The Burning Side by Sarah Damoff

THE BURNING SIDE by Sarah Damoff is a beautifully written, character-driven story set in Texas and a LibraryReads selection for May 2026. The focus is on April and Leo whose house burns down and whose marriage is falling apart. They have two young children, Sadie and Otto, and move in temporarily with April’s parents, Deb and Billy. The narrative jumps around in time and there are many sad moments and missed opportunities for clearer communication in this book, only intensifying the “feels” and affection for these characters. Deb and Billy have their own poignant story as they adjust to the impact of his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, reflecting throughout on their long, not always happy marriage. April and her siblings, Josie (dramatic middle child involved in theater) and Cameron (with girlfriend Rachel) also need to cope with selling the family home (“We live in homes until we leave them, and then they live in us. … I miss it. But we can only return to a place, not a time.”) and decisions about their own Alzheimer testing. There are plenty of issues and shifts in the characters’ reality, but that contributes to the realistic feeling of family life: “It doesn’t go fast, but it will have gone fast.” Having myself just returned from a memorial service for a dear Aunt who loved to read, Deb’s musings resonated: “In a flash, I'll be gone, my own children recalling their favorite things about me in some new house at some new table with some new iteration of family. So I dance now as if time is the music. This, I know, is how you dream. This is how you live forever.”

You Can't Hurry Second Chances by Michelle Stimpson

YOU CAN'T HURRY SECOND CHANCES by Michelle Stimpson is about a new life in small town Texas. Joyce Hicks has finally decided to divorce her husband after thirty years of being unfulfilled in her marriage. She moves away from Austin and settles in her grandmother’s house, but finds that her funds cannot cover all of the needed renovations in a timely manner. Her tenant, Gabriella Santos, is a talented chef who also struggles to see her own self-worth. Together the two of them push and pull each other along until Joyce learns to make decisions (including saying No to her daughter and Yes to a date with an old friend) with more confidence and Gabriella becomes brave enough to showcase her talents in public, leading to a new opportunity. Aspects feel like a coming-of-age story involving adults – with a rather abrupt, but happy ending.

Lake Effect by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

To be published in early March, LAKE EFFECT by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney is a multi-generational story with a Rochester, New York setting. I loved the many local references like Sibley’s or McCurdy’s department stores and several restaurants as well as the Lilac Festival. With a story that focuses mainly on the last third of the twentieth century, D'Aprix Sweeney also subtly weaves in historical details like Mr. Bubble (loved that!), Lollypop Farm, and the new concept of personal computers and the “undo” button for mistakes. She writes about cooking, Weight Watchers, divorce, Xerox corporate strategy, growth of supermarket chains, the AIDS epidemic and much more… all against a framework of two intertwined middle-class families, the Larkins and the Finnegans. I could readily picture them going to church on Sunday, socializing, and raising children in a close-knit town where so many folks worked for Kodak or Xerox (like Sam Larkin). Finn Finnegan pursues the family business, updating and expanding the local grocery chain (shades of Wegman’s?). But both their marriages are unhappy and changes impact them, their spouses (Nina and Honey), and their high school age children, Clara and Bridey (Bridgid) Larkin and Dune and Fern Finnegan. Subsequent events track the life choices of that younger generation (particularly the relationships between mothers and daughters), with a poignant ending. Overall, I would recommend this novel, but caution readers that there are some explicit scenes, including the rape of a fifteen-year-old girl. LAKE EFFECT received starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus (“An inviting family drama with the warmth, interest, and edge readers love in Sweeney’s work.”), and Library Journal. Marin Ireland performs well as the audiobook narrator. 

Snow Kissed by RaeAnne Thayne

SNOW KISSED by best-selling author RaeAnne Thayne is a sweet romance filled with the spirit of the Christmas season. Hard-working proprietor of a flower shop, Holly(!) is a single Mom to five-year-old Lydia who has special needs. Shortly before the holidays she meets Ryan, a military helicopter pilot and brother to one of her employees. As they say, “sparks fly” and their mutual attraction grows quickly even though he will have to return to his base in San Diego. There’s drama with an ex-husband and extended family, but the real focus of the story is how Holly and Ryan come to care for and respect each other. This is a terrific holiday tale (set in small town Idaho so plenty of seasonal snow) and will certainly appeal to Thayne’s many fans as well as readers of authors like Debbie Macomber, Susan Mallery, Fern Michaels, Nora Roberts, and Susan Wiggs.

