Fall TBR
As much as I love summertime and the pleasant ability to read outside, fall is another favorite time for reading -- some days are warm enough to read outside, especially in the afternoon; other days demand the coziest of hot drinks and sweaters and blankets without having the full weight of bitter-cold winter upon you.
But this post is specifically about TTT. I was really determined with the summer set -- I actually read all but #3! And they WERE all great reads, most 4 stars or better, all at minimum enjoyable. Can I repeat my success?? Probably not, as several of these fall into the "I don't expect fireworks, but I'm still interested" camp, and also I kept reading through everything that was going to be on this list, so half of them I added basically on impulse a day or two ago, and I may just as quickly lose that interest. Still, maybe they'll surprise me. That's always a good feeling.
1. The Tenth Girl - Sara Faring (2019)
I see its rating has dropped crazy low on Goodreads since I first heard of it, but people also seem mad for reasons that I personally would never let get in the way of a rollicking good spooky time, so I think I've picked my peak Halloween read.
2. A School for Unusual Girls - Kathleen Baldwin (2015)
A rare-these-days random pull from the library shelf. Although I am v. resistant to historical fiction (even knowing that I tend to enjoy the ones I pick!), let alone vaguely alt!history, the cover was just so pretty and the first few pages had me captivated. Don’t love that it’s part of a quartet, so I’m just telling myself it’s a standalone to avoid feeling overwhelmed by page count.
3. In the Shadow of Lakecrest - Elizabeth Blackwell (2017)
Speaking of that genre I usually avoid...here we go again! I've found myself surprisingly interested in the 20s of late, after years of thinking they were boring (IDK why), so the idea of a spontaneous marriage and being whisked off to a creepy isolated estate? Perfect marriage (no pun intended) of my favorite themes. First review describes it as "A dark, gothic story full of mystery and lies." Sign me UP.
4. Submerged - Elizabeth Goddard (2015)
This will only happen if I have the patience to read more on OpenLibrary, buuuut, when my shippy Blood & Treasure feelings spike to the point that I cannot wait seven entire days for another installment, my solution is to go cast them in a romance novel. A romantic suspense novel, specifically, because I used one of Goddard's books last time and the stock characters worked great for painting mine onto, so she's my new go-to. Exes thrown back together + constant near-death experience = exactly what I crave in my paper-doll scenarios, thank you.
5. Maisie Lockwood Adventures #2: The Yosemite Six (2022)
Releasing in a week, I will once again have to cross my fingers and hope it turns up on Libby, since my library must not have gotten enough purchase suggestions other than mine to buy the series. But if it's not there in like two weeks, I will probably bite the bullet and get an e-book version. I NEED MORE OF CLAIRE & OWEN I mean...Maisie's...adventures!!
6. This Is Our Story - Ashley Elston (2016)
I went to a small library and checked out literally every YA title that looked appealing to me and I hadn't already read (there were less than 10. So much boring garbage, even on a single wall shelf). I've been thinking about this for a while, and now feels like a fine time to read a teen thriller about a girl interning for the D.A. who's working a case on 4 friends covering up the (accidental?) death of a 5th while hunting. Looks kind of like A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder meets S.T.A.G.S., but American.
7. God, Family, Country - Craig Morgan (2022)
Also releasing in a week, this memoir was not even on my radar until a few days ago, when I saw an article in People Magazine. I have never heard his music, and don't even think I'd heard of him until he turned up as a contestant on my beloved ULTRA-RIDICULOUS reality competition show "Beyond The Edge" this spring. Where he proceeded to be awesome and was eclipsed only by Jodie Sweetin in my heart, so yeah, I wanna hear more from him now. (Then '22 will have two celebrity memoirs I read because of that show, lol)
8. The Last Bookseller - Gary Goodman (2021)
By contrast, this author is personally much more famous to me because his store in Stillwater was basically my favorite place in the world, definitely the best 2ndhand bookstore I've ever been to in terms of actually vintage/antiquarian stock that appealed to me, and was devastated when I walked in one day to find it closing. I was also flabbergasted and excited to see his name pop up on Goodreads last year as the author of this memoir about his career. Now that the request list has died down a bit, time to jump on it.
