Top Ten Tuesday: Winter is Coming

October 17: Books with Weather Events in the Title/on the Cover (I’m picturing a list of titles with weather-related words in them like storm, rain, blizzard, flood, lightning, hail, snow, wind, etc. OR covers with lightning/storms in the picture.)

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

That Artsy Reader Girl

There are so many good books showing different weather on the cover that I narrowed the list to winter only, then narrowed again to books I have not read, then narrowed further to top rated.

(“Winter is Coming” – I have already read all the published books in the Song of Ice and Fire series, so none of those books are on the list.)

In alphabetical order:

1

26 Below by Kimberley Woodhouse

•329 pages, Kindle Edition •First published April 1, 2023 •Goodreads rating 4.2

When an old woman’s wild prediction–widespread destruction as soon as the Fairbanks temperature falls to 26 below–hits national headlines, neither Darcie nor Jason sees a real risk to anything but tourism.
Then the bodies start dropping.

goodreads

2

Cold Coast by Robyn Mundy

•284 pages, Kindle Edition •Published October 27, 2021 •Goodreads rating 4.24

In 1932, Wanny Woldstad, a young widow, travels to Svalbard, daring to enter the Norwegian trappers’ fiercely guarded male domain. … will confront polar bears, traverse glaciers, withstand blizzards and the dangers of sea ice, and hike miles to trap Arctic fox, all in the frigid darkness of the four-month polar night.

goodreads

3

The Darkest Evening by Ann Cleeves

•382 pages, Kindle Edition •First published September 3, 2020 •Goodreads rating 4.29

On the first snowy night of winter, Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope sets off for her home in the hills. Though the road is familiar, she misses a turning and soon becomes lost and disorientated. A car skidded off the narrow road in front of her, its door left open, and she stops to help. There is no driver to be seen, … A toddler is strapped in the back seat.

goodreads

4

Dead Mountain by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

•368 pages, Kindle Edition •First published August 22, 2023 •Goodreads rating 4.42

In 2008, nine mountaineers failed to return from a winter backpacking trip in the New Mexico mountains. At their last campsite, searchers found a bizarre scene: something had appeared at the door of their tent so terrifying that it impelled them to slash their way out and flee barefoot to certain death in a blizzard. Despite a diligent search, only six bodies were found, two violently crushed and inexplicably missing body parts. 

goodreads

**this is fiction**

5

Into the Storm by Suzanne Brockmann

•402 pages, Kindle Edition •First published August 15, 2006 •Goodreads rating 4.21

In a remote corner of New Hampshire, SEAL Petty Officer Mark ‘Jenk’ Jenkins and Troubleshooter security expert Lindsey Fontaine are going head-to-head in a raid-and-rescue training exercise. Despite the frigid temperatures, tension smolders between the two, leading to an impulsive night of passion. But when a team member vanishes into the wilderness, Jenk and Lindsey must put aside their feelings as they launch a manhunt with the FBI.

goodreads

6 **nonfiction**

The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz

•289 pages, Kindle Edition •First published January 1, 1956 •Goodreads rating 4.23

On 19 November 1939, Slavomir Rawicz a young Polish cavalry officer, was arrested by the Russians and after brutal interrogation he was sentenced to twenty-five years in a gulag.
After a three-month journey in the dead of winter to Siberia, life in a Soviet labor camp meant enduring hunger, extreme cold, untreated wounds and illnesses and facing the daily risk of arbitrary execution. Realizing that to remain meant almost certain death, Rawicz, along with six companions, escaped. In June 1941, they crossed the trans-Siberian railway and headed south, …

goodreads

7

No Fixed Line by Dana Stabenow

•400 pages, Kindle Edition •First published January 9, 2020 •Goodreads rating 4.24

It is New Year’s Eve, nearly six weeks into an off-and-on blizzard that has locked Alaska down, effectively cutting it off from the outside world. But now there are reports of a plane down in the Quilak mountains. With the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board — responsible for investigating aviation incidents) unable to reach the crash site, ex-Trooper Jim Chopin is pulled out of retirement to try to identify the aircraft, collect the corpses, and determine why no flight has been reported missing. But Jim discovers survivors: two children who don’t speak a word of English.

goodreads

8

Snow Blind by Lori Armstrong

•358 pages, Kindle Edition •First published January 1, 2008 •Goodreads rating 4.31

The PI business is sluggish during the frigid winter months. When a young woman hires Wells/Collins Investigations to poke around at her grandfather’s assisted living facility, we expect a routine case. But my partner Kevin and I immediately spot major problems at the complex with lax security, unqualified healthcare personnel and a shady senior citizen volunteer agency.
… our client’s grandfather wandered off during the blizzard. Questions arise about who inherits the dead man’s sizeable estate, …

goodreads

9

Winter Cottage by Carol Ryrie Brink

•178 pages, Paperback •First published January 1, 1968 •Goodreads rating 4.23

A family that is down on its luck during the Depression appropriates a summer cottage in the Wisconsin woods, where they spend the winter and welcome all visitors, including a runaway youth and two strangers. How Pops and his two daughters cope with their misfortunes without losing heart is a very entertaining story.

goodreads

10

Winter Sisters by Robin Oliveira

•415 pages, Kindle Edition •First published February 27, 2018 •Goodreads rating 4.10

New York, 1879: After an epic snowstorm ravages the city of Albany, Dr. Mary Sutter, a former Civil War surgeon, begins a search for two little girls, the daughters of close friends killed by the storm who have vanished without a trace.
 When what happened to them is revealed, the uproar that ensues tears apart families, reputations, and even the social fabric of the city, exposing dark secrets about some of the most powerful of its citizens, …

goodreads

This one has been added to my TBR list and I hope to read it if not in 2023 then in 2024.

Thoughts