The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion (Vol. 1)

 

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion (Vol. 1) by Beth Brower

Fiction

2019

Finished on August 27, 2026

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

“I’ve arrived in London without incident. There are few triumphs in my recent life, but I count this as one. My existence of the last three years has been nothing but incident.”

The Year is 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighborhood of St. Crispian's. But Emma's plans for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of St. Crispian's. Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.

All my blogging friends have been raving about this series, so I purchased the first volume for my mom last Christmas. She loved it (no surprise there!) and went on to buy the next seven volumes in the collection. She's very impatient, as I'm sure many readers are, to read the ninth volume, which is due out before the end of the year. 

I had extremely high hopes for this epistolary work, but it wasn't until the final entries that I felt compelled to move on to the second volume. What should have taken me no more than a day or two to complete took well over a week! I checked in with a couple of friends who echoed my frustration with this book, but assured me that the series does get better. Much better. I hope so, as I have all the remaining volumes stacked and ready to go!

It wasn't until I finished the book that I discovered that the author also wrote The Queen's Gambit. We loved the miniseries and look forward to watching it a second time later this fall. 

The Shampoo Effect

 

The Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson

Fiction

2026

Narrated by Marin Ireland

Finished on August 27, 2026

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

An ambitious young woman insinuates herself into a tight-knit social set, shaking up friendships and marriages in a small seaside town. A frothy novel of love, money, sex, and friendship.

​​When Caroline Lash arrives in Greenhead, Massachusetts, she falls head-over-heels for Van Whittaker, a fleece-wearing, litter-collecting, kayak enthusiast with long, floppy hair and the personality of a Border collie. Born and raised in this picturesque coastal village, Van runs with the same crowd he did as a kid: His ex-girlfriend, Bailey, a beautiful girl who attracts men like moths to a flame; Augusta, old money, horsey, and snobbish; and Fran, surrounded by brothers and sons, too fed up with boys to ever consider marrying one.

Together, the group runs wild through the marshes, beaches, and bars of Greenhead, drinking on houseboats, spending long afternoons sunbathing with their children, and playing games the way they always have. But when Bailey discovers that she is pregnant with Van’s baby, the delicate balance of the group’s friendship is thrown off. Soon Caroline is cast out of the circle and what she does next—in a potent mix of fury and heartbreak—exposes long-held secrets and works the entire town of Greenhead into a lather. Dazzlingly funny, sexy, and as juicy as it is astute, The Shampoo Effect is a story of late-night parties, early mornings with small children, the dawn of midlife, and a group of old friends finally growing up despite all their best efforts to the contrary.

I seem to be reading a few "beach reads" this summer. Like Dolly All the Time, The Shampoo Effect was entertaining and very good on audio. Marin Ireland is a favorite narrator, so I was pretty sure I'd enjoy this audiobook. I wasn't disappointed! Told from four perspectives, it wasn't difficult to keep track of the main characters and their significant others. This is certainly not great literature, and most of the characters behave as if they're still partying in college (and are very cliquish), so I'm not sure why I enjoyed the book so much. I probably wouldn't have gotten very far had I read the print edition. I'd like to give Jackson's debut novel (Pineapple Street) a read and see how it compares.

More Than Enough

 

More Than Enough by Anna Quindlen

Fiction

2026

Finished on August 21, 2026

Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

A woman finds herself asking surprising questions about her family and friends in this wise, wonderful novel of life, loss, and moving on—from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of After Annie.

High school English teacher Polly Goodman can talk about everything and anything with the women in her book club, which is why they’ve become her closest friends and, along with the support of her veterinarian husband, the bedrock of her life. Her private school students, her fraught relationship with mother, her struggles with IVF—Polly’s book club friends have heard it all.

But when they give Polly an ancestry test kit as a joke, the results match her with a stranger. Despite it seeming clear that this match is a mistake, Polly cannot help combing through her own family history for answers. Then, when it seems that the book club circle of four will become three, Polly learns how friendships can change your life in the most profound ways.

Written with Quindlen’s trademark warmth, humor, and insight into the power of love and hope, More Than Enough explores how we find ourselves again and again through the relationships that define us.

