Fiction

The Siren and the Star / Colby Cedar Smith

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The Siren and the Star
By: Colby Cedar Smith
Genre: YA, Novel in Verse
Number of Pages: 544
Published: October 28, 2025
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Dates Read: April 24, 2026 - April 27, 2026
Format: Library Book / Hardcover	ISBN: 9781665972178

Trigger Warning: assault, violence, classism, rape, murder

Luciana “Lula” Gabroni has been introverted and homeschooled her whole life, but now she’s entering the New England Conservatory of Music. She’s immediately chosen to join an elite ensemble of students who will compete in a music festival in Venice, Italy.

Barbara Strozzi is a poor, young woman living in 17th-century Venice who dreams of making her mark on the world through song. She is determined to fight against her title of illegitimate servant girl and have a life filled with intellect, pleasure, and independence., even if her gender and status threaten to silence her.

When Lula comes across Barara’s music in the Conservatory library, she immediately feels a kinship. After an incident at school sends Lula on a journey to reclaim her voice, she soon realizes she must connect with the ghosts of the past if she wants to tackle her future.

This is a novel in verse told through three acts like an opera and focuses on finding your voice and female empowerment.

This book is thoroughly researched and you can easily tell Smith took care of the historical aspect as well as the current setting of Venice, making the city come alive in multiple ways. Both women are strong, well written women who make them hard to forget and their journeys will stay with me for a long time.

Overall, a captivating read for any novel in verse reader, a music lover, or anyone who wants to read about some amazing, strong women.

Stoked For This: June 2026

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There’s quite a few books this month that range all over with genres, subjects, and timelines. There’s a few from previously read authors as well as some debut authors. I’m even including some manga this time around!!

June 2, 2026

A story about a father and son who are working for the great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole of Ireland. The year is 1865, and in a country not long since ravaged and emptied by the Great Hunger, the task is not an easy one. 

Land

By: Maggie O’Farrell

In this debut novel, a giant jellyfish is terrorizing a tiny island off the coast of Maine and a marine biologist who prefers jellyfish over people rushes across the country to try and help.

The Jellyfish Problem

By: Tessa Yang

From the author of Rez Ball, comes a new YA novel about a young Ojibwe athlete learning to ride in his late father’s footsteps while practicing for a skateboarding championship with his crew.

Medicine Wheels

By: Byron Graves

After her mother’s sudden death, Jihad joins an exclusive high school. But, she’s the only Muslim student and everything about her makes her suspicious to her classmates. After finding her mother’s old sketchbook, Jihad’s own canvas become bigger than she would every imagine.

The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue

By: Zoulfa Katouh

Guinevere Sharpe has had two childhoods. One, she lives in the wooded shadow of her family’s isolated Vermont farmhouse, growing up near-feral, unwashed and underfed – the woods her and her siblings playground; in the other, she’s apart of her mother’s world-famous Ninth City books, where her magical adventures have made her a household name. Now an adult, Guinevere looks back on her childhood, before the fire that left her mother’s series unfinished, and tries to find out what really happened.

The Children

By: Melissa Albert

A Queer retelling of Sleep Beauty that tackles escapism, grief, and dreaming of a better world.

The Secret World of Briar Rose

By: Cindy Pham

In this homage to The Face on the Milk Carton a trans boy discovers he was kidnapped as a child and that his birth parents are out there still searching… for their daughter.

The Names We Burned

By: Mia Siegert

A historical graphic novel based on the true story of Operación Pedro Pan, a joint effort between the U.S. government and the Catholic Welfare Bureau to evacuate 14,000 children from Cuba to the U.S. between 1960 and 1962.

We Are Pan

By: Andre R. Frattino & Yasmin Flores Montanez

From the author of one of my favorite heart wrenching YA novels, Yolk comes a new adult fiction about a mother-daughter relationship set against the backdrop of Hollywood.

Pool House

By: Mary H.K. Choi

The sequel to one of my favorite Queer YA novels about a lady night and her lady!!!

One Knight Stand

By: Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

June 9, 2026

In this new ovel from Dave Eggers, two friends believe they can change the world as they challenge the rules and market forces within the art community.

