Book Review | FIRE TO THE STARS by Morgan J. Watchorn

FIRE TO THE STARS

BY MORGAN J. WATCHORN | PUBLICATION: AUGUST 4, 2026
KNOPF BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS | GENRE: YA FANTASY
RATING: ★★★★

"The romance works because it’s built on emotional risk, not just trope mechanics."

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In a kingdom cursed to turn people into dragons, two teens from opposite worlds, each with nothing left to lose, form an uneasy alliance. Told in dual perspectives, this sweeping debut follows their search for redemption and the slow-burning bond that could save them both. Now available in paperback!

Every month, the kingdom of Florent braces for the Ignition: a solar event that turns ordinary humans into vicious dragon shifters. And anyone can be a dragon’s next victim.

Claire knows this all too well because the Ignition consumed her and her father, her town, and the life she thought she’d have. Now, she’s scraping by on her wits as part of a sisterhood of thieves—lying, stealing, her heart locked tight—until she tracks down a disgraced dragon slayer who may be the one person who can give her back the life she once had.

Abel has been shunned by the prestigious Slayers Guild for conducting research that’s too…unorthodox to condone. But there’s no one Claire trusts more than a rulebreaker, and that research might be the one thing that could help her. So when Abel reveals he is hunting again, Claire tries to hire him under false pretenses. Abel, however, is reluctant to accept a job from a criminal, no matter how charming she is. And yet…he really needs the money.

Together, Claire and Abel will race through Florent and uncover dangerous secrets in their quests for forgiveness—and survival. But that knowledge may cost them the very thing they’ve grown desperate to protect: each other.

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Finally followed Gillian Cosgriff advise and read a book about sexy dragons.
...just kidding. Penguin Random House Canada was generous and shared access to the book.

Might as well sit down and relax, because this is probably one of the longest book review I've written.

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FIRE TO THE STARS presents itself as a YA fantasy romance — enemies to lovers, cursed dragons, danger, heat. But beneath the trope friendly surface, the author reaches for something far more difficult: a story about divine mistakes, mortal suffering, and the thin line between mercy and resignation.

Claire: Brave, Enduring… and Chosen for Her Strength
What struck me most was Claire’s curse — not born from greed, recklessness, or wrongdoing, but from virtue. She is chosen precisely because she is brave, enduring, defiant. The kind of person who steps forward when others step back. And that’s the tragedy.

Her strength becomes the justification for her suffering.

Claire’s anger isn’t petty; it’s righteous. Her defiance isn’t attitude; it’s survival. She is heroic, yes — but she is also a pawn in a divine mistake the world has learned to call fate.

The Dragon Pit: Mercy or Resignation?
The worldbuilding around the dragon pits is one of the book’s most haunting elements. These pits exist so cursed humans can die in dragon form without harming anyone — a “humane” solution, a controlled place for an uncontrollable transformation.

But the more you sit with it, the more you realize:
this isn’t mercy.

It’s damage control dressed up as compassion.
It’s the world trying to manage a divine error.

When gods err, mortals suffer — and we call the least painful option mercy. That tension sits at the heart of the story, and it’s where the book’s emotional weight truly lives.

Romance Woven Through Moral Dilemma
Yes, there is romance — tension, heat, the pull between hunter and dragon, danger threaded with desire. But the book never lets you forget the ethical cost of the curse. The love story is shaped by:

• memory loss
• identity fracture
• the fear of transformation
• the inevitability of sacrifice

The romance works because it’s built on emotional risk, not just trope mechanics.

Ignition Day: Beauty and Tragedy
This solar events — the moment of transformation — is written with a mix of awe and dread. It’s beautiful, terrifying, and deeply unfair. The author captures that duality well: the spectacle of magic and the cost of being chosen by it.

Pacing & Structure
The book opens boldly, settles into a tense middle, and crescendos toward an emotional final act. The pacing is confident, though a few moments could have lingered longer. Still, the momentum carries you through with a steady pull.

Humor in the Heat
I wasn’t expecting the dragons to be this… charismatic. There are moments of humor — scandalous, bold, delightfully unexpected — that break the tension in the best way. It’s a welcome contrast to the heavier themes.

Final Reflection
Fire to the Stars is more than a romance. It’s a story about the cost of being strong, the cruelty of being chosen, and the rituals we invent to survive divine mistakes. It asks what mercy really means — and whether the world’s “humane” solutions are anything more than resignation.

