Thank you to NetGalley for this arc.
I was really intrigued with the premise of this book but it fell a little short. The first 60-70% of the book was really slow. I didn’t really feel the love connection between Autumn and Tirne. I did really enjoy Sidriel’s character. I love the morally grey type. I don’t really understand some of the motivations of the characters in this novel. Some were explained, while others were just left open. I didn’t enjoy the ending, but I love a good romance. I believe she should have been with Sidriel, but having her choose no one and having no close friends other than Jaed seems an odd ending. I did enjoy the story, as I keep thinking about it. I just wish it had more.
This is my true unbiased opinion. Thank you.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Selling Pitch:
Imagine you went to the horniest Sunday school where you were actively boinking all your besties, your professor, and your doctor. Except instead of Jesus, call ‘em Punxsutawney Phil because they’re worshiping the seasons. And your professor’s a god. Also like some murders go on. It’s a messy debut that’s not nearly as smutty as it should be, and you’re not gonna like the ending, but I didn’t hate this.

Pre-reading:
Book box picks are going to be the death of me. So many of them don’t interest me once I get them. If I don't read it now, I won't read it, so we’re locking in, girlypops. I think the cover is heinously ugly.

(obviously potential spoilers from here on)
Thick of it:
I thought this was YA, but she’s actually my age. Go figure. Also, that’s a Pandora charm bracelet, and you won’t convince me otherwise.

Lol, let’s make sure you know her best friend’s gay before you start thinking he’s the love interest.

Oh, the mirror’s always been the center of your life? I give it one chapter before it breaks. (Nailed it!) ((And if you’re like Samantha, that’s literally in the blurb, show me where I’ve ever read a blurb in my life.))

Oh bitch, we’re starting the detritus sins early, huh?

And there's the broken mirror.

Is it the bead on her bracelet? (No, but I did believe I was right all book.)

Oh! A not so gay bestie. A bi bestie.

You know, I didn’t have boinking in chapter 2 on my bingo board for this book.

Not his magic cum lmao!

What if the autumn dude sabotaged the mirror because he wants her to be on his season of The Bachelor?

Of course, it’s occurred to him. He wasn’t born yesterday.

This is like a weird grad school romance.

Oh damn, everyone in this book is bi!

I think this book is an exceptionally average fantasy, but usually average fantasies do not have such a low rating on Goodreads so I’m curious why the general populous is panning this.

It’s very Court of the Undying Seasons and Garden of the Cursed

It has very good chronic migraine rep.

Lol, he’s a walking bath bomb.

… that line was kinda hot. The audiobook narrator’s really doing the most. She’s making me enjoy this book.

It’s a little Mary Sue in that literally everyone in this book wants to fuck main character girly, but I also don’t really care. Like I expected nothing from this book, so yes girl, give us nothing!

You can see the Covid influence in this book as well.

I like how her bestie is like you can’t investigate, and I’m like I opened this book and said you were guilty, my dude. (I like how I was so convinced. But I was also so convinced that the other guy was way too obviously evil to be the villain.)

Hey babe, you took your bracelet off. You’re good to do the mirror work now. Just watch. (Or don’t watch because Samantha is dead wrong.)

Hell yeah! Fuck the doctor Spider-Man with his black lipstick. (I love when fantasy books give one of the main characters this like unpronounceable name, and then I only read it as an audiobook, so I have really no idea how to spell it, and I’m like I’ll just rename them. It’s fine.)

Girlypop is the worst detective.

If their society is so advanced to essentially have genetic blood testing, why don’t they have greenhouses?

I love how the book is like he’s ethically kind of icky, and Sam's like I’m sat. He said, ambitious and honest, and my Capricorn said heard!

This is the horniest Sunday school.

It’s like kind of good and twisty. I don’t understand why it’s getting so much hate. Like it’s not great, but it’s very readable.

