

Review of Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
In the second installment in Leigh Bardugo's Alex Stern series, Alex is as brave, scowling, and unapologetic as ever--and Darlington will...
Jul 26, 2023


Review of The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue
Caroline O'Donoghue's coming-of-age story celebrates friendship, young love, and life-changing decisions and missteps that shape the...
Jul 11, 2023


Review of The Celebrants by Steven Rowley
Rowley brings humor to this heartwarming--but never cloying--exploration of friendship, connection, messy relationships, heartbreak, and...
Jun 1, 2023


Review of Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune
Summertime is the backdrop to Fortune's Meet Me at the Lake, light fiction with an anchor in deeper issues, some steamy scenes,...
May 18, 2023


Review of Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Sutanto's Vera Wong is playful, brusque, bossy, and connects an unlikely cast of characters, all murder suspects, into a heartwarming...
May 3, 2023


Review of We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman
Newman offers a heartbreaking and heartwarming tribute to friendship that centers around witty dialogue, unconventional arrangements,...
Feb 22, 2023


Review of Solito: A Memoir by Javier Zamora
Zamora's memoir of his grueling journey from El Salvador to the United States without family at age nine keeps the reader within each...
Feb 7, 2023


Review of Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen
Addison Allen's magical realism story is set on an island off the coast of South Carolina and offers lots of heart, interactive ghosts,...
Jan 25, 2023


Review of A Play for the End of the World by Jai Chakrabarti
Chakrabarti offers characters with complex struggles, hopes, and haunting memories who work to form deep, heartwarming connections in...
Jan 19, 2023


Review of As Good As Dead (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder #3) by Holly Jackson
Jackson doesn't skimp on heart-pounding pacing, captivating character development, and dark turns in this third book in her young adult...
Jan 18, 2023


Review of The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin
Cronin's debut novel explores mortality, vulnerability, surprising moments of joy and reflection, an irresistible young protagonist, and...
Sep 21, 2022


Review of Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
In Reid's newest novel, Carrie Soto is unapologetically driven and determined. I loved the tennis focus, the fast pacing, and the...
Aug 30, 2022


Review of The Last Bookshop in London: A Novel of World War II by Madeline Martin
This World War II-set novel is a love letter to books, to looking out for others, to forming friends-like-family connections, and to...
Aug 25, 2022


Review of Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Garmus's debut is witty and smart, heartbreaking, infuriating, and lovely. Lessons in Chemistry explores deep issues, conflict, and dark...
Aug 23, 2022


Review of Activation Degradation by Marina J. Lostetter
Lostetter's standalone science fiction is a story about robots, a ragtag space crew, friends like family, and reimagining one's place in...
Jun 9, 2022


Review of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers
Chambers's science fiction is full of heart, heartbreak, and hope--with a fascinating backdrop of space travel and interspecies...
Jan 11, 2022


Review of The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven by Nathaniel Ian Miller
"I’d long since learned that if you plan to survive in the Arctic, you must choose one of two paths: emulate the bear...by holding fast...
Dec 15, 2021


Review of What You Can See from Here by Mariana Leky
Leky's book is full of magical realism, friends who are like family, some absurd, fablelike elements, and an ongoing exploration of...
Nov 4, 2021


Review of Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
Rooney's characters engage in extensive self-reflection while struggling to open up emotionally to each other. Their vulnerabilities feel...
Nov 3, 2021


Review of Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune
Klune's newest novel is heartwarming, earnest, light, and sweet, with a vision of an in-between afterlife that is surprisingly romantic,...
Oct 28, 2021
