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..

The Secret of the Brighton House by Cathy Hayward

 

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

On Sale Date: November 1, 2024

Pages: 300

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

The main character of the book, Joanne, always was told by her father and his wife (who she always considered as her mum), that her biological mother died at childbirth. Joanne and her husband are finally expecting a baby after experiencing several miscarriages in the past years. But now, in her forties he pregnancy seems to go well, and her father brings her a box of her old baby things that she can use. In the box is also her own baby journal. There are pictures of her and her birth mother, Grace, holding her weeks after her birth. Joanne is shocked, as she never seen these pictures, and apparently Grace didn't die at her birth, but as she discovers through research, years after. When she goes to her dad for more explanation, she is met with silence, and later on closed doors, and eventually estrangement from her dad Mike, who apparently is hiding many secrets. We travel back in time to the 1970, when Mike and Grace where expecting a baby. Grace was truly looking forward to become a mom, and sewed many sweet baby clothes for her coming baby, and had good times with her best friend Susie talking about both their upcoming motherhood. Back in that time, women where induced at the hospital to acommodate the schedule of the doctors, and their husbands where not welcome during the childbirth. Treated very badly by the hospital staff, and alone and very frightened when Joanne was born, she got bad psychological  and psychotical issues after her birth and eventually is locked up in a psychiatric hospital. And this was always kept a secret in the family.. and Joanne goes on a search to find out what happened to her mother and what was always kept away from her..

The Secret of the Brighton House is a moving and thrilling novel about motherhood and mental illness . The story alternates in chapters between Joanne's pov in the present time and Grace's in the 1970's. I really liked the storyline, it truly had depth and it switched from the two different time periods very well, and I just liked how the book ended. The characters are also very realistic and I loved how the author connected the characters of Joanne and Grace, altough they never truly seen each other later in life. The search of Joanne for answers about Grace was very moving, and I loved how she forgave her father in the end and their relationship was good again after alll that happened.

Overall, a beautiful novel that I recommend reading!

Detained by D.Esperanza and Gerardo Ivan Morales

 

Publisher: Atria/Primero Sueno Press

On Sale Date: May 13, 2025

Pages: 256

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Detained is the personal story of the author, D.Esperanza. D. was born in a little rural village in Honduras. His aunt and uncle take care of him, as his parents have crossed the border years ago and live in Nashville, USA.

But when he gets in an accident in the van with his uncle, his uncle dies all of a sudden, and later on also his beloved aunt. Now he has no one to take care of him and his cousin Miquelito anymore, and they have no other option to try to cross the border to the USA, at that moment, D. was only thirteen years old.

D. tells the story in diary entries adressed to his late aunt/Tia.

Together with two other cousins, hey depart on the dangerous journey from across Honduras, through Guatemala and Mexico, partly on the roof of a train to get as far as possible.  But when they reach the Mexican-American border, D and Miquelito and their cousins are caught and detained in a detention facility, where he is kept for five months in total, separated from Miquelito and his cousins, not knowing when he ever will get out or where he will stay the next night, as he is frequently moved from one detention center to the other, which repeats many times, and at one night he has to go through four different centers. He makes real friends though at the detention center he stays the longest time, and some of the volunteer mentors of the faciily truly give him hope, especially an advocate who fought on his behalf, and wh named Gerardo Iván Morales, who helped with the creation of this book. Will D. ever get out of the faciilty and be runited with his parents in Nashville?

Detained is a true-life story of the current immigration topic in the United States, and the current state of harsh detention facilities.  It is a raw and real story of Central-America,  border crossing, survival, hardship but also family and friendship. The story reminded me a bit of the books by author Alexandra Diaz, about Santiago who goes on a similar border crossing journey with his cousin Miquel from Guatemala to the USA. I found Detained a very moving , eye opening and most of all very raw and real memoir about a very current topic, about young refugees who truly don't have any other choice than to search for a better life. I truly enjoyed reading it and I recommend it.

Surviving Paris : A Memoir of Healing in the City of Light by Robin Allison Davis

 

Publisher: HarperCollins

On Sale Date: September 16 2025

Pages: 304

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Emmy Award winning journalist and television producer, Robin Allison Davis moved to Paris after her ten year television career, to follow her dream of a more international career. She finds a job and an apartment. And a lump in one of her breasts. When she gets it checked, a true cancer diagnosis nightmare starts. Her cancer is treated, but apparently it wasn't really cured, and has to get treated a second time, just as the Covid-19 pandemic also breaks out, and beside battling her cancer, surgeries and  chemotherapy treatments, she also has to self-isolate to prevent getting even more ill. And then there are the side effects of the chemotherapy, losing on of her breast an the reconstruction that goes wrong, terrible itch attacks, and the toxic-positivity comments of people around her  ('if you stay positive, you can win it from cancer..') and the French bureaucratic health insurance system she has to deal with.

