Chefs in Cape Cod and in Japan: Mystery/Thrillers

 NetGalley ARCs are delivering quite a few books with unusual plots. Familiar tropes are being used in new ways!

Publication: July 7, 2026; Little, Brown & Company, NetGalley

Genre: mystery, thriller, adult fiction 

An aspiring chef finds she has bitten off more than she can chew when her gig as a private cook to a bestselling author turns deadly 

My NG review: 

Brett Novak, a gutsy young chef, takes a job as a live in cook for a famous author and his wife in Cape Cod. She not only has to deal with the strained relationship between the couple, but also with a pair of gigantic pitbulls who have the run of the house and the grounds.

I liked how Brett manages to survive the demands of both husband and wife while they play their dangerous games with each other. A lot happens in less than two weeks, including a murder, getting away with murder, and an escape from an old life.

The plot is fantastical, but made entertaining reading. , The well drawn characters are intriguing personalities, including those of the two huge dogs, who add a certain drama to the suspenseful novel.

Published Feb. 3, 2026; Ballantine, NetGalley

Genre: mystery, thriller, adult fiction

Greedy is a "suspenseful poison-pen note to classism and an ode to Japanese cuisine, a horror-tinged thriller unsuitable for vegetarians."

I'm still reading this one. After seeing them crunching on the roasted bodies and bones of little sparrows on a stick, I'm a little wary of just where the characters' appetites might take them further in the novel.

And now to an unusual Paris romance

Publication April 7, 2026; Berkley; NetGalley

My NG review:

The book is a love story between a physician Layla and a physically disfigured man Griffin, whose serious burns came from a fire that killed one other person. Layla and Griffin first meet at the wedding of mutual friends in Paris. As this is Paris, the reader is reminded of gargoyles on top of buildings, and even of the  Hunchback of Notre Dame when Griffin's incredible burns are described as disfiguring to the left side of his face and other areas of his body. Yet, Layla is immediately struck with the look of this very "handsome" man.

It was interesting that the love interest grew around their pact to ensure the successful wedding of their friends, Emily and Michael, in spite of last minute doubts by the bride, Emily.

I was surprised that the book description did not mention the very erotic love scenes in the book, or the graphic descriptions of Griffin's physical pain that lingers from his burn scars,

This seemed an unlikely but intriguing romantic development between two very different people. I took it with a grain of salt but enjoyed it nevertheless.

What are you reading this week?

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

Homeseeking by Karissa Chen: Immigration Reading Challenge

 

2026 Immigration Reading Challenge is hosted by introvertedreader.com. Do visit her site to sign up or to read the book reviews of those participating! 

Homeseeking by Karissa Chen, showing two covers.  Jan. 7, 2025, G.P. Putnam Sons

Goodreads Choice Award

Nominee for Readers' Favorite Historical Fiction (2025), Nominee for Readers' Favorite Debut Novel (2025)

Genre: historical fiction, literary fiction

I enjoyed learning about the international city of Shanghai during the 1930s and after, with its European concessions in the city, the subsequent Japanese occupation, the flight of the city inhabitants, and the events in Shanghai and China after Japan's surrender at the end of WWII.

So much of history is covered during the telling of this story. I found the book to be a perfect vehicle to reveal the events in China around that time.

The main characters, Suchi and Haiwen, grow up together in the International Settlement in Shanghai. After the Japanese leave, China is still war torn, with the Nationalists fighting against the Communists for control of the country. The Nationalists eventually flee with their leader, Chiang Kai Shek, to the island of Taiwan. Haiwen has to leave Suchi and his family after joining the Nationalist army and departing for Taiwan.

Suchi spends uncertain years in Hong Kong before emigrating to the U.S., where she meets Haiwen again by chance, after sixty or more years apart. Suchi is a grandmother by then, and Haiwen a widower. They find each other in Los Angeles and make an effort to revisit Shanghai and their ailing mothers, bringing the circle of their lives to a close.

A very moving story, and an important one for another perspective and view of Shanghai and China during the war, and about two people finding a home in the U.S. after a long and harrowing life of war and displacement.

