I love today's prompt—Top Ten Books On My Fall 2025 TBR List—so much that I started it two weeks ago! Scroll down on my blog to see Part One and Part Two of my list of 30 Books I Want to Read Before 2025 Ends. I'm proud to say that I've already read four of the twenty books mentioned in those previous lists. Go, me! With 156 books read so far this year, I'm on track to reach my goal of 200 by December 31, but it's very unlikely that I'll beat last year's record of 230. We'll see how the rest of the year goes.

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

Top Ten Books On My Fall 2025 TBR List

or Top 30 Books I Want to Read Before 2025 Ends (Part Three)

1. Open and Shut by David Rosenfelt—The kind folks over at St. Martin's Press have been generously sending me all the books in the Andy Carpenter mystery series for years, and I have yet to even begin reading them. I'm determined to do so this year! Open and Shut, the first installment, introduces our hero, a New Jersey defense attorney who prefers the company of his beloved golden retriever over that of most people. When Andy's father—a well-known ex-D.A.—drops dead at Yankee stadium, Andy finds himself the recipient of a surprise $22 million inheritance as well as a cold case with explosive possibilities to solve. As the shocks keep coming, Andy works to get justice for the wronged party as he figures out what to do next with all the possibilities millions of dollars has just opened up for him.

2. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson—I need to read a "travel" book to cross-off prompts in two different reading challenges, so this seems like a good time to finally give Bryson's books a go. Everyone seems to love this one. It's supposed to be very entertaining.

3. The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand—A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is one of my favorite books of all time and one I reread every year. This YA novel, a contemporary reimagining of the classic tale, sounds like a fun read for the holidays. Our titular heroine was warned in life to change her selfish ways, but she didn't listen. Now, Holly's dead and experiencing an epically sucky afterlife. Stuck working as Christmas Past for the top-secret Project Scrooge, she doesn't expect her lot will be improving anytime soon. Until she meets the newest Scrooge, a Scrooge who just might change everything...

4. Last Gate of the Emperor by Kwame Mbalia and Prince Joel Makonnen—This middle-grade novel is outside of my usual reading interests, but it works for several reading challenge prompts I need to fulfill. Plus, it sounds like an exciting read. Billed as an Afrofuturist adventure, the novel takes place in Addis Prime, a dingy city with outdated tech, rigid rules, and nothing to do. Thrill-seeker Yared Heywat has become a star in an underground augmented reality game. When his real name is leaked in the game, his game life rockets into his actual life, leading to the disappearance of his uncle. Suddenly, Yared finds himself in the center of shocking events that seem to be coming straight out of his uncle's fantastical stories. It's up to him to find his uncle, beat an army of monsters, and save the world. What could possibly go wrong? 

5. Take What You Can Carry by Gian Sardar—It's 1979 and Olivia Murray is determined to capture a money shot, the kind that will catapult her from her newspaper secretary's desk to the front lines of photojournalism. When her Kurdish boyfriend invites Olivia to accompany him to his hometown in northern Iraq, she jumps at the chance. Not only will she be able to gain more insight into her enigmatic partner, but the exotic locale should provide the perfect background for dramatic photography. When leaving Iraq proves more difficult than she thought, Olivia gets her money shot, but it's a capture that will upend the lives of her boyfriend's family and her own in ways she never could have imagined.

6. West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge—This historical novel has been a big-time hit with a lot of my IRL friends. It does sound excellent. Based on a true story, the tale is about a pair of giraffes who inspire hope in Depression-era America when they miraculously survive a hurricane at sea. As they travel across the country to their new home at the San Diego Zoo, they touch the lives of everyone they encounter.

7. Sandwich by Catherine Newman—Since I'm in my "sandwich" era like this novel's protagonist, I think I'm going to find this story very relatable! It revolves around Rocky and her family's annual summer trip to Cape Cod. With all the changes she's experiencing in her body (thanks a bunch, menopause!), her family, and life in general, it's inevitable that this year's trip makes her wax nostalgic. It also forces the secrets she's been hiding out into the open...

8. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson—I need to read a book with an angel on the cover for a reading challenge, so I thought it would be fun to reread this hilarious children's classic. This novel, which tells the story of a church's nativity play gone horribly wrong—and right—is funny, tender, and a perfect read for the holiday season.

9. Dead Tired by Kat Ailes—This is the second book in Ailes' comedic The Expectant Detectives mystery series. A year after Alice and her prenatal group accidentally become amateur sleuths and solve a murder, Alice is deep in the sleep-deprived mire that is new motherhood. Desperate for a vacation, she agrees to accompany her friends to an eco-protest. It's all healthy entertainment (for a good cause) until one of their fellow protestors ends up dead. With a new case to solve, Alice and the other moms get right to work.

10. Final Girls by Riley Sager—I love Sager's unsettling books, and this one—his first—is the only one I haven't read. I've been hesitating on it because I've seen such mixed reviews, but it's Sager, so I want to read it. The story revolves around Quincy Carpenter, who becomes a "final girl" when she is the only survivor of a horrific massacre in which five of her friends were killed. After some time, she's finally doing okay. Then, one of Quincy's fellow final girls is found dead, after which another one appears on her doorstep. As Sam pushes Quincy to relive the terrors of her past, she begins to feel exceedingly unnerved. The answers to finding peace in her present seem to be hiding in memories of the worst event in her life, memories she does not want to revisit. Ever. 

There you go, ten more books I want to read before the end of the year. Have you read any of them? What did you think? What titles are on your Fall TBR list? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

I'm a little late to the party, but I didn't want to miss this week's Top Ten Tuesday (especially since these posts are about the only ones I actually do anymore). First, though, I want to say thank you to everyone for all the kind wishes regarding last week's colonoscopy. The preparation really was horrid, but the procedure itself was quick and easy. I did have ten pre-cancerous polyps removed, which is apparently a large number for someone my age (49), so the GI doctor recommended genetic counseling and yearly colonoscopies (oh, joy). Even though the colonoscopy experience was unpleasant, I'm glad I went through with it, especially since I have no family history of colon issues and I might have kept putting it off if my doctor hadn't been so adamant about someone of my advancing age getting one. 

Aaaannnyyyway, today's TTT prompt is a fun one: Top Ten Animal Companions (real or imaginary) in Books. Although I do have some favorite literary animals—Ivan from The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, Manchee from Patrick Ness' Chaos Walking series, Wilbur from Charlotte's Web, etc.—I'm not sure I can come up with ten. Instead, I'm going to tweak the topic a tad and feature books on my TBR list with animals on their covers. Since I don't really seek out animal-related reads, this could have been a really difficult task. Thankfully, I enjoy cozy mysteries and they almost always include animals.

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

1. Dead Tired (The Expectant Detectives #2) by Kat Ailes—After solving a murder together, Alice has grown very close to the other members of her prenatal group. Now tired new moms, she and her friends decide to participate in an eco-protest as a way to get away and finally get some sleep. When one of the protesters is found dead, Alice & Co. once again find themselves investigating a murder.

Do I get extra credit since the author's name is Kat?? 

Also, fair warning: this series is cozy in vibe, but the books are R-rated for strong language and innuendo.

2. Murder is a Piece of Cake (Baker Street Mystery #2) by Valerie Burns—Maddy is just getting the hang of running her late great aunt's popular bakery when a rival bakery opens up in her small town. The owner has a reputation for crushing anyone who tries to get in his way. When he's found dead with one of Maddy's knives in his back, she finds herself accused of murder. She didn't do it, so who did?

3. Potions Are for Pushovers (Eleanor Wilde Mystery #2) by Tamara Berry—Pretend medium Eleanor Wilde has established herself as the town witch in the small English village where she has settled. Her potions business is doing well until one of her customers dies by poison. Eleanor may be a fake, but she's not a murderer. Plenty of people hated mean old Sarah Davenport, but who loathed her enough to kill her? Eleanor vows to find out.

