The Christmas Ring by Karen Kingsbury

 

Vanessa Mayfield is a woman of faith, and her first thought when faced with a question is to pray on it. A devout southern mother and military widow, Vanessa sends her only child off to college and worries about what’s next. But she has a mission--to find the antique ring that has been handed down in her husband’s family for generations… the ring she lost.  Her plan is to find the ring and continue the legacy by giving it to her daughter.

Her quest takes her to Ben Miller’s Antique shop and destiny takes over. Ben has lost his wife as well, and he and Vanessa strike up conversation that turns to friendship, and then more. I understand that this book has been made into a movie that releases in theaters November sixth. Fans of Hallmark Christmas movies, spiritual romances and a love story that won’t embarrass you will enjoy getting to know Vanessa, Ben and the military families of Columbus, Georgia. The Christmas Ring will be available to purchase on October 21, 2025. Thanks to NetGalley, and the publisher, Thomas Nelson Fiction, for the advanced review copy.

Yours for the Season by Emily Stone

Melanie Stone returns with another wonderful holiday story centering around family and the conflicts faced by young people trying to follow dreams and fall in love.

Melanie and Finn meet in Edinburgh on New Years Eve. She’s a talented jewelry designer on the verge of a big break, and he’s a house flipper/carpenter. His family adores Melanie, and she them, but when Finn ends their relationship at his sister engagement party, Melanie is stunned and heartbroken.

 

Then Finn asks her to join his whole family the next Christmas, at a cozy home in Scotland, and pretend that they are still together.

As with all fake romances, someone finds out, but by the end of the book, the real question is just who is fooled!  Lovely writing and satisfying romance, with characters you will remember. Yours for the Season was released by Ballantine/Dell on October 7, 2025. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the delightful review copy.

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan

 

Ian McEwen books have been my must reads for years, but I would never call them easy reads. What Can We Know juxtaposes the literary scholars of the future against intellectuals of our era who take themselves a bit too seriously. Add the fact that the world we know today has been mostly destroyed by nuclear explosions and the flooding of a warmed globe, and the scholars face even more complications to discern meaning from 21^st century poetry than we might today. 

As always, beautiful writing carries McEwan’s twisty story to a rewarding finish.  What We Can Know was released September 23, 2025. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Knopf, for the review copy.

My Favorite Holidate by Lauren Blakely

 

A fake romance between a billionaire owner of an NFL franchise and his merchandise designer heats up during the company’s annual Christmas celebration which coincides with the designer’s sister and the billionaire’s best friend’s wedding.  This is a fun and easy Holiday read, complete with lots of snow, hot chocolate and spice.  When I say spice, I mean lots of explicit sexcapades, so if that’s not your thing, you might want to pick another author.  This one turns on the heat! Published on October 7, 2025, so it is ready when you are to cozy up!  Thanks to Atria and Netgalley for the advanced readers copy.

Grace and Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman

 

Grace and Henry have each lost a beloved spouse and their families want them to move on. But they were happy in their lives, and to lose their partner is sad. So, Grace and Henry are sad. When Henry’s mother sends him to fix Grace’s Wi-Fi at the holidays, it is clear that they have been set up.  But because they share the terrible experience of losing their spouses, they agree to be friends, because it is always nice to have someone to talk to who knows what you know.

They begin a friendship of sharing the movies they have loved with their past spouses, and with the help of an adorable dog, two fascinating kids and even a bunch of mice, Harry and Grace explore and share their grief and what it will mean to move forward in life.  The wonderful characters and their journey make for a delightful read, and the messages distilled from the holiday movies they share make this a charming book. Grace and Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon was released on October 14, 2025. Thanks to the publisher Ballantine/Dell and NetGalley for the early release copy. 

Holiday Ever After by Hanna Grace

Clara Davenport is a savvy businesswoman, in line to increase her position at her family’s toy company. She’s in charge of their small business program, which creates partnerships with businesses in their line of work. Until she is reassigned to an emergency post as incentive to get her promotion.

