The Sea Child by Linda Wilgus

September 30, 2026

The Sea Child by Linda Wilgus

As a small child, Isabel Henley was found wandering alone on the Cornwall shore. It was unknown if she survived the sinking of a ship, was swept overboard, or jumped off a ship. The villagers believed she might be the daughter of the Bucca, a mythological sea creature. She was adopted by a wealthy couple and grew up in a life of privilege. But following the death of her parents and her husband, Isabel is forced to use her inheritance to settle her husband's debts. Left in reduced circumstances, now widowed Isabel leases a small cottage near the village where she was found as a child, planning to live a quiet life. But she finds her life turned upside down when smugglers come to her cottage with their wounded captain, which leads Isabel to have the grand adventure she has always craved while still observing the social conventions of the day.

A sweet slow-burn romantic adventure set in Cornwall. Folklore, a handsome smuggler, romance, mystery, adventure, morally ambiguous characters, and a woman learning to be independent while still falling in love - what's not to like? This will appeal to readers who enjoyed the Poldark series on PBS or the Sharpe novels by Bernard Cornwell.

Cornwall

The Memory of Borrowed Books by Meg Anderson

September 19, 2026

The Memory of Borrowed Books

Claire Ashford is the head librarian at a small town library. The building is old and the town council wants to tear it down and put up luxury condos. Claire desperately wants to save the library but doesn't know how. Then late one evening, she discovers a hidden room that she has never noticed before, filled with mysterious books.

I've had a string of disappointing books lately, maybe because a lot of them are by debut authors. This was just okay, didn't love it. It had a strong YA feel. The grown-ups in the story are constantly calling and fussing over Claire, telling her to eat and go to bed and what to do, even though she is the head librarian at the town library, a position of responsibility. And she's almost 30 years old, for god's sake. It's obvious that there is some trauma in Claire's past but she isn't going to get past it if no one will let her deal with it (and it isn't that big a trauma when we get the big reveal, since we already suspect what it is). She also adopts a dog on a whim (you should really think about it before you take on responsibility for another living creature), but it does ground her. I know some readers loved her, but I found Grace to be really annoying. Also, librarians do a lot more than just shelve books and check out books for patrons.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Partita by Barbara Kingsolver

September 13, 2026

Partita by Barbara Kingsolver

Livia Cable was on track to become a concert pianist until an accident side-tracked her plans. Now a piano teacher married to a farmer, after not hearing from him for 30 years, the man who broke her heart while she was in college contacts her, wanting to see her.

I am never sure how I am going to feel about Barbara Kingsolver's books. Some I have really loved (The Poisonwood Bible), others not so much. This one is somewhere in the middle, and I don't feel it's one of her better books. The main character is a bundle of cliches, starting with coming from a small town, having a mother who tries to keep her in her place, going to a big university where she doesn't fit in socially or academically, falling for a really hot older guy and having really hot sex for a couple of months, getting dumped by said hot guy when he leaves town, finding out she's pregnant, and then letting her whole life fall apart after Mr. Hot Guy splits. Lots of musical terms and descriptions of musical compositions, which are metaphors for the story. Livia and her brother Cy are victims of their mother's disappointments. Their father doesn't fare much better but he doesn't protect them from her abuse, either. The ending was disappointing - it felt rushed and the story felt unfinished, like the author didn't know how to end the story (I am one of those people who likes all the various story threads drawn together, so that I know what happened to the characters). The dogs (Dolly, Ondine and Gaz) were by far my favorite characters. Possible triggers include child abuse, suicide, mental illness, hoarding, child loss, grief.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

The Three Graces of Pearl Street by Elizabeth Wellington Rollins

September 11, 2026

The Three Graces of Pearl Street by Elizabeth Wellington Rollins

96 year old Graziella Valentini runs her neighborhood, her church and her family with an iron hand, like a mafia don. Her daughter Grace is in the middle of a divorce that she is trying to hide from her country club friends, while her MIT educated granddaughter is floundering to find the next steps in her life. Grandmother Graziella spends her life distributing charity to those in need, but still finds time to steer her daughter and granddaughter's lives, while also fighting with the Catholic Church.