4. Flight Risk (The Booking Agents #2) by Cherie Priest—Psychic travel agent Leda Foley and detective Grady Merritt are brought together again when the cases they are working on intersect. Can they work together to solve a puzzling mystery or two?

My vision isn't the greatest, so I just now realized the dog on the cover is carrying an unconventional type of bone. Yikes! Pretty grim for a cozy cover. 

5. A Very Woodsy Murder (Golden Motel #1) by Ellen Byron—Soured on life in the big city, tv writer Dee Stern leaves L.A. in the dust and heads for the hills. When she comes across a dilapidated motel in the woods, she impulsively decides to revive it, with her ex-husband as her business partner. The pair soon discovers that running a motel is a lot harder than it looks—and that's before a murder occurs on their property. Anxious to prove their innocence, Dee and her ex launch their own investigation into the killing. Whodunit?

6. An Irish Bookshop Murder (Mercy McCarthy Mystery #1) by Lucy Connelly—Sisters Mercy and Lizzie McCarthy are thrilled when they inherit a bookstore in a small Irish village from their grandfather. They've barely settled in when their neighbor drops dead. With his last breath, he accuses Mercy of murder, a charge overheard by a whole crowd of people. A shocked Mercy must find the real killer in order to clear her name. 

7. Tragedy in Tahoe (Rylie Sunderland Mysteries #1) by Rachele Baker—Veternarian Rylie Sunderland needs a fresh start. She agrees to take a summer job helping out at a Lake Tahoe inn that her friend owns. Her relaxing break is shattered when a dead body is found in a secret tunnel under the inn. Accused by the local police of the murder, Rylie launches her own investigation into the crime in an effort to prove her innocence.

8. An Appetite for Murder (Key West Food Critic Mystery #1) by Lucy Burdette—Hayley Snow is thrilled when she's offered a job as a food critic for a popular magazine. When she discovers her new boss is the woman her boyfriend cheated on her with? Not so much. Things go from bad to worse when she's murdered and Hayley becomes the police's prime suspect. Refusing to take the blame for a crime she didn't commit (at least not outside of her imagination), Hayley starts hunting down the real killer.

9. A Murder Most Fowl (Food Truck Mystery #1) by Carmela Dutra (available September 9, 2025)—When their late aunt passes away, twins Beth and Seth Lloyd inherit her chicken-themed food truck. In an effort to drum up business, they enter a fierce elimination-type cooking contest. When the competition gets a little too literal, leaving a contestant dead, the twins find themselves in the police's crosshairs. In order to prove their innocence, they need to find the guilty party on the double. Who killed the contestant and why?

10. Botched Butterscotch (An Amish Candy Shop Mystery #5) by Amanda Flower—Juliet Brody and Reverend Brook are getting married and the wedding is set to be the event of the year in their small town. Bailey King is not only making the cake, but she's also a bridesmaid. As she rushes around trying to perform all her duties, a wedding guest is murdered. Apparently, the deceased had dirt about the saintly reverend's past. Did the groom kill the man before he could squeal? Bailey can't believe the kindly man of good would do something so heinous, but someone did. Who? She's determined to find out.

There you go, ten cozy mysteries I want to read that have animals on their covers. Have you read any of them? Do you like cozies? Which are your favorites? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

What are you like when it comes to hype surrounding new books? Do you give into it for fear of missing out on a title "everyone" seems to be loving? Or are you leery about following the crowd, maybe because you've been burned before? Today's TTT prompt is all about that: Top Ten Books You Read/Avoided Because of the Hype (and did you make the right choice?). I'm more likely to do the latter, but occasionally, I do get caught up in the hype. I can think of a few books I've read or bought because of it, just not enough for much of a list. However, I have no trouble at all coming up with more books that are on my Fall TBR list, so I decided to make an addendum to last week's list. 

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