I love a book that explores issues around mortality. Vigil , by the author of the strange, wonderful novel Lincoln in the Bardo , introduces fascinating elements such as fate, responsibility, and forgiveness, yet Saunders doesn't dig into them, which left me feeling unsatisfied with this slim book. Vigil has been one of my most-anticipated reads of 2026. In Lincoln in the Bardo , Saunders explored the worlds of characters existing in limbo between life and death. His novel V

The premise of Missing Sam was a slam dunk for me, and I appreciated the couple's strengthened bonds after unimaginable trauma. But the story jumped around and told more than it showed, and I didn't feel an emotional connection. After married couple Sam and Ali have a silly jealousy-spawned fight after a party, Sam wakes up for a solo morning run instead of inviting along Ali, as she normally would. One unlucky circumstance leads to another for Sam, and when Ali wakes up, Sa

Anatomy of an Alibi pits privileged greed against savvy morally gray characters, and the women caught in the middle are left sorting out the truth. The bad guys are truly bad, and outsiders pay the price when those in power preserve outward appearances at any cost. I loved Ashley Elston's mystery First Lie Wins  (it was on my December favorites list ; it was one of my Bossy Fiction Ideas for Your Holiday Gift List ; and it was on my recent list of Four-Star Mysteries I Loved

The corruption and dark underbellies throughout, the lurking folklore figure that seems to signal death and destruction, and the despairing community history of missing women set a brooding, ominous tone, yet Salt Bones often felt like a young-adult mystery. The reveal is immensely disturbing and makes various characters' sinister suspicions feel more than warranted. Jennifer Givhan's mystery-thriller-horror novel Salt Bones  made it onto multiple best-of lists for 2025, and

The past and present storms added thrills and chills to the dual-timeline coastal Alabama story. Predicting a few elements of the mystery didn't diminish my enjoyment of the fast-paced tale in which a young woman digs to understand a suspicious death and ends up coming to terms with her legacy and her future. St. Medard's Bay, Alabama, seems to attract the strongest of hurricanes, and the only building that's withstood every storm for a century is the charming Rosalie Inn. Bu

The first in Holland's ocean-focused young adult fantasy series leaves much of the story for later books, and I was left wanting more. I was intrigued by the curse, the ocean quest, and the explorations of moral quandaries around the use of the ocean's resources, but I was less interested in the extensive swooning over a likely enemy. The people of Kirkrell have always hunted magical whales--it's the only way to protect themselves from the finfolk, water fae who threaten thei

I feel Grinch-like panning this widely beloved story, but for me the sweetness was cloying; the tale slowed to a snail's pace as Allen explored every thought, possibility, and detail; and the twist felt jarring and was revealed too late to carry emotional weight. Theo, an elderly stranger, appears in the small town of Golden, Georgia, recognizing and appreciating locals' gifts and making them feel seen, sometimes for the first time. He admires the various portraits of locals

This second and final installment of Faizal's young adult duology emphasizes on the power of found family over blood ties; reveals chilling, ambitious, ruthless plans for creating a horde of vampires; and pushes characters to sacrifice for love. The first installment in Hafsah Faizal's young adult Blood and Tea series offered intriguing secrets, a swirling mystery, terrible betrayal, heartwarming found family, steady action, and vampires. That book ended with the city reeling

Culpability shapes questions around artificial intelligence--and societal and individual responsibility for it--around imperfect characters who have drifted apart and must now recognize each other's fallibility, whether through sacrificing or trying to protect each other. The Cassidy-Shaws are riding in their family's autonomous minivan when it crashes into another vehicle. Seventeen-year-old Charlie, the twins, their father Noah, and their mother Lorelei, an AI leader, are

The uneven pacing and tangents into bizarre scenarios in Trip made me feel somewhat disconnected from the story, but the moments of dark humor and the promise of an unorthodox payoff kept me reading and consistently curious. Sandra is a documentary producer at a death conference in Nepal when she dies in an unlikely, mundane accident. The majority of the speakers milling around talking at each other and preparing for their presentations are insufferable hacks, but after Sand

Immaculate Conception explores art and inspiration; how trauma shapes us; the fraught prospect of altering memories; and the blessing and curse of wealth, power, and necessary compromises in this tale of ambition, love, and deep envy spiraling into an out-of-control collective force. In an imagined near-future world, Enka is from a fringe family, with little exposure to ideas, art, creativity, or opportunity. Yet she secures herself a position at an art school, where she str

This faerie-centric reimagining of Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities offered a compelling story of redemption and self-sacrifice with a significant fantasy undercurrent that is key to the plot. I felt bogged down by the explanations of the workings of the faerie system, its punishments, and its policies. I feared this was the best of times; I hoped it could not get any worse. H. G. Parry's novel A Far Better Thing  is a twist on Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities , and Parr

Woolever's experiences working for Mario Batali and Tony Bourdain are fascinating--and, in the case of Batali, often disturbing. The food-focused writing and restaurant workings are the highlights; the author also recounts the implosion of her personal life, addiction, and extramarital affairs as well as shaping a new normal for herself. Laurie Woolever is fresh from culinary school and realizing that she doesn't want to be a chef when she stumbles into a position as an assis

I like a story driven by a female investigaor of a main protagonist, and in this small-town mystery and tragedy, officer Emmy Clifton...

I've loved the other three books I've read by Lily King, but I didn't connect with the Heart the Lover characters and didn't believe in...

Ryan builds a vivid small-town Irish setting with its gloomy, then alarming, descent into corruption. The twenty-one points of view were...

This first installment in the series sets up an overlooked princess who becomes a heroine; deadly monsters who may be being treated...

I liked the unlikely modern-day friendship and depth of connection, and I love a best-friend story, but the past timeline and immense,...

I love the way Fortune builds a summer tableau, but the reasoning for this forbidden love didn't hold up for me, and I was frustrated by...

Comedian Maria Bamford's memoir is unflinching in examining her own base impulses and personal challenges such as mental illness and...