Another winner by Anna Quindlen! I very much enjoyed this novel, which feels like an old, favorite sweater, wrapping me up in tender moments between friends and family. Quindlen addresses difficult life situations such as infertility, dementia, and cancer with great sensitivity. While some of the secondary characters aren't fully realized, Polly, Sarah, Garrison, and Mark are as familiar to me as friends in my own social circle. I remember reading a lot of books about women's friendships back in the 1990s, but Quindlen refrains from cliches and overly saccharine scenes between her characters. This one's a keeper to read again at a later date.

Highly recommend!

The Things We Never Say

 

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

Fiction

2026

Finished on August 14, 2026

Rating: 4/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Artie Dam is living a double life. He spends his days teaching history to eleventh graders, expanding their young minds, correcting their casual cruelties, and lending a kind word to those who need it most. He goes to holiday parties with his wife of three decades, makes small talk with neighbors, and, on weekends, takes his sailboat out on the beautiful Massachusetts Bay. He is, by all appearances, present and alive. But inside, Artie is plagued by feelings of isolation. He looks out at a world gone mad—at himself and the people around him—and turns a question over and over in his mind: How is it that we know so little about one another, even those closest to us?

And then, one day, Artie learns that life has been keeping a secret from him, one that threatens to upend his entire world. Once he learns it, he is forced to chart a new course, to reconsider the relationships he holds most dear—and to make peace with the mysteries at the heart of our existence.

Elizabeth Strout, as we have come to expect, delivers a moving exploration of the human condition—one that brims with compassion for each and every one of her indelible characters. With exquisite prose and profound insight, The Things We Never Say takes one man’s fears and loneliness and makes them universal. And in the same breath, captures the abiding love that sustains and holds us all.

I remember the first time I read Elizabeth Strout's novel, Olive Kitteridge. I tried to listen to the audiobook, but didn't care for it at all. Olive was so unlikeable, and the story was quite sad and depressing. I went back later and read the print edition and really enjoyed it. I've gone on to read the book a second time, and I read all Strout's books in 2025. Needless to say, I was very excited to read her latest novel, The Things We Never Say, which moves away from Maine and the familiar faces from her previous works, and takes her readers to Massachusetts with a new set of characters.

One thing is certain--Elizabeth Strout's novels lean toward the bleak and melancholic themes of the human condition. In The Things We Never Say, Artie may be less unfiltered and caustic than Olive, but his temperament felt familiar to many of the characters from Strout's earlier works. He loves his wife and son, and is a wonderful teacher, but there's an underlying discontent in his life. Secrets are revealed, which up-end his steady world, while the upcoming and ensuing results of the 2024 presidential election add anxiety and fear to Artie and those he loves.

I can't say that I loved this book, but I have a feeling that it's one that I'll read again. I do wish there weren't quite so many parenthetical asides, as they interrupt the flow of the story. A few of these include revelations to key events several years before they take place. These glimpses into the future bothered me for some reason.

This passage, however, made me smile, not because of the subject, but because of the nod to one of Strout's books:

He remembered that his wife had loved some book--oh, years ago now--about a crotchety old woman from Maine, and he had read the book reluctantly only because his wife had liked it. He'd forgotten about it until now. In the book the awful woman's father had killed himself when the woman was younger, and now that she was older, the woman thought: People die of loneliness. It happens all the time.

The characters in Elizabeth Strout's novels are often reflective and prone to loneliness or isolation. The Things We Never Say touches on this, as well as politics, suicide, bullying, and infidelity. The author examines the quiet, private lives (often those of introverts or sensitive individuals) found in small towns. I cared about her characters, and I think it would be interesting to read the same story but told from Artie's wife's point of view. Or perhaps their son's. I have a feeling this isn't the last we'll hear from this coastal community.

The Winds of War

 

The Winds of War by Herman Wouk

The Henry Family #1

Fiction

1971

Finished on August 9, 2026

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Peace, if it ever exists, will not be based on the fear of war, but on the love of peace. It will not be the abstaining from an act, but the coming of a state of mind. In this sense the most insignificant writer can serve peace, where the most powerful tribunals can do nothing. ~Herman Wouk

Publisher's Blurb:

Europe, 1939: the rumblings of war grow to a terrible roar. In America the Henry clan--Navy to the bone--finds itself drawn into the very center of the maelstrom: the father at the right hand of Roosevelt, his oldest son flying over the Pacific, his youngest falling in love in Europe. From the conference table to the battlefield, from the rise of the Reich to the horror of Pearl Harbor, this is America's great World War II novel, Pulitzer Prize-winner Herman Wouk's classic epic of monumental events--and human courage and passions.

