The Romance Revival

Author: Christina Lauren
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Gallery Books, 2026
Pages: 352
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Three years ago, Emery Finch did something completely out of character: she got married. To Luca - the impossibly charming landscaper she met one on blistering night in Vegas who made her laugh, made her dance, made her feel.

But now, Emery is consumed by her top-secret job, missing dinners, forgetting anniversaries, and promising herself Luca will understand once her cutting-edge research comes to light. Until the unthinkable happens. a tragic accident takes Luca from her.

Desperate not to lose him, Emery breaks every rule to bring him back. And Luca would probably thank her for it, if only he could remember her. Their first kiss, their Sunny Sundays at the beach, the life they built together. . .all of it gone.

It may be a miracle for science, but for Emery it's her one shot at a second chance. And this time, she won't waste it - because true love is always worth reviving.

Review: I know better than to choose books where the main characters makes questionable ethical or moral decisions, and where suspension of belief is absolutely required. This novel was cringe in the beginning and I put it down and walked away several times. Something kept drawing me back in - perhaps, how is Emery going to get out of this one? How is Emery going to explain this away? 

Rather oddly and quickly, the novel veers away from fiction with a side of sci-fi to a full-on romance novel with thriller undertones. 

I wouldn't rush to read another Christina Lauren novel, but based on what I'm seeing online, this sort of novel isn't typical for these authors (Christina Lauren is a pen name).

The Calamity Club

Author: Kathryn Stockett
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau, 2026
Pages: 656
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Oxford, Mississippi, 1933. Abandoned by her mother one Christmas Eve, eleven-year-old Meg Lefleur has learned the hard way to rely on no one else. Now one of the unadoptable "big girls" at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, she fights each day to keep her spirit unbowed.

Birdie Calhoun, unmarried and outspoken, has come to Oxford to ask her socialite sister to help the struggling family she's left behind. But as the Depression tightens its grip, Birdie discovers her sister's seemingly charmed life is a tapestry of lies.

Then, Birdie encounters Charlie, a woman running low on luck with little left to lose. When their fates - and Meg's - converge, Charlie comes up with an audacious plan for them to take control of their lives. But in a place and time where hypocrisy is rife and women's freedom is fragile, even the smallest act of defiance can have dangerous consequences.

Review: Finally, the author of The Help wrote another novel. The Calamity Club is more than a story about a group of women. It's an immersive journey into 1933, with a vivid sense of time and place that makes the reader feels as though he/she has stepped directly into their world. The setting has depth and texture, grounding the characters' lives in the realities, attitudes, and atmosphere of the era. It the kind of historical fiction that doesn't simply describe what life was like back then, the reader is transported.

If I have one criticism, aside from a couple silly editing mistakes, it's that some of the chapters after Mrs. Tartt and Frances leave town didn't move the story along. It felt as though they were written in as fillers. Why? It's okay if the book is 100 pages shorter.

Kathryn Stockett Novel
The Help

The Weekend Crashers

Author: Jamie Brenner
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Park Row Books, 2025
Pages: 320
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: Maggie Hodges and her daughter Piper are looking forward to a restful knitting retreat in the picturesque village of New Hope, Pennsylvania. But instead, they are surprised to find themselves sharing their charming riverside inn with a rowdy bushcraft bachelor party. Undaunted by the clash of interests and personalities, Maggie suggests a lighthearted competition - a battle of crafts ' that sparks a rivalry between the two groups, and perhaps something more. But as the weekend unfolds, old mistakes and buried resentments begin to surface, threatening to destroy Maggie and Piper's cherished connection.

Review: I normally enjoy Jamie Brenner's novels, but the relationship between Maggie and Piper actually annoyed me. I have two young adult daughters, but Maggie's constant sniping with Piper and meddling in her life bothered me. Maggie struck me as a person who likes to complain, and this is a serious pet peeve of mine. It was exhausting and juvenile. The ending was a bright spot, but it didn't make up for the previous 300 pages.

There was one positive, the cozy atmosphere of the inn, a knitting retreat, and the talk of sweaters and yarn made for a good "snuggly-season" choice.

Jamie Brenner Novels
A Novel Summer
Blush
Drawing Home
Gilt
Summer Longing
The Forever Summer
The Gin Lovers
The Husband Hour

Through Water and Stone

Author: Karen Barnett
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Kregel Publications, 2025
Pages: 352
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: In 1948, Zion National Park ranger Henry Erikssen and his wife, Alma, are less than one year removed from their infant son's sudden death in a flash flood, and the weight of the loss hasn't diminished with time. When Henry discovers an abandoned baby in a hatbox on his morning rounds, he's unsure how to react, but Alma is delighted, and she reignites with purpose at what seems to be a miracle from God.

