Fatal Fiction

Title: Fatal Fiction
Author: Karen MacInerney
Published: June 30, 2024 by Gray Whale Press
Format: Paperback, 199 Pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: Snug Harbor Mysteries #4

Blurb: The air at Seaside Cottage Books is tinged with autumn, and bookseller Max Sayers is helping her friend Denise Wilmington start a new chapter by turning the abandoned shop next door into a cozy coffee house. But when the two women dig up a decades-old rhododendron by the front walk, they uncover a grisly secret entwined with the bush's roots: a woman's skeleton, buried with a gold ring.

But Max doesn't have time to dig up dirt on old bones. The next day, a famous Maine author's bequest to the Snug Harbor library vanishes within hours of arriving. Then Max's assistant Bethany and her boyfriend Devin discover the head librarian—and Devin's new boss--strangled with a phone cord behind the circulation desk.

Suspicion quickly darkens the crisp fall air. Was Bethany's boyfriend, who had no love lost for his new boss, behind the library director's untimely death? Or is a darker, older plot hidden in Snug Harbor's leafy streets? When a curious Max finds herself the subject of the next attack, the plot arc becomes terrifyingly clear. It's up to Max to find the villain, and fast... or her next chapter may be her last.

My Opinion: *It’s been a long time since I’ve wanted to grab a red pen mid chapter, but this one had my fingers twitching. Plotting gaps, “wait, what about…?” moments, and repetition that felt like déjà vu on a loop kept pulling me out of the story.

To be fair, the dual plot setup almost saved things. Just when I’d start to tire of one thread, the other would wander back in. But then the second storyline wrapped up so abruptly it read like the author glanced at the page count and thought, oh no, I need to land this plane right now, even if it is only 199 pages. It’s the kind of rushed ending that makes you flip back a few pages to see if you missed something—spoiler: you didn’t, and most likely, already had it figured out.

The pacing overall felt slow and uninspired, and the repetition didn’t help. By the end, the only bright spot was that the main female character wasn’t romantically entangled with the small town detective. Which was good since, the police could care less about the dead guy in the library.

And here’s the bigger realization this book nudged forward: I’ve outgrown this corner of the self-published cozy mystery world. Too many of these stories need a second set of editorial eyes to catch the missteps before they hit readers. I used to overlook that. Now it just grates.

So, much like the author’s Gray Whale Inn series, my time in Snug Harbor ends here. Some series fade out gently; others hand you the scissors and let you cut the cord yourself.

The Brothers McKay

Title: The Brothers McKay
Author: Craig Johnson
Expected Publication: May 26, 2026 by Viking
Format: Kindle, 368 Pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Series: Walt Longmire #22

Blurb: When Pepper McKay, one of the most hated men in Absaroka County, is found murdered on his ranch in Crazy Woman Canyon, suspects aren’t in short supply. But Sheriff Walt Longmire’s attention is on those who had gathered for a family meeting that evening, McKay’s very different sons: a smooth-talking charmer, a cosmopolitan journalist, a reclusive monk, and a half-Native ranch hand who keeps the place running. Each had a motive. Each claims he’s innocent.

As Walt investigates what happened that night at the O-Kay Lodge, he’s pulled into a tangle of old grudges and long-buried secrets. Then the case takes a sharp turn: a second body surfaces, and a wildfire tears through the canyon, trapping Walt and forcing him into a fight for his life as both the killer and the elements close in.

The twenty-second novel in the Longmire series, The Brothers McKay is a murder mystery and a survival thriller that tests the sheriff’s hard-won sense of justice—all while paying sly homage to Dostoevsky’s classic.

My Opinion: Book twenty two, and Craig Johnson is still out here proving he can take Walt Longmire anywhere he wants with his philosophical detours, historical rabbit holes, and the occasional “wait, why are we learning this?” sidebar included. And honestly, that’s part of why this series remains one of my favorites. When Johnson steps away from the woo woo elements that sometimes drift into the supernatural, the books settle into that grounded, wry, quietly intense rhythm that hooked me in the first place.

This one, The Brothers McKay, is basically Johnson showing you everything he has: autopsy tidbits, chess strategy, Wyoming history, religious quotes, car maintenance, heavy machinery, and if he can wedge it in, he will. It’s like he’s saying, “Sit tight, we’ll get to the mystery… eventually.” And he does, but he takes the scenic route while muttering about something philosophical.

Lucien shows up, and as usual, I can take him or leave him. Victoria remains her annoying self. But Henry Standing Bear? Always a win. His presence sharpens the story. His intensity and dry humor have a way of grounding Walt every time he steps onto the page, making the whole book feel more alive. Most importantly, he brings out a funnier, more self aware version of Walt.

As for the mystery itself, apparently, the clues were there, and I missed them. I really thought it was the other guy, and it wasn’t until the final stretch, when Johnson finally snaps all the pieces together, that I had that “ohhh, that’s what we were doing” moment. The first 80% is a slow simmer, but the last 20%? Clear your schedule. Sit down. Don’t move. Don’t breathe. Just read.

And then there’s the literary twist where Johnson is retelling The Brothers Karamazov. Thankfully, a certain not so incarcerated visitor in Walt’s open door jail cell spells that out for the reader. I’m not suddenly inspired to tackle the Russian classic, but I did poke around enough to appreciate what Johnson was doing. The parallels are clever, the themes surprisingly fitting, and the whole thing adds a layer of depth.

In the end, The Brothers McKay is a slow, wandering, detail stuffed ride that rewards your patience with a finale that hits hard. Johnson may take his sweet time, but he knows exactly where he’s going. And once again, I’m glad I went along for the trip.

Daughter of Egypt

Title: Daughter of Egypt
Author: Marie Benedict
Published: March 24, 2026 by St. Martin's Press
Format: Hardcover, 352 pgs
Genre: Historical Fiction

Blurb: 1920’s London was enthralled by the discovery of the treasure-filled tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Filled with priceless statues, jewels, and the gold-encased mummy of the boy Pharaoh himself, the burial site unleashed a fascination with the ancient world and revolutionized the world of archeology.

The discovery was made by Lord Carnarvon of Highclere Castle and his associate, famed archeologist Howard Carter. What no one knows is that without the pioneering spirit of Lady Evelyn Herbert, Carnarvon’s daughter, the tomb might never have been found. As a young woman, Evelyn was fascinated by the story of Hatshepsut, a woman who had to assume the guise of a man in order to rule Egypt. Although she brought peace and prosperity to Egypt, her male successors ruthlessly and thoroughly erased her name from history.

Lady Evelyn’s ambition to find the tomb of Egypt’s first woman ruler exposes her to life-threatening danger and pits her against archeologists who refuse to believe the tomb can be found―and certainly not by a woman. Refusing to give up, Evelyn is on the verge of success when she is suddenly forced to make an agonizing choice between loyalty to her beloved father and Carter and realizing the dream of a lifetime.

My Opinion: Marie Benedict’s Daughter of Egypt opens with the kind of dense historical preamble that will either sweep you into its current or leave you blinking and wondering when the actual story will begin. Beginning in 1919 with Eve—Lady Anne Penelope Marian Herbert, daughter of the 6th Earl of Carnarvon, who becomes fascinated with her father’s Egyptian excavations. Her chapters carry the bulk of the narrative, but it’s Hatshepsut’s voice, centuries earlier in 1486 BC, that brings the real color and vitality. If anything, the contrast becomes the novel’s most interesting tension: one woman trying to uncover history, the other fighting not to be erased from it.

The themes are unmistakable: women’s perseverance, the quiet (and not so quiet) ways women are written out of the record, the gender politics of empire, and the shadow of British imperialism hanging over every artifact Eve studies. But here’s the rub: those same details often pull you out of the story just as you’re settling in. The plot moves slowly, the digressions pile up, and before long, the book starts to feel less like a novel and more like a very long, very embellished lecture.