I have no idea how long I've owned a copy of The Winds of War, but it's easily been sitting on my shelf for over a decade. Maybe two. I've come to enjoy reading about World War II and have always wanted to read Herman Wouk's classic novel. The length (1000+ pages in mass market!) was enough to keep me from picking it up, but last winter I decided to make it a year-long read in 2026. Well, it didn't take me a full year, but I did read it here and there between other books in my stacks. Fortunately, the storyline was straightforward in such a way that it didn't lose momentum with each pause I took over the course of eight months of reading. It's essentially a family saga with the backdrop of the war, culminating with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The Henrys are a Navy family, and readers are given detailed accounts of that life. The book is not one of my favorites of the genre, and I never came to care about any of the main characters. As one might expect, the passages about Hitler felt all too familiar in these current times:

When Victor Henry first came into Hitler's new chancellery, he was incongruously reminded of Radio City Music Hall in New York. The opulent stretch of carpet, the long line of waiting people, the high ceiling, the great expanses of shiny marble, the inordinate length and height of the huge space, the gaudily uniformed men ushering the guests along, all added up to much the same theatrical, vulgar, strained effort to be grand; but this was the seat of a major government, not a movie house. It seemed peculiar.

and

Hitler from moment to moment looked restless, tired, or bored, or else he flashed into winning charm. He was seldom still. He shifted his feet, turned his head here and there, clasped his hands before him, folded them, gestured with them, spoke absently to most people and intensely to a few, and every so often did the little knee kick. Once Pug saw him eating small iced cakes from a plate, shoving them toward his mouth with snatching greedy fingers while he talked to a bemedalled visitor.

and

The speech was a lot of the same old stuff, with some remarkable whoppers, even for the Fuhrer, about who started the Polish war and about the sterling conduct of the Germans toward civilians. This tommyrot was certainly for internal consumption. His German listeners appeared to be swallowing it, though it's very hard to discern what Germans really think.

I've never watched the popular miniseries based on The Winds of War, which aired in 1983 starring Robert Mitchum, Ali McGraw, Polly Bergen, Jan-Michael Vincent, Victoria Tennant, Peter Graves, and John Houseman, but I'm tempted. I also plan to read War and Remembrance in 2027 for another year-long read. 

The Gulf of Lions

 

The Gulf of Lions by Caitlin Shetterly

Fiction

2026

Finished on August 1, 2026

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

From the acclaimed author of Pete and Alice in Maine, comes a standalone and evocative sequel about a mother who, recovering from the trauma of breast cancer and a mastectomy, takes a once-in-a-lifetime trip across France with her two daughters, determined to fully live. There, she finds herself newly awakened by beauty and desire but when the trip takes a turn for the worst, she must decide between a life of pleasure or the deep tethering of family.

Reconciling with her husband after a betrayal and recovering from a yearlong battle with breast cancer, Alice longs for an escape from the trials of everyday life. When the opportunity arises for a once-in-a-lifetime camping trip across France, she packs up her daughters, hoping it’s the new start she so desperately needs.

Alice, teenage Sophie, and young Iris begin their odyssey in the French Alps, entering a foreign world they did not know existed: beautiful people, luscious food, and sensual temptations. It’s a freeing experience—exploring the countryside, sleeping beneath the stars, reveling in the sights and scents of nature. For the first time since her diagnosis, Alice starts to feel alive, less afraid of dying, and less angry about her husband's affair.

But as the family continues south, traveling through Provence, where they camp on the Gulf of Lions, an area of the Mediterranean known for wild, roaring winds and purple fields of lavender, they start to unravel the yarn that binds them together. By the time they head to the charred Pyrenees, and then back across France to stay in a castle that sits on the confluence of two rivers, Alice worries that the trip might have been a disastrous and reckless mistake.

A beautiful meditation on womanhood, personhood, exploration, survival and sexual awakenings, The Gulf of Lions is a breathtaking and emotionally resonant story that plumbs the eternal question: What, in the end, will keep a family from falling apart?

I read Caitlin Shetterly's debut novel, Pete and Alice in Maine, earlier this year. I loved it, and couldn't wait to get my hands on The Gulf of Lions when I heard it was due out in May. I bought my copy and added it to my summer reading list, eager to see what was in store for Alice and her daughters as they made their way across France. 