9. Small Game - Blaire Braverman (2022)
Not releasing until NOVEMBER*, augh, Goodreads Stop Telling Me About Upcoming Books When I Specifically Don't Read Any Of Your Hype Blogs Challenge...but I randomly checked out her coffee table book about sled dogs earlier this fall (5 stars!), and when I was poking around her author page and making a mental note never to touch her memoir, I saw this novel and COWABUNGA. "A gripping debut novel about a survival reality show gone wrong that leaves a group of strangers stranded in the northern wilds" oh I'm sorry did you say SIBERIA?? Maybe with less supernatural mystery element and more straight-up murder, but regardless, this is OBVIOUSLY right up my alley.
*god, this is officially my TBR post record for number of unreleased books, and I didn't even include Inheritance Games the Third because I'm not sure when I'll be ready to be done. But I just chugged 8 books in 8 days -- a panic response to work coming back soon! -- and I'm in the middle of two more, so it's hard for me to add even more immediate reads, lest I get distracted. So here we are.
10. My Candlelight Novel - Joanne Horniman. (2008)
Sequel/companion novel, narrated by the other sister, to an Australian YA novel I just read and found irresistibly lyrical. The fact that I liked it enough to read it on OpenLibrary is a testament to its strength, and I'm already looking at her other teenage duology like, "I bet I would enjoy that also."
BONUS because I just remembered another November release I've been hyped for since I read the first one (Vanishing Edge) in July --
11. An Unforgiving Place - Claire Kells (2022)
Second in the new mystery series about a federal investigator and park ranger duo solving mysteries in remote locales. Cannot wait.
Comment Process: despite checking every privacy option possible to allow it, LJ seems not to be letting people post anonymous comments here, possibly because I refuse to switch the hideous mobile-friendly "up-to-date" version of the layout. So your options are creating a free LJ account, or trying to comment anonymously and then, after it says it wasn't posted, you get an option to log in with an OpenID, Twitter, Facebook or Google account and post it. I recognize it's a hassle, so zero pressure to leave one, I just hope you enjoy reading.
But this post is specifically about TTT. I was really determined with the summer set -- I actually read all but #3! And they WERE all great reads, most 4 stars or better, all at minimum enjoyable. Can I repeat my success?? Probably not, as several of these fall into the "I don't expect fireworks, but I'm still interested" camp, and also I kept reading through everything that was going to be on this list, so half of them I added basically on impulse a day or two ago, and I may just as quickly lose that interest. Still, maybe they'll surprise me. That's always a good feeling.
1. The Tenth Girl - Sara Faring (2019)
I see its rating has dropped crazy low on Goodreads since I first heard of it, but people also seem mad for reasons that I personally would never let get in the way of a rollicking good spooky time, so I think I've picked my peak Halloween read.
2. A School for Unusual Girls - Kathleen Baldwin (2015)
A rare-these-days random pull from the library shelf. Although I am v. resistant to historical fiction (even knowing that I tend to enjoy the ones I pick!), let alone vaguely alt!history, the cover was just so pretty and the first few pages had me captivated. Don’t love that it’s part of a quartet, so I’m just telling myself it’s a standalone to avoid feeling overwhelmed by page count.
3. In the Shadow of Lakecrest - Elizabeth Blackwell (2017)
Speaking of that genre I usually avoid...here we go again! I've found myself surprisingly interested in the 20s of late, after years of thinking they were boring (IDK why), so the idea of a spontaneous marriage and being whisked off to a creepy isolated estate? Perfect marriage (no pun intended) of my favorite themes. First review describes it as "A dark, gothic story full of mystery and lies." Sign me UP.
4. Submerged - Elizabeth Goddard (2015)
This will only happen if I have the patience to read more on OpenLibrary, buuuut, when my shippy Blood & Treasure feelings spike to the point that I cannot wait seven entire days for another installment, my solution is to go cast them in a romance novel. A romantic suspense novel, specifically, because I used one of Goddard's books last time and the stock characters worked great for painting mine onto, so she's my new go-to. Exes thrown back together + constant near-death experience = exactly what I crave in my paper-doll scenarios, thank you.
5. Maisie Lockwood Adventures #2: The Yosemite Six (2022)
Releasing in a week, I will once again have to cross my fingers and hope it turns up on Libby, since my library must not have gotten enough purchase suggestions other than mine to buy the series. But if it's not there in like two weeks, I will probably bite the bullet and get an e-book version. I NEED MORE OF CLAIRE & OWEN I mean...Maisie's...adventures!!
6. This Is Our Story - Ashley Elston (2016)
I went to a small library and checked out literally every YA title that looked appealing to me and I hadn't already read (there were less than 10. So much boring garbage, even on a single wall shelf). I've been thinking about this for a while, and now feels like a fine time to read a teen thriller about a girl interning for the D.A. who's working a case on 4 friends covering up the (accidental?) death of a 5th while hunting. Looks kind of like A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder meets S.T.A.G.S., but American.
7. God, Family, Country - Craig Morgan (2022)
Also releasing in a week, this memoir was not even on my radar until a few days ago, when I saw an article in People Magazine. I have never heard his music, and don't even think I'd heard of him until he turned up as a contestant on my beloved ULTRA-RIDICULOUS reality competition show "Beyond The Edge" this spring. Where he proceeded to be awesome and was eclipsed only by Jodie Sweetin in my heart, so yeah, I wanna hear more from him now. (Then '22 will have two celebrity memoirs I read because of that show, lol)
8. The Last Bookseller - Gary Goodman (2021)
By contrast, this author is personally much more famous to me because his store in Stillwater was basically my favorite place in the world, definitely the best 2ndhand bookstore I've ever been to in terms of actually vintage/antiquarian stock that appealed to me, and was devastated when I walked in one day to find it closing. I was also flabbergasted and excited to see his name pop up on Goodreads last year as the author of this memoir about his career. Now that the request list has died down a bit, time to jump on it.
9. Small Game - Blaire Braverman (2022)
Not releasing until NOVEMBER*, augh, Goodreads Stop Telling Me About Upcoming Books When I Specifically Don't Read Any Of Your Hype Blogs Challenge...but I randomly checked out her coffee table book about sled dogs earlier this fall (5 stars!), and when I was poking around her author page and making a mental note never to touch her memoir, I saw this novel and COWABUNGA. "A gripping debut novel about a survival reality show gone wrong that leaves a group of strangers stranded in the northern wilds" oh I'm sorry did you say SIBERIA?? Maybe with less supernatural mystery element and more straight-up murder, but regardless, this is OBVIOUSLY right up my alley.
*god, this is officially my TBR post record for number of unreleased books, and I didn't even include Inheritance Games the Third because I'm not sure when I'll be ready to be done. But I just chugged 8 books in 8 days -- a panic response to work coming back soon! -- and I'm in the middle of two more, so it's hard for me to add even more immediate reads, lest I get distracted. So here we are.
10. My Candlelight Novel - Joanne Horniman. (2008)
Sequel/companion novel, narrated by the other sister, to an Australian YA novel I just read and found irresistibly lyrical. The fact that I liked it enough to read it on OpenLibrary is a testament to its strength, and I'm already looking at her other teenage duology like, "I bet I would enjoy that also."
BONUS because I just remembered another November release I've been hyped for since I read the first one (Vanishing Edge) in July --
11. An Unforgiving Place - Claire Kells (2022)
Second in the new mystery series about a federal investigator and park ranger duo solving mysteries in remote locales. Cannot wait.
Comment Process: despite checking every privacy option possible to allow it, LJ seems not to be letting people post anonymous comments here, possibly because I refuse to switch the hideous mobile-friendly "up-to-date" version of the layout. So your options are creating a free LJ account, or trying to comment anonymously and then, after it says it wasn't posted, you get an option to log in with an OpenID, Twitter, Facebook or Google account and post it. I recognize it's a hassle, so zero pressure to leave one, I just hope you enjoy reading.