Harmless by Miranda Shulman

 

Publisher: Dutton

On Sale Date: April 14 2026

Pages: 288

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Bea is a woman that is grieving los of her twin sister Audrey two years ago. At her memorial, which was delayed because of the pandemic, she runs into Audrey's childhood friends Tatum and Layla. They start talking again after many years, and somewhere in this Bea talks about the dream Bea and Audrey always had, to open a dog kennel or rescue. The three of them come up with the idea to do this together in their Park Slope neighborhood in Brooklyn. A lot of discussion about this kennel follows, and even more looking backs by Bea how things could run so out of hand with Audrey's heroin addiction that it led to her death. In alternating chapters the reader gets to know the three characters of Bea, Tatum and Layla better and a look into their lives, there is a lot of making plans for the kennel and a lot of talking about it, but this plan never comes to an actual kennel in this book, which was quite dissapoointing, the book was more a throwback look by Bea on Audrey's live and how she coped with it after, and also about the characters of Layla and Tatum who never became interesting characters at all. There was a lot of unneccesary talking and drama that really was much ado about nothing. I really was wondering what the point of this somewhat chaotic story was as they never opened the dog kennel/rescue at all, if they actually opened it it would have been a more interesting story and characters, but unfortunately for this book, it was missing  both an interesting storyline and characters.

Extra Sauce: The Good, the Bad, and the Onions Zahra Tangorra

 

Publisher: The Dial Press

On Sale Date: April 14 2026

Pages: 320

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

For author Zahra Tangorra Extra sauce is for sopping, dunking, and licking off your plate. Licking off your fingers. It is a tiny demand for freedom and hedonism. Life has told you this is the amount of joy you get, and you That is simply not enough.

The book starts with Zahra telling about her near-death experience; the tour bus she and her friends where traveling in fell of a cliff, and luckily everyone came out alive, but Zahra was severely injured and this also was a turnaround point in her life and she started to ask herself the questions; Who am I? What do I love? She writes about her childhood on Long Island. She goes back to the flavors of food of her youth, sttuffed shells and giant meatballs at J&J’s, the Italian red sauce joint on Long Island, her mother’s chocolate mousse pie and her father’s sweet and savory pea soup. Her father who passed away, and where she also writes a lot about in this memoir. How she opened her restaurant Brucie in New York City at 26 years old, but had to close it on the heights of it's popularity.

The topics Zahra writes about in this memoir are a large variety, sometimes so much that it becomes a bit chaotic and makes the memoir jumps from one point to another all of a sudden. She writes about her childhood and her sometimes dysfunctional family. The memoir is written like she is telling it you personally, and also includes a variety of recipes. I found some parts more interesting then other parts, as she sometimes seems to want to tell so much in this book that she only pinpoints a certain subject and then already is going to the next. 

Overall I found this an okay novel, not the very best or my favorite out there, but a nice in-between read.

Honey in the Wound by Jiyoung Han

 

Publisher: Simon  & Schuster

On Sale Date: April 7 2026

Pages: 384

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Honey In The Wound by Jiyoung Han is a story that spans multiple generations, all set in different time periods in Korea and Japan.  The story starts in 1902 with the  the family of Geum-Jin that lives a quiet and peaceful life in the deep forest. One day, his young daugther dissappears. Her clothes are found alongside tiger footprints. When Japanese soldiers invade the forest, the family is brutally attacked and the parents killed. Their other daughter, Young Ja flees the village. She is found by a family in a further village who takes her in their home. But when the husband of the family rapes Young-Ja is send away. She is brought by a man to a teahouse where she has to work hard in the kitchen with other women in the same fate, under the watchfull eye of the abusive misstress of the house. Everything changes when the Japanese soldiers burn down the teahouse, and Young-Ja is send to work with other women as a comfort woman for Japanese soldiers. A horrific time starts for her, and she barely survives the horrific abuse of the Japanese soldiers.

Later on in life, now an elderly lady, Young-Ja lives alone in Seoul. Her son lives in Japan with her granddaugher Rinako. Rinako never knew of her Korean grandmother, let alone being Korean as her father, who adopted a new Japanese name, that she is Korean, When she is alone at home and receives a call from Korea telling her that Young-Ja made a bad fall and is in hospital, Rinako wants to meet her. Together with her father, they travel to Korea, and there they learn about Young-Ja's tragic past..

