Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. Each Tuesday is assigned a topic.
This weeks topic: Top Ten Books that Include the Word “Blood”
It took awhile to find a word that matched up with books I’ve either read, have on my TBR list, or are on my want to read list. I took to google to find the most common words used in book titles, to try and find options that would exist among my reading history. Eventually I settled on the word ‘Blood’ which appeared in the titles of six books I had read and four I had yet to read but have wanted to for varying lengths of time. Below is my list of books that include the word ‘Blood’ they are in no particular order.
Title: House of Earth and Blood
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Published: March 3, 2020
Genre: Romantasy
Series: Crescent City
Synopsis:
Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life-working hard all day and partying all night-until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She’ll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.
Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose-to assassinate his boss’s enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he’s offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.
As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City’s underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion-one that could set them both free, if they’d only let it.
With unforgettable characters, sizzling romance, and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom-and the power of love.
I remember this one being a little bit jarring with all of the modernality like cell phones and a form of electricity, etc. It was so different from everything else Sarah J. Maas had written so far. I was so used to the traditional fantasy (with semi-modern comforts like indoor plumbing) worlds she had created previously. Eventually I got used to it and the story pulled me in and I devoured the series.
Title: Blood of Elves
Author: Andrzej Sapkowski
Expected Publication: January 1, 1994
Genre: Fantasy
Series: The Witcher
Synopsis:
May the sea always sing for you
For over a century, humans, dwarves, gnomes, and elves have lived together in relative peace. But times have changed, the uneasy peace is over, and now the races are fighting once again. The only good elf, it seems, is a dead elf.
Geralt of Rivia, the cunning assassin known as The Witcher, has been waiting for the birth of a prophesied child. This child has the power to change the world – for good, or for evil.
As the threat of war hangs over the land and the child is hunted for her extraordinary powers, it will become Geralt’s responsibility to protect them all – and the Witcher never accepts defeat.
The Witcher returns in this sequel to The Last Wish, as the inhabitants of his world become embroiled in a state of total war.
My first introduction to The Witcher was the Netflix TV show. I’ve played the first of the video games, I dabbled with the second game, but the computer I had at the time was not powerful enough to run it properly, which meant I also couldn’t play the third one. I will eventually since I now have a computer powerful enough. This was the first book I read from the series of books. It is the first book of the trilogy story. There are books prior to this that combine the short stories the author wrote for a serialized magazine that provide background of characters, as well as world history. I’ve read the first of those as well. I’ve been trying to find physical copies of each of the books for the editions I already have, which is proving difficult as they are now out of print and new editions have been published. I do have most of the books in Ebook form now, so eventually I will read the rest of them.
Title: A Fate Inked in Blood
Author: Danielle L. Jensen
Published February 27, 2024
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Series: Saga of the Unfated
Synopsis:
A shield maiden blessed by the gods battles to unite a nation under a power-hungry king—while also fighting her growing desire for his fiery son—in the first book of a Norse-inspired fantasy romance series from the bestselling author of The Bridge Kingdom series.
Bound in an unwanted marriage, Freya spends her days gutting fish, but dreams of becoming a warrior. And of putting an axe in her boorish husband’s back.
Freya’s dreams abruptly become reality when her husband betrays her to the region’s jarl, landing her in a fight to the death against his son, Bjorn. To survive, Freya is forced to reveal her deepest secret: She possesses a drop of a goddess’s blood, which makes her a shield maiden with magic capable of repelling any attack. It was foretold such a magic would unite the fractured nation of Skaland beneath the one who controls the shield maiden’s fate.
Believing he’s destined to rule Skaland as king, the fanatical jarl binds Freya with a blood oath and orders Bjorn to protect her from their enemies. Desperate to prove her strength, Freya must train to fight and learn to control her magic, all while facing perilous tests set by the gods. The greatest test of all, however, may be resisting her forbidden attraction to Bjorn. If Freya succumbs to her lust for the charming and fierce warrior, she risks not only her own destiny but the fate of all the people she swore to protect
This was such a good book. Freya is such a badass. I still haven’t read the second book in this series. I’ll probably re-read this one first before I do. Danielle L. Jensen also wrote The Bridge Kingdom series. If you are familiar with that and read and enjoyed those, you’ll definitely enjoy this one. Danielle L. Jensen is also a Canadian author from the same province I live in, so that’s pretty cool to me.
Title: The Blood Traitor
Author: Lynette Noni
Published: June 14, 2022
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Series: The Prison Healer
Synopsis:
She’d failed them. All of them. And now she was paying the price.
Kiva thought she knew what she wanted—revenge. But feelings change, people change… everything has changed.
After what happened at the palace, Kiva is desperate to know if her friends and family are safe, and whether those she wronged can ever forgive her. But with the kingdoms closer to the brink of war than they’ve ever been, and Kiva far away from the conflict, more is at stake than her own broken heart.
A fresh start will mean a perilous quest, forcing mortal enemies and uneasy allies together in a race against the clock to save not just Evalon, but all of Wenderall. With her loyalties now set, Kiva can no longer just survive—she must fight for what she believes in. For who she believes in. But with danger coming from every side, and the lives of everyone she loves at risk, does she have what it takes to stand, or will she fall?
This is the third book in the Prison Healer series. I absolutely love this series, and definitely recommend it. The world building in this series is incredible.
