Top Ten Tuesday is a listicle created by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was created from a love of lists, books and creating bookish friends. Each Tuesday she assigns a new topic for others to join in with. Here is where you can learn more information about Top Ten Tuesday. Ad/Affiliate – Some of these books have affiliate links, you can read my disclaimer here.
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is a freebie, so I am continuing my alphabet challenge. I’m not sure how many books beginning with B I have on my TBR list, but hopefully there will be fewer once I have finished!
1. Back After This by Linda Holmes
StoryGraph synopsis:
Cecily Foster loves to make podcasts. She fiercely protects her colleagues, dearly adores her friends, and never misses dinner with her sister. But after a disastrous relationship with a colleague who stole her heart and her ideas, she’s put romantic love on hold.
When the boss, who’s disappointed her again and again, finally offers her a chance to host her own show, she wants to be thrilled. But there’s a catch—actually, two catches. First, the show will be about Cecily’s dating life. And second, she has to follow the guidance of influencer and newly minted relationship coach Eliza Cassidy, whose relentlessly upbeat attitude seems ready-made for social media, not real life.
Cecily would rather do anything other than put her singledom on display (ugh) or take advice from the internet (UGH). But when her boss hints that doing the show is the only way to protect a friend’s job, she realises she has no choice.
To make matters more complicated, once she’s committed to go on twenty blind dates of Eliza’s choosing, Cecily finds herself unable to stop thinking about Will, a photographer she helped to rescue a very big and very lovable lost dog. Even though there are sparks between the two, Will’s own path is uncertain, and Eliza’s sceptical comments about Cecily’s decision-making aren’t helping. On the one hand, Will seems great. But on the other hand . . . don’t they all?
As Cecily struggles to balance the life she truly desires and the one Eliza wants to create for her, she finds herself at a crossroads. Can Cecily sort through all the advice and find a way to do what she loves without losing herself in the process?
Published: 26/02/2026
2. Beach House Summer by Sarah Morgan
StoryGraph synopsis:
A marriage in the spotlight
Joanna Whitman’s high-profile marriage held more secrets than she cares to remember, so when her ex-husband dies, she doesn’t know what to feel. But when she discovers that he’s left behind a pregnant young woman, Joanna is forced to act. She knows exactly how brutal the spotlight on them both will be…unless she can find a way for them to disappear.
A beach house hideaway
Ashley Blake is amazed when Joanna suggests they lie low at her beach house in her sleepy Californian hometown. Joanna should be hating her, not helping her. But alone and pregnant, Ashley needs all the support she can find.
A summer of new beginnings
Joanna’s only goal for the summer is privacy. All Ashley wants is space to plan for her and her baby’s future. But when an old flame reappears, and secrets spill out under the hot summer sun, this unlikely friendship is put to the test…
Published: 26/05/2022
3. Because of Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
StoryGraph synopsis:
Sometimes you find love in the most unexpected of places…
This is not one of those times.
Everyone expects Billie Bridgerton to marry one of the Rokesby brothers. The two families have been neighbours for centuries, and as a child, the tomboyish Billie ran wild with Edward and Andrew. Either one would make a perfect husband… someday.
Sometimes you fall in love with exactly the person you think you should…
Or not.
There is only one Rokesby Billie absolutely cannot tolerate, and that is George. He may be the eldest and heir to the earldom, but he’s arrogant, annoying, and she’s absolutely certain he detests her. Which is perfectly convenient, as she can’t stand the sight of him, either.
But sometimes fate has a wicked sense of humour…
Because when Billie and George are quite literally thrown together, a whole new sort of sparks begin to fly. And when these lifelong adversaries finally kiss, they just might discover that the one person they can’t abide is the one person they can’t live without…
Published: 01/04/2016
4. Best Wishes from The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki, translated by Jordan Taylor
StoryGraph synopsis:
The Full Moon Coffee Shop is run by talking cats and normally appears on the night of the full moon to those in need – with one exception. Under the twinkling lights of Christmas Eve, the sagacious cats open their doors once more to the lost souls adrift in the bustle of the festivities.
Satomi catches wind of her boyfriend’s plan to propose on Christmas Eve, finding herself torn between him and her career in Tokyo. Her listless intern, Koyuki, has her own reasons for dreading the day ever since her father died in a tragic car accident. And Satomi’s sister-in-law, Junko, who has been estranged from home for the past two decades, receives the unexpected news that her elderly father is terminally ill.
This Christmas, the customers of the Full Moon Coffee Shop stand at a wintry crossroads in their lives – but with the help of some feline divinations, they will find and follow their stars into the new year.
Published: 28/10/25
5. The Blanket Cats by Kiyoshi Shigematsu, translated by Jesse Kirkwood
StoryGraph synopsis:
Is three days with a cat enough to change your life?
The troubled and anxious of Tokyo are desperate to find out. They all have their problems – and they all want to believe that a feline companion from a unique pet shop can help them find a solution. But there are rules: they must be returned after three days, and they must always sleep in their own familiar blankets.
