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#BookReview All the Perfect Days by Michael Thompson @mcwthompson @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #AllThePerfectDays #MichaelThompson #bookmarkedbylandmark

#BookReview All the Perfect Days by Michael Thompson @mcwthompson @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #AllThePerfectDays #MichaelThompson #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: All the Perfect Days

Author: Michael Thompson

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on May 20, 2025

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Fantasy

Pages: 352

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Family doctor Charlie Knight is in his late thirties, still playing tennis against the same people every Friday night. Still jogging the same streets every morning. Still treating the same patients every day—fixing the high blood pressure and arthritic knees of folks who’ve known him since he was a kid. But Charlie has a secret plan to escape. A plan to live the life he wants, even if the woman he was meant to do it with has left him behind.

But then Genevieve Longstaff comes back to their hometown, just as something extraordinary happens. Charlie begins to have a vision of the exact number of days a person has left until they die.

Charlie believes it’s a gift. It certainly seems like one—after all, he’s using it to help his patients, family and friends make the most of their to mend relationships, to travel, to retire. But this gift comes with awful consequences, and soon Charlie realizes there are things he doesn’t want to know—especially about the woman he still loves.


Review:

Pensive, heartwarming, and hopeful!

All the Perfect Days is a charming, captivating tale that takes you into the life of Charlie Knight, a young doctor who after years of doing the same thing in the same town finally decides it’s time to move on until he’s suddenly struck with the ability to see the number of days a person has left to live, and the love of his life, the one he let get away all those years ago, returns home.

The prose is fluid and smooth. The characters are troubled, complex, and genuine. And the plot is an absorbing tale of life, loss, love, family, guilt, grief, friendship, forgiveness, compassion, support, community, and romance all interwoven with a thread of magical realism.

Overall, All the Perfect Days is a compelling, emotional, thought-provoking novel by Thompson that reminds us that even the little choices we make often have far-reaching consequences, and sometimes, perhaps, things are truly just fated to happen. 

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Michael Thompson

Michael Thompson has been a journalist, producer and media executive for the last fifteen years. He now co-owns a podcast production company called Fear and Greed – home of Australia’s most popular business podcast. He lives in Sydney with his wife, two young children, two cats and his beloved lawn. How to Be Remembered is Michael’s first novel.

Photo courtesy of Author's Website.

#BookReview Cold Burn by A. J. Landau @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #AJLandau #ColdBurn #NationalParksThriller

#BookReview Cold Burn by A. J. Landau @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #AJLandau #ColdBurn #NationalParksThriller Title: Cold Burn

Author: A. J. Landau

Series: National Parks Thriller #2

Published by: Minotaur Books on Apr. 29, 2025

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: Hardcover

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8/10

Agent Michael Walker returns when multiple deaths at Glacier Bay National Park are just the first steps in a potential global disaster.

National Park Service investigator Michael Walker is battling smugglers stealing priceless artifacts when he’s dispatched to Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska, where, in the first stage of a potential global disaster, a team of scientists has gone missing.

Meanwhile, in Florida’s Everglades National Park, FBI special investigator Gina Delgado traces the murder of an environmental science intern back to another U.S. Geological Survey team’s ongoing experiments that are decimating the fragile ecosystem. That is before she’s dispatched to the scene of a sunken U.S. nuclear submarine, the entire crew of which has inexplicably been killed.

The connection between these disparate investigations lies in a deadly prehistoric organism, frozen for thousands of years in the ice until global warming brings it back to life in what could mean the death of all life on Earth. An organism that a rogue billionaire sees as the ultimate fuel source and a Russian strongman views as the ultimate weapon that can shift the global balance of power forever. Against that backdrop, Walker and Delgado find themselves desperately doing battle across multiple fronts against an ancient, unstoppable enemy.


Review:

Creative, menacing, and suspenseful!

Cold Burn is a fast-paced, addictive thriller that sees FBI ASAC Gina Delgado and National Park Service ISB agent Michael Walker working together once again when their cases collide in Alaska, and it quickly becomes apparent that something extremely secretive, sinister, and worth killing for is underway.

The writing is seamless and smooth. The characters are relentless, driven, and knowledgeable. And the plot is an eerie tale full of twists, turns, secrets, deduction, mayhem, experimentation, power, grandiose delusions, violence, and murder.

Overall, Cold Burn is an intricately woven, highly entertaining, fantastic addition to the National Parks Thriller series by Landau with its flawed characters, great pace, and consistent sense of urgency.

 

This novel is available now.

