The Fervent Whites: A Novel
by De'Shawn Charles Winslow
Excellent read (3/31/2026)
I read the author's debut novel, In West Mills, and was impressed then as I am now. First, this is a propulsive thriller excellently paced but it is underlying theme that friendship is about the person not the color and those who cannot accept the color are tragedies for their loss of it that resonates.
It's 1982 and James and Ella White have been exonerated for the killing of Paul Hope and released from jail. They decide to return to Fervent, a small subdivision outside NYC, which is unsettling for many of its residents. The Whites are white, a minority in the area, but they had adopted a black child, Morgan, so were accepted, though they were both known for their tempers. Sylvia "Syl" Upshaw and her friend Lafayette "Fate" Jolly are black and are neighbors of the Whites. They have observed that the Whites don't seem to know, in their opinion, how to raise a black child. When Morgan's parents are imprisoned, a secret about his parentage is revealed. Morgan dies in an accident and the Whites learn the secret of his birth was revealed and are out for vengeance.
I loved the characters in this book - even the Whites.
They are excellently drawn and developed. The story unfolds dramatically as we watch Syl and Fate worry about retribution but intervening events bring a few red herrings to the story. Mrs. Talbot was probably my favorite because she was afraid to speak up against discrimination. And the writing flowed so well.
I enjoyed the read and highly recommend.
I'd like to thank NetGalley and Old World/Random House for allowing me to read this ARC.
One Leg on Earth: A Novel
by 'Pemi Aguda
Coming of age story (3/31/2026)
A haunting story of an African country's capital city, Lagos, where pregnant women are walking into water and drowning. Why is this happening? Twenty-three year old, Yosoye, has come from the country to Lagos as part of a government-supported internship for students graduating from college.
She's assigned to a "slick" architectural firm and is drawn into the glamorous world that it offers - parties, gallery openings, pompous acquaintances. The firm is engaged in creating an exciting new ultra-luxury waterfront development, Omi City. But soon Yosoye finds herself pregnant and realizes this bright new world is really dark. The drowning of pregnant women bothers Yosoye especially as no one really seems to care as the project is more important than the people. Yosoye is then faced with a personal dilemma.
This is a well written coming of age story and a story about the dark side of modernization. I liked Yosoye as she struggles to understand what is happening in her world and how motherhood will affect her. However, it wasn't clear to me about the reasons for all the women walking into the water and drowning. In her afterward, the author mentions that the government had taken over the waterfront which had been the home of fishermen and common people to modernize it. This explained a bit. Nonetheless it's a fascinating story.
I'd like to thank NetGalley and W.W. Norton and Co for allowing me to read this ARC.
We Burned So Bright
by TJ Klune
Poignant and fulfilling (3/26/2026)
This is a slightly different book than The House by the Cerulean Sea but it delivers as poignant a punch as that book did. I listened to this beautiful book (thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for entrusting me with this ARC) so nicely narrated and so very moving.
Dan and Rodney, an older queer couple, together over 40 years, are taking an AV from Maine to Washington to take care of one last thing before Earth is swept into extinction by a black hole. It’s a journey in which they meet other people awaiting the end, dealing with their mortality as Dan and Rodney are. Dan and Rodney are also examining their lives on the journey. Rodney is a bit of a curmudgeon, persnickety even as the world is dying and none of that matters. Dan is more level headed and kinder about life’s foibles. But somehow these two work and their love is deeply felt.
This is a character-driven novel that explores what really matters in life. When you face the end, you can see clearer. Dan and Rodney’s story offers us that chance - besides being a novel, it’s an opportunity to ask did I live a worthwhile life. In listening to their story, these two did. Heartbreaking, heartfelt and amazingly bittersweet, this short book is very powerful.
A Killer in the Family: A Novel
by Amin Ahmad
Family story (3/25/2026)
A riveting family story and murder mystery in which secrets abound. Greed and jealousy abound in the Abbas Khan family where members of the family are pitted against each other. Ali, the new son-in-law of Abbas Khan, becomes enmeshed in an affair with his wife's sister and then joins Tiger Company to make amends. The twists and turns in the story. But its moral is that Ali soon realizes his choices have trapped him. I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this
ARC.
