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!

Book spotlight; The Gods of New York by Jonathan Mahler

 

The Gods of New York by Jonathan Mahler is a book that is an essential read for everyone who loves New York City. The book is set mostly in the 1980s, a turbulent time in New York history.

New York City entered 1986 as a city reborn, with record profits on Wall Street sending waves of money splashing across Manhattan and bringing a once-bankrupt, reeling city back to life.

But it also entered 1986 as a city divided. Nearly one-third of the city’s Black and Hispanic residents were living below the federal poverty line. Thousands of New Yorkers were sleeping in the streets—and in many cases addicted to drugs, dying of AIDS, or suffering from mental illness. The manufacturing jobs that had once sustained a thriving middle class had vanished. Long-simmering racial tensions threatened to boil over.

Over the next four years, a singular confluence of events—involving a cast of outsized, unforgettable characters—would widen those divisions into chasms. Ed Koch.. Al Sharpton. The Central Park Five. Spike Lee. Rudy Giuliani. Howard Beach. Tawana Brawley. The Preppy Murder. Jimmy Breslin. Do the Right Thing, Wall Street, crack, the AIDS epidemic, and, of course, ready to pour gasoline on every fire—the tabloids. In The Gods of New York, Jonathan Mahler tells the story of these convulsive, defining years. 

The Gods of New York is an exuberant, kaleidoscopic, and deeply immersive portrait of a city in transformation, one whose long-held identity was suddenly up for could it be both the great working-class city, lifting up immigrants from around the world and the money-soaked capital of global finance? Could it retain a civic culture—a common idea of what it meant to be a New Yorker—when the rich were building a city of their own and vast swaths of its citizens were losing faith in the very systems intended to protect them? New York City was one thing at the dawn of 1986; it would be something very different as 1989 came to a close. This book is the story of how that happened.

The Gods of New York by Jonathan Mahler came out this August by Penguin Random House and is a book not to miss!

Before Dorothy by Hazel Gaynor

Publisher: Berkley

On Sale Date: June 17, 2025

Pages: 352

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Before Dorothy by Hazel Gaynor is a novel from Auntie Em's point of view, before Dorothy's whole Wizard of Oz story. 1932; Emily Gale is Dorothy's aunt, the sister of her mother Annie, who recently died in an accident together with her husband John. Emily has traveled from Kansas to Chicago to take Dorothy home with her to her farm home on the prairie of Kansas, where she lives with her husband Henry, as they now have become Dorothy's legal guardians. Back in the past, Emily moved to Kansas with Henry in 1924, when she left Annie in Chicago. They where once closed but the past years they wher not anymore, all because of a secret about Dorothy only they know.

Life on the Kansas prairie started good for Emily and Henry, soon they learn how to maintain the farm and they also get a place in the local community. But droughts and dust storms and tornado's make life difficult on the prairie, especially when they lose their home in a tornado just shortly before Dorothy starts to live with them. Dorothy has also a difficult time adjusting to her new life. She is a child with a vivid imagination and dreams full of fantasy worlds. When a female pilot lands on their land, their life take another turn as this pilot is working with a man who promised to have the magic trick to make the drought on the prairie go away and make it rain again. This man is someone Emily knew in the past, and she knows his secret that is connected to Dorothy, and Emily fears she will lose her forever..

Before Dorothy is an excellent new book by Hazel Gaynor. I have read several previous books by her and everytime they amaze me. Even if you are not very familiar with Dorothy's story in The Wizard of Oz, this book can be read as a standalone novel, there are small references to it though in the book, like the little toy tin man that Emily's father made for her back in Ireland or the silver dancing shoes of Annie that Dorothy inherits. Just as in her previous books, Hazel Gaynor potrays the background of the Kansas prairie so well that you can almost feel it, this was very well done, even as the historical timeframe it was set in that also felt very real, just like the realistic characters. I also loved how the story changes in chapter from 1924 to 1932. Everything in this book was worked out just fantastic and everything felt in the right place in this magnificent story. I truly recommend this new novel by Hazel Gaynor!