The book: he’s so evil. Look, he’s like betrayed her so many times
Sam: still kinda hot though. Still kinda hot though! (This is made even more funny because his character description is like not my type at all, but I did weirdly like the audiobook narrator’s voice for him. Also, they just had chemistry.)

I know they’ve been setting it up all book for her to like be with the human version of this god and like save the world with their love, but like what if I still kind of prefer her with the spider? Throuple?

Dude, she’s like literally starving to death. Time and place for horny.

Dude, he’s fucked how many of your friends? And you're just chill with that?

That’s a bar, honestly.

Hey girl, hey! I’m like so glad you’ve been my servant all my life. Now can you get this dick wet too? I don’t like them together tbh.

You think he could’ve brought some meat in addition to that meat? You know, I’ll leave.

Hey girl, I heard you were starving so I brought you some sausage.

She really doesn’t have the calories available to be burning fucking a god, but go off. In cowgirl, no less.

You guys have had like multiple months knowing that the solution was probably gonna be blood to like fill a blood bank. No one needed to die for this.

Where are we going with this? Is this a standalone or like do I have to read another book?

me: how are we gonna wrap up this book? There’s so little book left.
the author: settle in for an info dump and a villain monologue.
and Samantha’s like goddamnit. We were doing so well.

I love that the book is also like the Spider-Man is still hot.

Girl, I’m getting whiplash. Are we fucking the Spider-Man or not?

Hell yeah, brother!

Like I don’t give half stars and this is not a four-star, but like this is a high, high three. It could use a hell of an edit, but I had a good time.

Hell no, brother! What do you mean? What do you mean?

The author: I know they have unbelievable chemistry, but like I’m sure the audience will never forgive him for being a murderer and like a medical experimenter so like they won’t get together
me: what murder. I don’t care. Let ‘em boink. What do you mean?

I don’t want this fucking vanilla ass scarecrow man. What are we doing? (Never thought I would see the day where I called a religious kink that bites boring.)

What’s she gonna do? Quit her job and let him use her like a broodmare? I don’t like this ending.

What do you mean? Are we getting no boyfriends after like six boyfriends all book? Are you joking? No boyfriends?

It’s really weird that your bestie is carrying your ex-boyfriend’s/ex boss’s baby. Are we just not gonna talk about that???

Literally if everyone’s already starving, why would you want six more weeks of winter? Make it make sense.

An epilogue, what do you mean?

Wow, we’re just like not resolving anything with the shadow people or the other religion. We’re just like bulldozing to the end. Actually, we’re not even solving the whole book. She’s tacking on an epilogue because she ain't solved shit. What the hell, man.

Do you know what’s a little irritating to me? This book is so in on the horny, and the poly, and the gay, and none of the sex scenes are sexy. They all fade to black. Like you really said let’s do religious kink and medical kink but you can’t see any of it, and that’s rude to me!

That really rubs me the wrong way that the lady who was like I don’t really actually want to have kids is forced to have a kid.

How has your rift been mended? Just because you stopped fucking the dude that did medical experiments on her? I don’t know. I don’t think a normal person would get over that.

You can’t just not talk about shit and be like lol we’re besties.

Here’s the epilogue: I’m gonna choose your bestie to fuck for 15 years and not you. Like that’s weird behavior!

The way my mouth dropped at the good girl nonsense.

I’m angry now. What the fuck, you tease! Like four times this book’s been like the spider man’s evil. She can’t fuck him. And then she fucks him. And then they’re still not together in the end? What do you mean?

I feel like she wrote this to get over a break up and this is not how we happily ever after, ma’am!

Wow, goddamn I’m pissed lol.

Post-reading:
You know, I went into this book with the worst attitude. I expected it to be unreadable garbage, and I was so pleasantly surprised at how invested I got in it.

