Autumn's top 2024 Reads

 Here are Autumn's top books and series of 2024:

Autumn's Top 10 of 2023

 

Autumn's Top 10 of 2023:

Autumn's Top 14 of 2022

 

Autumn had even more 5 star reads this year than Kari!  She narrowed her favorites down to these 14:

Book Lover by Emily Henry
The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers
The Lindberch Nanny by Mariah Fredericks
Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson
The Houseboat by Dane Bahr
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Five Total Strangers by Natalie D. Richards

Verity by Colleen Hoover
In My Dreams, I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead

Joint Review: The Defense by Steve Cavanagh

Author:Steve Cavanagh
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: May 2016

The truth has no place in a courtroom. The truth doesn't matter in a trial.

The only thing that matters is what the prosecution can prove.

Eddie Flynn used to be a con artist. Then he became a lawyer. Turned out the two weren't that different.

It's been over a year since Eddie vowed never to set foot in a courtroom again. But now he doesn't have a choice. Olek Volchek, the infamous head of the Russian mafia in New York, has strapped a bomb to Eddie's back and kidnapped his ten-year-old daughter Amy.

Eddie only has 48 hours to defend Volchek in an impossible murder trial—and win—if wants to save his daughter.

Under the scrutiny of the media and the FBI, Eddie must use his razor-sharp wit and every con-artist trick in the book to defend his 'client' and ensure Amy's safety. With the timer on his back ticking away, can Eddie convince the jury of the impossible?

I'll admit to being a little bored in the beginning of this book.  However, I'm so glad I stuck with it.  I ended up really liking the story.  For a courtroom drama, it was pretty fast paced with a great mystery.  I loved the main character.  Eddie Flynn is a conman turned defense lawyer who is forced out of retirement to defend a case no one can possibly win.  I loved how his mind worked.  He is definitely someone I want to read about again. 



I've been really trying to get back into reading since school just completely zapped all the desire to do so out of me.  This is one of the first audiobooks I was able to get into and finish.  

Eddie Flynn was a fun character.  I liked all the backstory of his upbringing and how he ended up as a defense attorney.   This was one of those movies that I could totally see being a movie.

This is the first book in a series.   I will definitely be looking into the second book.   The Plea is the next book, the third is The Liar.  

Autumn's Review: The Outsider by Stephen King

Title:  The Outsider
Author:  Stephen King
Publisher:  Scribner
Publish date:  May 22, 2018

An eleven-year-old boy’s violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City’s most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Their case seems ironclad.

All throughout my high school years and then into my early twenties I loved Stephen King.  If he had a new book out, I'd stop everything to read it.  After the last several books (excluding the Bill Hodges Trilogy) I haven't been so keen on reading his books.  They've just gotten to be weird.

This book specifically was so freakin long.  It seemed like great chunks of this book were unnecessary and had little bearing on the story as a whole.    This might be me, but I also had trouble keeping straight the characters.  A name would pop up and I had to really think about who it was and where they fit into the story.  Those seemed to be my two main gripes with this book, but it made it less than enjoyable.  

I listened to the audiobook for this and that was the saving grace that got me all the way through it.  Will Patton is one of my favorite audiobook readers.  Once again he did an awesome job with this book.  

Overall, I think it might be time to break up with Stephen King, but it'll be a hard one.

Books We Didn't Finish February Edition

The View From Rainshadow Bay:  It really made me sad to DNf this one. I am a fan of this author and have loved most of her books.  But this one was weird.  I felt like there was a lack of charterer development.  I was about 30% in and I didn't really have a sense of who was who.  It didn't read like the first in a series for me.  It was also really slow.  I just lost interest.

The Color of Love:  Another one I was sad to DNF.  I have loved this series from the start, but this one was just not good.  Ruby and Peanut felt like they were 80 years old to me, when they are under 45. There was zero chemistry between the two of them.  The whole town felt wrong. It just didn't have the feel of the other books in the series.

Anatomy of a scandal:  I was so bored reading this book. The characters were uninteresting.  I hated James's character the most with his trying to justify his affair.  I just didn't care about any of them enough to get past 15%.

Sleeping Beauties: I think my love affair with Stephen King is slowly coming to an end.  I used to love his books and always named him as a favorite author.  However, the past few books of his that I have read just haven't done it for me. Sleeping Beauties was boring. Really, that is all I can say about it.  It was boring. I made it through about 30% and gave up.

