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29 Books to Add to Your 2026 TBR Right Now
Looking for the best books for your 2026 reading list? Then check out these 29 great books I read in 2024 and 2025 that I highly recommend for your TBR.
If you are into bone-chilling thrillers, spicy romances, or captivating historical fiction, these are the must-read books. I’m sure these picks will keep your to-be-read list full. These are perfect for your 2026 book club reading list as well.
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Must-Read Books For 2026
Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson
Not Quite Dead Yet is the story of Jet Mason who has just seven days to live after a brutal attack leaves her with a fatal head injury. With no clear suspect and time running out, she starts questioning everyone around her, including her family, her ex, and people she once trusted. As her condition worsens, Jet teams up with her childhood friend to uncover who tried to kill her and determined to solve her own murder before time runs out.
In seven days Jet Mason will be dead.
Jet is the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Woodstock, Vermont. Twenty-seven years old, she’s still waiting for her life to begin. I’ll do it later, she always says. She has time.
Until Halloween night, when Jet is violently attacked by an unseen intruder.
She suffers a catastrophic head injury. The doctor is certain that within a week, the injury will trigger a deadly aneurysm.
Jet has never thought of herself as having enemies. But now she looks at everyone in a new light: her family, her former best friend turned sister-in-law, her ex-boyfriend.
She has at most seven days, and as her condition deteriorates she has only her childhood friend Billy for help. But nevertheless, she’s absolutely determined to finally finish something:
Jet is going to solve her own murder.
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The Mad Wife by Meagan Church
Set in the 1950s, The Mad Wife follows Lulu Mayfield, a woman struggling to live up to the image of the perfect housewife while hiding deep emotional pain. After the birth of her second child, her carefully controlled life begins to crack. When a new neighbor moves in, Lulu becomes increasingly fixated on her, uncovering disturbing secrets that blur the line between truth and madness. As others start to question Lulu’s sanity, she must face whether she’s truly losing her mind or seeing a reality no one wants to acknowledge.
They called it hysteria. She called it survival.
Lulu Mayfield has spent the last five years molding herself into the perfect 1950s housewife. Despite the tragic memories that haunt her and the weight of exhausting expectations, she keeps her husband happy, her household running, and her gelatin salads the talk of the neighborhood. But after she gives birth to her second child, Lulu’s carefully crafted life begins to unravel.
When a new neighbor, Bitsy, moves in, Lulu suspects that something darker lurks behind the woman’s constant smile. As her fixation on Bitsy deepens, Lulu is drawn into a web of unsettling truths that threaten to expose the cracks in her own life. The more she uncovers about Bitsy, the more she questions everything she thought she knew―and soon, others begin questioning her sanity. But is Lulu truly losing her mind? Or is she on the verge of discovering a reality too terrifying to accept?
In the vein of The Bell Jar and The Hours, The Mad Wife weaves domestic drama with psychological suspense, so poignant and immersive, you won’t want to put it down.
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The Forget-Me-Not Library by Heather Webber
The Forget-Me-Not Library follows two women at turning points in their lives. After surviving a lightning accident, Juliet Nightingale feels restless and unsure of what she wants next, so she sets off on a solo road trip searching for meaning. Tallulah Byrd Mayfield, a newly single mother, is struggling to rebuild her life after her marriage ends and she moves in with her grandfather while starting a new job at a small-town library. When a road detour brings Juliet to Tallulah’s town, their unexpected friendship changes both of them, helping them rediscover hope, purpose, and the possibility of happiness again.
Juliet Nightingale is lucky to be alive. Months after a freak accident involving lightning, she’s fully recovered but is left feeling that something is missing from her life. Something big. Impulsively, she decides to take a solo summer road trip, hoping that the journey will lead her down a path that will help her discover exactly what it is that she’s searching for.