Contrapposto

By: Dave Eggers

June 16, 2026

Told in multiple POVs, this YA novel is an Indigenous murder-mystery set in Costa Rica about a Bribri-American teenager searching for the truth behind her land-activist father’s mysterious death.

Together We See

By: Ari Tison

A young musical prodigy and his mother spend years searching for each other after getting separated at a Beijing Railway Station.

Little Wonder

By: Sophie Chen Keller

A historical fiction manga about girls from a boarding school in Japan who are recruited to help as assistant nurses during WWII.

cocoon

By: Machiko Kyo

A mother becomes obsessed with finding the cure to a mysterious ailment that is causing those effected to not be able to go outside during the day.

The Emilys: A Novel

By: Heather Abel

June 23, 2026

In this fun detective noir, all the characters are animals who are fighting for survival in the city underneath the humans.

Green City Wars

By: Adrian Tchaikovsky

From one of my favorite manga author, Gengoroh Tagame, comes a story two “straight” friends, living in the middle of COVID, and who might just be gay.

Fish and Water

By: Gengoroh Tagame, Anne Ishii (Translator)

Stoked For This: May 2026

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This month has already been a bit crazy – for one I just had to purchase four all new tires yesterday cause the wires in my tires were showing, which, incase you didn’t know, is really bad. I’ve had anxiety about my tires for a bit, but I’ve been on high alert the last few days for sure.

As you can see below, there’s 22 titles this month that I’m Stoked For. A few from some previous read authors as well as some debuts authors, traveling across a few decades (sometimes all in one book!), there’s a few in Hawai’i, as well as a few in some magical worlds.

Overall, a fantastic month for new releases.

May 5, 2026

A young woman finds herself teaching English literature in an all-girls boarding school in her small coastal hometown. While there, she tries desperately to figure out where in her past it went wrong.

Offseason

By: Avigayl Sharp

A native Hawaiian teen travels to a luxury island resort in search of her missing twin and uncovers the dark side of paradise in this YA horror.

That Which Feeds Us

By: Keala Kendall

Edgar deserves to be famous, maybe then his human, Quinn, will stop being “too busy” to play. But not all attention is the same. Will Edgar choose the bright lights or someone whose right under his whiskers?

Pay Attention to Me!

By: Kate McKean

Pictures By: Rob Justus

Five lives are all connected with a game created in the 1980’s.

Homebound

By: Portia Elan

Derrick knows his scholarship to an elite East Coast boarding school is a once in a lifetime opportunity, even if it hurts to leave his friends and family behind in Navajo, New Mexico. While on the phone with his great-grandmother, she begs Derrick to leave Sagefield and he realizes her fear comes from her time in federal Native boarding schools, he knows he’s finally found the term paper theme he believes carrying her voice into the future, but will the pressure be too much for him?

Shards of Silence

By: Brian Lee Young

Twelve-year-old orphan, Rain is destined for a future of hard labor—until she meets a wild griffin and bonds with him. An old law says that bond entitles Rain to an education at the elite Griffin Riders Academy. But, Rain’s Rise threatens to topple Griffin Land’s fragile hierarchy, and they make her prove herself in the most dangerous way.

Griffin Speaker

By: Jan M. Flynn

When Calla’s favorite teacher is accused of inappropriate conduct at his old school, she decides to take action to find the sources.

Listen to the Girls

By: Chrystal D. Giles

In a small Hawaiian village, Nohea is the latest son in a long line of male ancestors with a horrible secret: He’s half-human, half-shark. He knows he can’t stay with his family forever and enters a school competition to win money.

The Shark Prince

By: Malia Maunakea

May 12, 2026

So this author is one of two authors whose books I’ve thrown across the room in the middle of reading them – not this particular one mind you but I feel like that’s usually a good starter when I pitch any of her novels 🙂 This one the story of Eng and Chang Bunker (conjoined twins) and their wives, Sallie and Addie (sisters).