I also tried Sleeping Beauties and didn't really get it.  I was confused about what it was supposed to be about and where the story was trying to go.  I was disappointed and like Kari said I'm kinda losing interest in Stephen King as an author.

Reservoir 13 was just uninteresting to me.  It was about the disappearance of a young girl that was visiting the town.  The story was told from the view point of how it affected the town.  I just didn't care for the storytelling style.  It was hard to keep straight the characters.

December Mini Musings

The Marriage Ultimatum:  I'm honestly not sure what made me finish this book. It's probably because I had exhausted all of the audiobooks on my MP3 player and was desperate. This book was a mess.  There were so many scenarios in the book that had me shaking my head. Even if the press speculated that the Sabrina's brother was his son, Vlad could have had his lawyers do a paternity test and clear it up in the press.  Making her marry him was ridiculous.  The  hero was a major ass. He treated Sabrina like crap, bullied her, and kidnapped her and she ends up sleeping with him?  Ick. Also, the coincidence of the identity of Sabrina's brother's father was just too convenient.  I can't recommend this one at all.

When All the Girls have Gone:  It really took me forever to get through this book.  I am a fan of this author, but this one failed big time.  I felt like the characters were forgettable, and the romance was boring and forced.  The mystery was convoluted and took too long to get to the point.  Too many points of view really made the book drag.  This definitely isn't one of her better books.

The Submissive by Tara Sue Me

by:  Tara Sue Me
published by:  Penguin Publishing
publish date:  February 7, 2013

Abby King has a secret fantasy.

New York knows Nathaniel West as the brilliant and handsome CEO of West Industries, but Abby knows he’s more: a sexy and skilled dominant who is looking for a new submissive. Yearning to experience a world of pleasure beyond her simple life as a librarian, Abby offers herself to Nathaniel, to fulfill her most hidden desires.

I've been in a major reading funk.  Seriously, nothing at all looks good to me.  I decided since I didn't die reading the last romance, that I'd try something else in the genre that I generally avoid.  This was the first book that showed up as available at the library.  Side note, don't listen to a bdsm audiobook when doing things like going through a drive thru.

The Submissive reminded me of a mash up of 50 Shades and Beauty and the Beast.  Nathaniel was a rich single guy that is secretly a dominant.  Who does that remind you of??  Abby and Nathaniel start a D/s relationship, complete with contract.  Sounds familiar.  Then they fall madly in love with each other.  (....) As a show of his infatuation with her, he gives her the library as her space in his house.  I know I've heard that one before.

The story was sort of eh.  The sex scenes were kind of hot though.  I don't know that I'd read the rest of this series.  It has fairly high ratings on Goodreads so I guess people are liking these kinds of books.  I will find one of these kinds of books that doesn't make me scoff at it.

A Madness so Discreet by Mindy McGinnis

by:  Mindy McGinnis
published by:  Katherine Tegen Books
publish date:  October 6, 2015

Grace Mae knows madness. She keeps it locked away, along with her voice, trapped deep inside a brilliant mind that cannot forget horrific family secrets. Those secrets, along with the bulge in her belly, land her in a Boston insane asylum.

When her voice returns in a burst of violence, Grace is banished to the dark cellars, where her mind is discovered by a visiting doctor who dabbles in the new study of criminal psychology. With her keen eyes and sharp memory, Grace will make the perfect assistant at crime scenes. Escaping from Boston to the safety of an ethical Ohio asylum, Grace finds friendship and hope, hints of a life she should have had. But gruesome nights bring Grace and the doctor into the circle of a killer who stalks young women. Grace, continuing to operate under the cloak of madness, must hunt a murderer while she confronts the demons in her own past.

This book is a reminder of the terrible history of mental asylums.  Women could be committed for nearly any reason.  Once inside, conditions were terrible.  Mental illness was not well understood and doctors at the time did not know how to treat their patients.  

Grace Mae was from a very well to do family, but she was being sexually abused by her father.  When she gets pregnant, her family forces her into an insane asylum to have the baby.  In that time a fellow inmate helps her escape with the help of a doctor that specializes in psychology.  He recognizes her intelligence and takes her on as an apprentice while he studies crime scenes for clues into the psychological picture of the killer.  

