Women&#x27;s Fiction Book Reviews

A Founding Mother: A Novel of Abigail Adams – A Historical by Stephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie

4.7

A Founding Mother is a sweeping historical fiction novel by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie, published by William Morrow in 2026, that traces Abigail Adams's extraordinary life from her 1765 marriage to John Adams through five decades of revolution, nation-building, and personal sacrifice. Timed to the 250th anniversary of American independence, it is designed for readers who want an intimate, meticulously researched portrait of one of the republic's most consequential women — told from Abigail's own perspective, alongside the famous men who shaped the age.

May 25, 2026

Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel by Shelby Van Pelt

4.6

Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel pairs a grieving widow with a philosophically-minded giant Pacific octopus to unravel a decades-old disappearance — a New York Times bestseller that won the 2023 McLaughlin-Esstman-Stearns First Novel Prize and is now in development as a Netflix adaptation starring Sally Field.

Jun 9, 2026

America's First Daughter: A Novel by Stephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie

4.5

America's First Daughter is a sweeping historical fiction novel co-authored by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie, published by William Morrow Paperbacks in 2016, that brings to life Martha "Patsy" Jefferson Randolph — Thomas Jefferson's eldest daughter — as the keeper of her father's most complex secrets and the architect of an enduring American legacy. Drawing from thousands of letters and original sources, it is both a New York Times and USA Today bestseller, and a landmark work of biographical historical fiction centered on a woman too long eclipsed by the men around her.

Jun 28, 2026

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

Seven Days in June is a contemporary romance novel by Tia Williams that follows Eva Mercy and Shane Hall — two writers whose lives collided as teenagers and whose reunion as adults forces them to reckon with trauma, growth, and the love they never fully left behind. Praised by outlets including critical coverage, critical coverage, The Week, and PopSugar, it has earned a reputation as one of the standout romance novels of its era, selected as a Reese's Book Club pick and celebrated for balancing wit and sensuality with substantive themes of chronic illness, generational trauma, and Black joy.

Jul 17, 2026

Summer Island: A Novel by Kristin Hannah

Summer Island is a standalone novel by Kristin Hannah, first published in 2001 and later reissued in paperback by Ballantine Books, that charts the fractured relationship between a Seattle talk-show host and her estranged daughter against the fog-laced backdrop of the San Juan Islands. It is a concentrated, emotionally-driven story of family secrets, the cost of public personas, and the difficult work of forgiveness — representative of Hannah's earlier, more intimate period before she turned to sweeping historical narratives.

Jun 19, 2026

Then She Was Gone: A Novel by Lisa Jewell

Then She Was Gone is a tightly constructed psychological thriller in which Lisa Jewell traces one mother's decade-long grief over a missing daughter — and the terrifying answers that surface when she finally stops running from the past.

Jun 13, 2026

Heart the Lover by Lily King

Lily King's seventh novel follows the unnamed narrator — revealed at the end to be Casey Peabody, the protagonist of King's earlier Writers & Lovers — across roughly three decades, from a college love triangle with Sam and Yash in the 1980s through pregnancy, marriage, parenthood, and finally a reunion around a deathbed. Published by Grove Press in the US and Canongate in the UK in 2025, the novel functions as both a prequel and sequel to Writers & Lovers while standing on its own. The Guardian called it "a delightfully witty tale of college romance" that "matures into midlife poignancy," and critics described it as "intensely moving." Critical coverage was more skeptical, finding the plot at times "clunky melodrama" lacking "the staying power" of King's earlier work — making this a novel whose admirers will be passionate and its skeptics few but vocal.

Jun 1, 2026

Picking Daisies on Sundays by Liana Cincotti

4.2

Picking Daisies on Sundays is a contemporary romance novel by Liana Cincotti, originally self-published before being acquired by Forever, in which college senior Daniella Daisy Maria agrees to pose as her childhood best friend Levi Coldwell's fake girlfriend for his sister's wedding — only to find four years' worth of buried feelings rushing back to the surface. Positioned for fans of Lynn Painter and Jenny Han, the novel blends second-chance romance with a friends-to-lovers dynamic, drawing on themes of anxiety, young love, family bonds, and the messy complexities of early adulthood.

Jul 17, 2026

In the Great Quiet: A Novel by Laura Vogt

4.2

In the Great Quiet is a historical fiction novel by Laura Vogt, published by Lake Union Publishing on April 1, 2026, in which Minnie Hoopes — a woman modeled on Vogt's real ancestor — stakes a homestead claim in Oklahoma during the 1893 Land Run and must survive isolation, hardship, and the weight of a hidden act of violence. The novel weaves magical realism through its frontier setting, with the prairie land itself speaking to Minnie through the voices of women across time. Early readers have praised Vogt's lyrical, sensory prose and the book's psychological depth.

Jul 17, 2026

She Who Holds the Wind by Kiersten Dunbar Chace

She Who Holds the Wind is a 362-page independently published book by Kiersten Dunbar Chace, a human rights activist and award-winning documentary filmmaker whose decades of work span South Africa, Indigenous Arizona history, and the African diaspora. This review is based on available publication records and background on the author from published sources, not hands-on reading.

Jul 13, 2026

Four Girls in a Store by Nancy Martin

Four Girls in a Store is a hardcover by Nancy Martin, published by Macmillan — an early work that predates her later career as a prolific author of mystery and romance fiction. With verified publication details but limited available critical or descriptive record, this review covers what the published record confirms about the book's context and place in the author's body of work.

Jul 5, 2026