The Foursome

By: Christina Baker Kline

After Zuzu’s dad loses his job, he is given a dated, first-generation guardian robot that Zuzu names Snap. But Snap doesn’t come with a charging station and as much as he’s okay with his reset, Zuzu is not and is willing to do whatever it takes to keep Snap alive.

The Second Life of Snap

By: Erin Entrada Kelly

May 19, 2026

What if a teenage girl was Mature Nature?

Force of Nature

By: Melissa Clark

A book about the history of how the cultures around the world has used words to describe that that is around them.

Naming Nature: A Cabinet of Natural Curiosities for Word Lovers

By: T.A. Barron

 Twelve-year-old Sofia lives with her mother and brother, Rafa, in their car. Days are spent finding a safe space to park for the night, but her mother says she’ll soon have her own bedroom to decorate. This is an adult novel that explores coming of age during a time of displacement.

Hungered

By: Amanda Rizkalla

A middle grade novel in verse about a boy who is struggling with guilt after telling his family of his older brother’s extreme depression.

My Brother Oliver

By. R.L. Toalson

When her book of spells is stolen, Little Moon is sent to the strange world of The Fault. In this stranger and simmering land, she must find allies, discover her true name, and channel the stories of her matrilineal line to battle the fearsome Shenk.

The Book of Murmurs

By: Candice Purwin

May 26, 2026

In this middle grade novel in verse, a young girl named Kestrel learns to stand up for herself and finds out the true meaning of home.

Kestrel Takes Flights

By: Joy McCullough

This novel is about a family of New York City crows struggling to survive the outbreak of West Nile virus during the sizzling summer of 1999.

Shade of Wings

By: Pam McGaffin

A romantic Jane Austen read-a-like set in historical Korea, about a reader and a writer who secretly fight against government book banning and find themselves drawn together.

Behind Five Willows

By: June Hur

You can’t change the past, but Midnight Train can take you there and give you a chance to to re-live the moments. How will doing so change the way you see yourself?

The Midnight Train

By: Matt Haig

A middle grade novel with illustrations for those who loved Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and the graphic memoir Mexikid about a group of four friends and a magical bookstore that holds them together.

The Chismosas Only Book Club

By: Laekan Zea Kemp

A new historical fiction from one of my favorite YA authors – though this is her first adult novel! In this Prohibition-era novel, Marjorie must learn about perception, reputation, and the slow understanding of truth.

A Fortune of Sand

By: Ruta Sepetys

Just a sci-fi novel about a robot at the end of the world whose leg was stolen and when they set out to find the thief, are accompanied by a cyborg dog and a human mechanic.

Ode to the Half-Broken

By: Suzanne Palmer

Three Blue Hearts / Lynne Kelly

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Three Blue Hearts
By: Lynne Kelly
Genre: Middle Grade
Number of Pages: 282
Published: October 7, 2025
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Dates Read: February 1, 2026 - February 2, 2026
Format: Library Book / Hardcover	ISBN: 9780593898390

Max can’t seem to get out of the shadow of his politician dad, or the nicknames from his shortcomings. But, for the next few months Max and his mom are going to a Texas beach where nobody knows them, where Max could be Milo instead.

Shortly after arriving, Max stumbles upon an octopus washed up onshore after a storm. With the help of some news friends and the local wildlife center, Max rescues the octopus – who they name Ursula – and who Max vows to take care of until she’s ready to return to the sea.

But as their bond deepens Max learns what friendship without conditions means, how to accept himself as who he is, and how to show up for those he loves most.

So, octopuses are my all-time favorite sea animal, so when I saw that Lynne Kelly wrote a book with one as a character, I was already invested! Even so, Kelly does a phenomenal job as weaving actual facts and information in with the storyline without it feeling like you were reading a textbook.

Not only did I love Ursula’s journey, I appreciated the one Max went on as well. He learns how to love himself, even with faults, and even with his big political dad looming over him. He learns that when you’re honest, and open with people you trust, beautiful friendships can form.

This one hit a little hard for the animal lover within me. I know all of them can’t be saved, but I sure always wish they could.

“When we can’t save them, at least they’re not alone. They go out surrounded by those who loved them. At the end, that’s all we have left to give – the love we have for them. Sometimes that has to be enough.”