Newly single mom Tallulah Byrd Mayfield is hanging by a thread after her neat, tidy world was completely undone when her husband decided that their marriage was over. In the aftermath of the breakup, she and her two daughters move in with her eighty-year-old grandfather. Tallulah starts a new job at the Forget-Me-Not Library, where old, treasured memories can be found within the books—and where Lu must learn to adapt to the many changes thrown her way.
When a road detour leads Juliet to Forget-Me-Not, Alabama, and straight into Tallulah’s life, the two women soon discover there’s magic in between the pages of where you’ve been and where you still need to go. And that happiness, even when lost, can always be found again.
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Canticle by Janet Rich Edwards
Set in 13th-century Bruges, Canticle follows Aleys, a young woman forced to choose between obedience and independence. After losing her chance at love and being pushed into an unwanted marriage, she runs away and finds refuge with the Beguines, a group of independent religious women. Life among them opens her eyes to friendship, work, and freedom she never knew. But growing political tension, forbidden religious texts, and unexplained miracles draw dangerous attention from church authorities, forcing Aleys to confront faith, love, and sacrifice in a changing world.
Set in thirteenth-century Bruges, this debut novel follows a young woman’s explorations of faith, agency, and love among a community of fiercely independent women.
Aleys is sixteen years old and serious, stubborn, prone to religious visions. She and her only friend, a young scholar, have been learning Latin together in secret—but just as she thinks their connection might become something more, he abandons her for the monastery. When her family falls on hard financial times, her father promises her in marriage to the unctuous head of the weavers’ guild, and in desperation she runs away from home, eventually finding shelter within a community of religious women who do not answer to the church.
Among the hardworking and strong-willed Beguines, Aleys glimpses for the first time the joys of a life of song, friendship, and time spent in the markets and along the canals of Bruges. But forces both mystical and political are afoot. Illegal translations of scripture, the women’s independence, and a sudden rash of miracles all draw the attention of an ambitious bishop—and bring Aleys and those around her into ever-increasing danger, a danger that will push Aleys to a new understanding of love and sacrifice.
Introducing a spirited, indelible heroine and a major new talent, Canticle is a luminous work of historical fiction, vividly evoking a world on the verge of transformation.
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Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Demon Copperhead is one of those rare books that feels alive while you are reading it. The story follows Demon, a boy growing up in the Appalachian Mountains, facing poverty, addiction, and loss while trying to survive a world that often feels stacked against him. What makes this book so powerful is how deeply you connect with Demon as a person. His voice feels honest and raw, and you genuinely care about what happens to him. Even when the story becomes heavy, there is humor and heart woven throughout. By the end, it feels like you have lived part of his life with him.
This story has so much heart and depth. It’s inspired by David Copperfield, but you don’t need to know that to feel the impact. It’s the kind of book that lingers long after you finish it.
Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, this is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.
Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.
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The Measure by Nikki Erlick
The Measure is a thought-provoking novel built around one simple but powerful idea. Everyone in the world receives a box that reveals how long they will live. From that moment on, life changes in unexpected ways. The story follows multiple characters, including friends, couples, and strangers, as they react differently to the knowledge of their fate. Some make brave choices, some make fearful ones, and others struggle to move forward at all. The multiple points of view are easy to follow and each adds emotional depth. This book gently pushes you to think about time, love, and how you would live if you truly knew your future. It is a perfect book club pick with endless discussion potential. Check out 31 discussion questions for The Measure.
Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice.
It seems like any other day. You wake up, pour a cup of coffee, and head out.
But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. This box holds your fate inside: the answer to the exact number of years you will live.
From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise?
As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice: Do they wish to know how long they’ll live? And, if so, what will they do with that knowledge?
The Measure charts the dawn of this new world through an unforgettable cast of characters whose decisions and fates interweave with one another: best friends whose dreams are forever entwined, pen pals finding refuge in the unknown, a couple who thought they didn’t have to rush, a doctor who cannot save himself, and a politician whose box becomes the powder keg that ultimately changes everything.
