sci-fi that I received in a book box last year. To be quite honest, most of the books that box have been kind of terrible so I don’t have the highest expectations for this one but I’m trying to keep an open mind.

The Conductors (Murder and Magic #1) by Nicole Glover

This one has been sitting on my shelves since 2020 and I just haven’t gotten around to it. I don’t read a lot of historical fiction these days, but this also has some kind of fantasy/supernatural theme to it which seems interesting. I honestly don’t know why I haven’t gotten to it yet.

Fires of Winter (Haardrad Viking Family #1) by Johanna Lindsey

One area of historical romance I just haven’t gotten into is vikings. I’ve tried a few but haven’t found anything that has really grabbed me. I’ve heard amazing things about this one and Johanna Lindsey in general, I just have to make time for it.

Vista Chinese by Tatiana Salem Levy

I also got this one in a book box. It’s another literary fiction, this time set in Brazil during the World Cup. I believe it’s based on true events and it sounds pretty intense. I’ve been holding off on it until I think I’m in the right mental space to read it.

And that’s it from me today. Have you read any of these? What out of your comfort zone book has surprised you lately?