Title: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Author: J. K. Rowling
Published: July 16, 2005
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Synopsis:
It is the middle of the summer, but there is an unseasonal mist pressing against the windowpanes. Harry Potter is waiting nervously in his bedroom at the Dursleys’ house in Privet Drive for a visit from Professor Dumbledore himself. One of the last times he saw the Headmaster was in a fierce one-to-one duel with Lord Voldemort, and Harry can’t quite believe that Professor Dumbledore will actually appear at the Dursleys’ of all places. Why is the Professor coming to visit him now? What is it that cannot wait until Harry returns to Hogwarts in a few weeks’ time? Harry’s sixth year at Hogwarts has already got off to an unusual start, as the worlds of Muggle and magic start to intertwine…
Most of us millenials grew up reading the Harry Potter books. Besides Order of the Phoenix this one was probably my favourite, this one provided so much background information on particular characters that helped make sense of how they were the way they were.
Title: Half-Blood
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Published: October 18, 2011
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Series: Covenant
Synopsis:
The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi—pure-bloods—have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals—well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures.
I started listening to the audiobooks of this series through my library on a whim. While I still have to finish the series, I found the premise of the series to be interesting and good enough to continue on listening to the rest of the series.
Title: Blood of Hercules
Author: Jasmine Mas
Expected Publication: August 1, 2024
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Series: Villains of Lore
Synopsis:
Step into the Coliseum at the Spartan War Academy where monsters are made, immortality is won, and even a god can die…
Alexis Hert isn’t a hero, and she certainly isn’t a god. All she’s ever been is a survivor.
But the Fates disagree.
When a blood test leads to her admittance at the Spartan War Academy, she’ll have to do more than merely survive.
Alexis will have to claim her birthright: immortality.
But immortality is a privilege, one earned in the crucible of the academy, where the heroes are villains and classrooms battlegrounds. While gladiators Achilles and Patro, her demanding mentors, hone her into a warrior, Augustus and Kharon, her professors and the brooding heirs to the underworld, haunt her steps and her thoughts.
Because where there are gods, there are bound to be monsters, and there is more than one hunting Alexis…
I have had this one on my TBR for awhile now. I’d heard about it through social media. The premise sounds very interesting. I hope to read it within the next year or so.
Title: Blood & Honey
Author: Shelby Mahurin
Published: September 1, 2020
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, YA
Series: Serpent & Dove
Synopsis:
After narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Dames Blanches, Lou, Reid, Coco, and Ansel are on the run from coven, kingdom, and church—fugitives with nowhere to hide.
To elude the scores of witches and throngs of chasseurs at their heels, Lou and Reid need allies. Strong ones. But protection comes at a price, and the group is forced to embark on separate quests to build their forces. As Lou and Reid try to close the widening rift between them, the dastardly Morgane baits them in a lethal game of cat and mouse that threatens to destroy something worth more than any coven.
This is the second book in the Serpent & Dove series. The series is in my TBR list as well. I’d heard good things about the series and hopefully when I do get around to reading it I will think so too.
Title: Fire & Blood
Author: George R. R. Martin
Published: November 20, 2018
Genre: Fantasy
Series: A Targaryen History
Synopsis:
Centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones, House Targaryen—the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria—took up residence on Dragonstone. Fire and Blood begins their tale with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconic seat, all the way up to the civil war that nearly tore their dynasty apart.
What really happened during the Dance of the Dragons? Why did it become so deadly to visit Valyria after the Doom? What is the origin of Daenerys’s three dragon eggs? These are but a few of the questions answered in this essential chronicle, as related by a learned maester of the Citadel and featuring more than eighty all-new black-and-white illustrations by artist Doug Wheatley. Readers have glimpsed small parts of this narrative in such volumes as The World of Ice & Fire, but now, for the first time, the full tapestry of Targaryen history is revealed.
With all the scope and grandeur of Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Fire and Blood is the ultimate game of thrones, giving readers a whole new appreciation for the dynamic, often bloody, and always fascinating history of Westeros.
So this one is on my want to read list. I’ve watched most of The Game of Thrones tv Series and the first two seasons of House of the Dragon. I’ve read about 1/4 of the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. I eventually plan to read the entire series that is available. So this one also enter that with the history of Targaryen family.
Title: On Wings of Blood
Author: Briar Boleyn
Expected Publication: November 30, 2024
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Synopsis:
I didn’t sign up for this.
A half-fae in a school of highblood vampires? That’s a recipe for torment.
I’m Medra Pendragon—last of the dragon riders, or so they tell me. Funny thing is, there are no dragons left. Not a single one. But somehow, that hasn’t stopped the vampires from deciding I’m worth capturing. Now I’m stuck at Bloodwing Academy, where the highbloods run everything and blightborn like me? We’re just blood in their veins, pawns in their games.
But that’s not even the worst part. Enter Blake Drakharrow. Cold, arrogant, and way too gorgeous for his own good. He’s been tormenting me since the moment we met, and now, thanks to some ancient ritual, we’re betrothed. He acts like he owns me, but I’m not going down without a fight.
Bloodwing isn’t just a school—it’s a battlefield. Highbloods fight for power, and if you’re weak? You’re dead.
Between deadly competitions, lies that could get me executed, and a dragon-shaped secret looming over my head, all I have to do is survive. Easy, right? Except I’m starting to think the real danger isn’t the academy—it’s what I’m becoming in this twisted game of power.
And Blake? He might just be the one who pushes me over the edge.
They think they can control me. They think they can use me.
But they have no idea what they’ve awakened.
This book is in my TBR list. I have been a fan of all things related to Vampires in media. (Yes even twilight — but I hate the sparkly vampire nonsense in that series). Social media also pointed me in the direction of this one. I’m not sure when I’ll get to reading it. I hope I enjoy it as much as others have.
Thanks for reading!
What word did you choose for your list?
Are there any books you would recommend based on this list?
Leave a comment below and let me know!
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