Hi and welcome back to another Top Ten Tuesday post! This week’s topic is Literary/Bookish Candles I’d Make, but since I’m absolutely not creative, nor am I a candle person, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that I’m going the alternate route again. Since we will be listing our fall hopefuls next week, this week brings me the perfect opportunity to check back on my summer 2025 TBR. I don’t know what went wrong there, but the listing turned out strange, so I have 11 books listed instead of 10, and I’m only finding out now. Without further ado, let’s check and confront myself on my summer goals!

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.

1. One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune – I read this book early on in the summer and I haven’t flown through any book by this author so fast like I did with this one. I saw someone else making the exact same comment about it, so it’s definitely the book working for more people than just me. (review)
2. Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez – I don’t know what this is with this book (and its sequels) and me, but I haven’t read this book once again. I thought about it but didn’t go ahead with it.
3. Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young – The aforementioned applies to this book as well, although I nearly opened this one. However, I wasn’t up for it, it seems.
4. The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong – And here’s one book I did read! This is a literary slap in your face amidst all today’s mediocrity. Even though this book didn’t get the full 5 stars from me, it’s one that sticks, Which I can’t say for many of the latest releases. (review)
5. Crossroads by Devney Perry – This book, just like some I mentioned earlier, might have been fallen victim to the fact I barely picked up romance novels this summer. I dipped my toes more into literary fiction it seems. That doesn’t mean I didn’t read any romance at all, but not a lot.
6. Consider Me by Becka Mack – I put lots of romance novels on my summer TBR as this is the season I typically lean into that genre. But not this year. So no, I haven’t read this book either.
7. Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa – Another book I haven’t read, but I made some progress by deciding the language I want to read this in and buying myself a copy. However, I read other heart-wrenching novels this season and I have to find a good balance in them. This one is up for September, possibly October.
8. The Wind Weaver by Julie Johnson – In my defence, I got this book in Dutch which didn’t release till early July. So, my TBR’s were fully booked, and I moved lots of my July hopefuls to August. So, there was no time left for this one. It’s on my September TBR nonetheless.
9. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab – A book I have read for a change! I have one problem with books by this author, and it occurred in this reading experience as well. I love the writing style but have trouble connecting to the characters and therefore the story as a whole fails to captivate me. This newest novel by this author is no exception to this unwritten rule. Their craftmanship shines through, but it was just not what I was hoping for. (review)
10. The Rose Bargain by Sasha Peyton Smith – A book with an interesting premise but doesn’t stick out in the mass mediocrity of the past few years. It’s not bad and the final few chapters are promising a lot for the second book, but the majority of the plot unfolds rather predictably. Again, not a bad book, but I was underwhelmed. The hype fizzling out quickly must have been a sign, right? (review)
11. Powerless by Elsie Silver – Again, the romance summer that didn’t become much of a romance summer. Enough said.

This was unexpected, I thought I would have read more of my summer TBR. In the end, I read 4 out of 11 books, but I read plenty of other stuff that was long overdue, or I picked up on a whim. I am enjoying my literary fiction era now, I guess I’m transitioning away from the romance era I have been in for the past year and a half or so. But who knows! Maybe I will get back into that in the new season.

Have you already dared to check up on your summer TBR and see how many of these books you actually have read?