While she is away, her program gets hijacked. What she sees as her baby, her competition in the company sees as a way to make fast money, cheap. When she discovers the marketing nightmare created by the social media of the small town whose favorite small business has been abused, she has to find a way to fix it, fast. Her promotion is on the line.

 

What she doesn’t plan on is falling in love at Christmastime with tiny Fraser Falls, or with the toy maker who has been maligned. Clara’s journey to win over the town, the man and get her promotion makes a fun holiday read, and ripe for a Hallmark movie!  Holiday Ever After will be released September 30, 2025, by Atria books. My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy, which was a wonderful, warm escape for me!

The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen

 

Every once in a while, we all need to read a fast-paced thriller, especially one as complex as Sarah Pekkanem’s The Locked Ward. The book opens with elegant, successful, heiress, Georgia escorted unceremoniously into the locked ward of the mental hospital, on suicide watch and accused of murdering her younger sister.  Then we meet scrappy bar owner, Amanda who is summoned by a lawyer to meet his client, Georgia. He informs Amanda that Georgia is, in fact, her twin sister.

The rest of the story is the unraveling of the alleged murder, as well as the relationship between the secret twins. It would give away the fast, exciting story for me to go on, but I’ll just recommend The Locked Ward to anyone in the mood for a mystery! Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this review copy. The Locked Ward was published on August 5, 2025.

Fox Creek by M.E Torrey

 

Fox Creek is a southern plantation in northeast Louisiana, set in the mid 1800’s. It follows the story of Monette, a mulatto child whose white planter father adored and grants all the privileges of favorite child to. When he dies, the planter’s son sends Monette and other slaves from the plantation to the auction blocks of New Orleans, where she is bought by the owner of Fox Creek, as a playmate for his own daughter. She enjoys many of the Big House privileges she has become accustomed to, until the planter’s mother determines she’s become too “uppity.”

While the story is easy reading, it portrays the stereotypes and tropes the general public has come to assign to this period of American History. I found it to be dismissive of the diverse slave population, illustrating them all as unintelligent and fearful. It also portrayed women to be weak and not suited to “unladylike leanings” …anything other than motherhood. It felt like the kind of novels popular in the 1960’s where women and slaves were all portrayed as lustful animals. While the author is a good storyteller, I didn’t care for the story she told.

Fox Creek was published September 1, 2025, by Sly Fox Publishing, LLC. I appreciate the review copy provided by NetGalley and the publisher.

Beautiful Nights by Nina George

Beautiful Nights is the story of Claire, a middle aged, (if we still think the mid-forties are middle aged,) esteemed professor of human behavior in Paris. From the outside, Claire has success, a happy marriage, a grown son and a good life. Internally though, she is trapped, by expectations, achievements, status and the very things that are supposed to make her happy. She is aware of her husband’s many affairs, and her answer is not to confront him, but to lose her inhibitions in one-night stands where she doesn’t even know the name of her partner.

Her grandmother, Jeanne, has left a large vacation home on the coast of Breton to Claire, and as they have every year of her marriage, the family travels there for the summer holidays. The only difference is that this year, Claire’s son brings along his 19-year-old girlfriend, Julie, who he wants to marry.

Julie is another very well-developed character, trapped in a world of working menial jobs to get by when what she really wants is to sing, which she never does in public. Clair and Julie’s relationship is strained at first, but after Claire teaches Julie to swim, they recognize kindred spirits in one another and pursue a relationship that gives each of them the courage to seek her true happiness.

 

The writing is gorgeous, and it made me wish I spoke French so I could read it in the original. The sentiments of femininity and the place of women in the world reminded me of   1899 novel by Kate Chopin, The Awakening, condemned at first for its depiction of female sexuality. Both heroines want more… fulfillment, expression of their own opinions and desires in a male dominated world, and acceptance of their sexuality. While Edna, in The Awakening, walks into the sea and never returns, Claire swims so far out she might be expected to be lost, but using her own strength, returns, to claim what she desires. While Edna pursues men, Claire’s object is Julie. The development of their passion, and the differences between them create a sensitive story of the choices, given time, space, and freedom, maturity lets Claire, and women for that matter, develop healthy and balanced lives.

