Top Ten Tuesday: Literary Scents for Candles


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

 

Thank you to  Heather @ The Frozen Library for submitting this theme!

Star anise soaking in some dark tea in a white teacup. Beside the teacup on a wooden table are two slices of dehydrated oranges. Scents are an allergy, migraine, and headache trigger for me, so my first reaction to scented candles, along with any other scented item other than most types of food,  is to run away from them as fast as my legs can carry me ;).

I’m going to tweak this topic just a little so I can answer it better.

1) Turkish Delight for The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe. I was well into adulthood before I realized that this type of candy actually exists and was not made up for this book. There are many different flavours of Turkish delight,  but the kind I tried tasted a little floral and sweet which might make for a good candle scent.

2) Chocolate for Chocolat. I craved chocolate so much while reading this.

3) Sugar for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Charlie Bucket, #1). Yes, chocolate could be also included here, but so could bubble gum, cinnamon, blueberries, roast dinners, gum drops, and all sorts of other delicious scents. 

4) Peaches from James and the Giant Peach. They’re such a delicious fruit and scent. 

5) Flowers from Flowers for Algernon

6) Tea from The Tea Rose (The Tea Rose, #1). I feel like there aren’t enough tea-scented possibilities out there for people who enjoy scents.

7) Black coffee from Black Coffee (Hercule Poirot, #7.5). Now this is one scent I actually do enjoy!

8) Nutmeg from Silver Nutmeg. It makes me feel a bit fancy to use this spice. 

9) Gingerbread from The Gingerbread Man. What a heavenly scent this is. 

10) Oranges from The Christmas Orange. Citrus scents can be nice. 

And that is my list. Heather, I hope I stuck closely enough to your idea and that there are many scented candles in your future.

54 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops

54 Responses to Top Ten Tuesday: Literary Scents for Candles

  1. Lots of great features you have for this topic!! I think it’s so fun and clever, I’m just not creative enough to dream up candles for books. 🙂

  2. Aw, I’m sorry that scents cause such problems for you!

  3. Great list, Lydia! So sorry they create such reactions for you. I am allergic to a lot of scents, but I love to think of them in other people’s houses. Thanks for sharing.

  4. Citrus is so refreshing, I like it too. I don’t blame you about the scented candles, I’m not a fan of real ones either.
    Here’s a link to my TTT post
    https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2025/09/16/%f0%9f%93%9a-toptentuesday-10-books-matched-with-candle-scents-tuesdaybookblog-booktwitter-booktwt-bookx/

  5. Glad you could come up with some! My only candles are emergency candles, so I just posted my Tuesday tease!

  6. I really like that you chose sugar over chocolate for CaTCF. I imagine that place would just smell overwhelming sweet and sickly.

  7. My beloved has moderate to severe asthma, so we do not have scented anything in the house. But, I love scents that evoke memories.

    Great scents linked to the stories: Chocolate, Peaches, Flowers, Coffee, Nutmeg and Gingerbread – all great memories.

  8. Brilliant interpretation of the prompt. I wish I had thought of it!

  9. This is such a great interpretation of the topic!

  10. I’m sensitive to some scents, but not others. I think that’s why I tend to stay away from floral-scented candles. If the smell is fruit-based, or even better, baked goods-based, I’m in love.

    Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
    https://readbakecreate.com/bookish-candles-i-want-based-on-recent-reads/

  11. Oranges would be my favorite scent of them all!

  12. I can’t do strong scents, and I don’t tolerate floral scents (or even real flowers) in the home. I went a different direction, but I like what you did here. Have a good week.

  13. Great job making it work! My kids are allergic to many scents and can trigger headaches for me. We don’t really do scents, and I just was clueless this week. haha.

  14. I like this!! The Christmas scent being orange makes me want the orange chocolate “oranges” we always have!

  15. Oh, these are all great ideas! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tea-scented candle (or anything, really, except for actual tea) so I’m really curious how that would work. And I love the smell of coffee but not the actual drink, so that one would be perfect for me!

  16. Love your candle names, especially Turkish Delight. Happy Wednesday!

  17. Gingerbread is one of my favorite things!!!

  18. Bummer that your allergies prevent you from enjoying scented items. I love a scented candle, especially cozy Autumn-ish ones. I also love peach and citrus ones. Great choices!

    Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!

    Susan
    http://www.blogginboutbooks.com

  19. There are so many tea possibilities when it comes to candles. I picture these ones being a bit more subtle in their scents and I would not complain as someone who can only handle so much fragrance.

  20. This is such a wonderful twist on the prompt, Lydia! I love how you took your own unique approach to the topic, and your list is so creative. *The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe* is a fantastic choice, and I can totally imagine that scent. I also love your choices of *Chocolat* and *The Gingerbread Man*! It’s great to see a list with so many different ideas. I hope the prompt was enjoyable for you to tackle despite the headache triggers!

  21. vidya

    Love your twist on the topic, Lydia!! Food is always welcome 🙂 and often reading books with food does make me hungry so having themed snacks is cool

  22. I love this! It’s simple but so essential with all the best scents!

  23. I love how you came up with such a simple but evocative list. It’s easy to picture these scents, and so many of them are ones that I really like. A tea-scented candle could be fantastic – why aren’t there more of these?

    It isn’t easy dealing with scent triggers when they can be everywhere. I’ll be sure to think of you when burning my scented candles or incense!

  24. I used to be obsessed with candles but as I’ve got older, scents trigger headaches and nausea so quickly that I no longer buy them unless they’re very mildly scented, lol. I love your twist on the topic though! The different flavours for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory made me a little bit hungry (might’ve just been the roast dinners part, haha) 🤭

Leave a Reply to Teresa Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *