All The Way Around The Sun by XiXi Tian

 

Publisher: Quill Tree Books

On Sale Date: September 30, 2025

Pages: 304

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Stella Chen grew up together with her brother Sam in China at her grandmother Nai Nai's rural home, before she joined her parents who moved to Illinois earlier. Now she has lived in Illinois for most of her live, and her parents and her will move soon to San Diego. Everything has changed in their life after her brother Sam died all of a sudden a year earlier. Stella and her parents still suffer from grief about the unexpected loss of him. Stella misses the time they lived in China, she misses Sam terribly. They never talk about it though, and her grandmother doesn't even know he passed away. Her parents are traveling to China for family matters, they come up with the idea for Stella her estranged childhood friend Alan Zhao for a college tour all over California, she hardly knows Alan anymore, so she is not that looking forward to it. But she goes with him on a college tour, and actually enjoys sunny California and forgets a little about her grief. But during the calls with her parents in China, she finds out her grandmother's health is not good, and will the tour in California with the popular Alan, who becomes more then a friend to her, be enough to get over the worst of her grief?

All The Way Around the Sun is a YA novel that deals with serious issues like the loss of a sibling. This is the first novel by XiXi Tian that I have read, and I absolutely enjoyed it. I really liked the storyline, and how Stella's story was told in the present and past time with Sam, and how her grief and that of her parents was shown in the story. What I also liked was the flashbacks of Stella of her time when she lived in China with Sam in the care of their grandmother. The present time where she travels with Alan along the colleges in California to figure out where he wants to study, was the lighter part of the story, and I loved the cute romance between them. They knew each other well in the past, and that old spark blooms up again during their travel where they stay at the house of relatives, who sometimes are in the midst of relationship issues of their own. I loved how their bond and romance grew during their time together, and I also really liked how the story was wrapped up in the end.

This is a book I really liked reading, and I recommend reading it!

The Dipping by D.T. Murphy

 

Publisher: BooksGoSocial

On Sale Date: Jan 8 2026

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher through Netgalley.

Cliona is a young woman who has faced many issues in her young life. Her abusive stepfather, living in a council estate, drug abuse. She runs away from home and lands in London, where she meet another girl who is also running from her past, Rosie, and after a short stay in a hostel, they become roommates. They both have different jobs here and there, but her drug use and stealing habits at her work become problematic for Cliona. She lands a job in a restaurant kitchen, and because she makes everybody laugh with her funny jokes, she is asked to do a standup comedy show for once. She is a succes, and a talent agency wants to represent her, and now she is a professional stand up comedian with a good income. Because of this work, she becomes involved with someone who tells her about work for refugees from the war in Yugoslavia. The war tha other protagonist Leon and his family's live changes forever. He works at a biologist at a company, and has a wife and young daughter. But work is difficult and the war in Yugoslavia is growing more and more dangerous, especially when he joins the military service. The war lands him in a refugee camp, the camp wher Cliona works as a circus clown that are on a charity tour in orphanages and refugees camps in Eastern Europe. This is where the two of them meet and this meeting changes makes an unexpected turn in the story.

The Dipping is a well-written story about two people who don't know each other untill the end, who deal with different difficulties in their lives. The storyline is more about the journey of the two separate main characters, then I thought at firsthand. The part where their lives cross is not untill the last parts of the book, and I somehow wondered if the book would be better if they met earlier in the story. The journey the two make individually was entertaining to read though, altough sometimes Cliona didn't make the wisest choices, and the war Leon finds himself in was very sad to read about. Overall I found this a good read and I wonder what more book this author has in store for us readers!

The Secret Thread by Eve Chase

 

Publisher: Ballantine Books

On Sale Date: June 30 2026

Pages: 368

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

2024: Jo O' Mara is London based writer, who accepts a job as an auction catalog writer for seventy year old Mimi Mott, an excentric wealthy lady,  who is famous as a style icon and  who was the founder of a decorating empire. She is auctioning off her possesions that is huge interest in. Her posessions that are from her past, a past that hides many secrets Jo knows nothing about, and certainly Jo doesn't know that Mimi's past is connected to that of her own.