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Thank you to St. Martin’s Press – Minotaur Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About A. J. Landau

A. J. LANDAU is the pseudonym for two authors, Jon Land, the award-winning, bestselling author and co-author of more than fifty books, and Jeff Ayers, reviewer, former-librarian, and author. Land lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and Jeff Ayers lives in Seattle, Washington.

#BookReview The Tiger and the Cosmonaut by Eddy Boudel Tan @PenguinCanada @PenguinRandomCA #TheTigerAndTheCosmonaut #EddyBoudelTan #PenguinReads #PenguinCanada

#BookReview The Tiger and the Cosmonaut by Eddy Boudel Tan @PenguinCanada @PenguinRandomCA #TheTigerAndTheCosmonaut #EddyBoudelTan #PenguinReads #PenguinCanada Title: The Tiger and the Cosmonaut

Author: Eddy Boudel Tan

Published by: Viking on Apr. 25, 2025

Genres: General Fiction

Pages: 336

Format: Paperback

Source: Penguin Random House Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

Casper Han grew up the dutiful son of immigrants who never felt entirely welcome in their remote corner of British Columbia. Now an adult, living in Vancouver with a boyfriend whose privilege he quietly resents, Casper rarely returns to his hometown, the site of a grief his family doesn’t discuss: the loss of his twin, Sam.

Over twenty years have passed since Sam went missing, and a pressing crisis has brought Casper and his siblings back. Their father has vanished, only to be found wandering the vast woods beyond the family home, confused and clutching a pair of scissors, seemingly trapped in the memory of that tragic night. In order to move forward, the Han family, accustomed to fleeing their problems, must stay put and finally confront the past—untangling the mystery of what really happened to Sam.

Combining the atmosphere and intrigue of a cracking good suspense novel with the depth of a rich character study, The Tiger and the Cosmonaut tells the story of a family whose members have long made themselves small and quiet and obedient—and what happens when the cycle is finally broken.


Review:

Poignant, immersive, and affecting!

The Tiger and the Cosmonaut is a raw, vivid, suspenseful tale that takes you into the life of Casper Han, a young, gay man who, after his father suddenly goes missing, decides to return to his hometown to not only help find his father, but to finally discover what really happened to his twin brother on that night more than twenty years ago when he vanished without a trace.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are sorrowful, secretive, and strong. And the plot is an exceptionally tender tale about life, loss, family, friendship, strength, abuse, loneliness, grief, self-discovery, revelations, heartache, belonging, and love.

Every once in a while you pick up a book that completely moves you and surprises you in all the best ways, and The Tiger and the Cosmonaut is one of those novels. It’s a powerful, pensive, mysterious, beautifully written story by Tan where the space between the words resonates as loudly as the words themselves and is a beautiful reminder that forgiveness in all its forms is always necessary for true healing.

This novel is available now.

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Thank you to Penguin Canada for gifting me a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Eddy Boudel Tan

EDDY BOUDEL TAN has been a finalist for the Edmund White Award, the ReLit Best Novel Award, and the Ferro-Grumley Award for his novels After Elias and The Rebellious Tide. He was named a Rising Star by Writers’ Trust of Canada in 2021. His short stories can be found in Joyland, Yolk, and various literary journals and anthologies. The Tiger and the Cosmonaut is his third novel. He lives in Vancouver with his husband.

Photo by Hannes van der Merwe

#BookReview Detective Aunty by Uzma Jalaluddin @harperbooks #DetectiveAunty #UzmaJalaluddin #HarperBooks #HarperPerennial

#BookReview Detective Aunty by Uzma Jalaluddin @harperbooks #DetectiveAunty #UzmaJalaluddin #HarperBooks #HarperPerennial Title: Detective Aunty

Author: Uzma Jalaluddin

Series: Kausar Khan Investigates #1

Published by: Harper Books on May 6, 2025

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: Paperback

Source: Harper Books

Book Rating: 8.5/10

After her husband’s unexpected death eighteen months ago, Kausar Khan never thought she’d receive another phone call as heartbreaking—until her thirty-something daughter, Sana, phones to say that she’s been arrested for killing the unpopular landlord of her clothing boutique. Determined to help her child, Kausar heads to Toronto for the first time in nearly twenty years.

Returning to the Golden Crescent suburb where she raised her children and where her daughter still lives, Kausar finds that the thriving neighborhood she remembered has changed. The murder of Sana’s landlord is only the latest in a wave of local crimes which have gone unsolved.