Let’s be clear. At no moment is this a good book. It’s a debut, and it reads like it. It’s a pretty generic fantasy mystery plot. The main character is a Mary Sue. It’s got pacing issues. The plot and the writing get repetitive for good chunks of it. It can’t decide if it wants to be a YA or an adult book. The only thing making this adult is the sheer amount of sex in it, but it’s never actually sexy, so it doesn’t really earn that adult label. The plot certainly isn’t dark enough to fit into that category. The voice of the writing reads young.

So like a lot goes wrong. But miss author girl can really write some chemistry. I was shockingly invested in the wildly problematic romances in this book. And the book’s pretty upfront about them being problematic. It’s like no yeah, this is wrong. They should not be together. There are horribly unequal power dynamics at play… still kinda hot though.

And then it’s gonna piss off its audience because no one ends up together. The audience that is able to read a generic, dime-a-dozen fantasy romance novel and still give that book four or five stars is not going to be happy if you don’t give them a happily ever after!

I think I got through this book so fast because the audiobook was really good. I’m not sure if I would’ve had the same reading experience had I read it on my own. I might’ve gotten annoyed. It might’ve been too slow for me. But the narrator was really good at keeping me engaged. There’s a couple bars in this book that would be wildly effective and horny somewhere else.

It’s got great chronic migraine representation.

As a whole though, it’s just kind of a mediocre book that wraps up way too fast and lacks a satisfying ending. I don’t think you’re missing anything if you skip it, but if you’ve had it on your book box TBR and have been dreading it, I don’t think that dread is really warranted. I’ve read so much worse. I don’t think rewriting this book would ever get it into four or five-star territory. I don’t think the concept is really there. But I would be interested in picking this author up again. I think she’s got a horny book in her. Like write the naughty romance, girl. Don’t be a coward.

Who should read this:
Poly fantasy romance girlies
YA fantasy mystery fans

Ideal reading time:
Autumn. Like duh.

Do I want to reread this:
No, but I would pick up the author again.

Would I buy this:
No, but I went into this book so convinced I was going to get rid of my copy of it and now I kinda wanna keep it.

Similar books:
* Court of the Undying Seasons by A. M. Strickland-this is the same book but in vampire font, horny YA fantasy romance, mystery, magic school, poly, queer
* Garden of the Cursed by Katy Rose Pool-YA urban fantasy romance, mystery
* The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem-fantasy romance, enemies to lovers
* Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente-historical fairytale retelling, romance
* A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft-historical, urban fantasy romance, mystery, dark academia, queer
* The Night Hunt by Alexandra Christo-YA fantasy romance
* This Dark Descent by Kalyn Josephson-YA urban political fantasy romance, ensemble cast
* Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare-YA urban political fantasy romance, ensemble cast
* The Curse of Saints by Kate Dramis-YA urban political fantasy romance

This was an interesting concept. It took me awhile to get into the book but I would definitely be open to trying future works by the author.

Really, it's more like a 2.5 even though it had potential with its beautifully written descriptions and atmospheric setting, but ultimately, it left me feeling underwhelmed. While the author’s ability to capture the essence of the changing seasons is commendable, the story itself falls flat. The pacing is painfully slow, making it difficult to stay invested in the plot or the characters.

I found it hard to connect with the protagonists, whose development felt shallow and at times predictable. Despite a few moments of emotional depth, the narrative meanders too much, never fully gaining momentum. This made the overall experience feel tedious, and by the end, I wasn’t as moved as I had hoped to be.

For readers who enjoy slow, reflective stories with rich descriptions, this might still appeal, but personally, I find it difficult to recommend. It just didn’t hold my interest in a meaningful way.

This book wasn't for me. I didn't vibe with it in the beginning and ended up DNF'ing about 30% in. I didn't love the writing style and couldn't believie in the story and characters from the start.

Thank you NetGalley for the ebook-arc. The story was wonderful and full of world building and character development. Following Tirne, and after being accused of breaking the mirror that allows them to travel from world she is demoted and sent on to do daily tasks, while getting help to solve that case of the broken mirror and trying to figure out who was trying to frame her

This was an interesting and unique adult fantasy, with wonderful writing!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

This book was a great myth! I have not read about these gods/goddesses before and I very much enjoyed the story! I would like to see what else Amy Avery writes in the mythology world!