I loved the writing, particularly the descriptions and, as a swimmer, the sea. I found the story to drag a bit though, with repetition and changing viewpoints that detracted from its strength. I’d recommend this book for mature readers who are not disturbed or embarrassed by same sex relationships, and who can appreciate the confused thoughts of a woman in this age.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine for the review copy of Beautiful Nights. The book was published July 25, 2025.

Through an Open Window by Pamela Terry

Through An Open Window by Pamela Terry

I first encountered Pamela Terry when given the opportunity to read her first novel The Sweet Taste of Muscadines, (Random House/2021) fell in love with her characters, setting and beautiful prose, so I was excited to read this new novel, Through an Open Window. To say I was NOT disappointed would be an understatement!

 

This is at heart a family story, the primary story following the life of Margeret Eliot and her three children in small town Georgia. Margaret is recently widowed, and though content with her life in Wesleyan, where she has lived all her life, she wonders what is next for her. Enter her long dead Aunt Edith…her ghost that is, and Margeret begins a journey that expands her life in such ways that she questions her own sanity. She’s the most down-to-earth character I’ve read in a long time, and when her three children and their friends/spouses join the party, you will want the book to go on and on, because you like them all so much.

Anyone who enjoys low country fiction, will love Pamela Terry and especially Through and Open Window. The book was released today, August 19,2025. Thanks to Random House/Ballantine and NetGalley for the pleasure of reading this wonderful book.

The Seven Rings by Nora Roberts

Another exciting conclusion to a Nora Roberts trilogy. Nora is an author generally classified as either a romance writer or a mystery writer. To be sure, she is both, writing under her own name or her nom de plume, J. D. Robb. I can’t say I care how she’s classified; this author knows how to tell a great story. Weaving her plots with charming and interesting characters, both male and female, and sprinkling in more than a dose of magic, I always look forward to reading her books.

 

The Seven Rings is no exception. In this one, the protagonist, Sonya, and her sidekick Cleo, are determined to reclaim the Poole Mansion from the evil witch/ghost Dobbs, who haunts it and is responsible for the deaths of so many of Sonya’s ancestors, simultaneously saving all the people who have been haunted and persecuted by her. To do this, they must reclaim the seven rings that Dobbs has taken from her victims. Along the way, Sonya and Cleo must continue with their careers, learn to cook and maintain their new romantic relationships. It’s a satisfying and fun read. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the review copy. The Seven Rings will be released November 18, 2025.

Full Bloom by Francesca Serritelli

 

This is a lovely novel by an author I’ll keep watching and reading. It is the story of 32-year-old Iris, whose long-time fiancé has suddenly decided their relationship isn’t enough. Iris, who’d been planning her life around Ben, is unmoored. She’s also discovered that she has low fertility and if she ever plans to have her own children, she will have to find the money for treatments.

At the same time, she’s overlooked yet again at work, where her boss is her mentor/father figure, but also a member of the patriarchy, and gives opportunities that should go to Alice to her friend Nate, because…he’s a family man.

Enter Madame Rapacine, a Frenchwoman trained and excellent as a Nose…the creator of exquisite perfumes, and a dear friend of Iris’s. As such, she creates a signature scent for Iris, to complement her unique chemistry.

Then…things begin to happen. I wasn’t as thrilled with the middle of the book when all Iris attributes all the good things happening in her life to the perfume, but it is fun. When reality barges in, Iris doesn’t know what to believe. That struggle was credible and authentic, and I forgave the “magical middle” because it is that good. Well written, well plotted and lots of fabulous characters. Full Bloom was published on August 5, 2025, by Random House/Ballantine. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy!

The Payback by Kahana Cauley

 

 

This is a delightful heist novel. Jada, a young black woman who has a dream of dressing the rich and famous, especially on movie sets, but like many young career women, is sabotaged by an actress who refuses to accept that she has no concept of her own size. As quickly as a seam can rip, Jada is blackballed in the film industry, a career she’s gone deeply in debt for so she can go to film school.

