Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week a new theme is suggested for bloggers to participate in. This week’s prompt is Books I Enjoyed But Rarely Talk About (This is for the books you liked, but rarely come up in conversation or rarely fit a TTT topic, etc.) I decided to do a bit of a twist again this week. 😉

Hello Readers! I hope you are all staying healthy and safe. How is everyone doing? When I started working on this prompt, I discovered I had a lot of books I rated as five-star reads, but weren’t rated higher than four stars–sometimes 3.5 stars–on Goodreads. I can be generous with my ratings, but I also think these books deserve more attention. Here’s my five-star reads that have less than four stars on Goodreads–in order from lowest to highest rating!

(Link to Goodreads synopsis through book title.)

1

The High Season by Judy Blundell

From My Goodreads Review:

“I love books that masquerade as simple beach/chicklit books, but under that eye-catching, gorgeous cover they’re really books that will make you take a step back and examine yourself and the world around you–while also being the entertaining beach read you crave.”

Synopsis:

No matter what the world throws her way, at least Ruthie Beamish has the house. Lovingly renovated, located by the sea in a quiet village two ferry rides from the glitzier Hamptons, the house is Ruthie’s nest egg–the retirement account shared with her ex-husband, Mike, and the college fund for their teenage daughter, Jem. The catch? To afford the house, Ruthie must let it go during the best part of the year.

When an eccentric billionaire, his wayward daughter, a coterie of social climbers, and Ruthie’s old flame are thrown into the mix, the entire town finds itself on the verge of tumultuous change. But as Ruthie loses her grasp on her job, her home, and her family, she discovers a new talent for pushing back. By the end of one unhinged, unforgettable summer, nothing will be the same–least of all Ruthie.

Current Goodreads Rating: 3.42 Stars

2

Modern Lovers by Emma Straub

From My Goodreads Review:

“I’m not really understanding all the mediocre reviews for Modern Love. I thought it was superb. Nothing new here, it’s not rocket science, but just a solid, well-written story with interesting characters set in a sweltering New York summer. I enjoyed the realistic story arc, the realistic characters with flaws, quirks, and idiosyncrasies. I was consumed by the story from start to finish.”

Synopsis:

Friends and former college bandmates Elizabeth and Andrew and Zoe have watched one another marry, buy real estate, and start businesses and families, all while trying to hold on to the identities of their youth. But nothing ages them like having to suddenly pass the torch (of sexuality, independence, and the ineffable alchemy of cool) to their own offspring.

Current Goodreads Rating: 3.43 Stars

3

The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth Mckenzie

From My Goodreads Review:

“The Portable Veblen was a pure delight! Refreshing, witty, quirky, with laugh out loud moments. It was one of those books that I hungrily read, devouring each word, excited to reach the end but dreading it at the same time. I so wanted to stay in this story just a little while longer.”

Synopsis:

A young couple on the brink of marriage—the charming Veblen and her fiancé Paul, a brilliant neurologist—find their engagement in danger of collapse. Along the way they weather everything from each other’s dysfunctional families, to the attentions of a seductive pharmaceutical heiress, to an intimate tête-à-tête with a very charismatic squirrel. 

Current Goodreads Rating: 3.44 Stars

4

A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan

From My Goodreads Review:

“Not many authors can can write about the everyday complexities of life–the heartbreaks and the magical moments–and make it enjoyable and readable. Elisabeth Egan’s debut novel is familiar, eye-opening, and inspiring. As mothers and wives we make a million tiny decisions that we take for granted, little decisions that in the moment seem inconsequential, but amount to LIFE. It’s our choice to plod along or make it a life worth living. A beautifully written book with heart and soul!”

Synopsis:

Like her fictional forebears Kate Reddy and Bridget Jones, Alice plays many roles (which she never refers to as “wearing many hats” and wishes you wouldn’t, either). She is a mostly-happily married mother of three, an attentive daughter, an ambivalent dog-owner, a part-time editor, a loyal neighbor and a Zen commuter. She is not: a cook, a craftswoman, a decorator, an active PTA member, a natural caretaker or the breadwinner. But when her husband makes a radical career change, Alice is ready to lean in—and she knows exactly how lucky she is to land a job at Scroll, a hip young start-up which promises to be the future of reading, with its chain of chic literary lounges and dedication to beloved classics. The Holy Grail of working mothers―an intellectually satisfying job and a happy personal life―seems suddenly within reach.

Current Goodreads Rating: 3.53 Stars

5

Landline by Rainbow Rowell

From My Goodreads Review:

“I actually just read this book in one sitting. (Okay. Maybe I stopped to eat and go to the bathroom.) That’s how much I loved it. I was skeptical when I started after reading all the mixed reviews. Now, I just think anyone who gave it less than four stars must not have a heart. I’m kidding. (Maybe.)”

Synopsis:

Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble; it has been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems beside the point now.

Maybe that was always beside the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts…

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

Current Goodreads Rating: 3.55 Stars

6

Keep Me Posted by Lisa Beazley

From My Goodreads Review:

“I loved so much about this book: the realness of the characters (they have flaws and make mistakes!), the exchanging of actual letters in this digital age (they had to walk to the post office box!), and the reminder that sometimes a boring life is a good thing. Sometimes it’s hard to read about a character who keeps making mistake after mistake—especially if you see yourself in some of those mistakes—but I had faith that Cass would find her way. Be prepared to smile, cringe, roll your eyes, and maybe even shed a tear.”