Honey In The Wound by Jiyoung Han is a beautiful but also moving and heartbreaking story. This is a book that truly is impressive too. The story is spanned over many decades in different time periods that are woven together perfectly by the author. The storyline is written just so beautiful, but the story of Young-Ja and her family and what she has to endure in life is truly heartbreaking. Even more heartbreaking knowing that in real life, many women had to endure what Young-Ya had to endure, the gruel and horrific fate of many comfort women during World War II and in other wars as well who never received compensation or apologies, and had to live with trauma for the rest of their lives.  All the characters in this book where very realistic and interesting. It truly kept me interested as a reader till the last page.

There is also a small part of magical realism in this book. When one of the young daugthers of Geum-Jin dissappears in the first book, she returns as a tiger to protect the family for the Japanese soldiers. Young-Ja has a talent for putting emotions in her teas and food and Rinako can see truths about people around her in her dreams. The magical realism was doses perfectly in this book and never was too much, it just added something very special and original to the story.

Overall, as I already said, this is a beautiful and impressive, but also heartbreaking and tragic story, with a fantastic strong storyline and characters that I highly recommend reading.

Ship of Dreams by Donna Jones Alward

 

Publisher: Harper360

On Sale Date: March 31 2026

Pages: 384

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

1912; Hannah and Louisa are two young women and best friends who just boarded the biggest ship of that time period; the Titanic. Hannah is hoping her troubled marriage with her husband Charles, which got in trouble after her Charles was untrue to her, and after she got a miscarriage, will heal again. She hopefully can tell him she is expecting a baby again.

Louisa is a free spirited single women who is all into women's (voting) rights and is escaping her arranged marriage in England. On the Titanic, she meets the rich and handsome bachelor Reid and a romance starts between them. She meets the richest first class passengers like Margareth Brown. Things take a darker turn though when rumour spreads that expensive jewels from the first class passengers are missing. It seems someone opens the clasps of expensive necklaces and bracelets. Later on we learn this was the work of Louisa, who has no plan of what she will do when they arrive in New York, as she now escaped her marriage back in England that her father planned for her.

But all of a sudden everything falls apart when the Titanic hits the iceberg. On the deck of the ship, Hannah has to say farewell to Charles and Louisa to Reid, and both women do not know if the other survived until later on when they are reunited on the Carpathia. And they make plans for what to do after they arrive in New York..

I really liked the storyline of Ship of Dreams. During the progress of the story I started to like it more and more. The storyline is just fabulous, entertaining, and the end was without any loose ends. The characters are just as good as the storyline. You can totally picture Hanna and Louisa and the other characters on the Titanic in that specific time period. The part before the Titanic hits the iceberg is very movie like romantic and dramatic. I really liked all the first class things that where mentioned, the famous first class passengers that they've met and the storyline of the stolen jewels that popped up in the story all of a sudden. The part after that was, which was to be expected, very dramatic. As an expecting mother Hannah had to say farewell to her husband and Louisa to her love interest. Their time on the Carpathia was very moving, and the part after that too.

Overall, a very entertaining and captivating novel with interesting main and side characters that is a joy to read, recommended!

American Han by Lisa Lee

 

Publisher: Algonquin Books

On Sale Date: March 31 2026

Pages: 288

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Jane Kim and her brother Kevin grew up in the 80's in the San Francisco area. They where two children who worked hard to make their demanding Korean parents proud. They where both gifted and excelled in tennis and other activities. Later on, Jane went to law school and Kevin almost became a professional tennis player, but then became a policeman. Jane was supposed to become successful after law school, which in her mom's expectations also includes owning a home, have a succesfull husband and children. But Jane has stopped going to law school and it is not very clear what she is doing in life in the story. Her mom is still a demanding woman, and her absent father, who had many businesses in the past, is going from one business to another and has become a truck driver. Ther family is unraveled and the futures of Jane and Kevin too, especially when Kevin is involved in a violent incident in his function as a policeman and goes missing.

American Han is a beatifully written novel about a Korean family in between cultures. Jane is a strong main character, and the characters of her mother and brother and father too. The parents had certain high expectations for Jane and Kevin, but find out that real life goes different then expected sometimes. Jane's mother is still pushing her daughter to the perfect life she has in mind for her. It is a bit unclear though what Jane does for a living now she stopped going to law school, that is something that I missed in this story or was just so small in the storyline that you look it over quickly as a reader. The story is switching in time periods, from the past when Jane and Kevin where little and the author connects it to the present time. Overall I found this a nice and entertaining read.

