thoughts on books

Category: Debut

  • thighs wide shut by hayley fleming

    Quarter-life Crisis book about Emma who has left teaching and moved back to Boston. The child of teachers, she has been devastated and upset by being in education and is working part time at her best friend Jo’s coffee shop. She rented a basement apartment and is surprised to learn that her college best friend Harrison is leaving in the same building. We know that things ended poorly with them, and he seems to have a codependent relationship with his mother and he hasn’t been totally honest about who Emma was to him to his current girlfriend.

    The romance and relationship in this novel is really strong, I wanted to know Harrison even better. Jo as a minor character is very well developed instead of just someone for Emma to confide in, she is a solid comic relief and helps the narrative along. While this is a second chance romance, at its core this is a story about Emma coming to terms with the condition she has called vaginismus. I had no knowledge of this prior to reading and I found this pretty enlightening. If you have this condition or knows someone who does, this novel does the heavy lifting of taking us into internal dialogue and the journey to work with this condition. Emma goes through the stages of grief, being in denial for a long time. In the current timeline she is accepting of her condition but still needs to go through the process to treat it. I can imagine this is something that is somewhat embarrassing and it is none of someone’s business until it is.

    Very promising debut, I appreciated the author’s note at the end and I even got to read the beginning of her next novel. I think she is a great writer and I look forward to her next title.

    Thank you to NetGalley and Dial Delights for the ARC. Book to be published in July of 2026.

  • harmless by marissa shulman

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    Audrey died due to her heroin addiction two years ago, now, her oddball sister Bea will set us a kennel in business with Audrey’s two best friends from childhood.

    The other characters are;

    1. Layla, her single mom is a tv icon. She doesn’t do anything but has an assistant
    2. Tatum, she lives with her boyfriend Ed but she doesn’t love him anymore.
    3. Park Slope itself, which is not just a setting but a character in the story.

    I don’t know how else to put this, but this is both extremely well written and poorly structured, maybe the chaotic structure is just not for me. I loved several sentences and they are so great about developing character and showing rather than telling. Some of the analysis and dialogue are great. I can see many people loving this book, it’s really different and unique.

    My favorite character? Bea. She’s so weird. I love that they hint at her ASD but specifically say she has no diagnosis. She might be a sociopath or just an odd duck.

    Do I recommend it? Maybe. If you like a fever dream type story and intriguing but sometimes unlikable characters.

    Thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for the ARC. Book to be published April 13, 2026

  • valley of the moms by hannah selinger

    A suspenseful, dual timeline/dual POV rich people suburban mommie mystery/thriller that provides plenty of drama. A promising debut novel for fans of Lisa Jewell, Sarah Pekkanen and Heather Gudenkauf.

    Anna was found strangled and killed near the river in her snowy northern Massachusetts town. And the primary suspect is her husband, Denny. Just a year ago, she ruffled some feathers with her criticism of the PTO’s “pay to play” type of “premium membership” for elementary school activities. It is a worthy endeavor, shouldn’t all kids- especially in a public school, have equal access? As Anna dives deeper into the Hamilton culture, she learns that this is so much bigger than just early access to the school dance- it is access to nearly everything.

    I found this novel to be reminiscent of Big Little Lies and other suburban thrillers- there is an underlying theme of the entitlement of the haves vs. the have nots. The POV alternates between Anna, a year earlier, as she criticizes and infiltrates the rich mom culture of their town; and Denny, her husband, falsely accused of her murder as he tries to piece together the last few months of her life and who is responsible for her death. It is a really gripping story with a few well developed characters, not only Anna and Denny, but also her best and oldest friend Di and the queen bee Mimi. The setting is haunting and the cover art seems perfect to describe the overall vibes of Hamilton, Massachusetts. The themes are timely and relatable.

    I would have liked to see more character development of the children and more description of the grief that the family goes through losing Anna in such a violent way. The plot focused more on the secrets and solving the crime itself. I was guessing until the last chapter! So many secrets~

    Thank you to NetGalley, Little Brown/Mulholland and author Hannah Selinger for the ARC. Book to be published June 16, 2026

  • burnout summer by jenna ramirez

    “Are you lonely?” she asked quietly. “Aren’t we all a little lonely?”

    A quarter-life-crisis leads to a second coming of age novel about a 25 year old Gen Z who finds herself fired because “her heart isn’t in it” in her Corporate World job. Shortly thereafter she finds herself in jail for having a bit of a meltdown in the presence of a police officer. But Camille’s Knight in Shining Armor comes in the form of her best friend Danny, who takes her back to her hometown and allows her the privilege of working at Beau’s, his tavern, while she finds out what is next. Armed with a mountain of personal and student debt, Camille has done nearly everything right and is still not thriving.

    “I’m not averse to seafood. It’s just . . . at the bottom of the list of food I want to eat.”

