The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff

The Bright Years  My Rating: 4.9

Ryan and Lillian Bright are deeply in love—newly married and welcoming their baby girl, Georgette, into the world. But beneath the surface of their happiness lie devastating secrets: Lillian has a son she has never told Ryan about, and Ryan is hiding a growing alcohol addiction from his wife. As Georgette grows up, she witnesses her parents’ marriage rise and fall under the weight of these unspoken truths.

When a shocking loss shatters their already fragile family, Georgette distances herself from everything that reminds her of her parents. Years later, Lillian’s son comes searching for his birth family, forcing Georgette to return to her roots, confront her family’s history, and decide whether she can open her heart to love—both for them and for herself—while there is still time.

Told through three intimate points of view, The Bright Years is a tender, true-to-life debut that explores how trauma echoes through generations, and how grace and love can slowly piece a family back together.

Wow. I truly can’t believe this is the author’s first novel. The writing is so accessible, yet incredibly rich and deep. It captures the complexity of family, grief, and love in a way that feels honest and raw. I found myself tearing up more than once.

Normally, when a book switches narrators, it takes me time to adjust to each new perspective, but not here. I slipped effortlessly into the voice of each character, which is no small feat and speaks to how skillfully this story is told.

This is a beautiful reminder that life is, indeed, worth the risk of loving.

This is another fabulous recommendation from my book twin @shoegaljeana on Instagram - thank you! ♥

Seascraper by Benjamin Wood

Seascraper My Rating: 4.8

Twenty-year-old Thomas Flett leads a quiet, deliberate life in Longferry, Northern England. He works as a shanker, scraping shrimp along the drizzly shore with his horse and cart, sells his catch, and spends his afternoons dreaming of music and pining for his neighbor, Joan Wyeth. At heart, Thomas is a folk musician, but it remains a private dream, tucked away beneath the salt and sea-scum of his daily life.

Everything changes when a mysterious American, Edgar, arrives in town. He enlists Thomas’s help in scouting the perfect location for his next movie. Initially skeptical, Thomas slowly begins to trust Edgar, and the promise of Hollywood glamour shakes him from the monotony of his routine. But as Thomas is drawn further into Edgar’s world, questions arise: How much of Edgar’s vision is real? And how far can Thomas allow himself to be inspired?

Wow. This short novel completely captivated me. I can’t quite explain why, but it was just so good. The atmosphere is moody and grey, the writing lyrical and emotional. I could feel the chill of the fog and the hardship of Thomas’s life on the shore - my heart went out to him (and his horse!) as he labored through each day.

Benjamin Wood has a gift for crafting emotional landscapes that linger long after the last page. I’ll definitely be reading more of his work. Seascraper was longlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize, and it’s easy to see why.

A huge thanks to @shoegaljeana on Instagram for this fantastic recommendation!

The Jackal's Mistress by Chris Bohjalian

 The Jackal's Mistress My Rating: 5.0

Virginia, 1864. Libby Steadman’s husband has been gone so long she can scarcely remember the sound of his voice. While she prays he isn’t dead in a Union prison camp, her days are consumed with running a gristmill in the war-torn Shenandoah Valley. When she discovers a wounded Union officer abandoned to die, she faces an impossible choice: let her enemy perish, or risk everything—including charges of treason—to save him.

This novel was absolutely excellent from start to finish. Not having grown up in America, I’ve never known much about the Civil War, but this book had me constantly looking up real historical events and learning as I went. The atmosphere is vivid, the characters deeply likable, and the tension had me on the edge of my seat more than once.

And the ending? I won’t give anything away, but it didn’t disappoint. In fact, I think this might be the best Chris Bohjalian novel I’ve read so far.

Highly recommend!

Under The Tulip Tree by Michelle Shocklee

Under The Tulip Tree  My Rating: 4.9

Sixteen-year-old Lorena Leland’s dreams of a rich and fulfilling life as a writer are dashed when the stock market crashes in 1929. Seven years into the Great Depression, Rena’s banker father has retreated into the bottle, her sister is married to a lazy charlatan and gambler, and Rena is an unemployed newspaper reporter. Eager for any writing job, Rena accepts a position interviewing former slaves for the Federal Writers’ Project. There, she meets Frankie Washington, a 101-year-old woman whose honest yet tragic past captivates Rena.

As Frankie recounts her life as a slave, Rena is horrified to learn of all the older woman has endured—especially because Rena’s ancestors owned slaves. While Frankie’s story challenges Rena’s preconceptions about slavery, it also connects the two women whose lives are otherwise separated by age, race, and circumstances. But will this bond of respect, admiration, and friendship be broken by a revelation neither woman sees coming?

I truly enjoyed this book. Having grown up knowing the atrocities of slavery, I had never really considered how the generations immediately following it might have processed that history—or even tried to deny or rewrite it. This story made me stop and think about what it must have been like to live in a time when “we don’t talk about things,” when neighbors’ opinions carried enormous weight, and when the uncertainty of the stock market crash hung over daily life.

What impressed me most was how beautifully the author brought together these different layers of history and perspective. The book doesn’t just tell one story—it gives voice to multiple generations grappling with truth, silence, and identity. It felt very authentic, and the narrative was both moving and eye-opening.

This is one of those novels that lingers long after the final page, because it makes you think about how stories get told—and how many more still need to be heard. I will definitely read more by this author.