Light and Thread by Han Kang

 

Publisher: Random House

On Sale Date: March 24, 2026

Pages: 176

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

This short book by author Han Kang is a mix of poems, essays, reflections. garden observations and diaries of the author.

A large part of the book, more than half of it, is all about her observations of her garden. There are several mirrors she moves througout the day to cultivate her garden at full potential. She observes and writes about the plants and trees and the insects and other things she sees in her garden.

There are several other topics that she writes about in the short first half, but it is all so short and only pinpoints on everything so fragmentary that it all becomes somewhat of a mish mash of different topics that don't have a connection with each other, I personally could not find the connection between the first half and the other half that feels mostly like her own personal garden diary. The writing style of the author is nice and easy to follow, but if it had been a little longer, and less of a personal garden diary that is most of the book, this could have been a far more interesting read. This is probably a good read if you are a fan or at least more familiar with Han Kan's eclectic type of books, but it also might be not everyone's cup of tea. I personally expected more of it.

The Plans I Have For You by Lai Sanders

 

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

On Sale Date: March 17, 2026

Pages: 352

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Shelley Hu's life is over; after an incident on the subway,  a meltdown that went viral, she lost her job at a Manhattan law firm and her place at Columbia Law. Now she is working behind the front desk of a motel in Kissimmee, Florida, the same job she had in high school.

Her life changes when one night shift, Sophia  Moon walks into the hotel to check in with her husband and young son. Sophia knows what happened to Shelley, and shows her understanding, as she has her own similar public shaming incident. She was pretending ti be a student at Cornell University, untill she  found out that she wasn't and just sneaked in. Sophia, whose real name is Soyoung, had build a new life with her husband and son, under a new name, and encourages Shelley to do the same. Shelley soon moves in with her , takes on the new name of Erin, and together they set up a plan to take revenge on the people who wronged them. But Sophia has a dark side that Shelley don't know about..

The Plans I Have For You is a dark novel. The storyline is one it takes sometime to get into, and the same counts for the somewhat shady characters of Shelley and Sophia. It was a bit strange that Shelley just took off so soon with someone she didn't know, that was a bit unrealistic. The incident Shelley was involved in on the subway was one you look over quickly in this novel and it was a bit unclear to me what really happened there. Her character doesn't progress really in this novel, she only wants to take revenge of this coworker of her, and she gets in a love relationship with the married Sophia, and we read about her troubled relationship with her Chinese mother. Sophia is a character you truly never really get to know in this novel. We read her time in college, where she tries to sneak in with other to pretend she is studying there. We met her roommates who slowly uncover her and how she met her husband, and a dark secret of something that happened with a guy named Nathaniel.  The storyline is well written, but the characters don't make a real progress and the reason why they want to take revenge on others for their own mistakes is a bit unclear. But if you like a dark novel with dark characters, this is the book for you.

How To Hold Someone In Your Heart by Mizuki Tsujimura

 

Publisher: Scribner

On Sale Date: March 17, 2026

Pages: 224

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Ayumi is a man who has two jobs in his life, a real daily life one, and a supernatural one besides that. He is a toy designer for a big company in Tokyo by day, and besides that he is a go-between who arranges reunions between living people who want to see and talk to their deceased loved one ones last time. In this book, he arranges reunions between five living people and the lost who they want to meet again; a mourning mother who wants to meet her drowned child again, a movie star who wants to meet the father who abandoned him, an amateur historian who wants to meet a historic warlord from a different century, an elderly mother who wants to meet her daughter who died of cancer, and a few more with their own motives to find some kind of closure with a deceased person. But altough he has a good job and likes being a 'broker'' between the living and the dead, he is looking for some kind of peace in his own life.

This book is a sequel to Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon, but this sequel can easily be read as a standalone novel, as it makes no specific clues to the previous novel. The book reminded me a bit of the storylne of the books of the Chibineko Kitchen seriies by Yuta Takahashi, as that is also about a certain something connecting the living and the dead for one last special moment to find some closure. I liked the storyline and the main and side characters of Ayumi and the people he connects with. They where all little short stories on their own that overall connected to each other. Some stories where a bit more clear then others, some I found a bit messy. It was overall really moving though to read the narratives of the people who sought closure with their lost loved one, as some stories had quite some sad background, like the young mother who was always afraid of losing her little daughter of a drowning accident, which happened to her in real life then, and to had the change to see her daughter one last time. This book is magical realism, but not too much, and as every Japanese book in this genre it is also always very cute and lovely.