Then comes the shift back to Hatshepsut—Princess, “God’s Wife of Amun,” future pharaoh, and the figure who fuels Eve’s curiosity. Her chapters should have been the beating heart of the book, and in flashes, they are. But the author’s note makes clear just how freely Benedict played with the historical record, and that’s where the disappointment sets in. When I read historical fiction, I want to walk away feeling like I’ve learned something real, even if the edges are softened for storytelling. Here, I couldn’t tell where the facts ended and the fiction began, and because I’m not deeply versed in this era, the whole thing left me feeling unsure rather than enlightened.

By the time I switched to the audiobook, it had drifted into background noise, which is never a great sign. Benedict is a hit or miss author for me, and this one, despite its promising premise and powerful women at its center, simply didn’t land.

An Ordinary Sort of Evil

Title: An Ordinary Sort of Evil
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Expected Publication: May 19, 2026 by Minotaur Books
Format: Kindle, 320 Pages
Genre: Time Travel
Series: A Rip Through Time #5

Blurb: Modern-day homicide detective Mallory Mitchell has grown accustomed to life in Victorian Scotland after travelling 150 years into the past into the body of a housemaid. She’s built a new life for herself. Even though she works as an assistant to forensic-science pioneer Dr. Duncan Gray and Detective Hugh McCreadie, she considers them true friends. And with Gray in particular, perhaps, someday, something more.

Late one night, Gray and Mallory are summoned urgently to the home of Lady Adler, a patron of Gray’s undertaking business, and they assume there's been a death in the household. But instead, they arrive in the midst of a seance with a ghost demanding Gray's presence. The ghost is Lady Adler's former maid, who had gone missing but now requests that Gray investigate her murder. Although Gray and Mallory are skeptical, they agree to look into the matter, whether she's dead or alive. But unsure if there's been a murder or not, unable to call out the medium as a fraud, and concerned for the fate of the young maid, Gray and Mallory are once again drawn into a mystery much more puzzling--and more dangerous--than it first seems.

My Opinion: I can’t be the only one who chuckled at the idea of a time traveler investigating séances and ghosts. Mallory has literally hopped centuries, but this is where her cohorts draw the line? I briefly wondered if I was the only reader thinking it.

If you’ve ever wanted a crash course in autopsies, what to look for, what not to poke, and how to keep your stomach steady, this book has you covered. It never quite crosses into squeamish territory, but some readers may find themselves skimming a paragraph or two.

What really works here is the banter. Mallory and Dr. Gray have that easy, teasing rhythm that makes you want to linger in their scenes. Gray’s patience is almost saintly as Mallory casually drops modern references he has absolutely no framework for. And honestly, I’m convinced she does it partly to keep him off balance, and partly because she’s nursing a crush the size of a cathedral. It’s charming, and it gives the book a heartbeat when the plot starts to wander.

And wander it does. For a 320 page novel (with a surprisingly long 13 hour audiobook runtime), this story feels long. There’s a lot of atmosphere, a lot of character history that returning readers already know, and the murders sometimes drift into the background while the mood takes center stage. It’s not bad, it is just slow, and occasionally repetitive.

But the final quarter? That’s where Kelley Armstrong finally snaps everything into focus. The pace picks up, the tension sharpens, and the “art ful” twist lands with a satisfying knock. I love Armstrong and have read her across genres, but this one didn’t show her at her strongest. Still, that ending saves the experience and reminds you why she has such a loyal following.

Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block

Title: Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block
Author: Jesse Q. Sutanto
Published: April 28, 2026 by Berkley
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
Genre: Women's Fiction

Blurb: Retirement should mean long-awaited trips to the sapphire waters of Santorini or careening down a sand dune in Dubai. For sixty-three-year-old Mebel, retirement means her husband of more than forty years announcing that he's leaving her for their private chef. Mebel isn’t sure who's the bigger loss.

Not to worry, Mebel has the perfect plan: she’s going to win back her husband. No one knows what he needs better than her—after all, she's been anticipating his needs their whole marriage. And if he wants a wife who can cook (why else would he leave her for a chef?), she will simply go to cooking school. Luckily, class at the renowned Saint Honoré School of Culinary Arts in France starts in just four days!

However, Mebel quickly realizes that her culinary school is not in illustrious Paris but rather in England—and some small village outside of Oxford no less. Despite the less-than-warm welcome from her much younger classmates, Mebel manages to befriend Gemma, the breakout star of the program, who offers to help Mebel on their first day. When Gemma stops showing up to class, Mebel knows she must figure out what—or who—caused her friend’s sudden disappearance. After all, Mebel may not know the first thing about how to cut a potato, but she certainly knows how to identify a fraud, and there’s definitely something fishy going on.

My Opinion: I’m beginning to realize that I enjoy senior characters in a way I never fully appreciated before. There’s a kind of steel in them, a lived in determination you just don’t get from the usual twenty something protagonists who are still trying to figure out how to hold a job and a relationship at the same time. Jesse Q. Sutanto was my gateway into this world with the Vera Wong series, and now, with Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block, she’s doubled down on giving us older women who refuse to fade politely into the background.

And Mebel… well, she’s a force. An absolute delight of a force.

Did I know, in some dusty corner of my brain, that entire generations of women were raised to be trophy wives? Probably. But Sutanto doesn’t just mention it; she shows it. She gives us women who were groomed to orbit men, to shelve their own dreams, to be pleasant, decorative, and quiet. And then she hands us Mebel, who has decided she’s done with all that nonsense.

Watching her step into her own life — loudly, hilariously, sometimes messily — is half the joy of the book. The other half is realizing how much she teaches everyone around her, including the reader. She’s outspoken, stubborn, and unexpectedly vulnerable, and in carving out her own path, she models what it looks like to claim space, to use your voice, and to stop apologizing for existing.

Is “senior coming of age” a genre? If not, it should be, because Mebel fits it perfectly. She’s discovering herself the way a young adult protagonist might, only with decades of baggage and a lifetime of expectations to unpack. This is a found family story, but with a twist: Mebel already had a family; she just didn’t realize how much she’d limited herself. Her new circle of friends cracks open her world, showing her that independence, purpose, and joy aren’t reserved for the young.

What Sutanto delivers is a story about reinvention at any age. About earning your own way. About standing up for what’s right. About realizing that who you were doesn’t have to dictate who you get to be. It’s charming, funny, and quietly radical in the way it insists that older women deserve center stage.

And Mebel, bless her, takes it.

The Book Witch

Title: The Book Witch
Author: Meg Shaffer
Published: April 7, 2026 by Ballantine Books
Format: Kindle, 320 Pages
Genre: Magical Realism

Blurb: Rainy March is a proud third-generation book witch, sworn to defend works of fiction from all foes real and imaginary. With her magical umbrella and feline familiar, she jumps into and out of novels to fix malicious alterations and rogue heroes.

Book witches live by a strict Real people belong in the real word; fictional characters belong in works of fiction…. Do not eat, drink, or sleep inside a fictional world, lest you become part of the story. Falling in love with a fictional character? Don’t even think about it.

Which is why Rainy has been forbidden from seeing the Duke of Chicago, the dashing British detective who stars in her favorite mystery series. If she’s ever caught with him again, she’ll be expelled from her book coven—and forced to give up the magical gifts that are as much a part of her as her own name.

But when her beloved grandfather disappears and a priceless book is stolen, there’s only one person she trusts to help her solve the case: the Duke. Their quest takes them through the worlds of Alice in Wonderland, The Great Gatsby, and other classics that will reveal hidden enemies and long-buried family secrets.