I'm sad to say that this was a disappointing read. I didn't like any of the characters, especially Alice's two bratty daughters (who hadn't matured at all since the previous novel). I didn't care for Alice's poor choices while in France, either. The only redeeming quality of the book was the lush descriptions of setting and the food. Otherwise, I might not have finished reading the novel. 

Whistler

 

Whistler by Ann Patchett

Fiction

2026

Finished on July 22, 2026

Rating: 5/5 (Excellent)

Publisher's Blurb:

The acclaimed, prize-winning #1 New York Times bestselling writer returns with a moving, luminous novel that reminds us of the sweetness and impermanence of life and the power of connection to defy time.

When Daphne Fuller and her husband Jonathan visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they notice an older, white-haired gentleman following them. The man turns out to be Eddie Triplett, her former stepfather, who had been married to her mother for a little more than year when Daphne was nine. Now fifty-three, Daphne hasn’t seen Eddie for many years, not since the fateful event that changed the direction of both their lives. Meeting again, time falls away; while their relationship was brief, it had a profound impact on them both, and now that they are reunited, they have no intention of ever being separated again.

Whistler is a story about two adults looking back over the choices they made, and the choices that were made for them. It’s a story about bravery, memory, the often small yet consequential moments that define our lives, and the endless stream of loss that in time comes for us all. Beautiful in its simplicity, it is ultimately about how love endures, and how the feeling of being known by one other person, even for a short period of time, can change everything.

A delightful novel!

I finished Whistler a week ago and I'm still thinking about this wonderful story and its characters. It's the sort of novel that one can read very quickly, perhaps in a single day, yet I wanted to savor each page, forcing myself to read slowly, and yet I still finished in record speed. This is a book that is impossible not to tear through without pause!

What did I love? The relationships, all of them, but especially the one between Daphne and Eddie. I loved the backdrop of literature and the publishing world. I loved that Daphne recommended books much as the author does in her reels for Parnassus Books. (I added The Bee Sting, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, and Independent People to my TBR list). I loved the setting, wishing I could visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I think the last time I was there was with my daughter in 1996! I loved the story within a story within another story (which sounds confusing, but it works). And I love the way in which Patchett writes about family dynamics. When I think of her more recent works, I feel that they are centered around family relationships, unlike her earlier novels (Bel Canto and State of Wonder, specifically). Oh, and I especially loved that this is told from one point of view, and is more or less linear (aside from the flashbacks centered around an incident in Daphne's childhood). The last half dozen books that I've recently read included dual points of view, as well as alternating timelines. Whistler felt like a breath of fresh air!

Reading Whistler gives one a sense of deja vu. Anyone who has read Patchett's memoir, These Precious Days, or her New York Times essay, "My Three Fathers," may wonder if Whistler is autobiographical. There appear to be parallels to her life, but while she may draw on personal experiences, the book is not a story of Ann Patchett's life.

I loved Whistler. It may be my favorite book of 2026. It may even be my favorite by the author. And the ending couldn't have been more perfect! I won't be surprised if I read it a second time before the year is over. 

Highly recommend!!

Working on being an Ann Patchett "completist," I have only three remaining novels left to read. She is obviously one of my favorite writers.

Novels:

Tom Lake (5/5)

The Dutch House (4/5)

Commonwealth (4/5)

State of Wonder (5/5)

Bel Canto (5/5)

The Magician's Assistant (3.5/5)

Nonfiction:

These Precious Days (5/5)

This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage (4.5/5)

What Now? (pre-blogging days)

Truth and Beauty (3/5)

To Be Read:

Run

Taft

The Patron Saint of Liars

Dolly All the Time

 

Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monaghan

Fiction

2026

Narrated by Julia Whelan

Finished on July 21, 2026

Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Dolly Brick has never met a problem she couldn’t solve. Not when her mom left when she was twelve, and not at thirty-nine when she moves with her son back to Whitfield, Rhode Island, for the summer to keep her dad and brother from losing the family home.

So when she comes across Stewart Whitfield—annoyingly handsome scion of the Whitfield family—with a flat tire and at the wrong end of a very public, very humiliating breakup, it’s in her nature to help. But Stewart’s proposed arrangement ends up being more than either of them bargained for, because as public dinners and high-society benefits turn into sunset boat rides and kisses that hit her bloodstream like a ghost pepper, Dolly starts to feel something more than helpful. She’s never relied on anyone besides herself—can she really start now?