But luckily she also finds a new friends community in Paris, with true friends that are beside her during the therapy, especially when her family from the USA can't visit because of the lockdowns.

Surviving Paris is a moving and inspiring memoir. I found it a very open and honest memoir that I think is the best memoir that came out this year. Robin writes it in a beautiful and captivating way, as a reader it is difficult to put this book away. As someone with a chronic kidney illness, I also recognized the toxic positivity people drop on you; ''Stay positive, then you win over your illness''  for example, is something I hear also frequently and I loved it that Robin mentioned this topic in this book. Robin describes everything in great detail, life as an American  in Paris, the bureacratic French system, the side effects of her treatments, the search for new apartments when her Parisian landlords decide to sell her apartment, everything. I loved reading her memoir, and you can only wish as a a reader that Robin will stay cancer-free forever. This is truly one of the very best memoirs of 2025, and I recommend reading it!

Bad Bad Girl by Gish Jen

 

Publisher: Knopf

On Sale Date: October 21. 2025

Pages: 352

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Loo-Shu-Hsin is born in 1925 in Shanghai in a wealthy family. In a time where women and girls where expected to be obedient and quiet, and when they don't, they are told they are bad bad girls. But Loo-Shu-Hsin is one of the girls that is lucky to get a good education, instead of becoming a mother and housewife. She is sent to a Catholic School for girls, where she is renamed in Agnes and also is baptized. Being a booklover, she is reading her Chinese-English dictionary every night with a flashlight, and studies so well that later departs for the United States to get her Ph.D. She leaves in 1947, just when the cultural revolution is about to start in China, her country she will never return to. Later on, when she lives in Manhattan, she starts dating Chao-Pei, who is also from Shanghai. Together, they set up their new life in the USA, while their families back in China update them on what is going on there during that time in history, and it is not good. They get a number one son, which was their wish as Chinese parents and a daughter, Gish. Agnes bitternes of her forced abandonment of her Ph.D program to become a mother resonates in bitterness and anger towards her children.

Gish always had troubled relationship with her mother, who was emotionally absent and verbally abusive to Gish, as she is always dissapointed in her, and disapproves of everything she does. When her mother passes away, Gen only has a few of her notebooks, the memories her mother told her about and a lot of traumatic guilt. 

It is difficult to tell where in this book the fiction stops and the memoir part starts. There are lot of blurred lines between them, and as a reader it is difficult to tell them apart, especially because the book is so fragmentaric and jumps from one point in history to the next point in the present time. it is not a book that stays long in your memory because of this. I like the writing style though, and the historic parts set in Shanghai of the mother, and I liked how the author wove her difficult relationship with her mother into a book that is part fiction, part memoir. Overal, I liked this book!

The French Honeymoon by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau

 

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark

On Sale Date: April 15 2025

Pages: 288

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Taylor Quinn is an American woman who at the start of the book, arrives at her hotel in Paris, alone at the honeymoon suite, without a suitcase. The only thing she has with her are the clothes she has on and stolen cash.

It appears for the reader that Taylor has arrived in Paris alone to spy on and stalk the newly wed couple Cassie and Olivier. What their relation to Taylor is stays unclear untill the middle of the story.

American Cassie and  French Olivier recently ''married' so Olivier could stay in the USA, they don't have a real relationship it seems, it is more a marriage to solve a legal problem. Taylor follows Cassie’s picture perfect Instagram posts, but when she hears an argument between the couple she realises things aren’t what they seem. All three of the characters have their own  agendas, and there are twists to be revealed, that will change all of their lives. And it seem like Taylor is not who she says she is and that her name is not really Taylor too..

The characters and the storyline of The French Honeymoon are anything but likeable. I expected a plot twisting thriller set in Paris, but there wasn't that much thrilling I found in this story. It was quite boring and the storyline fell flat on many points. What I also though was that the relationship between Taylor, Cassie and Olvier was quite weird, especially when we find out who Taylor really is, that really was not a good plot twist and also nothing that kept it interesting.

This was just a book I expexted more from, but it just didn't live up my expectations.

Strangers, a Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden

 

Publisher:  The Dial Press

On Sale Date: January 13, 2026

Pages: 256

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

In this moving and gripping memoir, author Belle Burden writes about how her happy marriage with her husband James fell apart all of a sudden, and the impact this had on her life.

Everything in Belle and James' life was perfect. They where 20 years together, they lived in New York City and also had a beachside home in Martha's Vineyard, where they spent the pandemic days, and they both had a very succesfull career at a law firm.