1969: Miriam and her sister Pamela and their parents, are living in a small staff cottage on the Rushwood estate, the English country estate of the wealthy and demanding Caswell family who are their employers. The parents are gardeners and Miriam and Pamela help too. That summer, Nancy and Lawrence, the adult daughter and son of the Caswell's are staying at Rushwood too, they are around the same age as Miriam and Pamela and a summer full of partying starts, but then at the grand party hold at the estate, a terrible accident happens..and the life of all the people involved never is the same again, and Miriam and Pamela don't speak to each other after that for decades..but Jo's work for Mimi makes that the two sisters, her greataunt and granny, are reunited decades later..

After having read Eve Chase's previous novel The Midnight Hour, I was very curious for her newest novel, would it be just as good?  To start off, this book was completely different in setup and tone, and it just did not live up my expectations. The story started off good, I liked how the beginning was set up and I really expected a thrilling mystery. That lasted till the story went from 2024 to 1969. Especially at the throwbacks into 1969 the story becomes a bit messy, the story was mostly about the interactions between the characters, and there was just not happening anything that kept me interested, the story is waiting for that one terrible thing to happen, but untill then the reader has to do with uninteresting dialogues between the characters, and the somewhat childish party behaviour of the adult children in the book. The terrible accident that happens at the party takes up only a small part in the story, and the rest of the story deals with the aftermath of it for the characters, which of course has a sad tone. The last part where the pieces of the puzzle of Mimi (Miriam) and Pamela's live come together again because of Jo and the action, was a bit more interesting and entertaining. But mostly, I didn't like this story as much as I liked The Midnight Hour, and I truly expected more of this book.

Litte Wonder by Sophie Chen Keller

 

Publisher: Ballantine Books

On Sale Date: June 16 2026

Pages: 352

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Song is the the mother of eleven year old River living in Harbin in Northeast China, and as a her husband died, she works at different jobs to make ends meet; she sells food at a food stand, cleans houses and is a delivery worker. Her son River is a true wonderchild; he could play his favorite song on the piano at just four years old. At ten year old, he could play a set of etudes by Chopin after he could play Liszt's Liebestraume two years earlier. Because of his exceptional talent, he is invited to study with a prestigious piano teacher in Beijing. But at the busy train station of Beijing, Song and River lose each other after Song loses grip of his little hand in the crowds that are in the station passing because of the Chinese new year celebrations.

They are unable to find eachother, as River doesn't have a cellphone. They both make multiple  unsuccesfull attempts to find each other back. They wont find each other back for the next seven years, and  we follow the time inbetween when they try to continue living without eachother, always in search of eachother, and how they pick up live in a city unknown to them with the new people they meet along the way. They face challenges, health issues, the COVID pandemic, study and work, and they always keep hope of finding each other in a huge city. Will they find each other back in the end?

Little Wonder is a very entertaining and also moving new novel. I found the writing style very gripping and it kept me interested to find out if Song and River would ever find each other back. I loved how the author portrayed both characters they felt where realistic and believable, and you just felt their desperation that they lost each other and their hope to find each other back. How the author portrayed China as a background in the story also was so realistic, I could just imagine Song in the busy streets of Beijing delivering food and driving to the city on her scooter, which was just very well done.  But the author also potrayed the poverty in rural cities in Harbin very realistic River truly has to build op a new life with the help of strangers and will Song even recognize him as he now is seven years older?

Little Wonder by Sophie Chen Keller is truly a beautiful and gripping new novel, I truly enjoyed reading it an recommend it!

