Light Reads for Getting Through a Cold Winter: Romances and Children's Books

 

This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page

Publication: Feb. 3, 2026, Berkley, NetGalley

Genre: adult fiction, romance

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 a 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. 

The first book  given to Tilly was Mathilda by Raoul Dahl, about a book loving girl with exceptional powers. I had never read the book, so I immediately borrowed it from my library. I'm loving it for all Mathilda's gumption and love of books.

After finishing Joe's gift book, Tilly sets off to the library to read more children's books, getting Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. I borrowed it from the library too, for a reread. It was fun reading all the clever, silly verse.

I am still reading This Book Made Me Think of You, so am curious about the other books Joe has gifted Tillie through Alfie, the book seller. I also sense a developing love interest between Tillie and Alfie.

Other light reads

Singing to the Sun by Regina Rodriguez Sirvent, translated, Jan. 20, 2026; Amazon Crossing, NetGalley

Genre: adult fiction

A young woman with failed plans for college sets out from her home in Barcelona to New York, and then on to Atlanta as an au pair. This will be an interesting read for me as I would love a Spanish take on America, au pairs, and Atlanta. 

Our Ex's Wedding by Taleen Voskuni, Publication: Jan. 20, 2026; Berkley, NetGalley

Genre: romance

Armenian wedding planner, Ani, is shocked to learn that the bride of the wedding she is set to plan is an ex girlfriend, Kami. 

Exes abound in this rom com, as Ani has to work with a man who is also an ex of the bride to be, Kami. How things get ironed out might make or break this romance plot.

What are your winter weather book choices? Light or heavy reading? 

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

The Charity Shop Detective Agency by Peter Boland: a Review

 

The Charity Shop Detective Agency by Peter Boland, Dec. 13, 2022

Genre: cozy mystery, England

Several seniors form their own detective agency based in a charity shop for dogs that one of them operates. The group wants to solve the stabbing death of a senior female in their village and start by listing possible suspects and spying on possible future victims. 

The Domino Murders are so called because the killer leaves at each crime scene the name of the next victim, etched on a domino tile. The group intensifies their sleuthing when one of their own, Fiona, is listed as the next victim. Fiona declines safe house protection by the police, intent on finding the killer. 

 I enjoyed how the group went about finding the killer's tactics that made the unsuspecting victims open their doors and invite him in. The whys and who of the case eluded them till the end, when they are come face to face with the dangerous perpetrator. It was interesting that the crime motive was such a simple one.

All in all, an enjoyable cozy mystery with elderly and sometimes quirky sleuths. I gave this four stars.

Choosing Books by Their Titles

 

Sisters of a Halved Heart

by Nayantara Roy

 My Vote:

 26 0

I Give You My Silence

by Mario Vargas Llosa

Boring Asian Female

by Canwen Xu

Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block

by Jesse Q Sutanto

Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead

by Mai Nguyen

Love and Other Brain Experiments

by Hannah Brohm

Mrs. Plansky Goes Rogue

by Spencer Quinn

Evil Genius

by Claire Oshetsky

Bad Bad Girl

by Gish Jen

We'll Prescribe You Another Cat

by Syou Ishida

Becoming Ghost

Poetry

by Cathy Linh Che

Butter

A Novel of Food and Murder

by Asako Yuzuki

Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant

A Memoir

by Curtis Chin

The Japanese Way of Parenting

And What It Taught Me About Raising (Mostly) Calm, Caring, Capable Kids

by Lisa Katayama

Hooked

A Novel of Obsession

by Asako Yuzuki

Cross Your Heart and Hope He Dies

A Novel  Jeny Eoke

Bomb Shelter Love, Time, and Other Explosives by Mary Laura Philpott

a Novel by Evelyn ClarkThe Ending Writes Itself

The Pillagers' Guide to Arctic Piano

A Novel by Kendra Langford Shaw

What books are on your reading list now? 

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

Choosing Books by Their Covers: Sunday Salon

 

Choosing Books by the Covers

I was first attracted to these NetGalley books because of their covers - the colors, the picture(s), the font, the titles. Do you choose books by their covers? 

Publication: Feb. 5, 2026

Genre: memoir, food and cooking

Published May 18, 2023; romance, mystery

Published Jan. 6, 2026; romance, mystery

Publication: March 17, 2026; mystery 

Publication: Oct. 30, 2025; mystery, women's fiction

Publication: May 26, 2026; mystery 

Publication: June 2, 2026; romance 

Publication: May 5, 2026; romance, mystery

Any of these covers catch your eye? 

What books are on your reading list now? 