Synopsis:

The once-close Sunday sisters have not done a bang-up job of keeping in touch. Cassie is consumed with trying to make her life work as a Manhattan wife and mom to twin toddlers, while her bighearted sister, Sid, lives an expat’s life of leisure in far-off Singapore. So Sid, who shuns social media, challenges Cassie to reconnect through old-fashioned letters.

Soon, the letters become a kind of mutual confessional that have real and soul-satisfying effects. They just might have the power to help Cassie save her marriage, and give Sid the strength to get her life back on track.

But first, one of Cassie’s infamous lapses in judgment comes back to bite her, and all of the letters wind up in the one place you’d never, ever want to see them: the Internet . . .

Current Goodreads Rating: 3.57 Stars

7

The Book of Summer by Michelle Gable

From My Goodreads Review:

“The Book of Summer is the quintessential beach read. It swept me off my feet and had me in vacation mode while I did nothing else but read this book. It took me a few chapters to get the characters straight–the alternating years the main cause–but once I got the hang of it, I was enthralled. This is the second book by Michelle Gable that I’ve read, and I’m a fan; the lady knows how to weave a tale.”

Synopsis:

For the first time in four years, physician Bess Codman visits the compound her great-grandparents built almost a century before, but due to erosion, the once-grand home will soon fall into the sea. Bess must now put aside her complicated memories in order to pack up the house and deal with her mother, a notorious town rabble-rouser, who refuses to leave. It’s not just memories of her family home Bess must face though, but also an old love that might hold new possibilities.

In the midst of packing Bess rediscovers the forgotten family guest book. Bess’s grandmother and primary keeper of the book, Ruby, always said Cliff House was a house of women, and by the very last day of the very last summer at Cliff House, Bess will understand the truth of her grandmother’s words in ways she never imagined.

Current Goodreads Rating: 3.58 Stars

8

The Guest Book by Sarah Blake

From My Goodreads Review:

“The Guest Book is an ambitious historical novel that stretches across three generations of the Milton family. It’s the kind of book that makes me wish I had a book club to read it with. Layered and lyrical, there is so much to think about. I was completely swept up, and then satisfied at the end to find Sarah Blake had so thoughtfully (and successfully) brought it all together. Engrossing, haunting, and heart-breaking–but not in a depressing way–this one left me tearful but content. At the end of the year, I think I’ll look back and remember this as one of my favorites!”

Synopsis:

The Guest Book follows three generations of a powerful American family, a family that “used to run the world”.

And when the novel begins in 1935, they still do. Kitty and Ogden Milton appear to have everything—perfect children, good looks, a love everyone envies. But after a tragedy befalls them, Ogden tries to bring Kitty back to life by purchasing an island in Maine. That island, and its house, come to define and burnish the Milton family, year after year after year. And it is there that Kitty issues a refusal that will haunt her till the day she dies.

Current Goodreads Rating: 3.60 Stars

9

You Think It, I’ll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld

From My Goodreads Review:

“Short story collections are usually a toss-up. I always expect to read a few I enjoy, a few I kind of enjoy, and a few I wish I’d never set eyes on. Curtis Sittenfeld’s collection is the exception. I thoroughly enjoyed each and every story. I don’t know how she did it, but within a few sentences the speaker’s voice was clear and their character established. I found myself sad to see each story ending, but eager to read the next one.”

Synopsis:

A suburban mother of two fantasizes about the downfall of an old friend whose wholesome lifestyle empire may or may not be built on a lie. A high-powered lawyer honeymooning with her husband is caught off guard by the appearance of the girl who tormented her in high school. A shy Ivy League student learns the truth about a classmate’s seemingly enviable life.

With moving insight and uncanny precision, Curtis Sittenfeld pinpoints the questionable decisions, missed connections, and sometimes extraordinary coincidences that make up a life. Indeed, she writes what we’re all thinking—if only we could express it with the wit of a master satirist, the storytelling gifts of an old-fashioned raconteur, and the vision of an American original.

Current Goodreads Rating: 3.71 Stars

10

Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave

From My Goodreads Review:

“Everyone Brave is Forgiven is beautifully written, effectively demonstrating the atrocities and loneliness of war, and the uncertainty of falling in love amid such chaos. If you love historical fiction, I highly recommend this one!”

Synopsis:

It’s 1939 and Mary, a young socialite, is determined to shock her blueblood political family by volunteering for the war effort. She is assigned as a teacher to children who were evacuated from London and have been rejected by the countryside because they are infirm, mentally disabled, or—like Mary’s favorite student, Zachary—have colored skin.

Tom, an education administrator, is distraught when his best friend, Alastair, enlists. Alastair, an art restorer, has always seemed far removed from the violent life to which he has now condemned himself. But Tom finds distraction in Mary, first as her employer and then as their relationship quickly develops in the emotionally charged times. When Mary meets Alastair, the three are drawn into a tragic love triangle and—while war escalates and bombs begin falling around them—further into a new world unlike any they’ve ever known.

Current Goodreads Rating: 3.78 Stars

Have you read any of these books? Did you agree with me or Goodreads? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Wandering!