Publisher: Penguin

Recent Reads | Lies Between Us and The Someday Garden

Posted August 13, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I always read Jessica Goodman‘s books when they come out because they’re typically easy and addicting reads, but overall pretty middle-of-the-road. I don’t know why but she’s an auto-read author for me, despite never giving her books more than 4 stars. This story follows three sisters in the wake of a mysterious death/possible murder of one of the local boys. The youngest, Frankie, decides she’s going to solve the crime, while the others (Lucy and Millie) are hiding secrets of their own. These girls are best friends with the three boys that live next door and that dynamic is heavily featured in the story. I thought some of it was unnecessarily cheesy (the girls last name is Silver and the boys last name is Gold…) but it felt somewhat realistic, with some of them dating each other or having crushes, etc. I liked the small beach town vibes of this one, which made it a good quick summer mystery. Goodman writes in a very accessible way without feeling “young” for a YA book. I know I’m not the audience anymore but I do find them pretty good for adult readers. Nothing groundbreaking happens in this one but I thought the resolution to the mystery was actually interesting and pretty unique. No spoilers obviously but I feel like it was generally something I hadn’t read before. I’m so surprised how Ashley Poston’s have turned into “hit or miss” for me. She’s been one of my favorite authors for years now, back […]

Recent Reads | Change of Plans and Dolly All the Time

Posted June 10, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

It’s well-documented on here how much I love Sarah Dessen. I’ve been reading her books since I was a teenager and was really disappointed when we didn’t get another book after her last release in 2019. I started reading her Substack and was surprised to learn of her publishing struggles after such a storied career. Nonetheless, I absolutely preoredered CHANGE OF PLANS when it was announced and read it right away. This story follows the tried-and-true Dessen formula, and I am not mad about it at all. Finley graduated from high school and is ready to head to college with her longtime boyfriend Colin. When she unexpectedly ends up at her mom’s lake house that summer and her relationship ends, she’s reeling from all the ~changes in plans.~ Does this remind me of old school Dessen and give me the same summery feelings? Yes. Does it lack the depth and oomph you get from most of her older books? Also yes. But I think Dessen is honestly stretching her writing muscle again and upcoming books may get back to what we’re used to? This was like her old stuff but faded a little bit lol. I enjoyed the premise a lot but wanted more from the characters and setting. It was almost like each person and plot point needed to be turned up a few notches on the dial, if that makes sense. A bit more punchiness and feels? I would definitely recommend this in general for Dessen fans but […]

Recent Reads | The Ghostwriter and Anatomy of an Alibi

Posted January 29, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I realized I forgot to review this one last year for some reason. I really try to keep track of all the full-length novels I read on the blog so here’s my delayed reaction to this one! I was intrigued by the premise of this and luckily it was incredibly addicting to read. The book follows a couple of timelines and POVs. The Taylor family suffers a major loss in 1975 when two siblings are murdered and suspicion surrounds the remaining sibling, Vincent. He turns into a successful horror writer and eventually decides to write a memoir. His daughter Olivia is a ghostwriter and he refuses to work with anyone else. Cue Olivia’s return home to her complicated relationship with her father and a potential reveal that she is his daughter, something she’s kept secret her entire career. I enjoyed seeing some footage – for lack of a better word, you’ll see if you read it – of the 1975 timeline along with Olivia interacting with her father in present day. I thought the book was incredibly interesting while reading it but didn’t really think it would stick with me too much. Looking back, not a ton happens? There were a couple of twists but for some reason I really thought it was going to be full of them. The plot was generally intriguing and I’m glad I picked it up! Our book club overall really enjoyed this one as well, which was nice. I’ll definitely be curious to read […]