When asked what type of books I enjoy reading, I usually state that fiction (contemporary, literary, and historical) is my go-to, as well as mysteries and the occasional (very occasional) science fiction and horror. I also enjoy nonfiction, with memoir as my main focus. What I don't typically read is romance novels. I think that last book that I read that falls into this category is The Wedding People, which I classified as a "romantic comedy." 

OK. Searching my blog for a similar book to Dolly All the Time, I came up with You Are Here by David Nicholls. And then when I searched for the audiobook narrator, Julia Whelan, I come up with several others. Thank You for Listening. Evvie Drake Starts Over. My Oxford Year. Book Lovers. Those titles reminded me also of Me Before You, Things You Save in a Fire, as well as The Lost and Found Bookshop. Obviously, I misspoke. Apparently, I do read romances! These mostly earn average (3/5) ratings from me, although there are a few that I loved (Me Before You, After You, and Still Me, all of which were written by Jojo Moyes). 

Listening to this genre is pure brain candy, especially those read by Julia Whelan. She breathes life into each character, their voices distinctive and as unique as if narrated from an ensemble of readers. When a character is on the verge of tears, Whelan's voice cracks as though she is on the verge of breaking down. (And yes, I choked up more than once.) And when she reads a humorous scene, I chortle out loud, not at all concerned if anyone hears me.

Dolly All the Time is written by Annabel Monaghan, an author with whom I'm unfamiliar, but I will most certainly read more from her backlist. As with most "romances," the usual tropes (fake dating, as well as rich man--poor woman) can't be ignored, and the storyline is not without predictability, but I was thoroughly entertained.

Recommend!

The Alice Network

 

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

Fiction

2017

Finished on July 13, 2026

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

In an enthralling new historical novel from national bestselling author Kate Quinn, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947—are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption.

1947. In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive. So when Charlie's parents banish her to Europe to have her "little problem" taken care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London, determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister.

1915. A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she's recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, she's trained by the mesmerizing Lili, code name Alice, the "queen of spies", who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy's nose.

Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn't heard in decades, and launches them both on a mission to find the truth...no matter where it leads.

After reading Kate Quinn's marvelous novel, The Rose Code, last September, I knew I wanted to read more of her historical fiction. I got a copy a couple of months ago and added it to my Summer Reading list. As with The Rose Code, Quinn's historical novel alternates between two time periods, slowly revealing the events of 1915 as one of her main characters shares those details with others in 1947. It took me some time to settle into the story, wishing Quinn didn't flip back and forth between characters and years with each new chapter. Eventually, I fell into the rhythm of the narrative, anxious for both Eve and Charlie, one searching for an enemy and the other for a missing relative. Based on the life of Louise de Bettignies, The Alice Network is a worthwhile read, although I didn't enjoy it as much as The Rose Code. With that said, I'd love to see a TV series based on this book!

The Mother-In-Law

 

The Mother-In-Law by Sally Hepworth

Fiction

2019

Narrated by Barrie Kreinik

Finished on July 11, 2026

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Someone once told me that you have two families in your life - the one you are born into and the one you choose. Yes, you may get to choose your partner, but you don't choose your mother-in-law. The cackling mercenaries of fate determine it all.

From the moment Lucy met Diana, she was kept at arm's length. Diana is exquisitely polite, but Lucy knows, even after marrying Oliver, that they'll never have the closeness she'd been hoping for.

But who could fault Diana? She was a pillar of the community, an advocate for social justice, the matriarch of a loving family. Lucy had wanted so much to please her new mother-in-law.

That was ten years ago. Now, Diana has been found dead, leaving a suicide note. But the autopsy reveals evidence of suffocation. And everyone in the family is hiding something...

From the bestselling author of The Family Next Door comes a new page-turner about that trickiest of relationships.

Having recently read Mad Mabel, I decided to try another book by Sally Hepworth. While not quite as good as Mad Mabel, this audiobook was entertaining and it kept me guessing. Told from Lucy and Diana's perspectives, both from the past and the present, we gain insight as to why each behave the way in which they do, not only to one another but to other family members. A satisfying read!

Yesteryear

 

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Fiction

2026

Narrated by Rebecca Lowman

Finished on July 2, 2026

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

A traditional American woman, a “tradwife” influencer, suddenly awakens in the brutal reality of 1855—where she must unravel whether this living nightmare is an elaborate hoax, a twisted reality show, or something far more sinister in this sensational debut novel.

My name was Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive.

Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.

Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible.