Overall this a cute and moving Japanese novel with a good storyline and characters.

Minbak by Ela Lee

 

Publisher: Penguin Random House UK

On Sale Date: March 5, 2026

Pages: 352

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Minbak is a story that takes place in South Korea in 1985, and London in 2008. 

Incheon, South Korea; 1985; Youngja is the mother of Hana, a young woman. Youngja runs a minbak, which is a Korean homestay. During that time, a lot of  American Christian missionaries are located in Korea, and Hana gets a short relationship with one of the  American missionary men, from which a son, Yohan, is born. The American  father leaves and Youngja brings the baby to a local orphanage without the knowledge of Hana. The adoption business is in full swing during that era, and they never see Yohan again. Yongja advices Hana to go away from Incheon to avoid rumours and a bad image.

London, 2008; Youngja is in a care home, and Hana and her daughter Ada are still mourning the loss of Hana's husband Tim, who passed away recently. They found out soon he had large financial depths, and Hana decides to make a minbak of her own home, and share a room in the house with Ada. Because of the depths, Youngja, who has alzheimer can't stay in the care home anymore and moves into the same room too. While Hana tries to survive with the depths and running the minbak, Ada is a true teenager with the struggles that come with that at school and at home.

During this time, secrets from the past surface, when Ada discovers that she once had a brother she never knew about. Not sure is if he was adopted or not, as orphanages sometimes muddled with the adoption and registration papers on purpose to sell more children for adoption abroad. Switching in time from the past to the present, the three women have to place this long buried secret of a grandchild, son and brother that they are not sure of if he is still alive or not. Complex mother-daughter relationships, generational trauma, forgiveness loss of memory and living in between cultures is what the three have to deal with.

Minbak is a serious toned book. Not a lighthearted book you can escape with as it has a more serious topic. But besides that, the storyline itself is strong and good. It takes some time to get into it as a reader but when you got the hand of it, this is a book that captivates you. The characters of Hana, Youngja and Ada where all three very realistic and believable. They all had to deal with a tragic past and intergenerational wounds that somehow needed to heal and find some closure in the end of the book. Did it had a good closure? Not really, I found the end quite messy and somewhat confusing, and it still had to many loose ends. But overal , I liked the story and the characters and the realistic picture it painted of serious problems in the adoption industry during that era in South Korea.

The Sisters of Book Row by Shelley Noble

 

Publisher: William Morrow

On Sale Date: March 3, 2026

Pages: 384

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher.

It's 1915, The Arcadia rare bookshop is the bookshop of the three sisters Applebaum, Celia, Olivia and Daphne, on Manhattan's book row, a street full of bookstores. The bookstores are suffering from the wrath of a certain Mr. Comstock, who suspects in a nazi-like way every bookstore and other kind of store to sell or trade in 'obscene lewd, or lascivious” publications. His laws are strict and his men raid shops often, which is the biggest fear of the sisters Applebaum and every other store in the street. Things get even more dangerous when Celia joins an undercover group, led by Margareth Stanger, who secretly print and distribute publications on women's health and health rights, and hide them within cookbooks and sewing patterns, and they have to work more secretly as the raids are all around them.. Her sisters don't know about her secret activities, as they are busy running the store. The three live in fear that the dreaded Anthony Comstock and his agents of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice will endanger their livelihood..

The Sisters of Book Row is a book about three sisters who run a bookstore amidst strict rules made up by men. They are living in a time when women's rights where next to nothing. Before reading this book, I never knew that what Comstock did in this fictional book really happened and the booksellers where truly courageous in silently rebbeling against the laws. But is is this enough to make this a good and entertaining read? Yes and no. Some parts in this book where good, some where less, and somehow this book gave me more of a feel of a dusty bookstore in old London then in New York. The three sisters have all their specific background and characters which where potrayed nicely. But the end was quite messy, and the end had quite some loose ends. The story had a nice promise, but the slow pace and messy storyline made it a less good novel then it could be.

Theater Kid by Jeffrey Seller

 

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

On Sale Date: May 6, 2025

Pages: 368

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher.