The Mountains We Call Home
by Kim Michele Richardson
Cussie Lovett Returns (3/21/2026)
This is story of deep love, strength and endurance and the power of books! A sequel to the beautiful The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, this standalone novel brings the same fervent paean to the written word its predecessor did. The beloved Cussie Lovett has returned - though it's her daughter. It's 1953 and this "blue" woman (she has the rare genetic disorder called methemoglobinema) has married a white man, Jackson, a crime (miscegenation) in Kentucky since she is considered "colored." She's carted off to prison. The book centers on her time in prison where she helps inmates learn to read and right. The book exposes the terrible conditions of prisons at that time and explores the criminalization of the poor and the powerless. But in Cussie there is hope.
This is a great historical fiction novel. Well researched and brimming with authenticity. It is also such a sweet, tender and finely written book. The cast of characters are superb. Cussie is one of those immortal characters that lives on after you finish the book.
Be sure to read the author's note for more historical context. It highlights a lot of history behind the mountain women who brought books to the people as well as about genetics of Cussie's condition.
Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks LANDMARK for allowing me to read this ARC.
Honey: A Novel
by Imani Thompson
A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do (3/19/2026)
This is a provocative, "wickedly funny," character-driven, dark novel about a young black woman who murders men she considers bad and justifies it in the name of feminism. Ysra is working on her PhD on Afropessimism (a social theory that says "Black people will always be seen in a civil society as enemies due to the racial structure built on slavery."). Isra's moral constructs are based on this and she views her relationships within this context. As the novel begins, she's bored by the students she has to cater to and the men she has to deal with. When her friend has her thesis stolen and then published under her white male professor's name. Ysra is convinced that patrimony and vestiges of colonialism can only be resolved by murder!
l've read several female serial murder books where the women are taking out the bad men, but none of these are based on such a philosophical premise. It's brilliant. I'm not sure l agree that murder is the solution, but all the men in this book are worthy of consideration for it (LOL). They have misogynistic and discriminatory views of specially towards black women (and probably women in general) and miss signals of the need for equality in a relationship.
Ysra is a fascinating character. I'm not sure l agree with her approach, but then I am not black. But I understand her frustration as a woman that we are second class citizens. I think the author's dark humor is her way to say this needs to change - kinda "this isn't right, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do." All tongue in cheek, of course.
The book is well written. The plot well paced and the characters are nicely developed.
I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC.
Mrs. Shim Is a Killer: A Novel
by Kang Jiyoung
Dark comedy succeeds (3/19/2026)
This is dark humor at its best. This book is about a-murder-for-hire agency in South Korea. It's playful, deceptively cozy, bloody but entertaining. It's also a book that looks how someone can reinvent themselves. Shim Eunoke is a 51 year-old widow with 3 children to support who is in need of a job after the butcher shop she's worked in for 13 years is closed. Desperate to find a job, she stumbles upon the Smile Detective Agency where she is hired to be a killer. Her knife skills appear to be a great job qualification.
Surprisingly she turns out to be the agency's best killer!
The book is arranged in the shifting and disconnected perspectives of Mrs. Shim's acquaintances or those who come into her life. The chapters are entitled: The Boss, The Confident, The Shaman, The Daughter. Not all of these characters' perspectives occur at the same time, secrets are revealed and present relationships may reveal things from the past (very clever). As she stumbles into a turf war, we watch her "carve" her way out and reinvent herself. We all are rooting for Mrs. Shim.
Originally published in 2010, the book has themes of class, capitalism and women's place in society. It is a fun read. Don't miss it.
I'd like to thank NetGalley and Harper Perennial for allowing me to read this ARC.
