thoughts on books

Book Reviews

  • the half life by rachel beanland

    An exceptionally well written historical fiction with a deeply engrossing setting and wonderful characters.

    The story starts out as a coming of age story, Eileen O’Malley is sort of floundering in grief. Her brother was killed in Vietnam after being drafted, and she has foregone college and is working at a department store. There she meets Paul, and things are going okay, when he tells her that the Navy is sending him to Italy. And they sort of spontaneously decide to get married, and she follows him to La Maddalena, a Mediterranean island that the US Navy is doing something with nuclear power on a submarine. There she has to learn how to navigate not only Italian culture, not only ex-pat culture, but also how to be a Navy wife. There she discovers how to let go of American exceptionalism, and maybe their actions are harmful in many ways.

    Set in 1970’s Nixon America, this is less nostalgia and more written to a future, unnamed person who we find out about in the epilogue. While the narrative took awhile to get to major plot point, the journey is well worth it for the deeper characterization and learning about who you are within the context of a marriage. Eileen floundered at times and became curious, giving herself so much pressure and stress to mask the grief from her brother’s death.

    I love the way that Beanland is simultaneously giving us the journey of Eileen, of Paul and Eileen’s marriage, and the setting of the US Navy’s occupation and nuclear strategy. All of them are stories worth telling and have their own story arc. I found myself so drawn in to this one.

    Main character in 3 adjectives= curious, bold, strong

    Favorite minor character- Eileen’s mom

    Hollywood Cast
    Eileen- Bella Thorne
    Paul- Mark Paul Gosselaar
    Laura- Brittany Snow
    Teo- Michele Morron

    Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC. Book to be published July 14, 2026

  • 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.

  • we burned so bright by tj klune

    Screenshot

    A very, very enthusiastic five stars (while sobbing)

    A short tale of two elder gays at the end of their life. Well, everybody’s life. The earth is just a few weeks away of being sucked into a black hole. Don and Rodney are in their seventies, having been together 40 years. They leave their home behind and take their rickety RV on a road trip to Washington DC. They meet various folks along the way who at different places in accepting the world’s fate. Some are in denial, others angry, others in a blissful acceptance.

    Throughout the story we learn about LGBTQ history in the US. Don and Rodney have lived through the AIDS crisis, marriage equality, and the passing of so many to violent hate crimes. They are survivors helping those they meet along the way to find peace. The fantasy/sci fi elements are a necessary part of the plot, but the narrative doesn’t go deep into this.

    At its core, this is a love story. I immediately pre-ordered, as I’m eager to highlight and annotate my favorite parts.

    It’s well paced for audio and a great audiobook performance from narrator Kirt Graves.

    Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for this outstanding ALC. the best book about the end of the world that I have ever read.

  • hot girl murder club by Ashley winstead

    Screenshot

    Feminist revenge fiction. This book is about two stories, one is a series of revenge killings of women who supported and abetted the most terrible men, and then men who got away with terrible crimes against women. The other is of the detective Grey, whose sister went missing as a bottle girl years ago. In our current storyline, Grey is investigating and all evidence points to Scout the pop star. But is she being framed?

    This is a classic Ashley Winstead tale, tons of characters across multiple timelines, and enough plot elements to keep you guessing. Everyone who dies has a backstory. The murderer is not who you think. I love the way she does the plot elements, you can figure things out just a minute before the main characters do.

    Without spoiling the specific story, you will love this book if you are angry and ready to see the billionaire pdfs get what is coming to them. The women in this novel are righteous and smart.

    Needless to say this is the story I’ve been craving lately. Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC. Book to be published July 14, 2026

  • The romance revival by christina Lauren

    This is a bit of a departure from Christina + Lauren’s other works, its genre-bending. I predict this is going to be either your favorite CL title or your least favorite.

    It’s my favorite!

    The second chance romance in this novel is the best I’ve read, a couple with 10/10 chemistry, wonderful back story and I am rooting for Luca and Emery all the way.

    Our minor characters- Annie and Crash- need a book of their own. I love it when the “best friend” characters are so well developed that you love them as characters instead of merely background noise.

    I don’t think I’m going to write a summary for this review, which is off-brand for me- but I think it’s best to go into as blind as possible.

    So it’s the top tier romcom we know and love, but this is also cozy mystery, speculative fiction. I would LOVE to see these authors explore this genre more.

    This is a risk that pays off big time! Infinity stars!

    a best romance of 2026

    Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC. Book to be published July 14, 2026.

  • it could have been her by lisa jewell

    A dark mystery thriller about a missing girl. Janie trevalley is 55 years old and wandering around her sprawling and crumbling english estate when she sees a small white scruffy dog. She traces him back to a large country estate that she remembers going to years ago and narrowly escaping as something felt off. What follows is a mystery with layers upon layers, the more we learn the darker and more deviant it becomes.

    Lisa Jewell is a master of the modern thriller, I love the characters, the plot and the pacing. This is absolutely the creepiest one ever, it tap dances over the line from thriller to horror at the end. At the beginning I did find it a bit confusing, there are a lot of people and a long timeline with several characters but for me this came together in a very coherent way.

