Fiction Book Reviews

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

4.7

Kerri Maniscalco's #1 New York Times bestselling Kingdom of the Wicked trilogy — comprising Kingdom of the Wicked, Kingdom of the Cursed, and Kingdom of the Feared — arrives in a single paperback boxed set published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (May 2024), collecting the complete arc of Emilia's collision with demons, murder, and the supernatural underworld. This review is based on the series' published content and reception from named sources, not hands-on reading of the physical set.

The Man Who Died Twice: A Thursday Murder Club Mystery by Richard Osman

4.6

The Man Who Died Twice, the second entry in Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club series, reunites the beloved quartet of amateur sleuths — Elizabeth, Ron, Ibrahim, and Joyce — in another witty, warmhearted murder mystery set in a Kent retirement village. Published by Viking Press (Penguin Random House) in September 2021 and released as an Audible audiobook narrated by Lesley Manville on September 28, 2021, the book has drawn praise from major crime writers and general readers alike for balancing sharp plotting with genuine emotional depth. This review draws on its content, structure, and published critical reception — not hands-on use or listening.

Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig

4.6

Two Twisted Crowns is the New York Times bestselling conclusion to Rachel Gillig's The Shepherd King duology, picking up directly from the cliffhanger of One Dark Window as Elspeth and Ravyn race to gather the final Providence Cards — a quest that drives them into a cursed forest for a potentially ruinous bargain with the Spirit of the Wood. This review covers the book's content, structure, and reception from published sources, not hands-on use.

Aug 1, 2026

Dire by Jeff Carson

4.5

Dire is the eighth installment in Jeff Carson's internationally bestselling David Wolf Mystery Thriller Series, published by Cross Atlantic Publishing in February 2016. Set in the ski town of Rocky Points, Colorado, the novel opens with Chief Detective David Wolf diving into the frigid Chautauqua River to rescue a man who has careened off the road — a heroic act that draws Wolf into a political firestorm and introduces him to nurse Lauren Coulter. When bodies begin to surface and Lauren's troubled past comes to light, Wolf must race to untangle a deadly conspiracy before the cost of failure becomes personal.

An American Beauty: A Novel of the Gilded Age by Shana Abe

4.4

Shana Abé's An American Beauty is a sweeping historical novel published by Kensington in April 2023, tracing the extraordinary rise of Arabella Yarrington Huntington from a ramshackle Richmond, Virginia boarding house to the heights of Gilded Age New York society. Drawing on the real life of one of America's wealthiest women, Abé — a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author — crafts a story centered on beauty, ambition, and the steep social cost of female agency in the nineteenth century. The Historical Novel Society's review praised the novel for bringing history to life and shining a light on a largely forgotten figure, while critics noted that it offers "a fascinating look at the choices she made to become a Gilded Age titan." The multiple-perspective structure earns some criticism, but Arabella herself remains a compellingly drawn center of gravity throughout.

When the Jessamine Grows by Donna Everhart

4.4

When the Jessamine Grows is a morally complex, evocative historical novel set in rural 19th-century North Carolina, in which one woman struggles to hold her family together, keep her farm running, and preserve her convictions during the Civil War — the most devastating and divisive period in American history. Published by Kensington in January 2024, it arrives from USA Today bestselling author Donna Everhart, a recipient of the North Carolina Society of Historians Award of Excellence and the SELA Outstanding Southeastern Author Award, and is designed with book club discussion in mind.

Rule Britannia: The Washingtons by Tim Holden

4.3

Rule Britannia: The Washingtons: A Family Shaped by the Rise of an Empire is the opening volume of Tim Holden's New World Saga, a historical fiction series tracing the Washington family against the backdrop of Britain's imperial expansion. Published by Nielsen in February 2026 as a Kindle edition, it is designed to launch a planned trilogy that blends genealogical drama with the sweeping forces of colonial history.

Finding Home: From Cairo to New York by Djenane Nakhle

4.3

Finding Home: From Cairo to New York is a memoir by Lebanese-American psychologist Dr. Djenane Nakhle, published by Paradise Palm Publishing in December 2024, tracing her journey from a childhood in politically turbulent Egypt through migration across four continents to her eventual life as an established academic in New York. This review draws on the book's content and available published commentary; it does not represent hands-on use or a personal read.

Aug 1, 2026

The Phoenix Crown: A Novel by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang

4.3

The Phoenix Crown is a historical novel co-authored by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang, set against the catastrophic 1906 San Francisco earthquake, following soprano Gemma Garland and Chinatown embroideress Suling as they pursue a legendary imperial crown and the villainous man who possesses it. Published by William Morrow Paperbacks in February 2024, it earned a starred review from Booklist and strong praise from Publishers Weekly and Historical Novels Review for its lush detail, dual female leads, and page-turning suspense.

Aug 1, 2026

The Names: A Read with Jenna Pick by Florence Knapp

4.2

Florence Knapp's debut novel The Names, a Read with Jenna Pick published by Pamela Dorman Books in May 2025, is a structurally inventive work of literary fiction that traces how a single maternal decision — what to name a child — fractures into three distinct life paths. Praised by Jojo Moyes as "an utter original" and by Elle as "a deft and lovely story," it has drawn wide critical acclaim for its spare prose, its three richly drawn casts of characters, and its unflinching exploration of domestic violence and the butterfly effect of identity.

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

4.1

Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres, first published in 1991 and available in a Vintage reprint edition, is a landmark American novel that transplants Shakespeare's King Lear to the farmlands of Iowa, winning the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the 1991 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, and the 1992 Ambassador Book Award for Fiction on the strength of its unflinching portrait of family, land, and buried secrets.