Top Ten Books on my Summer TBR 📚☀️

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted at That Artsy Reader Girl. On Tuesdays, you post a list of ten books that coincides with the week’s prompt.

Can you believe that summer is almost here, in the northern hemisphere? In a way, I’m so relieved that we’re almost halfway through the year, considering what this one has been like. Still, with new seasons come new lists of things I want to do, books I want to read, movies and TV shows I want to watch and so on, which is exciting!

I’m not really one to set monthly TBRs, but I like the idea of having seasonal ones. Because of that, I thought it’d be fun to do a Top Ten Tuesday again (it’s been quite some time!), as this week’s prompt is “Books on My Summer 2020 TBR”. So without further ado, here are the books I’m hoping to get to this summer:

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang — The Poppy War is my favourite book of the year so far, so I’m super excited to read its sequel! This Asian-inspired fantasy series follows Rin, a war orphan, who aces the test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies and get into Sinegard, the most elite military school in the Empire. The Poppy War was a very dark, but excellent debut in my opinion, so I can’t wait to read The Dragon Republic!

The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty — The final book in the Daevabad trilogy came out last week, so of course I’m planning to get to it as soon as my pre-order arrives! This series follows Nahri, a con woman in 18th century Cairo, who accidentally summons a djinn warrior and learns of Daevabad, a legendary city to which she is irrevocably bound. I adored the first two books in the trilogy and am currently rereading them, so I can’t wait to know how this story ends!

Darkdawn by Jay Kristoff — I only have one book left in The Nevernight Chronicle, so I’m also planning to finish this series during the summer! I adore assassins stories so much and Mia Corvere’s sure is among my favourites. I’m so excited to know what will be next for her, though I admit I’m a bit terrified this book will break my heart. We’ll see.

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin — I’ve been meaning to get to N.K. Jemisin’s works for the longest time, as she’s highly praised by so many reviewers I trust, and I’ll finally be doing so this summer! I’ll be starting with The Fifth Season, a dystopian fantasy, where a woman is looking for her son in a deadly and dying land. Every book in this trilogy was awarded the Hugo for Best Novel, which makes me even more excited to read them!

Heir to Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier — I binge-read Marillier’s original Sevenwaters trilogy last summer, so I’m looking forward to reading the second half of the series at last! This series is set in a world inspired by Celtic folklore, where the Fair Folk lives in the forest and everything feels like a fairy tale. Each book is the story of a woman from the Sevenwaters’ family, this one following Clodagh, whose baby brother was taken from his room, something unnatural being left in his place. I can’t wait to get back into this world, so hopefully I’ll buy this book soon!

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett  — I’ve been seeing this series everywhere among SFF book reviewers lately, so I’ve been super eager to get to it. Foundryside is about Sancia, a thief who has been sent to retrieve an object in a warehouse, only to discover it is an artifact of unimaginable power that could revolutionise magical technology in her world. I also know there is a f/f romance in the series, which makes me even more excited to read it!

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi  —This historical novel is a family saga following the descendants of two half-sisters, across three centuries, beginning in 18th century Ghana and ending in America, until present day. I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about this book and I adore family sagas, so I’m looking forward to finally be reading it!

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie — I read We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie three years ago, so it’s about time I read her other works, Americanah among them. This novel is about Ifemelu and Obinze, who depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West when they are young and in love. Ifemelu heads for America, where she is forced to grapple with what it means to be black for the first time, while Obinze fails to join her, plunging into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria, and reignite their passion—for each other and for their homeland.

Les Travailleurs de la Mer (The Toilers of the Sea) by Victor Hugo — This French classic was written by Victor Hugo while he was in exile on the island of Guernsey and is about a fisherman on that same island, which is more than enough to get me intrigued, considering how much I love Hugo’s writing and how fascinated I am with Guernsey. As it’s set on an island, it also feels right for me to read it in the summer, so that’s what I’ll do!

Mary Anne by Daphne du Maurier — Daphne du Maurier is my favourite author and it’s been some time since I last read something by her, so I intend to fix that! This novel is about Mary Anne, a daring woman who becomes the mistress to a royal duke and provokes a scandal in doing so. This historical fiction is set in Regency England and was inspired by one of du Maurier’s ancestors, which intrigues me so much.

Have you read any of these? Do you have any reading plans for this summer?