thoughts on books

Category: Recommendations

  • good intentions by marisa walz

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    If you like a slightly manic, nervous wreck unreliable female main character, you’re going to love this book. Cady is dealing with grief of losing her twin sister, Dana, with whom she had a codependent relationship. In the emergency room, she sees and becomes obsessed with a woman named Morgan, who is frantic to hear about her son who has been taken in for injuries sustained by an accident. When she discovers that the woman’s son has died, she joins her grief group and becomes obsessed with her and begins following and stalking her.

    Audiobook review- what a performance. The tone becomes increasingly frantic as the book escalates, it is all first person narrative with plenty of anxious internal dialogue. The book is written as a “letter” to her sister Dana, so she speaks directly to Dana, calling her by name several times each chapter. I found it a bit distracting but I do think this helps the reader to remember the obsession that Cady had with Dana. Which is a big old advertisement for therapy.

    Recommend? Yes. It’s a debut and I sort of wonder if the author has ghost written for other thriller authors in the past. This book is perfect for fans of Shari LaPena, Lisa Jewell and Gillian Flynn.

    Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the ALC. book to be published February 3, 2026.

    macusa2025

  • skate it till you make it by rufaro faith mazarura

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    I am so grateful that we have a female POC author in closed-door romance! 💘

    Ari and Drew meet on New years as she is about to be the captain the British women’s hockey team in the Winter Olympics. He is a photographer and little does Ari know, he is the brother of one of her rivals from the US team. It becomes mutually beneficial to fake date him to avoid her narcissistic Olympian ex, Harrison.

    I am shocked at the amount of fake dating tropes that have arisen in 2026 romcoms. It is by far the most common trope that I am seeing for this year, despite the fact that fake dating almost never happens in real life. That aside, I enjoyed this very sweet story and loved the Olympic setting. I don’t know much about hockey, but I loved the storyline about female athletes, how they work together as a team, and the interpersonal relationships. Some really fun and inspiring minor characters. I also love a good kiss cam scene, and I really enjoyed the banter between Drew and Ari.

    Audiobook review – I thought that the performance was well acted and easy to follow. Great narrator and the pacing is perfect for audio. This is the perfect winter romcom if you are looking for something lighthearted in the new year.

    I might even watch Olympic women’s hockey instead of just figure skating and skiing this year!

    Thanks to NetGalley and McMillan audio for the arc. Book to be published 2/2/26

    macaudio2025

  • summer of second chances by kl walther

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    Olivia is floundering a bit. Well, at least she is according to her stepmother. At 19, she deferred her first year in college at Northwestern in order to work part time at a bookstore and to spins lots of time with her grandmother, Annie, who is deteriorating with dementia. Annie is Olivia’s favorite person in the world, and while sometimes she greets her as her believed granddaughter, sometimes she honks Olivia is an aide at the assisted living facility. Sometimes she says things that don’t make sense, but Olivia is doing her best at loving Annie the best way she can.

    After she finds some photos of Annie on Martha’s Vineyard that raise a lot of questions, Olivia is determined to find out what her grandmother was like before her dad was born. She doesn’t count on reconnecting with Connor, who she went to camp with, nor does she count on getting sidetracked by love.

    I am grateful for the chance to early read this book- I loved KL Walter’s While We’re Young and find her YA work to be very effervescent and positively uplifting. I loved this book’s first 20% as we got to know Olivia and Annie, and the portrayal of caring for a loved one in dementia was very touching.

    For me; the story somewhat slowed when she got to the island. Connor seemed fine and the chemistry was sweet. I was anxious to return to Annie’s storyline and the ending was just as magical.

    I definitely recommend this clean YA romance for the grandma and mostly the vibes.

    Thanks to NetGalley and sourcebooks fire for the ARC. Book to be published May 5, 2026.

  • enormous wings by laurie frankel

    A truly magnificent book about our agency, not just how much power we have over our own bodies when pregnant, but as people. It starts when 77 year old Pepper gets into a car accident, her daughter takes her driver’s license, and she moves her into the same assisted living facility that her ex-husband is in. But doesn’t that make sense? That Pepper’s kids would want her to be in the same place as their father? Still, this is where the theme begins that Pepper loses her ability to make decisions about her life. She didn’t expect to fall in love, and NO ONE expected her to become pregnant.