This book should've been a 5 star read because it has all these great ingredients: a god of death, a Herald who accompanies the dead to the realm, a mystery that needs solving. But the magic of all of those elements quickly loses its luster at around the halfway mark. The story becomes repetitive and there is barely any story progression. The characters decision making skills are horrible, as well as their lack of making any decisions. Our MC is so horribly oblivious that it can only be chalked up to bad writing, there are really no other justifications for her lack of action. The other characters are also flat. I had hopes that the ending might pick up at bit, but the ending just cemented my feelings about this book not living up to its own hype.

2.5 rounded up.

The longest autumn was perfect fall book to read during the winter.

Part of the plot points didn't thrill me and some of the character development wasn't for me.

I had very high hopes for this novel, and while those hopes were generally met/fulfilled in the beginning, the story kind of fell flat for me by the end. My interest in the Tirne and the rest of the cast of characters and their experiences and conflicts decreased throughout the story. The pace of the story was kind of all over the place which I think contributed to my experience of the story overall. While I enjoyed the novel magic system and the in-world lore, I wasn't very satisfied with the conclusion, and I'm not sure I'll be continuing with this series as I wasn't really left wanting more.

A fabulous debut standalone fantasy! I am always on the hunt for an author whom can build a complex world and story wrapped up one book. And this dedication, seared me: "For those whose careful plans and big dreams shattered, and who put themselves back together again."

This was surprisingly better than I thought it would be. Neither a romance nor super high fantasy, it nevertheless managed to include a bit of mystery, a dash of world-building, and an interesting exploration of two relationships thar form and break in different ways. The writing was easy to fall into from chapter 1, and I wouldn't mind picking up something else from the author in future.

The Longest Autumn is a great story that very well connects themes of resilience, personal growth, and the complexities of human relationships against the backdrop of the changing seasons. Avery's writing style is easy to follow but doesn't take from her excellent writing!

The story really forms when Elizabeth finds herself at the old, forgotten gazebo in the heart of the woods—a place that symbolizes how she feels inside, abandoned and broken. This scene also shows the beginning of Elizabeth's introspective journey toward healing and self-discovery.

I liked the themes of love, loss, friendship, and the importance of community. Although some were underdeveloped, the realistic and compelling characters added to the novel's emotional depth.

However, the love story was entirely predictable and could have been skipped altogether. And then there was the pacing! That was the most challenging part because I wanted to quit reading in the first half. Even though everything was nicely described and emotions were running high, I needed more action-driven narratives to keep me interested.

Overall, the book was ok! There are many ways the book could have been more exciting and engaging. I feel sad, but the story wasn't really memorable to me!

This book was very unique. This story created a new mythology system where the gods were able to control the seasons and had to come from their realm to ours to make the seasons change. I really enjoyed the unique mythology that was created in this story. It felt like a twist on Greek mythology with Autumn being the god that was able to help souls to the underworld. I liked the main character Tirne and definitely enjoyed her journey. What didn't work for me with this was that there felt like certain pieces of the story that were not fully resolved at the end, at least in my opinion. I also felt like the plot was quite predictable, which was okay, but it just made it a little bit less enjoyable for me since a main focus was solving a mystery of sorts and I had already predicted the villain fairly early on. I would say I liked this book because of the unique mythology and the main character, but I didn't love it.

3.75✨

Debut author. Fantasy. LGBTQIA+ rep. Disability rep.

The Longest Autumn takes place in a fantastical world where each season is a god, and they have Heralds (honored human assistants) who help them usher in their season each year by passing through a mirror from the gods’ realm to the human. The main character, Tierne, is Autumn’s Herald, but when after passing through the mirror, it shatters, Tierne is blamed for its destruction and the seasonal balance is put in jeopardy. It is up to Tierne to figure out who’s to blame for the mirrors destruction, or else lose her position as Herald.