Recent Reads | Wild Dark Shore and A Curious Beginning

Posted January 22, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

This is a book I’ve been very intimidated by but was determined to read at some point. I’ve found that I always enjoy literary mysteries more than I expect to, so this was somewhat of a pleasant surprised (but also expected in some ways). The book follows a tight cast of characters in a remote area, which was incredibly atmospheric. I knew I wanted to read this one in the winter given the chilly Antarctica location. Rowan washes ashore the remote island currently inhabited by the Salt family. How did she get there? What or who is she looking for? Dom and his three kids appear to be hiding secrets of their own as well. There were a lot of little mysteries but this was by no means a fast-paced thriller. Emphasis on the “literary” in “literary mystery.” There was a heavy scientific / climate change element to this book that I appreciated. The Salt family are the only remaining people/scientists on this island protecting the seed bank and have only a few weeks left before they move back to a mainland. Each of the kids has a special interest area, whether its whales or biology or penguins, and it was cool to see how their life was on the island. Again, super atmospheric – I felt like I could picture everything (and would love to see this as a movie!). I really loved the writing style and would be eager to read more by McConaghy, if I can pluck […]

Blog Tour Review: The Lust Crusade

Posted January 14, 2026 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I’ve been a big fan of Segura’s companion series so far. The concept of a romantic adventure story is just too fun to pass up, and all of them have worked really well for me! This one was slightly different in setup with the same bones: an archaeologist falls in love while looking for something historically groundbreaking. In this installment, Theo was presumed dead a year ago when his boat was found capsized in Greece. His best friend’s sister, Dani, is one of the many people left devastated; she’s had feelings for him her entire life and now she can never act on them. She decides to book a trip to Greece to finally get out of the country when suddenly she sees a man who looks like Theo. She learns he’s alive and has been kidnapped, forced to look for the Eye of the Minotaur for an evil man (we’re all familiar with at this point in the series. When Dani gets captured too, she’s able to use her research skills as a librarian to help Theo find the Eye. There were a lot of great tropes in here, like brother’s best friend, fake dating engagement, only one bed… you name it. I love a “second chance romance” as well. Both of the characters had feelings for each other but never acted on them and it was a very believable setup from a romance perspective (maybe not an overall plot perspective… these adventures are always over the top but […]

Recent Reads | The Thursday Murder Club and Long Bright River

Posted December 8, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I’ve been meaning to read this book for years and the new movie adaptation is what finally spurred me to pick it up. I know this series is an absolute favorite of many people so unfortunately my expectations were probably too high. This was kind of exactly what I expected but I was thinking I’d like it more! People warned me it was slow and that wasn’t really an issue for me; I liked the main characters and would be curious to see what they get up to in future books. I think there were overall too many characters for me to keep track of so when reveals were happening, I was kind of lost. I generally liked the audiobook but I’ll admit that it didn’t keep my attention sometimes. I like that there is a little mystery or two around some of the characters and their backgrounds so I hope to continue to grow more connected to all of them, especially because I know the series gets emotional. With elderly main characters, I don’t love the booktubers crying in future books, because I have some guesses about what may happen… All in all, a promising start to a new series for me! Hopefully I’ll continue next year. THE GOD OF THE WOODS was one of my favorite books last year. I didn’t even realize when my friend recommended LONG BRIGHT RIVER that it was by the same author, but that’s what sold me on borrowing her copy! The premise […]

Recent Reads | Brigands & Breadknives, Mate, and The Academy

Posted November 20, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I’m a huge fan of this series and Travis Baldree’s cozy fantasy writing style. I struggle with the world building and magic systems often in fantasy books, so cozy fantasy has been a great way for me to read fantasy without getting overwhelmed. So far, all of the books have been amazing. Unfortunately this one just did not hit as much as the others. I didn’t mind the fact that it had more action vs. the cozy mundane but somehow it didn’t hold my attention at all. There were too many characters and repetitive scenes along the journey that I didn’t follow. It may have been my fault because I read it at night before bed on my Kindle and would always fall asleep in the middle of a page. It took me so long to read because I was making the slowest progress ever, plus the book itself wasn’t holding my attention. I think part of the appeal for these (for me) is the audiobook, so reading an early copy maybe wasn’t the right move. I don’t know if that would have affected my enjoyment but it’s worth noting for myself in the future. I’d definitely continue to read more in this series! For my immediate reaction on socials, I debated copy/pasting my review of BRIDE as my review for MATE because I generally felt the exact same, except I liked this a little more somehow? It took me 200 pages instead of 100 to get into this. The […]