Jada bounces back and finds a job in retail, which she loves. She loves the mall. She loves the vibe at Phoenix, the upscale store she works at for a 20% commission. She can make her rent and chink away at her student loan payments, but a lapse of judgment and a history of lifting goods left behind leaves her unemployed and basically unemployable.

Enter the Debt Police, in their ugly turquoise uniforms and propensity to violently beat anyone behind on their student loans, especially black women. Inspired by the bruises and pain inflicted on her and her friends, Jada masterminds a plan.

You are going to have to read the book to get the scoop, but it’s a quick and entertaining book with a lot to say about culture, race, and the police state that we seem to be flirting with today. The satire drips with authenticity and humor.

The Payback was published on July 15, 2025, by Atria Books. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.

 

Overdue by Stephanie Perkins

 

Ingrid is happily employed at the gorgeous library in Ridgetop, North Carolina. She’s also basically happy with her personal life, having lived with her one and only boyfriend, Cory, for eleven years. Then her younger sister announces her engagement, and Ingrid and Cory are stunned. Shouldn’t they be getting married before the younger siblings? But---they’ve neither one ever been with anyone else, and they are afraid they will regret it.

So, they agree to take a break of one month, where they are each free to sow their wild oats as it were, and then fully expect to reunite and get engaged.

The reader gets to follow Ingrid, who has only one person in mind she feels she’ll regret not …trying out. It is her close work friend, Macon, her best friend actually, and when she determines her feelings are not reciprocated, we get to cringe along with Ingrid as she explores the world of other men.

It’s a delightful, classic romance, written with enough old school yearning and new school sizzle to keep the pages flying. Overdue will be released October 7, 2025, by St. Martin’s Press. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

 

These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean

 

Every once in a while, it is great to have a real live romance novel, with complicated protagonists, love interests, and the hurdles they must cross to be together. Add in family rivalries, enormous wealth and just for fun, a gothic mansion on an island accessible only by boat or helicopter. Altogether, the formula for a great summer read.

The Storm family is American royalty. When the patriarch dies in a spectacular accident, the four children and widow gather on the island, they think to pay their respects, but actually, to fulfill the final requirements left by their father. If any of them fail, no one inherits.

To say that these people have issues is the ultimate understatement, but they are all entertaining and have redeeming qualities. Sarah MacLean knows her craft and These Summer Storms proves it. This book was released on July 8,2025 by Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine.  

Spectacular Things by Beck Dorey-Stein

 

Sometimes women’s fiction is all about relationships, and too often those are relationships with men. Spectacular Things gets it right…the relationships that matter in this lovely book are those between the women.

The Lowe women, Liz, the mother, Mia and Cricket, are soccer players. They love the sport and live for it. They have immense talent—size, speed, coordination and brains. They have what it takes to go all the way.

But life has other ideas. Liz’s dream is cut short when she becomes pregnant with Mia, but she never suffers over it. She knows that her daughter is more important than soccer, and she steps up, working multiple jobs to provide a safe and loving environment for her daughter, which included morning soccer workouts on the beach. Mia has what it takes to be a star.

But it isn’t until Cricket comes along that the super star is born. Liz and Mia are good, but Cricket is great. And when their mother can no longer keep up with the practices, travel, work and parenting, she asks Mia to step up. Mia is happy to help, and her focus shifts from soccer to academics, where she excels at the Ivy League level. She gets her chance when she is accepted to the college of her dreams.

And then tragedy strikes, and sacrifice is required again and again.

The characters in this book are wonderful, nearly too good to be true, but you won’t stop cheering for them. Their family rituals were delightful, and these women made me want to get in shape! A great summer read, with so much to share, both of the soccer world and the art of being family.

Spectacular Things was published July 1, 2025. Thanks to Random House Publishing Group/The Dial Press and NetGalley for the review copy.

