Today's TTT prompt—Top Ten Villains (favorite, best, worst, lovable, creepiest, most evil, etc.)—is a head scratcher for me. I got nothin'. Next week's—Top Ten Bookish Candles I'd Make—is beyond the limits of my creativity, so for the next two weeks, I'm going rogue. In three weeks, we'll all be talking about our Fall TBR lists, but I'm going to get started early. Over the next three weeks, I'll be yapping about the top 30 books I want to read before 2025 ends. I still need to complete 55 books to hit my Goodreads goal of 200 and, although I do have a printed-out list of 90 possibilities, I won't bore you with all that. We'll stick to the 30 I'm most likely to read spaced out over the next three weeks. You're welcome.

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

1. The Alice Network by Kate Quinn—Although I love historical fiction, I've yet to read a book by this popular author. The Alice Network is my book club's pick for this month, so I'll be starting it soon. It's a dual-timeline novel that focuses on the real-life, all-female spy ring called the Alice Network, which conducted espionage efforts against the Germans in France during World War I. 

2. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins—I've heard nothing but praise for this Hunger Games prequel that focuses on the backstory of Haymitch Abernathy and his experience as a competitor in the 50th annual games.

3. Famous Last Words by Katie Alender—I need to read two books with the same title for a reading challenge and I've already completed Famous Last Words by Gilly Macmillan. Alender's book by the same name has a completely different storyline. Alender's is a YA mystery with a supernatural twist. A teenage girl is experiencing strange, haunting visions that seem to be sending her a message about a series of murders that are currently happening in Los Angeles. In order to regain her sanity, the girl must figure out what the messages mean in order to bring a killer to justice.

4. Clover Blue by Eldonna Edwards—In 1970s California, 12-year-old Clover Blue is growing up on a peaceful commune full of colorful people. He's happy there. Until his best friend urges him to start asking questions of the community's founder and the answers he's given just aren't enough. As Clover searches for answers, he makes some startling discoveries that create disturbing cracks in his sanguine existence.

5. The Five: The Untold Story of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold—For a reading challenge, I need to read a book that debunks a historical myth. Emily at ARRRGH! Schooling suggested this book, which delves into the lives of Jack the Ripper's victims, showing that they weren't just throwaway women, but complex human beings with rich lives that were extinguished far too soon. Sounds fascinating! 

6. Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce—I've been meaning to read this historical novel since it came out. I've heard great things about it and, bonus, I need a book about "creepy crawlies" for a reading challenge. Beetles fit that description for me! The novel is about a spinster schoolteacher living a bleak existence in post-World War II London. Tired of the drudgery, she impulsively decides to take off on an adventure to find a mythical beetle. When she advertises for an assistant, she's surprised by who applies. Together, the two very different women find friendship, excitement, trouble, and maybe, a great discovery. 

7. Shadows in the Mind's Eye by Janyre Tromp—When Anne's husband returns from serving in World War II, he's a changed man. Haunted by the horrors he witnessed, he's become sullen and scary. When he claims to see strange men hiding in the mountains near their home, Anne's not sure whether to believe him or not. If he's telling the truth, then who are the men? And what do they want? If her husband is having paranoid delusions, what does that mean for them and their already struggling marriage?

8. Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness—I feel like I've been talking incessantly lately about Ness' Chaos Walking trilogy. It's one of my all-time favorite YA series and 've been rereading it this year in anticipation of a new spin-off trilogy that will be published starting in Spring 2026. Monsters of Men is the third book in the original series, which is about a young man and his girlfriend and their quest to save their world. 

9. Such a Good Mom by Julia Spiro—I'm on a library waiting list for this novel about a woman whose perfect-looking life is slowly falling apart. Her already unraveling marriage becomes even more strained when the body of a family friend washes ashore and her husband is arrested for the murder. In spite of her own struggles, she must find out the truth about her friend's death in order to clear her husband's name.

10. Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto—I enjoyed the first book in this fun series. Even though I've heard this second installment isn't as good, I'm still excited to reconnect with Vera and her friends. This time around, Vera & Co. are searching for a missing man who no one appears to actually know. Who is Xander Lin? What happend to him? Vera is determined to find out.

What are you planning to read before the end of the year? I'd love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

I'm not sure how, but we have managed to reach the middle of 2025. The year has whizzed by in some ways; in other ways, it feels like its been going on for forever. The Mid-Year Freak Out Book Tag is a fun way to mark the occasion. Created by Ely @Earl Grey Books and Chami, it offers a chance to look at what we've accomplished in our reading in the first six months of the year. It is a tag, but I wasn't tagged by anyone and I'm not going to tag anyone. If you want to do it, consider yourself tagged! (I used the same version of the tag that Leslie @Books Are the New Black did. I've seen slight variations in the questions on other blogs.)

