Looking Forward to These Fall, Summer, Spring eBooks - 2026

 

Upcoming ARCs I chose for this spring

Adventure, magic, romance, historical fiction, a thriller, and even a parenting guide

Sept. 22, 2026; Harper Collins Childrens, NetGalley 

The secrets of the Chin family across generations - 1878, 1965, to today, Taiwan to NYC

Aug. 25, 2026; Grand Central Publishing, NetGalley

This cozy romance takes a bookseller from Manhattan to a town in Vermont

Aug. 4, 2026; William Morrow, NetGalley 

A disgraced Michelin-star chef hides out in a dementia facility, and secretly cooks for himself and the residents at night

July 14, 2026; Putnam, NetGalley

Hope Jenkins finds that a literary star has used her life story for her bestselling book 

May 19, 2026; Berkley, NetGalley

Emmie a trained chocolatier and candy maker wishes for the magic of her own shop, but love intervenes 

April 21, 2026; Workman Publishing, NetGalley

Unconditional love with unwavering rules - a memoir and parenting guide by an author raising her Japanese-American kids

April 20, 2026; Little, Brown & Company, NetGalley

Four college friends and their five daughters get together on Italy's Lake Como and discover each other's secrets

March 10, 2026; Atria, NetGalley

A state department diplomat moves to a sleepy city in New Zealand and must find a missing teenage singer-songwriter in this thriller 

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  

Codebreakers and Wordhunter: Mystery Novels

Wordhunter: A Novel by Stella Sands

Publication: August 6, 2024; Harper Paperbacks, NetGalley

Genre: adult fiction, police procedural

My review reprinted from Book Dilettante, Jan. 20, 2024


I was intrigued to find out how word forensics or forensic linguistics is used in crime solving, done by analyzing written evidence, papers, letters, email, etc. to find the authors suspected of being criminals. A genius with words, Maggie Moore has always been fascinated by words, and as a college student she was recommended by her prof to help the police track down a cyber stalker, by analyzing his emails and letters.

Paying attention to word choice, dialect, syntax, spelling, use or misuse of punctuation, writing style, and more, Maggie pored over his emails to find traits leading to the stalker and, with Detective Jackson, goes on to tackle another case - finding the kidnapper of the mayor's missing daughter, through his correspondence.

I liked how the relationship between the detective and insecure Maggie develops into one of trust and reliance during the events, some of them life threatening.

An interesting read with an unusual, quirky character Maggie, who also inally learns to stand up for herself with both a predatory boss and with in her personal life.

I'm not finding Codebreakers (Aug. 11, 2026; NetGalley) as exciting a novel as I did Wordhunter. But then I'm less of a numbers, symbol, or math person. In this book, Maggie and a detective "decode clues embedded in words and symbols" to uncover a criminal

The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman

Published Sept. 6, 2011, Berkley

Genre: historical novel, romance, WWII

I came across this book at a little free library and it's one of the best finds I've had. An historical novel set in Prague during WWII, it is excellently written. It's hard to realize this is a fictionalized history, as so much of it is based on the actual facts of the Nazis in Prague and their notorious Terezin ghetto there.

In the novel, a young art student, Lenka, falls in love with a medical student, Josef, and they marry, only to part when Josef's family leaves with him on a boat heading to Canada. Josef promises to send for Lenka and her family as soon as he can. When Josef's ship is torpedoed, however, many died and

Lenka thinks Josef was among those who didn't survive the boat trip.

She later lands up in the Terezin ghetto built by the Nazis, surviviving there while others, including her mother, were removed and sent to death camps like Auschwitz.

The book takes you inside the ghetto in Prague, every shocking detail of what daily life was like described in this novel, their lives and deaths searing into the reader's consciousness.

At a chance encounter at a wedding years later in New York City, Josef recognizes Lenka. 

"Lenka, it's me. Josef. Your husband."

They realize they had lived all these years not knowing they had both survived the war and moved to America. The meeting brings an astonishing conclusion to their fateful life and romance.

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  

Fiction: Mystery, Romance Tropes in Different Genres

Published March 10, 2026; Dutton

Genre: romance, rom com

My NG review: Publishing editor, Sam Avery, is sent by his company to encourage Clara Sheridan, a young writer, to finish the last book in her recently deceased father's well known series. She is the only person her father wanted to write the final book, but she has developed writer's block. Hence Sam's presence over the months it may take for her to finish.

Of course, a romance begins to develop when the two put their heads together to come up with a perfect last novel.
When the book calls for a few erotic scenes, the two try to act out the scenes for a more realistic approach.

The plot is a bit obvious but the ways in which the two develop feelings for each other is somewhat unique.

 

Other Books on NG

Precious Friends

Murder in Sag Harbor

by Frank Spinelli

Pub Date Jun 02 2026 | Archive Date Jun 16 2026

Level Best Books | Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles

LGBTQIAP+ | Mystery & Thrillers

JB Pulaski, a tenured sociology professor, thought surviving cancer was his greatest battle. Now, desperate to save his crumbling marriage, he retreats to his Sag Harbor summer home with his philandering husband Mike and teenage son Emilio.

Instead, he finds humiliation.

Ship Happens

A Novel

by Mason Deaver

Pub Date Aug 18 2026 | Archive Date Oct 13 2026

Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon

General Fiction (Adult) | LGBTQIAP+ | Romance

 Their friends spring a surprise six-day, seven-night cruise up the West Coast to Alaska as a bonding trip for the group. How is Owen supposed to keep it together around the man who broke his heart, all while pretending he’s fine?  

An emotional second-chance romance set on a breathtaking cruise, where two former flames must decide whether to let go or risk it all for a love that refuses to sink.

Tropes

• Forced proximity
• Exes
• Second chance
• Cruises
• Dating in secret
• Meddling friends

Current reads

Who can resist a cover like this? 

Aug. 25, 2026; Harlequin Romance, NetGalley

Genre: romance, mystery

I'm enjoying the various breeds of dogs in the book, their quirks and habits and interactions with each other in the dog park.

Published March 10, 2026, Sibylline Press, NetGalley

Genre: women's fiction, adult fiction

I knew someone whose entire job was to write obits for the local newspaper. I don't know anyone addicted to reading them, though, and this book focuses on a woman's habit of reading them all. She turns her obsession into a course at the community college and seems to learn something about life from her experience.

Mailbox Monday - these books arrived recently, sent by the publishers/publicist for possible review/feature.

Holy F*uck by Joseph Incardona, May 1, 2026, Bitter Lemon Press.

Genre: noir, adult fiction, satire

Stella works miracles. Literally. She heals the sick and the paralysed, just like in the Bible. The Vatican is overjoyed—imagine, a real saint in the 21st century, and in Georgia, the heart of the American South.
The only hitch? Her method: she heals the people she sleeps with in her motorhome. (publisher)

An Enigma by the Sea  published Jan. 15, 2026, Bitter Lemon Press

Genre: literary mystery, set in Italy

On the wintry Tuscan coast, the wealthy elite retreat to their lavish holiday homes. But the season turns sinister when a couple vanishes from a locked villa, and the body of a dubious count washes ashore. 

A sly meditation on class, illusion, and desire, this literary mystery is both sharply observant and darkly entertaining.

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  

ARCs Downloaded...Just Because...:Sunday Salon

ARC Downloads, just because I liked the covers and/or titles

 

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

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