Recent Reads | The Sun Down Motel and We Are All Guilty Here

Posted October 27, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

My mystery book club picked this one out for October since it was a spooky paranormal mystery – it was a little out of my comfort zone as a result of that but I enjoyed it! I just don’t read a lot of ghost stories or paranormal mysteries. Simone St. James has been on my TBR for a long time. The book follows two timelines: there’s Viv in the early 80s and her niece Carly in 2017. Viv works the night shift at the Sun Down Motel in a time where lots of girls turn up missing or murdered in the small town of Fell, NY. Viv herself goes missing, which leads to Carly coming to town and trying to figure out what happened to her aunt. It was fairly obvious what was going on about halfway through though; there wasn’t as much suspense or twists as I tend to prefer. The ghosts were a fun aspect – I don’t want to spoil much about them but it was a welcome change from what I expected ghosts to be in a book like this, if that makes sense. The motel and small town settings were really vivid and made the book super enjoyable to read. Overall, really good for spooky season. My book club agreed this should definitely become a show or movie! We all gave it around 4 stars, with the exception of one person. My friend from book club showed up with this book, which she had just […]

Recent Reads | She Didn’t See It Coming and The Sandy Page Bookshop

Posted September 25, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I went into this thinking that Shari Lapena was the author of another book I read and strongly disliked, so I was hoping to be proven wrong and enjoy more of her books. Turns out I was thinking of Mary Kubica. I have a ton of Lapena’s books on my TBR but this was the first I’ve read – not sure I’ll run to her backlist. Bryden, a wife and mother living in a high-rise in Albany, goes missing one day without a trace. Her husband Sam and a bunch of other characters are suspects and/or trying to figure out what happened to her. There were a decent amount of POVs here that I thought added to the story, but there were so many characters included as red herrings with no logical connections to the overall plot, and it ended up being kind of stupid by the end. Loose ends galore. Again, I know the point of a red herring, but I thought there’d be at least some loose connection where it would make sense to include the person. This was super underwhelming and an incredibly stereotypical domestic thriller. I generally didn’t mind the ride but the ending took a lot of wind out of the story. I predicted quite a bit of what happened. This was exactly what I expected it would be and fit the bill for an end-of-summer predicable beach read. I was really craving a Cape Cod setting and this delivered; the element of the MC […]

Recent Reads | It’s a Love Story and Sounds Like Love

Posted August 7, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 1 Comment

I’ve become a huge fan of Annabel Monaghan based on her previous two releases, and I’ve been saving her adult debut for a rainy day. This book is technically my least favorite but honestly it was quite enjoyable regardless! Annabel Monaghan’s books have a way of growing on me as I read. I consider her an auto-buy author but I never get addicted right away. It’s like a slow burn (with the plot, not the romance) where I’m halfway through and realize I’ve fallen in love with everything finally. That moment happened a little later than usual which is why I wasn’t as invested in the characters as I could have been. I didn’t love the MC here but she’s as imperfect as all of Monaghan’s others, so nothing unexpected. Jane and Dan had a lot of logical reasons for why they behaved the way they did, and also why their romance worked; it felt very realistic. I just didn’t connect to them as strongly as expected or as I prefer in a romance. I love that they were visiting his childhood home away from Hollywood – more on that later – for his parents anniversary party. They started the trip as colleagues and ended it as something a little more. The premise was enjoyable and quiet but also had some fun Hollywood stuff that I tend to enjoy. Jane was a former child star known for goofy antics and Dan is a not-super-successful cinematographer. He’s interested in the script […]