The Spoil: A Novel
by Maile Chapman
Missed the horror (3/19/2026)
This is a psychological horror thriller which I usually enjoy. But I had a love hate relationship with it and still not sure where I ended up. The book starts in the 1970s in Tacoma. A young girl is hooked of the strange and weird like alien invasions, paranormal visits, the Bermuda Triangle.
She lives with her stepbrother and both believe their home has some unholy or evil presence. So they work around this but life isn't easy. Years later caring for mother who has Alzheimer's, the girl releases an evil force into their home while rummaging in boxes her mother brought from their old home. The force takes over forcing the girl to have to face her past.
I just felt the book was too long and didn't make sense to me at times. I live a good horror book, but I missed something here.
The Caretaker: A Novel
by Marcus Kliewer
Creepy, scary horror (3/19/2026)
This is indeed a creepy, scary horror story. There is a lot of craziness as the "house" is seemingly infected - not haunted per se - but something is there that must be kept quiet and if you don't follow "the rites" something cosmic may happen. Macy Mullins needs a job to pay the rent and groceries as well as take care of her sister, Jemma but nothing comes until she sees an ad for a caretaker for 3 days at Grace Carnswel's house - and the salary makes it hard to turn down. However, in order to take care of the house, there are specific rules (the rites) that must be followed, left by Grace's deceased husband, David. Follow the rules and it's easy peasy - don't follow them and you will be punished.
Macy is struggling with grief over her father's death and her sister's shoplifting. As the novel moves on and Macy makes mistakes, her grief turns to paranoia making the psychological aspect of the book more intense. We see Macy coming apart - she believes as did David she must save the world and keep whatever is creeping out at bay.
I was disappointed at the ending. I had a sense of what it was but I'm disappointed when books leave you to conclude the ending. Nonetheless, this is a great horror story, tantalizing, creepy and immersive.
I'd like to thank NetGalley and Atria Books for allowing me to read this ARC.
Go Gentle
by Maria Semple
A look into the life of the mind and heart (3/17/2026)
This is a book about the conflict between the life of mind versus the life of the heart. Filled with humor, intrigue and contemplation, this is a messy look into one woman trying to make sense of her life. Audora Hazzard (what a great name!), a former TV comedy writer turns to Stoic philosophy (actually a very good choice these guys had a moral sense needed in our times) for her truth. Summoned anonymously to the Lionel Lockwood mansion, she becomes the family's philosopher. Along the way she gathers three divorced women who live in her NY building into an intellectual "coven" forswearing love.
But ops! when a handsome intriguing man comes along, she starts to fall in love. And, she's pulled into an international "arms deal" (this is very clever!) while trauma from her past is revealed. While the story gets a bit convoluted in the telling, nonetheless Audora is a fascinating character. I loved all the Stoic philosophy stuff (I actually read Epictetus and Senaca and found them very insightful) - how clever. And those scenes in which Audora uses the philosophy are so very good! I'm not sure how the trauma aspect of Audor's life contributes to the story even though it's a way to explain a character, but anything dealing with Audora is fine by me. Loved her!
The supporting characters in this book were a lot of fun too. The Lockwoods and Ravi would crack me up at times. The author surrounded Aurora with a great cast.
This was a fun read. Very clever and subtle things occur - so pay attention as you read, you don't want to miss any of these.
I’d like to thank NetGalley and G.P. Putnam & Sons for allowing me to read this ARC
Her Last Breath: A Novel
by Taylor Adams
Good claustrophobia (3/16/2026)
This book came recommended by a book influencer I follow - thank you KellyHook_ReadsBooks! This was such an amazing thriller! Best friends Allie Merritt and Tess DeWater are going spelunking. Tess isn't adventurous but is feeling her life is colorless, so agrees to join the more dynamic Allie. Just before the women descend into the cave they are confronted by a man who seemingly makes advances only to be confined by Allie and told to leave. The women then proceed into a cave of which my best description might be "a claustrophobic's nightmare." What happens during their expedition is told through a series of hospital room conversations between Tess and Detective Layla Washington.
