Back in February I came across a post from an old high-school friend celebrating the Chinese New Year and welcoming in the year of the ‘Fire Horse’, symbolizing ‘wildfire’ energy and unstoppable momentum; purifying, explosive, transformative, and deeply disruptive. I was ecstatic, this of course lined up perfectly with my own ‘Metal Horse’ zodiac, known for our inner strength and free-spirit…
…if you are a reader, which I assume you are, you know that ‘transformative’ and ‘wildfire energy’, typically mean periods of intense character growth and development. Let me tell you about that character arc, because getting outside your comfort zone is, well it’s uncomfortable to say the least.
This may be the year of the fire horse, but this girl is ready for a relaxing winter of time spent with the family, good food, and cozy evenings getting back to just being me.
FYI this just might be my longest post ever!
June
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
Shelf Worthy- 4/5 Stars
•Dominic Salt and his three kids are the last caretakers of Shearwater, a remote island near Antarctica housing the world’s largest seed bank. When a near-dead woman, Rowan, washes ashore in a brutal storm, the family’s fragile isolation cracks, but Rowan has yet to reveal why she really came, and Dominic is hiding secrets of his own. Part mystery, part climate reckoning, but mostly tragic.
•What I Thought: The whole novel was dark, desperate and real. Love, attraction, and loyalty are all examined from multiple angles, and character flaws are given perspective. And that ending! *le gasp*. On the issue of climate change, it does pose an interesting question overall of what we are leaving behind for our children, and what are we willing to sacrifice for them?
Amazon: US or CA
The 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Hard Cover Worthy- 5/5 Stars
•Hollywood icon & recluse, Evelyn Hugo, finally agrees to tell her life story but only if unknown magazine writer Monique Grant writes it, and won’t say why. Across seven marriages, ruthless ambition, and a lifelong love, Evelyn recounts a glamorous, and devastating, rise through Old Hollywood. A sweeping story about love, identity, and the price of living life on your own terms.
•What I Thought: Between Daisy Jones & The Six, Atmosphere and now The 7 Husbands, Taylor Reid is on my auto-buy list and I hope to read more of her previous work as well. It took me a couple tries to really get into it, but once I was, I was hooked! The writing is beautiful and while you know the twist is coming, you don’t see it until it hits you!
Amazon: US or CA
Vicious by V.E. Schwab
Shelf Worthy- 4/5 Stars
•College roommates Victor Vale and Eli Cardale turn their medical thesis research into something dangerous: manufacturing EOs- extra ordinary people who gain powers by surviving near-death experiences. Ten years later, Eli is a self-righteous vigilante hunting EOs while Victor breaks out of prison hell-bent on revenge, aided by a teenage EO with a dark power. A supervillain origin story that highlights how thin the line is between hero and monster.
•What I Thought: I loved this new take on ‘super hero’ culture that leans more X-Men than your standard Superman hero. The idea that your super power derives from a mix of your personality and the circumstance of your death is haunting, and I can’t wait to read the next one!
Amazon: US or CA
Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez
Kindle Worthy- 3/5 Stars
•ER doctor Briana Ortiz is having the worst year: a divorce, a brother who desperately needs a kidney donor, and a new colleague, Dr. Jacob Maddox, who makes a terrible first impression. Then Jacob writes her a letter to apologize for said first impression, she writes back. When Jacob turns out to be a kidney match for her brother, Briana agrees to help him in return and pose as his fake girlfriend for his brother’s wedding.
•What I Thought: I’m not really one for cheesy romances as a whole, or miscommunication tropes either, but I did actually enjoy this one and in addition to Just for the Summer, Abby is slowly becoming a staple romance author for me.
Amazon: US or CA
Mother of Death and Darkness by Carissa Broadbent
Kindle Worthy- 3.5/5 Stars
•In the trilogy’s finale, Tisaanah fights to rescue Max from imprisonment while her people’s rebellion grows more dangerous. Max’s mind is fractured, and Aefe is pulled back into the Fey lands by a king and old acquaintance. With war between humans and Fey looming, all three face impossible choices between love and duty.
•What I Thought: Girl, I’m not even going to lie. I listened to this book on Audible 3 months ago and while I rated it 4-stars in my notes originally, I honestly can’t even remember the ending. I remember thinking it was good, I remember enjoying listening to it on the way into work, but I think I was rushing through things towards the end of the month with my mother’s diagnosis, so I’m going to downgrade it slightly to a 3.5-star rating, and it will definitely be going into the re-read pile.