Posted for the 2026 Immigration Reading Challenge, 

And now for a Rom Com

Currently reading The Unwilling Plus One: A Dark RomCom, by Effie Campbell. Published Feb. 1, 2026; BooksGoSocial, NetGalley

The older daughter in a family of hired assassins finds herself unable to take part in their crimes. She will, however, kidnap a handsome neighbor in order to make him her Plus One at a family dinner and to prevent her father from announcing her engagement to one of his murderous cohorts. 

I wonder how she will persuade her unwilling Plus One to become a real romantic partner! 

What are you reading this week?

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

Bookstores and Bookshops in Rom Coms and Other Books

 

Not yet published publication Aug. 18, 2026; Avon and Harper Voyager; NetGalley

Literary agent meets dashing novelist, both hiding out in a town in Devon, England in Cornwall, escaping their own pasts.

My Netgalley review: I like this friends to lovers rom com set in Devon, England in Cornwall by the sea. Petra has escaped a horrendous mistake in her job as a literary agent in London, and Ross has found refuge in Devon after fleeing a controlling editor who fed on his fame and claimed his success as her own. 

Ross's good looks immediately draws Petra's attention and their involvement in writing, reading and the publishing world pulls them closer together. The book's insight into the world of publishing is fascinating, from the point of view of the two characters.

Romance is fueled by Petra's desire to get Ross writing again, helping him with his new book based on Shakespeare's characters in The Tempest. And Petra, once fed up with reading, began her slow interest in books again.

I loved how the two characters fit into the smaller world of the town in Devon and became fast friends with the booksellers and the townspeople there. The setting in Cornwall, the cliffs, the ocean, the hills, add a certain mysterious Daphne du Maurier quality to the novel that I definitely liked. 

An enjoyable rom com especially for lovers of Shakespeare.

Publication: June 3, 2025; Berkley, NetGalley

Two bookstore managers in stores right next to each other compete for the same promotion. Rivalry mixes with romance. 

Published Sept. 6, 2022; Berkley, NetGalley

A Filipina baker likes the looks of the bookstore owner next door, but they clash when there is a planned  renovation to the building they share. Of course, romance intervenes.

Not yet published Publication: Sept. 15, 2026. NetGalley

The true story of a book lover in  Tokyo who connects with strangers online, meets with them in person, and finds her purpose in life in recommending books to them that change their lives. 

Publication: March 24, 2026; Harper 360, NetGalley

Dreams and wishes come true at this  magical bookshop which only appears when cherry blossoms are in bloom

 

Published July 2017; Berkley, NetGalley

Three women in their 50s return to a small South Carolina town, trying to find answers to the disappearance of one of their mothers years ago. Women's fiction. 

What are you reading this week?

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

W

Three Reviews: Win Me Something; Liar's Dice, This Book Made Me Think of You

 Three Five Star Book Reviews

Win Me Something by Kyle Lucia Wu

Genre: adult fiction, literary fiction OwnVoices

Published Nov. 2, 2021, Tin House

This intriguing novel nevertheless left me disturbed and slightly anxious. The well written novel is about a biracial young woman who battles feelings of loneliness in New York City. Being the only child of a Taiwanese dad and a white American mother, she feels left out when her parents divorce and have new families and children. Not feeling a part of either her dad's new family or her mom's new family, her feelings of loneliness intensify.

Battling racial discrimination or misunderstandings only adds to Willa Chen's feeling of isolation and wanting to be seen as a person in her own right. 

Her new experiences being nanny to a well off family with a young daughter broadens her horizons a bit, but she is eventually let go when the child becomes too old for a nanny. Left again to her own devices, there is hope she can move forward into a fuller life of her own and see and accept herself for who she really is. 

 

 Liar's Dice by Juliet Faithfull

Publication: April 28, 2026; Random House, NetGalley

Genre: adult fiction, lit fiction


Teenage Dolores feels the loss of her identical twin, Mita, who was sent away to live in a hospital in London because of a serious illness. Dolores learns to read with the help of a sympathetic teacher, and begins to write letters to Mita, but receives no replies. She aims to find the money to travel to London by writing love letters on the beach for eager patrons, pawning what jewelry she can find at home, even playing poker at a casino, etc.