Jeffrey Seller is the producer of many successfull Broadway musicals; Rent, Avenue Q, In The Heights! and Hamilton. How he became a Broadway producer, he describes in this memoir. His memoir is not only about his succes on Broadway, but also about his youth. He grew up in the Oak Park neighborhood of Detroit, which was also know as Cardboard Village back in the 1960s/70s. Cardboard Village was characterized by cheaply constructed homes that felt like "cardboard" to him. His parents, who adopted him as a baby, had problems with each other, and where in and out of divorces that many times did not go trough over and over again. His mom was hardworking and took care of the family, while his father was irresponsibe and overspending and cared mostly about himself. He joins a youth theatre group which starts his love for theater, later on starts making musicals at summer theater camps, and later on moves to New York where he starts working at for Broadway theater producers Fran and Barry Weissler. On the day that he is fired there, he is called back by Jonathan Larson who wants him to produce his new musical  at the New York Theater Workshop; Rent. This is the start for Jeffrey as a Broadway producer, who also wins  several Tony awards for his musicals. But it also contains a deep tragedy because Jonathan Larson sad passing of a heart aneurism just after the first preview perfomance of Rent.

This is a book for everyone who loves Broadway musicals, and/or also now the backstory of musicals like Rent. Jeffrey Seller has a very vivid and fun way of writing, and seems to remind every detail of things that happened decades ago ( I truly wonder how he reminded all the specific conversations with people, for example). I found it interesting and entertaining to read Jeffrey's road from a troubled youth to an award winning Broadway producer. This road was full of bumps, and learning how to survive in New York on you own, and in the world of musical theater and it also was about Jeffrey finding out who he was. There is one explicit sauna scene though that did not add anything to the story and you might wonder if this scene was more in place in his personal diary then in this book or why an editor did not clean this up or added a littlebit of a warning that this might be not everyone's cup of tea. Besides that, this is a book not to miss for every musical theater lover.

The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahashi

Publisher: Penguin Books

On Sale Date: February 24, 2026

Pages: 224

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher.

In the previous book The Curious Kitten at the Chibineko Kitchen that came out last year , the reader is introduced to the magical restaurant The Chibineko Kitchen, where customers who have lost a loved one can have one last remembrance meal with them as long as the meal is still steaming. In this new installment in this series, the setup is completely identical as in the previous book, be it with different main and side characters. In the first chapter we are introduced to Nagi, a young woman who has an illness and is told by her doctors she has only five years left to live. She recently has a new boyfriends, but she is struggling with the facts of her illness and that he wants to marry her, altough her future is unsure. She is in need of advice from her mom  deceased mother, and during a magical remembrance meal at the Chibineko Kitchen, she gets the chance to talk with her mom for one last time. The other stories are about a man who lived inside his house for years, a theater director who hopes to revive his career after he experienced a tragic accident, and who wants to talk to his los son at the Chibineko Kitchen, and an elderly person who wants to talk to its partner who has passed away years ago. In the Chibineko Kitchen, which is run by chef Kai and  restaurant worker Kotoko, and the restaurants Calico cat they  Chibi, they all see their loved one for a last chat and meal. They all get new insights in life because of this meal, and are reminded what matters most in their life, which is their loved ones. 

Just as the previous book (read my review of it here) the book is a short but beautifully written novel, orginally from Japan. It is also fun that the character of Kotoko returns in this book, as an employee of the restaurant where she pays a visit to in the first novel. And just as the previous book, the short stories of all the different characters that change in every chapter (except for the restaurant staff and cat) where all very moving, entertaing, and the remembrance meals they enjoyed at the restaurant with their lost loved ones, where beatifully portrayed, And just as in the previous novel, the magic in this book was dosed just right, not too much, just the right amount to make the stories a bit of  fantasy, but also very believable and realistic on the other side, as all the characters are dealing with serious losses of family.

This is another fantastic new book in the Chibineko Kitchen series that is now available in English. Don't miss out on this brilliant new Japanese book!

Kin by Tayari Jones

 

Publisher: Knopf

On Sale Date: February 24 2026

Pages: 368

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

(this review contains spoilers)
Annie and Vernice are two girls and best friends who grew up together in the fictional town of Honeysuckle, Louisiana. Both girls have in common that they lost their mother and are raised by family.  The only thing Annie knows about her mother is that she was named Hattie Lee who abandoned her, she leaves town for Memphis with her boyfriend and his cousin to find work and to find her mother. Vernice is raised by her aunt, who gave her a true home after the death of her mother. When she is eighteen years she leaves home to go to Spelman college,  where she joins a sisterhood, and later on she marries a husband from an affluent family. Annie and Vernice keep writing letters to each other, even when they are far apartm they stay 'cradle friends''. Annie fiinds out that her mother died, to find out later on this is not true.  A story of friendship, sisterhood against the backdrop of the turbulent Jim Crow years in the deep south in the 1950's and 60's. 