    What a crazy premise? I thought this would be more speculative, and although the premise is a little “out there” it is told in a realistic way. There is a fictional plot reason why she is an outlier of pregnancy. But even with such a fantasy-driven premise, this book ends up really making the reader think. If you like well written found-family books that make you think, this is the perfect book for you.

    I have loved all of Laurie Frankel’s novels, and this one absolutely met my SKY HIGH expectations. One of my pet peeves on GoodReads is when an early reader says “well I liked this book but I didn’t like it as much as the author’s previous work which is my favorite” – Early readers can fall into that trap of having high expectations that result in lesser than fair ratings. In this case I can confidently tell you that I absolutely LOVED this story, LOVED the characters, I laughed so hard at Pepper, her English teacher observations, and her general acceptance of her life.

    I could not tell what was going to happen next, and it was also sad to see so many people exploiting the pregnant septugenarian for their own political gains, you just wanted to scream, she is a HUMAN BEING not your mascot! Wow. I was fiercely protective of her.

    Laurie Frankel is just a genius, “Family Family” was very pro-adoption without being anti-choice, and this was so, so needed in women’s literary fiction. This book takes an equally divisive topic and makes it really about the story. If you are sensitive about reading books about narrators that may not make the same decisions you would, this book could trigger you. But either way, I think it would be an excellent book club book to encourage lively discussions.

    One of my top books of 2026!!

    Thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt for the ARC. Book to be published May 4, 2026.

  • you’ll love it here by natalie sue

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    A vibrant and purely tender hearted sophomore novel from Natalie Sue. As a big fan of her debut novel, I jumped at the chance to preview her latest and I am so glad I did. I found these characters to be very original and the ensemble cast to be delightful.

    Mona’s alcoholic father died a few months ago. They had a strained relationship and never made things right, so she didn’t think she needed any time to grieve. But when one of her biggest clients makes a rude remark, she snaps right back at him. Her boss thinks she should take her leave and all of her back PTO, so this workaholic had some time on her hands. She takes up an offer to be a stand in super at her apartment. It’s always because she has always tried hard to avoid the people in her apartment building, but suddenly she finds herself getting by to know them as she helps the owner prepare the apartment for sale.

    It’s a sad but common tale of gentrification, delayed grief, and reconciling how her workaholism is her way of avoiding her father’s alcoholism. Mona was frightfully a bit of a mess, but we learned along with her and rooted for her journey. There is also a love story with Sami at the diner, an almost obligatory storyline that is really overshadowed by the residents. It’s about how we think we know people we see every day, but how we see them is just a reflection of how we see ourselves. Just like in real life, there is more to each complicated person than meets the eye.

    Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC. Book to be published August 11, 2026

  • into the blue by emma brodie

    AJ and Noah are soul mates, for real. He comes from a Hollywood royalty family, she is a woman in comedy that dreams of writing for SNL. They connect when she is working at a video store then 7 years later they are cast in a space show called Into the Blue.

    My goodness, team, this is a very romantic, overly dramatic, “meant to be” vibes. This is like that movie “Love Story” in the 1970’s which is why every 45-50 year old woman is named Jennifer. But I digress. If you love to sob your face off at a love story this is going to be your top best number one book of 2026.

    The blurbs are treating this as a spoiler, that Noah knows he has a short life span and will die of a very rare, inherited genetic disorder called Huntington’s disease. Therefore I will mark this whole review for spoilers. I am not a book marketer, so hey, what do I know. But this is what the story is, a tragic love story about a man who doesn’t want to get close because he knows he will deteriorate and die in his 40’s. This kind of story is jarring and not for everyone, and others will really love it. I found it to be tragic, beautiful, at times maybe a bit too sad. Honestly based on the blurb I was not prepared for this kind of story and I cried a lot.

    I am sure that this book will be very popular and it will get a lot of 5 star ratings and others will feel catfished. The characters are excellent and the ending was purely beautiful

    Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for giving me the chance to read this very buzzworthy ARC. Book to be published July 14, 2026.

  • the library after dark by ande pliego

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    A highly addictive, eerie licked room mystery that takes place on the history tour of an old library. No one is who they say they are. Some people aren’t even who they say. They are the second time.

