Three Books I'm Reading Now, 7/20/26 Edition

The Books I'm Reading Now

I'm back from a fanstastic Bossy break at the beach, and I've been reading some great books.

I'm reading The Foursome, the newest historical fiction from a favorite author of mine, Christina Baker Kline, which is based on the real story of her distant relatives, in which rural North Carolina sisters marry famous conjoined twins; I'm reading light summer romantic fiction for one of my book clubs, Into the Blue by Emma Brodie, about teenage friends who end up acting opposite each other in a hit show as adults; and for my OG book club I'm reading the sweet novel of a nonagenarian looking for his first kiss in Marianne Cronin's Eddie Winston Is Looking for Love. It's a great summer array of reading!

What are you reading, bookworms?

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01 The Foursome by Christina Baker Kline

In The Foursome, Kline offers the imagined reality of the astonishing true story of two nineteenth-century rural North Carolina sisters--distant relatives of hers--who married famous conjoined twins from Siam.

Chang and Eng Bunker were known worldwide for their enormously popular stage show, built upon the curiosity of their physical connection and the impossibility of separating them.

After the twins made a home in Wilkes County, North Carolina, buying up land, slaves, and establishing themselves as increasingly powerful businessmen, word went out that they were seeking wives. And Adelaide and Sarah Yates, sisters who had been brought low in society by scandal, were seeking a broader scope in their lives.

Kline puts forward plausible doubts, magnetism, conflict, seeming impossibilities, and outsiders' desire for salacious details in this sympathetic, layered story.

Christina Baker Kline is also the author of Exiles, which I liked, Orphan Train (which I really liked) and A Piece of the World (which I loved).

I received a prepublication version of this novel courtesy of NetGalley and Mariner Books.

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02 Into the Blue by Emma Brodie

AJ is a high schooler in 2000, dreaming of writing for Saturday Night Live, but working at her local video rental store and writing fan fiction with an audience of a few dozen.

Then Noah walks in as a new hire; he's a few years older and infamous for having burned down a building (the details are sketchy). For some reason he's returned home and is living with his reclusive, famous actress of an aunt, and AJ is immediately tongue-tied.

One thing leads to another, and the two become involved in daily acting lessons with Noah's quirky aunt, and eventually they find themselves acting opposite each other in a hit show.

I'm reading this title for one of my book clubs.

Emma Brodie is also the author of Songs in Ursa Major.

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03 Eddie Winston Is Looking for Love by Marianne Cronin

Eddie Winston is a 90-year-old gentleman who has loved but somehow has never been kissed.

He spends his days working at a charity shop, and that's how he meets 24-year-old Bella. Bella is grieving, and she puts her energy into renewing Eddie's potential for a love life.

We see glimpses of Eddie's past and Bella's history as well, as their bonds grow deeper in this story of renewed hope, platonic love, and romantic promise.

Marianne Cronin is also the author of One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot, a book I loved and gave five Bossy stars.

I'm reading this book for my book club.