The Bookshop Woman by Nanako Hanada

 

Publisher: Tiny Reparations Books

On Sale Date: September 15 2026

Pages: 224

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

In The Bookshop Woman Nanako Hanada manages the Village Vanguard, a well known and one of a kind bookstore in Tokyo. Her marriage has just broken, and she is in the middle of splitting her former life with her ex-husband. As she has no new apartment for herself, she spends the nights in the capsule  hotels and internet cafes of Tokyo. She feels very alone, until she stumbles on the Perfect Strangers website. It is a website where people meet for thirty minutes for different purposes; networking,  to share ideas, to make friends, or to find romance. Nanako makes a profile on Perfect Strangers  and writes in her profile that she wants to connect with people to, as she is a bookseller, to recommend them the book that changes their life. During the year that follows, she meets hundreds of people through Perfect Strangers in real life, all recommending them a specific book that will change their life. She truly loves connecting to the variety of people she meets, who sometimes become her friends, and that she can connect with just anyone in the city of Tokyo, which because of this doesn't feel so anonymous to her anymore and she feels less alone in the bustling city, and finds out that because of her transforming lives of other, she also transformed the life of herself.

The Bookshop Woman is a fun, lighthearted real-life novel set in the busy city of Tokyo, which the author truly did a great job to portray in the novel. It is a beautiful story of connecting with other through the love of books and the self-discovery of the main character. It is a very entertaining to read all the different people she met on the website, it mostly went well and some became friends, and there where ofcourse some creeps there too who wanted to hookup with her. Nanako is a very likeable character, altough the characters in this book where sometimes all a bit one-dimansional. The people she met where all very shortly described, which felt bit volatile  and short-lived at some points. But besides that, I enjoyed reading this entertaning autobiographic novel!

The Fish and Chip Shop Detectives and the Campervan Murder by Jenny Kane

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

On Sale Date:  June 11, 2026

Pages: 368

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

In the first and previous book in this new series, we met Maggie Tyson, who started working at the fish and chip shop in the small village of Mousehole in Cornwall, owned by Mr. Robbins. Together with her coworker Ryan Stepney, she investigated the murder of a woman who Ryan saw as the last person when he was in the pub, which led to their private investigation agency which they do beside their work in the fish and chip shop. 

In this book, Mr. Robbins, who was always to be found in his small office above the chip shop, is nowhere to be found, and is later found dead in his ransacked campervan. The campervan he moved to when his family started getting threats from one of a former bussiness contact of him, and where he tried to keep his family safe from. Later on, Mrs. Pritchard, the mother of Mr. Robbins driver Darren is also found dead in her house. Somehow Maggie knows this is no coincidence and together with Ryan, they go on a search to find out what his behind the two murders. And they stumble upon little pieces of the background of Mr. Robbins, and it is upon them to put them all together and also make sure the shop keeps going on without the boss Mr. Robbins.

I really liked the first book in this series, and this new book in it just truly lived up my expectations! Again this is a thrilling and page turning detective novel, with a great and lighthearted storyline and an even fantastic cast of characters. The detective part was made up just perfect. As a reader, you totally can't predict who was behind the murders and it just keeps you guessing and wanting to find out who it was. The reveal of it was just as it should be, and I truly didn't expect the outcome, but it was quite a good plot twist. The characters where all very realistic, down to earth and believable. You can just imagine them in the small village in the fish and chip shop in a small town like there are so many of in the UK. I liked the connections between the characters, and how they bonded to save the shop and how it all worked out in the end for them. 
This new book in this already great series is one you don't want to miss!

Kitten by Stacey Yu

 

Publisher: Random House

On Sale Date:  August 4 2026

Pages: 304

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Katie is a young woman  who just finished college and lives with her boyfriend James in New York. Katie is not on speaking terms anymore with her mother. Before she moved into James' apartment, she was roommates with Lou, who still lives in the shared apartment and is messaging Katie many times that she is moving out and that Katie ows her lots of money.

James, who is from an affluent background, takes Katie with him on a vacation to the seaside house that is owned by his family. James also takes his beloved cat Silver with him, and Katie truly starts to love the cat. Silver doesn't know or care of all the problems in Katie's live; that she is struggling to get a job, has no apartment anymore soon, has issues with her mother, doesn't know how to behave at dinner parties or with the wealthy family of James. Silver doesn't have all the difficult grown up responsibilities Katie has, and she wishes she had the easy cat life of Silver. During the vacations, she meets James' family and friends and she bonds more and more with Silver, who loves swimming in the sea. But Katie seems to have serious issues with taking responsibility in her life, also with taking care of Silver. And one day when James is away, this takes a serious and tragic turn..