And the facts of the case are Sana found the man dead in her shop at a suspiciously early hour, with a dagger from her windowfront display plunged in his chest. And Kausar—a woman with a keen sense of observation and deep wisdom honed by her years—senses there’s more to the story than her daughter is telling.

With the help of some old friends and her plucky teenage granddaughter, Kausar digs into the investigation to uncover the truth. Because who better to pry answers from unwilling suspects than a meddlesome aunty? But even Kausar can’t predict the secrets, lies, and betrayals she finds along the way…


Review:

Captivating, humorous, and suspenseful!

Detective Aunty is a well-paced, amusing murder mystery that takes you into the life of Kausar Khan, a middle-aged widow who, after her daughter becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a local businessman, returns to Scarborough to prove her innocence, discover what’s really going on, and ultimately identify the killer.

The prose is witty and light. The characters are quirky, intelligent, and intriguing. And the plot is a mysterious, engaging whodunit full of family, friendship, community, secrets, greed, suspects, deduction, red herrings, and amateur sleuthing.

Overall, Detective Aunty is a cosy, satisfying, entertaining read by Jalaluddin that was so much fun with all its intricacies, culture, and drama, and which I do hope, and was slightly hinted at, may just be the first in a multitude of books in the Kausar Khan Investigates series.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

             

 

 

Thank you to Harper Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Uzma Jalaluddin

Uzma Jalaluddin is a critically acclaimed and bestselling novelist, playwright, public speaker and teacher. She writes authentic, nuanced and entertaining stories about Muslims, South Asians, and Canadians and is the author of DETECTIVE AUNTY (2025), MUCH ADO ABOUT NADA (2023), THREE HOLIDAYS AND A WEDDING (2023), HANA KHAN CARRIES ON (2021) and AYESHA AT LAST (2019) as well as her first play, THE RISHTA (2023). Her novels have been optioned for film and television, including by Amazon Studios and Mindy Kaling.

#BookReview Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung @BerkleyPub @PenguinRandomCA #DaughtersOfShandong #EveJChung #Berkley #BerkleyPartner #PenguinReads

#BookReview Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung @BerkleyPub @PenguinRandomCA #DaughtersOfShandong #EveJChung #Berkley #BerkleyPartner #PenguinReads Title: Daughters of Shandong

Author: Eve J. Chung

Published by: Berkley on May 6, 2025

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 400

Format: Paperback

Source: Berkley Publishing

Book Rating: 9/10

Daughters are the Ang family’s curse.

In 1948, civil war ravages the Chinese countryside, but in rural Shandong, the wealthy, landowning Angs are more concerned with their lack of an heir. Hai is the eldest of four girls and spends her days looking after her sisters. Headstrong Di, who is just a year younger, learns to hide in plain sight, and their mother—abused by the family for failing to birth a boy—finds her own small acts of rebellion in the kitchen. As the Communist army closes in on their town, the rest of the prosperous household flees, leaving behind the girls and their mother because they view them as useless mouths to feed.

Without an Ang male to punish, the land-seizing cadres choose Hai, as the eldest child, to stand trial for her family’s crimes. She barely survives their brutality. Realizing the worst is yet to come, the women plan their escape. Starving and penniless but resourceful, they forge travel permits and embark on a thousand-mile journey to confront the family that abandoned them.

From the countryside to the bustling city of Qingdao, and onward to British Hong Kong and eventually Taiwan, they witness the changing tide of a nation and the plight of multitudes caught in the wake of revolution. But with the loss of their home and the life they’ve known also comes new freedom—to take hold of their fate, to shake free of the bonds of their gender, and to claim their own story.

Told in assured, evocative prose, with impeccably drawn characters, Daughters of Shandong is a hopeful, powerful story about the resilience of women in war; the enduring love between mothers, daughters, and sisters; and the sacrifices made to lift up future generations.


Review:

Absorbing, poignant, and impactful!

Daughters of Shandong is a riveting tale that sweeps you into a country ravaged by internal conflict, oppression, economic instability, violence, and political upheaval, and a populace that’s confused, disappointed, angry, physically threatened, and struggling with self-identity, patriotism, and a lack of freedom and rights.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are brave, tormented, and determined. And the plot is an exceptionally touching tale about life, loss, family, secrets, separation, desperation, abandonment, tragedy, and perseverance.

Overall, Daughters of Shandong is an inspiring, emotional, beautifully written tale by Chung inspired by real-life familial events that reminds us that survival of any kind often involves heartbreaking choices, moral dilemmas, action, spirit, loss, and beyond all else, unimaginable sacrifice, strength, and courage.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to Berkley for this free copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Eve J. Chung

Eve J. Chung is a Taiwanese American human rights lawyer focusing on gender equality and women’s rights. She lives in New York with her husband, two children, and two dogs.

