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!

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!