Fulfillment by Lee Cole

 

Lee Cole has written a dynamic novel that perfectly portrays the complications of family, career and life in general in the flyover section of contemporary USA. On one side, Joel, the educated, successful brother who has moved to New York with his wife and cat, has written a well-recieved memoir of essays about his tragic upbringing in Kentucky, complete with poverty, alcohol and drug use. Emmett, the younger “unseen” brother, drifts from job to job, seemingly unconcerned about his “career” until both brothers arrive at the family home in Paducah, where expectations and the desire for fulfillment clash.

The best part of this novel is the characterizations. Joel is not very insightful, though he believes himself to be a great thinker. And Emmett is much more insightful and intelligent than the reader expects him to be. Between them, Alice, Joel’s wife, and Kathy, their mother serve as a brilliant contrast of the roles of women in down home society.

The descriptions of the countryside feel authentic, highlighting the “brushstrokes of irrelevance in the landscape itself, especially as contrasted to Manhattan, where despite the dream of living there, one still feels isolated, banished and yearning.

I had not read Cole before but look forward to reading more in the future. Fulfillment was released on July 17, 2025, by Knopf Pantheon Vintage, and Anchor Knopf. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.

Sunny Side Up by Katie Sturino

 

Sunny Greene at first glance, has it all. Recently divorced, her PR firm is wildly successful even though she’s only 35, she lives in her dream neighborhood of Chelsea in NYC, and she has two devoted rescue dogs. And since her divorce, where all her ex’s friends stayed on his side of the table, she’s met two other divorcees as devoted to the good life as she is.

But Sunny isn’t finished with men! On the contrary, she signs up for all the dating apps and is determined to find a plus-one for her brother’s wedding in six months.

Before that, her new friends convince her to join them in the Bahamas for a “divorcation” where they will lie on the beach and drink fruity drinks and relax.

Which send Sunny to Bergdorf’s to find a new swimsuit. But Sunny is 5’11 and 275 pounds and…

You get the picture. Rather than depression, Sunny chooses change, and not in the form of a diet. She will provide swimsuits that are stylish and comfortable for women her size! Sunny’s dating escapades, her business acumen and the ticking time clock to the wedding make for a fast paced and energetic read, coupled with plenty of sensitivity and emotion.

Sunny Side Up was released on June 24, 2025, by Celadon books. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy!

The Love Fix by Jill Shalvis

Lexi Clark’s life hasn’t been easy, but with despite all the setbacks, she’s carved a place for herself in New Yorks fine object appraisal business. She loves her boss, professionally and personally. When valuable objects go missing though, her firm, and the boss, throw her under the bus without evidence. She’s summarily fired.

 

At the same time, her stepsister in Sunrise Cove, an idyllic Lake Tahoe community, need her to come home to deal with the remains of their mother’s estate. Sunrise Cove is the site of the neglect and abuse that Lexi underwent as a child. Her “nemesis,” has moved in next door to help his elderly grandfather, and Lexi realizes just how much unfinished business she has.

Beautiful setting, charming and complicated characters and oh so satisfying HEA’s are Shalvis’ many lovely books, and they don’t disappoint in The Love Fix, which was released June 24, 2025, by Avon and Harper Voyager. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced readers copy.

An Irish Summer by Alexandra Paige

 

Chelsea has the perfect life. She loves her hometown, Boston, where her best friend and family are. She loves her job as event coordinator for a charming Bread and Breakfast known as O’Shea’s, her first job out of college. She loves the subsidized apartment she gets as part of her job. She looks forward to the future, where she imagines herself buying the O’Shea’s out.

Until the day they tell her they’ve sold, and she has one month to vacate.

Chelsea feels betrayed, and when she can’t find another job quickly, her choices, to move back home with her parents, or to accept the O’Shea’s offer of a summer at their sister hostel in Galway, Ireland. It’s the last thing Chelsea wants, other than moving back home.

The book then takes the reader on a fabulous adventure in beautiful Ireland, along with lovely people and a gorgeous tour guide!  It’s a perfect summer read for those of us who love to get to know new places in the world. An Irish Summer will be released July 1, 2025. Thanks to Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley for the early release copy.