But then a phone call to her from a man unknown to her changed her life forever; the man announces to her that her husband James has an affair with his wife, a woman twenty years younger. After she confronts James with this, he admits and leaves her and the children for good. An icecold and very stressfull divorce process follows. Belle keeps wondering why James changed all of a sudden, he was always a loving and caring husband, it seems like he became a different person overnight that does not even want custody of their three children. She tries to navigate her new life and has to come to terms with the divorce, picking up the mental shards that James put her into, but society also gives her bad looks for, especially after she starts to write about it and gives an interview about it. She wonders if she did miss something along the road of her marriage, or did she do something wrong? James just walked away out of their marriage heartless, telling her that he was done. And a lot of questions remain unanswered for Belle.

Strangers is a very personal memoir about a topic many divorced women can relate too. It happens often that a man walks out of a marriage without a clear reason. The beautiful writing of the author puts the reader in her shoes after the cold divorce and the years after that. She also describes the gender mysogyny she experiences, mostly by men, who see James as the good one and her as the bad one, would the same happen if she had walked out? In this book you feel Belle's pain, worries, and confusion about what happened. This is a very honest personal and sometimes raw memoir, about a topic so many women have experienced. I truly liked how it was written and the pace of the writing, and how Belle tells her story. One of the memoirs to look out for in 2026!

The Fallen Women's Daughter by Michelle Cox

Publisher:  Woolton Press

On Sale Date: February 18 2024

Pages: 417

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Chicago, 1932; All of a sudden, Nora and her younger sister Patsy are brought by a woman unknown to them, to the Park Ridge School for Girls, a strict and horrible orphanage. Nora has no clue why they are brought there, has she and her sister been that bad that her mom wanted to get rid of them? The school's matron, Mrs Morris is strict and mean and locks up the free spirited Patsy often in the dark celler for days and makes hints at them that their mother was a fallen woman and a prostitute. There are visiting hours every other week, but their mother never shows up, not even after all of Nora's letter pleading for her to visit or to take them home again. Nora fears that she will never see her again.

Years earlier, their mother Gertie, who was from a poor rural coal miners town in Iowa. She runs away with Lorenzo, who works at the traveling carnaval that visit town, and seduces her in a bad way, and Gertie falls for it. An abusive marriage with the violent and alcoholic Lorenzo follows, until Lorenzo dies and Gertie lands in another abusive relationship. Gertie has always been told that her two daughters where send to a posh boarding school where they would get a good education and also extra activities like art classes and ballet. Which is not true. Gertie can not read and therefore never knew where Nora and Patsy where sent to, and never could read Nora's letters. She goes on a search though to find them years later and when she finds them Nora and Patsy finally hear why they where send away and find out the false stories they both where told. And now they have to find a way to make peace with each other, but that is not so easy as it seems, and we follow the three women for the next years of their life with ups and downs..

The Fallen Women's Daughter is a gripping, tragic and moving novel. The characters and the storyline are fantastic. Somehow it reminded me a bit of the movie Annie because of the strict orphanage-like school Nora and Patsy where sent to, witch a cruel headmisstress who punishes the girls for the smallest things.  The character of Nora was fabulous, she truly is desperate for her mom to get them back to home, but Gertie, I don't know what to think of her. She was not a responsible woman, and why did she not want to get her daughters back earlier in her life? It was like she did not miss them at all, which was strange. Later in life Nora and Patsy find it difficult to trust her again, which is logical, and their life after they leave the school and with their mother again is anything but easy.

But the novel itself is moving and entertaining, and full unexpected plot twists and turns. I really liked reading it and I recommend reading it!

The Other Woman by Tania Tay

 

Publisher: Headline Accent 

On Sale Date: October 29th 2024

Pages: 352

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Jade has always has lead a happy, normal life with her husband Sam and their two young children somewhere around London, altough Sam has a very busy corporate job and is almost never home.

Everything changes when Jade gets in touch with her old roommate from her time in university, Christina. Both are from Chinese and Chinese-Malaysian backgrounds and understand each other since university, but they have lost touch when Christina left university and their room all of a sudden. Christina has no where to live because of issues with her husband, and because Jade wants to work again, she offers Christina to stay at her house for the time being so she can also be a a babysitter when Jade is starting up her career again. In the same week, Jade discovers a suspicious text on his phone, which suggets he is seeing another women behind her back, and she is starting to question her relationship with Sam. Is he really at work during the evening as he says he is? During Christina's stay at her house, more mysterious things start to happen, is Christina really who she says she is? The situation at Jade's house truly falls apart, especially when Christina feeds Jade's son food he is allergic too, and Jade gets mysterious sleepy episodes for no reason, and after she discovers Christina in a compromising position with Sam, things start to get really scary and dangerous, especially when Christina picks up the children from school without Jade's knowledge, and dissappears with them without a trace..

