At the end of this book, there is a line that at first seems incredibly simple, but really does sum up everything that had transpired in all of the previous pages: "A heart can hold more than one love."

Tirne is the Herald of Autumn, one of the gods that usher in the changes of seasons. And for each god, during their season, they enter into the human world and, over the months, become more human themselves. But they always return to their world, to return fully to the life of a god. However, on one trip, the mirror that serves as the portal shatters, sending the lives of everyone in the world into turmoil, especially Tirne and those with whom she holds any sort of tie.

In the process of trying to fix the mirror, we find ourselves inside a mystery, a world with magic and gods and very real human stakes, a twisted tale of forbidden love, a myriad of lies and deceit and shifting alliances, of friendships built and broken. We see Tirne struggle with who she is when the one thing she has fought for her entire life to have is gone. We see a god turning mortal, and how feeling the depths of human emotion can bring someone to their knees, and lead them to doing things they never thought possible.

And through everything, the one thing I couldn't help but feel as we follow Tirne trying to fix things, trying to learn just who she is and what she is willing to do in the quest to undo the damage to the mirror, as we see the world around her slowly chipping away at everything she has known, is a deep ache. An ache for what is lost. An ache for what could never be. An ache for what you hope to change, but know that the deepest parts of your soul will remain the same. In this story, about gods and humans, all behaving somewhat badly, we see just how achingly human everyone truly is. And how life can sometimes leave you with only bittersweet memories instead of fulfilling every wish you thought you wanted.

The Longest Autumn was my first book by Amy Avery. The premise caught my attention and the prospect of a mystery intrigued me. With a new magical world and a vast cast of characters, I think that Avery did a good job at setting up the story and ending it with a resolution that fit.

Tirne was a flawed FMC, but I enjoyed reading about her journey, especially about her faith. Tirne starts at the top in social status at the beginning of the book and it took falling to the bottom for her to finally question her life, faith, and role in the world. I do feel that Tirne was a little one dimensional, but the journey she goes through deepened her character growth and development. The other characters were really a backdrop to her, as this was her story.

The mystery element of the story definitely kept me engaged, however I did feel like it moved at a slow pace. That could be because we were witnessing it through Tirne's perspective while she was trying to figure it all out as well. The romance element to this story is not what I would consider romance, however I enjoyed the diversity of relationships that were portrayed.

Overall this was an atmospheric fantasy novel with elements of romance and mystery added in, but was really a story of a young women finding herself outside of her faith that defined her for so long.

The Longest Autumn is a perfectly atmospheric adult fantasy standalone to read as we enter the colder months.
What I loved
-Excellent world building
-High Stakes
-Great pacing
-Wonderful representation for lgbt characters
-romance is present without taking over the plot
-chronic illness rep
What didn't work as well for me
-Side characters didn't feel quite fully fleshed out
-Dialogue felt stilted and unnatural during several sections.
Who would I recommend this title for
Readers seeking an original story with mythological vibes ; particularly readers who enjoy works like epic of helienthia by mj panky or Circe by Madeline Miller.

I was very much looking forward to this book but unfortuntely I couldn't get into it. I hope Ms. Avery all the best.

Thank you to the folks over at Net Galley for an ARC of this book.

It took me so long to get through this cause the writing leaves much to be desired. In the first chapter alone, phrases that were quippy and sleek the first time were quickly overused a few paragraphs later. The beginning was choppy, and took me a while to find my footing, in words that I didn’t yet quiet figure out the meaning to. It felt purple, redundant, perhaps purposely naive and I was hesitant to continue.
The pacing is odd, but not irreparable. It relies on you believing pre-established relationships from the get go, and builds those foundations over time. It felt like the author was focusing on too many things, both a mystery and character development, in such a lush and interesting world. Where this book holds up is in the distinct and unique rules to a gods court.
I feel as if the story would have been better constructed as a glittering court of gossip and intrigue, but all the interesting bits were on the back burner. However this may just be a fault of my interest, and not the book itself. I enjoyed the depth of the gods, the complexity of the world, the interesting facets where magic and worlds meet; the mystery holds up too, keeping a compelling story on stage.
I just wanted a little /more/— drama, MC personality, purpose or drive. Just a dash to push this into a stronger book, cause I worry the world isn’t enough to carry it. That being said, I would recommend this to someone who had enjoyed Margaret Rogerson’s works, its along that same vein for me.

I enjoyed the Greek mythology aspects, the mystery, and the romance. It was clear from the beginning that this was a debut novel and I kept that in mind. I think the plot fell a bit flat for me. I expected to be more entranced and excited throughout the book. While it was good enough to finish and I would venture to say I enjoyed it, it wasn’t as memorable as I’d like. I’d definley give this author another shot!

Very atmospheric and quite an apt read for the season (fall). It definitely has the vibes for it. However, I kept wanting more from the novel though it certainly was promising for a debut. Some of the characters fell a little flat for me, but I do look forward to what the author will write next.

"The Longest Autumn" by Amy Avery is a story about a girl named Tirne who works for the god of Autumn. Tirne has wanted one thing in her life: to be Herald. When that role is stripped from her, and the portal between the mortal world and the world of the gods is destroyed, Tirne will do anything to fix it. This story is a wonderful mix of mystery and romance.

This book really drew me in, I finished it in only a couple of days and was on the edge of my seat the whole time. There was a lot going on during the story and I never knew what was coming next. This book did feel like it was written in a YA style, when the story was not YA. One thing I did not love about this book was that Tirne is constantly forced into different actions and plots, she does not take too much action. By the end of the book Tirne gave up all of her ambitions, which was disheartening to read.

Overall I liked the book, and the characters, and the mystery kept me interested but I did not like the ending.

This review is left voluntarily, and thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

A debut, refreshing adult fantasy novel. While the book is a little slow at the beginning with the world-building, I liked the mythology that leaned on Greek gods but added to it. Having Heralds that usher in the gods of the season was new but familiar enough that I could understand the premise. Tirne was a complex character who admits (or not) her failings.

This book is not a romantasy. There are romantic aspects (and LGBTQI+ rep) but the focus is on the mystery of the broken mirror and watching how the characters relationships ebbed and flowed while in a world-threatening problem of it always being autumn. I did not see the "final reveal" and was amazed it was wrapped up in a stand-alone novel. I enjoyed it being one and done. So many books add fluff to force a trilogy or duology. Those are nice but it was pleasant to not have to read through another 300 pages to see the ending. The epilogue was poignant. People cannot always have what they want and I thought Tirne ended, if not happy, content and empowered to rebuild her life.

"The Longest Autumn" seemed like the perfect fall read, so I was very excited to dive into this one just as the leaves are changing--although it turns out that this particular book's view of the season is a bit darker and less cozy than I anticipated.

Overall I expected this book to do more--more mystery, more romance, more urgency. There were some aspects of the world building that had me expecting an overturning of the main character's faith and possibly her entire religious order, so when instead the conclusion was mostly to maintain the status quo, it felt like there was a lot of setup that didn't quite get played out.

However, I loved the chronic illness and queer rep, as well as the unique world building.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

3.5 “Was this seriously a debut!?” stars!

So it all starts with a broken mirror. Said mirror is enchanted and allows the Gods and their specially chosen Heralds to come and go between realms. Doesn’t sound like too big of a deal, but the Gods are actual embodiments of the seasons, and when the Herald Tirne and her God Autumn are trapped in the human realm, it turns into never-ending fall.

On top of the main issue, Tirne is suffering from migraines and Autumn is becoming more human and less God with the passing of time, leaving them both vulnerable.
So Tirne takes it upon herself to figure out who cursed the mirror and how to fix it, so they can go back to the other realm and carry-on business as usual.

Tirne comes across many allies and enemies in her search for the truth, not to mention Autumn is starting to see her in a romantic light, which is obviously forbidden.

Ok, the world building is phenomenal. Love the entire concept, very clear visuals, never confused as to how things worked. Bravo to this author since this is her debut!

I enjoyed the representation of chronic illness, LGBTQ characters, and unconventional romance/relationships. It never felt forced or preachy. That being said, I wouldn’t categorize this as romance specifically. I would say it’s fiction/fantasy with elements of romance.