And I want to congratulate the author for reaching beyond trope and spectacle. She didn’t just bring a charismatic dragon to life; she gave these dragons justice. In a world that sees them as fire, blood, and destruction, she offered them dignity and a complicated kind of mercy. It’s a bold, thoughtful achievement — one that lingers long after the last page.

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About the Author:
Morgan J. Watchorn writes stories that feature unapologetic girls at the heart of cataclysms—either fighting or causing them. A Southern California native, she graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of California Irvine with a bachelor’s degree in Japanese Language and Literature. Her manga and novel translations can be found in most major bookstores. When she’s not writing, she’s usually at the barn with her spoiled horses. Fire to the Stars is her debut novel.

*Penguin Random House provided the eARC
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Book Review | THE NEVERFEAR by Katherine Rundell

THE NEVERFEAR

Impossible Creatures Series, Book 3
BY KATHERINE RUNDELL
ART BY ASHLEY MACKENZIE | PUBLICATION: SEPTEMBER 1, 2026
PUFFIN CANADA | GENRE: CHILDREN'S MIDDLE GRADE BOOKS
RATING: ★★★★★

"This sequel is everything I hoped for — great adventure, new challenges, enduring loyalty, and wonder. "

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It’s the Midsummer Feast on the islet of Glimt, and on this magical moonlit evening, the word on everyone’s lips is bandits. Reports of masked men wreaking havoc are spreading throughout the Archipelago.

Christopher and Anya have faced danger before; they think they are prepared for this threat—until they are ambushed and someone very close to them is kidnapped.

Their frantic quest to pay the ransom will take them on a wild journey across Glimouria. Together they must face giants, duel with pirates, and race against deadly karkadanns.

But just when they think they might succeed, there will come the most Herculean task of all . . . -PRH

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There was a moment, while reading THE NEVERFEAR, when I realized something about myself as a reader: I still read with wonder. I still fall into stories the way I did when I was young — with curiosity, with awe, with that feeling of stepping into a world that welcomes me back like an old friend. Meeting Christopher, Anya, Nighthand, Irian, and Teren again felt less like picking up a sequel and more like returning to people I’ve missed.

This sequel is everything I hoped for — great adventure, new challenges, enduring loyalty, and wonder. The challenges asked so much from our characters, but they stood to the task. Every single one of them was tested and passed with flying colors. Their loyalty, love, and morals were pushed to the edge, and where there was anger, hurt, or guilt, there was also love — unconditional love and profound understanding.

One of the most beautiful truths in Neverfear is the way Nighthand rebuilds his boat after every storm, every loss, every hardship — always carrying a piece of the old into the new, and always naming it Neverfear. It’s not just a name. It’s an act of courage. A promise to himself that fear will not define him, and that renewal is always possible. Naming it Neverfear is continuity — not because the boat stays the same, but because he stays true.

This idea echoes through the entire Archipelago. The islands are home to everyone — the strange, the oddball, the different, the ones who don’t fit neatly anywhere else. The Archipelago welcomes them not by asking them to change, but by giving them space to grow. It’s a world that says: you belong here, exactly as you are.

And just like Nighthand’s boat, the people of the Archipelago rebuild themselves after hardship. They carry their past forward, but they don’t let it trap them. They learn, they change, they discover new strengths. Their renewal is quiet, brave, and deeply human.

The threat to the Archipelago is terrifying — deathly terrifying — and I found myself anxious for everyone… and yet hopeful. If there’s one great takeaway, it’s that hope can be pulled from different places, different directions. It’s there, even in the darkest corners, waiting to be found.

This book is a whole lesson on its own. I would recommend it to any child or adult alike. It reminds us that wonder is not something we outgrow. Curiosity is not something we lose. Renewal is not something reserved for stories. And belonging is not something we have to earn.

Stories like this remind me that I never lost that part of myself — I just had to remember it.