Overall, this a great read, especially for middle grade readers to read about accepting yourself, being a good friend, and showing up for all those you love – humans and animals alike!

*Thank you NetGalley and Delacorte Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

She and Her Cat: Stories / Makoto Shinkai, Ginny Taplet Takemori (Translator), Naruki Nagakawa

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She and Her Cat: Stories
By: Makoto Shinkai, Ginny Taplet Takemori (Translator), Naruki Nagakawa
Genre: Short Stories
Number of Pages: 144
Published: January 23, 2024 (1st Published June 21, 2012)
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Dates Read: December 31, 2025
Format: Paperback

She and Her Cat is a collection of four interrelated short stories about four women and their feline companions.

Of course I grabbed this book. It’s not only about cats, but the cover alone has a woman reading in her bed with her cat on her chest (which is literally how I read this book myself).

The first story is about Chobi and being rescued from a soggy, wet box in the pouring rain by Miyu. Chobi cares about his human more than anything and watches over her as she goes through the ups and downs of a relationship. He loves her so much that he even calls her his girlfriend! When Miyu is heartbroken, Chobi is stressed he can’t help her, but he knows he can live his days by her side and everything will be okay.

The second story is about Mimi, a stray cat who was abandoned as a kitten. She was the runt of the litter and hard of hearing, but she’s determined to make it on her own. She meets Reina, an art student who is struggling on her own. We also meet a few more neighborhood cats, Kink Tail, whom Mimi has a romantic encounter with (after Chobi denied her since he already had a girlfriend). 

The third story is about Aioi and Cookie, Mimi’s kitten. Aioi is grieving the loss of her best friend, Mari, and her mother gets her the kitten, Cookie, to keep her company. At first Aioi’s grief is all consuming, but Cookie wiggles her way into her heart.
She and Her Cat are about the comfort a pet, especially a cat, can provide and how adopting a stray will not only change your life but theirs as well. I loved how they were all connected and how cats from one story would show up in another. Any cat lover is bound to smile while reading these stories.

Aggie and the Ghost / Matthew Forsythe

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Aggie and the Ghost
By: Matthew Forsythe
Genre: Children’s, Picture Book
Number of Pages: 64
Published: August 19, 2025
Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
Dates Read: November 23, 2025
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

Aggie is very excited to live on her own and have peace and quiet. Unfortunately, her new house comes with a ghost, who disturbs everything. Fear not, Aggie has a list of rules. But the ghost doesn’t like playing by the rules and challenges Aggie to an epic game of tic-tac-toe.

The art of this is unique and quirky. 

The overall story for kids is really how to adjust and live with someone who maybe drives you up the wall, and that maybe, when they live, you will miss them.

Froggy: A Pond Full of Pals / Paige Walshe

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Froggy: A Pond Full of Pals
By: Paige Walshe
Genre: Graphic Novel, Children’s
Number of Pages: 132
Published: August 5, 2025
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Dates Read: October 21, 2025
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

Froggy is out on his own and carving his own path through sticky situations in this hilarious children’s graphic novel.

This is aimed for children (upper elementary school just due to some context within the pages), but there is a little bit of older humor that upper lever readers/even adults would enjoy as well. One example being “my back is too young to be this angry”. But also, the illustrations are laugh out loud funny in some panels; Froggy’s “I’ve had enough” facial expressions made me snort aloud more than once.

Froggy ends up in some hilarious situations and the way he gets out of them and or plows through them made me turn the pages faster and faster. It’s a read I can see myself going back to again for the simple enjoyment of the stories.

Overall, this graphic novel is a hilarious, loud out loud read for all ages.

A Little Life / Hanya Yanagihara

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A Little Life
By: Hanya Yanagihara
Genre: Fiction
Number of Pages: 815
Published: January 26, 2016 (1st Published March 10, 2015)
Publisher: Vintage
Dates Read: July 18, 2025 - August 31, 2025
Format: Paperback

Trigger Warnings: sexual abuse, child sexual abuse, grooming, rape of a minor, self harm, drug use, addiction, themes of suicide, death

Follow the lives of four men, Jude, Willem, JB, and Malcolm, from the time they met in College, to 50+ as they grow into adults and each battle their own struggles and demons.