The only negatives for me were the pacing and the ending. It felt like the middle of this book dragged on with not much happening at all, but once you get about 75% through you can’t put it down. The ending is more of a personal opinion of mine, rather than anything actually being wrong with it. Can’t get into it without spoilers.

Overall this was an enchanting read for fall and I would definitely recommend it!

Check it out, when it hits shelves, 1/16/24!

A big thanks to the Publisher & NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

You can find the review for this book and others on my
<a href=” https://www.tiktok.com/@turgidtomespodcast”>Tiktok</a> listed under Pickled Ponderings.

Do you like Romance Novels and want to hear more of my musings?
Check out my podcast, <a href="https://anchor.fm/turgidtomes/episodes/Episode-1-Midnight-Sun-e121ie7">Turgid Tomes: A Tawdry Bookclub</a>
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The Longest Autumn by Amy Avery is an enthralling debut fantasy about a human who gets trapped with the god of Autumn, who brings with him life-threatening danger and a forbidden romance.
Amy Avery made this as richly detailed and immersive story as possible. It's a fabulous story with characters that you can truly empathize with.
I loved how she brought these characters to life on the page.
The world-building is strong and unique.
A very entertaining and enjoyable story. I’m excited to see what Avery creates next. Because her debut was amazing!
A compelling fantasy novel with mystery, betrayal, romance and magic.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the opportunity to read this ahead of its publication date in return for my honest review.

I received an e-arc through NetGalley and this is my honest opinion of the book.

I give it 2.75/5.

The story starts off interesting and with the seasons having different gods and heralds and they switch off. It starts to seem rushed and the characters fall flat. There is so much trying to happen but no background or way to connect to the book. The fmc is okay but her interactions with other arent very well written. The "villains" of the story are kind of passed over and you don't really see why things are bad. The world building is pretty minimal it's enough to understand the basics of what's going on and to understand on a basic skimming level (which I started to do towards the end). The book has an interesting plot but it's so rushed and feels that's way to get it the end there is really no substance of the characters or the world around.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader copy.

This was very well written and had beautiful prose for just a debut novel.
The mythology and world building was good and had solid plot.

The time and pacing of the story felt a little off at times but it was still an enjoyable read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Enjoyable read generally especially for a debut.
I liked the worldbuilding at the start and thought the book was unique take kn fantasy via Gods/mythology vibes.

But the pacing was off for most of the book, either way to slow or crazy fast to the point of “wait, what just happened?!”

Look forward to seeing how this author grows in future books.

Okay maybe it because it’s 4:30 in the morning and I’m sleep deprived but I am devastated. I feel personally and viciously attacked by this author but like in a good way? But also in a bad way.

Ugh. I cried at least four separate times during this reading, the devastation was surging out of the pages at me in several different spots.
Selling her necklace? Omg.

Okay. The overall plot was super interesting, the pacing was torturously slow at times and could lag a bit but when it picked up it was well written for that pace. The universe and the divinities and their myths in this were so unique and interesting.

My issues were that I wanted more from the Mythos, we find out Brix is the big baddie and never really get to the answer of this debate between the temple folk and the kildians on what really happened when the mirrors were created and why, which they talk about a lot. And back to the pacing, we’re sleuthing and building characters and emotional wells and then wam bam thank you ma’am the ending and resolution slap us in the face. And the main character had almost nothing to do with it besides being stabbed. With all the whys and who’s and how’s coming afterwards. I would have liked a little more plot unraveling prior to the big reveal.

And the heartbreaking ending was just that, heartbreaking. She got majorly rejected. Twice. In just a few pages. It felt like in the plot issues mentioned above and in the character interactions she was never the main character driving anything forward. Things were sort of happening to her.

But I can’t argue that this was an enjoyable read and I’d definitely recommend it to others and look forward to seeing what Amy Avery cooks up next.

This was a solid fantasy debut! Atmospheric, unique, and great characters. Fantasy book lovers will be excited about this!

I enjoyed the overall story and the creative ideas behind the world and its characters. It was a fresh take on the idea of Gods and how they co-existed with humans.