    Camile, naturally, falls in love with Danny, who has some of the most romantic and gorgeous expressions of love. It is a best-friends-to-lovers trope with side characters who have a lot of potential. Her ex boyfriend Cory has found love and is getting married, but 2 other friends are about to have books of their own. I am sure this will be first in a series, and I can’t wait to read the others. Ramirez absolutely captures the voice and the spirit of Gen Z, and brings the reader to the feeling of malaise we all feel at the point in which the government thinks we are an adult but the workforce very much treats us as a child. The characters are really quintessential 25 year olds and their voice and struggles are really authentic- Student loan debt and rent are 80% of her now non-existent income. Boomers and Millenials in the work force are very confused by Gen z not wanting to put work at the center of their world.

    “Twenty-five is about figuring stuff out. It’s okay to be lost.”

    I give this book an enthusiastic 4 stars- it is very well done as a debut and it is a romance that has some deeper themes. I look forward to what is coming next from this talented new voice in fiction.

    Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC. Book to be published May 12, 2026.

  • whidbey by t kira madden

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    When I tell you this book will build your empathy as much as it did your righteous anger, I mean this in the darkest way. The author says this book is about the commodification of suffering, and this is a sweeping theme across the novel and the years. This book sucked me in so thoroughly and absolutely gutted me from the beginning. The writing style is like Allie Larkin (The People We Keep, Home of the American Circus) along with a murder mystery and along with disturbing subject matter.

    The book follows Birdie, a victim of sexual abuse, as she flees to Whidbey, a remote island off the Washington coast. In alternating chapters, we read the POV of Mary Beth, the mother of the convicted pedophile Calvin Boyer. I think I found Mary Beth’s chapters the most heartbreaking. She somehow has to grieve her son, while making sense of his lifetime as an abuser. In act two, Linzie’s POV is added as well, one of Calvin’s later victims who wrote a memoir about her experiences and ended up on a reality show similar to The Bachelor.

    It is truly haunting that the author manages to make Calvin a tragic empathetic character, considering she is a survivor of sexual abuse from a young age.

    If you are in the mood for something extremely engaging and deep, I know this book will be one people are talking about.

    Thanks to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the ARC. Book to be published March 9, 2025.

  • in her defense by philippa malicka

    WHOA. What a book. I just finished and I am totally shook. It is both suspenseful and terribly sad. Mood readers beware- it is hard to find a character to root for but it dives really deep into themes of identity and desire for acceptance. I was absolutely riveted and my mouth dropped open several times. Perfect for fans of Lucy Foley and Laura Dave.

    SYNOPSIS
    Gussie is lovesick over Mary, her former friend and sometimes hookup. She is the key witness in a trial. Mary’s mother, Anna, is a beloved TV actor and Mary her estranged only daughter. Anna is suing Mary’s therapist, Jean Guest. Jean says that Mary’s parents are toxic and supports Mary in cutting off all contact. Anna says that Mary has been manipulated for money and Jean has inserted false memories into Mary’s mind. Gus is the one that brings the two together- a former client of Jean, Mary has cut her off too. But Gus is the one that brought Jean and Mary together.

    THEMES- heavy!
    Very bad therapy
    therapist as cult leader
    Art school setting
    The roles we play to each other- how our friends see us
    Unrequited love
    Estrangement of family
    Sexual promiscuity as a search for acceptance
    We are all simultaneously the groomer and the groomed, the villain and the victim, the unreliable and fiercely loyal.

    I have read so many books where I came away saying, “Sheesh, these people all need therapy. This book is practically an advertisement for therapy.” WHOA. NOT SO FAST. Did you know that in the UK anyone can register as a therapist online, like registering as a “life coach” it appears that this doesn’t have the level of regulation that it does in the states. Or at least it doesn’t in this universe.

    the characters are so sad and over time they appear to see themselves in both ways. The characters, particularly Gus and Mary, grow over time and begin to have a maturity to understand their past insecurities. Jean gave them hope, then made them dependent on her for this hope, but at least she gave them hope.

    There is a reason why people join cults- there are wonderful things about it that make one feel finally understood, feel like there is a story to their pain. If it was all isolation and hopelessness then no one would join a cult. But there is a desperation for identity that becomes fulfilled and feels wonderfully validating.

    this book is so suspenseful it practically feels like horror. Unbelievable story.

    Thank you to Netgalley and scribner for the ARC. Book to be published 2/24/26

  • every version of you by natalie messier

    Joey is a workaholic corporate lawyer without much of a life. She goes on dates periodically but doesn’t let anyone in because she is secretly in love with Ellie (Elijah) the one who got away. She suddenly dies but gets a second chance at life and she goes back to college in 2012 to have a second chance at love. But instead she finds herself drawn to Alex, a billionaire capitalist that Ellie is friends with, a man she hates. Back in her 18 year old body with a 32 year old soul, she changes so much of what she wishes she could have done differently the first time.

    If I could go back in time to my college days I’d have to do things the same so I could have my kids. But I definitely would find a way to see Whitney Houston, Prince and Michael Jackson live.