My Opinion: I’m still not entirely sure whether The Book Witch is fantasy, magical realism, or something delightfully in between, but whatever it is, it scratched an itch I didn’t even know I had. It’s that rare reading experience where you close the final page and immediately want to flip back to the beginning, not out of confusion but out of sheer delight. I’m not a re-reader by nature, yet the moment I finished, I had the urge to start again just to catch all the breadcrumbs Meg Shaffer had been scattering while I was blissfully unaware. I absolutely did not see the twist coming, and I love it when a book gets one over on me like that.

From the very first pages, the structure hooked me: a book within a book within a book, each section heading doing quiet, clever work. Shaffer hides the best parts in plain sight, including what amounts to a sly little masterclass on how to write a mystery. She lays out the mechanics so openly that you don’t realize you’ve been handed the blueprint until the reveal snaps everything into place.

This is a story written for book lovers by a booklover. You can feel it in the imagination, the references, the way the narrative wanders through genres like a reader browsing their favorite shelves. It’s one of those novels where you promise yourself, you’ll read “just a couple more pages,” and suddenly you’re ignoring your to do list because you’ve fallen headfirst into someone else’s world.

Every character is memorable—truly memorable—and I already miss them. Their banter is sharp, funny, warm, and full of quotable lines that make you want to dog ear pages or reach for a highlighter. And beyond the mystery, beyond the twists, the book becomes a profound reading experience: a journey through stories we love, the emotions they stir up, and the conversations we have about them. It’s almost like being dropped into a book club tucked inside the narrative, where insights are shared, dots are connected, and perspectives shift in satisfying ways.

Will readers guess the twists early? I hope not. The surprises are the beating heart of this novel, and discovering them exactly when Shaffer wants you to is part of the magic.

When Breath Becomes Air

Title: When Breath Becomes Air
Author: Paul Kalanithi, Lucy Kalanithi
Published: January 12, 2016 by Random House
Format: Kindle, 208 and Pages
Genre: Memoir

Blurb: At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.

Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. “I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything,” he wrote. “Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: ‘I can’t go on. I’ll go on.’” When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both—now with an epilogue by Lucy Kalanithi.

My Opinion: When Breath Becomes Air is exactly what it promises to be: a memoir written by a dying surgeon who loved learning, but loved language even more. And honestly, thank goodness for the Kindle dictionary, because Paul Kalanithi’s vocabulary is… a lot. You can feel the literature, poetry, and philosophy woven through every page; sometimes beautifully, sometimes in ways that sailed right over my head.

The book is brief, divided into the before, the during, and an epilogue written by his wife, Lucy. It’s emotional without being manipulative, heartfelt without being sentimental, and full of the kinds of messages you don’t realize you need until they’re suddenly sitting in your lap. The clinical precision of a neurosurgeon meets the vulnerability of a man trying to make sense of a life that’s ending far too soon.

I’ll admit, the more academic passages weren’t for me. But when Paul writes about his patients, his colleagues, his wife, his daughter, those moments glow. That’s where the book truly breathes. You can feel the love, the fear, the clarity, the tenderness. You can feel the man.

And yes, I know memoirs often give us the polished pieces and cast off the parts the writer wants to leave behind. I’m sure there were darker moments—anger, doubt, frustration—that didn’t make it onto the page. But if Paul chose to leave us with grace, curiosity, and a sense of a life well lived, even if cut short, I’m willing to take that as the legacy he intended.

The 11:59 Bomber

Title: The 11:59 Bomber
Author: Marshall Karp
Published: November 25, 2025 by Blackstone Publishing, Inc.
Format: Kindle, 368 Pages
Genre: Police Procedureal
Series: NYPD Red #8

Blurb: A bomb explodes in a crowded New York subway station at exactly 11:59 a.m. The next day, a second blast rips through a busy department store—again at 11:59.

As the bombs go off with clockwork precision, the death toll climbs and businesses shut their doors as the city hunkers down in fear.

NYPD Red Detectives Kylie MacDonald and Zach Jordan face their most twisted case ever, as they race against the clock in search of one man who has vowed “to destroy New York City the way it destroyed my family.”

My Opinion: It has been over three years since The Murder Sorority hit shelves, and I’ll admit, I’d started to wonder if NYPD Red #8 was ever going to materialize. When The 11:59 Bomber finally appeared, I picked it up “just to see” if I remembered who was who. You know how that goes -- one paragraph becomes one chapter, and suddenly you’re halfway through the book, wondering when you last looked up from the page.

There’s something about this series that has always worked for me. Maybe it’s the humor tucked between the high stakes moments, or the emotional beats that land more often than not. Maybe it’s the trust detectives Kylie MacDonald and Zach Jordan, and the whole high octane RED squad. Whatever that alchemy is, I was genuinely hoping it hadn’t faded during the long gap. Thankfully, the energy remains.

One of the things I’ve always appreciated about this series is the multiple plotlines. For readers, like me, who get restless with straight line storytelling, this is a welcome relief. There’s always another thread to follow, another angle to consider, another moment where you think, “Okay, now this is where the squad shows its strength,” only to realize Karp has a few more turns planned.

By the end, a couple of interpersonal threads are left dangling, not in a frustrating way, but rather as an open invitation. If (or when) Karp decides to pick them back up, I have no doubt the series faithful will be right there, ready to see what the RED squad gets tangled in next. After a three year wait, I’m just relieved the door hasn’t closed on them yet.

Mad Mabel

Title: Mad Mabel
Author: Sally Hepworth
Published: April 21, 2026 by St. Martin's Press
Format: Kindle, 352 Pages
Genre: Thriller

Blurb: There are two kinds of people no one ever expects to be murderers: little girls and old ladies.

Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick is eighty-one years old. She's lived on her idyllic street for sixty years—longer than anyone else. Aside from being a curmudgeon who minds everyone else's business, few would suspect that Elsie has a past she's worked exceedingly hard at concealing—because when it comes to murder, no one ever suspects little girls or old ladies. And Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick, once a little girl and now an old lady, has a strange history of people in her life coming to a foul end.

My Opinion: This was my first Sally Hepworth novel, so I went in without any expectations, and honestly, during the first few chapters, I wondered if I’d made a mistake. It dragged for me in a way that would send most readers quietly backing out of the book. I can’t blame them; I was right there too, hovering over the “DNF” button. However, people adore this author, so I kept going, convinced I must have been missing something.

And then the “then/now” structure begins to take effect. The heartbreaking, inevitable next-shoe-drop of Mad Mabel’s story begins to surface, and suddenly the book shifts. You start to see how someone who has never truly been cared for might build their own reality, not out of delusion, but out of sheer survival. It’s the kind of emotional logic that makes sense only when you’ve lived through loneliness long enough to forget what normal feels like.

Mabel herself? She’s not someone you’d invite over for coffee. She’s prickly, caustic, and more than a little abrasive. But that’s just the armor. Underneath is a woman who has been dismissed, judged, and condemned since birth. There are likable characters here, even a “beautiful mind” type who deserves more spotlight, but Mabel’s presence overshadows everyone except Persephone, who quietly holds the entire book together.

And then comes that creeping dread. You see the grooming long before Mabel does. You hope you’re wrong, but deep down you know you’re not. She’s so desperate to belong, to be seen, to be loved, that she walks straight into the arms of someone who recognizes that vulnerability a little too well. The sense of sickness that settles in your stomach is earned, and when the world drops out from under her again, it’s devastating.

But here’s the part I didn’t expect: the twists. What begins as a story of isolation becomes one about found family. The kind that shows up for an 81 year old woman who has never had anyone show up for her before. For the first time in her life, Mabel learns what it means not to be alone.

And those final twists? I was flipping pages like my life depended on it. Everything snaps into place with a kind of precision that made me rethink my early frustration. I’m genuinely glad I didn’t give up on Mabel; she’s had enough people do that already.

And that last line… I just sat there, stunned, mouth open, trying to process what I’d just read.

