Encounters with Unexpected Animals by Bret Anthony Johnston

   

Bret Anthony Johnston encounters many strange animals in his thirteen story collection, Encounters with Unexpected Animals, but the one we gain empathy and insight to is the human one.  Set in primarily impoverished south Texas, the characters in this collection try to make connections—parents to children, children to parents, teenagers to each other.   

  My favorite was Half of What Atlee Rouse Knows About Horses, where Johnston creates not only a beautifully sad story, but takes the reader along to the joy of wild horses, and the way we all survive.  It’s a wonderful collection by a talented writer.  Encounters with Unexpected Animals was published on February 24, 2026, by Random House. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.

Beginning Middle End by Veria Luiselli

This is a lovely book about a novelist mother and her adolescent daughter living and traveling in Sicily. They have left an ex-husband and stepson/brother behind for a summer sojourn based at the Catania home of a well-to-do friend. The daughter is increasingly curious about the country, her ancestors and the customs of the people.  Together they explore the country, the dockyards and markets and spend time with classical literature, primarily Greek mythology.  It transitions into a road novel and meanders both the mother’s mind and recollections and the country.

   

The novel is quiet, with beautiful language and big ideas. It weaves in history, art and philosophy with special attention to migration, particularly their ancestors who left Europe for Latin America and returned.  It is not a story for plot driven readers, who may find it too slow. In trying to unfold this story in terms of the way one reads a novel, Luiselli creates a story that applies across the ages-- the story of starting over.  It will be released by Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor on July 28, 2026.

 

The Burning Side by Sarah Damoff

This is a well-paced novel that deals with the joys and heartbreaks of life. April and Leo meet at school, where they both care deeply about their students, especially the ones with challenges that mirror the ones each of them dealt with as students. April struggled with dyslexia and Leo was an immigrant boy abandoned by his own parents. Their love is the first conflagration of the novel, and the basis for so many others.

 

Notwithstanding, parenthood, especially of their second child, overwhelms them. April feels lost and unseen by her husband, and Leo feels abandoned, again. Especially when he walks in on his wife and her boss in unmistakable compromise.

Then their house burns to the ground.

The conflict between them ground this multi-point-of-view novel, rotating between the two of them and Aprils almost-too-good-to-be-true mother. April’s family has given Leo the family he never had, and their mutual love and respect makes the conflict between April and Leo even harder. Add a recent diagnosis of April’s father’s quickly advancing Alzheimer’s, and a reappearance of Leo’s family and the novel becomes a can’t put down read.

The Burning Side was released on May 19, 2026, by Simon and Shuster. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.

When You Loved Me by Beatriz Williams

Lucy Cooper has returned to Winthrop Island after a twelve year absence and a changed life. She has lived with her mother, who loves having children and marries serially (four times!) in Paris, where she has been educated, married and had a child. Then she loses both her husband in Paris and her estranged father on Winthrop Island. As his only child, she returns to settle the estate and possibly collect an inheritance.

What she finds is a mess: her father’s obsession with rumored pirate treasure on their land has left the grand home in shambles, covered with documents, research materials and maps. And a fair amount of dust, and a large amount of debt.

At the same time, Ben Ressler’s glorious career as an NFL player ends after an unfortunate fatal accident on the field, and he’s come to reside in the neighbor’s carriage house and lay low. The neighbor, Laura Peabody, was Lucy’s best friend, twelve years ago. Lucy’s involvement with Ben, and Laura’s Biggest Crush. So, they’ve lost touch, too.

Lucy’s dad has died under mysterious circumstances, and the pirate obsession is inherited by the precocious and utterly charming Elise, her 9-year-old daughter. The story unfolds from the point of view of Laura, Ben and an 18^th century diary of one of Laura’s ancestors. Yes, there is a pirate. Yes, there was treasure. And there are still people who would do anything to find it.

 

When You Loved Me is both a mystery and a lovely romance. Each character is sculpted by a master of the art, and I hated when the book ended. It is published by Ballantine Books and will be released on June 23, 2026. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy.

More Than Enough by Anna Quindlan

   

More Than Enough by Anna Quindlen

Polly’s book club adores her and had her best interests in mind when they gave her a DNA test kit. Polly and her wonderful veterinarian husband, Mark, have been trying everything they can to get pregnant, including expensive IVF treatments, and have failed.

Polly always knew she was adopted but was shocked to learn that she actually had close relatives. The results lead Polly to discoveries she could never have predicted and bring her closer to her friends and family than ever.

Anna Quindlen writes warm, wonderful characters that are so much like the ones we know, or want to know, that we want to call them up and talk about the book. More Than Enough was published by Random House February 24, 2026. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.

 

 

Chasing the Clouds Away by Debbie Macomber

Maisy is a cheerful girl from Seattle who has seen very little of the world and lives with her precious grandmother. She’s just completed a long-anticipated visit to her best friend Laura in Chicago. She’s treated to a business class seat for her flight home.

Chase Furst, grumpy, heir to a Chicago banking empire whose father is ready for him to settle down with the “right kind of girl” is on the same flight to Seattle where he has to make arrangements to bury his estranged mother.

 

Their meet-cute finds Maisy comforting her friend who works concessions in the airport, while an annoyed Chase waits to buy a newspaper before the flight. He threatens poor Laura with a report to her supervisor. Laura is a single mother who needs the job.