A gripping, electrifying novel that is as darkly funny as it is frightening, Yesteryear is a gimlet-eyed look at tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood.

I can't remember when a novel was as popular as Yesteryear, but with such opposing opinions. Many readers either gave up early on or disliked the book, calling it trash or poorly written. Others, who may have eagerly awaited long library waitlists, enjoyed the tale, happy to chat about it with friends and book groups. Whatever your opinion, one can't argue that this is the most buzzed about novel of the year. 

I went into the audiobook prepared to dislike the story, but was surprisingly captivated by Burke's ability to pull me into Natalie's world(s). Several years ago, I saw an Instagram story which showed a mother of several children making lunch for her family. She made fresh bread from a sourdough starter, cheese with milk from one of their cows, as well as other items, all in her quaint farm kitchen. Not unlike the beautiful photos in Ree Drummund's (Pioneer Woman) cookbooks, Hannah (Ballerina Farm) gave viewers a glimpse inside a home that may or may not be all that it appears. I guess I was naive to think that women like Drummond and Neeleman were doing all the work to create delicious and hearty meals from scratch, and yet, if I'm not mistaken, they have a staff of assistants behind the scenes prepping and styling every shot and angle. As with Natalie's online image in Yesteryear, not all is as it seems. Nannies, producers, farm hands, etc., are all there to make life look easier than it truly is. 

Online influencers, whether those promoting products related to nutrition and health, or those styling classic wardrobes (like my daughter, Fashion Jackson) have become so ubiquitous and profitable that young children aspire to be influencers when they grow up. Perhaps I'm biased because I've seen how hard my daughter works to create content for her followers, but I do believe that not all influencers are frauds. And perhaps that's why I was less critical than other readers of Yesteryear.

Plus, I had to keep listening to find out what the heck happened to Natalie! Not only is this a work of satire, but there's a strong element of mystery, as well. I thoroughly enjoyed the audio production, and I will probably watch the series once it hits a streaming platform. 

The Safekeep

 

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

Fiction

2024

Finished on June 28, 2026

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Booker Prize Nominee for Shortlist (2024)

National Jewish Book Award for Debut Fiction (2024)

Women's Prize for Fiction (2025)

Publisher's Blurb:

An exhilarating, twisted tale of desire, suspicion, and obsession between two women staying in the same house in the Dutch countryside during the summer of 1961—a powerful exploration of the legacy of WWII and the darker parts of our collective past.

A house is a precious thing...

It is 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is truly over. Living alone in her late mother’s country home, Isabel knows her life is as it should be—led by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother Louis brings his graceless new girlfriend Eva, leaving her at Isabel’s doorstep as a guest, to stay for the season.

Eva is Isabel’s antithesis: she sleeps late, walks loudly through the house, and touches things she shouldn’t. In response, Isabel develops a fury-fueled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house—a spoon, a knife, a bowl—Isabel’s suspicions begin to spiral. In the sweltering peak of summer, Isabel’s paranoia gives way to infatuation—leading to a discovery that unravels all Isabel has ever known. The war might not be well and truly over after all, and neither Eva—nor the house in which they live—are what they seem.

Mysterious, sophisticated, sensual, and infused with intrigue, atmosphere, and sex, The Safekeep is a brilliantly plotted and provocative debut novel you won’t soon forget.

I finished this debut novel late last night and am glad I hadn't given up on it. The Safekeep is a quiet and unique tale, nothing like any novel I've read about post-World War II. The writing is lovely, but it was slow to draw me in, possibly due to the frenetic pacing of the book I read prior to this one. 

Isabel and Eva are complex, nuanced characters, both lost and broken in their individual lives, ultimately finding comfort with one another. It's a moving story of self-discovery and love, and yet the explicit revelation of Isabel's sexual awakening felt unnecessarily excessive, leaving nothing to the imagination. It didn't help to move the narrative forward, but rather became a distraction. The final chapters, however, rewarded me with an ultimately moving, and hopeful, conclusion. I look forward to reading more by the author in the future.

Recommend.

Upgrade

 

Upgrade by Blake Crouch

Fiction

2022

Finished on June 22, 2026

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

At first, Logan Ramsay isn’t sure if anything’s different. He just feels a little . . . sharper. Better able to concentrate. Better at multitasking. Reading a bit faster, memorizing better, needing less sleep.

But before long, he can’t deny it: Something’s happening to his brain. To his body. He’s starting to see the world, and those around him—even those he loves most—in whole new ways.