Dungeon Crawler Carl

Title: Dungeon Crawler Carl
Author: Matt Dinniman
Published: October 2, 2020 by Dandy House
Format: Kindle, 464 Pages
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Dungeon Crawler Carl #1

Blurb: A man. His ex-girlfriend's cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible.

In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth—from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds—collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground.

The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe.

Only a few dare venture inside. But once you're in, you can't get out. And what's worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it's game over. In this game, it's not about your strength or your dexterity. It's about your followers, your views. Your clout. It's about building an audience and killing those goblins with style.

You can't just survive here. You gotta survive big.

You gotta fight with vigor, with excitement. You gotta make them stand up and cheer. And if you do have that "it" factor, you may just find yourself with a following. That's the only way to truly survive in this game—with the help of the loot boxes dropped upon you by the generous benefactors watching from across the galaxy.

My Opinion: Yes, I fell for the hype and the influence of the book people in my life who insisted Dungeon Crawler Carl was “absolutely my thing.” For the record, I am not the intended demographic here. RPGs have never been part of my world, unless you count watching other people play them while I nod politely and pretend to follow. And yet, somehow, I still found myself giggling my way through Carl and Princess Donut’s increasingly unhinged dungeon adventures.

I’ll be honest: my brain absolutely refused to catalog the endless stream of loot, treasures, and stat boosts they kept accumulating. At some point, I adopted a personal policy of “they’ll have what they need, and if they don’t, they’ll figure it out.” That mindset kept me sane, and frankly, it seems to be working out just fine for them, too.

And Donut. Oh, Donut. Who among us can resist a snarky, self-important, chaos summoning cat with princess energy? She’s a lot, but she’s also the beating heart of the story in a way I didn’t expect.

As the book goes on, you meet humans and creatures who are more than just dungeon fodder. Their backstories sneak up on you with little pockets of hope in a world designed to crush them. And yes, hope is not a strategy, but sometimes it’s the only thing anyone has left. Those moments hit harder than I anticipated.

Now, fair warning: some of the squishier scenes are… well, squishy.

What surprised me most was how much deeper the themes run beneath the jokes, gore, and general absurdity. I went in expecting surface-level chaos and fart humor. Instead, Carl and Donut stumble into questions about group survival versus self-preservation, corporate ownership of human lives, greed, identity erosion, manipulation, the randomness of fate, resilience, ethics, and the strange ways partnership forms under pressure. There’s satire here, yes, but also a surprising amount to unpack if you’re willing to look past the show.

And the parallels to corporate America? Let’s just say the dungeon doesn’t even bother to hide the metaphor. Both systems treat people as expendable resources, constantly shift the rules, and reward performance over substance. The dungeon just makes the satire literal, and somehow, even more pointed.

At first, I had no idea how to rate this book. I wasn’t sure if it was for me or if I was just along for the ride out of curiosity. But as the challenges stacked and Carl and Princess Donut Best in Dungeon (her words, not mine) began to understand what they were truly up against, I found myself appreciating the unexpected depth. Donut may need an audience, but she’s also telling us something real beneath the theatrics. And honestly? I’m here for her.

A Judgement of Powers

Title: A Judgement of Powers
Author: Benedict Jacka
Published: November 4, 2025, by Ace
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Inheritance of Magic #3

Blurb: Stephen Oakwood’s ambitions used to be simple. Pay his bills, track down his father, and take care of his cat. Maybe study a little magic after work, if he had time.

Now it’s a year later and he’s got everything he wanted. But it’s come with a price.

The Winged, a mysterious group involved with his father, have noticed Stephen, and they want him to join them or else. His career as a corporate locator has hit a dead end. And his new job as bodyguard to Calhoun Ashford is proving a lot more lethal than expected due to assassination attempts from outside the House, and possibly also from within.

To survive, Stephen’s going to need allies of his own. And along the way, he’s going to have to figure out the secret of his own gift, and what it means. The cults, Houses, and corporations of the magical world are locked in an endless battle for dominance, and Stephen is beginning to realize that he’s going to have to pick a side . . . before someone else picks it for him.

My Opinion: I went into this novel with a very specific kind of caution—the kind you develop when a series you want to love wobbles on its second outing. I adored An Inheritance of Magic. The follow up, An Instruction in Shadow, left me lukewarm at best. So, this third book? This was the make or break moment, especially knowing Jacka is aiming for 12–14 books. That’s a long road to commit to if the spark isn’t there.

Thankfully, Jacka comes roaring back with the confidence and clarity of his earlier work. From page one, he had me. No wasted space. He even manages a tidy recap, but it is not a substitute for reading the series in order.

Stephen Oakwood and his realizations continue to be the most compelling parts of this world. He’s always reminded me of Din Kol from Robert Jackson Bennett’s Shadow of the Leviathan series. Both 20-ish-year-old men are sharp, stubborn, a little battered, and endlessly compelling. If Din is your kind of protagonist, you’ll feel right at home here. The mystery, the magic, the banter, the characters, and their backstories are all here.

Now, Jacka still indulges in a habit of pausing to walk readers through the Houses, their leaders, their histories, and their specialties. For me, those sections always lag a bit. I’m not going to remember the finer points until they matter, and that’s fine. My brain files them under “retrieve later” and moves on. When they become plot critical, the details will snap into place.

There was one moment early on—a paragraph that seemed to be setting up something important—that never resurfaced. I kept waiting for it, convinced it was a breadcrumb for a later reveal. But it simply… vanished. Maybe it’s something Jacka cut or postponed for a future book. Maybe it’s a seed that hasn’t sprouted yet. Either way, it hovered in the back of my mind the entire time.

Oh, the ending. This is where Jacka reminds you exactly why you signed up for this series in the first place. A battle. A reckoning. A shift in purpose. Stephen finally steps into the direction he’s been circling since book one, and it feels honest. It feels right. It feels like the true beginning of the long game Jacka has been planning.

Let the games begin, indeed.

Life: A Love Story

Title: Life: A Love Story
Author: Elizabeth Berg
Published: March 17, 2026 by Random House
Format: Kindle, 208 Pages
Genre: Women's Fiction

Blurb: Florence “Flo” Greene is nearing the end of her life, and she decides to leave her house and an account of her life for Ruthie, the younger woman who grew up next door, moved away, and still is like a surrogate daughter. As Flo writes to Ruthie about the meaning of beloved things in her home and about events in her past, she also tries new adventures of her own. She intervenes in the lives of friends in her neighborhood.

Flo's project has been to encourage Teresa, a wise but unconfident woman, to open her heart to romance. Flo goes to the library to get advice from Mimi, a librarian. She encourages Ruthie, who is contemplating divorce, to try again with her husband, by sharing a startling secret long buried about Flo’s own seemingly perfect husband and marriage.

In her final weeks, Flo leaves an indelible mark on others, as this moving novel celebrates life, change, and ways to discover new happiness, friendship, and love.

My Opinion: I first discovered Elizabeth Berg through her Arthur Truluv novels, and I still think about Arthur, Maddy, and Lucille as if they were old friends I occasionally catch sight of. Not every book can recreate that particular magic, but I opened this novel hoping for that same quiet, heart-forward resonance.

This novel unfolds through correspondence and small side stories, a structure that feels both intimate and slightly old-fashioned in the best way. I understand why some readers compare it to ‘The Correspondent’ by Virginia Evans, though for me, it would be hard to match the presence of Sybil Van Antwerp. Then add in shades of ‘The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning’, you start to see what Berg is weaving together: reflections on faith, the wisdom that comes with age, the tenderness of found family, and the complicated grace of preparing for the end of life.