There's been a murder, the mysterious man, Jacob, and Tess bring trapped in the cave. It's a conundrum. The book is plotted so deliciously. From start to finish it's one twist after another m, not only with the scenes in the cave but with what really happened.
You may think you know what's really happened but you don't. That's what makes this book so good.
I highly recommend.
Feast
by Catherine Kurtz
A feast of food and words (3/15/2026)
Indeed as the title reveals, this is a feast both of food and words. Not only is the cover inviting, the story itself is a sweet, inviting tale of a girl who finds a place for herself where it always was. Minha or "Min," a dark-skinned girl growing up in late 19th C London whose father was an Indian merchant and her mother who as a daughter of the working class went to the big city to find her way. Because of Minha's skin color she is rejected by many but she has a special talent - the gift of scent! Like her mother, after being sent to her grandparents who live as servants on a grand estate, Min journeys to France where her extraordinary scent causes her to detect poison and she becomes a food taster to the "duc." It's difficult to write a synopsis without giving this precious story away, suffice it to say Min is a girl looking for acceptance, friendship and love. After being brutally betrayed she eventually finds all three.
Minha is such a special character: open, accepting and forgiving. Her extraordinary gift of scent makes this delightfully written book a "feast" of scents, spices, food that can at times make one salivate! The writing is so very poignant. Minha's story is also one of discrimination and you feel for her plight but because she's a kind soul, others less bigoted show her warmth. Indeed Minha doesn't realize at times how many lives she's touched.
I liked how the book ended. While I would have preferred a Cinderella kind of ending, the one that happened is in keeping with Minha's character.
I'd like to thank NetGalley/BookBrowse and Berkley Publishing Group
No One's Coming: The Rogue Heroes Our Government Turns to When There's Nowhere Else to Turn
by Kevin Hazzard
Thriller nonfiction. (3/15/2026)
This nonfiction book reads like a thriller - a slow burn one at that. The book details the rescue of two American workers in Monrovia, Sierra Leone, who contracted Ebola and were transported home in 2014.
This is the story too of a daring aviation company, Phoenix Air, who dared to risk everything to bring two very sick but contagious people. The history of the company and the daring men who created it is so fascinating. As to transporting sick people, the usual policy was to leave them where they were. The CDC at that time didn't think was right so they worked with Phoenix to devise a way to get these Americans home. Then this Ebola crisis (2014-2016). Since the CDC is located near Emory, their hospital created an isolation ward and was ready to accept the infected Americans.
Both Americans were at death's before their recuse.
They were given an experimental medication, ZMAPP, which helped them immensely. The flights (two, one for each of the sick workers) took a lot of preparation and lack of fear on the part of the flight and medical crews. As the books, wild stories about terrorists trying to steal Ebola to infect the world popped.
I was glad these people got home and that the federal government at that time was willing to help them home. In today's world they would have been left to die.
An Infinite Love Story
by Chanel Cleeton
A romance for all times (3/14/2026)
This is a romance in its purest form - a story about how people connect and endure through joy and sorrow because of the depth and sincerity of their love that transcends sex, time and space. I didn't need Kleenex when I finished (I was close) but I was filled with such intense feelings that I just experienced a love story for the ages.
It's the 1960s and the Space Race is on. Vivian is a budding journalist when she meets Joe, a fighter pilot, who has dreams of being an astronaut. The story alternates at times between the fateful space mission where Joe is lost to Vivian's and Joe's love story. After the mission is called, Vivian keeps believing in Joe coming back and seeks to call attention to some of the failings of the space program. No spoilers - you must read this wonderful story to find out its ending.
Cleeton has created the most intense atmospheric romance sans steam I've ever read - confirming that love can be more than steam in a book. Vivian and Joe reverberate on the pages with their resilience and passion for each other and the things that giving in their lives. I really liked these two, especially Joe. I also liked how Cleeton included the expectations os astronaut wives in the 1960s. Vivian didn't want to fit the mold, which was another thing I liked about her..
This is a book for all lovers of historical romances with realistic characters.
