Top Ten Tuesday: Ten books on our TBRs for winter 2017

Hosted by The Broke and Bookish. 

Whitley's Selections

Hard to believe it's winter already, there's so many books I didn't get to this year. Which is a bummer, because there's some AMAZING titles coming out this season, so I'm going to have quite a hard time what to spend my time on - the books I've been ignoring, or these beauties below.

Oh, who are we kidding, I'm weak when it comes to new books.

1.	A Princess in Theory / Alyssa Cole - A prince is under pressure to marry, so he tracks down his long-missing fiancé. When she doesn't recognize his famous face, he decides to take the opportunity to pretend to be normal for a while and enjoy courtship as a normal citizen. This one has been on my radar ever since I heard about it (which was about five minutes after I read An Extraordinary Union, check that one out, too!) but it's even more relevant now. It's not even my usual genre (contemporary when I usually hang in historical), but with a summary like that, who could resist? I'm a sucker for royals in disguise of all sorts.
2.	Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube / Blair Braverman - Braverman falls in love with the North and leaves home to learn how to drive sled dogs and recounts her adventures in racing and in navigating a mostly-male sport as a woman. This one is a couple years old, but so fitting to read it during winter so why not. If you aren't already following Blair's twitter, you should be. Daily doses of husky pictures and videos! Plus she's a good author, at least in the articles I've read from her, so I'm excited to see what she does with a full length nonfiction book.
3.	The True Queen / Sarah Fine - Two queens of the same country - one with magic but absent from her homeland her whole life, and one without magic and desperately trying to keep that a secret - clash over the fate of their peoples. I've enjoyed the first two books in this series, and I'm really curious to see where it goes in the conclusion. Previous installments both followed the actions of one queen each, and the final one looks like we'll get to see both of them together at last. Hurrah!
4.	Heart of Iron / Ashley Poston - ANASTASIA IN SPACE. An orphan girl taken in by Firefly-like crew winds up searching for a lost ship, but she's up against a scoundrel looking for the same thing and the ship contains secrets about her past. I've already mentioned how much I like royals in disguise, put that in any speculative setting and I'm there x1000. I'm really glad I heard the 'Anastasia in space' tag from someone, because that cover wouldn't have gotten the job done.
5.	Ink, Iron, and Glass / Gwendolyn Clare - In a world where writing is (or can be) literal magic, a girl who lived in a magically-created fictional world crosses into our (ish) 19th century Italy. She has to join up with other mechanics and magic users in order to...stop assassins? Something with assassins. And politics. And really, does it take any more than that to get me involved? No, it does not.

C.J.'s Selections

1.	Language of Thorns / Leigh Bardugo - I grew up on fairy tales. Grimm's. Hans Christen Andersen. The original Aladdin. Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows are also two of my favorite series. So, this is really a no brainer. I only haven't read it yet because (a) I've had the plague both mentally and physically and (b) I have to be in the right mood for fairy tales.
2.	Saints and Misfits / S.K. Ali - This one has been sitting on my shelf sad and neglected for too long. I could use a fluffy positive meaningful read to break up all the kickass fantasy, mindbreaking dystopian, and super angsty tearjerkers. Plus, a book with a cover that pretty has to be just as pretty inside, right? Especially when its author is someone as delightful as Ali?
3.	The City of Brass / S.A. Chakraborty - I preordered this one for the Muslim authors preorder campaign, but I wanted to read it as soon as I came across it. I'm a sucker for a rich, complex high fantasy of the magic, sword and sorcery, other worlds variety. And as much as I love Game of Thrones, I can only read minute descriptions of armor for so many pages. Plus, non Western fantasy worlds are SO much rarer than they should be. It's like C.J. candy.
4.	Before She Ignites / Jodi Meadows - Things I love include (a) Jodi, (b) dragons, (c) magic, (d) Jodi, (e) beautiful black girls kicking ass. I fully acknowledge the issues over the cover, i.e. it being a milestone that should have gone to a black author. C.f. Dhonielle Clayton's The Belles, which would have been on this list if I'd gone past five. However, I also have faith in Jodi as an author and a human, and I can't wait to dive into her next lush fantasy world.
5.	This Darkness Mine / Mindy McGinnis - The glorious Shannon Miz of It Starts at Midnight recommended this as a creepy, insidious dark thriller, so really those two things combined are all you need to know for why I jumped on this. But also, did I mention creepy dark thriller? Of the psychological variety? By Mindy, who is twisty and awesome? Yeah. I thought so.