I’ve been on a reading kick lately. Do you ever have those moments where you just want to read all of the books?? I’m that girl right now. I think during the spring & summer, I just was kind of meh over books. Nothing I picked up held much luster for me. But now I’m like – give me all of the books! I’m sharing my Must Read Books for Fall today and a few I’ve already read (within the last few weeks!) and the rest I’m really excited to read!
MUST READ BOOKS FOR FALL
ONE. Origin by Dan Brown
Goodreads.com Synopsis: Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology, arrives at the ultramodern Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to attend a major announcement—the unveiling of a discovery that “will change the face of science forever.” The evening’s host is Edmond Kirsch, a forty-year-old billionaire and futurist whose dazzling high-tech inventions and audacious predictions have made him a renowned global figure. Kirsch, who was one of Langdon’s first students at Harvard two decades earlier, is about to reveal an astonishing breakthrough . . . one that will answer two of the fundamental questions of human existence.
As the event begins, Langdon and several hundred guests find themselves captivated by an utterly original presentation, which Langdon realizes will be far more controversial than he ever imagined. But the meticulously orchestrated evening suddenly erupts into chaos, and Kirsch’s precious discovery teeters on the brink of being lost forever. Reeling and facing an imminent threat, Langdon is forced into a desperate bid to escape Bilbao. With him is Ambra Vidal, the elegant museum director who worked with Kirsch to stage the provocative event. Together they flee to Barcelona on a perilous quest to locate a cryptic password that will unlock Kirsch’s secret.
Navigating the dark corridors of hidden history and extreme religion, Langdon and Vidal must evade a tormented enemy whose all-knowing power seems to emanate from Spain’s Royal Palace itself . . . and who will stop at nothing to silence Edmond Kirsch. On a trail marked by modern art and enigmatic symbols, Langdon and Vidal uncover clues that ultimately bring them face-to-face with Kirsch’s shocking discovery . . . and the breathtaking truth that has long eluded us.
TWO. The Life List by Lori Nelson Spielman
Goodreads.com Synopsis: In this utterly charming debut — one woman sets out to complete her old list of childhood goals, and finds that her lifelong dreams lead her down a path she never expects.
1. Go to Paris
2. Perform live, on a super big stage
3. Have a baby, maybe two
4. Fall in love
Brett Bohlinger has forgotten all about the list of life goals she’d written as a naïve teenager. In fact, at thirty-four, Brett seems to have it all—a plum job at her family’s multimillion-dollar company and a spacious loft with her irresistibly handsome boyfriend. But when her beloved mother, Elizabeth, dies, Brett’s world is turned upside down. Rather than simply naming her daughter the new CEO of Bohlinger Cosmetics, Elizabeth’s will comes with one big stipulation: Brett must fulfill the list of childhood dreams she made so long ago.
Grief-stricken, Brett can barely make sense of her mother’s decision. Some of her old hopes seem impossible. How can she possibly have a relationship with a father who died seven years ago? Other dreams (Be an awesome teacher!) would require her to reinvent her entire future. For each goal attempted, her mother has left behind a bittersweet letter, offering words of wisdom, warmth, and—just when Brett needs it—tough love.
As Brett struggles to complete her abandoned life list, one thing becomes clear: Sometimes life’s sweetest gifts can be found in the most unexpected places.
PURCHASE THE LIFE LIST BY LORI NELSON SPIELMAN
THREE. The Sleuth Sisters by Maggie Pill
Goodreads.com Synopsis: In this cozy mystery, the first of a series, middle-aged sisters Faye and Barb decided to open a detective agency in Allport, their small town in northern Lower Michigan. They agree that Retta, their baby sister, will NOT be included, since she tends to take over any organization she’s part of. Sweetly but firmly, Retta will tell you what you should do, could do, and will do.
The agency does not take off, and Faye reconsiders the decision to leave Retta out, since as the widow of a slain state trooper, she’s got contacts all over Michigan. Retta’s only too willing to “help out” and immediately begins second-guessing their decisions, which leads to sparks between her and Barb.
The sisters finally get a decent case: finding a man who apparently murdered his wife years ago and has been on the run ever since. As they try to investigate what happened, they’re opposed at every turn. Local cops doubt the “lady detectives” and most of the town is convinced Neil Brown killed his wife and brother-in-law in a fit of anger. The murder victims’ father has no doubt Brown is guilty, and he’s furious that anyone might take a different view.