Kin is a book about two main characters that are bonded by their shared past. It was very moving that they stayed friends, even when they are far apart, altough one of them sadly passes away in the end. I liked the storyline, it reminded me a bit of The Color Purple in some way. The storyline is strong, and so are the main and side characters. At some points the story slowed down a bit and stranded in too many unneccesary details that didn't bring the plot further and made it a bit if a slow read, but the rest of the strong storyline truly made up for it.The girl’s relationship.. mostly by letters stays close throughout their different situations and romances and difficulties, which was very moving and entertaining to read.

Alltogether I liked this book with an impressive cast of characters and storyline!

More Than Enough by Anna Quindlen

Publisher: Random House

On Sale Date: February 24 2026

Pages: 256

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Polly is a 43 year old woman who lives with her husband Mark in New York City. She is a teacher at a private high school for girls. With a few other women, she has formed a book club which meets frequently. One of the other members has given Polly a DNA test kit as a gift. When she gets the results she is stunned that she has a relative she has never heard of, but who has a match with her. She questions her family members if they knew of this family member, who she also will meet up with.

Besides that, she also has to deal with her elderly father's dementia, and with the fact that, due to infertilily, she will never has children of her own, and with the difficult relationship with her mother.

More Than Enough is a book about a main character who is dealing with a lot of things at the same time. The things and the people in her life move from one part to the other in the book, and all play their little part instead of a real overall storyline in the book. This is something that depends on the reader to like this or not. I found it sometimes hopping too much from one point to another and sometimes the story had many loose ends. I missed a real strong storyline in this book to be honest. From the half of the book on the story falls flat on too many subplots that makes it hard to stay interested as a reader.

This is a book I expected to like more than I actually did.

An American Scandal by Theresa Howles

 

Publisher: HQ

On Sale Date: January 29 2026

Pages: 367

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

The story starts in New York in 1895, where Madeline Crosby and her half-brother Hugh are going to the opera. Madeline is in the middle of being introduced to the old money social circles of New York, where she hopes to make a good impression. But the evening turns out sour as someone who knows her troubled past in calls her out on it. Madeline spent half of her childhood in the brother where her mother worked and died. A brothel run in a posh New York hotel.

Madeline and Hugh start to live at the summer house they inherited in Newport. From there on, they expand their connections in the 'new money'' social circles. Madeline and Hugh become acquinted to Edward Booth and his family, who don't shy back showing off their wealth, and whose father runs the New York hotels Madeline's mother had to work in, in their undercover brothel, and which continues to exploit women. Things take a turn when Edward falls in love with Madeline and asks for her hand, and makes that Madeline has to choose between following her head and her heart..

This is a book perfect for Jane Austen fans. It also reminded me a bit of the social classes in the movie Titanic, as it was set in the same era. The storyline of this book is nice, full of drama and gossip and love. It felt a bit thin and repeating at some points, and some parts didn't add much to the story. The characters where good, the main characters of Madeline, Hugh and Edward and his family where very believable. It all felt very Upstairs, Downstairs, too, with the old and the new money and all the conflicts caused by the social classes of that time period. 

Overall, I found this a nice book if you are in for some historical romantic fiction, it has the overal feeling of a British costume drama, while it is set in New York and Newport. A nice book to escape with, nothing more.

 

Everyday Movement by Gigi L. Leung

 

Publisher: Riverhead Books

On Sale Date: February 10 2026

Pages: 288

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

In Everyday Movement, the reader meets several Hong Kong residents that are more or less connected to each other, in the midst of the 2019 pro-democracy protests. We meet Ah Lei en Panda, who are college roommates. The night before, they where at the mall, which is also a shelter for the protesters, and they where caught in the midst of the protests and tear gassed.Later on they take part in the protests, but as the protest become more violent, they push back. Around them people struggle with the same, and also their ups and downs in their normal daily lives. Everyone of the characters has different roots with mainland China, and also different views and opinions on the protests and the resistance movement behind it. The author spotlights on the daily lives of different characters in this book that sometimes know and sometimes don't know each other, amidst the social changes in Hong Kong that also changes relationships between people and family members.