Impossible Creatures, Book 1

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About the Author:

KATHERINE RUNDELL is the internationally bestselling author of Impossible Creatures. Her other books for children include Rooftoppers, Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms, The Wolf Wilder, The Explorer, and The Good Thieves. She grew up in Zimbabwe, Brussels, and London, and is currently a Fellow of St. Catherine’s College, Oxford. For adult readers, Rundell has written Vanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures and Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne, which won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. She was the recipient of the British Book Award for Book of the Year and Author of the Year.
Photo by Nina Subin

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Book Review | HOW TO FIND LOVE IN THE CEREAL AISLE by Alissa DeRogatis

HOW TO FIND LOVE IN THE CEREAL AISLE

BY ALISSA DEROGATIS | PUBLICATION: AUGUST 4, 2026
COSMO READS | GENRE: WOMEN FICTION
RATING: ★★★✬

"It’s a character driven narrative with good development and relatability in most aspects."

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If you can’t write a good meet-cute, maybe you need to live one first…

Ainsley Green writes happily-ever-afters for a rabid fanbase of hopeless romantics. In real life? Her boyfriend just broke up with her, her editor wanted a new book yesterday and she’s starting to wonder if love actually exists beyond the pages of her favorite novels.

So when Lucas, Ainsley’s best friend and biggest cheerleader, insists the best cure for writer’s block is real-life inspiration, she’s ready to try anything. Enter: the meet-cute plan, a mission to take her head out of her heartbreak and force meet-cutes IRL to spark some new ideas. But as failed missions bumping into strangers at the airport and spilling coffee on men at the cafe result in nothing but embarrassment and stained clothing, Ainsley begins to wonder if maybe the romance she’s been chasing already has a leading man.

Because the truth about falling in love? It never goes according to plan.

Equal parts heartbreak, humor, and hope, How to Find Love in the Cereal Aisle is a fresh, flirty send up of dating in the modern age and a reminder that love finds us when we stop performing and start living.

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Ainsley is so dramatic. There, I said it.
But to be fair — she’s a romance author. Big feelings are her brand.

This book is entirely centered on Ainsley and her emotional world: ME, MYSELF, AND I. And while I understand it — she’s reeling from a breakup — her voice had me exhausted at times. She spirals, she whines, she loops through the same insecurities. Yet despite my initial frustration with her, I found myself appreciating the parts of Ainsley that shine through the noise: the Ainsley who values her friends, who knows when to call for help, who tries her best to move forward, and who eventually recognizes her own worth. Those moments made her feel real.

What kept me reading was Alissa DeRogatis’s prose and execution. The pacing is smooth, the structure is clever, and there were no moments where I felt disengaged. The setup — alternating between the “NOW” chapters and the months leading up to her breakup — works beautifully. It’s a character driven narrative with good development and relatability in most aspects.

Lucas, meanwhile, is simply a bonus. A warm presence, a gentle addition, and ultimately someone I’m happy she has.

SPOILER AHEAD →

There’s a moment in the book where it talks about “keeping it real,” and the implication seems to be that authenticity requires a strong or engaged social media presence. That idea stopped me. It made me wonder: Does an author need a big online presence to be relatable? Is an author unrelatable without constant visibility?

To me, that part of the book does give the impression that social media is tied to authenticity — and I don’t agree. Many real authors today maintain tiny or nonexistent online footprints and still write deeply resonant, emotionally honest work. Authenticity comes from craft, vulnerability, and self awareness — not follower count.

So while I enjoyed the writing and appreciated the emotional arc, that modern publishing assumption is a bit of a conundrum. It’s not a flaw in the book, but it is a tension that shaped my view.

In the end, How to Find Love in the Cereal Aisle is heartfelt, well written, and often charming — but its emotional repetition and its nod to social media driven relatability kept it from reaching the full depth I hoped for.

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About the Author:
Alissa DeRogatis is the author of the viral debut Call It What You Want and How to Find Love in the Cereal Aisle. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she writes stories about modern love, self- discovery, and the people who help us put ourselves back together. When she’s not reading, she’s rewatching her favorite rom- coms, curating sad-girl playlists, or hang- ing out with her dogs, Asher and Oliver.

*Sourcebooks provided the eARC
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Book Review | THE FARAWAY INN by Sarah Beth Durst

THE FARAWAY INN

BY SARAH BETH DURST | PUBLICATION: MARCH 31, 2026
DELACORTE PRESS | GENRE: YA FANTASY
RATING: ★★★★

"Cozy, modern fairy tale • vivid imagery • gentle emotional truth."

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When sixteen-year-old Calisa arrives at her great-aunt’s B&B in rural Vermont for the summer, she’s shocked to find a rundown inn rather than the cozy bed-and-breakfast she was expecting. Grumpy and eccentric, Auntie Zee is determined to keep anyone from messing with her beloved inn . . . even though she clearly needs the help.