Livonia Chow Mein by Abigail Savitch Lew

 

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

On Sale Date: April 21 2026

Pages: 368

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Livonia Chow Mein is a novel set in Brownsville, Brooklyn. The story starts in 1978, when two tenement buildings on Livonia Avenue burn to the ground, a fire in which one resident dies and many others are homeless. It is immediately clear someone set the buildings on fire, but who? The residents of the building are convinced it was the owner of the tenements, Mr. Wong, who wasn't a great landlord at all. The reader gets to learn who Mr. Wong was, and we get to know four generations of the Wong family. We meet Koon Lai, who came to New York from China and ran a Chinese restaurant on Livona Avenue for years. We meet his son Richard (which is the suspect of the fire), and his son Jason and his granddaugher Sadie Chin, who is a journalist and investigates the fire. We also meets Lina Rodriquez Armstrong who lives in the building, she is a community activist and she is the one who truly seem to know for sure Mr. Wong was behind the arson attack on the building, and when Sadie, during her investigation also meets Lina and the two clash on their different opinions of the fire. The residents of the tenement building are also in a fight with the city, they want control over the land with a community land trust, but the city wants to build expensive apartments on the land, which is not good for the close knit community on Livonia Avenue, so the story of this novel is also about gentrification. It is a novel set in different time periods and generations, and the slow burning mystery of the fire and its aftermath is told from different perspectives, as a reader you get to know all the sides of the story, as the chapters switch from character to character and also change in time setting. As a reader you also read about the family and community dynamics, and also the multigenerational traumas that live on Livonia Avenue. The characters are very realistic and truly have the feel and vibe of Brooklyn and I loved the complex dynamics and multiple layers of the story. Sometimes the characters collided and at other points clashed with each other. It was sometimes a bit confusing how the characters where related and in which time period a chapter was taking place in, but overall, the storyline was very good, especially considering this is a debut novel by this author, who also inspired the story on her biracial Chinese-Jewish background. I truly enjoyed reading it and I recommend reading this new novel!

Goodbye Chinatown by Kit Fan

 

Publisher: World Editions

On Sale Date: June 2 2026

Pages: 253

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Amber Fan is the daughter of a former Chinese restaurant owner. Her father owned a traditional Chinese restaurant which was not a huge succes. Amber has studied at Oxford and is now a professional chef, and has opened the first Chinese - Fusion restaurant, Luna, in the heart of London's Chinatown together with her best friend Jasmin. The startup of the restaurant is challenging, but becomes a succes during the story. But there is also a secret she is hiding. She unexpectedly got pregnant years ago and her young son, Bobby, is growing up with her parents, in the knowing that Amber is his sister and not knowing she is his biological mother. Her parents, who left Hong Kong after the Tianananmen protests in the 1980's are moving back from to Hong Kong, and take Bobby with them. Now Amber is on her own in London. Until a mysterious wealthy woman named Celeste steps into the restaurant, and hires it for an exclusive dinner for one. She wants to invest in Amber's restaurant and even gives her the chance to open a restaurant in Shanghai. We learn more about Amber and the Fan's family backgroung which takes us back to the 1980 Tiananmen Protests, the handover of Hongkong in 1997, the changing of London's Chinatown over the years and the changes of Hong Kong amidst the protests of the Umbrella movement, and long hidden secrets of a family in between two cultures.

Goodbye Chinatown is a beautiful written and very original novel. I really liked the storyline, as it was so different then any other novel. I reminded me a bit of the books by Julie Ma, whose books are also set around a British Born Chinese family in the UK. I also really liked the characters in this novel. Amber truly is an interesting main character who truly grows as a person during the story, and the moment she tells her son she is is mother was truly moving. What is also nice about this book is that the author gave the history of Hong Kong and particularly around the handover of Hong Kong and how the city changed after that a huge part in this book and how everything affecteded the characters in this story. The second part of the book is not from Amber, but from Bobby's point of view when he is older and living on his own, which was a nice change in the story, and I also liked how the story was wrapped up in the end. Overall, this is a very original novel that I recommend reading!