    This is well paced and written. The back and forth between her 2026 mind and what she knows in 2012 is a running bit that doesn’t get old. If you enjoy time travel or second chance magical realism romance this is a book you should be reading. There are a lot of characters, many of whom play the same role and the metaphysical aspect of this doesn’t get too deep. I enjoyed the first 25% of the book the most. There were some surprises and twists near the end that were different than most time travel stories.

    Thanks to NetGalley and gallery books for the ARC. Book to be published 4/28/26.

  • where the girls were by kate schatz

    “If men could get pregnant, I bet it would be different.” 
    “That, my dear, is certainly true.”

    Where The Girls Were is a historical fiction novel of a girl unexpectedly pregnant in the 1960’s. She goes to a girls home to have the baby and get back to her life. She is a smart and good girl, Baker gave her valedictorian speech then leaves her beloved cousin May and goes to a residential facility.

    The overturning of Roe vs Wade has led to many historical fiction books in this very theme- 
    The Girls Who Grew Big (Panhandle Florida)
    Witchcraft for Wayward Girls (Rural Florida)
    Wayward Girls (Buffalo, NY)

    All books published in 2025, the gem of this theme is that you get multiple strong female characters. Some are more naive than others and there is usually one truly tragic situation. 

    This book, while still tragic, is perhaps the least tragic of these 4, surprising only because the author is a self described queer feminist- but according to the authors note, she learned that her mother spent time in one of these homes and having a baby that went for adoption. It gives the story a kindness and a hopefulness that is endearing to the reader. This story is more of a characterization and doesn’t beat you over the head, this story is the quietest, the least self-righteous. 

    Baker is our main character, this is her middle name that she goes by. Baker, as in, baking the bun in the oven. The father of her baby, Wiley, is literally just a dude. He is not at all a villain nor a romantic lead. I liked that- the father in this case is simply just not all that important. Baker considers breaking the law to have an illegal abortion but lacks the time and courage. She meets friends and goes through a process to have her baby, not being able to make phone calls or go outside for months. 

    This story is a breath of fresh air, well written, and very readable. I can hardly believe it’s a debut, but the author is a skilled writer, just now publishing a novel.

    Thanks to NetGalley and Dial Press for the ARC. Book to be published Mar 3, 2025. 

  • second chance cinema by thea weiss

    A very fun, creative, and emotional story about the memories we hold. A contemporary magical realism romance for fans of Kate Robb and Ashley Poston. Will we still be lovable if they knew everything about us? And I mean, everything?

    Ellie and Drake are about to be married when they come across a theatre that operates, seemingly, only for them. The theatre shows “The Story of Us” which is a collection of 10 weekly movies that show both of their lives as a film. Starting with them as babies, the movies progress over time showing the most memorable periods of their lives. They agree to continue to see the movies, week after week, and promise to not let anything they see change the way they feel for each other.

    Of course, there are secrets, and reasons to be jealous and even angry. There are some memorable side characters, like the manager of the theatre, Natalie. When I first heard the premise for this book, I thought this would be kind of a nightmare. I think we all have episodes in our past that we would rather not remember. Something I was curious about while reading is- are we actually seeing what happened? Or are we seeing it as Drake and Ellie remember it? They say that when we remember something, we are technically remembering the last time that we were remembering it. So our memories are notoriously unreliable. Something to consider for this story.

    I found the plot fascinating, the characters are good, particularly Ellie. Drake was less intriguing of a lead, but the magical elements made up for it. The prologue was intriguing and in the back of my mind, how it comes full circle in the epilogue is a neat twist.

    This would be a great book to read for a book club, I think it would encourage great and deep conversations.

    Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the ARC. Book to be published October 7,2025

  • town and country by brian schaefer

    A sparkling, intensely readable debut novel about a small town’s gentrification, the politics involved in a congressional election, and families on the brink. There are many families who have always lived in the tight knit community, but recently the “duffels” have descended on the town with their money. Typically gentrification stories are about white people flush with cash coming into a poor community populated by people of color who soon find themselves unable to afford the communities they are from…. Harlem, Hawaii… but in this case, it is the “fancy gays” from the big city who come with a duffel bag for the weekend who decide to buy a second home or relocate to the small town to make their dollar more powerful.

    And hence comes the push and pull…. the bigoted folks, the hard workers, the closeted, the farmers, those who would take advantage, those caught in the opiod crisis….and all in all, the capitalists. There are no “white hats” vs. “black hats” in this story- no one is the evil villain. The book challenges the way we see the world today, the polarization of literally everything. It zooms in on the families of Chip and Paul who are running for congress- one a townie, one a duffel, one straight and one gay, one salt of the earth and the other born to a certain privilege. The scope of this novel is extremely ambitious, there are a lot of characters introduced quickly. It is shining a light on issues in a broader way. It is a character driven novel, rather than a twisty plot.

    That said, there are so many layers to uncover- each person is always a little more nuanced and each person is a bit more complicated than they seem. There is a heavy handed lesson in that for all of us.

    A high recommendation from me on this book.

    Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC. Book to be published November 4, 2025. Election Day.