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

Hollow Inside by Asako Otani: Book Review

 

Japanese Literature Challenge 19 

I’m

Hollow Inside by Asako Otani, publication Feb. 12, 2026; Pushkin Press, NetGalley copy

Genre: Humor and satire, Japanese literature, translated

This review may contain spoilers 

This novel tells me that there are some social attitudes in Japan that reflect ambivalence towards women in their late 30s or 40s who are single, especially if they decide to become roommates, even if they are not partners.

Suganuma, 40, earns a living making hollow plastic dogs to order, for people who have lost their pets and want a replacement for the dogs.  She does however, have an outside life, though with a married man. Hirai, 38, on the other hand, has been unlucky in the dating scene, and longs for a child but is strangely happy to have the hollow plastic baby that roommate Suganuma makes for her on her 3D printing machine.  

The lives of the two women seem to be hollow, however, as they make do with replacements for a full life with a fake child and  making fake dogs for people who have lost real pets. Hirai, however, comes to accept that the future of a real child or family is not in the cards for her at this point.

I thought this was a sad but somewhat satiric novel on single women living as outliers in their society. An unusual but very interesting novel.

I hope others in the challenge will read this book. I would love to have other opinions and discussions on the novel. 

For The Japanese Literature Challenge 19

2026 Reading Challenges: Immigration, Japanese Reading

Immigration Reading Challenge, hosted by introvertedreader.com is a challenge I just discovered. After having reviewed/featured many immigrant authors and their books over the years, I was happy to see this challenge by Introverted Reader! Please visit her site to sign up and/or to read the book reviews of those participating! 

Publication: May 12, 2026; Atria Books, NetGalley

Memoir in essays about life across two borders, illuminating the immigrant experience

Published Nov. 4, 2025

Memoir by an ex-journalist on his experience as a man of color in Canada. Written as a series of letters to his daughter. explaining what he learned that could help her in the future

Publication: June 23, 2026; Riverhead, NetGalley

Genre: adult fiction, immigration.

A young woman's family moves back and forth between South Korea and the U.S., and she finds herself caught between the two cultures and the two coutries.

I will add more books later on.

Japanese Literature Challenge 19 

 

Snow at the Shrine Entrance by Kawase Hasui 

The Japanese Literature Challenge 19 is hosted by Dolce Bellezza. All Japanese works in translation are eligible for this reading challenge, which runs January through February 2026. Leave a link to your reviews on the challenge review site. 

I hope to read a few of the following books, some of which may not yet have been published but are available on NetGalley. Book descriptions are also from the publisher and/or NetGalley.

From the author of the international bestseller Butter comes a chilling and perceptive novel about obsession, female friendship, and the slow unraveling of two lives.

A witty, deadpan novel about modern relationships, pets, and living as a single woman; for fans of Sayaka Murata, offbeat humor, and sharp social observation.

In the second book in the Ancestor Memories historical fantasy series, a young woman finds herself back in 1920s Tokyo as Japan enters a new and dangerous era—and a deadly tragedy awaits her city.

Follow the seashell path along Tokyo Bay until you get to the Chibineko Kitchen, where a traditional Japanese meal can summon anyone you choose from your past, but only for as long as it continues to steam . . . —for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, The Midnight Library, and Studio Ghibli films like Spirited Away.

The original Japanese Cat classic by Natsume Soseki, now in a vibrant new translation. 

'I am a Cat. But I still don't have a name...'

Once a stray kitten, I Am a Cat’s narrator finds himself adopted by a local scholar and thrown headfirst into the absurd upper middle-class world of Meiji-era Japan. Now a noble but somewhat world-weary observer, he has ample opportunity to dissect the strange ways and convoluted conversations of the human race.

Published September 9, 2025.

FROM ONE OF JAPAN'S GREATEST CRIME WRITERS—THE AUTHOR OF THE HONJIN MURDERS: Nothing at The Black Cat Café is as it seems. . .

In order to solve this sensational stand-alone murder mystery, scruffy detective Kosuke Kindaichi will have to untangle a complex web of love, jealousy, and betrayal

A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on a magical quest when a charming young physicist wanders into the shop, in this dreamlike fantasy novel.

A story of enduring friendship and deep betrayal, Sisters in Yellow is a masterpiece of teenage dreams and adult cruelties that confirms Mieko Kawakami as one of the great writers of her generation.

TO GO ALONG WITH THE JAPANESE READING CHALLENGE, and other books originally in French I plan on reading, I'M ALSO LINKING TO

THIS IS HOSTED BY introvertedreader.com

What books are on your reading list now? 

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