#BookReview Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz @AnthonyHorowitz @harperbooks #MarbleHallMurders #AnthonyHorowitz #SusanRyeland #HarperBooks

#BookReview Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz @AnthonyHorowitz @harperbooks #MarbleHallMurders #AnthonyHorowitz #SusanRyeland #HarperBooks Title: Marble Hall Murders

Author: Anthony Horowitz

Series: Susan Ryeland #3

Published by: Harper Books on May 13, 2025

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 592

Format: Hardcover

Source: Harper Books

Book Rating: 10/10

Editor Susan Ryeland has left her Greek island, her hotel, and her Greek boyfriend Andreas in search of a new life back in England.

Freelancing for Causton Books, she’s working on the manuscript of a novel, Pund’s Last Case, by a young author named Eliot Crace, a continuation of the popular Alan Conway series.  Susan is surprised to learn that Eliot is the grandson of legendary children’s author Marian Crace, who died some fifteen years ago—murdered, Elliot insists, by poison.

As Susan begins to read the manuscript’s opening chapters, the skeptical editor is relieved to find that Pund’s Last Case is actually very good. Set in the South of France, it revolves around the mysterious death of Lady Margaret Chalfont, who, though mortally ill, is poisoned—perhaps by a member of her own family. But who did it? And why?

The deeper Susan reads, the more it becomes clear that the clues leading to the truth of Marian Crace’s death are hidden within this Atticus Pund mystery.

While Eliot’s accusation becomes more plausible, his behavior grows increasingly erratic.. Then he is suddenly killed in a hit-and-run accident, and Susan finds herself under police scrutiny as a suspect in his killing.

Three mysterious deaths. Multiple motives and possible murderers. If Susan doesn’t solve the mystery of Pund’s Last Case, she may well be the next victim.


Review:

Unpredictable, twisty, and absorbing!

Marble Hall Murders is a skillfully crafty, brilliantly executed mystery that takes you back into the life of Susan Ryeland, a freelance editor who, after being hired to work on the manuscript of a Pund story written by a new author, finds her world turned upside down once again when the latest story seems to have an eerie resemblance to real-life events, everyone seems to have something to hide, and danger lurks around every corner.

The writing is sharp and crisp. The characters are relentless, intelligent, and vulnerable. And the plot, using a story within a story, builds quickly, creating intrigue and suspense as it unravels all the relationships, motivations, personalities, deception, and devious behaviours within it.

Overall, Marble Hall Murders is the third and final novel in the Susan Ryeland series, and even though it’s more than a little bittersweet to say goodbye to the characters I’ve come to know and love over these past three books, Susan and Atticus Pund, it is nevertheless a superb ending to a fabulous series that I highly recommend and will undoubtedly miss.

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to Harper Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Anthony Horowitz

ANTHONY HOROWITZ is the author of the US bestselling Magpie Murders and The Word is Murder, and one of the most prolific and successful writers in the English language; he may have committed more (fictional) murders than any other living author. His novel Trigger Mortis features original material from Ian Fleming. His most recent Sherlock Holmes novel, Moriarty, is a reader favorite; and his bestselling Alex Rider series for young adults has sold more than 19 million copies worldwide. As a TV screenwriter, he created both Midsomer Murders and the BAFTA-winning Foyle’s War on PBS. Horowitz regularly contributes to a wide variety of national newspapers and magazines, and in January 2014 was awarded an OBE.

#BookReview No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding by Catherine Mack @CEMcKenzie1 @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #NOWSTDATW #TheVacationMysteries #CatherineMack

#BookReview No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding by Catherine Mack @CEMcKenzie1 @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #NOWSTDATW #TheVacationMysteries #CatherineMack Title: No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding

Author: Catherine Mack

Series: The Vacation Mysteries #2

Published by: Minotaur Books on May 13, 2025

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8.5/10

The second in a witty, USA Today bestselling series following author Eleanor Dash as she goes from wedding guest to murder mystery investigator at her best friend’s wedding on Catalina Island.

Attending your best friend’s wedding should be a piece of (wedding) cake, but not for Eleanor Dash, bestselling author of the Vacation Mysteries series. Because murder seems to follow her every time she goes on vacation and is definitely her uninvited plus-one to the special occasion.