The Other Woman is a thrilling pageturner full of suspence and plot twists, something I truly liked about this book. Further on, I thought the storyline was absouletely brilliant and very entertaining. The characters of Jade, Christina, Sam and the children where also very realistic and believable.You can just imagine them as your next door neighbours. There was also this side character of Mazza who blackmails Sam with text messages after an incident with him that happened at the office earlier. Jade suspects that she is the other woman Sam is seeing, but apparently there is something else going on. There is also this unraveling of Sam's history with Christina in their university days. Jade and Christina point of view alternates in almost every chapter, which Christina's pov is mostly a view into their past uni days together. The ending of the book was truly thrilling and full of danger, it was sad though what happened to Jade's children, one of them tells it from their pov in the last chapter, there where some loose ends too in the end, but overall I liked the ending.

Overall, this is a mystery novel that really was entertaining and full of thrilling plot twists, I really enjoyed reading it, and I certainly recommend reading it!

The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

 

Publisher: Berkley

On Sale Date: June 27th 2023

Pages: 389

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray is an historical fiction novel about the extraordinary friendship between first lady Eleanor Roosevelth and Civil Rights Activist Mary McLeod Bethune and about the important service of both women.

Eleanor was fascinated by the hard and important work of Mary, who was an educated and started schools in the time of horrible racial segregation. She did not stop when white supremist threaten her and want her to stop her work. She was not afraid to speak up and never gave up. SHe becomes close friends with Eleanor. When Franklin Delano Roosevelt becomes president, the two women start working more closely together, and Eleanor start her own agenda seperate from her husband, who had a secret love affair, and they live more seperate lives from then on. Eleanor becomes a strong and opiniated first lady who fights for civil and women's rights particularly. Together with Mary, they battle segregation, the lynching of black Americans and Mary becomes an advisor for president Roosevelt.

The First Ladies is a beatiful novel about two important historical women. Ofcourse I heard about Eleanor Roosevelt, but never about Mary Bethune before. This is a book about a specific time in American history, that even now is actual sadly. Both Eleanor and Mary where of great service of the United States and they broke barriers and opened doors that where closed before. The book may not have a very exciting plot or many twists and turns, this book must have it from it is important historical main characters and to learn about it as a reader, altough it was fiction based on true people and events.

I absolutely enjoyed this book and recommend reading it!

Voices From The Kitchen Personal Narratives from New York's Immigrant Restaurant Workers, edited by Marc Meyer

 

Publisher: Beacon Press

Expected On Sale Date: November 18 2025

Pages: 240

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Voices From The Kitchen is a moving book with personal stories from several immigrant workers in New York City's restaurants.

The people who tell their story in this book come from everywhere, but mostly from Central and South America; Mexico, Honduras, Venezuela, Bangladesh and the Dominican Republic to name a few. They all tell their own personal story that starts back in their homeland, and how they came to the USA and how they started working in the restaurants. Some started at the bottom of the ladder bussing tables or working at the dishwasher, and many of the narrators later owned their own restaurant or became a chef. Some worked 2 jobs  and more than 40 hours per week to provide for their families. 

This is a book that is more actual than ever, New York City's restaurant simply can't function without the hard work and dedication of immigrant workers. The stories in this book makes that you get deep respect for their work, which is nothing more than the American Dream. I truly enjoyed this gem of a book!

It's Different This Time by Joss Richard

 

Publisher: Dell, Penguin Random House

On Sale Date: September 30 2025

Pages: 432

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

June Wood is an LA based actress who just had the notice from her agent Theo that the hit TV show she stars in has been cancelled. At the same time, she gets a message from a legal sollicitor to call her back about the apartment she lived in at 74 Perry Street in NYC, before she moved to Los Angeles. When she meets with the solicitor, it seems like the owner and landlord of the brownstone at 74 Perry Street has passed away, and has left the brownstone to the two people who lived there the last, which is June and Adam Harper. Adam Harper who she shared the house with and who was her last lover, but which she has not seen for years. And now because of a legal loophole, she has to live together with Adam in the brownstone for a month, and if they can, it is theirs. Years ago, June and Adam didn't go their their seperate ways at good terms. There is still a lot of unsolved pain between them. How are they going to be able to live together for a month? While in New York, June tries to get her acting career back on track, which succeeds with her dream role of Eponine in Les Miserables on Broadway, while figuring out where she and Adam stands, are they now strangers for each other, or has their previous relationship a second chance now they share the same roof again?

It's Different This Time is a fast paced novel set in a beautiful New York City brownstone. I found both the storyline and the main and side characters very entertaining. If you love movies like You've Got Mail this is a book that you will certainly like. The characters of June and Adam where fun and also realistic. Their storyline switch between the past and present in the chapters. I also loved that June was an actress and that there where a lot of  realistic references to Broadway musicals, and that June eventually got the role of Eponine in Les Miserables, and in the past also played Mimi in Rent. The relationship between June and Adam that ended when they both left the brownstone years ago gets a second startover when they move in again and that was very cute. Overall, I enjoyed reading this fun novel!