Nearly eighty years later, Talia Erikssen leaves her job at an athleisure company in Palo Alto, California, in disgrace and returns to Zion National Park to reconnect with her grandfather and review her life goals. But when an at-home DNA test exposes family secrets, Talia and her newfound friend, law enforcement ranger Blake Mitchell, work together to search for answers.

Talia navigates the rocky path into her past with Blake by her side, what she discovers may alter everything she knew to be true about herself. With the uncertain future looming, Talia must learn that family is deeper than genetics and that trusting God can mean being still and clinging to the Rock.

Review: This is a "typical" Karen Barnett novel, an author I really enjoy. Loss of a child, an abandoned baby, family secrets, all heavy topics with a rosy spin. Set a novel in a national park and I'm here for it.

Other Karen Barnett Novels
Vintage National Park Series
Book 1, The Road to Paradise
Book 2, Where the Fire Falls
Book 3, Ever Faithful

Stand-Alone Novels
Through Water and Stone
When Stone Wings Fly

Evenings at Five

Author: Gail Godwin
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Random House Publishing, 2003
Pages: 128
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Every evening at 5:00, Christina and Rudy stopped work and began the ritual commonly known as Happy Hour. Rudy mixed Christina's drink with loving precision, the cavalier slosh of Bombay Sapphire over ice shards, before settling across from her in his Stickley chair with his glass of Scotch. They shared a love language and music (she is an author, he a composer, after all), a delight in intense conversation, a fascination with popes, and nearly thirty years of life together.

What did I think? That we had forever? muses Christina, even months after Rudy's unexpected death. While coming to terms with her loss, with the space that Rudy once inhabited, Christina reflects on their vibrant bond, with all it's quirks, habits, and unguarded moments, as well as her passionate sorry and her attempts to reposition herself and her new place in the very real world they shared.

Review: This novel got me thinking about the routines and habits my husband and I have. Our evenings together generally start about 8:30 pm with tea (for me) and popcorn (for him). We cycle through our shows, chat, and then go to bed. I look forward to 8:30, always. Sometimes I'll even ask him if it's 8:30 yet just because the day has been so crazy, or I need a break from life.

Hour of the Witch

Author: Chris Bohjalian
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2022
Pages: 406
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: Boston, 1662. Mary Deerfield is twenty-four-years old. Her skin is porcelain, her eyes delft blue, and in England she might have had many suitors. But here in the New World, amid this community of saints, Mary is the second wife of Thomas Deerfield, a man as cruel as he is powerful. When Thomas, prone to drunken rage, drives a three-tined fork into the back of Mary's hand, she resolves that she must divorce him to save her life.

But in a world where every neighbor is watching for signs of the devil, a woman like Mary - a woman who harbors secret desires and finds it difficult to tolerate the brazen hypocrisy of so many men in the colony - soon becomes herself the object of suspicion and rumor. When tainted objects are discovered buried in Mary's garden, when a boy she has treated with herbs and simples dies, and when their servant girl runs screaming in fright from her home, Mary must right to not only escape her marriage, but also the gallows.

Review: I read Secrets of Eden in 2011 and was not sure I cared to read another Chris Bohjalian novel. However, this book came up as an October suggestion and I do like this period in American history so I gave him another chance. Regrettable.

Chris Bojahlian is not an author for me, but I stuck with this book to meet a Goodreads Reading Challenge. That said, there are some takeaways. The Puritan world of the 1600s was rife with hypocrisy behind their masks of piety and religious zeal. And please, if you believe woman have it so bad in 2026, research life in Colonial America. This was a difficult novel to read, from the author's writing style to the subject matter.

Chris Bohjalian Novels
Secrets of Eden

He Falls First

Author: Jill Shalvis
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2025
Pages: 352
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: Ryder Colburn has his hands full running the family business and caring for the ailing father who's a virtual stranger from the cold, heavy-handed man he used to be. He's got zero free time for hobbies or women. Or so he thinks until one walks into his life. . .and the path of an oncoming car.

Ryder doesn't mind playing the hero for the skittish, scarred chef Penny. Maybe it's the secrets in her eye or the scar on her chin. Whatever the reason, he's compelled to get closer.

Penny's learned her lesson and how she's paying the price. That's why she's sharing a dilapidated house in a tiny California town with her feisty grandmother and tween brother living off the leftovers from her catering job. It's a far cry from her dream life. But he who needs dreams. . .or love. . .or sex when there's amateur plumbing projects to tackle and breakfast casseroles to bake.

One thing's for sure, she's never falling in love again. Not even with the sexy, snarky contractor who keeps testing the walls she's built.

Review: Perhaps I didn't understand what subgenre I was choosing when I saw this book on a must-read list. I don't mind sex in a book, but it has to make sense for the story. For me, the entire plot shouldn't be progressing to yet another sexual encounter by two characters who either try to deny their attraction, or they downright can't stand each other. It's an eyeroller.