
Top 5 books with an emotion in the title
Hello friends!! Welcome to Top 5 Tuesday!! This week’s topic is top 5 books with an emotion in the title!!
Before we get started today, can I just say a HUGE thanks to everyone who reached out here or on Insta last week. Husband is now home and on the mend. This community of book nerds who show up every week to share their top five books with me on random topics feels like my virtual family. You’re all so amazing, and honestly, you make showing up with a post worth it, week in, week out. Seriously, thank you. 🫶🫶🫶
I really enjoyed this week’s post because I feel like, as a woman, I often have to diminish myself for others. I’m not supposed to be loud or obnoxious, or tell people what I really think. I’m supposed to be demure and quiet, calm and e,patheic, seen but not heard. And sometimes I am genuinely those things. But more often than not, my preference is loud grunge/emo music, black fingernails, and swearing like a pirate. I can be both. And thankfully, the people around me love me for me, not what I’m supposed to represent.
So, this week I picked my favourite books with loud, in your face emotions. And I am unapologetically saying be your true self. Even if it’s just in these posts!!
InLinkz reminder
A reminder to everyone before we begin. We’re using InLinkz! What this means is you will be in charge of linking your own posts here, rather than me scouring the web (or my spreadsheet) for them. I will be posting ahead of everyone because of *timezones*. So, it should be easy for everyone to drop links for your posts.
The Top 5 Tuesday January-March 2025 topics are out now!! While I WILL be publishing the next quarter’s topics on my blog over the next week, I don’t want anyone to miss out who likes to prep their posts in advance. As such, you can see the post topics for the whole of 2025 here!! The date format is the UK/Aus/NZ/most of the world format of DD/MM/YY, so apologies in advance for any confusion for the Americans, or anyone who does YY/MM/DD.
Top 5 Tuesday was created by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm, and is now being hosted here @ Meeghan reads.
Let’s go see my top 5 books with an emotion in the title.

top 5 books with an emotion in the title
My Contrary Mary — Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows

Welcome to Renaissance France, a place of poison and plots, of beauties and beasts, of mice and… queens?
Mary is the queen of Scotland and the jewel of the French court. Except when she’s a mouse. Yes, reader, Mary is an Eðian (shapeshifter) in a kingdom where Verities rule. It’s a secret that could cost her a head — or a tail.
Luckily, Mary has a confidant in her betrothed, Francis. But things at the gilded court take a treacherous turn after the king meets a suspicious end.
Thrust onto the throne, Mary and Francis face a viper’s nest of conspiracies, traps, and treason. And if Mary’s secret is revealed, heads are bound to roll.
The Cruel Prince — Holly Black
Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.
And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.
Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.
To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.
In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

Hate — Tate James

“Madison Kate Danvers was murdered tonight.”
Those words changed my life, and not for the better.
They were wrong, of course. I wasn’t dead. But I was set up.
After being charged with a string of offences — and made an example of by my political minded father — I’m eventually released back into Shadow Grove with one thing on my mind.
Hate.
Someone is going to pay for derailing my carefully laid out future. Someone is going to catch the full force of my hate. How very convenient that someone just moved into the bedroom down the hall from me.
Archer D’Ath and his boys messed with the wrong chick and they’re about to learn just how cold Madison Kate’s hate can run.
A Curse So Dark and Lonely — Brigid Kemmerer
PRINCE RHEN, the heir to Emberfall, is cursed. Forced to repeat the autumn of his eightenth year over and over, he can only be freed if a girl truly falls for him, and fter so many failures his kingdom and its people are barely holding on.
HARPER’s life has never been easy, but she’s learned to be tough enough to survive the streets of Washington, D.C. When she is sucked into Rhen’s world, nothing is as it seems.
Powerful forces are standing against Emberfall… and it will take more than a broken curse to save it from utter ruin.

Pride — Ibi Zoboi

Zuri Benitez has pride. Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable.
When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her older sister, Janae, starts to fall for the charming Ainsley. She especially can’t stand the judgmental and arrogant Darius. Yet as Zuri and Darius are forced to find common ground, their initial dislike shifts into an unexpected understanding.
But with four wild sisters pulling her in different directions, cute boy Warren vying for her attention, and college applications hovering on the horizon, Zuri fights to find her place in Bushwick’s changing landscape, or lose it all.

PARTICIPANTS
What are your top 5 books with an emotion in the title?




21 Comments
Kris ❄️
Love the list! Is contrary an emotion? 🤨 I wouldnt had pin it as such.. then again it looks so much like its french counterpart I mightve mix them up in my brain!
meeghan
It is according to a list I found on google. Who am I to question the internet?!
Kris ❄️
Oh yeah it is! Feeling rebellious it said- i had to check ahah
Margaret
Glad to hear your husband is back home and on the mend! Whether contrary is an emotion or not I do like the sound of Contrary Mary!
meeghan
Haha, I didn’t have it originally, but I googled a list of emotions (there were 53) and it was on there so I added it 😂
meeghan
This one: https://www.healthline.com/health/list-of-emotions
wonderwall360blog
Wow 53, maybe if I had known all it would have been easier.
Also it was Tina Turner not Jackson who sang love was a second hand emotion.
wonderwall360blog
Sorry did not get to read last week’s post and did not really have a complete list of places ready to post; so did not see about husband. Glad he is on the mend!
My list of emotions is currently only list of two. I was thinking of simple things like happy and sad. Then I saw cruel and contrary and now wonder if not been thinking wide enough! I had also thought about that song (Michael Jackson) love is just a second hand emotion. So I wondered about including anything with love in the title!
meeghan
Love is definitely an emotion!! I wavered about putting Loathe to Love You by Ali Hazelwood, but in the end decided to put something else.
wonderwall360blog
I will see if I can get up to 5 on my list today. Only 10:30 in the morning for me in UK so kind of time apart from work stuff got to do!
meeghan
Good luck!!
Lin
So glad that your husband is doing well! And absolutely, by all means, be unapologetically YOU! every damn time you owe no explanation for anything to anyone.
Those are great picks I have The Cruel Prince on my TBR as well. I hope you have a wonderful week ahead and play that music louder!
meeghan
Thanks Lin, you too!!
Goals and Good Vibes
Glad to hear about your husband!!
meeghan
Thank you! 💕
Marianne @ Let's Read
So glad to hear your hubby is back home. Thanks for still keeping on here even under difficult circumstances.
I love contrary Mary. What a title. We share two emotions: Pride and Hate. I had fun again with this one.
meeghan
Thanks Marianne! And I’m so glad you had fun with this topic 💕
mistysbookspace
I’m glad your husband is back home and on the mend!!
meeghan
Thanks so much, Misty!
dbsguidetothegalaxy
Glad to hear good news about your husband! 💜 Oh you took the smart route and looked up a list of emotions. I just… stared at my Read list and went: is this??? an emotion??? at anything that could potentially be classed as one haha
meeghan
sending you hugs, my love 💕