I NEED to read these books in 2020 ~ Top 5 Tuesday

Hello my lovelies,

Last year, I sporadically joined in with Top 5 Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm. Luckily, Shanah comes up with the topics a month at a time so that we’ve got some thinking space and I’ve managed to write a post in time to join in today. *phew* 🙂

If you’re interested in participating in Top 5 Tuesday, all you have do is write up your post and pingback to one of Shanah’s posts. Make sure you pingback to her post and not just her blog so she can add you to the list of participants.

So on to this week, as you may guess from the title, Shanah has come up with the topic – TOP 5 BOOKS I NEED TO READ IN 2020!

Last year, I wrote a few posts about the books on my shelf that I’d bought but haven’t read yet: the ever blogged about TBR pile. Well I’m starting this year with a positive mindset to read more of those poor, patiently waiting titles (paperback, ebook and audiobook) and this week’s topic has helped me to prioritise them on my Goodreads want to read shelf. 😉

I have linked the images to the author’s websites, where you’ll find all the information about their books, purchase links and lots of other fun stuff too. All my links open in a new tab so that you don’t lose your place here. OK, so without further ado, on to my most painful failures …

How To Wake An Undead City by Hailey Edwards

Savannah has fallen to the vampires, and it’s up to Grier to take out their leader, Gaspard Lacroix, and restore peace. Lacroix might be more powerful and immune to her magic, but she’s got a plan. Too bad it’s got holes big enough for a new threat to waltz through while the city is on her knees.

Now Grier must risk her very soul if she hopes to slay her enemies and prevent her world from going up in flames. But salvation comes at a steep price, and she’s not the only one who will pay. The cost just might break her, and the man who owns her heart.

I can’t believe I haven’t read this yet – I even went as far as using my Kindle Unlimited subscription to download it last year! I have loved this series and need to read this book. I know there is a novella to tie up a few loose ends an a spin off series to check out as well from Hailey. Oh, my poor TBR pile. 😉

Relic Guardians Boxset (Books 1-3) by Meg Cowley and Victoria DeLuis

Fans of Lara Croft and Indiana Jones will enjoy this fast-paced urban fantasy adventure series filled with magic, action, and kick-ass characters.

Enter the Ley Line World and join the Relic Guardians: Zoe Stark, the no nonsense witch and bounty hunter, and Hayley Bevan, the museum curator newly endowed with magical powers, as they race against time to recover magical artefacts, defeat their enemies, and save the world from impending doom.

Enjoy the first three installments of the Relic Guardians series in one action and magic packed volume.

Ancient Magic Follow the adventures of Zoe Stark as she journeys to the jungles of Mexico to recover a lost artefact that could wreak death and devastation across the world.

Hidden Magic Join Hayley Bevan, struggling to come to terms with her newly endowed magical powers and caught up in a world she never knew existed.

Cursed Magic Zoe and Jamie are in a race against time to recover Pandora’s Box before the unthinkable happens; it is sold to the highest bidder, and the apocalypse within is unleashed upon the world.

I’m embarrassed to say that this box set was a gift from one of the authors. I tweeted about a discounted sale promotion that they were running and Victoria DeLuis kindly sent this box set to me for free. I am determined to read it before Easter!

The Darkest Passion by Gena Showalter

For weeks, the immortal warrior Aeron has sensed an invisible female presence. An angel-demon-assassin has been sent to kill him. Or has she? Olivia claims she fell from the heavens, giving up immortality because she couldn’t bear to harm him. But trusting—and falling for—Olivia will endanger them all. So how has this mortal with the huge blue eyes already unleashed Aeron’s darkest passion?

With an enemy hot on his trail and his faithful demon companion determined to remove Olivia from his life, Aeron is trapped between duty and consuming desire. Worse still, a new executioner has been sent to do the job Olivia wouldn’t…

Back in October, the Goodreads group that I keep raving about – My Vampire Book Obsession – did a “My Secret Vampire” gift exchange and although I’m in the UK and all of the other participants are stateside, this was one of the gifts I got. The book community are awesome! So I definitely NEED to read this one this year: I’ve bumped it to the top 5 of my TBR shelf.

The Darkest Gateway (Booke of the Hidden #4) by Jeri Westerson

With Halloween just a week away, tea-shop proprietor Kylie Strange doesn’t have much in the way of holiday spirit. She’s just learned that the last day of October also heightens the power of magic—which means the potential for a tidal wave of evil creatures to emerge from that supernatural Booke of the Hidden.

Destroying the ancient Booke once and for is the ultimate solution. But the only way to accomplish this task involves a journey to the Netherworld and the help of the only being powerful enough to destroy the Booke: Satan himself. And, though the brooding and elusive Erasmus Dark has captured Kylie’s heart against her better judgment, she ignores his repeated warnings that the mission guarantees her doom.

With Kylie in the Netherworld, her coven must stave off the onslaught of deadly creatures that emerge from the Booke—as well as hold back the encroaching destruction of the maniacal god Baphomet. Luckily, they’re joined by some unlikely friends in their fight against total annihilation.

But now Kylie’s journey becomes a rescue mission, and if she can’t complete her task and return from the Netherworld, all will be lost for the inhabitants of Moody Bog…and the rest of humanity.

Like How to Wake an Undead City, I can’t believe I haven’t read this yet! I love this series and have waxed lyrical about it all over the place. This is the final book in the series: perhaps I don’t want it to come to an end … 😉

Afterlife (Afterlife Saga #1) by Stephanie Hudson

Afterlife… just some gothic nightclub where gossip is fuelled by the presence of a rich and unearthly, handsome family or Afterlife…the strange place where time seems to stand still and guests feel the presence of something more powerful held within the confines of the VIP.

Keira is new to this small, cold town and is running from a past that seems to feast on her darkest memories. She finds living with her sister away from English soil to be just the ticket to the new life she is trying desperately to find. So when the offer of a job at the infamous Gothic nightclub Afterlife comes along she thinks that lady luck has finally found her. That is until its seductively dark and forbidding owner Dominic Draven sets eyes on her. All at once she is captivated and plunged into a world she never knew existed but the deeper her obsession with Draven becomes, the harder it is to decide…should she stay and continue to work within the shadows of the supernatural or should she run from a madness she thinks may consume her?

Believe it or not, I still have some paperbacks on my bedside table and ebooks on my Kindle that I bought because the authors were attending the RARE19 book signing event in London and this is one of them. I met Stephanie Hudson and thought she was great fun and very nice: she’s since launched a new book not related to the Afterlife series – Devil in Me – and as it was in Kindle Unlimited, I downloaded! Save me from myself! 😉

Well, that’s it for this week, I’m starting this year with a positive frame of mind and am confident that I will be able to mark these books off my TBR sooner rather than later. 😉

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read my post. Now that you’ve read mine, why not hop along to some of the other amazing blogs taking part in this week’s Top 5 Tuesday.

Don’t forget to leave a link to your Top 5 Tuesday post so I can visit your blog if you’re joining in the fun this week or just drop me a comment below.