Top 5 Tuesday is created and run by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm. You can join the fun by checking out the topics for the month here.

Hi everyone,

Whoooooops, so I managed to miss every single February Top 5 Tuesday?! I had an unexpectedly busy February so really didn’t get much of a chance to blog in between all my FFFeb Instagram posts, but things are slowly beginning to calm down.

I’m both excited (and kinda scared) for the March topics! Last year, Shanah created the Alphabet week theme for a whole month where we had to find a title beginning with every letter of the alphabet. I feel like I was very not good at it at all – a lot of cheating with ‘The” and “A” book titles! But this time, it’s Alphabet Authors! Which has no easily available cheat! (Though by X, I have no doubt I’ll be like ‘if the name includes the letter’…..) This first week though should be slightly easier! I decided to not focus on only first or last names, to make it at least a little bit easier for me since I failed so badly last time. So here goes, the first week of Alphabet Authors!

Authors beginning with A

A.J Hackwith & K. Ancrum

Starting with a bang! I wanted to talk about two authors because both these authors jumped onto my ‘favourite authors ever’ list very recently!

A.J Hackwith wrote the incredibe snarky queer fantasy of your dreams, The Library of the Unwritten (with the sequel The Archive of the Forgotten releasing in October). I loved this book. It felt like the fantasy I had been needing for so long – it’s lighthearted and fun and was so different to the stream of very heavy fantasy books I’d been reading. You can check out my full review here, but I predict this to be one of my favourite books of the year so I would love to get somebody else reading this series!

K. Ancrum is someone I started reading last year, fell in love with The Wicker King, fell more in love with The Weight of the Stars and then pretty much died when I found out her next novel is a queer Peter Pan retelling, Darling. She is one of my ‘will always read’ authors, her work is known for it’s fantastically unique designs (definitely one to try pick up a hard copy for!) and I can’t wait to read her next book!

Authors beginning with B

Akemi Dawn Bowman

I randomly picked up Starfish at the library last year, not really knowing what to expect, but vaguely remembered seeing some bloggers praise the book. And I was blown away. The raw power of Starfish was so unexpected and so heartbreakingly familiar, it’s probably one of the novels I’ve felt most seen it. I can’t wait for her novel Harley in the Sky which is releasing this year and involves a circus, and more of the phenomenal mental health rep Bowman is known for.

Authors beginning with C

Caitlin Starling

Caitlin Starling’s The Luminous Dead was one of my favourites books of 2019. It was one of my first novels in horror, and I loved it so much. I was so impressed at her ability to create so much tension and fear and drama with just two characters and one, very tight, caving system. Her next two novels sound equally thrilling, one involving a Crimson Peak gothic horror about haunted mansion and ritual magic, and one involving a deadly plague (how current).

Authors beginning with D

Mason Deaver

Another amazing read from 2019! Mason Deaver’s debut novel I Wish You All the Best was one of the most beautiful, most emotional, most queer novels I read all year. Telling the story of a depressed nonbinary teen who is kicked out of home, it is a difficult but important read. Their next novel, The Ghosts We Keep, releases later this year. Dealing with grief, rejection, PTSD, and with an nonbinary teen at the centre of it all, I’m pretty sure I’m going to continue to love everything Deaver writes.

Authors beginning with E

Erin Gough & Erin Morgenstern

And to wrap things up, I bring you two Erins!

Erin Gough is a fantastic Aussie author who wrote one of the funniest YA books I’ve read, Amelia Westlake. Set at a fancy Australian private school, it’s an f/f romcom featuring bad girl Will and perfect student Harriet as they fight back against the misogynistic, homophobic crap at their school. I’ve worked in the Aussie education sector (in publishing) for the past few years, and ohmygod it is so fucking accurate I was crying with laughter. I love love love this novel, and I can’t wait to see what Erin writes next!

My second Erin is the wonderful Erin Morgenstern, who has written some of the most hyped books I think I’ve seen: The Night Circus and The Starless Sea. I was embarassingly late to The Night Circus, only reading it last year. But it was so delightfully magical and immersive and it’s one of only a few bookd where I immediately ordered the author’s next work, the second I put down the book. I might not have gotten around to reading The Starless Sea yet, but I know I will love it!

That’s it for this week! Have you read and loved any of these authors too? Can’t wait to see get back into Top 5 Tuesday and read everyone’s posts!