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Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
Yellowface is sharp, uncomfortable, and impossible to look away from. The story follows June, a struggling writer who steals her deceased friend’s manuscript and publishes it as her own. What begins as a moment of opportunity quickly turns into a spiral of lies, guilt, and public scrutiny. The book explores topics like racism, privilege, cancel culture, and the pressure of social media in a way that feels painfully real. It is fast paced, darkly funny, and often unsettling. You may not like the main character, but you will be fascinated by her. This is one of those books that sparks conversation long after you finish reading it. I have to say this is definitely a unforgettable book I have read.
White lies. Dark humor. Deadly consequences… Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn’t write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American—in this chilling and hilariously cutting novel from R.F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel.
Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.
So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.
So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.
But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.
With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.
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Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
Just for the Summer is a warm and heartfelt romance that feels both comforting and emotional. The story follows Justin and Emma, two people who believe they are unlucky in love. What begins as a lighthearted connection slowly grows into something deeper as they start opening up to each other. Their relationship feels natural and full of heart, with moments that will make you smile and moments that may bring a tear. Abby Jimenez does a wonderful job balancing humor with emotional depth. This is the kind of book that reminds you why love stories matter and why sometimes the right person comes along when you least expect it. This was such a unputdownable book. I feel these are the kinds of book you should read if you want to develop reading habit in 2026.
Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it’s now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They’ll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. It’s a bonkers idea… and it just might work.
Emma hadn’t planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.
It’s supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma’s toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they’re suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected–including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?
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Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
Listen for the Lie was a really engaging thriller audiobook that keeps you guessing from start to finish. Lucy wakes up covered in blood with no memory of what happened the night her best friend died. Everyone believes she is responsible, including herself. Years later, a true crime podcast reopens the case, forcing Lucy to revisit the past she tried to forget. As secrets unravel, the tension builds in a way that keeps you turning pages. The story is dark, unsettling, and full of twists that make you question what is real. This is the kind of thriller that stays in your head long after you finish reading.
What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn’t matter?
Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all and, if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. But after Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer.
It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life. But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast Listen for the Lie and its too-good looking host, Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one who did it.
The truth is out there, if we just listen.
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The Wedding People by Alison Espach
The Wedding People is one of the best books of 2024 for me This is a touching and often funny story about life not going as planned. It follows Phoebe Stone, a woman dealing with heartbreak, unexpected change, and a future that looks nothing like what she imagined. Through weddings, relationships, and moments of self reflection, the story explores grief, hope, and second chances. The writing feels warm and relatable, with moments that will make you laugh and others that feel deeply emotional. It has the charm of a comfort read while still offering meaningful insight into love and personal growth. This is a book that feels like a quiet conversation with a friend. This is one of the best audiobook of 2024. I loved it so much that I finished it in one day!
A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.
It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She’s immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe’s plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.
In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.
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Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
This was another of the anticipated releases of 2024. It’s follows two brothers who are dealing with loss in very different ways. One struggles with relationships and emotional distance, while the other begins to explore love and vulnerability for the first time. The pacing is slow and reflective, allowing the characters and their emotions to unfold naturally. This is not a loud or dramatic story, but one that stays with you because of its honesty. It is perfect for readers who enjoy character driven novels that explore how people cope with change and loss..
An exquisitely moving story about grief, love, and family—but especially love—from the global phenomenon Sally Rooney.
Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.
Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties—successful, competent, and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women—his enduring first love, Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.
Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.
For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude—a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.
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Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
Great Big Beautiful Life blends romance and mystery in a gentle and emotional way. Alice and Hayden are two writers competing to tell the life story of a reclusive woman named Margaret Ives. As they spend time together on a quiet island, secrets begin to surface and emotions deepen. The story explores ambition, truth, and the stories we tell about ourselves. There is romance, tension, and a sense of discovery that keeps the pages turning. It is thoughtful and engaging, with characters that feel real and layered. This book is perfect for readers who enjoy emotional storytelling with a touch of intrigue.
Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping new novel from Emily Henry.
Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years–or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the 20th Century.
When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.
One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.
Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication
Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.
But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.
And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad…depending on who’s telling it.
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Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez
Say You’ll Remember Me is a tender and emotional romance about timing, loss, and connection. Samantha meets Xavier and feels an instant spark, but life complications force her to pull away before anything can truly begin. Even after separating, neither of them can forget what they shared. The story focuses on how love can leave a lasting imprint, even when circumstances get in the way. It is gentle, heartfelt, and deeply emotional without being overly dramatic. This book is perfect for readers who enjoy love stories that feel real and bittersweet .
There might be no such a thing as a perfect guy, but Xavier Rush comes disastrously close. A gorgeous veterinarian giving Greek god vibes—all while cuddling a tiny kitten? Immediately yes. That is until Xavier opens his mouth and proves that even sculpted gods can say the absolute wrong thing. Like, really wrong. Of course, there’s nothing Samantha loves more than proving an asshole wrong…
. . . unless, of course, he can admit he made a mistake. But after one incredible and seemingly endless date—possibly the best in living history—Samantha is forced to admit the truth, that her family is in crisis and any kind of relationship would be impossible. Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. To remember their night together as a perfect moment, as crushing as that may be.
Only no amount of distance or time is nearly enough to forget that something between them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life—and even a love—worth remembering.
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Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Atmosphere is a historical novel that blends science, ambition, and emotional depth. Set in the 1980s, it follows Joan, a physics professor selected to join the first group of female astronauts. As she trains and forms close bonds with the other women, she begins to discover who she is beyond her work. Love, ambition, and tragedy all play a role in shaping her journey. The story beautifully explores friendship, identity, and resilience in a male dominated space. It is inspiring and emotional, showing how far women have come and what they risked to get there.
Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s Space Shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.
Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.
As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.
Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.
Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, with complex protagonists, telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love, this time among the stars.
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Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
Broken Country is a slow burning romantic thriller filled with tension and emotional complexity. Beth lives a quiet life until the return of a man from her past changes everything. Old feelings resurface, secrets begin to unravel, and the sense of safety she once had starts to crack. The story slowly builds toward moments of truth that are both painful and revealing. It explores love, loyalty, and the choices that shape who we become. This book keeps you emotionally invested while slowly tightening the suspense.
Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.
As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.
A sweeping love story with the pace and twists of a thriller, Broken Country is a novel of simmering passion, impossible choices, and explosive consequences that toggles between the past and present to explore the far-reaching legacy of first love.
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Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
Wild Dark Shore is a moody and atmospheric story set on a remote island. The Salt family lives in isolation, protecting a mysterious seed bank when a woman named Rowan washes ashore during a storm. As she becomes part of their lives, long buried secrets begin to surface. The novel explores trust, survival, and the weight of the past. The setting feels almost like a character itself, adding tension and beauty to the story. This is a quiet but powerful read that slowly pulls you into its world.
A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A rising storm on the horizon.
Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers. But with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants, packing up the seeds before they are transported to safer ground. Despite the wild beauty of life here, isolation has taken its toll on the Salts. Raff, eighteen and suffering his first heartbreak, can only find relief at his punching bag; Fen, seventeen, has started spending her nights on the beach among the seals; nine-year-old Orly, obsessed with botany, fears the loss of his beloved natural world; and Dominic can’t stop turning back toward the past, and the loss that drove the family to Shearwater in the first place.
Then, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman washes up on shore. As the Salts nurse the woman, Rowan, back to life, their suspicion gives way to affection, and they finally begin to feel like a family again. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting her heart, begins to fall for the Salts, too. But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers the sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own dark secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, the characters must decide if they can trust each other enough to protect the precious seeds in their care before it’s too late—a
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One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune
One Golden Summer is a warm and nostalgic love story set by a lake. Alice returns to a place filled with memories from her past, hoping to reconnect with herself. There she meets Charlie, a boy she once photographed years ago, now grown and changed. As they spend time together, old emotions resurface and new feelings begin to grow. The story captures the feeling of long summer days, second chances, and the quiet magic of falling in love again. It is a gentle and comforting read, perfect for summer. summer reading 2025.
