Hungered by Amanda Rizkalla

 

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co

On Sale Date: May 19 2026

Pages: 325

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

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

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

The Young Will Remember by Eve J. Chung

 

Publisher: Berkley

On Sale Date: May 5 2026

Pages: 448

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

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

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

The Forgotten Midwife by Laura Anthony

 

Publisher: Gallery Books

On Sale Date: May 13 2026

Pages: 360

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

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

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

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

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

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

The Parisian Chapter by Janet Skeslien Charles

 

Publisher: Atria Books

On Sale Date: May 5 2026

Pages: 240

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

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

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

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

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

The Fallen by Louise Brangan

 

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

On Sale Date: May 5 2026

Pages: 368

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Many people nowadays have heard of the misconduct that went on for decades by the  Sisters of the Good Shepherd, mistreatment of vulnerable young girls and women who where locked up in the institutions that they ran, and that happened in many countries. This book tells about the Magdalene Laundries, runned by the same sisters in Ireland. In many villages they ran closed off asylums, Mother and Baby homes, industrial school and County Homes besides their laundries for ''fallen women''. Young women who where often abused at home and punished and send away by their families to be never heard of again, mostly forgotten and abandoned. and where the women where abused with endless crueling work under bad conditions and punishments by the Sisters. Nobody new the sisters run prisons for innocent women, who didn't have much luck in their lives.

In this book, the stories of several women who where locked up in the asylums of the Magdalene Laundries tell their stories. Their personal stories why they where sent away by their families to turn off shaming them because of abuse of someone in their family. (abusers who never got any punishment) . Because of a pregnancy out of wedlock in some cases, which then was a shame in the strict Catholic Ireland. The women where locked up in the asylum to be forgotten by their families and never to be spoken off again. These women had to forgot their own name and often where given a different name or just a numer, but in this book, their are named their own names by the author, who let them tell their personal stories; Eileen, Carmel and Brigid spent a huge part of their lives in the Magdalene Laundries, and the author tells their personal stories, and shines a light on one of the darkest secrets in Ireland's history.

If you have heard of this tragic history or not, the book is very informative and easy to follow, and as a reader you also learn a lot from it and the writing style is just perfect. The author did a great job in researching this sensitive topic that has long been hidden in secrecy and silence. The stories of the women who where kept at the laundries where heartbreaking. It is hard to imagine how the Sisters could be so cruel in treating these women and how they talked it right because of their faith. It truly was horrifying at some parts and it is sad that no one could speak out of this misconduct earlier and everything was covered under the blanket of the Catholic faith. We can only have deep sympathy and support for the victims. The author also did a great job explaining how the laundries and asylums and homes run by the Sisters where created and the overlap with the history of politics in Ireland which was also interesting to read, and how eventually the asylums, homes and laundries slowly ceased to excist and how the misconduct eventually reached the media because of the victims standing up and speaking out.

I found this a very eye-opening, interesting and perfectly written book that I recommend reading!

Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I’ve Cried About: A Memoir by Isabel Klee

 

Publisher: William Morrow

On Sale Date: April 28 2026

Pages: 283

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

New Jersey native Isabel Klee, who is now the social media star behind @SimonSits, always had the dream to move to New York City, and when she was 20 years old, she moved to Manhattan. Beside a true New York lover, she also loved dogs since she was little, and in New York her first job was being an assistant to a dog photographer. But there was more coming her way, a dream of helping dogs became reality for Isabel when she started to rehabilitating rescue dogs, who later got adopted, at her home. In this memoir, we meet all the dogs she fostered over the years. The dog that became her own dog is Simon. She writes about his hard life before he landed in her care and where he truly blossomed and found his forever home, and how he was a great brother to all the foster dogs. She writes about the health challenges of some of the foster dogs and the difficult moments when the new family of the foster dogs arrive at her door to pick up their new family member.

Beside fostering dogs, Isabel writes about her love life and her friendships. She writes about the heartbreak in her relationships and the relationship with Jacob that first goes out, but later leads to a marriage. This is a memoir about figuring out who you are, while changing the lives of many dogs in need.