Kitten is a book about a young woman who has trouble with taking responsibilities and who also doesn't make a growth process in this story. I truly found her actions and life choices a bit strange, and I sometimes could not get any grip on who she was. Her boyfriend James really had to put up with her many times, and it was because of his patience with her the relationship stayed good. But in the end, really..what happens to Silver was truly heartbreaking. I wondered why Katie started swimming in the sea with him earlier in the book, which is truly odd to do with a little cat. That it went so wrong in the end with this swimming wasn't that big of surprise to me, but it was truly sad for James and the kitten itself. 

Overall, Kitten is a somewhat strange story about a young woman who doesn't want to be and never acts like a grown up, and doesn't change much in the book and her weird obsession for the cat of her boyfriend. It is an okay in-between read but nothing more then that.

Chinatown Vancouver, An Illustrated History by Donna Seto

 

Publisher: Ambrosia

On Sale Date:  May 1 2025

Pages: 292

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Vancouver's Chinatown is lesser known than for example, the Chinatowns in New York and San Francisco. But it has a long and interesting history that is finally written down with the most beautiful illustrations in the book Chinatown Vancouver, and Illustrated History by Donna Seto. The book describes how the Chinese people landed in Canada and the many contributions they made to the Canadian community and society and the many hardships the Chinese had to endure. The book is buildup of seventy of the most beautiful illustration by Donna Seto of many significant buildings in Vancouver's Chinatown, and she describes the history of every particular building from the past till now. Stores, social organisations, restaurants, and also writes about the hardships Chinatowns are facing now, especially after the pandemic, which saw many iconic stores that where there for decades, suddenly close, like Ming Wo Cookware.

It is just a fabulous book, a book that is just one of a kind and very original. The illiustrations are just perfect and the setup of the whole book is magnificent! I also learned a lot about a Chinatown I didn't know much about. I truly recommend reading it!

Your Fellow Americans by Peter Santenello

 

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

On Sale Date:  August 4 2026

Pages: 336

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Peter Santenello is well known for his youtube channel, where he shows his travel crisscross through the whole USA. Some parts of these travels are now bundled in a book. In this book, he writes about his time spend among the Amish in Florida, he is in the streets of East LA where he learns more about the Chicano community, he is in former mine towns in the Appalachia, and is a guest on a houseboat in the Louisiana Bayou to name a few parts of the book.

What we see in his video's, we also found here in this book; he is invited in local homes by total strangers, shares dinners with new friends. He shows the many many different faces and cultures of America from north to south and from east to west and everything in between.

This book is the perfect addition to his channel, and it is just as entertaining as his youtube video's. Peter has a very entertaining and interesting way of telling what he experiences in places all over the USA. All of the chapters are even interesting and amazing to read. All of the stories have depth, and Peter doesn't shy back to show the good sides, but also the not so shiny sides of America, sides of poverty, decline of towns and cities, for examples in the former mine towns of the Appalachia, which makes his stories very real, which is what I love about his video's and also in this book.

If you love Peter's video's, you will love this book, but even if you never watch his video's this book is even as fantastic! Recommended!

You'll Love It Here by Natalie Sue

Publisher: William Morrow

On Sale Date:  August 11 2026

Pages: 320

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Mona Bucket is working at a marketing firm, and she was hoping to finally be promoted after years of working there. But instead she finds herself jobless. And to make matters worse, there is a fire in the building of her tiny apartment. The elderly landlady Irene, who Mona is on good terms with, has to stay in the hospital for a while after that, and asks Mona a life changing question; can Mona take her place as the superintendent of the building and take care of her dog too? Mona has to make sure the building receives the urgent care and maintenance it needs; Irene is planning to sell the building, and the building needs to be in shape for that. But ofcourse, that is easier said then done, especially because Mona is not experienced and the residents of the building don't know her yet. We meet the colorfull cast of residents of the building; Norm, the guy with the smelly apartment who is behind his game console all day, the shouting couple, the uniformed family, the woman who is suffering from an underwear thief in the laundry room in the basement, and there is her new best friend named Sami, the man who is running the diner in the street, who helps her with everything, gives her advice, has endless cups of coffee and good food, and becomes even more then a friend to her.. Over time, when Mona runs into unexpected things in the building and becomes closer to the people living in it with ups and downs,, she finds the real meaning of community, and she finds the idea of the building being sold and the residents, each with their own story, displaced, more and more hard to process..

I truly think this is one of the most fun books coming out this year! The storyline of You'll Love It Here is just absolutely brilliant. The story has a lighthearted funny undertone, and it is a story in which you truly can't predict what is happening next, because this story is just so original. The characters of Mona Bucket and the colorfull cast of residents in the building and her new friend Sami; they where all just very believable, realistic, funny and I loved how they slowly started to form a community who hoped to stay in the soon to be sold building. I also loved how the story was wrapped up, I won't get into much spoilers here, but it was just the perfect ending for a just brilliant story!