A radiant, new escape to the lake from #1 New York Times bestselling author Carley Fortune
I never anticipated Charlie Florek.
Good things happen at the lake. That’s what Alice’s grandmother says, and it’s true. Alice spent just one summer at a cottage with Nan when she was seventeen—it’s where she took that photo, the one of three grinning teenagers in a yellow speedboat, the image that changed her life.
Now Alice lives behind a lens. As a photographer, she’s most comfortable on the sidelines, letting other people shine. Lately though, she’s been itching for something more, and when Nan falls and breaks her hip, Alice comes up with a plan for them both: another summer in that magical place, Barry’s Bay. But as soon as they settle in, their peace is disrupted by the roar of a familiar yellow boat, and the man driving it.
Charlie Florek was nineteen when Alice took his photo from afar. Now he’s all grown up—a shameless flirt, who manages to make Nan laugh and Alice long to be seventeen again, when life was simpler, when taking pictures was just for fun. Sun-slanted days and warm nights out on the lake with Charlie are a balm for Alice’s soul, but when she looks up and sees his piercing green gaze directly on her, she begins to worry for her heart.
Because Alice sees people—that’s why she is so good at what she does—but she’s never met someone who looks and sees her right back.
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My Friends by Fredrik Backman
My Friends is a heartfelt story about art, friendship, and the connections that shape our lives. Louisa becomes fascinated by a painting that shows three small figures standing together, which leads her to uncover the story behind it. The novel moves between past and present, following a group of teenagers whose lives are deeply intertwined. Their friendship, struggles, and choices shape who they become. This is an emotional and thoughtful story about memory, loss, and the invisible threads that connect people across time.
Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of a wide expanse of sea. But Louisa, soon to be eighteen years old and an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise. She is determined to find out the story behind these three enigmatic figures.
More than two decades before, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up every morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love.
Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that, after a chance encounter in an alleyway, will unexpectedly be placed into Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to discover how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more anxious she becomes about what she’ll find. Louisa’s complicated life is proof that happy endings are sometimes possible, but they don’t always take the form we expect them to.
Fredrik Backman’s signature charm, humor, and attention to the poignant details of everyday life are on full display in this funny, moving novel. His most heartfelt and personal tale yet, My Friends is a stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of art and friendship.
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The Favorites by Layne Fargo
The Favorites is a dramatic and emotional sports romance centered on ice dancing. Katarina Shaw is driven and determined, coming from a difficult background and dreaming of Olympic success. She teams up with Heath Rocha, and together they create magic on the ice. Their chemistry is undeniable, but ambition, pressure, and secrets threaten everything they build. Years later, a documentary forces Katarina to confront the truth of what really happened. This book is intense, emotional, and filled with passion, ambition, and heartbreak.
She might not have a famous name, funding, or her family’s support, but Katarina Shaw has always known that she was destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating—and each other—to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating the world with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style, and roller-coaster relationship.
Until a shocking incident at the Olympic Games brings their partnership to a sudden end.
As the ten-year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorized documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha, claiming to uncover the “real story” through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary, but she can’t stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy. So, after a decade of silence, she’s telling her story: from the childhood tragedies that created her all-consuming bond with Heath to the clash of desires that tore them apart. Sensational rumors have haunted their every step for years, but the truth may be even more shocking than the headlines.
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Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister
Famous Last Words is a tense thriller follows Camilla, a new mother whose world is shattered when her husband disappears and leaves behind a disturbing message. Soon she learns he may be involved in a violent crime, and nothing about her life feels safe anymore. As she searches for answers, secrets unravel and trust begins to crumble. The story moves quickly and keeps the tension high from start to finish. It explores fear, love, and how little we sometimes know the people closest to us. This is a gripping thriller for your 2025 tbr.