The truth is, Logan’s genome has been hacked. And there’s a reason he’s been targeted for this upgrade. A reason that goes back decades to the darkest part of his past, and a horrific family legacy.

Worse still, what’s happening to him is just the first step in a much larger plan, one that will inflict the same changes on humanity at large—at a terrifying cost.

Because of his new abilities, Logan’s the one person in the world capable of stopping what’s been set in motion. But to have a chance at winning this war, he’ll have to become something other than himself. Maybe even something other than human.

And even as he’s fighting, he can’t help wondering: what if humanity’s only hope for a future really does lie in engineering our own evolution?

Intimate in scale yet epic in scope, Upgrade is an intricately plotted, lightning-fast tale that charts one man’s thrilling transformation, even as it asks us to ponder the limits of our humanity—and our boundless potential.

Upgrade is the third novel by Blake Crouch that I've read and enjoyed. As with Dark Matter and Recursion, I was quickly drawn into the story, the pages practically turning themselves. Similar to my reading experience with Crouch's books, as well as Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary, I found that I could read about science, and specifically molecular genetics and genetic engineering, without getting hung up on the specifics. Published just four years ago, this timely novel struck several chords with how our nation (and world) is evolving:

And I was struck again with the awareness that I was alive in strange times. There was a palpable sense of things in decline.

Africa alone had four billion people, most of whom were food insecure and worse. Even here in America, we were still crippled by rolling food shortages, supply-chain disruptions, and labor scarcity. With the cost of meat having skyrocketed, most restaurants that had closed during the Great Starvation never reopened.

We lived in a veritable surveillance state, engaged with screens more than with our loved ones, and the algorithms knew us better than we knew ourselves.

Each passing year, more jobs were lost to automation and artificial intelligence.

Crouch's characters are rich and fully realized, and the dialogue flows smoothly. And yet, by the halfway mark, I grew impatient. The momentum of the story was beginning to wane. I pushed through and finished, but what I thought would be a 5-star read dropped down a full point. The author has sold the rights to Amblin, Steven Spielberg's company. I enjoyed the 9-episode Apple TV series of Dark Matter, and look forward to watching Upgrade once it hits a streaming platform. 

If you haven't read Blake Crouch, I recommend starting with one of his previous books. This one is somewhat underwhelming.

Dark Matter (4.5/5)

Recursion (5/5)

Mad Mabel

 

Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

Fiction

Narrated by Hannah Fredericksen and Jenny Seedsman

2025

Finished on June 15, 2026

Rating: 4.5/5 (Excellent)

Publisher's Blurb:

From Sally Hepworth, the New York Times bestselling author of The Soulmate and The Good Sister, comes a twist-filled, darkly funny mystery about the two kinds of people no one ever expects to be murderers: little girls and old ladies.

Meet Mad Mabel.

Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick is eighty-one years old. She's lived on her idyllic street, Kenny Lane, for sixty years--longer than anyone else. Aside from being a curmudgeon who minds everyone else's business, few would suspect that Elsie has a past that she has worked exceedingly hard at concealing. Because when it comes to murder, no one ever suspects little girls or old ladies. And Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick, once a little girl and now an old lady, has a strange history of people in her life coming to a foul end.

When a new little girl (talkative, curious, nosy) moves into the neighborhood and stops at nothing to befriend Elsie, her carefully-constructed life threatens to come crashing down as the secrets in Elsie's past start coming to light. Who was "Mad Mabel" fifty years ago? Who is Elsie Fitzpatrick today? And if the past has a habit of repeating itself, who has the most to lose?

Told with Sally Hepworth's twists, humor, charm, and heart, Mad Mabel is a novel that weaves past and present together--through the power of justice and redemption, and all the way to its stunning conclusion.

Oh, how I loved this audiobook with its outstanding performances by both narrators. I could easily keep track of the alternating timelines and various characters, eager to drag out my daily walks in order to continue listening. Haughty and cantankerous, Elsie reminded me of Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey, although underneath it all, she is tender and loving. This book had me laughing one moment and was tugging at my heartstrings in the next. The power of female friendships, young and old, shines throughout this rich developed story. 

I spotted one twist early on, but there is quite a surprise toward the end that had me gasping out loud, followed by tears welling in my eyes. Mad Mabel is my second Hepsworth novel and I'm now eager to read more. 

Highly recommend!