    Ande Pliego’s sophomore Effort does not disappoint. It is less jump-scare, and more immersive world building. Darkly suspenseful, we follow aria and her new boyfriend Jasper as they go to take a tour of the locally famous Dedalus library. What a name, right? Although Jasper thinks this is going to be a private tour, they are surprised to find a group that will also be a part of the tour of the historical landmark. They are even more surprised when they find themselves, unfortunately, locked in. And with at least one killer amongst the group.

    You won’t be able to put this one down! Although the room is full of a character cast, they have enough differences that you can easily tell them apart, and guess who is next. The internal dialogue, contributes to the intricate plot, and while the ending is somewhat unbelievable, I was 100% along for the ride. I love the way this author sets up a story.

    If you love books, and have fantasized often about living in a huge old library, you will love being a part of this world for a while.

    Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam for the ARC. Book to be published May 4, 2026.

  • both can be true by jessica guerreri

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    A sad and beautiful story about all the different ways that women disappear and how we show up for each other when the men in our lives fail us.

    Told in alternating POV, this novel follows Mere, a mom to Lily, and her sister Frankie, mom to Chloe and who is sober. Together they are taking care of their ailing father and bearing the mental load of their families. Then another mom goes missing, and the story follows not only what happened to her but all the secrets and hopes the women carry.

    I love Jessica Guerreri’s writing, it is a mixture of deliberate symbolism and intriguing plot. It is sneakily feminist while exploring themes of motherhood and presence. Even the minor characters stand out in this story, some of the most touching scenes belong to those on the periphery. One of the gifts that sobriety brings is the privilege of being fully present for the pain, the joy and the miracle of everyday life.

    This year I celebrated 14 years of sobriety in AA, and I work an active program. The role that AA plays in this story is very respectful without being overly positive. I love how Frankie’s sobriety journey isn’t linear. It’s a tradition that goes throughout sponsorship lines, and different people have different ways of doing things, with a variety of ways to interpret the work and the overall program. I’ve sponsored many women over the years, and without spoiling the story, I can definitely attest that this can be a roller coaster. And yet, this is how we stay sober. We get to keep it by giving it away. AA isn’t the only way to get sober, but it’s the way that worked for me.

    I think that women- like myself- will see themselves in these pages and will start to question of numbing the stress of motherhood is really worth it after all.

    At times I found Frankie to be controlling and even cringy in her talking to her daughter Chloe about her relationship. I’m always pretty critical of “purity culture” in books and while it made me uncomfortable, it made sense for the character arc and the experiences the reader later learns about Frankie.

    At the end of the day we all want to be seen and loved for who we are.

    Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Muse for the ARC. Book to be published May 18, 2026.

  • dark is when the devil comes

    A cautiously suspenseful novel about a woman coming back to her hometown, but who goes missing after wandering into the woods searching for mushrooms.

    Hazel is a bit broken, coming back to Idless after a divorce. She reconnects with her sister Cathy and friend Susie. The woods have supernatural elements, the horror is understated, very eerie and atmospheric. I found the pacing to be great that the beginning but it got slow (for me) near the end. I did enjoy the plot and felt satisfied at the conclusion.

    Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur books for the ARC. Book to be published April 27, 2025.

  • bad asians by lillian li

    A interesting character study and drama about millennial malaise- this time specific to 1st and 2nd generation Asian immigrants.

    A group of 4 friends from a private school are the subject of a documentary called “Bad Asians” that goes viral on YouTube. Their frenemy Grace takes advantage of them and films them and interviews them. The way they are portrayed is not flattering, but it is well done. The book is about the aftermath of this and how it occurred. Themes are around relationships and groups of friends, found family and how those closest to us know us and then become complete strangers.

    Here are 4 people who did everything right and the economy and world just passed them by. This is them coming to terms with their parents’ legacy and expectations and how they chose to integrate into adult life. All 4 main characters ad internal demons and all had really interesting and compelling character ARC. I can definitely relate to the struggles and the nostalgia over the course of the novel. I can’t quite call it historical fiction, but it is a time span that shows how much we change from our early 20’s to the late 30’s.

    I particularly enjoyed the audiobook performance, only one narrator, but she had great pacing and different voices that I felt were authentic to the author’s intentions for the characters.

    Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the ALC. Book to be published February 17, 2026.