Happy Tuesday! It's actually still Monday, but I'm writing this post early since tomorrow, I get to TRAVEL down to the hospital for a colonoscopy. This is my first time getting one and the prep is already killing me. I've been on a liquid diet all day, so I'm starving and I've got a headache. I take my first dose of the prep drink in an hour. The next one will be at 3 a.m. since my procedure is at 9 tomorrow morning. Fun stuff. Since things are only going to get more unpleasant from here, I figured I should get my TTT post squared away now. Today's topic is a nice, easy one: Top Ten Books That Feature Travel. My head's feeling foggy, so I'm going to keep my list simple and go with books on my TBR list that feature a mode of transportation (even though I posted a similar list less than a year ago).

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

1. On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker by A'Lelia Bundles—I'm reading this biography right now and it's super interesting. Born to formerly enslaved parents, Madam C.J. Walker survived a hardscrabble upbringing to become a wealthy, well-known businesswoman who used her money and influence to help the poor and champion civil rights for Black people. 

2. The Women by Kristin Hannah—As much as I love Hannah, I've been hesitating a tad on this novel. My uncle was killed in action in Vietnam, so the war is an especially sensitive topic for me. I'll read The Women at some point because I'm curious about the roles women played in the war and I do enjoy Hannah's books.

3. With a Vengeance by Riley Sager (available June 10, 2025)—A new Sager thriller is always cause for celebration. I'm already on a waiting list at the library for this novel that sounds like a mash-up of And Then There Were None and Murder on the Orient Express. Yes, please!

4. The Woman With No Name by Audrey Blake—It's 1942 and Yvonne Rudellat is in desperate need of a new life focus. She gets it when she's offered the chance to become Britain's first female sabotage agent. No one expects much of her, but she's determined to do everything she can to take down the Nazi's evil regime.

5. What Happened Then by Erin Soderberg Downing (available September 2, 2025)—This middle-grade novel is about a pair of cousins who travel to a mysterious island where family secrets are hiding around every corner, just waiting to be dug into...

6. Last Stop Union Station by Sarah James (available July 15, 2025)—Jacqueline Love's Hollywood career is drying up fast. The only gig she can manage to land is aboard the Hollywood Victory Caravan, a train full of celebrities that is criss-crossing the U.S. to raise money for World War II efforts. When a passenger dies aboard the locomotive in a suspicious manner, Jacqueline's convinced it's murder. Stuck at Union Station in Chicago, she convinces a female police officer to help her investigate. It quickly becomes apparent that the women are in way, way over their heads.

7. Katherine, the Wright Sister by Tracey Enerson Wood—You've heard of Orville and Wilbur Wright, but did you know they had a sister who was invaluable in helping them achieve their many victories? This novel tells the story of one of the most overlooked women in history.

8. Blueberry Blunder by Amanda Flower—I love Flower's Amish Candy Shop cozy mystery series. It's set in Amish country, so most (all?) of the covers feature at least one buggy. In this installment—the 8th in the series—Bailey is in the middle of building a candy factory when a surly contractor with plentiful enemies is murdered. Whodunit?

9. The Medicine Woman of Galveston by Amanda Skenandore—In this historical novel, a disgraced female doctor is desperate to make ends meet so that her disabled son can get the care he needs. With little choice, she joins a traveling medical show headlined by a charismatic con man. She's poised to sneak away from the whole thing when an incoming storm stops her. The hurricane is predicted to be devastating. People will get hurt and she's a doctor. Can she trust herself to treat people again? Or is she too damaged to be any good to anyone?

There you go, ten books on my TBR list that feature modes of transportation. Have you read any of them? What are your favorite books that feature transportation or travel? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

P.S. I'm in the middle of drinking my first dose of the colonoscopy prep liquid and...wow, it's foul! What have I gotten myself into here? Blech.

Today's TTT prompt—Top Ten Books That Defied My Expectations (books you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving, books you thought you'd love but didn't, etc.)— is a good one, but I'm just not feeling it. Even though it's early September and it's still a million degrees outside, I'm gearing up for some cozy Fall reading. To me, that means mysteries, mysteries, and more mysteries! Yes, I read this genre throughout the year, but it just seems especially suited for the cozy/spooky season. Maybe that's why there are so many intriguing-sounding ones still to be published this year. I'm going to highlight ten up-and-coming mystery/thrillers that I want to read.

