First Lines Friday is a weekly feature for book lovers created by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines? Here’s how to join in:
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page.
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first.
Finally… reveal the book!
It’s been quite a while — over a month — since I last did a FLF post… but this book sounded too bonkers not to share!
Today’s line are from a book released this fall — and I’m just waiting for my library hold to come in:
The problem was that I’d never held a job with dental insurance. The problem was that I didn’t want one. The problem was ancient. The problem was teeth. The problem was urgent. The problem was money. The problem was that I hate to work and I always have.
So what’s the book?
Fallow by Sarah Anderson Release date: September 15, 2026 324 pages
Synopsis:
Slyly funny and disarmingly tender,Fallowis the story of a young woman who signs up to be the world’s first in-house corporate surrogate, then finds herself caught up in a social experiment of another kind.
Natalie knows one truth: there is no such thing as a good job.
As the clock ticks away at the call center where she logs complaints of workplace harassment, she tries to ignore the increasing pain in her jaw. She has no dental insurance. She has no skills or ambitions. She has student loans. And, minute by minute, she hears the many ways workers are not just not getting by, but actually getting hustled.
Then, at the blood bank where she sells her plasma, a mysterious flyer leads her to The Company. Natalie turns out to be the perfect candidate for their pilot program, pitched as an opportunity to help women access greater gender equity. She will be their in-house surrogate, delivering seven babies in ten years and enabling their executives to have motherhood without maternity leave. Finally, she will be adequately—generously—compensated.
For years, her every need is met: stacks of healthy meals in the refrigerator of a luxury condo, fitness coaches and nutritionists, around-the-clock health care. Between deliveries, she takes time off— a fallow period, with no obligations or expectations. For the first time in her life, she is good at her job; for the first time, she feels free.
But just as she’s about to fulfill the terms of her contract, a staffing decision upends everything. Natalie is pulled into an entirely different kind of social experiment, one that raises new questions about her future, her freedom, her purpose, what she can expect from the world, and what she can offer to it.
Woundingly funny and genuinely moving, Sarah Anderson’s Fallow is a tender, alarmingly real vision of a woman balancing on the knife-edge of capitalism as she comes to realize who she wants to be.
This book was not on my radar at all until I stumbled across a review for it… and the synopsis really caught my attention. I hope it’s as good as it sounds! This book has been described as a dark comedy. Can’t wait to give it a try!
Title: Warm Bodies Author: John Marr Publisher: Amazon Original Stories Publication date: November 1, 2026* Length: 107 pages Genre: Contemporary fiction Source: Kindle First Reads freebie Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
From the multimillion-copy bestselling author comes a chilling tale about Brenda: they watched her, judged her, and talked. They should have left her alone.
Brenda lives quietly in a picture-perfect English village. She looks after her grandchildren, restores old furniture, and keeps herself to herself. She’s the sort of neighbour people feel comfortable judging.
And judge they do. Because villages notice everything. The shopping. The visitors. The hours kept behind closed doors. And when the local WhatsApp group begins to turn its attention to Brenda, curiosity hardens into suspicion, and gossip becomes a sport.
As scrutiny tightens, Brenda finds herself navigating busybodies, moral crusaders and a community that believes it knows best. What they don’t know is that Brenda has spent a lifetime solving problems discreetly.
Methodically. Permanently.
Well, this was a fun little diversion! Warm Bodies was one of the free options for Kindle First Reads this month. The cover caught my eye, I read the synopsis, and I just had to know more!
In this short(ish) story, Brenda is just trying to take care of her family and mind her own business. In her fifties, she provides a home for her daughter and three grandchildren. They’ve had the good fortune of moving to a sweet little cottage in a lovely village, where the children are safe and attend good schools. Brenda is a doting grandmother, and after years of just barely scraping by, works hard to provide a good life for the people she loves.
What she actually does for work is revealed and, well, it’s not precisely what you’d consider grandmotherly… but it keeps a nice roof over the family’s heads and food on the table, and she does enjoy the challenge of it all.