The Two Family House by Linda Cohen Loigman

The Two Family House My Rating: 4.9

Brooklyn, 1947: in the midst of a blizzard, in a two-family brownstone, two babies are born minutes apart to two women. They are sisters by marriage with an impenetrable bond forged before and during that dramatic night; but as the years progress, small cracks start to appear and their once deep friendship begins to unravel. No one knows why, and no one can stop it. One misguided choice; one moment of tragedy. Heartbreak wars with happiness and almost but not quite wins.

At first glance, The Two-Family House feels like a cozy story of two Brooklyn families sharing one home—one living upstairs, the other downstairs. There’s a sense of intimacy and nostalgia in the setting, and the relationships between the families draw you in right away.

But what begins as a portrait of family life soon deepens into something much more layered. Loigman takes us inside the hearts and minds of her characters, showing how a single decision can alter not only one person’s path but the future of everyone connected to them. The ripple effects stretch across decades, touching marriages, children, and friendships in ways both tender and heartbreaking.

What I especially appreciated was how the novel balanced the predictable with the unexpected. There are moments when you can see a choice coming, and yet the consequences are never as simple as they seem. That complexity made the story feel real—the kind of messiness that defines life itself. Love, secrets, regret, and growth all intermingle as the characters evolve, showing how time can both heal and deepen old wounds.

By the end, The Two-Family House is not just a story about two families under one roof—it’s a meditation on how families are shaped by loyalty, silence, and the courage (or lack thereof) to face the truth. It’s a novel that lingers, because it reminds us how profoundly we are all changed by the choices we make and the ones we don’t. The more I read this author, the more I love her stories. Highly recommend! ♥

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

Broken Country My Rating: 4.9

Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.

As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.

A sweeping love story with the pace and twists of a thriller, Broken Country is a novel of simmering passion, impossible choices, and explosive consequences that toggles between the past and present to explore the far-reaching legacy of first love.

Much to my surprise, I truly loved all of the characters — even when I disagreed with their choices or questioned their decisions. That, to me, takes a gifted author: someone who can draw you so deeply into a character’s humanity that you care about them anyway.

If you enjoy character-driven stories that stay with you long after you finish, I HIGHLY recommend Broken Country. It’s the kind of book that makes you think, feel, and keep turning the pages late into the night.SO GOOD! Thank you to @shoegaljeanna for this great recommendation.

Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah

Magic Hour  My Rating: 4.9

In the rugged Pacific Northwest lies the Olympic National Forest—nearly a million acres of impenetrable darkness and impossible beauty. From deep within this old growth forest, a six-year-old girl appears. Speechless and alone, she offers no clue as to her identity, no hint of her past.

Having retreated to her western Washington hometown after a scandal left her career in ruins, child psychiatrist Dr. Julia Cates is determined to free the extraordinary little girl she calls Alice from a prison of unimaginable fear and isolation. To reach her, Julia must discover the truth about Alice’s past—although doing so requires help from Julia’s estranged sister, a local police officer. The shocking facts of Alice’s life test the limits of Julia’s faith and strength, even as she struggles to make a home for Alice—and for herself.

I absolutely loved Magic Hour. Kristin Hannah drew me in from the very start with her beautiful writing and deeply human characters. I became so invested in Julia, Ellie, and especially the mysterious little girl that by the end, I found myself in tears.

This story of healing, family, and second chances is both heartbreaking and hopeful. Even though some parts were a bit predictable, it didn’t matter—I cared so much about these characters that I couldn’t put the book down.

A moving, unforgettable read that I know will stay with me.

Honor by Thrity Umrigar

 Honor by Thrity Umrigar My Rating: 5.0

The story of two couples and the sometimes dangerous and heartbreaking challenges of love across a cultural divide. 

Indian American journalist Smita has returned to India to cover a story, but reluctantly: long ago she and her family left the country with no intention of ever coming back. As she follows the case of Meena—a Hindu woman attacked by members of her own village and her own family for marrying a Muslim man—Smita comes face to face with a society where tradition carries more weight than one’s own heart, and a story that threatens to unearth the painful secrets of Smita’s own past. While Meena’s fate hangs in the balance, Smita tries in every way she can to right the scales. She also finds herself increasingly drawn to Mohan, an Indian man she meets while on assignment. But the dual love stories of Honor are as different as the cultures of Meena and Smita themselves: Smita realizes she has the freedom to enter into a casual affair, knowing she can decide later how much it means to her. 

In this tender and evocative novel about love, hope, familial devotion, betrayal, and sacrifice, Thrity Umrigar shows us two courageous women trying to navigate how to be true to their homelands and themselves at the same time.

I’ve loved Thrity Umrigar’s writing for years, and Honor is yet another testament to her incredible gift. As with her other novels, India is not just a setting—it’s a character in itself. The throbbing pulse of the city, the clash of modernity with deep-rooted traditions, the painful realities of poverty and the caste system, all unfold beside the country’s undeniable beauty and spirit.

The plot is rich and layered, and the character development is nothing short of stunning. Umrigar has a way of making you feel everything—grief, hope, outrage, and love. I found myself completely absorbed, drinking in every word, eagerly turning each page.

Honor is a heart-wrenching story, but one that’s told with grace and power. It’s a book that will stay with me, and it’s a rare 5-star read from me—fully earned.