This memoir is just a beautiful one. Isabel Klee writes in a beautiful, moving and also fun and entertaining way that keeps you interested as a reader during the whole memoir. I never heard of Isabel Klee before but wow, what an amazing good work does she do for dogs. She truly made the live of so many neglected dogs so much better and gave them their forever home in loving families which  was so inspiring and also moving to read. She gives so much love and gets so much love from the dogs in return. Her love and friendship live was also interesting to read and I loved how in the end everything fell into place for her, with the vibrant New York City that is the background and another huge part of this book. I truly enjoyed reading this  gem of a memoir and I recommend reading it!

Boring Asian Female by Canwen Xu

Publisher: Berkley

On Sale Date: April 28 2026

Pages: 336

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Elizabeth Zhang's is a Chinese-American student, originally from Dakota but studying at Columbia in New York City. Her ultimate dream is to be admitted to Harvard Law School. But after applying she gets a rejection letter which more or less tells her she is not outstanding enough, her dream is shattered. When she finds out that her classmate Laura Kim is accepted at Harvard, she truly wonders why. Is she just a boring Asian female and Laura isn't? Why was Laura accepted and why wasn't she? Apparently Laura has taken the spot that was Elizabeth's

Elizabeth tries to find out everything about Laura, to find out why she was accepted. She starts following her, to figure out what she does on a daily basis; what are her hobbies, where does she shops and what does she eat for lunch? But slowly her following of Laura turns into an obsession and even sabotaging  her online with online smearing and stealing Laura's identity online, and constantly comparing herself to Laura, which takes her mental health on a turn downwards. Slowly on, things run out of control which leads into a horrible confrontation with Laura, who is found dead in her dorm room shortly after. Was it her fault this happened? And if things are not complicated enough, Elizabeth also found out that she is expecting a baby unexpectedly..

Boring Asian Female by Canwen Xu is a novel that is anything but boring. The story truly grips you as a reader from the first page to the last and it is a storyline that is different then anything I have read in years, it is just very original and this also counts for the main character of Elizabeth. She starts of as a normal girl but slowly on, her character gets darker and darker in character. Her obsession with Laura and Harvard truly starts slowy and gets more and more bizarre and out of control, and she truly does some far fetched things to stalk and sabotage Laura. I found it a fast paced, entertaining rollercoaster of a novel about how far  an envious person can go to get what she wants . I truly enjoyed reading Boring Asian Female!

Liar's Dice by Juliet Faithfull

 

Publisher: Random House

On Sale Date: April 28 2026

Pages: 384

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Dolores and Mita grow up as identical twins in a family with a British father and Brazilian mother in Brazil in the 1970's. Mita and Dolores had their own secret language and danced together often, but everything changes for Dolores when Mita at seven years old starts to suffere from severe epileptic seizures. And all of a sudden, Mita is gone and send away to a care institution in London, without her parents telling this to Dolores, who has no clue where Mita has gone too. Shortly after that, the family moves from their small Brazillian town to Rio de Janeiro for her father's job where they lead a luxurious lifestyle, seem to forget that Mita ever existed and where Dolores will attend the British School. Her parent's don't have room for her grief and want Dolores to shut her mouth when she talks about Mita. At twelve years old, Dolores can't read or write, and she misses Mita terribly, and she can't find a way to know where she was sent to. She finds a new friend at school in Andrea, a girl from the favela's.Andrea introduces her to a complete different side of Rio unknown to Dolores, a Rio that is  shaped by danger, rebellion, and the realities of living under a dictatorship. During the following years, Dolores grows more determined to find out what happened to her sister Mita and thinks up ways to get to England to find out if Mita is still alive..

This is a rare and very original novel that is unlike every other novel so far, with the main character of Dolores being very realistic and which gains your sympathy as a reader. You could totally feel her frustration with her parents unwiling to tell her more about Mita's fate and just acting as if she was a burden that never existed afterwards just to not deal with it and move on with their luxury expat-like lifestyle where there is no room for misfits. I found the storyline interesting and entertaining, and with a very interesting backdrop of 1970's Brazil and the political climate that was also woven into the story. The story moves back and forth in time. Dolores'smission to find  out about the faith of her sister in England truly progressed during the story and it truly was moving how slowly on her parents started to understand Dolores's grief and I truly liked how this line in the story led to a travel to England. There is also a good cast of side characters in the story with Dolores's best friend Andrea and Sofia, and also somewhat questionable teachers at the British School. I really liked how the story ended as it didn't have any loose ends and Dolores could give her grief about Mita a place and move on.