To convince her great-aunt to keep her around, Calisa sets to work fixing up the inn, enlisting extra help from the groundskeeper’s (handsome) son. But the longer she stays, the surer she is that there’s something strange about the B&B—and its guests. Something almost . . . otherworldly.

The inn is keeping a magical secret—but to protect the place she’s come to love, Calisa must unravel the truth before it’s too late.

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THE FARAWAY INN is one of those quiet, cozy books that doesn’t shout its magic — it hums it. Durst writes with a simplicity that’s deceptively vivid, creating scenes that feel warm, homey, and softly enchanted. This is the kind of modern fairy tale that awakens a sense of wonder without ever slipping into childishness. It’s magic for grown people who still believe in becoming.

What stayed with me most was how deeply human the story is. Beneath the whimsy and the enchantment lies a tender exploration of vulnerability — the courage it takes to ask for help, the way friendship can hold us steady, and the gentle acceptance of people who are quirky, odd, or beautifully different. Durst understands that magic isn’t just a power —it’s a responsibility. And she treats talents and gifts the same way — as things that shape us, challenge us, and sometimes burden us.

The book also touches on love with surprising softness: falling in, falling out, and finding your way back to something truer. It’s not dramatic or sweeping —it’s quiet, honest, and rooted in emotional growth.

One of the things I loved most about The Faraway Inn is how clearly it shows that becoming isn’t reserved for the young. Every character in this story is shifting, softening, learning, or opening up in their own way. Even Aunty Zee — stubborn old bat — eventually accepts change. She’s prickly, set in her ways, and hilariously resistant, but she still grows. Durst treats her with such tenderness, reminding us that transformation can happen at any age, and sometimes the people who fight it hardest end up changing the most.

Honestly, everyone in the book is becoming… except the Mirror.
She’s stubborn as hell and refuses to evolve, and that contrast makes everyone else’s growth shine even brighter.

This theme — that becoming is lifelong — is one of the quiet strengths of the novel. It’s gentle, hopeful, and deeply human.

Durst knows wonder.
And in The Faraway Inn, she uses it not to dazzle, but to comfort — reminding us that becoming isn’t loud. It’s gentle. Communal. And often requires letting others in.

A cozy, atmospheric read for anyone who loves modern fairy tales with heart.

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About the Author:
Sarah Beth Durst grew up in Northboro, MA, a town in central Massachusetts which (she claims) was temporarily transformed into a fairy-tale kingdom for several days in 1986. These events later inspired her novel, INTO THE WILD, as well as her paralyzing fear of glass footwear.Sarah has been writing fantasy stories since she was ten years old. She holds an English degree from Princeton University and currently resides in Stony Brook, NY, with her husband and daughter.

*Penguin Random House provided the eARC
in exchange for this unbiased review.
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Book Review | THE WITCHES OF CAMBRIDGE by Alice Hoffman

About the Book:

THE WITCHES OF CAMBRIDGE

The Witches of Cambridge, Vol. 1
BY ALICE HOFFMAN | PUBLICATION: SEPTEMBER 8, 2026
SCRIBNER | GENRE: FANTASY /HISTORICAL FICTION

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The brand-new series from the bestselling author of Practical Magic, following two brilliant young women in 1950s Cambridge, Massachusetts, as they become immersed in a mysterious secret group of witches at Radcliffe known as the Lilith Society.

Once upon a time, women were drowned in the river and the only witnesses were the crows in the trees. The Puritans blamed Eve for the sins of the world. That was when we began to meet in the name of Lilith, Adam’s first wife—banished for refusing to do as she was told.

We Fly Together…

By the 1950s, Cambridge, Massachusetts feels far removed from the legendary witch trials that marked its early days as a colony. Ava, a bright young woman from a small town in Maine, arrives for her first year at Radcliffe College. There, she meets Lauren, her opposite in every way—the wild and brazen daughter of a wealthy and well-established Cambridge family. But the two have more in common than they think. Both are recruited by the Lilith Society, a secret organization of witches at Radcliffe dating back to colonial times. As they learn more about their legacy, Ava and Lauren form a close bond that is put to the test as they learn to navigate their new power, friendship, and love.