Not gonna lie, this book sort of lost the plot, but I still very much enjoyed it. For me, the strong suit in this book is the characters, character relationships, and the atmosphere/world. Each character is refreshingly flawed, including Tierne, and the politics of how they obtain their wants and needs sometimes at the expense of others kept me invested until the very end. Even the characters I hated, I loved to hate. I also liked the backdrop of their world and the history and lore that came with it. Sometimes fantasy books that have worship/religion in them don’t really work for me, but for some reason, this one did.

Where this book fell short for me was the plot, which very much had to do with the mystery of who destroyed the mirror. My main struggle with the plot was the meandering way that it went on (i.e. Tierne would find a lead and then not know where to go next with it, etc.), which somewhat threw the pacing off. Even so, I was so invested in the characters and what would happen next to them, that the pacing didn’t bother me too much.

I would recommend this book to fantasy/fantasy-romance readers who love character-driven stories (and lots of LGBTQIA+ rep) in immensely atmospheric worlds. I’ll definitely be reading more from this author should they come out with another novel.

I went into this hoping for a mythology-esque fantasy with a tiny pinch of romance. Instead, I got smut heavy romance with a tiny pinch of fantasy. Objectively, the writing wasn’t bad, but I wanted more of the plot and less of the random sex scenes. Things happen so fast that there isn’t really any time for the reader to feel the emotions as the MC moves through the book. It left me feeling a bit disconnected. All in all, this story had promise, but lacked a bit in execution.

The Longest Autumn set up an interesting world and magic system. This book was a bit slower in pace than I prefer my books to be.

Thank you Netgalley and Flatiron Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The world-building of this story is fantastic and really had me immersed. I also loved the combination of the story being a mystery and romance.

The Longest Autumn by Amy Avery is about Tirne, a young woman who serves as herald to the god of death. She is devoted to her work, eagerly shepherding the souls of the dead from the mortal realm to the realm of the gods through an enchanted mirror that serves as a portal. Her world changes forever when, on a day that should be a celebration of the changing of seasons, she passes through the mirror and it shatters, leaving her and the god of Autumn stranded in the mortal world and the world stranded in an unending season of decay. When the temple leaders discover that her blood carries the curse that shattered the mirror, she becomes the prime suspect in its destruction, and she either has to find out who cursed her or risk losing her position.

This book delivers thorough worldbuilding and an intriguing magic system. I loved the connection between the gods and the seasons and the way that the balance of their mortality and divinity is kept by traveling between the two worlds. Avery does a particularly good job of showcasing the lives of those who live and serve at the temple and contrasting them with those who live outside the gates. The world is populated with a diverse range of LGBTQIA+ characters, and I appreciate the way she represents the experience of chronic pain through Tirne's point of view. I also enjoyed the way Tirne wrestles with her faith as she watches the god of Autumn become more human with each passing day.

While the plot of the book does involve a mystery and a romance, both feel incidental to the heartbeat of the story, which is about a woman who progressively loses everything she holds dear as the world around her crumbles. Avery does not flinch away from Tirne's suffering. She is devastated by the loss of her position and frequently debilitated by her chronic pain, and as her circumstances grow more dire, she has to decide how much of herself she's willing to give up in order to regain her status and the position she loves. Her journey toward separating her identity from her position and her faith is a worthwhile story to engage with, but given the way the synopsis positions the book, I found myself disappointed by the lack of development given to her romantic relationships and the anticlimactic, almost casual way the mystery's solution is delivered at the end.

I think this book will resonate well with people who prefer slow-paced, character-driven fantasies where romance is not a central force in the story's unfolding. Its intended audience is summarized well by the author's dedication: "For those whose careful plans and big dreams shattered, and who put themselves back together again."