Top Ten Tuesday/ New To Authors I Discovered In 2024/2025

At the start of the year, I said I would log every book I read in my reading Excel sheet right away after I read it, but this only lasted for about 10 books. I DNF’ed a book, so I’m proud of myself for that. The issue with becoming a mood reader is that my mood for what to read changes before I finish the novel, which, let me tell you, is annoying. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by thatartsyreadergirl, which has a new weekly topic.

January 28: New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2024

Goodreads Blurb:

Twenty million in diamonds missing.

Kate Sawyer, a cop in witness protection, holds the key.

If she could only remember.

Early-onset Alzheimer’s clouds the past. Stem cell therapy is working to clear it.

But time is running out for Kate.

One night she finds a dead man in her bathtub with a note stuck in his pocket.

I know what you’ve done.

Her cover blown, Kate runs, the clock is ticking. People close to her are being killed.

Shadowy memories tease her. Some she recognizes. Others don’t seem familiar at all.

Running from people she can’t remember, dogged by a past lost in the haze, Kate discovers no one is who they appear to be, perhaps not even herself.

Goodreads Blurb:

When you can’t see ahead, try looking back.

Jo Quinn has everything under control. After her engagement suddenly ends, she is perfectly fine, thank you very much. Until her first love crashes through her walls and back into her life.

Hunter Cleary is looking for a new start after coming out, and moving in with her first love might not be the best way to do it, but it definitely isn’t the worst. When her new roommate finds herself planning her ex-fiance’s wedding, Hunter steps up to the plate and volunteers to help in an unconventional way. Jo surprises herself when she agrees to the outlandish plan because, really, it can’t make things worse.

The more fake they are with the world, the more real Jo and Hunter are with each other, slowly realizing that there’s so much more to the other than meets the eye.

Because even though they’re not fifteen anymore, they still might be exactly who the other needs.

Goodreads Blurb:

Every girl wants a fairy godmother!

But not the kind with a misfiring wand.

Hillary’s been hit by a wonky bit of magic that was supposed to introduce her to her soul mate. That doesn’t happen.

Instead she meets…

Brad.

Brad’s been waiting for someone to see him—literally, to see him. That’s no small trick since he’s been invisible to everyone but his friend Walter for three long and lonely years. It’s just his luck that the one woman who does is a knockout with a heart bigger than Texas and completely, utterly unattainable.

She’s a heartache in heels, but that doesn’t stop Brad from falling in love.

Will Hillary and Brad become a couple, or will Brad’s incorporeal state keep them from their love ever after?

Goodreads Blurb:

I didn’t mean to kiss my ex-husband, it just sort of happened…

He’s Sweetbriar’s most devoted cop, my ex-husband, and the man I’ve avoided for the last ten years.
He might also be my only hope.

Cade Barrett was my first crush, my first kiss, my first everything.
I thought we’d last forever.
But we wanted different things.
He was a hometown boy through and through while my ambitions reached far beyond our small town. So we let each other go and I left to chase my dreams.
Now I’m back with a secret—the dangerous kind.

He vowed to keep me safe.
While I promised myself to guard my heart. Until one accidental kiss reignited the fire between us.
And it was hotter than ever before.

Will one final night together extinguish the flames?
Or should I stay and take the one and only chance I have to get him back?

Goodreads Blurb:

It’s the winter of 1993, and Clare Woodbrook is the enigmatic head of the Special Investigations Department at Britain’s leading daily tabloid. Her exposés are legendary, but she’s not without her enemies. Now, on the verge of unveiling her biggest ever scoop, she arranges to meet her researcher Danny Churchill, to reveal all over lunch.

But Clare never shows, and later that night her car is found abandoned on the hard shoulder of the M25. Worse still, the police investigation is being headed up by DCI Graham March – the embodiment of police corruption and the subject of one of Clare’s current investigations.

Danny sets out to find Clare, and enlists the help of his spiky flatmate – fashion photographer Anna Burgin. But they soon realise that nobody can be trusted – especially the police. As the search becomes ever more desperate, suddenly their own lives are very much on the line.

Goodreads Blurb:

Sisters Nadia and Cass Brenner are heirs to Ocean House, a decades-old empire that builds superyachts for the rich and emirs, oligarchs, and titans of industry throughout America and Europe. They’re a next-generation success with the design of their soon-to-be-commissioned megayacht for a Chinese billionaire. But the sisters’ entrée into the coveted Asian market is tragically cut short when Cass falls from a fortieth-floor hotel window.

A Singapore detective rules suicide. Nadia’s been in the yacht business too long not to be suspicious. Especially when she discovers Cass’s involvement in dangerously illicit activities. Pulled into the same web of betrayal, lies, and secrets that trapped her sister, Nadia is on the most perilous mission of her life. Because uncovering the truth behind her sister’s death could tear the Brenner family apart—and it just might get her killed.

Goodreads Blurb:

A secret crush ignited. A bookstore in peril. A love that defies expectations.

Jamillia never expected her childhood crush on her brother’s best friend to reignite. Axel never thought he’d risk his dream for the girl he always saw as off-limits. But fate had other plans when they reunited at Sacred Pages.

I returned to Passion Pointe to escape a failed relationship, not to fall for my brother’s best friend. But when Axel offers me a job at his struggling bookstore, everything changes. He’s handsome, kind, and no longer just a teenage fantasy.
But, am I ready to risk my heart again?

I’ve poured my heart and soul into Sacred Pages, determined to prove myself to my father. Then Jamillia walks back into my life – no longer my best friend’s little sister, but a beautiful, brilliant woman who challenges everything I thought I wanted. Can I balance my dream with the unexpected love growing between us?

As Jamillia and Axel navigate their growing feelings, they must confront family expectations, personal fears, and the looming threat to the bookstore. Can they find the courage to fight for their love and their shared dream?

Goodreads Blurb:

For a long time, Lucy Sante felt unsure of her place. Born in Belgium, the only child of conservative working-class Catholic parents who transplanted their little family to the United States, she felt at home only when she moved to New York City in the early 1970s and found her people among a band of fellow bohemians. Some would die young, to drugs and AIDS, and some would become jarringly famous. Sante flirted with both fates, on her way to building an estimable career as a writer. But she still felt like her life a performance. She was presenting a façade, even to herself.

Goodreads Blub:

First Love. Second Chances.

Fiona Willis always wanted a big, exciting life. At twenty-seven, she has one: great friends, a Seattle condo with an amazing view, and a killer job as a senior events planner with a world-renowned firm. So why can’t she forget the man who shattered her dreams and broke her heart?

Cameron Bennet has his hands full. As a single dad and head construction manager at Bennet & Sons, he’s an expert at the juggling act. Between playdates, soccer practices, and his hectic work schedule, he rarely has time to relax. Yet even on his craziest days, he’s never stopped thinking about the one who got away.

When an emergency forces Fiona to return to her hometown, she discovers that nothing is how she thought it would be. Fiona tries her best to avoid Cam and their undeniable chemistry, but Cam is determined to right his wrongs before Fiona disappears from his life again.

Goodreads Blurb:

It’s 1972 and Viva’s Indian family has been expelled from Uganda and sent to a resettlement camp in England, but not all of them made the trip. Her father is supposed to meet them in London, but he never shows up. As they wait for him, Viva, her mother, and her sister get settled in camp and try to make the best of their life there.

Just when she is beginning to feel at home with new friends, Viva and her family move out of the camp and to a part of London where they are not welcome. While grappling with the hate for brown-skinned people in their new community, Viva is determined to find her missing father so they can finish their move to Canada. When it turns out he has been sponsored to move to the United States, they have to save enough money to join him.

Alex