Amazon: US or CA
Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman
Hard Cover Worthy?- 4.5/5 Stars
•Oliver Lewis just wants to run his family ranch on New Sonora, a colonized planet, with his sister and their aging farm bots. Unfortunately the transfer gate to Earth finally opens and Earth’s government decides to evict the settlers. The Apex Corporation turns the eviction into a video game, letting paying gamers remotely pilot war machines against the colonists in a blood sport called Operation Bounce House.
•What I Thought: What the heck did I just read and why did I enjoy it so much?! Wanting to read Matt Dinniman and not wanting to wait ages for Dungeon Crawler to become available through Libby or the Library, I ended up listening to Operation Bounce House off Libby. Audio is 100% the way to go here, it was so entertaining, completely outside of my usual wheel house and worth every second of wild and wacky chaos.
Amazon: US or CA
July
Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
Kindle Worthy- 3/5 Stars
•After her mother Mary’s death, Booker winner Arundhati Roy sat down to write her first memoir — an intimate, sometimes funny, sometimes searing account of the woman she calls “my shelter and my storm.” From a strict childhood in Kerala under her formidable single mother, to running away at eighteen, to becoming a world-famous novelist and activist, Roy traces how Mary shaped the writer and woman she became. A tribute to thorny love, fierce independence, and the mothers who make us.
•What I Thought: I loved that this book brought me outside of North America and introduced me to another culture and different family structures, while giving homage to Arundhati’s complicated, yet deep, relationship with her mother. It might not make its way onto my physical bookshelf, but I did enjoy listening to it.
Amazon: US or CA
August
My Friends by Frederik Backman
Hard Cover Worthy- 5/5 Stars
•Eighteen-year-old Louisa, raised in foster care, has carried a postcard of a famous painting, The One of the Sea, for years. Everyone else sees an ocean, but she sees the three tiny figures on a pier at its edge. When a chance encounter puts her in the path of the reclusive artist himself, she’s handed the painting and sets off to uncover the story behind it: four teenagers who found refuge in each other during one unforgettable summer.
•What I Thought: This book will absolutely end up on my list of top-reads for 2026, or… ever. It left me at such odds, because on one hand, the story and the characters didn’t really resonate with me, but on the other hand… this was the one of the best writing styles I have ever encountered. My jaw was constantly hitting the floor at the descriptiveness, eloquence, and the amount of theory packed into its pages; how can you be so impassive about the plot, yet in such awe of an author’s skill?! I will absolutely be reading more of Frederik to see if this ‘Backman Effect’ is legit.
Amazon: US or CA
Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross
Shelf Worthy- 4/5 Stars
•Matilda is the youngest goddess of her clan, born in the firelit under realm and blessed with humble messenger magic. Ten years ago, a mortal boy named Vincent wrote to the goddess he befriended in dreams, begging for help on the darkest night of his life; when she never answered, he hardened into a cynical mortal man, the Lord of Wyndrift. Now Matilda comes tumbling through his bedroom window with a letter for him, and fate pulls them back together.
•What I Thought: Let’s just say I immediately called Beth over at ‘Cover to Cover‘, my favorite independent bookstore in Brockville, and had her order up a special edition for me, the hype is for real! I loved the take on Gods & Prayers and the writing style was beautiful; I will absolutely be having to read ‘Letters of Enchantment’ next!
Amazon: US or CA
NotMyThing
The Housemaid is Watching by Freida McFadden
This book was cute enough, but it felt so disconnected from the original series, it could have been it’s own stand-alone novel. The disconnect between the characters and their previous connections killed it for me.
James by Percival Everatt
This book made me really want to read the original, and I did enjoy listening to the audible version, I just don’t know if I’d recommend it, it kind of fell in the 2.5-star area for me. Good, enjoyable, but falling short of memorable.
Endling by Maria Reva
Another audible that I enjoyed listening to, but don’t know if I’d actually recommend. I did love that the author created real characters, filled with faults and the mundane, and reflected real jobs.
What was your favorite read this summer?
-Anna R.
*As always if you purchase through any of the links in this post, or throughout this blog, a small commission comes back to help support the page & what I do here!
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