Emma Wood, Eleanor’s best friend since childhood, is starring in the movie adaptation of When in Rome, Eleanor’s first novel. Emma is also marrying Fred Winters, a major movie star and Emma’s co-star, who just happens to be playing Connor Smith, Eleanor’s ex and leading man of the series.

Filming wraps and they invite the whole cast and crew to their wedding at nearby Catalina Island. There may be a storm headed their way—because of course there is—but nothing will stop their nuptials . . . that is until Emma receives a note that says “Someone is going to die at the wedding.”

Eleanor is a professional at this point, and she’ll do everything she can to uncover the murderer so true love can prevail . . . before it’s too late for her and the rest of the storm-trapped wedding party.


Review:

Mysterious, intriguing, and atmospheric!

No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding is a cosy, amusing tale that takes us back into the life of writer Eleanor Dash as while taking a break from the set of the movie adaptation of her book to attend the wedding of her best friend on Catalina Island, somehow annoyingly finds herself once again in the company of a murderer.

The writing is descriptive and light. The characters are sharp, creative, and quirky. And the plot is a well-paced, witty whodunit full of misdirection, clues, suspects, red herrings, solid deduction, and drama.

Overall, No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding is a fun, twisty, easy read by Mack that’s refreshing and highly entertaining.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following links.

          

 

 

Thank you to Minotaur – St. Martin’s Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Catherine Mack

CATHERINE MACK (she/her) is the pseudonym for the USA Today and Globe & Mail bestselling author of over a dozen novels. Her books are approaching two million copies sold worldwide and have been translated into multiple languages including French, German, Portuguese, and Polish. Television rights to Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies and its forthcoming sequels sold in a major auction to Fox TV for development into a series, with Mack writing the pilot script. A dual Canadian and US citizen, she splits her time between Canada and various warmer locations in the US.

Photo Credit: Fany Ducharme

#BookReview Dying to Meet You by Sarina Bowen @SarinaBowen @harperbooks #DyingToMeetYou #SarinaBowen #HarperBooks #HarperPerennial

#BookReview Dying to Meet You by Sarina Bowen @SarinaBowen @harperbooks #DyingToMeetYou #SarinaBowen #HarperBooks #HarperPerennial Title: Dying to Meet You

Author: Sarina Bowen

Published by: Harper Books on May 13, 2025

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 368

Format: Paperback

Source: Harper Books

Book Rating: 8.5/10

The acclaimed USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author returns with a twisty thriller that probes how well we actually know the men in our lives.

Rowan Gallagher is a devoted single mother and a talented architect with a high-profile commission restoring an historic mansion for the most powerful family in Maine. But inside, she’s a mess. She knows that stalking her ex’s avatar all over Portland on her phone isn’t the healthiest way to heal from their breakup. But she’s out of ice cream and she’s sick of romcoms.

Watching his every move is both fascinating and infuriating. He’s dining out while she’s wallowing on the couch. The last straw comes when he parks in their favorite spot on the waterfront. In a weak moment, she leashes the dog and sets off to see who else is in his car.

Instead of catching her ex in a kiss, Rowan becomes the first witness to his murder—and the primary suspect.

But Rowan isn’t the only one keeping secrets. As she digs for the truth, she discovers the dead man was stalking her too, gathering intimate details about her job and her past.

Struggling to clear her name, Rowan finds herself spiraling into the shadowy plot that killed him.

Will she be the next to die?


Review:

Intense, deft, and suspenseful!

Dying to Meet You is a tortuous, simmering tale that introduces us to Rowan Gallagher, a successful architect who, after tracking her ex-boyfriend through his phone to the historical mansion she’s currently working on, suddenly becomes the number one suspect in his death when she happens to be the unfortunate one who stumbles across his bloodied body.

The writing is fluid and tight. The characters are vulnerable, consumed, and multilayered. And the plot is an intricate tale of deception, manipulation, secrets, suspicions, revelations, drama, entangled pasts, mayhem, and murder.

Overall, Dying to Meet You is another ominous, gripping, twisty whodunit by Bowen that does a wonderful job of reminding us that things are never as straightforward as they seem.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

             

 

 

Thank you to Harper Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Sarina Bowen

Sarina Bowen is the RITA® Award winning author of over two dozen contemporary and LGTB romance novels. She most recently hit the USA Today bestseller's list in February, with Brooklynaire. Formerly a derivatives trader on Wall Street, Sarina holds a BA in economics from Yale University.