Everyday Movement is a book about a specific recent period in Hong Kong history. It helps in understanding this book if you know a bit more of the background of the 2019 protests in Hong Kong, protests that turned out violent between the protestors and the riot police. The characters in this book, which are quite a few, are in the midst of the protests. It was sometimes a bit confusing who was who in this story, what their backgrounds where, and how they where connected to each other or not, Some characters seemed to not be connected to any other person in the book, which made you wonder what the purpose of their role was, as sometimes these characters felt redundant. Overall the characters didn't have much depth, and their everyday lives amidst the protests where not very interesting as they where just too short and fragmentary. It was all too short and going from one character to the other in a somewhat messy story that also switches in time at some points. I found the topic of the events in Hong Kong interesting, but it would have been more interesting if there was a stronger storyline with less characters.

Overall, I wanted to like this book more then I actually did, and do not specifically recommend it.

Where The Wildflowers Grow by Terah Shelton Harris

 

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark

On Sale Date: February 17 2026

Pages: 469

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Leandra is a teen girl who has been in a prison for an unknown reason. She is the last of the Wildes family who is still alive. When the prison transport bus she is in gets of the road and ends in a rivine and in the water, she is also the only one to survive this crash. Her father learned her to survive, no matter what, so she gets herself out of the water, out of the ravine, and back on the road again. An escaped convict that is now searched for with a reward of hundreds of dollars. She now has to find a place to hide in rural Alabama where she is at, and while doing so, walks past a flower farm that is on an even more tucked away part. She first meets Walt, who hires her as a cleaner of the bungalows, where she is also allowed to stay in return. She also meets the three people who run the flower farm daily. Jackson, the boss, Luke and Tibbs. She takes on a new identity, Leigh, so no one suspects she is the escaped prisoner Leandra, as this is all in the news. At the flower farm, her new life starts, she becomes truly family with Jackson, Luke and Tibbs, as they don't ask questions of who she was before she came to the farm, as they all have their own problematic past. Leigh truly heals here as she finally feels accepted after a troubled past, a troubled past she often thinks about, especially because she misses her sister. Her sister that played a part in why Leandra was in jail, and this past sooner or later catches up with her, and her world seem to fall apart again..

To start it off directly; the storyline of Where The Wildflowers Grow is magificent. From the first page on, it is thrilling and moving, and as a reader you truly don't have a clue what is going to happen next, which is in the case of this book, truly brilliant. The reader learns just a little about Leandra's tragic past in the first part of the book. Not exactly why she was in prison, but during the story the author drops little parts of her past. Leigh's new life at the flower farm was just just what she needed coming to her at the right moment, with the right people. She truly healed because of her work at the flower farm and her friendship with her coworkers Jackson, Luke and Tibbs, who become her new family in the close-knit community, and Jackson and Leigh fall in love too. The ending was just perfect also, it really had a good plot twist, and everything fell into place in the end where it should be.

Overall, I truly loved this breathtaking novel, and I truly recommend it!

This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page

Publisher: Berkley

On Sale Date: February 3, 2026

Pages: 416

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Mathilda 'Tilly' Nightingale's husband Joe died five months ago. One day she get's a call from her local London bookstore, Book Lane, that there is a birthday gift from her husband waiting for her there. The birthday gift is a handwritten letter from Joe every month she gets a new book from, specially selected by Joe for her, to help her cope with this first year of grief without him

The bookshop is owned and managed by Alfie, who took the store over from his late father. A friendship starts between Alfie and Tilly. The monthly books truly open a new chapter in her life, and also make her travel, for example, to Paris and other places. But mostly it are monthly travels to Alfie's bookstore, as she is looking forward to the next book each month.

But just as something beautiful and romantic is blooming up between Tilly and Alfie, the bookshop is in danger of being closed for good. The bookshop is an important part of the local community, can they come up with a plan to save it?

This Book Made Me Think of You is a fun, lighthearted and very charming read. I loved the storyline set around an independent  and cozy bookstore (that also had a cute tabby cat living there..) . The characters of Tilly and Alfie where both so charming, I think they really where storybook perfect for each other, and I really liked how the bookstore and Alfie made Tilly step into a new chapter in her life. What is also a great and very original part in this book is that Tilly gets a new book every month from her late husband, so he is still in her life a little bit in a good way, I never have found something similar in any other story. When the store is in danger of closing, Alfie is heartbroken, but then, just as he was there for her, Tilly comes up with an idea to save it. This really was a perfect wrap up for an already very good novel. Overall, this book truly lived up my expectations this is a cute feel good book to escape with a cup of hot tea,  and I recommend it!