Still, someone wants to keep the sisters from finding Brown and digging into what really happened the day he left Allport. As the sisters piece things together, the new police chief seems like a possible ally. The problem is that both Barb and Retta are attracted to him, and Retta seldom meets a man she can’t get. Accepting defeat in that arena, Barb tries to concentrate on the case and proving Brown isn’t guilty of murder. She succeeds, but it means she must face a desperate killer in a remote, dangerous spot. Only Faye and Retta can save her, and they have no idea where she is.
Family humor–particularly the close-but-oh-so-different status of sisters, plays a big role in this murder mystery. Each sister has strengths and foibles. Barb, intelligent and composed, sneaks around town at night, correcting the spelling and grammatical errors on signs that drive her bonkers. Faye, kind-hearted but insecure, can’t see herself as the capable person she is. And Retta? Retta knows she’s attractive and clever. She’s only trying to help when she tells you exactly what you should do with your life–or your detective agency.
PURCHASE THE SLEUTH SISTERS BY MAGGIE PILL
FOUR. Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton
Goodreads.com Synopsis: The darkest and most disturbing case report from the files of Kinsey Millhone, Y is for Yesterday begins in 1979, when four teenage boys from an elite private school sexually assault a fourteen-year-old classmate—and film the attack. Not long after, the tape goes missing and the suspected thief, a fellow classmate, is murdered. In the investigation that follows, one boy turns state’s evidence and two of his peers are convicted. But the ringleader escapes without a trace.
Now, it’s 1989 and one of the perpetrators, Fritz McCabe, has been released from prison. Moody, unrepentant, and angry, he is a virtual prisoner of his ever-watchful parents—until a copy of the missing tape arrives with a ransom demand. That’s when the McCabes call Kinsey Millhone for help. As she is drawn into their family drama, she keeps a watchful eye on Fritz. But he’s not the only one being haunted by the past. A vicious sociopath with a grudge against Millhone may be leaving traces of himself for her to find…
PURCHASE Y IS FOR YESTERDAY BY SUE GRAFTON
FIVE. Innocence by Kathleen Tessaro
Goodreads.com Synopsis: Some dreams never die.
It’s 1986 and eighteen-year-old Evie dreams of being an actress. Leaving her hometown of Eden, Ohio, for the first time, she’s heading to London to study drama. Together with fellow students Imogene (a born-again Laura Ashley poster child and frustrated virgin) and Robbie (a native New Yorker, budding bohemian, and very much not a virgin), Evie’s flung into a thrilling new world: a world illuminated by the glamorous, outrageous Robbie. Together, anything’s possible.
But then life, and love, intervene. And everything changes.
Fifteen years later, Evie’s a single mother teaching drama to night students and living with the eccentric Bunny in her house of artistic renters. Robbie’s gone now, killed in a car accident. And Evie’s doing her best to forget the past, as well as the dreams they once both shared.
Then an old friendship comes back to haunt Evie. Literally. And suddenly everything is about to change again.
PURCHASE INNOCENCE BY KATHLEEN TESSARO
SIX. The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson
Goodreads.com Synopsis: With empathy, grace, humor, and piercing insight, the author of gods in Alabama pens a powerful, emotionally resonant novel of the South that confronts the truth about privilege, family, and the distinctions between perception and reality – the stories we tell ourselves about our origins and who we really are.
Superheroes have always been Leia Birch Briggs’ weakness. One tequila-soaked night at a comics convention, the usually level-headed graphic novelist is swept off her barstool by a handsome and anonymous Batman.
It turns out the caped crusader has left her with more than just a nice, fuzzy memory. She’s having a baby boy – an unexpected but not unhappy development in the thirty-eight year-old’s life. But before Leia can break the news of her impending single-motherhood (including the fact that her baby is biracial) to her conventional, Southern family, her step-sister Rachel’s marriage implodes. Worse, she learns her beloved ninety-year-old grandmother, Birchie, is losing her mind, and she’s been hiding her dementia with the help of Wattie, her best friend since girlhood.
Leia returns to Alabama to put her grandmother’s affairs in order, clean out the big Victorian that has been in the Birch family for generations, and tell her family that she’s pregnant. Yet just when Leia thinks she’s got it all under control, she learns that illness is not the only thing Birchie’s been hiding. Tucked in the attic is a dangerous secret with roots that reach all the way back to the Civil War. Its exposure threatens the family’s freedom and future, and it will change everything about how Leia sees herself and her sister, her son and his missing father, and the world she thinks she knows.
PURCHASE THE ALMOST SISTERS BY JOSHILYN JACKSON
SHOP ALL OF THE MUST READ BOOKS FOR FALL
What is on your Must Read list for Fall??
Thanks for the recommendations. Always looking for a book to read that’ll keep me up past my bedtime! Visiting from Makers Party.