Oh my goodness – I think this took me so long to read because of just how SAD and PAINFUL it was. Seriously, when people ask me about this book, I have simply been telling them – it’s a lot. It does not usually take me a month and a half to read a book, even if it is 800 pages.

The writing in this is a little slow, but it’s slow so that you really understand the characters and the reasoning behind their actions. It wasn’t a book that I could read a few pages here and there and be okay with, this was a better read when I was able to carve out 2+ hours at a time to get submerged in it.

Jude was who everyone circled around, but he was also the one who struggled the most. I would get so upset with his actions (or lack thereof), but then I would remember his life experiences and the heat of anger would sizzle. I just wanted to both scream at him to get better but to also wrap him in a bear hug so nothing else could touch him.
Overall, I am not sure who I would recommend it to. Sometimes, you want a book that will wreck you – and this is it. But I would still give it a fair warning that it’s a lot and for readers to take care of themselves when reading it.

Hope Ablaze / Sarah Mughal Rana

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Hope Ablaze
By: Sarah Mughal Rana, Farah Kidwai (Narrator)
Genre: YA, Magical Realism
Number of Pages: 384
Published: February 27, 2024
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Dates Read: July 10, 2025 - July 11, 2025
Format: Library Book / Audiobook

Trigger Warnings: Islamophobia, racism 

Nida is known as Mamou Abdul-Hafeedh’s niece – the poet who was wrongfully incarcerated during the war on terror. Nida’s poetry letters are her heart and sharing them with the world is not an option.

When Nida is illegally frisked at a Democratic Senatorial candidate’s political rally – a rally she wasn’t even trying to go to, she was heading to the mosque to pray – she writes a heated poem about the politician, never expecting the letter to go viral weeks later. Nida is shocked to find out the poem has won first place in a national contest, a contest she didn’t even enter. After her quiet life is upheaved Nida loses her ability to write poetry. She also struggles with the balance of the expectations of her mother, her uncle, and her Muslim community with who she truly wants to be.

As a white woman, this gave me an opportunity to see not only what hijabi wearing women go through on a daily basis, but also what they had to go through especially after 9/11. This book was also a passionate and emotional journey – Nida had anger she was carrying as well as the feeling of hopelessness, her story was both moving and eye-opening.

I was a little shocked about the magical realism of the novel, but it wasn’t anything offputting to me or anything, just wasn’t expecting it.

Overall, this is an important read that gives the perspective of what it was like to be a hijab-wearing Muslim teen in post 9/11.

*Thank you Wednesday Books and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3) / Suzanne Collins

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Mockingjay
By: Suzanne Collins
Genre: YA, Dystopia
Number of Pages: 390
Published: August 24, 2010
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Dates Read: June 24, 2025 - July 8, 2025
Format: Hardcover

Katniss has been rescued after electrifying the arena during the Quarter Quell, but Peeta was captured by the Capitol. District 12 no longer exists, but District 13 does, and has always existed. Now, District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol, but they need Katniss to be their rebels’ Mockingjay. To do this, she must put aside her feelings, no matter the personal cost.

And I have finished the reading of the original Hunger Game trilogy (don’t ask me why it took me over two weeks to read this, I had weird personal stuff!)

I forgot how much softer Katniss is in this final installment of her story; she’s gone through not one, but two Hunger Games back to back, her home has been wiped off the map, and people keep using her as a pawn in their war games. The girl is seventeen-years-old and hasn’t been able to stop and breathe in two years. Unlike many characters in dystopian books I’ve read, Katniss actually is severely affected by the events she either has been a part of or has witnessed. She’s traumatized! 

I did love the fact she talks about Haymitch taking care of geese, but failed to mention she was the one who gave them to him to take care of. Oh – and at the end, she talks about her children playing on the graveyard of her district in the meadow – I know a lot of people have been connecting that to just the Covey but it’s actually her whole district that is buried there!

Overall, a bitter sweet ending to the original trilogy for sure. Still glad I reread the series.