From the author of Reese’s Book Club Pick and New York Times bestseller Wrong Place Wrong Time comes an addictive thriller about a new mother’s world upended when her husband commits a terrifying crime. How well does she truly know the man she loves? And what danger does she face if her entire life has been built on a lie?
It is June 21st, the longest day of the year, and new mother Camilla’s life is about to change forever. After months of maternity leave, she will drop her infant daughter off at daycare for the first time and return to her job as a literary agent. Finally. But, when she wakes, her husband Luke isn’t there, and in his place is a cryptic note.
Then it starts. Breaking news: there’s a hostage situation developing in London. The police arrive, and tell her Luke is involved. But he isn’t a hostage. Her husband—doting father, eternal optimist—is the gunman.
What she does next is crucial. Because only she knows what the note he left behind that morning says…
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We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes
We All Live Here is a deeply human story about family, chaos, and second chances. Lila’s life feels completely out of control as she navigates divorce, parenting, and unexpected changes at home. When her estranged father suddenly reappears, old wounds resurface and emotions run high. The story balances humor with vulnerability, showing how messy and beautiful family life can be. It is warm, relatable, and filled with moments that feel true to real life This will be a great book for funny book club pick.
Lila Kennedy has a lot on her plate. A broken marriage, two wayward daughters, a house that is falling apart, and an elderly stepfather who seems to have quietly moved in. Her career is in freefall and her love life is… complicated. So when her real dad—a man she has barely seen since he ran off to Hollywood thirty-five years ago—suddenly appears on her doorstep, it feels like the final straw. But it turns out even the family you thought you could never forgive might have something to teach about love, and what it actually means to be family.
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Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao
Water Moon is a magical and imaginative story set in a mysterious world. Hana runs a strange pawnshop where people can trade their regrets. When her father disappears and a stranger arrives offering help, she is pulled into a journey filled with wonder and danger. The story blends fantasy, emotion, and self discovery in a dreamlike way. It explores memory, loss, and the courage it takes to face the past. This is a beautifully written story that feels both magical and meaningful.
On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see a cozy ramen restaurant. And only the chosen ones—those who are lost—will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets.
Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop’s new owner to find it ransacked, the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen, and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike its other customers, for he offers help instead of seeking it.
Together, they must journey through a mystical world to find Hana’s father and the stolen choice—by way of rain puddles, rides on paper cranes, the bridge between midnight and morning, and a night market in the clouds.
But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own—and risk making a choice that she will never be able to take back.
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Three Days in June by Anne Tyler
Three Days in June focuses on family, love, and the complicated relationships that shape us. Gail is preparing for her daughter’s wedding while dealing with job loss, an unexpected visit from her ex husband, and long buried secrets. Over three intense days, emotions rise and truths come to light. The story is warm, honest, and deeply relatable. It is less about romance and more about family dynamics, forgiveness, and personal growth.
A new Anne Tyler novel destined to be an instant classic: a socially awkward mother of the bride navigates the days before and after her daughter’s wedding.
Gail Baines is having a bad day. To start, she loses her job—or quits, depending on whom you ask. Tomorrow her daughter, Debbie, is getting married, and she hasn’t even been invited to the spa day organized by the mother of the groom. Then, Gail’s ex-husband, Max, arrives unannounced on her doorstep, carrying a cat, without a place to stay, and without even a suit.
But the true crisis lands when Debbie shares with her parents a secret she has just learned about her husband to be. It will not only throw the wedding into question but also stir up Gail and Max’s past.
Told with deep sensitivity and a tart sense of humor, full of the joys and heartbreaks of love and marriage and family life, Three Days in June is a triumph, and gives us the perennially bestselling, Pulitzer Prize–winning writer at the height of her powers.