I know a lot of readers loved this but I just didn't connect with any of the characters. The plot was predictable and was really slow from the middle to the end of the book. I could see where it was going early on. The grandmother was the most developed character in the story, while the other two women characters were kind of flat. One of the things I disliked was that the granddaughter Ella had to be "rescued" by a man. Also, I'm not Catholic, but I felt that the emphasis on the church's flaws was heavy handed at times. I did like Graziella's care for homeless cats (even though I am more of a dog person), although I didn't like some of her other traits.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

The Half-Hearted Queen by Charlie N. Holmberg

September 11, 2026

The Half-Hearted Queen by Charlie N. Holmberg

Craft healer Nym Tallowax has been taken prisoner by Adoel Nicosia and taken to Rodsfell, the capital of Sesta, along with King Renn's sister Eden. Nym knows their only chance of survival is to free themselves and escape, because with a war raging, it might take a long time for rescue to arrive.

This was just okay. I didn't enjoy this as much as some of the author's other books. I picked it up because I read the first book in the duology, The Shattered King, and like it well enough to want to find out what happened to the characters. It takes Nym a long time to figure out the connection between Renn and Nicosia. I got tired of all the descriptions of the violence inflicted on Nym and Eden, also the descriptions of war in the second half of the book, so I skimmed over much of the last 150 pages. Possible triggers include sexual assault, violence against women, violence in general. 

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

September 8, 2026

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Natalie is a social media influencer who promotes living a traditional 19th century farm wife, but actually, she has household help, farm help, and all the modern conveniences. She has five children with a sixth on the way, but doesn't seem to like being a mother all that much. Nor does she care much for her rich lazy husband. All of that changes when she wakes up one morning to find herself transported back to the 19th century.

This had a great premise: Natalie, a social media influencer, obsessively documents her life online as a traditional/pioneer type wife and mother, while actually being a sham. Her 19th century cabinetry hides state-of-the-art appliances and she has hired help out the wazoo. Her husband is a rich boy who is banging one of the show's producers, and all his misdeeds are covered up by his politician father. Then one morning, Natalie wakes up to find herself actually living on the same farmstead but in the reality of the hardships of 19th century farm life. 

This was supposed to be darkly humorous but I didn't find it funny. As someone who reads a lot and has studied history, I know the fantasy of living as a tradwife and being off the grid is just that, a fantasy. I suspected the "twist" fairly early on and started skimming at about the 40% mark. I did feel sorry for Natalie - she was the victim of a patriarchal cult in childhood, and then a patriarchal society that she couldn't overcome, and she never found a place where she felt she fit in and finally had a break with reality. The author is yet another podcaster host who has a large online following.

If you want to read a better book about a character who time travels back to 19th century America, try The Mirror by Marlys Millhiser. It's an older title but was reprinted in 2018.

An actual 19th century farmstead

Chivalry & Chocolate by M. J. Gillbright

September 4, 2026

Chivalry & Chocolate by M. J. Gillbright

Dassia Temperton has been masquerading as a knight for several years, for the food, the privacy and not having to deal with fat elderly merchants who want to marry her. But when she accepts a quest to hunt down a dragon, she discovers that said dragon is a charming, chocolate-loving entrepreneur who thinks they should start a candy-making business together. A great idea, except if the queen's guards discover their charade, it could mean life in prison or worse for Dassia, and certain death for the dragon.

Disappointing. I really wanted to like this but the writing quality was poor. There was a lot of repetition - if this wasn't written by AI, it was certainly edited by AI. Suggestion to the authors: your AI editor needs a thesaurus. A number of words were overused constantly (including but not limited to spiral, fabulous, darling, dear, sparkling). Better yet, splurge on a human editor. A human editor would have cut out at least 100 pages, improved the text, and made this a better book. I will say that it had a cute cover, and the chocolate descriptions were good, even mouth-watering at times.

Beautiful gourmet chocolates, mmmmmm...