First, though, be sure to click on over to That Artsy Reader Girl and give our host, Jana, some love. If you want to join in the TTT fun (and you do!), all the details are there.

1. The Darkness Surrounds Us by Gail Lukasik (releases today!)—With the Spanish flu wreaking havoc on her Chicago home, nurse Nellie Lester needs to get out of town. She takes a job at a crumbling mansion on an isolated island in Michigan, hoping for a new start and to find answers to her mother's mysterious past. Not only does the place feel haunted by her mother's presence, but the discovery of the previous nurse's dead body proves there's something very sinister going on. Can Nellie figure out the island's deadly secrets before it's too late?

2. The Wings of Poppy Pendleton by Melanie Dobson (available September 19)—During a Gilded Age party at her family's castle in New York's Thousand Islands area, a young girl goes missing while her father lies dead in the smoking room. Seventy-five years later, a mysterious girl arrives on the island, prompting the owner of the island to look into the old mystery. What really happened to Poppy Pendleton?

3. Death and the Sisters by Heather Redmond (available September 26)—This opener begins a new historical mystery series starring a teenaged Mary Shelley, her stepsister, and Mary's future husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley. When Mary discovers a man—who happens to be Percy's classmate and rival— dead in her home after a party, she and her cohorts use their collective smarts to solve the murder. 

4. The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok (available October 10)—Because of China's One Child Policy, Jasmine Yang's infant daughter was snatched away from her. Now in New York City without a penny to her name and on the run from her controlling husband, Jasmine is on a desperate hunt to find her stolen child. A wealthy publishing executive, Rebecca Whitney has the perfect life—including an adopted Chinese daughter. When the lives of these two very different women collide, it causes both to question everything they both know about identity, motherhood, and the true meaning of family.

5. What We Kept to Ourselves by Nancy Jooyoun Kim (available October 10)—A year later, the Kim Family is still baffled and devastated by their matriarch's mysterious disappearance. When they find the dead body of a stranger in their backyard, they're even more shocked, especially since he's carrying a letter addressed to the missing woman. Who is the unknown man? And what does he have to do with Sunny Kim? Where is Sunny and why did she vanish?

6. Murder by Degrees by Ritu Mukerji (available October 17)—It's 1875 and Lydia Weston is a professor and anatomist at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. When the body of a dead chambermaid is found in a Philadelphia river, a supposed suicide, Lydia becomes suspicious. Following clues on the corpse and in the dead woman's diary, she sets out to discover how the young woman really died.  

7. People to Follow by Olivia Worley (available October 31)—"In Real Life" is a hot new reality show that takes ten well-known teen influencers to a Caribbean island where they will completely unplug for three weeks of televised, non-filtered living. When the production crew fails to show and one of the influencers dies violently, the remaining nine find themselves stranded in a remote paradise with a killer. 

8. Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen by Sarah James (available November 7)—The Hollywood Canteen, a club for servicemen staffed by volunteers who are also Tinseltown stars, is the place to be in 1943. Aspiring playwright Annie Laurence hopes to make enough of a splash there to get the murder mystery film she's written produced. When a hated film critic is killed at the Canteen, Annie joins a group of amateur sleuths to figure out who murdered her.

9. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (available November 14)—When a man's dead body is found in the iced-over Kennebec River in 1789, the local midwife and healer is called upon to examine the corpse. A keeper of her town's secrets, Martha knows the dead man is one of the possible perpetrators of an alleged rape that happened several months ago. As both crimes are investigated, her small town is torn apart by scandal and prejudice. What will the truth do to Martha, her family, and her community?

10. The Weekend Retreat by Tara Laskowski (available December 26)—As the heirs to a copper fortune, the Van Ness siblings are constantly in the spotlight. They gather yearly at a luxury winery for the R&R they all desperately need. This year, their vacation is beset with the usual family drama as well as a torrential rainstorm and a shocking murder. Whodunit?

There you are, ten upcoming mystery/thriller novels I want to read. Which Fall releases are you excited about? If you did today's prompt, which books defied your expectations? I'd truly love to know. Leve me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.