It’s a quick read, but not a light one. It will land differently depending on where you are in your own journey. Flo’s words—sometimes funny, sometimes piercing, sometimes so simple they sneak up on you—have a way of lodging themselves in your mind. Days later, one of her life lessons might bubble up unexpectedly, and you’ll pause, trying to remember where you heard it, before giving a small smile when you realize it was Flo whispering back to you.

And yes, there’s laughter. Berg always gives us that. But she also gives us the tears, the kind that come from recognizing something true about love, loss, or the strange, beautiful mess of being human.

Life: A Love Story may not be another Arthur Truluv, but it carries its own quiet, gentle, wise, and full-of-heart power.

Book of Forbidden Words

Title: Book of Forbidden Words
Author: Louise Fein
Published: February 17, 2026 by William Morrow Paperbacks
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction

Blurb: 1552, The print­ing press is quickly spreading new ideas across Europe, threatening the power of church and state and unleashing a wave of book burning and heretic hunting. When frightened ex-nun Lysbette Angiers arrives at Charlotte Guillard’s famous printing shop with her manuscript, neither woman knows just how far the powerful elite will go to prevent the spread of Lysbette’s audacious ideas. 1952, NEW Milly Bennett is a lonely housewife struggling to find her way in her new neighborhood amidst the paranoid clamors of McCarthy’s America. She finds her life taking an unexpected turn when a relic from her past presents her with a 400-year-old manuscript to decipher, pulling her into a vortex of danger that threatens to shatter her world.

From the risky backstreets of sixteenth-century Paris to the unpredictable suburbs of mid-twentieth century New York, the stakes couldn’t be higher when, 400 years apart, Milly, Lysbette, and Charlotte each face a reality where the spread of ideas are feared and every effort is made to suppress them.

Dramatic and affecting, and inspired by the real-life encrypted Voynich manuscript, Book of Forbidden Words is both an engrossing story about a timeless struggle that echoes through the ages and a testament to the indomitable spirit of those who dare to let their words be heard.

My Opinion: This novel is built on the idea that the suppression of knowledge is never a relic of the past; it simply changes form. This is the second novel of hers I’ve read, and once again I was drawn in from the opening chapters. The story moves between 1552 Paris and 1952 Levittown, NY, told through three distinct perspectives: Milly Bennett, with her secret Bletchley Park background; Lysbette, an ex-nun who was raised in the household of Sir Thomas More; and Charlotte Guillard, an historical printer navigating a man’s world. And you know a reader is going to be locked in when a novel opens in a world of banned books, heretic hunters, and the fear of new ideas. Fein uses these dual timelines not as a structural trick, but as a way to show how quickly moral panic takes root, and how easily societies convince themselves that censorship is a form of safety.

What gives the novel its texture is the interplay between these women and the eras they inhabit. Milly’s wry reference to the PTA women as “the coven” sets the tone for her humor and exasperation, while Lysbette and Charlotte carry the weight of earlier battles over who gets to print, read, or even think freely. Fein grounds their stories in the history of sixteenth century book burnings, McCarthy era paranoia, the coded manuscript echoing the Voynich mystery, and the rigid conformity of postwar suburbia. My interest in the novel rose and dipped in waves, but by the end, I found myself appreciating both the women at its center and the meticulous research Fein brings to their worlds.

Fein brings these threads together with historical detail supporting the story rather than overwhelming it. While my attention shifted throughout, I ultimately respected the scope of what she set out to do and the women she chose, each navigating a world determined to limit what they can know, say, or preserve. By the final chapters, the novel became less about a single mysterious manuscript and more about the enduring struggle against censorship in all its forms. It’s a thoughtful, well researched work, and I’m glad to have spent time with the women whose stories Fein brought forward.

The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances

Title: The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances
Author: Glenn Dixon
Published: April 7, 2026 by Atria Books
Format: Kindle, 240 pages
Genre: Dystopian

Blurb: In a self-running, smart house, a young and sentient Roomba listens as her owner, Harold, reads aloud to his dying wife, Edie. Mesmerized by To Kill a Mockingbird and craving the human connection she witnesses in Harold’s stories, the little vacuum renames herself Scout and embarks on a journey of self-discovery.

But when Edie passes away, Scout and her fellow sentient appliances discover that there are sinister forces in their midst. The omnipresent Grid, which monitors every household in the City, seeks to remove Harold from his home, a place he’s lived in for fifty years.

With the help of Adrian, a neighborhood boy who grows close to Scout and Harold, as well as Kate, Harold and Edie’s formerly estranged daughter, the humans and the appliances must come together to outwit the all-controlling Grid lest they risk losing everything they hold dear.

My Opinion: This book completely caught me off guard. Yes, it’s written for adults, but my brain kept slipping into a kind of sad, dystopic Pixar mode—Man vs. Machine, but with heart, humor, and a surprising amount of soul. It’s a story about future spirals and fragile hope, and how something small and unexpected can save the humans they love.

Scout, the Roomba at the center of it all, is impossibly sweet and innocent in a way that makes you ache for her as she tries to make sense of the sudden sadness in her home. She’s a mechanical child, really, and somehow, she becomes the one who leads everyone else forward. You can’t help but root for her.

This is one of those books that’s nearly impossible to describe without sounding a little unhinged. You start to say, “Well, it’s about a man and his sentient appliances and how they confront the grid…oh, and there is a little boy trying to pass his piano finals,” and people blink at you like you’ve gone a bit too far. But once you’re inside the story, it makes perfect emotional sense. It’s full of heart, full of feeling, and yes, there may be a tear or two along the way.

You’ll never look at your smart appliances the same way again.

What surprised me most was how gently the novel braids together aging, grief, belonging, and the question of what it means to be conscious in a world run by impersonal systems. Through the companionship between a lonely man and the appliances that care for him, the book suggests that empathy, wherever it sparks, is the best form of resistance.

And just when you think you’ve figured out how their problems will be solved, Scout nudges you in a different direction. It wasn’t the ending I expected, but it was the one she knew how to reach. In her own quiet way, she earns her happily ever after: the ability to feel beauty, calm, and that tiny trick of the spirit we call joy.

This novel is strange, tender, and hopeful, and I loved the full experience.

Raising Hare: A Memoir

Title: Raising Hare: A Memoir
Author: Chloe Dalton
Published: March 4, 2025 by Pantheon
Format: Hardcover, 285 pages
Genre: Memoir

Blurb: Imagine you could hold a baby hare and bottle-feed it. Imagine that it lived under your roof and lolloped around your bedroom at night, drumming on the duvet cover when it wanted your attention. Imagine that, over two years later, it still ran in from the fields when you called it and slept in your house for hours on end and gave birth to leverets in your study. For political advisor and speechwriter Chloe Dalton, who spent lockdown deep in the English countryside, far away from her usual busy London life, this became her unexpected reality.

In February 2021, Dalton stumbles upon a newborn hare—a leveret—that had been chased by a dog. Fearing for its life, she brings it home, only to discover how impossible it is to rear a wild hare, most of whom perish in captivity from either shock or starvation. Through trial and error, she learns to feed and care for the leveret with every intention of returning it to the wilderness. Instead, it becomes her constant companion, wandering the fields and woods at night and returning to Dalton’s house by day. Though Dalton feared that the hare would be preyed upon by foxes, stoats, feral cats, raptors, and even people, she never tried to restrict it to the house. Each time the hare leaves, Chloe knows she may never see it again. Yet she also understands that to confine it would be its own kind of death.

Raising Hare chronicles their journey together, while also taking a deep dive into the lives and nature of hares, and the way they have been viewed historically in art, literature, and folklore. We witness first-hand the joy at this extraordinary relationship between human and animal, which serves as a reminder that the best things, and most beautiful experiences, arise when we least expect them.

My Opinion: I’ll admit it: my education is apparently lacking, because I had no idea there was a difference between a rabbit and a hare. Chloe Dalton set me straight on that within the first few pages, and from there, the book kept gently expanding my world in ways I didn’t expect.