I really enjoyed this book.  I'm a big fan of historical fiction and with the psychological thriller aspect thrown in, that just made it so much better.  I'm secretly hoping that this will be the first book of a series with Grace Mae continuing to solve murders.  

What Light by Jay Asher

by:  Jay Asher
published by:  Razorbill
publish date:  October 18, 2016

Sierra's family runs a Christmas tree farm in Oregon—it's a bucolic setting for a girl to grow up in, except that every year, they pack up and move to California to set up their Christmas tree lot for the season. So Sierra lives two lives: her life in Oregon and her life at Christmas. And leaving one always means missing the other. 

Until this particular Christmas, when Sierra meets Caleb, and one life eclipses the other.

By reputation, Caleb is not your perfect guy: years ago, he made an enormous mistake and has been paying for it ever since. But Sierra sees beyond Caleb's past and becomes determined to help him find forgiveness and, maybe, redemption. As disapproval, misconceptions, and suspicions swirl around them, Caleb and Sierra discover the one thing that transcends all else: true love.

So I was expecting something along the emotional lines of Thirteen Reasons Why.  This book is not that.  It's a sweet little Christmas story, but nothing as deep at TRW.  

Sierra lives 2 lives.  One in Oregon that she has 11 months of the year and one in California for a month at Christmas time.  Normally, she spends her Christmas missing home and she can't wait to get back.  Until, this year when she meets Caleb.  Rumor has it, Caleb attacked his sister with a knife.  However, Sierra wants to find out the truth and see if he's really the troublemaker everyone says that he is.  Everyone is against Sierra's relationship with Caleb, but she knows what she wants and will do what it takes to get it.

If you're looking for a nice YA Christmas story then this is it.  What Light is more of a love story than anything else.  I liked it, but I think I was hoping for a little more depth.  

The Memory Book by Lara Avery

by:  Lara Avery
published by:  Poppy
publish date:  July 5, 2016

Sammie was always a girl with a plan: graduate at the top of her class and get out of her small town as soon as humanly possible. Nothing will stand in her way--not even a rare genetic disorder the doctors say will slowly start to steal her memories and then her health. What she needs is a new plan.

So the Memory Book is born: Sammie's notes to her future self, a document of moments great and small. It's where she'll record every perfect detail of her first date with longtime crush, Stuart--a brilliant young writer who is home for the summer. And where she'll admit how much she's missed her childhood best friend, Cooper, and even take some of the blame for the fight that ended their friendship.

Sammie has a rare disorder.  She will gradually lose her memory over time.  For the longest time there are no symptoms of her disease.  However, they have begun to creep into her life.  To make matters worse, she gets into a love triangle with a hot writer guy and the boy next door.  

In order to keep her memories, Sammie decides to write a Memory Book.  She writes her stories.  She also gets her friends and family members to write special stories to keep her memories fresh.  This book is partly told from Sammie's viewpoint and through the stories in her memory book.

This story was interesting.  I couldn't even imagine going through something like that.  While the whole love triangle thing is really played out in YA, this one wasn't too terrible.  The Memory Book was well written and a decent read.  I don't know that I would tell anyone to rush out and read it, but it might be a good library check out if you happen to see it.

Joint Review: Surrender, New York by Caleb Carr

Author: Caleb Carr
Publisher: Random House
Date of publication: August 2016

In the small town of Surrender in upstate New York, Trajan Jones, a psychological profiler, and Dr. Michael Li, a trace evidence expert, teach online courses in profiling and forensic science from Jones’s family farm. Once famed advisors to the New York City Police Department, Trajan and Li now work in exile, having made enemies of those in power. Protected only by farmhands and Jones’s unusual pet cheetah, the outcast pair is unexpectedly called in to consult on a disturbing case.

In rural Burgoyne County, a pattern of strange deaths has emerged: adolescent boys and girls are found murdered in gruesome fashion. Senior law enforcement officials are quick to blame a serial killer, yet their efforts to apprehend this criminal are peculiarly ineffective.

Jones and Li soon discover that the victims are all “throwaway children,” a new state classification of young people who are neither orphans, runaways, nor homeless, but who are abandoned by their families and left to fend for themselves. Two of these throwaways, Lucas Kurtz and his older sister, cross paths with Jones and Li, offering information that could blow the case wide open.