All the Men I've Loved Again by Christine Pride

Cora Belle arrives at college almost like a new hatchling. Having attended an excellent high school, where she was the only black girl, and growing up the cherished daughter of her charming professor dad, Cora is ready for life to begin. With very few glitches, she meets her roommates/sisters for life, as well as the man of her dreams right away.

But all fairy tales have problems, and Cora and the dream man hit a major snag, her beloved father is rushed to the hospital, and while trying to recover from all that, she meets HIM. The rest of the book focuses on these major relationships: the roommates, the first and second loves, and the father/daughter evolution. Spanning her 20s and 30s lets Cora learn and grow and finally decide what is important to her. More a coming into herself than coming of age, Cora has a lot of hard work to do.

The only problem I had with the book was the imbalance of material with the two love interests. Lincoln started out as the rags to riches perfect man, then fell into cliché. Aaron was more interesting, artistic as opposed to Lincolns need to succeed, and each was perfect for Cora in their own time. But the time spent on the two in the novel was about 80% Lincoln, 20% Aaron. It worked though.

 

Christine Pride captures the dilemma of a young woman struggling to please herself instead of just a man, to follow a career she loves instead of what is expected and to care for the family she’s pieced together with love.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria for the advanced copy. All The Men I’ve Loved Again releases on July 8, 2025.

Under the Stars by Beatriz Williams

 

Told from the voices of three women over nearly a three-hundred-year period, Under the Stars is the story of Winthrop Island, where shipwrecks are the legacy and where the rich and famous retreat for summers, or more, to recover from their hectic lives.

Peppered with excerpts from accounts of the sinking of the Steamship Atlantic in 1846, this story is a story of recovery. Audrey Fisher has been summoned to her famous actress mother’s companion as she dries out enough to act in an important, to her, role. She’s an alcoholic, and Audrey is her only child, and their relationship is as rocky as the New England coast. She’s also a professional chef whose husband has betrayed her professionally and personally.

Audrey merely has to survive on the island where she was born, and then she can deliver her mother to Hollywood, and get on with her life.

Only, there are complications. People who turn up dead. Beloved, estranged, father’s whose dive bar is in dire need of fresh life. And then there are the men.

It’s a wonderful, can’t put down, read, perfect for summer reading on the Cape or any other body of water you choose. You are going to want to swim with these characters!

Under the Stars will be released July 29 by Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a great kick off for Summer 2025.

The Sandy Page Bookshop by Hannah McKinnon

 

Leah Powell has it all…a great job in publishing, a wealthy fiancé and a Victorian Brownstone in the Back Bay. But when her passion project she’s devoted her professional career to turns out to be stolen, she loses her job. Then the fiancé drops the bomb, and if that wasn’t enough, her sister, still out on Cape Cod, a year rounder, is in a near fatal accident.

So, Leah leaves Boston to move back in with her father. There are so many wonderful relationships developed in this book that I wouldn’t be doing justice to single out any particular one. Yes, it’s a romance novel, with many of the expected tropes, but it is also a complicated look at starting over mid-career and reclaiming a meaningful past.

The Sandy Page Bookshop will be released on July 22, 2025, by Atria/Emily Bestler books. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this wonderful book early!

Universality by Natasha Brown

 

This was an interesting novel, told from multiple viewpoints and different locations, primarily concerning a Pandemic era rave at a farm in West Yorkshire. As these things do, the party got out of control, a gold bar bludgeoning and the disappearance of the gold afterward, in the hands of a thirty-year-old man whose spend lockdown caretaking the farm. The author tells us early in the book that the missing gold bar is a connecting node—between an amoral banker, an iconoclastic columnist and a radical anarchist movement.

She spends the rest of the book illustrating that statement, creatively mixing the desire for wealth with the need to survive professionally in a time when no one knew what the next day would bring. Brown is a gifted writer. Like many readers, I’m a bit weary of the pandemic, having lived through it not only personally, but through the words of many authors. I get that, but I think this would have landed better with me had I had a few more years distance.

Universality was released on March 4, 2025, by Random House. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.