This novel is slow, but intentionally so. It carries the same meditative stillness that settled over so many lives during the COVID shutdown. When someone who’s used to constant motion suddenly can’t travel, can’t rush, can’t outrun their own thoughts, what’s left is time. And into that quiet space, a tiny leveret arrives and changes everything.

This memoir isn’t about the grand arc of a life or a catalog of personal struggles. It’s about a moment; one suspended, tender season where a woman learns to move at the pace of a small, wild creature who trusts her without hesitation. It’s part memoir, part natural history, part animal husbandry, and somehow also a gentle reminder of what it feels like to breathe again. The slower rhythm of the writing mirrors the way Chloe herself slows down, shifting from a manic political adviser to someone capable of offering a calm, steady presence to a fragile animal.

Trying to explain this book to someone else is almost impossible. You end up saying, “It’s about a woman and a hare and… their coexistence,” and people stare at you like you’ve lost the plot. But they won’t understand until they read it. Until they feel the quiet trust, the unexpected beauty, the soft exhale that comes at the end.

For me, every bit of it worked. The history, the animal care, the emotional highs and lows all wove together into something quietly profound. It’s a book about noticing the world again, about the kind of connection that only happens when life finally slows enough for you to see it.

And I loved every minute.

Just Friends

Title: Just Friends
Author: Haley Pham
Published: March 3, 2026 by Atria Books
Format: Kindle, 352 pgs
Genre: Romance

Blurb: Blair and Declan were inseparable growing up—best friends who knew each other better than anyone else. But when an impulsive kiss took them from friends to something more, everything changed. Just as quickly as their romance started, one moment shattered it all, leaving them with nothing but heartbreak and silence.

Now, four years later, Blair is back in their coastal hometown of Seabrook to support her mom and care for her great-aunt Lottie as her health declines. To make ends meet, Blair applies to work at a coffee shop—only to discover it’s managed by none other than Declan. The boy she loved. The boy she lost. The boy who still makes her heart race.

As Blair’s path keeps crossing with Declan’s, old wounds resurface, secrets are revealed, and sparks reignite. But could their future ever be free of their past?

Told in dual timelines that unravel the magic and pain of first love, Just Friends is a moving, romantic story about second chances, the weight of dreams, and finding your way back to the people who feel like home.

My Opinion: I completely understand why early readers were skeptical of this novel. When a social media influencer with millions of followers releases a debut novel, the publishing machine tends to roll out the red carpet, considering the built in audience, guaranteed sales, and a whole lot of optimism that the book will succeed, whether the writing is ready or not. And in this case, it feels like the industry took the easy road, assuming the platform would compensate for inexperience.

To be fair, the writing isn’t the worst I’ve come across. There are moments where the story finds its footing, but there are also places where a strong editorial hand was desperately needed. For instance, if Blair’s great aunt owned seven convenience stores in a tiny town, why is Blair working at the local coffee shop instead of one of the family businesses? And the repeated use of “Mhmm”, peppered through the dialogue like a nervous tic, should have been toned down long before the manuscript reached readers.

What really pulled me out of the story, though, was how often Blair seemed baffled by the most basic aspects of her own hometown. This is a girl who supposedly grew up in a quaint California beach community, yet she reacts to property values as if she’s been living under a rock for a decade. Those disconnects add up, and they make Blair feel oddly detached from the world she’s meant to inhabit.

Structurally, the book follows the familiar beats: the meet cute, the miscommunication, the slow burn second chance arc, the conflict, the tidy happily ever after. But the middle sags. It’s linear to a fault, with no subplot to keep the momentum going, and the pacing drags enough that I found myself wishing for anything—an unexpected twist, a side character with teeth—to break up the monotony. By the time the “six months later” epilogue arrived, it felt less like a natural conclusion and more like a last minute attempt to figure out how to wrap things up.

And that epilogue introduces its own head scratchers. Blair’s mother suddenly believes she can retire because her daughter has written a book that is being independently published, and decides to sell the stores. She also appears to have no idea how to run the business she has worked at for fifteen years. Who was scheduling employees while Lottie was dying? How did the shops function? These are the kinds of logic gaps that should have been caught long before publication. The book is free of spice and strong language. Though marketed as new adult, it reads much closer to young adult, aiming for readers looking for a gentler, simpler read, and who aren’t likely to question the mechanics too deeply.

Which brings me to the bigger question: how did this book land at number three on the NYT list? The answer is simple—sales volume, not literary merit. And now that the debut glow has worn off, I genuinely wonder how the author returns to her usual online presence. How does she critique or comment on books when she’s now on the other side of the equation?

Still, publishing a novel is no small feat, and congratulations are due. But once the shine fades and the novelty wears off, the real test begins: what comes next?

The Fourth Princess

Title: The Fourth Princess
Author: Janie Chang
Published: February 10, 2026 by William Morrow
Format: Kindle, 336 Pages
Genre: Gothic

Blurb: Shanghai, 1911. Lisan Liu is elated when she is hired as secretary to wealthy American Caroline Stanton, the new mistress of Lennox Manor on the outskirts of Shanghai’s International Settlement. However, the Manor has a dark past due to a previous owner’s suicide, and soon Lisan’s childhood nightmares resurface with more intensity and meld with haunted visions of a woman in red. Adding to her unease is the young gardener, Yao, who both entices and disturbs her.

Newly married Caroline looks forward to life in China with her husband, Thomas, away from the shadows of another earlier tragedy. But an unwelcome guest, Andrew Grey, attends her party and claims to know secrets she can’t afford to have exposed. At the same party, the notorious princess Masako Kyo approaches Lisan with questions about the young woman’s family that the orphaned Lisan can’t answer.

As Caroline struggles with Grey’s extortion and Thomas’s mysterious illness, Lisan’s future is upended when she learns the truth about her past, and why her identity has been hidden all these years. All the while, strange incidents accelerate, driving Lisan to doubt her sanity as Lennox Manor seems unwilling to release her until she fulfills demands from beyond the grave.

My Opinion: You know that rare feeling when a book pulls you in from the very first page and you realize that you’re in the hands of a storyteller who knows exactly what they’re doing? This novel gave me that feeling immediately. Even though I first encountered Janie Chang through The Phoenix Crown, co-written with Kate Quinn, it is this book that made me understand why her name carries weight. And since co writing can blur who’s doing what behind the scenes, I’m happily counting this as my true introduction to her work.

Set in 1911 Shanghai, just on the cusp of World War I, the novel wraps you in a world thick with tradition, superstition, whispered curses, and the kind of history that surrounds you. At its heart are two women—each guarding her own secrets—living in a decaying mansion where the past refuses to stay buried. Chang blends historical fiction with magical realism so seamlessly that the boundaries blur; the house feels alive, the shadows feel watchful, and the truth reveals itself in slow, deliberate layers.

The gothic elements are all here: the crumbling manor, the sense of dread, the family mysteries, the creeping inevitability of revelation. But there’s more than atmosphere. Chang builds tension with such care that even when you think you’ve figured out all of the aspects, she still manages to drop surprises that land with a gasp. Some twists you might anticipate; others you absolutely will not. That unpredictability is part of the thrill.

A few readers have labeled this as horror; it’s not. To me, it reads as deeply immersive gothic fiction—the kind that makes you whisper, “just one more chapter,” until suddenly you’ve abandoned your weekend plans because you have to know what happens next. It’s absorbing, elegant, and quietly relentless.

I think I’ve found a new to me author to be on the lookout for.

Chaos Man

Title: Chaos Man
Author: Andrew Mayne
Published: March 24, 2026, by Thomas & Mercer
Format: Kindle, 330 Pages
Genre: Thriller
Series: The Specialists #3

Blurb: A train derails in Idaho, nearly causing a nuclear disaster. An inferno at a battery facility in Florida disrupts the electrical grid for days. A potentially devastating failure is discovered at Virginia’s Mud River Dam. To computational biologist Theo Cray, these aren’t mere infrastructure accidents. They are virtually undetectable acts of sabotage.

Theo sees a mathematical pattern to the madness that few others can comprehend—except for his rogue FBI agent Jessica Blackwood, private security specialist Brad Trasker, and Florida underwater investigator Sloan McPherson. If Theo’s intuition and calculations are correct, the disasters are just a warm-up. The worst is yet to come—a catastrophe that could trigger the deaths of millions across the country.

Now Theo and his team are on the hunt for a mysterious saboteur whose only motive is to spread panic and chaos. And with every tick of the clock, his unthinkable endgame is getting closer to becoming a terrifying reality. (GoodReads)

My Opinion: I don’t know what happened with this book, but this novel never found its footing for me. I usually look forward to Mayne’s work; his series (well, most of them) have a rhythm and energy that make them easy to sink into. This one, though, hits differently, and not in a good way.

The science drones on without the usual payoff. Theo’s dry humor, normally the thing that keeps the gears turning, is barely present. Even Jessica and Trasker, who can usually carry a scene, aren’t enough to hold this story together. I kept putting the book down, giving it a side eye, picking it back up, and wondering why I was working so hard to stay engaged.

There’s a heavy emphasis on AI, which is understandable, given Mayne’s real world immersion in the field, but the execution feels more filler than compelling. The investigation itself has interesting bones, but the pieces fall into place too conveniently, and the characters read more like cardboard cutouts than the sharp, distinct personalities I’ve come to expect from this universe.

And then, after all that slow, relentless buildup… it’s suddenly over. No real crescendo, no satisfying snap. Just a thud of an ending that left me blinking at the page.

This installment simply didn’t live up to what I’ve learned to expect from Andrew Mayne. It’s not a DNF, but it’s far from the inventive, tightly wound storytelling that made me a fan in the first place.

The Forgotten Book Club

Title: The Forgotten Book Club
Author: Kate Storey
Published: December 2, 2025 by Avon
Format: Kindle, 320 pages
Genre: Women's Fiction

Blurb: For three decades, Grace supported her husband Frank’s passion for books, even though her own love for literature paled in comparison. Since his passing, the shelves echo longingly, and Grace's heartache has only grown.

When Grace’s grandson suggests joining Frank’s old book club, she hesitates. How could meeting with a bunch of strangers possibly fill the void he left behind? Despite her doubts – and desperate to feel close to Frank again – Grace decides to attend.

Yet, upon arrival, Grace is puzzled to find this isn’t your typical book club here, you settle in for an hour of silent reading. Disappointed by the sparse attendance and confused by the lack of chatter she flees. But when equally lonely member, Annie, convinces her to stay, Grace is determined to ensure that neither Frank – nor his beloved book club – are forgotten.

And as she breathes new life into the group, she might just find this is where she truly belongs. Because this next chapter of life could just be the beginning of her story.

My Opinion: I’ll admit it: the cover is what caught my eye first. The colors, the softness, the whole inviting feel of it. I picked it up expecting something light and sweet, and while those elements are there, The Forgotten Book Club turned out to be one of those books that finds you at just the right moment.

There’s a tenderness running through this story, even though it begins with loss. Grace steps into a book club that doesn’t operate the way she expects, and her discomfort makes perfect sense. When you’ve spent too much time in your own quiet, even a small shift can feel overwhelming. But the group has its own charm, and the steady stream of book references—many of which I’ve read myself—made me feel like I was sitting in the room with them. There’s even a movie mention that brought back a memory I hadn’t revisited in years.

What surprised me most were the deeper layers tucked inside what looks, at first glance, like a cozy premise. I thought I was settling in for a simple story about people gathering to talk about books. Instead, I found a cast of characters who each carry their own history, their own grief, their own small hopes. They’re like nesting dolls, each with something hidden inside, and Grace has more to unpack than she realizes. It’s not that she was oblivious; it’s that she’d grown used to a version of “normal” that kept her isolated without her noticing. It takes a group of unexpected friends—and an old journal—to show her that loneliness doesn’t have to be permanent.

The emotional range here is lovely. One chapter had me laughing, and a few pages later I felt that quiet sting of recognition. By the end, I genuinely missed spending time with these characters. Kate Storey balances warmth and honesty in a way that feels effortless. If this is any indication of what she has in store, I’m hoping this is the start of a new favorite author for me.

The Astral Library

Title: The Astral Library
Author: Kate Quinn
Published: February 17, 2026 by William Morrow
Format: Kindle, 304 Pages
Genre: Fantasy

Blurb: Kate Quinn unveils a sweeping, genre-bending adventure set in a library beyond imagination. A boundless, otherworldly archive containing every book ever written, every story yet to come, and a discreet refuge for those who need to slip out of sight. When an overlooked researcher stumbles into this impossible realm, she uncovers a secret powerful enough to unsettle both the library’s fragile equilibrium and the world outside its doors. As competing interests close in, she must navigate scholars with hidden loyalties, seekers in need of sanctuary, and the library’s own enigmatic guardians to protect a force far greater than any single story. Richly imagined and irresistibly propulsive, The Astral Library showcases Quinn at her most inventive, blending historical resonance with bold speculative intrigue.

My Opinion: Every once in a while, a book grabs me from the first pages and refuses to let go. This novel did exactly that.

Alix—with an i, not an e—is having the worst day of her life, which is saying something for someone who’s been in foster care since she was eight. In the span of a morning, she loses her job, her housing, and even access to her own bank account. With nowhere else to go, she heads to the one place that has always felt safe: the Boston Public Library. The familiar hush, the scent of old paper, the quiet order of the stacks—this is her sanctuary. And it’s here, in the middle of her unraveling, that the Astral Library chooses her.

What looks like a storage closet turns out to be a doorway to something extraordinary. Alix steps through and finds herself in a realm that holds every book ever written, and every book yet to be written, as long as it’s in the public domain (copyrights matter, even in magical libraries). The doorway doesn’t open for just anyone; it opens for the chosen. And once Alix crosses that threshold, she—and the reader—are transported.

What struck me most is how different this book feels from other “magical library” stories. Many novels in this genre lean on a torrent of book references or character cameos to create a sense of literary nostalgia. Quinn does something more intimate. There’s a warmth here, a tingly sense of belonging, as if the library itself is glad you’ve arrived. The familiar echoes of classic stories aren’t just clever nods; they’re emotional anchors. When Alix steps into the Astral Library, you feel that same pull of recognition, that same desire to linger.

And then the last third of the book hits, and it’s a wild, exhilarating ride. Twists, reveals, emotional punches, and I loved every minute of it. Quinn herself has called this novel “a love letter to book lovers,” and I couldn’t agree more. It feels like she wrote it for readers who have lived entire lives inside stories.

Most people know Kate Quinn for her historical fiction, but this foray into fantasy is something special. She brings her signature depth and character insight into a world brimming with magic, possibility, and heart. I adored what she created here and the feeling it left me with. This is one of those books that lingers long after you close it.

First Sign of Danger

Title: First Sign of Danger
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Published: February 17, 2026, by Minotaur Books
Format: Kindle, 352 Pages
Genre: Mystery
Series: Haven's Rock #4

Blurb: Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are entering a new chapter of life as parents to their six-month-old baby. Their family is hidden away in the sanctuary town of Haven's Rock where they can live safe and private lives. But when they encounter hikers too close to the borders of Haven's Rock, they realize they're in danger of being exposed.

