Book Reviews

This was an easy five-star read for me.

I wondered whether Pastor Colby Martin could really add much beyond what he accomplished in UnClobber, a book that I found incredibly thoughtful and influential. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Rather than repeating himself, Martin builds on that foundation with fresh insights, more personal stories, and timely discussions—particularly around the transgender community and the questions many churches are wrestling with today.

As an affirming Lutheran Christian, I’ve believed for a long time that faith and LGBTQ inclusion belong together. Even so, I found myself highlighting passage after passage. Martin has a gift for blending careful biblical scholarship with humor, humility, and genuine compassion. One of my favorite lines was:

“Jesus instructed us to love our enemies and to do good to those who hate us. Where in that equation is there any room to treat a fellow human being with contempt?”

One of my biggest criticisms of persuasive nonfiction is that it often ends up preaching to people who already agree with its message. While I certainly fall into that camp, I was pleasantly surprised by how broadly this book speaks. Whether you’re an affirming Christian, a non-affirming Christian, someone questioning what the Bible actually says about LGBTQ inclusion, or even a curious atheist interested in the conversation, Martin approaches difficult questions with grace, intellectual honesty, and respect.

This book thoughtfully explores LGBTQ inclusion, transgender identities, biblical interpretation, and the ways churches have responded to these topics without losing sight of the people at the center of the conversation.

One of the most important Christian books I’ve read this year, and one I’ll be recommending often.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the eARC. But What About…? The Most Asked Questions on Faith, the Bible, and LGBTQ Inclusion by Pastor Colby Martin will be published in November.

’m a big fan of magical realism, so Paper Ghosts was an easy addition to my TBR. This is a Southern, female-centered ghost story that blends family secrets, romance, and just enough supernatural elements to create an enchanting atmosphere.

The novel unfolds across two timelines. In 1976, Wilhelmina—known simply as Will to her friends—is living with her fiercely protective grandmother, Gram. Although Gram has plenty of money, she’s incredibly frugal and reluctant to let Will venture out into the world. Everything changes when Will falls for a musician performing at her high school, setting off a chain of events that echoes through the generations.

In the present day, Will is now the grandmother herself, and her granddaughter Bailey discovers that she’s inherited the same extraordinary gift that has been passed down through the women in their family.

For me, the 1976 storyline was easily the strongest part of the novel. I loved the Southern setting, the rich descriptions, and the slow-building romance. And, honestly… rest in peace, Gram—you would’ve loved DoorDash.

Once the story shifted primarily into the present day, though, my enthusiasm started to fade. I kept waiting for the emotional payoff to match the promise of the setup, but it never quite got there for me. The ghost story and magical realism remained compelling, yet the modern timeline lacked the same spark and emotional weight that made the earlier chapters so memorable. By the end, I appreciated what the novel was trying to do more than I was moved by the execution.

The audiobook narration was a definite highlight. The narrator did an excellent job distinguishing the characters, making it easy to settle into both timelines and bringing warmth to the story.

While this ended up being more of a “like” than a “love” for me, I still think it’s worth picking up if you’re drawn to atmospheric Southern fiction, family stories with a touch of romance, and gentle magical realism with ghosts woven into the narrative.

3 ⭐⭐⭐ | Published September 1

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the advanced listening copy

If you’re a fan of over-the-top domestic thrillers in the vein of Freida McFadden, The Housewife is exactly the kind of book you pick up when you want to be wildly entertained rather than intellectually challenged. Think soap opera twists, deliciously messy secrets, suspicious spouses, and enough melodrama to crank the ridiculous meter up to an 11. I had a great time with it.

The novel opens with a housewife covered in blood before rewinding to tell us how everything unraveled. She adores cooking, cleaning, and creating the perfect home, but it’s immediately obvious that she’s hiding plenty of secrets. She’s newly married to a famous psychologist nearly twenty years her senior—a bestselling author and television personality—and their whirlwind romance moved from meeting to marriage in just three months. Now, only a month into married life, she’s consumed by curiosity about his ex-wife, Deborah, while trying to navigate a household that somehow includes both a full-time housekeeper and a housewife with no children. That irony made me smile more than once.

I intentionally recommend going into this one as blind as possible. The official blurb keeps some of the biggest surprises under wraps, and the story begins shifting in unexpected directions very early on. The less you know, the more fun it is.

This isn’t a thriller that’s striving for realism, and that’s part of its charm. It’s suspenseful, addictive, campy, and wonderfully dramatic. Yes, there are repetitive moments, but I found them easy to overlook because I was having so much fun watching the chaos unfold. It’s also an excellent audiobook or reading companion while you’re folding laundry, cleaning the kitchen, or tackling chores—you won’t have any trouble following along, and it’s incredibly easy to get hooked.

If you enjoy popcorn thrillers packed with outrageous twists, unreliable characters, and nonstop domestic drama, this one is well worth adding to your summer reading list.

Publishes June 30.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the electronic ARC.

3.5 ⭐️

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the gifted ALC.

If you’ve ever watched a Southern beauty pageant and thought, there is no way all that hairspray, sequins, and “bless your heart” politeness isn’t hiding some dark secrets, then Pretty Dead Things is probably for you.

Twenty-five years ago, Kennedy Claire won a local beauty pageant. That same night, a murder occurred that was never solved. Now, Kennedy’s daughter, Sara Lynn, is competing in the very same pageant alongside the daughters of two other contestants from that fateful year. As the competition unfolds, old rivalries, buried secrets, and unanswered questions resurface.

The pageant setting was easily my favorite part of the book. Kelsey Cox captures the culture perfectly—the competitiveness, the performative charm, the family dynamics, and all the Southern drama that simmers just beneath the surface. The atmosphere felt authentic, and there were several moments that were genuinely funny in that uniquely Southern way.

I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the narration. One of my biggest pet peeves is when Southern characters don’t sound Southern, and thankfully that wasn’t the case here. The performance added a lot of personality and helped bring the story to life.

My biggest challenge was keeping everyone straight. With multiple timelines, several families, and a large cast of characters, I found myself getting confused early on. In fact, I restarted the audiobook after getting about halfway through because I realized I was losing track of who belonged to which family. Once I started sketching out family trees and keeping notes, I enjoyed the story much more. Hopefully the finished print edition includes a character list or family tree because I think that would be incredibly helpful.

I also thought some characters were stronger than others. A few felt somewhat one-dimensional, but I really enjoyed Iggy and Izzy and found myself especially invested in their storylines.

What kept this from being a higher-rated read for me was that, at times, the book seemed to lean a little too heavily into shock value. Without getting into spoilers, there were a few moments that felt more designed to provoke a reaction than to serve the story. Those elements occasionally pulled me out of what was otherwise a very entertaining mystery.

That said, the short chapters, juicy secrets, family drama, and decades-old murder mystery kept me turning pages. Fans of Kelsey Cox’s Party of Liars will find a lot to enjoy here, as the two books share a similar spirit. Readers who enjoy Southern Gothic-flavored mysteries and the salacious family drama of May Cobb’s novels should definitely give this one a look.

Julie Carrick Dalton has written a thoughtful, female-centered novel that blends climate fiction, family drama, mystery, and a touch of the surreal into something that feels both deeply personal and profoundly connected to the natural world.

The story follows three women whose lives become intertwined around a controversial housing development. Stella is a real estate agent desperately needing her next sale. Polly, known throughout the community as “Tree Girl,” is determined to save the forest she feels connects her to her late mother. Hazel is carrying immense grief and guilt after a tragic accident that cost her unborn child, and she begins experiencing a mysterious condition that changes the course of her life.

At its heart, this is a novel about what we owe the earth, what we owe future generations, and how deeply our identities can become tied to the places we call home. Polly’s fight to protect the forest gives the story a strong environmental core, while the mystery surrounding the land’s ownership adds an intriguing layer that kept me invested.

I will admit that the beginning is a slow burn. Dalton spends considerable time developing her characters and laying the emotional groundwork. My advice is to trust the author. The story eventually introduces a highly unusual element that I suspect will be divisive among readers. Some may find it too strange or even unsettling, while others will appreciate its symbolism and originality. Personally, I loved it. It reminded me of the way Shark Heart embraces the unconventional to explore grief, transformation, and human connection.

Thematically, this book brought to mind The Lorax and The Giving Tree, but for an adult audience. It examines the relationship between women, nature, caregiving, sacrifice, and renewal in ways that felt powerful and memorable. The novel asks readers to consider the value of every living thing and challenges us to think about our responsibility to the world around us.

The audiobook is excellent. With multiple narrators bringing the different perspectives to life, the performances added depth to each character. I was especially impressed by the narrator portraying Polly. Adult narrators reading child characters can sometimes feel exaggerated or patronizing, but that was never the case here. Polly’s voice felt authentic, emotional, and completely believable.

If you enjoy climate fiction, character-driven stories, books with magical or speculative elements, and novels that aren’t afraid to take risks, I highly recommend this one. It’s an unusual story, but one that has stayed with me long after I finished listening.

4.5 ⭐️

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the advanced listening copy.

About 10 years ago I visited a sausage processing plant as a part of my job. It was a short visit and didn’t have anything to do with their operations, but I walked out of there and I never ate meat again. 10 years of being a vegetarian was great preparation for reading this book.

This was my first time reading a book set in Brazil and my first time reading a Brazilian author, and WOW — what an introduction.

The Secret Dinner is an outstanding, completely unhinged horror thriller. Honestly, any time you see the word dinner in the title of a horror book, you know things are probably going to go off the rails, and this one absolutely does.

The story follows four young twenty-somethings who move from rural Brazil to the big city for college and remain roommates. When they fall into a financial crisis and need to figure out how to pay rent, they come up with a very questionable way to make ends meet. From there, the book just keeps escalating. As the narrative unfolds, nothing is what it seems, secrets are revealed at the perfect moments, and the stakes get higher and higher.

The pacing in this book is exquisite. It has the suspense and structure of a top-notch thriller, but with the gross, wild, “what did I just read?” energy of horror. And I mean gross in the most complimentary way possible. This is the kind of book that made me want to keep reading even when I was slightly horrified by what was happening.

And that ending? WOW. The suspense build-up was incredible. I could absolutely see this being made into a movie, and I would love to see it adapted with a Brazilian cast.

This was a huge hit in Brazil, and I’m so glad it was translated and released in the U.S. Because I had both the audio from Macmillan and the e-ARC from Celadon, I was able to tandem read with both my eyes and ears, and I binged this HARD.

This is easily one of my top 10 horror reads of the year. I think readers who enjoy authors like Nat Cassidy or T. Kingfisher — especially when horror is paired with sharp suspense and a very dark sense of humor — should absolutely check this one out.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the ALC and Celadon Books for the e-ARC.

✨ What if the Kardashians were secretly the Bennet sisters? ✨

🎧 Thank you to Harper Audio for the advanced listening copy!

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars

When Lili Lowe is caught in a scandal involving a married politician, it initially feels like we’re headed into Monica Lewinsky territory. But then the story takes a sharp turn into reality TV fame, a powerful momager, and a family brand built on public fascination—and suddenly I was getting major Kardashian/Jenner vibes.

At first, I honestly wasn’t sure this book was for me. The sexual content felt a little over-the-top for my personal taste, and I briefly considered putting it down. But I’m glad I stuck with it because beneath the scandal and celebrity culture is some surprisingly thoughtful commentary about women, fame, self-marketing, and what it means to monetize the patriarchy.

Then something unexpected happened. Somewhere along the way, I started seeing shades of Pride and Prejudice. The Lowe sisters began reminding me of the Bennet sisters, and thanks to the audiobook’s British narration, I found myself spiraling into the question: Are the Kardashian-Jenners basically the Bennets of the modern era? 🤯

I wish I could tell you I immediately moved on with my day after having that realization. Instead, I lay face-down on my bed for approximately 30 minutes having an existential crisis.

As a debut, this is incredibly creative. The pacing was a little uneven for me, and some sections worked better than others, but I appreciated that it gave me far more to think about than I expected. And that ending? Let’s just say I did not see it coming. No spoilers, but if you pick this one up, stick with it all the way through.

🎧 Audiobook thoughts: I really enjoyed the multicast production, especially the news segments and dramatic elements. While I sometimes struggled to distinguish between the sisters’ voices, the overall listening experience was engaging and added a lot to the story.

If you’re interested in books that explore celebrity culture, fame, family branding, and the stories society tells about women, this one is worth a look.

❓QOTD: What’s the strangest literary or pop-culture connection you’ve ever made while reading a book?

Nothing good ever happens at a suburban block party in a thriller… and this book absolutely understands the assignment.”👀🏘️

The Neighbors Are Watching by Aggie Blum Thompson is the kind of suburban mystery that feels like Desperate Housewives meets true crime podcast energy — wealthy neighborhoods, suspicious neighbors, buried secrets, affairs, blackmail, and the growing realization that absolutely nobody on the cul-de-sac is normal. 😅

The story opens in an affluent Washington, DC suburb still reeling from the murder of a babysitter a year earlier, supposedly during a break-in gone wrong. At a neighborhood block party, Caren leaves early to prepare for a rummage sale while her husband is out of town. But when she wakes up the next morning still wearing the same clothes and with no memory of how she got home, she becomes convinced she was drugged — and that someone wanted to stop her from uncovering clues connected to the murder. 👀

This was such an easy, entertaining audiobook listen for me. 🎧 The narration kept me engaged the entire time, and I especially appreciated how easy the story was to follow on audio. There are a lot of neighbors and moving pieces, but the repetition actually worked in the book’s favor because I never felt lost or had to rewind to remember who someone was. Sometimes you just want a juicy thriller you can sink into without needing a detective corkboard beside you. 😂

The characters themselves are probably the weakest part of the novel. Many of them felt somewhat flat or exaggerated, and Caren occasionally drifted into “Mary Sue” territory for me. But honestly? I still had fun. The neighborhood drama is turned all the way up — teenagers driving Range Rovers, secrets spilling everywhere, money changing hands, affairs, manipulation, gossip — and it becomes wildly addictive in a soap-opera kind of way. 🍷🚘💰

What surprised me most was how much I connected to Caren’s anxiety about becoming an empty nester soon. As someone with teenagers living in suburbia myself, I related to that undercurrent of parents desperately wanting the best for their children while quietly feeling their own lives shifting underneath them. Thankfully my neighborhood is MUCH less dramatic. 😅

Overall, this is a very bingeable suburban thriller filled with twists, red herrings, and neighborhood dysfunction. If you’re looking for a literary mystery with deep character work, this may not fully satisfy you. But if you want an entertaining audiobook that keeps the drama flowing and the pages turning, this one absolutely delivers. 🏡🔍

⚠️ Trigger warnings for murder, drugging, infidelity, and domestic/family distress.

⭐️ 3.5/5 stars

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advanced listening copy. The Neighbors Are Watching will be published in June

Honestly, if you can make me nostalgic about the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in MAY, you’re doing something right.🎈🦃✨

I feel really lucky to have been one of the first readers of Murder on 34th St. by Mariah Fredericks, coming October 6, 2026, because this book absolutely nails that warm, vintage New York holiday atmosphere. Set during the 1933 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the story follows Grace, assistant to Macy’s head of HR… although “assistant” hardly covers it because this woman is basically running half the building behind the scenes. 😂 I really connected with her and kept thinking about how many women in the 1930s were doing enormous amounts of invisible labor while rarely getting the recognition they deserved.

If you love old Manhattan settings, department store nostalgia, cozy mysteries, and behind-the-scenes holiday magic, there’s a lot to enjoy here. 🎄🗽 There are former NYPD officers, a Santa Claus performer, Macy’s employees with secrets, and plenty of suspects floating around the parade preparations. The descriptions of Macy’s itself were honestly one of my favorite parts — the employee entrances, the operations, the parade prep — it all felt incredibly immersive, like the author really did her homework and interviewed people connected to the store’s history.

I will say this leans more historical fiction than pulse-pounding mystery for me. I also think the book occasionally romanticizes the era a bit more than I personally would have liked, especially considering how difficult life was for many people in the 1930s. And because I wasn’t deeply emotionally invested in the murder victim, the mystery itself didn’t fully hook me emotionally. But as a cozy, nostalgic holiday read? It absolutely worked for me. 🎈

⭐️ 3.5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

If Elton John fever-dreamed an episode of The Walking Dead after scrolling TikTok at 3 a.m., you’d probably get Fabulous Bodies. 🧟✨🎹

Chuck Tingle is back with another completely unhinged queer horror story, and honestly? This one feels like he locked himself in a glitter-covered nightclub with a Red Bull, a horror movie marathon, and a deep fear of influencer culture. 😂

Poppy is a 27-year-old fashion influencer and single mom with around 200k followers… and also a part-time corpse thief selling bodies on the black market. As one does. 💅⚰️ She’s offered $5 million to steal the body of Eddie, a legendary piano-pounding gay icon from the 1970s. But naturally, things go very badly when Eddie wakes up as a zombie. From there, the book spirals into one chaotic night full of queer camp energy, bizarre humor, and nonstop “WHAT am I reading?!” moments. It genuinely gave me Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle vibes if Harold & Kumar wandered into a haunted glam-rock apocalypse. 🌈🪩🧠

What I continue to appreciate about Chuck Tingle is that no one else is really doing horror quite like this. The absurdity is the point. Underneath all the madness, there’s still commentary about fame, identity, loneliness, and performance. For me, this one didn’t hit emotionally quite as hard as Lucky Day or Bury Your Gays, which both had a little more heart beneath the chaos. But I still had an absolute blast reading it and connected with both main characters.

Wild. Campy. Gross. Funny. Surprisingly tender in spots. Basically: exactly what you sign up for when you pick up a Chuck Tingle book. 🖤

⭐️ 3.5/5 stars

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advanced listening copy! Fabulous Bodies publishes in July.