Saltwater by Katy Hays

A thriller as twisty as the mountain roads of Capri, where it is set, Saltwater is a multi-point of view novel exercising the trope of the dysfunctional rich, selfish, patriarchal family. Helen’s mother died on the island when she was only three, and the ultra-private family barely mentions her name. The family is sacred, and anything that would sully the name is verboten.

 

Further, Helen is not allowed to intermingle with the underlings, basically anyone outside the family. In her effort, at thirty-two, to break free from the bonds her father and uncle impose, Helen hatches a plan. The disappearance of her father’s assistant, Helen’s friend, in a fashion remarkably similar to Sarah, Helen’s mother’s disappearance, starts the whole thing unraveling.

This isn’t a particularly deep book. Many of the characters are cardboard cutouts relying on our images of rich, cruel people, and we want a character to root for. Helen should be it, but sadly, she’s inherited the greed gene.

The book would be fun to read on a cruise, beach or especially on a trip to Capri. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine for the advanced readers copy. Saltwater was released March 25, 2025.

The Griffin Sisters Greates Hits by Jennifer Weiner

 

Weiner has given us another complicated, sensitive novel of a family, blessed with tremendous talent that they don’t seem to know how to use or control.  Zoe, a beautiful ambitious teenager wants to be a rockstar.  Her sister, Cassie, is a neurodivergent girl with none of Zoe’s good looks, but the talent of a prodigy. Together they form The Griffin Sisters and enjoy short lived but amazing success—until the tragedy.

Years later, Zoe’s daughter Cherry, who’s inherited her mother’s looks and her aunt’s talent needs to discover what happened, while trying to find her own way in the world of Rock and Roll. Told from multiple viewpoints, this is a beautiful work with characters we come to appreciate, if not love. 

The Griffin Sisters Greatest hits will be released on May 8, 2025 by Harper Collins. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced readers copy.

Twist by Colum McCann

 

Lyrical prose and storytelling must be in the water in Ireland, and Colum McCann is one of their beloved authors. In his latest novel, Twist, McCann explores the depths of the sea as well as of human emotion. Written in the voice of struggling writer Robert Fenning, it examines the lives of two very different men, and the relationship that develops between them. John Conway is the captain of a ship whose mission is to repair the underwater cable that connects the world to the internet. Fenning is assigned to write an article about the break and repair. Conway is not only the captain of the ship and expert at locating the broken cable and repair, he’s also one of the best free divers in the world. His life fascinates Fenni ng to the point of obsession.

The story will satisfy the most demanding of mystery/thriller readers but quench the thirst for beautiful language for literary readers as well. My favorite parts were the descriptions of the sea and Africa and the many reflections on time. Twist was released on March 25, 2025, by Hyperion Random House. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC of this beautiful novel.

Broken Country by Claire Leslie Hall

 

Set in the bucolic farms of rural England, the story of Beth, her lovely husband Frank, and their small family seem like the cast of a fairy tale. But despite their happiness, the peace is breached first by a gunshot, and then by the re-appearance of Beth’s first love.

As a romantic, I can’t decide who I should root for, the man who was forced to leave Beth, or the one who was always on her side, despite the circumstances. The setting is the perfect background for this heartbreaking story, and I promise, it will not just be the country that is broken, but your own heart, too.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this lovely ARC. It was published March 4, 2025, and should not be missed!

The Lost Passenger by Frances Quin

Elinor is the beloved daughter of the highly successful King of the Cotton Mills in England, and she often spends her days with classic Austen novels, or helping her father with his business. Then she meets an Earl who sweeps her off her feet, and quickly marries her. Only after the wedding does she realize that the life of an aristocrat includes none of the things that are important to her.

Then her father surprises her and her new husband and their son with tickets for the maiden voyage of the Titanic!  Another fairy tale for Elinor, but this one ends with heartache. How she and her young son survive not only the icy waters, but their arrival in New York with nothing, and how she decides not even to keep their names is a wonderful story of survival and the things that made New York in the early 1900s wonderful. I won’t spoil the book for you, but there is ample history and plot to keep even the most critical reader engaged! 

