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.

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is a Spring cleaning freebie, but let's be honest here...I hate cleaning.  I'd much rather put my feet up and read a book on the couch than dust, scrub, vacuum, or sweep.  In keeping with this theme, I'm going to avoid today's prompt and spring forward a week and do next week's Top Ten Books On My Spring TBR instead.  Since there are so many great-sounding books coming out in the next few months, I'm going to focus my list on upcoming releases.  As usual, I'll do it in two parts because, you know how it is when you want to read ALL the things.

If you want to join in the TTT fun (and you do), head on over to That Artsy Reader Girl for all the details. 

1.  In a Book Club Far Away by Tif Marcelo (available April 6, 2021)—This contemporary novel features three Army wives who bond through a book club, which is later disbanded because of a shocking betrayal among its members.  When one of the former friends sends out a plea for help, the others come to her rescue.  As they work through old hurts, they'll have to decide whether or not their broken friendship is worth salvaging.

2.  All the Children Are Home by Patry Francis (available April 13, 2021)—Set in the 1950s and 60s, this historical novel revolves around a set of foster parents who reluctantly takes in an indigenous girl who has been horribly abused.  The child, who knows next to nothing about herself or her Native American roots, just might be the family's salvation.

3.  Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia (available March 30, 2021)—This family saga features family history, secrets, and fraught mother/daughter relationships, all with a Cuban flair. 

4.  A Trail of Lies by Kylie Logan (available May 11, 2021)—I enjoy the Jazz Ramsey mystery series, so I'm excited to read this third installment.  An ARC of A Trail of Lies just landed on my doorstep, so it's next on my list.  The story features more dead bodies for Jazz's canine to find and more murders for her to solve.

5.  The Women of Chateau Lafayette by Stephanie Dray (available March 30, 2021)—This historical novel has three timelines, all which center around a French castle and the women who defend it.

6.  A Million Reasons Why by Jessica Strawser (available March 23, 2021)—You all know I love a good DNA/family history story and this one sounds compelling.  It's about two sisters who find each other through a mail-in DNA test.  The shocking discovery changes both of their lives. 

7.  The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale (available April 27, 2021)—I don't believe in ghosts, but I'm still a sucker for a haunting story.  This "true" account sounds like fun, even if it seems more appropriate for Fall than Spring.

8.  Last Gate of the Emperor by Kwame Mbalia and Prince Joel Makonnen (available May 4, 2021)—I need an Afrofuturist book for a reading challenge prompt and this middle grade sci-fi/fantasy adventure sounds fun.  

9.  The Vines by Shelley Nolden (available March 23, 2021)—For several decades, North Brother Island, New York, was used for quarantining patients with infectious diseases like tuberculosis and small pox.  Long abandoned, but still covered in crumbling medical buildings, it's off-limits to visitors. When an urban explorer sneaks onto the land and spies a beautiful woman hiding in the ghost town, he becomes obsessed with learning her story.

10.  The Kew Garden Girls by Posy Lovell (available April 20, 2021)—With World War I in full swing, able-bodied male workers are scarce in London.  Determined to do their part on the home front, Ivy and Louisa enlist, becoming laborers at the Royal Botanic Gardens.  Not everyone is pleased to have women doing men's jobs, however, and problems quickly ensue.

There you go, ten upcoming releases I'm looking forward to reading.  Which new titles are you interested in?  What's on your Spring 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.

Happy TTT!