Category: Book Reviews

By Shelly Nosbisch Parks and Death: A Tegan Reese Mystery by Shelly Nosbisch is a delightful debut cozy mystery that kept me guessing until the very end. The story follows Tegan Reese, a jilted lover who unexpectedly finds herself at the center of a murder investigation when her ex-fiancée is found dead. Set against the…

By Jenny Han Writing in the same genres—young adult, coming-of-age—I was late to the party with this book. Turns out, The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han, is a charming, nostalgic read that dives into the highs and lows of teenage summers. The story follows Isabel “Belly” Conklin as she navigates her annual summer…

By Percival Everett Percival Everett’s James is a bold and powerful reimagining of a familiar American story, Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, told from a radically different point of view. By shifting the perspective to the slave, James, and following his journey through a world shaped by cruelty, hypocrisy, and survival, Everett reframes a…

By Kirsten Miller Kirsten Miller’s Lulu Dean’s Library of Banned Books is a sharp, laugh-out-loud satire built around a deliciously subversive premise: when a self-appointed moral crusader donates a stack of “clean” books to her small town, someone quietly swaps them with banned titles—and the results ripple through the community in unexpected ways. As the…

By John Green It’s the classic boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, boy loses girl story that we’ve all come to love, and it’s easy to see why Looking for Alaska has become a modern-day YA classic. It’s a found family of teenage misfits who quickly come to rely on one another on their…

By S.E. Hinton I’d never read The Outsiders. Somehow, I got through middle and high school without it. But I’d seen the movie, although it had been 40 years ago at least. It was amazing how much stuck with me from the movie to the book. The double date at the movies, fighting with the…

By Willa Cather I avoided Willa Cather for the better part of my first 54 years, although in hindsight, I’m not sure why. I assumed Cather belonged to the high-minded and academic world of literature. I spent of good chunk of college pursuing literature and found it wasn’t for me. I prefer a good story,…

By Alice Hoffman Alice Hoffman’s The Invisible Hour is a quietly powerful novel about breaking free and claiming ownership of your own life. In many ways, it feels like an important read in 2025. It’s a reminder of the power of education, autonomy, and the courage it takes to choose yourself, and is a book…

By Tom Perrotta Tom Perrotta’s The Leftovers opens with a startling premise: a sudden, unexplained event causes a portion of the world’s population to vanish, leaving everyone else behind to grapple with the fallout. Set in a small suburban community, the novel follows multiple characters as they struggle to make sense of loss, grief, and…

By Richard Russo Richard Russo’s Nobody’s Fool is a richly observed, character-driven novel set in a worn-down New England town that feels completely lived in. The story centers on Sully, a stubborn, aging construction worker navigating strained family relationships, small-town grudges, and the realization that time is catching up with him—whether he’s ready or not.…