The Lost Passenger will be released on February 25, 2025. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the review copy.

The Love Haters by Katherine Center

            Katherine Center never disappoints her readers. We know to expect interesting characters, a plot that isn’t simple, humor and kindness. The Love Haters is no exception.

 

Katie is a creative journalist specializing in videography, whose job is threatened by a downsizing organization and AI. Hutch is a Coast Guard rescue swimmer who’s made headlines for a daring rescue of a celebrity dog. He also happens to be just the right amount of gorgeous, and private.

Katie has one chance to save her career, by getting Hutch to agree to an extensive video interview. The story of how the two negotiate the assignment, which includes a duplicitous brother, a charming Aunt and her crew, and the true star of the story, George Bailey, a rescued Great Dane.

Another delightful, hopeful story by Katherine Center. Not to be missed.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, St. Martin’s Publishing Group for the advance copy. The Love Haters will be released May 20, 2025.

 

 

 

Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld.

 

I admit that when I began this book, I didn’t realize it was a collection of short stories, While I’m a fan of Sittenfeld’s writing, I struggled with the stories, The center mostly around the romantic relationships of the respective narrators, as well as the financial and professional lives they choose. The writing is lovely, and my sense is that any one of these stories would make a good novel, but often I felt like I’d been left hanging, and that’s not how I like to read. Of the collection, I found Lost But Not Forgotten to be the most satisfying, but that’s probably because I got to see more of the character’s full arc, Other’s may love the opportunity to read in smaller bites!

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the review copy, Publication is scheduled for February 25,2025.

The Snowbirds by Christina Clancy

 

Kim and Grant are educated, midwestern professionals who are quintessential empty nesters. When given the opportunity to winter in Palm Springs, they have a chance to make different choices, and The Snowbirds is the story of how they make the decisions that will carry them into their third act.

Sounds simple? Not when you learn that Kim and Grant never actually married, that they have lived in separate cities for thirty years, and that they both have exes with whom there are complicating relationships. And then Grant gets lost on the mountain…no spoiler here because the book is framed by this mishap. The book is primarily told in first person from Kim’s point of view until later in the book when we are given Grant’s journal in pieces. The characters are well drawn and fun, and the story moves in a back-and-forth manner, juxtaposing the current crisis to past ones. Some of those flashbacks get tedious (you will get tired of hearing (or not hearing) about the ex-wife,) and there are so many characters, past and present, that at times it is hard to keep track of them. Overall, it’s an enjoyable read that addresses the issues of long-term relationships in an honest and humorous way.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for the advance copy. The Snowbirds will be released on February 4, 2025.

Cleavage: Men, Women and the Space Between Us by Jennifer Finney Boylan

            Jennifer Boylan is an expert on the effects of gender on all parts of life. She spent her first forty years as male, and the past 25 as her authentic self, female. Having written four other books dealing with her transgender journey, Cleavage addresses the frightening situations people who’d begun to relax into their authentic selves, that 2025 and the politics of the USA present.

 

            I first encountered Jennifer Boylan’s writing with the book she co-authored with Jodi Picoult, Mad Honey, so wasn’t surprised at the warmth, compassion and humor exhibited in Cleavage. Her intelligence and positive experiences lend authenticity when she speaks with a kindness that isn’t often represented in connection with what is presented about trans people. We don’t suffer through militance, violence or even voyeurism that so often dominates the discussion of transgender rights in the news is present here. Instead, a fact based, friendly accounting of the difficulties and benefits Jennifer has faced is presented.

Jennifer was granted that basic human right of having people who love her support her along her journey, and this book presents that love and acceptance to anyone reading it. It is the kind of book that makes you want to sit down with the author and tell stories. Cleavage does one thing very well… normalizing this segment of our population in a way that is not threatening and allowing the positive contributions of people who are different than we are, to be recognized, valued, and appreciated.

As a bonus, the book had some great writing advice! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Celadon Books, for the opportunity to read Cleavage in advance. The release date is February 4, 2025.