I found that the story was not so much Mita's illness, but the separation of the twins and what it meant to the healthy one, Dolores. Dolores must eventually come to terms with her sister's situation and the solutions that her parents had found for Mita's long term car e.

The setting of the beaches and rural areas of Brazil added to the interest of the story. Dolores is a well drawn character with whom the reader sympathizes and admires for her closeness to her imperfect twin.

 


This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page

Published Feb. 3, 2026, Berkley, NetGalley

Genre: adult, romance, lit fiction

When Mathilda Nightingale lost her husband, Joe, to cancer, her grieving is soothed by the gift he left her. Alfie, the bookstore owner, was asked to give Mathilde (Tilly) a book gift each month for twelve months. The books are meant to mean something to Tilly or to send messages to her from Joe. She had, after all, lost her interest in reading since the time Joe became sick.

I loved anticipating the books that Joe gifted her each month in advance. Visiting Paris after reading a romance, trying running after a book by Murakami on the topic, trying camping in the Scottish wilds, and books on various other topics seemed to change Tilly a little bit each time, with her new experiences and travel.

It wasn't a surprise that Alfie had so much input in the choice of the books, as Joe was never much of a reader. This of course led, no surprise here, to a romance developing between Tilly and Alfie.

An interesting plot for a novel and intriguing reasons for book choices for Tilly. I enjoyed reading this, being a book lover myself.

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

February is Black History Month: New Books

 Celebrate Black History Month with the following books by Black authors. Book descriptions and logo are from the publishers and NetGalley.

Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes, Published July 29, 2025; St. Martin's Press

Genre: mystery, south side Chicago

A sparkling debut mystery set on the South Side of Chicago, featuring the quick-witted, unforgettable Savvy Summers, proprietor of a soul food café.

When Savvy Summers first opened Essie's soul food café, she never expected her customer-favorite sweet potato pie to become the center of a murder investigation.

Sweet Pea by Kit de Waal, Not yet published publication Nov. 3, 2026; St. Martin's Press, NetGalley

Genre: adult fiction, immigrant fiction, St. Kitts, England

Sweet Pea is a tender and emotionally-compelling novel about the healing power of an immigrant from the island of St. Kitts to London, who loves and cares for her found family.

My review: When Paulette aka Sweet Pea, an immigrant from St. Kitts to England, loses the love of her life, Denton, in a fatal car accident, little did she know that she would become involved with looking after the old man responsible for Denton's death. Frank and his grandson, Nellie aka Cornelius, live alone in poor and deprived circumstances.

Pauline's heart goes out to the two and she begins to feed them and look out for them. When her only son goes to America with his dad, Pauline finds her new found family to care for in Frank and Nellie. It's interesting to see Nellie also take interest in Pauline's welfare.

A heart warming story of forgiveness, care, and family. I enjoyed seeing how Pauline teaches Nellie how to cook Caribbean food and how he uses this knowledge and ability to find a career for himself when he grows up.

Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes, Jan. 6, 20026; Penguin Random House. First published in 1930.

Genre: award-winning debut novel by the Harlem Renaissance poet, about the trials and joys of growing up in Black communities. 

Genre: historical fiction

Black Messiahs
by Steven A. Holmes

In WWII, two Black brothers enlist in the segregated US Army. A Jewish boy fights to survive a Nazi ghetto and camp. Their lives converge in 1945 Austria in a story of racism, faith, duty, and freedom.

Köehler Books | Not yet published Pub Date: May 19, 2026 | Historical Fiction

Young King by Lerone Martin From a preeminent King scholar, the origin story of the man, minister, and civil rights hero who would lead the nation and change the world. Amistad | Not yet published Pub Date: May 5, 2026 | Biographies & Memoirs Segregation Games by David Faflik A cultural history of race, resistance, and representation in a city divided by politics and play. Not yet published Pub Date: May 1, 2026, U of Mass. Press Backtalker by Kimberle Williams, a memoir Not yet published CrenshawPublication: May 5, 2026; Simon and Schuster, NetGalley Kimberly Williams Introduced the concepts of intersectionality and critical race theory. Backtalker is the powerful and intimate story of how a little girl from Canton, Ohio, came up with a new way to look at the world.  What are your winter weather book choices?  Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves