A Book A Week

It’s hard to believe I’ve never read a book by Taylor Jenkins Reid. She’s one of today’s most celebrated authors, a fixture on bestseller lists, and a favorite among my book blogging friends. But for whatever reason, I’d just never gotten around to her work—until now. My sister-in-law called me recently, absolutely raving about Atmosphere. “You have to read it!” she insisted. Normally, our reading tastes couldn’t be more different—she loves romance and fantasy, while I tend to reach for thrillers—but I decided to give it a shot. A couple of days later, I closed the book and realized she was right. Atmosphere completely won me over, and I’m officially wondering what took me so long to read Taylor Jenkins Reid.

"Though I'd like to look down at the Earth from above, I would miss all the places and people I love." — I Don't Want to Live on the Moon, sung by Ernie on Sesame Street, written by Jeff Moss

Joan Goodwin works as CAPCOM at Mission Control, her voice calm and steady as she guides her colleagues through each careful step of their mission. She’s spent her life devoted to space. Once a professor of astronomy and physics at Rice University, Joan’s path changed in 1980 when she saw an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s shuttle program. From that moment on, she was determined to make it.

And make it, she did. Joan navigated the politics of the program, the egos, and her own quiet doubts to earn her place among the stars. But once she was up there, she realized that the wonder of space came at a cost. Like the Muppet in her favorite song about the moon, Joan missed the people she loved—the family waiting back on Earth, and Vanessa, the fellow astronaut who had captured her heart.

Now it’s 1984, and Joan is back where she feels most at home, on the ground, in Mission Control. But when disaster strikes aboard the shuttle carrying her friends—and Vanessa—Joan must draw on every ounce of composure and courage to bring them home. In a moment where every second counts, love and duty collide, and Joan must confront what it truly means to reach for the stars.

In Atmosphere, Taylor Jenkins Reid immediately places readers in the middle of a space disaster. It’s tense, cinematic, and the perfect opening for this story. We meet the characters amid the chaos, even learning some of their tragic fates before we truly get to know them. Then, Reid transports us back in time to the moment they all first came together.

The novel unfolds as part historical fiction, part queer romance, made all the more emotional because we already know where these people will end up. Some of the middle sections land more effectively than others, but it all builds to a conclusion that’s as thrilling as it is gut-wrenching. Atmosphere is a bold novel, confident in the story it’s telling, and you can’t help but be pulled along for the ride.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2025, 88)

Have you ever had a premonition? That strange feeling that something is about to happen—a ripple in the fabric of the day that only makes sense once the moment arrives. For most of us, it’s fleeting, a quiet echo we don’t fully understand until much later. But for a small handful, it can be something much more profound. Federal agent Grant Lukather knows this better than most. As part of Homeland Security’s secretive Predictive Analytics branch, he’s spent his career tracking subtle patterns and statistical anomalies to prevent the unthinkable before it happens. But when a call comes in about a possible explosion in New Mexico, Grant finds himself caught in an event that will shatter everything he thought he knew about premonitions, and about fate itself.

That investigation leads him to Sarah Newcomb, a therapist who practices past-life hypnosis and has recently stumbled onto something that defies logic. Soon, Grant finds himself drawn into a web of murders spanning multiple states and timelines, where memory, identity, and consciousness begin to blur. With Sarah and one of her patients by his side, Grant races against time to stop a threat unlike anything he’s ever encountered. 

When I heard that Eric Heisserer, screenwriter of the hit film Arrival, had written a novel, I knew I was in for a treat. Simultaneous proves that instinct was correct. Heisserer blends high-concept science fiction with deeply human characters, delivering a tightly paced thriller that hooked me from start to finish. In Grant Lukather, Heisserer creates a skeptic whose doubts mirror our own. We experience discovery alongside him, watching disbelief shift into wonder. It’s a smart, cinematic read that delivers both heart and high stakes without ever overstaying its welcome. For fans of grounded sci-fi with big ideas and emotional depth, this one’s not to be missed.

For more information, visit Amazon and Goodreads. 