Hungered by Amanda Rizkalla

 

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co

On Sale Date: May 19 2026

Pages: 325

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Twelve year old Sofia, her mother Nina and her younger brother Rafa are living in their car, since her abusive father let his new  21 year old girlfriend, who is expecting a baby from him, live in their house, and she took over Sofia's room. Since then, she hasn't been able to go to school either or has seen her friends. Live is hard  and very challenging when you don't have a home or money. They go from parking lot to parking lot on the West Coast, not running but driving away while her mother also tries to work as a nurse. Sofia also tries to contact her mother's  father (abuelo) who they haven't seen in years, without her knowing, for help.Later on after months of living in the car, they get help from a local church, which Sofia and Rafa also gives a scholarship to go to school again, and where they later on can stay for a short while in shelter homes and later on, in a social rental of their own. At school, Sofia makes a new friend, but also has to deal with bullying as people know of her personal situation. Things between her mother and abuelo are getting slowly better, but Nina has trouble adjusting to all the housing's rules and regulations, and is so late on rent that they are being evicted, Sofia tries to rescue this peculiar situation, but will she succeed before they get evicted?

Hungered is a story many families without a home find themselves in, especially after a divorce. The story is told from Sofia's perspective, and through her eyes you can feel the desperation of the situation they find themselves in. This takes a toll on their whole family unit, as her mother sometimes has a hard time finding solutions for her children while living from their car. The characters of Sofia, Nina and Rafa are portrayed very realistic. The author also portrays the Egyptian-Mexican background of Sofia, as her mother is Mexican and her father (baba) is Egyptian.The storyline is raw and till the half of the book the storyline is progressing, after that, I found that the story became a bit messy and the storyline lacked some progress and depth. But maybe the messy-ness of the second part of the book displays well what a family in that situation goes through in real llife, which was very well portrayed by the author. I had expected a bit more of this novel, though I enjoyed reading it as the writing was just amazing!

The Young Will Remember by Eve J. Chung

 

Publisher: Berkley

On Sale Date: May 5 2026

Pages: 448

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

The story of The Young Will Remember is set in 1950, during the Korean War. Ellie Chang is an American-Chinese journalist, who is covering the war, and is abourd a military plane to cover the battles in the mountains when the plane is shot down. To make things worse, the plane crash is right in the middle of a field that is surrounded by the enemy army. Only Ellie survives the plane crash, and has no idea where she is or if she ever can go back home now to the US, where her parents live and who are in great worry of her wellbeing being in a country in the middle of a war. What also makes things difficult for her now is that she doesn't speak Korean. A women named Emma rescues her from the field and takes her to her current home, at the home of the family of pastor Pak. When Ellie's plane crashed, Emma was almost certain that Ellie was her lost daugther that is missing since the previous war. When the war gets worse, Ellie, Emma and the Pak family travel southwards where they have more chance for safety, and possibly more chance also to find Emma's lost daughter..but their travel is not without danger because of the hardships of the war.

This is a book about a more forgotten war in history, the war between North and South Korea. The storyline of this book is about two women who find themselves in the middle of this war. Their characters get a bond during the story. The story itself is tragic, and shows the harsh daily reality of living during the war, which for Ellie was double difficult because she found herself in a country she didn't speak the language of. The storyline was well crafted, allthough it felt quite repetitive at many parts. It was at many point all about the daily matters and the conversations between the characters, while the storyline itself didn't make much progress. What I would have liked was a bit more progress in the story, and in the ending there where also a few loose ends without a real closure to some things. But maybe that is also during a war, that you don't find closure. Still it wasn't a book to put away, as I truly wanted to find out if Emma  would find her daughter, and if Ellie woulld get the chance to travel back to the US again? Therefore the writing was just gripping enough.

The Forgotten Midwife by Laura Anthony

 

Publisher: Gallery Books

On Sale Date: May 13 2026

Pages: 360

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

The Forgotten Midwife takes place in Ireland in the 1950's and New Jersey in the present time.

New Jersey, 2023; Riley Carmichael is going to marry her fianceé Sam soon. She is looking forward to join his family, as she has only her grandmother Betty, who is suffering from dementia and lives in a nursing home, as family left. When she visits Betty in the home one day, Betty has a rare moment of being clear minded and Betty shows her a birth certificate of someone born in Ireland in the 1950's and Riley truly don't know who she was to Betty, but it seems the person on the certificate is immediate family to Riley. Wanting to know more and curious about her family line, Riley goes to Ireland with Sam to find out more and to find this person on the birth certificate for Betty.