But the neighbors are not exactly warm and welcoming, and Brenda has declined invitations to join volunteer committees and clubs once too often. The village chat has zoomed in on Brenda, and they’re determined to drive her away. As the gossip mounts, Brenda finds herself at the center of unwanted attention that presents a danger to herself and her family’s well-being… and she really can’t have that.
The writing here is snappy and a bit twisted. The village WhatsApp thread oozes viciousness under a layer of fake concern. Brenda is a marvel, savvy and practical, incredibly loving yet capable of doing whatever needs to be done, and what needs to be done… well, let’s just say, it isn’t pleasant.
Warm Bodies is a small town thriller with a dark sense of humor. Some scenes may be a bit much for squeamish readers. I found it all oodles of fun. Brenda is a terrific character — I wouldn’t want to hang out with her, but it was certainly entertaining (in a totally macabre way) to be inside her head for a while. I’m glad I stumbled across this short read and gave it a try!
*A note on the publication date: November 1, 2026 is listed as the official release date for Warm Bodies, but it’s available now as a First Reads pick for Amazon Prime subscribers.
Title: As You Wake, Break the Shell Author: Becky Chambers Publisher: Harper Voyager Publication date: October 13, 2026 Length: 480 pages Genre: Science fiction Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Explore a universe of stubborn survival and found family, of persistent danger and quiet wonder in the first installment of a heartfelt new duology from Hugo Award–winning author Becky Chambers.
Life on the resource-poor planet of Fortune is challenging, but for its inhabitants, it’s home. For two of them, Signy and Cora, this home might no longer be enough.
Signy is a brilliant but reclusive botanist who bio-prints medicine from her small plant shop, often bending the rules to help those the system leaves behind. Her life is filled with the green of her store, the warmth of her one elderly friend, and the quiet determination to help others without putting herself in danger.
Cora is a rorqual pilot, one of the few with the unique ability to navigate the massive, living ships that connect the scattered settlements of their solar system. Her bond with her rorqual, Colibri, is profound—a connection that is both her greatest gift and a threat to her career.
It is that threat—the “mindbleed,” a dangerous side effect of her piloting—that brings her to Signy’s shop, and her appearance puts Signy in the danger she so fears. But it’s soon apparent it’s not just about losing her license—this delicate balance between risk and trust has the potential to change everything for them.
Told in an alternating timeline of their initial coming together and a not-so-distant future where they have found domestic bliss, this is a story harrowing and haunting, heartfelt and hopeful. Through a love story centered around survival, we are given a glimpse into the very best of what Becky Chambers does in her writing: explore what it means to be human, and what it means to come together.
As You Wake, Break the Shell is an imaginative, powerful, emotional look at connections, home, and purpose, as told through the story of two women, Signy and Cora, and two timelines — the timeline of their initial meeting and developing romance, and another 15 years later, where we see them living a very different life.
When they meet, both reside on Fortune, a planet that sounds, frankly, hellish. The surface and atmosphere are completely incompatible with sustaining life of any sort. Humans live on rafts inside a liquid filled crater, where going outside means donning gear to protect from acid rain and poisonous air, and the eruption of the planet’s very active volcanoes can send people running for emergency shelter at a moment’s notice.
Humans arrived on Fortune generations earlier through spacecraft originally from Earth, carrying embryonic life and a Primer that explains humanity’s origins. As people were grown from the bio-prints, they built homes and communities following Primer instructions, with the goal of eventually advancing enough to build spacecraft to enable them to reunite with the mothership. Meanwhile, thousands upon thousands of people live on Fortune, ferrying between rafts, building businesses and social structures, and otherwise going about the business of surviving.
Cora is a rorqual pilot, one of the gifted few who are able to mind-meld with giant flying creatures (rorquals) who ferry their pilots to quarry moons to collect the ice needed for Fortune’s water supply. Being a pilot requires skill and advanced training, but comes with high risk: By blending her consciousness with that of Colibri, her rorqual, Cora opens herself up to mindbleed, where she’s no longer able to separate her own mind from Colibri’s. This endangers her life and could ground her as a pilot… and if that happens, it would likely mean death for Colibri too, as rorquals generally cannot bond with more than one person, and would be put down.