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Tell Me What You Did by Carter Wilson
Tell Me What You Did This dark and suspenseful thriller follows Poe, a true crime podcaster who receives a chilling confession. A man claims responsibility for her mother’s murder, but Poe knows the truth is more complicated. As she investigates, she is pulled into a dangerous psychological game. The tension builds steadily, and each revelation raises new questions. This is a gripping story filled with twists, fear, and moral ambiguity that will keep you hooked until the end
She gets people to confess their crimes for a living. He knows she’s hiding a terrible secret. It’s time for the truth to come out…
Poe Webb, host of a popular true crime podcast, invites people to anonymously confess crimes they’ve committed to her audience. She can’t guarantee the police won’t come after her “guests,” but her show grants simultaneous anonymity and instant fame—a potent combination that’s proven difficult to resist. After an episode recording, Poe usually erases both criminal and crime from her mind.
But when a strange and oddly familiar man appears on her show, Poe is forced to take a second look. Not only because he claims to be her mother’s murderer from years ago, but because Poe knows something no one else does. Her mother’s murderer is dead.
Poe killed him.
From the USA Today bestselling author of The Dead Girl in 2A and The New Neighbor comes a chilling new thriller that forces the question: are murderers always the bad guys?
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The Names by Florence Knapp
The Names explores how one small decision can shape an entire life. When Cora is asked to name her newborn son, the story branches into three possible futures based on the name she chooses. Each version of her life explores love, loss, survival, and resilience. The writing is quiet but powerful, showing how choices ripple through time. This is not a fast paced book, but a thoughtful and emotional one that invites reflection on fate and possibility.
The extraordinary novel that asks: Can a name change the course of a life?
In the wake of a catastrophic storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register her son’s birth. Her husband, Gordon, a local doctor, respected in the community but a terrifying and controlling presence at home, intends for her to name the infant after him. But when the registrar asks what she’d like to call the child, Cora hesitates…
Spanning thirty-five years, what follows are three alternate and alternating versions of Cora’s and her young son’s lives, shaped by her choice of name. In richly layered prose, The Names explores the painful ripple effects of domestic abuse, the messy ties of family, and the possibilities of autonomy and healing.
With exceptional sensitivity and depth, Knapp draws us into the story of one family, told through a prism of what-ifs, causing us to consider the “one . . . precious life” we are given. The book’s brilliantly imaginative structure, propulsive storytelling, and emotional, gut-wrenching power are certain to make The Names a modern classic.
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Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson
Good Dirt is a moving family story centered around loss, history, and healing. After a childhood tragedy and a very public heartbreak, Ebby retreats to France to escape her past. But memories and unanswered questions follow her. The story weaves together family history and personal growth, showing how the past shapes who we become. It is emotional, reflective, and rich with meaning.
The daughter of an affluent Black family pieces together the connection between a childhood tragedy and a beloved heirloom in this moving novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake, a Read with Jenna Book Club Pick
When ten-year-old Ebby Freeman heard the gunshot, time stopped. And when she saw her brother, Baz, lying on the floor surrounded by the shattered pieces of a centuries-old jar, life as Ebby knew it shattered as well.
The crime was never solved—and because the Freemans were one of the only Black families in a particularly well-to-do enclave of New England—the case has had an enduring, voyeuristic pull for the public. The last thing the Freemans want is another media frenzy splashing their family across the papers, but when Ebby’s high profile romance falls apart without any explanation, that’s exactly what they get.
So Ebby flees to France, only for her past to follow her there. And as she tries to process what’s happened, she begins to think about the other loss her family suffered on that day eighteen years ago—the stoneware jar that had been in their family for generations, brought North by an enslaved ancestor. But little does she know that the handcrafted piece of pottery held more than just her family’s history—it might also hold the key to unlocking her own future.
In this sweeping, evocative novel, Charmaine Wilkerson brings to life a multi-generational epic that examines how the past informs our present.