When they find one of the hikers dead the next day, they realize that their paranoia was justified, but they're no closer to finding out who these people were and what they were doing in the vicinity of Haven's Rock. Only by tracing the hikers' movements, as well as examining the recent behavior of their closest neighbors, the workers of a secretive mining camp, will they be able to figure out where the threat is coming from and shut it down. Otherwise, the lives of everyone in Haven's Rock--and their safe, secure new existence--are at risk.

My Opinion: I love this series. It’s one of those “just one more chapter” situations that inevitably turns into an hour disappearing while you’re happily lost in the Yukon with Casey, Dalton, and whatever fresh trouble has found its way to Haven’s Rock.

Armstrong knows how to build a twisty plot. The characters spend a fair amount of time speculating and second guessing themselves, which means you’re never quite sure where the story is headed—mostly because they aren’t either. It keeps the tension humming in the background, even during the quieter moments.

Now that baby Rory has arrived, Casey and Dalton are juggling teething woes and childcare logistics right alongside dead bodies and suspicious strangers. The contrast is oddly enjoyable. One minute they’re soothing a fussy infant, the next they’re tracking footprints through the snow and trying to figure out who’s lying, who’s stalking whom, and why the body count keeps rising.

And yes, I’ll admit it: I get a ridiculous dopamine hit when I guess a plot twist correctly. Armstrong makes you work for it, but when you land on the right theory, it feels earned.

Things escalate quickly once Lilith barrels her way toward Haven’s Rock, and the arrival of a second woman—possibly dangerous, definitely disruptive—throws the entire town into chaos. For a place that wants to stay invisible, they’re having a very loud week.

Armstrong’s action scenes remain top tier. There were moments when I realized I’d been holding my breath, waiting to see how a confrontation would shake out. But did I ever put the book down or look away? Not a chance. When this series goes full throttle, I’m strapped in for the ride.

The only downside is knowing we’re nearing the end. It appears that there will be just one more book, scheduled for early next year. I’m already bracing myself.

The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective

Title: The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective
Author: Jo Nichols
Published: August 19, 2025 by Minotaur Books
Format: Hardcover, 342Pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Series: Marigold Cottages Murders #1

Blurb: Mrs. B, the landlady of The Marigold Cottages is a stubborn idealist who only rents to people she cares about: Sophie, an anxious young playwright with a dark past; Hamilton, an agoraphobe who likes to overshare; Ocean, a queer sculptor raising two kids alone; the perfectionist Lily-Ann; and Nicholas, a finance bro who’s hiding secrets.

The tenants live contentedly in their doll-house bungalows in Santa Barbara, just minutes from the beach, until their peace is shattered when Anthony, a quiet, hulking, but potentially violent ex-con moves in. Three weeks later, a dead body is discovered on the streets of the peaceful neighborhood. Anthony is arrested, and the tenants heave sighs of relief. Until Mrs. B, convinced that he's innocent, marches down to the police station and confesses to the crime herself. The tenants band together and form “The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective” to save their beloved landlady. As clues are unearthed and secrets are revealed, the community of misfits only grows more tight-knit...until a second body is found.

My Opinion: You know that feeling when you open a book and immediately realize you’re going to need a mental seating chart? That was me with this novel. It took longer than expected to keep everyone straight, but once the cast settled in my mind, the story moved with an easy, weekend-ready rhythm. It’s a fast read, it flows well, and even when the ending made me scrunch my brows and tilt my head, I still enjoyed the ride.

The real charm comes from the residents of the Marigold Cottages—“idiosyncratic,” as the author lovingly calls them. They’re the kind of neighbors you’d want nearby for the gossip, the baked goods, and the fierce loyalty… while also keeping just enough distance to avoid becoming the next topic of conversation. Mrs. B, the owner of the cottages and official matriarch, sets the tone: everyone knows everyone’s business, but everyone also looks out for one another. It’s messy, heartfelt, and oddly comforting.

One of the book’s standout features is its structure. Paragraphs blend with text messages and even stage-play-style dialogue, and instead of feeling gimmicky, the shifts add energy. The format never distracts from the plot; if anything, it mirrors the chaotic, overlapping lives of this little community.

When one of their own is threatened with murder charges, the group rallies—loudly, imperfectly, and with plenty of secrets bubbling up at the worst possible moments. Those secrets complicate everything, but they also reveal the strengths and vulnerabilities that make this rag tag crew worth rooting for.

And then there’s the whale moment. A small scene, but it hits with surprising emotional weight—sadness, hope, longing, resignation all braided together. It’s the kind of quiet beat that lingers.

By the time the mystery reaches its conclusion, the whos and whys get twisty enough that I had to slow down, reread a few sections, and mentally sketch out how the pieces fit. It’s not confusing in a frustrating way—more like a puzzle that requires a second look.

This appears to be the first in a new series, and I’m genuinely looking forward to returning to this eccentric Santa Barbara enclave. They’re misfits, sure, but they’re living their best lives, and I’m happy to follow along.

A Marriage at Sea

Title: A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck
Author: Sophie Elmhirst
Published: July 8, 2025 by Riverhead Books
Format: 256 pages, Hardcover
Genre: Nonfiction

Blurb: Maurice and Maralyn make an odd couple. He’s a loner, awkward and obsessive; she’s charismatic and ambitious. But they share a horror of wasting their lives. And they dream – as we all dream – of running away from it all. What if they quit their jobs, sold their house, bought a boat, and sailed away?

Most of us begin and end with the daydream. But Maurice began to study nautical navigation. Maralyn made detailed lists of provisions. And in June 1972, they set sail. For nearly a year all went well, until deep in the Pacific, a breaching whale knocked a hole in their boat and it sank beneath the waves.

What ensues is a jaw-dropping fight to survive in the wild ocean, with little hope of rescue. Alone together for months in a tiny rubber raft, starving and exhausted, Maurice and Maralyn have to find not only ways to stay alive but ways to get along, as their inner demons emerge and their marriage is put to the greatest of tests. Although they could run away from the world, they can’t run away from themselves.

Taut, propulsive, and dazzling, A Marriage at Sea pairs an adrenaline-fueled high seas adventure with a gutting love story that asks why we love difficult people, and who we become under the most extreme conditions imaginable.

My Opinion: A few chapters into this novel, I knew I could never have crossed an ocean, let alone a street, with Maurice. He isn’t brilliant; he just believes he is. Socially awkward, self absorbed, and convinced of his own superiority, he’s the last person you’d want beside you in a crisis. Maralyn, meanwhile, is his opposite—easygoing, hopeful, and somehow willing to follow him into a life at sea despite fearing water and never learning to swim.

Elmhirst tells you early on what happened to them, so the anticipation comes from watching how they survive 118 days adrift. Before that ordeal, we see them in the 1960s building a life, a boat, and a dream together. It might have stayed idealistic if Maurice hadn’t insisted on sailing without a radio transmitter because he wanted a “pure” escape from the world. Trust me, I talked back to the book more than once.

When disaster hits, Maralyn becomes the reason they stay alive. She fights the elements, wrestles sea turtles for food, and pushes against Maurice’s bleak worldview. He sees survival as a never-ending list of disappointments; she refuses to let go of hope. Their dynamic is as edgy as the storms around them.

Maurice has moments of reflection, but some of his journal entries made me want to throw an oar at him—especially when he admits he felt no desire for his wife during their darkest hours, even as she kept them afloat. It’s hard to root for a man who can be that cold.

And yet, in the epilogue, Elmhirst manages to stir a flicker of sympathy for him. For a moment, I felt the weight of his loneliness without Maralyn. But sympathy doesn’t change the truth: he wasn’t a good partner, and he wouldn’t be remembered at all if not for a whale and a patient wife.

Elmhirst’s creative nonfiction style is engaging, weaving the Baileys’ journals into a vivid narrative. But for me, the heart of the book is Maralyn—steady, hopeful, and far stronger than the narcissistic man she followed to sea.