Sarina Bowen is a New Englander whose Vermont ancestors cut timber and farmed the north country since the 1760s. Sarina is grateful for the invention of indoor plumbing and wi-fi during the intervening 250 years. On a few wooded acres, she lives with her husband, two boys, and an ungodly amount of ski and hockey gear.

Sarina's books are published in a dozen languages on four continents. In 2016, The Romance Writers of America honored HIM by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy with a RITA award for Best Contemporary Romance, Mid-Length.

#BookReview My Friends by Fredrik Backman @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA #MyFriends #FredrikBackman #SimonSchusterCA

#BookReview My Friends by Fredrik Backman @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA #MyFriends #FredrikBackman #SimonSchusterCA Title: My Friends

Author: Fredrik Backman

Published by: Atria Books on May 6, 2025

Genres: General Fiction

Pages: 448

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an artist herself, knows otherwise and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.

Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their difficult home lives by spending their days laughing and telling stories out on a pier. There’s Joar, who never backs down from a fight; quiet and bookish Ted who is mourning his father; Ali, the daughter of a man who never stays in one place for long; and finally, there’s the artist, a boy who hoards sleeping pills and shuns attention, but who possesses an extraordinary gift that might be his ticket to a better life. These four lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream.

Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be put into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. As she struggles to decide what to do with this bequest, she embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn the story of how the painting came to be. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more she feels compelled to unleash her own artistic spirit, but happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this fresh testament to the transformative power of friendship and art.


Review:

Pensive, poignant, and witty!

My Friends is an emotionally charged, moving tale that takes you into the lives of four friends as the painting that captured their last moment of innocence all those years ago is put up for sale, triggering a series of events that will ultimately change one teenage girl’s life forever.

The prose is lyrical and expressive. The characters are complex, scarred, and conflicted. And the plot is a compelling, sobering tale of life, loss, family, grief, guilt, denial, secrets, abuse, neglect, self-preservation, loneliness, the importance of learning to love and be loved, and the power of friendship.

Overall, My Friends made me think, made me cry, and resonated with me long after I turned the final page. It’s an enthralling, impactful, hopeful story by Backman that interweaves exceptional character development with a bittersweet, immersive, heart-wrenching story, all steeped in an abundance of pain and tragedy.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Fredrik Backman

Fredrik Backman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove (soon to be a major motion picture starring Tom Hanks), My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, Beartown, Us Against You, as well as two novellas, And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer and The Deal of a Lifetime. His books are published in more than forty countries. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children.

#BookReview A Thousand Natural Shocks by Omar Hussain @BlackstoneAudio #OmarHussain #AThousandNaturalShocks #BlackstonePublishing #BlackstoneInsiders

#BookReview A Thousand Natural Shocks by Omar Hussain @BlackstoneAudio #OmarHussain #AThousandNaturalShocks #BlackstonePublishing #BlackstoneInsiders Title: A Thousand Natural Shocks

Author: Omar Hussain

Published by: Blackstone Publishing on May 6, 2025

Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Science Fiction

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Blackstone Publishing

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Omar Hussain’s dazzling debut, A Thousand Natural Shocks, is a mesmerizing meditation on trauma, memory, and identity wrapped in a high-octane thriller.

Dash, a reporter in Monterey, California, is desperate to outrun his past. During the day, he investigates the reemergence of a long-dormant serial killer. At night, he has become entangled with a criminal cult that promises a pill to erase his traumatic memory.

But as Dash begins to lose his memories—and his sense of self—he discovers a dark secret about the cult, one that would horrify its members. And soon he finds himself in a race against time to evade the cult, unveil the killer, and reconcile his past before his own memories fade away …


Review:

Intricate, gritty, and unsettling!

A Thousand Natural Shocks is a dark, compelling tale that takes you into the life of reporter Dash Hassan as his life begins to spiral out of control when he joins a wellness cult whose intentions are not quite what they seem, he overindulges in memory-erasing pills, and he triggers a serial killer to come out of retirement when he makes up a story in order to save his career.

The writing is tight and intense. The characters are vulnerable, impulsive, and tormented. And the plot is an engrossing tale full of desperation, manipulation, family, troubled pasts, haunting memories, trauma, paranoia, death, and murder.

Overall, A Thousand Natural Shocks is a dark, atmospheric, promising debut by Hussain that kept me enthralled from the very first page and left me entertained, satisfied, and eager to read whatever his deliciously sinister mind manages to come up with next. 

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Omar Hussain

Omar Hussain is a writer from the San Francisco Bay Area currently living in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He holds an MFA in creative writing from NYU. A Thousand Natural Shocks is his first novel.