When News Breaks: A Memoir of Love and War by Carol Lin

 

Publisher: Third Rail Press

On Sale Date: December 9, 2025

Pages: 268

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

CNN news anchor Carol Lin was the first news anchor who broke the news on television that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center in New York City on 9/11, 2001. In this powerful memoir, she writes about her Chinese parents, her dad who sadly passed away, the relationship with her mother, how she became a news presenter first on local television and later on for CNN, and how she met her husband, Will.

For CNN, she travelled all over the world; she reported for CNN in Pakistan close to the border with Afghanistan in often dangerous situations and in Kosovo in the former Yugoslavia.

In her personal life, shortly after 9/11, her life changes in both good and bad ways. Her husband admits that he had a one-night stand with another woman, and later on, just shortly after their daughter is born, Will is diagnosed with a rare and untreatable form of cancer. After his passing, she tries to pick up life again and to raise her daughter alone and questions how her career fits into her new life after everything in it fell apart.

When News Breaks is a moving and very powerful and beautiful memoir. I immediately was drawn to this book because I remember Carol from watching CNN. Just as she was a fantastic news anchor then, Carol is also a fantastic and brilliant writer. She describes her upbringing by Chinese parents. Her mother didn't immediately like her husband, Will, and the sad passing of her beloved father.

She describes what it is like to be a female news anchor in a mostly white male-dominated and very competitive workplace, which is also doubly difficult because she is Asian-American, and many people confuse her for Connie Chung. She describes how she worked her way up from local news channels to become a news anchor at CNN, where she was the first to break the news of 9/11, just when she was about to interview author Amy Tan. I really liked how this book was written; Carol writes in a very direct and clear way, it was easy to follow although there are quite some serious things happening. It was especially heartbreaking for her to lose her husband and to pick up the pieces of her life after everything fell apart.  That part was truly moving, because we all know someone affected by cancer or loss. I also really liked how the book ended, as Carol had to make some tough choices on her career. 

Overall this is a memoir not to miss; I loved reading it, and I highly recommend it.

When We Were Brilliant by Lynn Cullen

 

Publisher: Berkley

On Sale Date: January 20 2026

Pages: 400

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

New York, 1952; Eve Arnold is a documentary photographer in her twenties who works for the Magnum Photography agency, which is a small world dominated by men, who often don't take her work that is different and original and has its own specific style, serious.

One night at an event where Eve is attending, she meets Norma Jean Baker in the powder room. Norma Jean Baker is a superstar as Marilyn Monroe. She created her character of Marilyn Monroe to be photographed and to be in the spotlight as much as possible, and she has a proposition for Eve; she wants her to be her personal photographer, as she has seen her work, which shows the true person in the pictures. And so their professional partnership and friendship starts, and Eve photographes Marilyn everywhere, and so she learns more about who Marilyn/Norma Jean Baker is, and follows her during her ups and downs in her turbulent life in the spotlight. Marilyn is more in the spotlight because of Eve's pictures, and Eve's is getting more well known because her work for Marilynn. The story is fiction, but is build on two women who really existed. Eve is married and has a young son, her marriage truly has to endure a lot of her abscence because her work for Marilyn. The book is a story of friendship, and the challenges women who had a proffessional career in the 1950's and 60's.

The story is well written, but as a reader I found the story and the character lacking depth. The characters of Eve and Marilyn stayed very one dimensional during the whole length of the story. I truly would like to see more depth in character for Marilyn, but she stayed the  blonde starlet and not more different then that, except for some traumatic childhood experiences she shared with Eve, she doesn't really grew as a person in this book. Eve has her own struggles as a woman aspiring a career as a professional photographer in a world of photographer agencies dominated by men, and at home with a  young child and husband who is developing board games but is anything but successfull, in that time it was not usual to be the breadwinner in a marriage and this leads to friction in her marriage, also because she is often not at home because of her work. Her character stays the same in the book, and besides of making it as a photographer with and because of Marilyn, her charachter doesn't make much progress. She photographs and attends events with many famous people together with Marilyn, which became very repetitive.

The overall idea of this story was nice, but the story and character lacked depth and progress, and I truly wanted to like this book more then I actually did..