Overall this is a nice and original new novel that I enjoyed reading!

Selfish by Kerry Docherty

 

Publisher: Harmony

On Sale Date: April 21 2026

Pages: 336

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Kerry Docherty is one of the co-founders, together with her husband Alex and his twin brother Mike of the Faherty fashion brand Alex was her college sweetheart and together with Mike they lived in New York City. The brand was always number one in Alex's and Mike and Kerry. Everything was done with the brand in mind, and the work was going on almost 24/7. Slowly on, she realized she was always putting herself at last in her life, and this become more a burden, also when she became a mother and almost didn't have time for herself. This memoir is about her journey to find the parts of herself that where buried under the high expectations of others, especially from Alex, who really acted horribly to her and expected her to serve him more and more. She learned to say no more often to the things in her life that where not serving her longer, and more yes to the things and aspirations she cared about. She also had an on and off side affair with a guy named Beau and the artistic and conciousness related activities she started to get active in.

Selfish is a very personal memoir with sometimes a bit too personal details. She reflects on what it really means for her personally to put yourself first in the different parts of your life, be it in marriage, in being a mother or in your career. 

A huge part in this book is about the struggles between her and her husband Alex, as she feels more like one of his staff members than his wife. Alex is someone who puts the business first and this clashes with Kerry's aspirations in life. I found Alex's behaviour really questionable at many points and I wondered why his behaviour didn't rais more red relationship flags for Kerry. Her relationship with this excentric Beau guy...I truly found it odd sometimes. I truly hoped with all the struggles Kerry went through, there was some kind of progress coming in this memoir, as she wanted to choose more for herself, that she stayed in two relationships that where not serving her, and there was no progress as it seemed. she kept talking about the changes she would liked in her life, and repeated this pattern during the book, without real changes. I truly hoped there was some kind of conclusion or that she truly chose for herself instead of the toxic relationships she found herself in. The ending also felt rushed and I trult wondered what the point of telling all of her struggles in this book as nothing changed in the end.

I think this is a type of book you will like or not, it has to be you cup of tea, I liked parts of it, but also a lot that I truly wondered why the author was not standing up for herself more, so my feelings about this memoir are mixed.

The Fish and Chip Shop Detectives by Jenny Kane

 

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

On Sale Date: April 2 2026

Pages: 368

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

When his relationship with his girlfriend Bea goes out, Ryan Stepney finds himself without a home and also without a job, when he escapes to the small Cornish town of Mousehole. Walking trough town, he gets a fish and chips dinner at the shop where Maggie has been working for years. They start talking when Maggie finds him sitting lonely across the shop, wondering if he is ok. He explains what happened to him and Maggie offers him a job at the fish and chips shop and also offers him to live at the bedsit above the store as it has been empty for years. Ryan accepts the offer. Later on, Maggie advises him to visit the local pub to meet some new people. He meets a couple named Toby and Tania there. They have a chat and he finds out that Toby and Tania have relationship issues. He goes home later. The next day a body is found in the harbour and the police finds out it is the body of Tania. Ryan is the last one who has seen her at the pub, and is seen as a suspect immediately in the investigation. Ryan truly is devastated that he is seen as a suspect as he had nothing to do with her tragic dead, and Maggie truly knows this too. Being a detective lover, besides working frying fish and chips, she starts investigating what happened to Tania together with Ryan, they have to prove Ryan is innocent, but their investigation is not without danger for them..and it seems that in the life of Tania and Toby, there where some fishy things going on..

The Fish and Chips Shop Detectives by Jenny Kane is truly an amazing and fantastic new cozy mystery novel. The storyline and characters are both wonderfull. The story is full of fun and suspence  set against a charming background of the small town of Mousehole in Cornwall where everybody knows everybody. The characters of Maggie and Ryan are unbelievably good and portrayed very well. The characters both had heart and depth, and they both felt very realistic. This also counts for the cast of side characters. I loved that the storyline kept many secrets untill the end and that there where no real hints about who commited the murder of Tania, I really had no clue untill the end. The author truly created a good unraveling of who did it and a nice and good wrap up of the story. Just like a good serving of yummy fish and chips, this book makes you crave for more books by this author! 

I truly enjoyed this fun and fast paced cozy mystery and I recommend reading it!

 

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

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.