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The Missing Half by Ashley Flowers & Alex Kiester
The Missing Half follows two women whose sisters disappeared under similar circumstances. When they meet, they realize their stories may be connected. Together, they begin searching for answers that others have ignored. As secrets surface, the danger grows. The book balances emotional depth with suspense, making it both thrilling and heartfelt. It is perfect for readers who enjoy true crime, small-town mysteries.
Two women haunted by their sisters’ unsolved disappearances band together in this captivating mystery from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of All Good People Here and host of the #1 true crime podcast Crime Junkie.
Nicole “Nic” Monroe is in a rut. At twenty-four, she lives alone in a dinky apartment in her hometown of Mishawaka, Indiana, she’s just gotten a DWI, and she works the same dead-end job she’s been working since high school, a job she only has because her boss is a family friend and feels sorry for her. Everyone has felt sorry for her for the last seven years—since the day her older sister, Kasey, vanished without a trace.
On the night Kasey went missing, her car was found over a hundred miles from home. The driver’s door was open and her purse was untouched in the seat next to it. The only real clue in her disappearance was Jules Connor, another young woman from the same area who disappeared in the same way, two weeks earlier. But with so little for the police to go on, both their cases eventually went cold.
Nic wants nothing more than to move on—from her sister’s disappearance and the state it’s left her in. But then one day, Jules’s sister, Jenna Connor, walks into her life and offers Nic something she hasn’t felt in a long hope. What follows is a gripping tale of two sisters who will do anything to find their missing halves, even if it means destroying everything they’ve ever known.
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The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan
The Three Lives of Cate Kay This novel explores identity, reinvention, and the stories we tell to survive. Cate Kay is a successful author living under a false name, hiding from a painful past. As her life begins to unravel, the truth of who she really is slowly comes to light. The book moves between timelines, revealing how choices and trauma shape a person. It is emotional, reflective, and deeply human.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets First Lie Wins in this electric, voice-driven debut novel about an elusive bestselling author who decides to finally confess her true identity after years of hiding from her past.
Cate Kay knows how to craft a story. As the creator of a bestselling book trilogy that struck box office gold as a film series, she’s one of the most successful authors of her generation. The thing is, Cate Kay doesn’t really exist. She’s never attended author events or granted any interviews. Her real identity had been a closely guarded secret, until now.
As a young adult, she and her best friend Amanda dreamed of escaping their difficult homes and moving to California to become movie stars. But the day before their grand adventure, a tragedy shattered their dreams and Cate has been on the run ever since, taking on different names and charting a new future. But after a shocking revelation, Cate understands that returning home is the only way she’ll be a whole person again.
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Isola by Allegra Goodman
Isola is a historical survival story inspired by real events. Marguerite is sent to a harsh new land and later abandoned on a frozen island after falling in love with the wrong man. Left to survive on her own, she must find strength she never knew she had. The novel explores faith, resilience, and the will to live against impossible odds. It is a powerful story of endurance and hope, and one of the most moving historical novels in recent years. This is one of my favorite books from Reese’s book club. .
A young woman and her lover are marooned on an island in this epic saga of love, faith, and defiance from the bestselling author of Sam.
Heir to a fortune, Marguerite is destined for a life of prosperity and gentility. Then she is orphaned, and her guardian—an enigmatic and volatile man—spends her inheritance and insists she accompany him on an expedition to New France. Isolated and afraid, Marguerite befriends her guardian’s servant and the two develop an intense attraction. But when their relationship is discovered, they are brutally punished and abandoned on a small island with no hope for rescue.
Once a child of privilege who dressed in gowns and laced pearls in her hair, Marguerite finds herself at the mercy of nature. As the weather turns, blanketing the island in ice, she discovers a faith she’d never before needed.
Inspired by the real life of a sixteenth-century heroine, Isola is the timeless story of a woman fighting for survival.
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Stephy George