    Absolutely the creepiest book I have read in a long time! Great mystery.

    Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC. Book to be published June 23, 2026

  • deadly does it by abbi waxman

    Abbi Waxman does it again! If you enjoy Catherine Mack or Benjamin Stevenson, and you like a bantery hilarious book that also just so happen to have a mystery involved, you need to read this series. While I think this edition would work as a stand alone, I highly recommend you add the first in the series, [book:One Death at a Time|216522751], which was one of my favorite mysteries last year.

    Mason and Julia are back and this time helping Mason’s sponsor Alexa. Alexa’s past has come back to haunt her, and she is getting typewritten anonymous threatening letters and someone is going after her sponsees. Mason has agreed to help and has enlisted Julia’s help.

    I really love the relationship between Gen Z Mason and her much older employer Julia, who was a golden age movie actor and unjustly accused and convicted of murdering her husband. She became a lawyer in prison so now she acts as the law in the duo and Mason acts as the amateur private investigator. The references to AA are perfect and exactly like they are in real life, some people who got sober during covid are zoom babies and now there are AA meetings literally every single hour of the day on zoom. It is one of the great things that came out of the pandemic.

    I am 14 years sober in AA and the authenticity of Mason, Julia and Alexa’s program is a huge reason why I love this series so much. But someone outside of recovery will still love the dialogue, the fast pace, and the blend of plot twists with deeper observations of human nature. I have already pre-ordered and I will re-read as a treat for myself when it is published.

    Thank you to NetGalley and Berkeley for the ARC. Book to be published July 21, 2026

  • Destination funeral by Paige harbison

    Another fun time loop magical realism with some light romance elements from Paige Harbison. Four friends go to an island for a funeral and a long weekend, only to learn they have inherited her home. And that long weekend becomes longer than they expect when they keep living Saturday over and over again.

    This was a nice escape from reality and although the time loop felt pretty derivative, there were a few lines that had me laughing out loud. The characters, for me, were mostly one dimensional and I was really hoping for more in the character arc that would have made them develop more. Both individually and as a unit. I was a big fan of her debut novel and perhaps had too high of expectations for this one. I do think it’s worth reading for the writing style and for the setting.

    Also- please be aware she refers to alcohol and drinking excessively in her novels. Not alcoholism or addiction issues, but there are more references to alcohol than in most novels.

    Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the ARC. Book to be published July 20, 2026

  • The burning side by Sarah Damoff

    If you are in the mood for a family saga where nobody’s perfect and relationships are complicated, add this to cart. Also maybe add a package of 9 volt batteries because you’re probably going to want to change all the batteries in your smoke detectors.

    April and Leo have 2 little kids, they are educators. Both of them have some things they’ve never really healed from. They have a fight and decide to divorce.

    That night, their house burns down. Everyone is okay, but they flee to her parents home. Deb and Billy. Billy is newly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. We learn their origin story. And how he has so much in his brain but the memories are mixed up.

    Absolutely beautiful writing and tender moments. It teaches me that we are all complex. Relationships are more than the sum of two people. Our experiences change us and help us connect. And we all just are dying to be seen. To be understood. To be lived for who we really are. The person my parents know is different than the person my kids know or that my coworkers know. It’s the opposite of codependency theory.

    These CHARACTERS. Just so well done in their imperfection. So hard to write complex family drama well and this one is a quiet beauty.

    Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC. Book to be published June 15, 2026.

  • The house of now and then by Edward Underhill

    As a big fan of The In-Between Bookstore, I preordered this book as soon as it was announced and am thrilled to get the chance to read it early via NetGalley.

    Harlow is spending some time in Cape Cod, although he’s never seen Jaws. A trans man who has just been through a big break up, he needs to get out of Boston and make a great summer. Despite having a phd in history, he has an IT job that pays the bills. There is a vibrant queer community in Provincetown and lots of summer tourism. He pays for a small cottage and doesn’t expect to see several people in his cottage that don’t belong. His professor from 2 years ago, his father, and even his ex. Except, they don’t think they are in the cottage. Harlow’s professor thinks she is in her office, years ago. Harlow’s dad thinks he is in his house and his Ex in their apartment. They keep having the same conversation with Harlow that they had at one point in time.

    If you are thinking, “well, Harlow has to change that conversation, and then they’ll go away,” you are on the right track. It’s hard to do a time slip or time loop magical realism story in a new creative way, and this one has an element of being in a magical cottage. It’s interesting as Harlow learns the lessons he needs to learn, it’s about his character arc and not theirs.

    Just like in “Bookstore,” there is a compelling love interest, Nathan, and some fun queer besties that act as both comic relief and as a way to build Harlow’s character. What makes this one special is the setting, the cat named Sir Duke, and the magical ending we get for the minor characters as well.

    I love Edward Underhill’s writing, but I do think he excels at YA, and the adult books do read like YA only with characters that happen to be in their 30’s. It doesn’t bother me one bit. I think it’s why I love his writing so much.

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