In The Blanket Cats, we meet seven such customers, including a couple struggling with infertility, a middle-aged woman on the run from the police, and two families in very different circumstances simply seeking joy.
But like all their kind, the blanket cats are mysterious creatures with their own unknowable agendas, who delight in confounding expectations. And perhaps what their hosts are looking for isn’t what they really need.
Three days may not be enough to change your life. But it might be enough to change how you see it.
Published: 05/09/2025
Related post: 10 translated fiction titles on my TBR list
6. Book Boyfriend by Lucy Vine
StoryGraph synopsis:
Jemma has lived a thousand lives through books. The only life she isn’t living is her own.
That is, until the day she finds a note from a stranger in her favourite library book. When she replies, the pair begin a longhand conversation about their love of novels that sees Jemma finally coming out of her shell. Is she ready to fall in love for the first time – with someone she’s never met?
Clara has always run away from her problems, but this might finally be one she can’t escape.
Everyone wants to know what happened to Clara in America – but Clara isn’t talking. Instead, she’s focusing all her energy obsessing over a hot new actor, starring in the TV adaptation of her twin Jemma’s favourite book. Soon, Clara is reading every interview, trawling his social media, and following him to showbiz parties in the hopes he’ll notice she’s The One.
As the sisters fall hard for two men they’ve never met, it’s time to ask the question: Can either relationship survive the real world?
Published: 27/02/2025
7. The Bucket List to Mend a Broken Heart by Anna Bell
StoryGraph synopsis:
Abi’s barely left her bed since Joseph, the love of her life, dumped her, saying they were incompatible. When Joseph leaves a box of her possessions on her doorstep, she finds a bucket list of ten things she never knew he wanted to do.
Will completing the action-packed list – no easy challenge for the naturally timid Abi – be the way to win back her man? Or might Abi just have a surprise in store…?
Published: 10/03/2016
8. Bed Chemistry by Elizabeth McKenzie
StoryGraph synopsis:
Chemistry teacher Ashleigh Hutchinson knows better than anyone that love and lust don’t mix. The feelings come from different hormones, they trigger different responses, and they demand different reactions. Which is why she doesn’t date. She hooks up. No catching feelings required.
When Ashleigh is fired from her job without notice, she signs up to participate in a month-long sleep study, which will pay her enough to cover rent while she job hunts. It seems easy enough—until she walks into the clinic and finds herself staring right into the gorgeous eyes of Xander Miller, the only man to have ever tempted her to abandon her no-relationships rule.
When Xander and Ashleigh realise the study is only looking for couples, they agree to pretend to be together – which means sleeping in the same bed every night for the next few weeks. How hard can it be to keep their cool under the covers?
Published: 09/12/2025
9. Beauty in the Stillness by Karin Hadadan
StoryGraph synopsis:
For those who yearn to live in the present moment, who seek reflection through heartbreak, comfort during times of loneliness, or guidance while healing, this book provides you with the words you need to read right now.
Published: 21/02/2023
10. Bicycling with Butterflies by Sarah Dykman
StoryGraph synopsis:
Outdoor educator and field researcher Sara Dykman decided to do something no one had ever done before–pedal along with monarch butterflies over the entire length of their 10,201-mile migratory journey. She did it alone, on a hand-built bicycle, through three countries.
In Bicycling with Butterflies, Dykman recounts her incredible journey and the adventurous ups and downs of her ride–follow her along through a Midwestern thunderstorm, a field of zombie corn, and multiple trips across the border. Along the way, we meet a cast of characters that includes devoted citizen scientists, skeptical bar patrons, farmers, and fellow bicyclists. Dykman weaves a tale full of humility and grace, all while sharing the science that underlies the urgency of saving the monarchs and why we all should care.
Bicycling with Butterflies deftly combines memoir, travel, and popular science. It is a must-read debut if you are looking for an uplifting story filled with optimism, energy, and hope.
Published: 13/04/2021
(Bonus) 11. The Brief Life of Flowers by Fiona Stafford
StoryGraph synopsis:
The beauty of flowers is well known, inspiring creative minds from Botticelli to Beatrix Potter. But they’ve also played a key part in forming the past, and may shape our future.
Roses and thistles have served as symbols of monarchs, dynasties and nations. We wear poppies to remember the First World War, but it was the elderflower that treated its wounded soldiers. A rose might mend a broken heart, and sunflowers may just save our planet.
At once enchanting and intriguing, The Brief Life of Flowers reveals how even the most ordinary of flowers have extraordinary stories to tell.
Published: 15/11/2018
I managed to remove a few books from my TBR list, and was left with these eleven! There’s a mix of genres here, so there should be something for different moods. (I’m very much a mood reader.) I’ve started reading The Brief Life of Flowers quite a few times, but I still want to fully read it, as it is a really interesting book.
Caroline ♡
Leave a Reply