Cora seeks out Signy who, under cover of her plant shop, runs a black market pharmacy creating medicines from genetically modified plant templates for those whom the healthcare system would consider beyond recovery, and therefore not provided with medicines other than for palliative care. Cora and Signy see something in one another, and connect on a profound level in love, friendship, and a deep understanding.
Meanwhile, in interspersed chapters, we see Cora and Signy’s lives fifteen years later, where they seem to lead an idyllic life on a distant moon where they’ve established a home and lush gardens. This life of theirs is filled with love, although they remain haunted by distant, painful memories of past losses.
How Cora and Signy get from where we meet them to this future life is something that doesn’t become clear for quite a long time — and in fact, we’re only partially there by the time the book ends. (Fear not — this is book one of a duology, and I trust that the full story will make sense once we get the second book.)
The book is roughly structured as a countdown (sections are labeled T-Minus 7, T-Minus 6, etc) — although, again, we really don’t know what we’re counting down to until we get there at the end. While the weaving of the two timelines and the jumps between the two can be confusing, that seems deliberate: We’re not meant to fully understand until we get to the right moment. Meanwhile, by slowly showing us the depth of the relationships, the book makes sure that what happens later feels right and well-grounded in what’s come before.
The story’s core themes are connection and love. What does it mean to truly open oneself to another? What does it mean to love someone enough to put them first? These seem like simple questions on the surface, but as we see through the characters’ deepening relationship, there are layers upon layers of trust, concern, and care that come into play. Equally important is the role of Colibri. Interwoven chapters show the mind-to-mind conversations between Cora and Colibri, as they struggle to find common language and concepts, a huge challenge for beings whose basic biology means that their perceptions of the world around them are so vastly different as to be practically unfathomable.
The writing in As You Wake, Break the Shell is beautiful, letting us into the characters’ lives and surroundings, illustrating the day-to-experiences of life in the harsh environment of Fortune, while also showing how the fundamentals of human love and connection remain recognizable even in such an unknown time and place.
This book has a darker, more serious feel than what I’ve come to expect from Becky Chambers’s writing, and she does provide some context in the afterward that helps the tone make sense. Overall, the book is lovely and the characters are wonderful, but tragedies inform their lives, and the joy of Cora and Signy’s love has a thread of sorrow as well.
As You Wake, Break the Shell is on the lengthier side and requires concentration. I recommend starting the book when you have time to really sink into it and spend time with it. Now that I’ve reached the end, the more I think back, the more I realize how beautifully told the overall story is. I’ve yet to be disappointed by anything I’ve read by Becky Chambers. As You Wake, Break the Shell is a remarkable achievement and a powerful reading experience. Don’t miss it.
Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Things That Make Up My Perfect Day, with the prompt: share the people, places, activities, foods, circumstances, etc. that make a day perfect for you. Go into as much or as little detail as possible!
My first instinct was to go with the dream of a perfect day — a tropical beach somewhere, white sand, cool breezes, fresh fruit, a great book… but I think instead I’ll keep my focus on the here and now. Here are little things that contribute to a great (maybe even perfect!) day for me:
Long walk, preferably with great views out in nature somewhere
Good coffee
Uninterrupted reading time for at least a couple of hours
Sitting down for a delicious dinner with my family
Catching up by phone with a long-distance friend or two
Dancing (preferably outdoors, with a mix of old and new dances, and my favorite dance companions)
Binge-watching an episode or two of a great drama or comedy series
Word games and jigsaw puzzles
Planning my next trip
Spending time with the people I love
It’s rare to get all of these in one day… but I’ll take any combination I can get!
My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.
Life.