Long Bright River

 

Long Bright River by Liz Moore

Fiction

2020

Finished on June 14, 2026

Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Two sisters travel the same streets, though their lives couldn't be more different. Then, one of them goes missing.

In a Philadelphia neighborhood rocked by the opioid crisis, two once-inseparable sisters find themselves at odds. One, Kacey, lives on the streets in the vise of addiction. The other, Mickey, walks those same blocks on her police beat. They don't speak anymore, but Mickey never stops worrying about her sibling.

Then Kacey disappears, suddenly, at the same time that a mysterious string of murders begins in Mickey's district, and Mickey becomes dangerously obsessed with finding the culprit--and her sister--before it's too late.

Alternating its present-day mystery with the story of the sisters' childhood and adolescence, Long Bright River is at once heart-pounding and heart-wrenching: a gripping suspense novel that is also a moving story of sisters, addiction, and the formidable ties that persist between place, family, and fate.

Having read and enjoyed Liz Moore's recent mystery, The God of the Woods, I was excited to pick up Long Bright River. There is something about a great mystery that pulls you in from the opening lines. The pacing is taut, the dialogue engaging, and the pages flew, keeping me reading late into the night. Long Bright River is a few pages longer than my previous read (The House of Special Purpose), but it took half the time to finish reading. I looked forward to returning to Philadelphia, eager to find out what was going on with Kacey, as well as Mickey and her young son, Thomas. I've never been to Philadelphia, but Moore writes as if she knows every street and neighborhood, specifically that of Kensington. There are a few red herrings, and a twist that I never saw coming. As I read, I found myself thinking back to Dennis Lehane's excellent mystery, Small Mercies. Coincidentally, Lehane has blurbed Long Bright River. I concur!

"Long Bright River is a remarkable, profoundly moving novel about the ties that bind and the irrevocable wounds of childhood. A riveting mystery...I loved every page." —Dennis Lehane, New York Times bestselling author 

Long Bright River is not simply a mystery, but also a story about what makes a family, as well as a harsh examination of the opioid crisis.

Highly recommend.

 

The House of Special Purpose

 

The House of Special Purpose by John Boyne

Fiction

2009

Finished on June 5, 2026

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

From the author of The Absolutist, a propulsive novel of the Russian Revolution and the fate of the Romanovs.

 

Part love story, part historical epic, part tragedy, The House of Special Purpose illuminates an empire at the end of its reign.

Eighty-year-old Georgy Jachmenev is haunted by his past—a past of death, suffering, and scandal that will stay with him until the end of his days. Living in England with his beloved wife, Zoya, Georgy prepares to make one final journey back to the Russia he once knew and loved, the Russia that both destroyed and defined him. As Georgy remembers days gone by, we are transported to St. Petersburg, to the Winter Palace of the czar, in the early twentieth century—a time of change, threat, and bloody revolution. As Georgy overturns the most painful stone of all, we uncover the story of the house of special purpose.

I bought The House of Special Purpose at Parnassus Books four years ago while visiting my daughter and son-in-law in Tennessee. I always make an effort to buy at least one or two books from an independent bookstore while traveling, and having read a few of Boyne's novels, this one caught my eye. Not wanting it to languish on my shelves much longer, I decided it would be one to read this summer, as I love a hefty book to sink into during the longer days. 

Spanning seventy years, separated by past and present, and clocking in at almost 500 pages, this one took me two weeks to read. At times I was thoroughly engrossed in the lives of Georgy and Zoya, but there were also moments when I grew impatient with the details, silently complaining about the drawn out length of the tale.

Ever the critic, I found one irritating error, which the editor should have caught. Boyne's main character, Georgy, has received birthday gifts from his wife and one-year-old daughter. Little Arina later asks, "Father," she said, sounding so serious now, the way she always did when she had a question she considered to be of the highest importance. "Whose present is the best, mine or Mother's?" Either Georgy has an exceptionally bright toddler or her age was misstated earlier in the chapter. 

I have now read five of John Boyne's novels, and while The House of Special Purpose was worthwhile, it's not one that I'd like to read again. Having said that, I would like to read more about that period in Russian history. I might give The Romanov Sisters (Helen Rappaport) a read later this year. If anyone has any other recommendations, please let me know.

My Reviews of John Boyne's Novels:

The Absolutist (5/5)

A Ladder to the Sky (4.5/5)

The Heart's Invisible Furies (4.5/5)

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2/5)