Of course, they meet again in Seattle and Chase has no choice but to recognize another world view when Maisy attends his own mother’s funeral, (he did not) learning things about which he has no clue. Sparks fly and the relationship will satisfy the devoted readers of romance that Macomber has been pleasing for years. Chasing the Clouds Away was published by Random House/Ballantine and on sale April 28, 2026. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer

Rainy March isn’t like every other book-o-phile in the world. She’s and actual book witch, whose purpose in life is to preserve books attacked by “burners” …people or organizations who would toss literature into a fire so that the effect is has on the world is lost. Burners are the bad guys, and Book witches are the calvary, saving works from evil.

But along with the magic they are granted, Book witches must play by the rules. They are “real” and the people…characters…they save are fictional, and ne’er the twain shall comingle.

Which is a problem when Rainy finally meets her own book Crush, The Duke of Chicago, and he responds to her with fervor!

The Book Witch is a delightful fantasy, simple in structure with a message about the values of books and fiction for everyone who ever opened a cover and fell into another world. Meg Shaffer has just the right voice to lend authenticity and depth to the story, and it was an easy, quick read. The book is published by Random House/Ballantine and was released April 7, 2026. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance reader copy.

 

Everything was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt by Ben Reeves

Travis has an unusual job.  Outwardly, he’s an unassuming, attractive young man. He’s quiet and keeps to himself. He moves around often, and travels light, carrying with him only the photographs he spends his spare time restoring.  But he is Death, or the human incarnation of the process of Death. He is the one with the dying in their last moments, and he makes the crossing over, whatever that is, easier.

            Sometimes, it is a good job, for the people who are ready, who’ve been left alone or in pain. For others, it’s tragedy, leaving life too young, too unfinished, or too heartbreaking.  These are the ones who stay with Travis, and usually he’s able to separate his emotion from what he knows is vital work.

            Then he meets Dalia, and her young daughters and gets a taste of what “life” is about.

            This is a beautiful book.  It is told from Travis’s point of view, but we meet all sorts of people in their final moments, and even some whose time isn’t yet, but who wish it was. Sometimes, it gets a little slow, but I’d encourage the reader to linger there. Don’t try to zip through this book in one setting. We get to see the world not as an idealized fairy tale, but in all its messy human glory, from the grease of takeaway to the cold scent of dew from unseen grass.  Any book written “by” Death is bound to cause reflection in the reader, but this one goes further…it asks us to imagine our own final moments, and if we were allowed to go back, how would we wish to spend a few minutes reliving one thing. It broke my heart, made me cry and made me see the world around me in a new light. That’s an awful lot to get from one book.   

            This author goes on my must-read list, especially when I want more than simple entertainment. Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt will be released July 7, 2026, by Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster. Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Dog Person by Camille Pagán

 

I have to admit that when I realized the narrator of Dog Person by Camille Pagán was a dog, I moaned. Wasn’t that a thing we did for writing assignments in High School?  But I kept reading and was glad I did. Harold is not just any dog. He’s a fourteen-year-old rescue who has not only lost Amelia May, his “person,” but has been left with an assignment: Make sure her husband finds love again. And maybe that the bookstore they had founded would survive.

So many things to love about this book. Set in fictitious West Haven, Michigan, (which seems and awful lot like non fictitious South Haven), the bookstore is the sort of place readers and booklovers adore. Harold is a familiar part of it, after all, booklovers tend to love dogs and cats, too. And Harold takes his work seriously, which isn’t easy for a fourteen-year-old who gets tired easily. Rather than feeling contrived, we completely accept Harold’s voice and his intuition.

The other characters are well drawn and authentic as well, but Harold is the star. I hope you love him as much as I did. Dog Person will be released April 7,2026, by Ballantine. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.

Save the Date by Mallory Kass

Billed as a romantic comedy with the slow-burn romance of Emily Henry and the fizzy humor of Sophie Kinsella, Save the Date had a lot to live up to. Happily, Mallory Kass met the challenge. This could have been just another wedding gone wrong book, with fake date and friends to lovers subplots, but Kass gave us wonderfully quirky and fully developed characters instead.

Marigold is marrying Jonathan, who was her maid of honor’s best friend. Natalie, the best friend, was always in love with Jonathan, but assumed he was too good for her. So, she introduced him to Marigold, the lovely, rich, influencer who’s wedding on Sandpiper Island in Maine is a major event. But there are problems, not the least of which is Natalie’s desire to make sure the wedding is perfect for her friend.

Olivia is Marigold’s sister and used to cleaning up the messes her sister inevitably gets into. She is organized and smart and probably should have been the maid of honor, but graciously helps Natalie with her issues, and assumes she will be enjoying the continuation of a near romance with an old acquaintance. But there are problems there, too. Like the old acquaintance’s supermodel Plus One.

Then Marigold disappears, the day before the wedding. Olivia sees her leave and assumes it’s cold feet. Olivia knows family secrets that Marigold has been spared and is determined to get Marigold back on board.

The novel is charming, serious and just what I needed for this time when the world seems anything but romantic. It will be released April 14, 2026, by Atria Books. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

Clutch by Emily Nemens

This novel portrays the relationship of five college roommates who’ve stayed relatively close for 20 years. They decide to enjoy a reunion in Palm Springs, where each of the four are dealing with the particular challenges of middle age: careers, children, marriage and even politics.

 

The problem is that none of the women made me care. Their relationship was supposed to be unconditional and endearing, but the slow pace of the novel made it hard to see. The closeness just didn’t come across. For a character driven, literary novel, the work was dense. I found myself just wishing it were over. Thanks to the publisher, Zando/Tin House, and NetGalley for the advanced copy. The book was published February 3, 2026.