However, it fell apart in the middle for me. There were too many chapters in a row where nothing in the story progressed, and yet we kept jumping time...

I also wanted more storytelling on the other religion, creatures and characters. I felt like too much was left unsaid here, and then all the sudden we had a resolution and the book was over. We could have replaced the fluff in the middle with more on this part of the story instead.

The Longest Autumn is a book where a magical artifact breaks and causes terrible consequences for literally everybody, and the main character is the prime suspect. Tirne swears she’ll do anything necessary to restore it, a vow that gets her in trouble. The sheer amount of trouble she gets into is really bold too, there’s no shortage of tension here.

There are a lot of things I really liked about this novel. The worldbuilding was fantastically creative! A pantheon of seasonal gods and myths to support how it formed that seems to have taken inspiration from Greek/Roman mythology, but isn’t a one for one imitation. There are holidays too that aren’t just reskinned fantasy Christmas and New years. Autumn himself is very fleshed out, as most of the characters are. The temple is a living place, with people bustling about. Additionally, there’s a lot of LGBT reps here. A character going by they/them, multiple same sex pairings, and an aromantic character (seriously, props for the aromantic one, I’ve never seen it in fiction before and the A needs some more reps!) These are all treated as normal too.

My main gripe with the novel is WHY IS IT SO SEXUAL ALL THE TIME?!?!

If I weren’t reading an ARC (Thanks NetGalley!), I’d have stopped at the second chapter. Fire and Shadow, it starts in the second chapter! AND IT NEVER STOPS. Remember the fun worldbuilding I said something about? The holiday in question is one where they basically celebrate sex, all get drunk at a dance and then go have sex with each other after. Remember how I mentioned the temple? Yeah, there are no doors so Tirne tells the reader she can hear everyone having sex as she goes down the halls. Everyone seems to be in an open relationship too, I swear, no one knows the meaning of monogamy. Tirne has sex with three other characters and turns down a fourth, one of which she hates at times but keeps going back to because spice I think??? That one actually goes somewhere plot wise though, not like the first sexual encounter that’s pretty much irrelevant.

None of those things are bad per se, but they make the book very different from what it’s marketed as. The way probably more than half the chapters had some reference to sex WILL turn readers away because it’s not advertised at all in the cover or blurb. It’s a shame, because I really was invested in the mystery, but the resolution was more about the sex which made me a little disappointed.

Also, the prose isn’t quite doing it for me. It’s like one out of every five words could be cut with nothing of importance lost. To many ly words, I think.

The Longest Autumn by Amy Avery is a fantasy standalone novel about Tirne, Herald of the god, Autumn, who gets stuck in the human realm when the mirror, the connection with the realm of the gods, breaks.

The official description says that Autumn brings with him life-threatening danger and a forbidden romance. I have mixed feelings because I thought it would be more mystery and more romance. Tirne has several romantic pursuits throughout the novel and I wasn’t sure which was heading towards being end game, but I actually liked that the romantic elements felt more realistic than a HEA of romance genre books.

Avery lays the foundations of the mystery early, from the first chapter, though it’s not a traditional mystery in which Tirne investigates, but rather an add on while she’s trying to survive stuck in the human world with her debilitating migraines. I appreciated the representation of someone with chronic illness, but Tirne as a character didn’t have much growth nor much in the way of agency. Everything happened to her, nearly to the very end when she made one choice for herself.

Overall, it was an interesting standalone with a satisfying resolution. I’m interested to see what else this author may have coming.

Favorite quote: I hesitate. “I’d be a heretic.” Almost a whisper, his reply. “Then be my heretic.”

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for allowing me to read this book as an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Pros:
- Interesting world building.
- Quick read.
- Satisfying conclusion.
- Good representation that felt realistic.

Cons:
- The first person POV is rough at first and Tirne is quite passive.
- The other characters weren’t well developed.
- Yet another rendition of the young woman/ancient man trope with Tirne and Autumn.
- Tirne’s strained relationship with Laereda is told but not really shown. In Chapter 8, Tirne says everyone will see Laereda’s true colors, but as a reader I wasn’t shown what those were so I didn’t understand Tirne’s dislike of her and vice versa.