This is one of the very best books coming out this year, and I highly recommend it!

The Half Life by Rachel Beanland

 

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

On Sale Date: July 14 2026

Pages: 480

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Eileen O' Malley is working in a department store in Charleston, where one day Paul Archer, a naval officer walks in and needs her help. Sparks fly over and they start dating. Later on, they marry and Paul is send over for his work to the small Italian island of La Maddalena in the Mediterranean sea, where Paul will work at a submarine tender, in the radiological controls department of the US naval base over there.

There she builds op her life with Paul, and also lands in the community of fellow Navy wives, who together try to make the island feel more like home and who do activities together and are a support network. Eileen has to learn the in and outs of the navy live though, as it comes with it's own set of specificic hierarchic rules, and she also has to start learning Italian. Being an American abroad comes also with difficulties, as not every Italian on the island is happy with the American navy being there. There are many protests from the right, and they want the navy gone, as there is worry that the nuclear activity from the navy is causing health dangers in the area and for the water. There are several children being born with deformities, and the community on the island is pointing to the navy as a cause.

And soon, when Paul is away for work often, and when he is home too, things are not going well for their marriage. Especially when she gets more knowing of what the US navy is doing on the island and when she meets Teo, a local journalist who is critically writing about this and where she gets an affair with. She has to choose to stay in her unhappy marriage with Paul, or a new life with Teo, and between going back to the USA or follow her heart and stay in Italy..

The Half Life is a book that takes you back to the 1970's. Eileen finds herself in a completely different world in Italy and in the Navy wife live. The storyline is nice and entertaining, but at some point the story dragged on too long, and at many points there where too explicit bed-and bathroom scenes that grew a bit annoying. Eileen is a character that tries to figure out live in Italy, but doesn't scare back to cheat on her husband wich was a bit strange sometimes, but Paul was also a strange character that didn't became interesting during the story. It was interesting though to also read about how the Italians thought about the presence of the US navy in their territory, and the effects it had on their lives and the environment, and Eileen is not getting the whole honest picture from Paul. I liked how the Italian characters where portrayed in the novel, and the contrast between them and the US navy wives she gets involved with was also interesting to read.

Overall I found this an okay novel, at some points it was too long, but further on it has an interesting storyline.

Fishbone Cinderella by Elizabeth Lim

Publisher: Del Rey,

On Sale Date: July 28 2026

Pages: 448

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

The book starts and we meet Helen and Marigold a mother and daughter, who are on a plane traveling from San Francisco to Hong Kong for a wedding.

Tunglam, Guangdong, China, during World War II:   Ha Yut Ying is just a little girl when Japanese soldiers invade her town, and her house. Her family has escaped to the mountains, and she was sent back to their home in a little village to get some medications for her sick brother. She hides in a closet for the soldiers, afraid they will shoot her, but when they open the closet as they hear a sound from it, they don't see Helen, as she has turned invisible for the first time in her life. She luckily can escape back to her family. After the war, she is send to the lavish home of her wealthy father and his second wife in Hong Kong. She is promised to go to a good school, but her stepmother slowly starts using her as a maid, and Yut Ying also has to work in the shoe factory of her aunt. Her father also has another daughter, Lily, and they become friends. She also meets a kind guy named Tommy, who is the grandson of the wealthy soymilk factory owner, who makes a picture of Yut Ying that becomes a poster for their brand.  But her stepmother turns more harsh and gruel, and Lily is sent away to marry a rich husband. And then her beloved Tommy marries someone else.. When Lily returns years later and turns ill and passes away, Yut Ying is devastated, as they planned to run away together, making herself invisible and leaving her shadow behind, Yut Ying runs away to start a new life for herself. First as a singer in a club, and when she marries Philip, they move to the United States and open a Chinese restaurant, and where they get three daughters, and open a bakery named ' Three Flowers''. But Yut Ying still is suffering from becoming invisble in difficult situations, which is more and more a curse, and it becomes more difficult when her daughter Marigold is more and more interested in her past, and that leads to a thrilling ending of the story of Fishbone Cinderella, when Yut Ying, now named Helen, is in Hong Kong for the wedding of her other daugher, and travels to her childhood home to find back her shadow which she left behind in Lily's room..

I think Fishbone Cinderella is by far one of the very best books coming out this year. I totally didn't know what to expect, but it truly blew me away. This book is just in one word, fantastic! The story travels back and forth in time, from Helen and Marigold on the plane from San Francisco to Hong Kong in the more present time, to Yut Ying's past in the 1940's, and to the 1950's, 60's and 70's when the family of Helen has moved to the USA, where we follow their life with ups and downs there. The storyline is just terrific, everything is worked out so well by the author, and the main and side characters where all fabulous as well. I also loved the small part of magical realism in it with Helen being able to make herself invisible in dangerous situations. It is a Cinderella story in some way, but set in a totally different setting and with other twists and turns. The stepmother is truly a ''Tai-Tai'' in this novel and men, she turned from nice to true evil, especially in the end, which was an ending I truly didn't expect, but it was an ending with truly fits this book. 

Overall, this is truly a great new novel, set in both the past and present in China  Hong Kong and the United States, a Cinderella story with a twist that I highly recommend reading!

With Friends Like You by Amy Chozick

Publisher: Dutton

On Sale Date: July 21 2026

Pages: 336

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Writer Emily lives with her partner Roman and her young son Holden in New York. She hasn't worked since her son was born, and during this time, she becomes obsessed with finding out whatever happened to her college roommate Daisy. Daisy quit college when her stepfather stopped paying for her tuiton, and the only thing Emily knows about her is that she became a dancer in a shady strip club and her life spiralled out of control after that with drugs. Emily searches for her in the dark corners of internet, and then all of a sudden, Daisy is there again when she is in the park with Holden. Then a bizarre new life starts for the two of them. They start a new mother's community group in the empty scyscraper apartment of Emily's rich friend Penelope, who has now clue what is going on there..yoga sessions, a childcare  and playgroup with the best of educational Montesorri toys and au pairs, vitamin IV sessions and matcha on tap, it all is there for the JuJu Bean community for new moms. 

But there is something shady about Daisy, who is hiding in the closed off apartment upstairs, and things take a turn for the worse when Emily opens the door of the apartment someday and there is Roman and Daisy together in bed.. Emily flees to her mother's home upstate. Where her mom tells her that back in college, Emily lived on her own. And then we found out who Daisy really is; She is Emily..

At first, I really didn't know what to think of this story. It was all sounding a bit bizarre, especially when Daisy reappeared all of a sudden. We follow Emily and Daisy in their closed off luxury world in the scyscraper they secretly, without Penelope's knowing, use. I really liked the storyline though and the somewhat strange characters of Emily and Daisy. We read about Emily's life with Roman and Holden in their New York apartment (and Roman's pet turtle) and follow the bizarre things going on in the new mom community, where some moms strangely dissappear or land in the hospital and shady things are going on in the apartment. But...then there was that huge plot twist  right at the last part of the book I truly did not see coming. It totally felt the author set you on the wrong foot and fooled you all the story long as Daisy didn't truly exist in person. But I mean this in good way, as this was truly a good surprise effect that I really like in a book.  

Overall, I truly enjoyed this very original, somewhat bizarre, but surprisingly good new novel!

 

The Devoted by Catherine Cho

 

Publisher: Washington Square Press

On Sale Date: July 14 2026

Pages: 256

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

The Devoted by Catherine Cho tells the story of a Korean family who has been living in Hong Kong for decades. Eunha and her brother Solomon where raised by their grandmother, and their father is a Dragon Head, in a notorious criminal Triad. At their grandmother's house, they lived a sheltered live in a small Hong Kong village, out of reach of the danger of the triads, together with a guy named Kai, who plays a red line in the story.

When she is an adult, Eunha is married to her husband Philip which she almost never sees. living the live of a wealthy ''tai tai''. Things take a dramatic turn in her life when her young song is kidnapped, supposedly by the triads, and she has to deal with the undeground world of Hong Kong again, and with Kai, who is now a Dragon Head.

She lives in the apartment with her husband and Winnie, his mother, but when they divorce, he and Winnie get the custody of their son. She starts working at a shady salon where the man that visit get company of the working there, or more. Her brother Solomon is murdered, and later her friend Jing, and its soon clear that Kai is involved in this, and also in the dissapearrance of her son. But she finds out too late, as she has married him..

The Devoted is a dark and mysterious novel set in the world of the rich people's world, and also the underworld of Hong Kong. The Korean heritage of the family plays an invisible part of the story, the family could just as well be Hong Kong Chinese. The story is told from Eunha's perspective, and sometimes changes in time periods, which is just jumping from one time period back and forth, which was sometimes a bit unclear for the reader. I liked the storyline, altough sometimes it was not told very well who was who in the story, this counts especially for the side characters in the story. I found the triad story, that is interwoven in her family structure, and the family loyalty that plays a part in this, entertaining to read. The story is full of plot twist and tension, crime solving and just Eunha navigating her life in between of this all.

I truly enjoyed reading this novel, if you love books set in Hong Kong with a gripping story too, this is the book for you!