I'd like to thank NetGalley/BookBrowse and Berkley Publishing Group for allowing me to read this beautiful love story (ARC).
The Insomniacs
by Allison Winn Scotch
Good friends help one another (3/14/2026)
For lovers of character-driven stories, this is a must read. Four disparate people come together because they can't sleep and forge a friendship and bond to solve a mystery. And, this works for "I could not put this book down." A retiree, Julian; an injured baseball player, Zeke; an empty-nester, Sybil; and a waitress, Betty, meet in a diner. Their friendship grows and even the illusive Betty finds herself happy to be part of this "family." When one of the group goes missing, the friends feel compelled to find their friend and solve what happened.
This is a slow burn mystery but you don't mind because the friends are so interesting and as their burgeoning friendships grow, you become so invested in them. I especially liked Sybil who has such resilience and spunk. Her relationship with Zeke adds a little lightness to the story. And Betty is so secretive and the tension is finding out way is palpable. Julian just has a calmness that balances the four out.
The mystery in the book is interesting too. No spoilers here - you have to read the book (it's a good one). I liked how the author put in newspaper excepts to tell part of the story. While there is a bit of fluff near the end, this is such a good story for all the good characters in it, it doesn't diminish a good story.
I'd like to thank NetGalley/BookBrowse and Berkley Publishing for allowing me to read this ARC.
The Take
by Kelly Yang
Be careful what you wish for (3/14/2026)
"You either make something, or break something" are words Ingrid Parker, famous Hollywood producer, says to her mentee, Maggie Wang at the start of this brilliant novel. It seemed to me to sum up a theme in this book: make your choices wisely because Dane and ambition are fleeting.
From the very first sentence I was hooked. As Maggie Wang seeks to make a name for herself as a writer, she seems to step into quagmires until an impossible offer presents itself: share blood with this wealthy women and make $3 million (wipe out your debts, help your parents and be able to support yourself writing. Too good to be true? Maybe, maybe not? This book pits two creative women against each other: one wants to be heard, the other seeks relevancy. What starts out as transactional turns into a psychological game of who will get the upper hand.
In the telling the story exposes what happens when ambition overtakes relevancy. The subplot of ageism and racism sheds a light on the plight women of color have in the white world and what aging women face in a man's world.
Ingrid starts out likable but she soon reveals her true self. Maggie is a coming-of-age character who you root for but she too has a side that can be off putting.
The magical realism of a treatment to reduce aging and character inversion was so delightfully clever.
And the ending was a surprise but a very good one.
I'd like to thank NetGalley/ BookBrowse and Berkley Punishing for allowing me to read this ARC.
Dear Monica Lewinsky: A Novel
by Julia Langbein
Revisiting the past (3/12/2026)
Hilariously funny with biting satire, this book captivates from the beginning as well as looking deeply into how women are viewed and treated and how maybe we treated the real Monica Lewinsky wrongly. Forty-five Jean Dornan revisits her affair when she was 19 with an older professor while in France studying. She sees the parallels with Monica Lewinsky and her situation as both occurred in 1998.
She's been invited to a 20 year reunion as the professor is retiring. Deeply troubled by this past Jean throws herself on the mercy of St Monica Lewinsky (the book starts with the most delightfully satirical story of this saint - and interspersed within the novel are tales of virgin saints hilariously rewritten (though not too far off from the real stories) to contrast these virgins and how the strove to keep their virginity at the expense of having sex in contrast to Jean). Saint Monica guides her through an examination of that six week summer. As the novel unfolds Jean is able to see how her ambition got in her way and then when the professor punished her for their relationship, her life took a trajectory that diminished her.
One of the beauties of the book is the interweaving art history and religious tropes. The other is the cooking aspects. These especially blend the theme of desires one faces in life with the costs for our appetites. And as with the character of Monica, the book asks the question of what does forgiveness look like.
I loved Jean and St Monica with her funny one liners. Such a fun read.
Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead: A Novel
by Mai Nguyen
Grief is personal (3/11/2026)
A beautifully poignant novel exploring grief, loss and motherhood. This is a book that stays with you after you close it. Cleo Dang and best friend, Paloma, are having babies on the same day. Paloma goes home with her son, Jude, while Cleo goes home to bury her daughter, Daisy. Cleo's grief seems insurmountable; her biggest goal was to be a mother. Finding her actuarial job a bit overwhelming (I think those malicious comments she heard from coworkers were awful to experience - but I also think it was powerful to include them to show that other people's expectations of how one shows grief are totally whacked! Made me mad to read them!), Cleo leaves and finds another in the funeral home from which her daughter was buried.
Cleo's recovery begins in a place one would not expect to find it. But in helping others, Cleo allows her compassion be more important than her grief. She also learns to share her feelings more especially with Ethan to whom it appears to Cleo that he isn't grieving. The wonderful discussion between the two of them near the end of the book was cathartic to read. Grief is personal and unexplainable to others.
This is a book that might help others like Cleo. Never having had to experience a loss like hers it's hard to relate except to know that I was so fortunate to see my children grow up. That's why the ending is the best. Hope is eternal.
I'd like to thank NetGalley and Atria Books for allowing me to read this ARC.
Porcupines: A Novel
by Fran Fabriczki
A must read (3/10/2026)
What a book of poignancy, tenderness, humor and sheer delight. I was captivated from the beginning and when Mila, the daughter in the book, responds to the question of who her father is, she say “he was a lot of fun”, I laughed so hard and knew I just had to finish this book immediately!
This is the story of Sonia Imre, an illegal Hungarian immigrant, and her relationship with her daughter, Mila. It’s also a coming-of-age story for both of them. Their story is told between alternating years - 1989 and 2001 - and countries, divided into five parts which moves the story chronologically and is told by a third person narrator “perfectly tuned” to Sonia
Sonia comes to America after the fall of the Soviet Union seeking a glamorous Hollywood life which she believes her sister, Rina, must be living in Los Angeles. She’s sorely disabused to learn Rina lives an Orthodox Jewish wife’s life - which is not very glamorous. Eventually Sonia leaves her sister’s home, learns independence and becomes pregnant. Sonia isolates herself and Mila in an act of protection but this soon comes to at head on a school trip to San Francisco where she has to face the “music” (but not due to Mila’s orchestra concert).
I loved Sonia. She’s funny, resilient, and vulnerable. Her years of hiding have given her a perceptive nature which usually helps her out of a crisis. I loved too how she grew and realized she needed to direct Mila in the right directions. She belongs among those characters you remember like Elenor Oliphant or Sally Diamond. She captures your heart.
This book is well written, engaging and a beautiful debut novel. I highly recommend.
I’d like to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for allowing me to read this ARC.
City of the Muse: A Novel
by Kate Hilton
Exciting mystery (3/10/2026)
I love historical fiction especially ones set in Egypt among the pyramids and excavations. So this book immediately caught my attention (thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for allowing me to read this ARC). I fell in love with the story immediately.
Alternating between past (1993-1904) and 2019, the novel takes us on journey into a fictional dig in Egypt, set in a fictional city, Calliopis, to Canada and San Francisco to uncover a 100 year old murder and a newly discovered papyrus. The two times are masterfully interwoven and the suspense can be "killing" (no pun intended) at times.
Maddie Sloan is an archivist in a Canadian museum when she's assigned to help an American TV archeologist, Peter Behar, work on papyruses from an ill-fated dig her great grandmother, Iris Wentworth, participated in. In their work they discover an ancient papyrus that could significance both to the ill-fated dig at Calliopis and an ancient poetess. Using excerpts from journals discovered in various libraries, a video and modern technology, a story emerges of greed, ego and deceit (both in the past as well as the present.)
I loved Maddie and Iris. But there were so many other good characters that bolster and enrich the book. The plot was cleverly done and the murderer revealed was a surprise.
This is such a well done book and for readers who like The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis or Daughter of Egypt by Marie Benedict this is a must read.
Power Reviewer