While Radcliffe seems like a safe haven, the shadow of McCarthyism looms large, an ever-present threat to the flourishing creative and intellectual life in Cambridge. And as girls from the Lilith Society begin to go missing, Ava and Lauren realize the witch trials of the past may not be as deeply buried as they once believed.

AMAZON | GOODREADS | THE STORY GRAPH

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There’s a particular kind of magic returning to the world this year — the kind Alice Hoffman taught us to love. A magic that is both beautiful and terrible, a blessing and a curse, threaded through family, community, legacy, and love. With Practical Magic 2 on the horizon, readers are craving stories that carry that same emotional gravity: witchcraft with consequences, empowered women, and enchantment woven into life.

THE WITCHES OF CAMBRIDGE arrives at exactly the right moment.

Set against the charm of Cambridge’s cobblestone streets and scholarly quiet, this novel follows witches whose gifts are as burdensome as they are wondrous. It’s a story about the ties that bind — the secrets we inherit, the truths we fear, and the love that refuses to let go even when it hurts. The magic here isn’t sparkly or whimsical; it’s lived‑in, charged, and deeply human.

If you’re looking for a book that captures the same emotional resonance as Hoffman’s legacy — that blend of tenderness, danger, and generational connection — The Witches of Cambridge is the perfect autumn read. Cozy, atmospheric, and quietly powerful, it’s a story that reminds us that magic is never just magic. It’s responsibility. It’s history. It’s love.

And this fall, it’s exactly what readers are reaching for.

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About the Author:

Alice Hoffman is the author of thirty works of fiction, including Practical Magic, Practical Magic 2, The Dovekeepers, and Magic Lessons. Visit her website: AliceHoffman.com.Photograph © Alyssa Peek

*Simon & Schuster CA provided the eARC
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Book Review | LIFE: A LOVE STORY by Elizabeth Berg

LIFE: A LOVE STORY

BY ELIZABETH BERG | PUBLICATION: MARCH 17, 2026
RANDOM HOUSE | GENRE: WOMEN'S FICTION
RATING: ★★★★★

"I read this slowly, painfully, gratefully.
It understood me."

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As ninety-two-year-old Florence "Flo" Greene nears the end of her life, she writes a letter to Ruthie, the woman who grew up next door to her, describing the items Flo is leaving Ruthie in her will. But as it goes on, telling surprising stories about those “little” things Flo will leave behind (What could possibly be the worth of a rubber band kept in a matchbox tied up in red ribbon?), an unforgettable portrait of the life she has lived emerges.

The letter starts off as an autobiography in things, but it turns out to do much more than that: ultimately, it will transform Flo and those around her. In the time she has left, Flo decides to take herself up on tiny dares. She encourages Ruthie to reconsider her impending divorce by sharing a startling, long-buried secret about her own perfect-seeming marriage. Flo has never had a pedicure before now, and as long as she's going to a beauty parlor, she arranges to have a blue streak put in her hair, too. And as these adventures lead her to make new friends, Flo helps them, too, find the fulfillment that living a full life has led her to understand.

Full of Elizabeth Berg's characteristic mix of warmth, humor, and poignancy, Life: A Love Story is a reminder that whatever your circumstances, as long as you're alive, you can keep on investing in life. The joy will inevitably follow.

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It took me a long time to finish Elizabeth Berg’s Life: A Love Story, and I’m grateful for every slow, deliberate day I spent with it. This isn’t a book you rush. It’s a book that asks you to breathe differently, to acknowledge yourself, and to sit with the parts of your life that still ache.

Flo’s story touched me in a way few novels ever have. She lived a long, imperfect, deeply human love with Terrence — the kind of love that shapes you so completely that losing it feels like losing the architecture of your own life. And yet, after Terrence’s death, Flo chooses to keep living. Not by “moving on,” not by erasing him, but by carrying him forward in the way she continues to love others, help others, and enrich the world around her.

Her final letter moved me — not written out of nostalgia, but out of devotion. Flo doesn’t write because she merely remembers Terrence; she writes so that others won’t forget. Their love wasn’t perfect, but it was lived — and lived love deserves witnesses.

Finishing this book in the quiet of the back garden my late husband tended, made the experience even more tender. I still hurt from losing him. I probably always will, and I don’t think I want that pain to disappear. But Berg reminded me that there are people who understand this kind of grief — the kind born from a love that shaped decades. And she reminded me that when I’m ready, I can choose to live fully again, not in spite of the hurt, but alongside it.

