Book Reviews

4.8

America's Test Kitchen's The New Cooking School Cookbook: Fundamentals is a comprehensive culinary reference designed to teach foundational cooking skills through 80 themed courses, 400 recipes, and more than 200 kitchen tips and techniques — structured explicitly as an in-home cooking school for cooks at any level.

Apr 5, 2026

The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness by Morgan Housel

4.7

Morgan Housel's The Psychology of Money makes a compelling case that financial success is driven less by technical knowledge than by behaviour, temperament, and the stories people tell themselves about wealth — and its global reach of over 10 million copies sold suggests that argument has resonated widely.

Apr 5, 2026

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

4.7

Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States is a foundational and fiercely debated work of American nonfiction that reorients the national story away from presidents, wars, and institutions toward the laborers, enslaved people, Indigenous nations, women, and dissidents who shaped — and resisted — the country from below. Originally published in 1980 and revised multiple times through events covering 2002, it has sold more than four million copies in English and been translated into more than a dozen languages, cementing its status as one of the most widely read and argued-over works of American history ever written. The audiobook edition, narrated by Howard Zinn's son Jeff Zinn and released by Harper in December 2009, runs 34 hours and 10 minutes in unabridged form.

Before We Were Yours: A Novel by Lisa Wingate

4.6

Before We Were Yours is a New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly bestselling novel by Lisa Wingate that dramatizes one of America's most notorious real-life adoption scandals — the systematic kidnapping and sale of poor children by Georgia Tann's Tennessee Children's Home Society — through two alternating timelines set in 1939 Memphis and the present-day American South. It won the Southern Book Prize and has sold over three million copies.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, Pauline Nestor

4.6

Emily Brontë's only novel, first published in 1847 under the pen name Ellis Bell, endures as one of the most celebrated works in English literature — a ferocious story of obsession, revenge, and doomed passion set against the bleak Yorkshire moors, now available in a Penguin Classics revised edition featuring an introduction and notes by Pauline Nestor and a new preface by Lucasta Miller.

Apr 3, 2026

Lights Out (Into Darkness Book 1) by Navessa Allen

4.4

Navessa Allen's Lights Out is the debut entry in the Into Darkness series — a #1 New York Times bestselling dark romance that blends stalker-fantasy tropes, high heat, and gallows humor into a fast-paced story about trauma nurse Aly Cappellucci and cybersecurity expert Josh Hammond, complicated by a third party whose intentions are far more sinister than either of theirs.

Your Cat: The Owner's Manual: Hundreds of Secrets, Surprises, by Dr. Marty Becker

4.3

Published by Grand Central Publishing in 2012, Your Cat: The Owner's Manual is a practical pet-care reference by Dr. Marty Becker — widely known as "America's Veterinarian" — co-written with Gina Spadafori and featuring a foreword by Dr. Jane Brunt. Designed to go well beyond basic cat care, the book covers everything from selecting the right cat to preventing health problems and addressing behavioral issues, positioning itself as a go-to resource for cat owners at any stage of their relationship with a feline companion. This review is based on the book's content as described by its publisher and available bibliographic sources, not hands-on use.

Sold on a Monday: A True Story of Heartbreak and Resilience by Kristina McMorris

4.3

Kristina McMorris's Sold on a Monday is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling historical novel set against the hardscrabble backdrop of the Great Depression, drawing its central premise from an actual newspaper photograph that stunned the nation. Built around dual protagonists — reporter Ellis Reed and secretary Lily Miller — and a devastating decision involving two children, the novel weaves together themes of love, redemption, sacrifice, and the moral courage required to right an unimaginable wrong. Published by Sourcebooks Landmark in 2018, it stands as one of McMorris's most acclaimed works and has found a strong readership among fans of character-driven historical fiction.

The Love of My Life: A GMA Book Club Pick: A Novel by Rosie Walsh

4.2

Rosie Walsh's The Love of My Life is a New York Times bestselling novel and Good Morning America Book Club pick that entwines a deeply felt love story with a steadily tightening domestic mystery, following a woman whose hidden past threatens to undo everything she's built with her husband and young daughter.

Half His Age: A Novel by Jennette McCurdy

3.8

Half His Age, Jennette McCurdy's debut novel published by Ballantine Books on January 20, 2026, is a New York Times bestseller that follows Waldo, a seventeen-year-old high school senior in Anchorage, Alaska, who pursues a relationship with her creative writing teacher, Mr. Korgy. McCurdy frames the novel as an exploration of female rage, power, and desire, and the result is a character study that major outlets received as provocative and deliberately discomfiting — earning both strong praise and pointed criticism for its execution.

The Fog and the Clearing: HooMan / Ai — An Orange Paper by Marc Cianciolo

Marc Cianciolo's independently published paperback The Fog and the Clearing: HooMan / Ai — An Orange Paper is a concise, essay-style work that engages with the relationship between human identity and artificial intelligence, framed through the dual lens suggested by its subtitle.

Apr 5, 2026

Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden

Belle Burden's sophisticated memoir examines marriage as a study in sustained intimacy and persistent mystery, offering intellectual depth rather than easy answers about modern relationships.