(2025, 87)

As October draws to a close (seriously, how is the month already over?), I’m wrapping up my annual attempt to cram in as many spooky reads as possible. Inevitably, my “to be read” stack is still taller than the list of books I’ve actually finished, but with one day left in the month, I was determined to squeeze in just one more. The perfect pick appeared in Ghosts of Grayhaven by Amy Newbold and Lark Wright. It’s a quick, ghostly novella tailor-made for the season. Even better, Lark Wright happens to be one of my most trusted book-blogging buddies. Knowing her taste, I had a feeling I was in for a treat.

Mariah has arrived in Grayhaven, a small Pacific Northwest town that feels like it was plucked straight from a Hallmark movie, with a singular focus. She’s been hired by an anonymous client to locate the grave of Bartholomew Krane, chip away at its inscription, and recite an ancient spell. It sounds absurd… if she actually believed in any of it. For Mariah, it’s simply another job.

But things change when she meets Zeb, a local who’s inherited his family’s long-standing duty to protect the very grave Mariah’s been sent to deface. When she carries out her assignment, Mariah unknowingly unleashes a vengeful spirit with centuries-old rage. Now, she and Zeb—along with his loyal dog, Moose—must find a way to put the spirit to rest before the entire town becomes its next victim.

Ghosts of Grayhaven is the perfect little novella to cap off spooky season. It’s a quick read with a clever plot that flows effortlessly from page to page. Sure, it leans on a few familiar tropes, but that’s part of its charm. Author duo Amy Newbold and Lark Wright, sisters who were inspired by their shared hobby of exploring old cemeteries, infuse the story with both heart and atmosphere. I was instantly drawn in and read the entire novella in a single sitting. Ghosts of Grayhaven delivers adventure, humor, a touch of will-they-won’t-they romance, and just the right amount of spooky to satisfy even the most cautious readers. It’s a reminder that sometimes the best stories to end spooky season aren’t the scariest ones, but the ones that make you smile when you turn the final page.

For more information, visit Amy Newbold's website, Lark Wright's blog, Amazon, and Goodreads.

(2025, 86)

Some authors are born to tell stories. Joe Hill practically had no choice. As the son of Stephen King, he could’ve coasted on a famous name, but instead, he built his own empire of horror and heartbreak. Over the years, he’s crafted sprawling, genre-bending novels like N0S4A2 and The Fireman that left a lasting impression on me. It’s been several years since his last release, so I’ve been not-so-patiently waiting for another. That wait finally ended this week with King Sorrow, a nearly 900-page behemoth that draws on Arthurian legend to thrill, haunt, and completely consume readers anew. 

To attempt to summarize the breadth of King Sorrow would be futile. It’s an epic in every sense, sprawling across twenty-five years and a cast of six central characters whose fates are bound by blood, guilt, and something far older than any of them can comprehend. But here’s the gist. Arthur is a student and aspiring author working in his university’s library when he crosses paths with a group of shady opportunists. Their plan? To steal from the library’s collection of rare and historic books and sell the treasures for a quick profit.

Desperate to free himself from the mess he’s been dragged into, Arthur turns to his closest friends for help. Together, they hatch a plan that blurs the line between legend and madness. They plot to use one of the stolen texts—a centuries-old volume known as the Crane Journal, said to be bound in the very skin of its author—to summon a dragon to protect them. But their wish comes with a cost. To keep the dragon’s loyalty, they must offer it a soul every year. Fail to pay the price, and the creature will simply feast on one of their own instead. 

King Sorrow finds Joe Hill doing what he does best, spinning a story rich with mythology, layered characters, and a truly terrifying dragon at its core. When Hill’s publisher offered me a copy to review, I was hesitant at first. For someone who reads a book a week, a novel clocking in at nearly 900 pages is no small commitment. But I trusted Hill, and for the first few hundred pages, that trust felt well placed. The story moved with energy and confidence, rewarding my patience with moments of pure awe.

But then it kept going. And going. Somewhere around the midpoint, my connection to the characters and the story began to wane. The highs of this book are undeniable—there are scenes that will absolutely take your breath away—but the sheer length dulled their impact for me. It’s an epic with an epic scale, and I suspect many readers will be completely swept away by it. I just wasn’t one of them.