You Are Here by David Nicholls

YOU ARE HERE by David Nicholls (One Day) is a novel about making sure that someone sees us. Set post-pandemic in the North of England near the beautiful Lake District, the story features Michael Bradshaw, 42 and a geography teacher, and Marnie Walsh, 38 and a freelance copy editor. She is recently divorced, and he is soon-to-be. A mutual friend, feeling each has had too much alone time, has invited them on an outdoors walk along with a handsome pharmacist who like Marnie, lives in London and Tessa, an outdoors-y type whose interests match Michael’s. Little, especially weather, goes according to plan and pretty quickly just Marnie and Michael are left on the walk, heading across England from one coast to the other. Their adventures with nature and a different hotel or pub each night are quite comical. Plus, the walks promote some soul-bearing and a simmering romance as the two start to bond. More details in reviews from The New York Times (“each is such good company for the other and for the reader.”) and The Wall Street Journal (“falls halfway between the serious novel and the breezy fantasy of the beach read”). As I read the thoroughly enjoyable YOU ARE HERE about finding oneself and finding one’s way in the English countryside, I repeatedly thought of Raynor Winn’s The Salt Path and The Wild Silence – also well worth reading. 

THe Matchmaker's Gift by Lynda Cohen Loigman

THE MATCHMAKER'S GIFT by Lynda Cohen Loigman is a surprisingly delightful historical fiction novel. With positive reviews from writers like Kate Quinn, Marie Benedict, and Fiona Davis, readers are sure to enjoy the story of Sara, a Jewish immigrant in the early 20th century and her granddaughter, Abby, a young lawyer in New York in the 1990s. The story, which moves between the two time periods, shows that Sara is a gifted matchmaker, able to discern when two people truly care for each other. She facilitates matches in secret for many years due to opposition from the traditional, male Jewish matchmakers, known as shadchanim. Finally, desperate to support her family, she struggles for the right to more openly utilize her abilities and charge for her services. Abby, on the other hand, is a successful divorce attorney, but generally unhappy with her boss and the rather unfeeling advice they often offer clients. When Sara dies, Abby is forced to reflect on both their lives and ultimately chooses to fight FOR something, as her grandmother would have so wisely advocated. The author’s note about her many sources and copious research (including numerous New York Times articles) is quite interesting as are the insights woven throughout the story about Jewish culture, immigrant life, and pressures faced by modern day professionals. Publishers Weekly says, “Readers are in for a treat.” I wholeheartedly concur. 

Breathless by Jennifer Niven

BREATHLESS by Jennifer Niven (All the Bright Places) is a very personal story of an 18-year-old girl, Claudine (Claude) Henry learning to deal with some life challenges. She writes at the very beginning of this novel, “You were my first. Not just sex, although that was part of it, but the first to look past everything else into me. … I don’t want to forget what I went through, what I thought, what I felt, who I was. I don’t want to forget you. But most of all, I don’t want to forget me.” This coming of age novel reflects the teen’s self-absorption – after all, it begins about a week before her high school graduation in Ohio when she is already thinking about the transition to college and planning a celebratory road trip with her best friend. That is all up-ended when her father announces that he and her mom are separating. Claude ends up spending the summer on an island (no wi-fi) near Georgia with her Mom as they try to come to terms with the new family structure. There, Claude meets Jeremiah (Miah). He is a kid with a troubled past, but he helps her to cope and truly cares for her (similar to the rebellious daughter’s boyfriend in Netflix’s Away with Hilary Swank). Throughout, Niven deftly conveys Claude’s range of emotions (confusion, heartbreak, anger, caring) as she struggles (sabotaging and nurturing) in relationships with her best friend (Saz), with her parents, and with Miah.  BREATHLESS received a starred review from School Library Journal.