Book Reviews

4.8

Jeanne Phares's 101 Reasons Women Get Better With Age: And Why We Finally Don't Give a Damn is a punchy, list-driven nonfiction work that pushes back against the cultural narrative that aging diminishes women, offering instead 101 distinct reasons why growing older is a source of freedom, wisdom, and self-possession.

When Breath Becomes Air: Pulitzer Prize Finalist by Paul Kalanithi

4.8

When Breath Becomes Air is the memoir of Paul Kalanithi, a neurosurgeon at Stanford who, at thirty-six and on the verge of completing a decade of surgical training, was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. Written as he was dying, and completed with an epilogue by his wife Lucy Kalanithi, the book is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and a New York Times bestseller that spent 68 weeks on that list, selling over two million copies and reaching readers in more than 40 languages. It is one of the most widely read meditations on mortality, meaning, and what constitutes a life well lived to emerge from American medicine in recent memory.

Jun 27, 2026

The 5 Ingredient Diabetic Slow Cooker Cookbook: 60 Easy & Delicious Dietitian Backed Recipes by Marianne Greene, Elizabeth M. Berkey RDN LD CDCES

4.7

Co-authored by Marianne Greene and Elizabeth M. Berkey, RDN LD CDCES, with nutritionist Ana Moreno as editor, The 5 Ingredient Diabetic Slow Cooker Cookbook delivers 60 five-ingredient slow cooker recipes with 15-minute prep times and a low glycemic weekly meal plan aimed at people managing Type 2 diabetes. Its professional credentials and tightly scoped design make it a purposeful, accessible resource for its target audience, though its deliberate constraints mean it is not built for readers seeking culinary breadth or already well-versed in low glycemic meal planning.

Jun 27, 2026

Why Do I Do That?: Psychological Defense Mechanisms by Joseph Burgo

4.6

Why Do I Do That? By Joseph Burgo Ph.D. Adapts the core strategies of psychodynamic psychotherapy into a structured self-help guide, using case studies and end-of-chapter exercises to help general readers recognize and work through the psychological defense mechanisms that shape their emotional lives and relationships — a substantive offering for anyone willing to engage honestly with the harder questions about their own behavior.

Jun 27, 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.

Life Travel And The People In Between: A Memoir by Mike Nixon

4.4

Mike Nixon's memoir, published by Palmetto Publishing in October 2022, traces his journey from a nineteen-year-old introvert working at a Comfort Inn motel in Hampton Roads, Virginia, dreaming of a bigger life, to a man who spent fourteen years traveling more than thirty countries. The book is equal parts travel narrative and coming-of-age story, grounded in Nixon's real-world stops — studying in the Dominican Republic, volunteering with the Peace Corps in Paraguay, working for an NGO in Nicaragua, and serving as a U.S. Navy sailor stationed in Japan. Reviewers at Independent Book Review describe the storytelling as conversational and unembellished, and the memoir's throughline — that human connection makes life worthwhile — gives it genuine emotional weight alongside its sense of adventure.

The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, 1) by Holly Black

4.3

The Cruel Prince launches Holly Black's Folk of the Air trilogy with a mortal girl's dangerous bid for power inside the treacherous courts of Faerie — a New York Times bestselling series opener that delivers royal intrigue, complex characters, and a relentlessly unpredictable plot.

Assassin: A Dark Epic Fantasy Novel (Darkblade Book 1) by Andy Peloquin

4.3

Assassin: A Dark Epic Fantasy Novel is the opening entry in Andy Peloquin's eleven-book Darkblade series, published by The Fantasy Fiends Publishing Inc. In July 2021, and it delivers exactly what its title promises — a relentless, action-driven descent into the grimdark end of the fantasy spectrum, centered on a legendary immortal killer known only as the Hunter of Voramis. Readers drawn to morally complex antiheroes, blood-soaked urban fantasy settings, and sprawling epic ambition will find a great deal to engage with here, though the book's considerable length and unrelenting darkness will naturally suit some tastes more than others.

Curious: A captivating fusion of fiction, philosophy, science, history by Philos Fablewright

4.1

Philos Fablewright's debut novel Curious follows Edward, a once-successful CEO whose life unravels, and uses his journey as a lens through which to examine life's biggest questions about existence, technology, and the future of humankind — blending fictional narrative, historical facts, scientific concepts, and humor into a single ambitious work that critics described as "engaging and challenging."

Jun 26, 2026

Boys with Sharp Teeth by Jenni Howell

3.5

Boys with Sharp Teeth is an instant New York Times bestseller and debut YA novel from Jenni Howell, published by Roaring Brook Press on April 8, 2025, in which a girl assumes a false identity to infiltrate her murdered cousin's elite boarding school and uncover the truth — a warped reimagining of The Picture of Dorian Gray that blends dark revenge with twisted desire. Critical coverage found it an intensely dark debut focused more on style than substance, while author blurbs from CG Drews, Jesse Q. Sutanto, and others praise its atmospheric tension and shocking twists. Readers drawn to heady, twisty dark academia will find much to savor here, though those seeking depth to match the dazzle may come away wanting more.

The Laws of Human Nature: A General View of Gestalt Psychology by Raymond Wheeler

Raymond Wheeler's The Laws of Human Nature: A General View of Gestalt Psychology, originally published in 1932 by D. Appleton and Company, is a systematic and historically significant work that traces the psychological principles underpinning Gestalt theory — from perception and learning to emotion, will, and personality — and mounts a sustained argument for configurational fields against the mechanistic element theory that dominated behavioral science. Now available in a Kindle edition edited by David Deley and with a foreword by the late David Keirsey, the book finds a new audience among readers interested in the intellectual roots of modern psychology.

Everything's Good: Cozy Classics You'll Cook Always by Toni Chapman

Toni Chapman's Everything's Good: Cozy Classics You'll Cook Always and Forever is a New York Times bestseller from Clarkson Potter, collecting 100 comfort-food recipes that draw on family traditions, Southern staples, and homestyle classics — designed to impress without the stress. This review assesses the book's content, organisation, and published reception, not a kitchen test.