Hill has said he plans to release a new book every year for the next decade, promising the next one will be shorter. As a longtime fan, I’ll be there for it. For now, King Sorrow was simply too much book for me to handle.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2025, 85)

When I was a young reader in high school, struggling to slog through my required literature (looking at you, The Canterbury Tales), my mom encouraged me to pick up a book just for fun. She handed me a tattered paperback of one of John Grisham’s early legal thrillers, and I was instantly hooked. The rest, as they say, is history.

I’ve been a Grisham fan ever since, eagerly anticipating his annual release. As I grew into a book reviewer and blogger, I became even luckier when his publisher began sending me copies of his newest novels. This year’s release, The Widow, sees the seasoned author take on his first true mystery. I breezed through it easily, and I suspect you will too.

When you picture a lawyer, you probably imagine someone sharp in a tailored suit, working from a corner office high above the city—successful, confident, and well-paid. But for every wealthy attorney, there are a dozen small-town lawyers just scraping by. Simon Latch is one of them. His marriage is falling apart, he’s drowning in gambling debt, and his rural Virginia practice barely pays the bills.

So when elderly widow Eleanor Barnett walks into his office asking him to draft a will, Simon barely takes notice. It’s just another routine job. He'll have his secretary type it up, collect the $250 fee, and move on. But when Eleanor confides that she secretly holds a small fortune in Walmart and Coca-Cola stock, Simon’s ears perk up. She has no living relatives, and no one else knows about her wealth. For Simon, it feels like fate has just handed him a way out.

He begins charming the widow, taking her to lunch, and assuring her he’s the right man to help manage her affairs. Once the will is signed—with a generous sum left to him for his “trouble”—all he has to do is wait. But cracks soon start to form in his perfect plan. Eleanor’s fortune comes into question, she’s involved in a shocking car crash, and before long, Simon finds himself on trial for a crime he swears he didn’t commit. Did his greed finally catch up with him, or is an innocent man about to take the fall?

The Widow feels like classic John Grisham in all the right ways. There’s a morally conflicted lawyer at its center, sharp and fast-paced writing, and courtroom drama that keeps you perched on the edge of your seat. And for the first time, Grisham dives headfirst into a full-on murder mystery. This isn’t a whodunnit so much as a did he do it—think Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow.

The story takes its time setting up the central drama, but the slow build pays off. By the time Simon stands trial, we’re as uncertain of his guilt as the jury itself. That uncertainty fuels a tense, compulsive read that doesn’t loosen its grip until the very last page. The Widow is pure entertainment from a master storyteller still at the top of his game.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2025, 84)

Who is Alfie Logan? He’s sitting in an interrogation room in the Bahamas, accused of rigging a roulette game for a staggering two million dollars. After three winning spins in a row, there can be no other explanation. At least, that’s what veteran gambling-fraud detective Vincent LaPorta believes. But is the frail, elderly man across from him really a criminal mastermind? That’s what LaPorta intends to find out.

Instead of mounting a defense, Alfie slides a thick notebook across the table, a handwritten account of his life. “All the answers,” he insists, “are in there.”

Reluctantly, LaPorta begins to read, and what he discovers defies reason. Alfie claims he has a gift. He's bestowed with the ability to relive a moment simply by uttering one word—twice. But the power comes with two unbreakable rules. First, you only get one shot at a second chance. It sticks, for better or worse. Second, you can’t use it for love. Go back, and the person who once loved you will never love you again.

Even second chances, it seems, come at a price. How Alfie used his gift—and what brought him to that interrogation room—is a story you’ll have to read to believe.

When I first picked up Mitch Albom’s latest novel Twice, I couldn’t shake a sense of déjà vu. At first, I thought it was because the idea of getting a second chance at life echoed Matt Haig’s bestselling The Midnight Library. But then I realized Albom has explored similar territory before. His book,  For One More Day, asks, “What would you do if you could spend one more day with a person you've lost?”

In Twice, Albom expands that second-chance mythology, giving his protagonist the power to redo moments throughout his life. It’s an intriguing twist that pulled me in quickly. Albom doesn’t necessarily break new ground here, and that’s okay. His storytelling has always carried a sense of moral clarity and hope, and that’s on full display. Even if you’ve read variations of this story before, there’s comfort in the way he tells it. It’s the kind of book that invites you to pause and reflect on your own “what ifs,” reminding you that sometimes, once is enough.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2025, 83)