Every year, I try to read more than I did the year before. To this end, I set my Goodreads goal at 215 for 2025. I'm almost halfway there:

I've taken on a bunch of reading challenges this year. Some of them are short term, some of them last all year, and others are open-ended ones. I'm over 50% done with the majority of them. You can see where I'm at by checking out the left sidebar of my blog or by clicking the "Reading Challenges" tab at the top of my homepage.

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Evil Bones by Kathy Reichs (available November 18, 2025)

It Happened on the Lake by Lisa Jackson—This book is way too long, too melodramatic, too predictable, too far-fetched, too everything. I read all 592 pages, but man, it was a slog!

Murder Runs in the Family by Tamara Berry—I love a good cozy mystery and Tamara Berry is one of my favorite cozy authors. This book has a fun premise, too. All of these things should have equaled a real hit for me, but this one was a pretty meh read for me. The main characters were annoying and the plot dragged. I wanted to love the book, but I just...didn't.

A Dream of Death by Connie Berry—I read this book, the first installment in Berry's Kate Hamilton mystery series, in January and really enjoyed it. I've since read the next three books and will likely finished the next two—a holiday novella and a full-length book—by the end of the year. It's a light, clean, entertaining mystery series that has provided some great comfort reading.

I've discovered lots of great new characters this year, but I'm really not the "book boyfriend" type.

Vera Wong is the character who came immediately to mind for this question. She makes me laugh! Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto is the first book in the series. I still need to read the second.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness—I loved this book when I first read it back in 2011, but it had been so long that I had forgotten that my favorite character dies. It's such a pitiful scene, too, that it ripped my heart out all over again. 

At 26, Meddelin Chan is playing the part of the dutiful Asian daughter by living with her mother and working as a photographer for the family wedding planning business.  It's not exactly what she had in mind for her future, but she can't allow herself to follow her cousins' shameful examples by flitting off to a more exotic clime in search of her own life, leaving her mother behind to cluck over her disloyalty.  Even as she yearns for freedom, Meddy has to admit she finds reluctant comfort in the way her mom and her mom's three loud, overbearing sisters fuss over her every move.  When a bad blind date takes a turn for the much, much worse, she knows exactly who to call.  Turns out, when it comes to hiding a body, her always-feuding, middle-aged aunties are better than the mob.  

Meddy's timing couldn't be worse, however.  With the biggest wedding of their career about to unfold, the women have to bring their A-game to the sparkling event.  Having a corpse along for the ride is not exactly helping.  Things become even more complicated when Meddy realizes her college boyfriend—the one she has pined for ever since their devastating break-up four years ago—is part of the wedding.  Then, the groomsmen get too plastered to walk down the aisle, millions of dollars in gifts go missing, a storm descends on the resort venue, and everything else that could possibly go wrong does.  A suspicious sheriff on the premises could mean the end of the charade and the incarceration of Meddy and her unlikely accomplices.  Can the ladies pull off both a flawless wedding and the perfect crime?  Or will they be planning their next event behind bars, wearing those oh-so-unflattering orange jumpsuits? 

Ever since I heard about Dial A for Aunties, a debut novel by Jesse Q. Sutanto, I knew I wanted to read it.  It just sounded like the perfect light-hearted blend of rom-com and cozy mystery.  Sure, it would be far-fetched and silly, but it also promised to be a fun, upbeat romp.  I've read a lot of dark, depressing books lately, so I was down for something different.  My verdict?  Dial A for Aunties is a fun read in lots of ways.  The "aunties" are definitely the highlight of the story with their constant bickering, hilarious malapropisms, and misplaced pride.  While little about the plot makes any logical sense, it is entertaining in its madcap absurdity.  I also appreciated the #OwnVoices aspect of this novel, in which Sutanto highlights her own Indonesian-Chinese heritage.  All of these elements combine to make the story humorous and entertaining.

