When Lemons Give You Life by Anna Johnston: Book Review

 

When Lemons Give You Life: A Novel by Anna Johnston

not yet published: Aug. 4, 2026; William Morrow, NetGalley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Themes of creeping dimentia, ALS, and also polycystic kidney disease are themes in this novel involving two married men, Beau and Griff, and Griff's sister Lisa. The lengths that people will go, to protect and to be with their loved ones, is the strong message.

Beau and Griff live in an aged care facility, where Griff, pretending to be a victim of dimentia so he can live in the facility with Beau, works as Martin, the full time chef of the facility by day, and then turns into Beau's supposedly ALS husband at night. The plot is complex as the methods Griff uses to live with Beau and also to do what he loves best - cooking - are somewhat convoluted, but it works out for him.

Griff's guilt about failing to help his sick sister Lisa compounds the gravity of the situations that Griff must maneuver and manage.

A heart warming and informative novel on mental and physical illness, and one man's effort to deal with both to help his loved ones.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this advance readers copy.

Looking forward to reading:

April 7, 2026; Penguin Press, NetGalley

"The best in short fiction from around the world, from celebrated anthologist and author John Freeman and award-winning novelist Rabih Alameddine"

July 21, 2026: Crooked Lane Books, NetGalley

A neighbor is killed in the same way as the latest read of the mystery book club. Retired librarian Neeti is on the case as more bodies pile up

June 9, 2026: Crooked Lane Books, NetGalley

New librarian Nichelle finds the dead body of her missing father on the front steps of her library. Nichelle tries to clear her brother of the crime

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  

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