Tipperary, Ireland, 1950's and 1960's; Margaret Lannigan lives a happy and normal life with her parents, younger sister and brothers and her boyfriend Joseph, who she is planning to marry soon. Everything changes though when her younger sister dies all of a sudden of dyphteria. The next day, her parents let her know, as is tradition in her Catholic family that as the oldest Lannigan daughter now, Margaret is the one to become a Sister, and is send to a convent the same day. She has to part from Joseph and her family against her will. She arrives in the convent and is introduced to Mother Superior and Sister Tee. She soon discovers though, altough Mother Superior are friendly, that the local priest Father Michael, who is good friends with her father, is the real boss of the convent and that there are cars with wealthy looking people arrive at the doors of the convent who later walk out happily with a baby in their arms. The convent is also running a laundry and a Mother and Baby home. Because Father Michael soon is thinking that Margaret is not making enough progress at the convent to become a nun, he sends her in for another job. She is told by him to become a midwife (without any training or schooling) at the Mother and Baby home for Fallen Girls to help with the delivery of babies. There is a strict and horrific regime at the home, run by the Matron, who wants as much babies delivered as soon as possible to make more mony by stealing and selling them to wealthy American couples. Father Michael and Sister Tee, who is kind and becomes a friend of Margaret, and Margaret becomes a friend of the girls living in the home, especially with Rosie and Delia.The girls living there live under horrific and neglectfull circumstances with severe punishments for nothing, and a few girls don't survive their deliveries. After many years in this hopeless and horrific home for Fallen Girls, and with the help of the caretaker of the home, Margaret finds a way to make girls escape from the home, but this is not without danger..

The Forgotten Midwife by Laura Anthony is one of the very best books of this year. The storyline is terrific, brilliant and fast paced, with a cast of wonderful (but also not so wonderful) characters. The story of Margaret at the convent and the house for Fallen Girls was beautiful, heartbreaking and moving. Recently I have read another book about this same topic in Ireland (The Fallen by Louise Brangan) and this was a good way to understand everything that happened at many homes around Ireland in these horrific circumstances. The way the author weaved the story of Margaret with the story of Riley in the present time was absolutely fantastic, and the ending of the story was also a perfect wrap up of both storylines.

Overall I found this book outstanding and fantastic, and I highly recommend it!

The Parisian Chapter by Janet Skeslien Charles

 

Publisher: Atria Books

On Sale Date: May 5 2026

Pages: 240

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Just as in The Paris Library, The Parisian Chapter is a new novel also set in the American Library of Paris.

The story starts in the year 1995 and we meet Lily Jacobsen, who was a neighbor and friend of Odile in America, the main character in The Paris Library. She is also an American from Montana living in Paris, in a small apartment with her best friend and roommate Marie Louise, which who she shares the rent. When Marie-Louise all of a sudden breaks the news to Lily that she is moving out, Lily has to find a way to survive in Paris on her own. She  finds a job as a program manager and event coordinator at the American Library in Paris, where Odile also worked in the past. Her job is to organize author events at the library, but she founds out soon enough that its not an easy task. We also meet the other staff and trustees of the American Library, all with their own background, life stories and particular job at the librariy and dealing with things that are at stake, which in this case is the uncertain future of the library due to financial struggles and shortcomings. Told in alternating chapters of all the different people working at the library.

The story of The Parisian Chapter is a good one, altough not as strong as in The Paris Library. This book felt more like stories of the 11 people who work in or are rich trustees of the American library in Paris, with Lily who somewhat connects them all. The strongest story is hers, living together with her best friend Marie-Louise and surviving as poor girls in baquettes and brie. When Marie-Louse leaves all of a sudden, Lily's life changes but their friendship is broken for good as Marie- Louise acts distant since then. But for Lily this also means a new Parisian Chapter as she gets a new job, new friends, finds romance and can connect a staff member of the library with her long lost friend Odile from the previous book. I found the writing style of the novel just as good as the Paris Library, welll written and easy to follow.

Overall a nice and enjoyable new novel by Janet Skeslien Charles set in the American Library in Paris!