I read mostly serious books, which sometimes makes it tough for me to really appreciate a kooky comedy.  So, while I found Dial A for Aunties entertaining, its quick transitions from silly to ridiculous to utterly absurd did drive me a little crazy after a while.  By the end of the story, I was very much done with the over-the-top-ness of it all.  Even in a screwball story like this, there has to be some logic governing the characters' actions, right?  Another thing that tempers the fun in this one is that it's actually very R-rated.  I was surprised to find F-bombs being dropped all over the place, as well as a plethora of innuendo and less subtle sexual references.  This just didn't fit the fun, cozy-ish vibe Dial A for Aunties seemed to be going for.  I admit to going into this book with unrealistically high expectations, which maybe contributed to me feeling (disproportionally?) disappointed in it.  Nevertheless, I found myself wishing for a less daffy, more PG version of this novel.  This opinion will probably make me an outlier in the book blogging world (which is totally okay), but for me, Dial A for Aunties was just an average read.  An entertaining one, just one that didn't turn out to be as satisfying as I wanted it to be.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of the Noodle Shop Mystery series by Vivien Chien)

To the FTC, with love:  I received an e-ARC for Dial A for Aunties from the generous folks at Penguin Random House in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you!

Some Top Ten Tuesday topics are complete head-scratchers for me.  Others are no-brainers.  This week's is the latter and, honestly, I'm glad for a prompt that doesn't require a lot of thinking on my part.  Coming up with a list of My Ten Most Recent Reads was a cinch.  If you want to jump in on this easiest of TTT topics, use a past one, or even come up with your own, head on over to That Artsy Reader Girl to get started.  It's tons of fun!

My Ten Most Recent Reads  

1.  The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton—This swashbuckling adventure/mystery story is all kinds of entertaining.  Grade:  B

2.  Until I Find You by Rea Frey—Although the denouement of this one is far-fetched and dissatisfying, I liked the novel otherwise.  It's a mystery/thriller about a grieving widow with a degenerative eye disease that has rendered her nearly blind who is convinced someone has replaced her newborn with someone else's baby.  Grade:  B-

3.  The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein—Narrated by Enzo, a pooch with a soul that is "very human," this book tells the story of a race car driver who must deal with some paralyzing life situations.  His faithful dog witnesses it all and does his best to provide his owner with comfort and joy, in spite of their trials.  I listened to this novel on audio.  While the tale kept my interest, I didn't end up loving it for a variety of reasons.  Grade:  C+

4.  The Boy From the Woods by Harlan Coben—This missing persons mystery stars Wilde, a man with few memories of his life as a feral child living alone in the forest.  Although he still prefers trees to people, he agrees to help search for a teenage girl who has vanished.  There are elements of this novel that I liked, but overall, it was just an average read for me.  Grade:  C  

5.  The Second Life of Mirielle West by Amanda Skenandore (available July 27, 2021)—In this historical novel which begins in 1926, a Hollywood socialite receives a shocking diagnosis of leprosy.  Sent to a Louisiana sanitorium for treatment, she must come to terms with a life she never could have imagined living.  I found this one interesting and engrossing, although I didn't end up absolutely loving it.  Grade:  B-

6.  The Cold Vanish by Jon Billman—Lark gave this book, about the astonishing number of people who go missing in America's national parks, a rave review on her blog.  Like her, I found it fascinating.  Grade:  B

7.  All the Children Are Home by Patry Francis—Another historical novel, this one revolves around an agoraphobic woman who retreats to her home after a horrific assault.  Becoming a foster mother, especially to a young Native American girl who has been severely abused, changes everything for her and her family.  Grade:  B-

8.  The Daughters of Foxcote Manor by Eve Chase—I love me an atmospheric family secrets story and this one certainly qualifies.  It's about a nanny who's caring for the young children of a grieving, mentally unstable woman.  When a mysterious newborn arrives on their doorstep, it throws the whole household for an unexpected loop, one that ends in unthinkable tragedy.  Grade:  B

9.  We Are All the Same in the Dark by Julia Heaberlin—Odette Tucker's backwater Texas hometown is rife with secrets, number one being what happened to True Branson and her abusive father, both of whom disappeared without a trace ten years ago.  Everyone in town thinks True's younger brother, Wyatt, murdered them both, even though nothing about the case has ever been proven.  Odette refuses to believe her old boyfriend is capable of anything nefarious, but when a young girl is seen with Wyatt, she has to rethink everything she knows about him.  Grade:  B

10.  Dial A For Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto (available May 6, 2021)—I've been really excited about this much-hyped novel, which looked like a fun rom-com/cozy mystery.  It's about a woman who accidentally kills her blind date and enlists her overbearing Indo-Chinese aunties to help her hide the body.  It's funny, yes, but it also got so over-the-top absurd that it just annoyed me.  Bummer.  Grade:  C

There you go, the last ten books I've read, from the pretty good to the not-so-great.  Have you read any of these?  What did you think?  What are the last ten books you've read?  I'd truly love to know.  Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

Happy TTT!