Flo chose Terrence every day, even after he was gone.
Not instead of living — but while living.
She chose the courage to keep choosing connection even when loss has already carved her open.
And at the end, when she had the whole span of her life to look back on, the story she wanted remembered was still his.

LIFE: A LOVE STORY is gentle, sad, hopeful, and profoundly human. It doesn’t offer easy answers. It simply shows that love — real love — continues in memory, in legacy, and in the lives shaped by it.

I finished this book feeling seen. And I finished it believing that choosing life, even after great loss, is its own quiet act of love.

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About the Author:

Elizabeth Berg is the New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including The Story of Arthur Truluv, Open House (an Oprah’s Book Club selection), Talk Before Sleep, and The Year of Pleasures, as well as the short story collection The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted. Durable Goods and Joy School were selected as ALA Best Books of the Year. She adapted The Pull of the Moon into a play that enjoyed sold-out performances in Chicago and Indianapolis. Berg’s work has been published in thirty-one countries, and three of her novels have been turned into television movies. She is the founder of Writing Matters, a quality reading series dedicated to serving author, audience, and community. She teaches one-day writing workshops and is a popular speaker at venues around the country. Some of her most popular Facebook postings have been collected in Make Someone Happy, Still Happy, and Happy to be Here. She lives outside Chicago.
Photo by Teresa Crawford

*Random House provided the eARC
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Book Review | MORE THAN ENOUGH by Anna Quindlen

MORE THAN ENOUGH

BY ANNA QUINDLEN | PUBLICATION: FEBRUARY 24, 2026
RANDOM HOUSE | GENRE: WOMEN FICTION
RATING: ★★★★✬

"Ordinary life, ordinary women, made real."

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A woman finds herself asking surprising questions about her family and friends in this wise, wonderful novel of life, loss, and moving on—from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of After Annie.

High school English teacher Polly Goodman can talk about everything and anything with the women in her book club, which is why they’ve become her closest friends and, along with the support of her veterinarian husband, the bedrock of her life. Her private school students, her fraught relationship with mother, her struggles with IVF—Polly’s book club friends have heard it all.

But when they give Polly an ancestry test kit as a joke, the results match her with a stranger. Despite it seeming clear that this match is a mistake, Polly cannot help combing through her own family history for answers. Then, when it seems that the book club circle of four will become three, Polly learns how friendships can change your life in the most profound ways.

Written with Quindlen’s trademark warmth, humor, and insight into the power of love and hope, More Than Enough explores how we find ourselves again and again through the relationships that define us.

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Polly is part of a book club — a lively group of women who buy the book but never actually read it. That’s their rule. They gather to talk about everything except the assigned title. Not very bookish, but deeply relatable. It’s the kind of detail Quindlen writes so well: ordinary life, ordinary women, made real.

The DNA storyline didn’t interest me as much. What held me was Polly herself — her journey, her longing to be a mother, and the quiet ache beneath her hope. And Mark… the patience he shows her reminded me starkly of my own late husband. That tenderness, that steady presence, that willingness to keep believing even when life gives you difficult news — Quindlen captured something I’ve lived.

I like Quindlen’s writing. She makes her characters as real as people you could meet, or remember.

Reading MORE THAN ENOUGH was slow for me, not because the story lacked momentum, but because it touched parts of my life I’m still learning to carry. Quindlen writes with a tenderness that makes ordinary women feel extraordinary, and Polly’s journey reminded me that hope, even when fragile, is still worth holding. This book didn’t just tell a story — it made me remember my own.

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About the Author:

Anna Quindlen is a novelist and journalist whose work has appeared on fiction, nonfiction, and self-help bestseller lists. She is the author of many novels: Object Lessons, One True Thing, Black and Blue, Blessings, Rise and Shine, Every Last One, Still Life with Bread Crumbs, and Miller’s Valley. Her memoir Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, published in 2012, was a #1 New York Times bestseller. Her book A Short Guide to a Happy Life has sold more than a million copies. While a columnist at The New York Times she won the Pulitzer Prize and published two collections, Living Out Loud and Thinking Out Loud. Her Newsweek columns were collected in Loud and Clear. Photo by Maria Krovatin

*My thanks to Will Lyman of Penguin Random House
for providing the eARC in exchange for this unbiased review.
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