Autumn and I were eagerly waiting the release of this book. Both of us are fans of The Alienist and Angel of Darkness. I even liked Killing Time!  Unfortunately, Autumn was much more patient than I was.  This book was dreadful.  I DNF'd at about 30%.  I was so bored.  I know there is a good book in there somewhere, but I just didn't have the patience to wait for it.  I am glad Caleb Carr is writing again, but he really needs a better editor.  This book probably could have been cut in half and been a good solid mystery.


I finished it, but I think that was more out of loyalty to the author.  I think if someone else had written this book, I probably would have DNFed it.  The book wasn't terrible.  It was a good story line.  But like Kari said, it needed some serious editing.  It was SOOO long and repetitive.  It was very wordy and the dialogue was a little silly at times.  Like do people seriously talk like that??  However, I liked the characters and I could see this becoming a series.  Although, I'd much rather more books along the lines of The Alienist or Angel of Darkness.  I like the historical stuff more than the present day I guess.  BUT, I'm glad Caleb Carr put something out there.  Keep it up!

Winter Storms by Elin Hilderbrand

by:  Elin Hilderbrand
published by:  Little Brown and Co
publish date:  October 4, 2016

Some of the stormy weather of the past few seasons seems to have finally lifted for the Quinns. After a year apart, and an ill-fated affair with the Winter Street Inn's old Santa Claus, Mitzi has returned to rule the roost; Patrick is about to be released from prison; Kevin has a successful new business and is finally ready to tie the knot with Isabelle; and best of all, there's hopeful news about Bart, who has been captured by enemy forces in Afghanistan. 

Anybody that has been reading this blog for awhile knows that I don't like trilogies all that much.  It's a marketing strategy that aggravates me.  However, I love Elin Hilderbrand, so I was torn about starting this series.  I think if you're gonna do a trilogy, she did it in a good way.  You get a summer related book in the summer and the one of the winter books each winter in time for Christmas.  

This was the 3rd book in the series and I would assume the last since all the story lines were tied up.  I really enjoyed this series and don't tell anybody I would ever say this, but I hope she starts another Winter trilogy.  

I would recommend these books to anyone.  There's a little bit of something for everyone.  However, these are predominately women's literature.  I gave them a try and wasn't disappointed, I don't think very many other people would be either.

Books We Didn't Finish - October Edition

Places No One Knows: I gave up about halfway through.  I felt like the story wasn't going anywhere.  I really disliked the "best friend".  I couldn't understand why the main character remained friends with her.  I also couldn't believe that neither Waverly nor Marshall tried to figure out why she could walk in his dreams.  I figured they would have started to seek out why at the halfway point.


Frost Line:  I didn't make it very far into the book before I knew I wouldn't like it. I just couldn't connect with the story. I think it may be the combination og the two writers that killed it for me.

A Good Month for murder:  I was hoping for a good true crime book.  But I felt like I was watching 4 episodes of The First 48 all at once.  The cases and people all blended together and I lost interest.

All the Missing Girls:  I don't know what exactly my problem was with this book.  The whole time I felt like I had read it before.  It just came out so I'm pretty sure I didn't.  I guess it was just too much like a lot of other books I've read.

Road to Reckoning:  I was really hoping to love this book because it was compared to True Grit and the Sisters Brothers.  I adored both.  However, this book really wasn't cutting it.  I may give it another try in the future.

October Mini Musings

One Lucky Hero: This book ended up just being OK.  The dialogue between the main characters just seemed awkward throughout the book, especially in the beginning.  The one night stand too 7 chapters to appear.  There was just way too much conversation and build up.  The siblings were brats and really ungrateful for the sacrifices their big sister made for them.  I ended up skimming the last 1/3 of the book.

Darkest Journey:  I think I may be growing a bit tired of the series.  This one just was OK for me.  It was really repetitive, The romance was lackluster. I didn't find the historical passage that interesting.  There was also a conversation between some of the characters about the problems with STDs in young and old people that seemed to have come from an after school special.  I think this one needed more editing and could have been shorter.  It was definitely my least favorite of the "trilogy".

Independent Study by Joelle Charbonneau:  This was the second book in The Testing series.  I enjoyed the first book, so I was interested to see where this one was going to go.  It focused on the people who passed The Testing and have been admitted to The University.  However, like The Testing university life is not exactly the best place to be.