It’s been another busy week (what else is new?) — followed by a really enjoyable weekend. We had friends and family over for a nice dinner on Friday. Saturday was a double-stuffed dancing day — first, a couple of hours of dancing in the park with my small dance group, then a once-a-month dance party that night, which is always a great time. (I happened to have my phone in my leggings pocket all day… and according to my tracking app, I danced the equivalent of 6.7 miles on Saturday!)
Sunday was truly a day of rest — no plans, so I was able to get out for a much needed walk (accompanied by a terrific audiobook), organize a bit around the house, and catch up on my book group book for October.
Bookish bits & bobs:
I spent most of the week reading a big, chunky sci-fi novel (As You Wake, Break the Shell by Becky Chambers), but had so little time each day that I was only at 50% by the time the weekend rolled around… and at that point realized that I absolutely needed to start my book group book, since I’m the person responsible for the discussion this time around. I hate putting down a book I’m enjoying in order to start something else, but in this case, I had no choice! Looking forward to getting back to the other book this week (and I hope re-entering that world won’t feel too jarring.)
Random things that amused me this week:
Seen while out running errands mid-week… happy Heated Rivalry Halloween!
What did I read during the last week?
Well Versed (Well Met, #5) by Jen DeLuca: A trip to the Ren Faire is always a delight! My review is here.
The Harvey Girl by Dana Stabenow: I bought a copy back when this book came out earlier in the year, then held off until now to read it so I’d have it fresh in my mind for my book group discussion this week. A fun detective story with a wild west setting that I wasn’t particularly familiar with — I’m glad to have finally read it! My review is here.
Pop culture & TV:
Dancing with the Stars check-in: Oh, the drama! Social feeds are going a bit insane this week after one pro faces a one-week suspension over a (now deleted) post that some viewed as threatening toward a DWTS judge. Fans are irate! (IMHO, his post was inappropriate, but not actually a threat — just an ill-advised attempt at snark that backfired). Anyhoo… all my faves (Amber Glenn, Ezra Frech, Julia Stiles, and Tatyana Ali) are still in the competition, so yay!
In other viewing, I finally started season 4 of Ted Lasso, and have gotten through about half the episodes. I like it – -maybe not as much as previous seasons, but that’s okay. It’s nice to have a bit of cheerful viewing to look forward to.
Fresh Catch:
The new Queen of Nothing special edition arrived this week!
My photos do not do it justice! It’s a velvety black edition with a box and beautiful inside illustrations. And now I have all three books from the series! I sense a re-read in my near future…
I indulged during Amazon’s big sale days last week and used some credits to buy hardcovers that had been on my wishlist for a while:
All three are books that I read within the past year, and loved! In case anyone wants to know more, here are the reviews I posted:
As You Wake, Break the Shell by Becky Chambers: I’m happy to be getting back to this book! As I mentioned, I had to pause for a few days, just past the 50% point, but now I’m diving back in (and hoping to have more time to really focus on it than I did last week).
Now playing via audiobook:
The Once and Future Queen by Paula Lafferty: I’m absolutely loving this book! It’s on the longer side… I started listening last Monday, and should be able to finish within the next few days.
Ongoing reads:
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe: My book group’s classic read. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week. Progress: 97%. Coming up this week: Volume 4, chapters 17 and 18. Just three chapters left!
Title: The Harvey Girl Series: The Harvey Girls Mysteries, #1 Author: Dana Stabenow Publisher: Head of Zeus Publication date: March 5, 2026 Length: 272 pages Genre: Historical fiction Source: Purchased Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
From the award-winning author of the Kate Shugak Mysteries, a thrilling new detective series set during America’s wild boom time and frontier expansion of the nineteenth century. WELCOME TO THE GILDED AGE. WHERE NOT EVERYTHING GLITTERS. 1890. The New Mexico Territory is a lawless frontier where criminals steal money and land alike with impunity. Everyone wears a six-gun and is ready and willing to draw it.
In the new city of Montaña Roja, Fred Harvey’s growing empire is threatened by the robberies plaguing his newest Harvey House restaurant. To get justice, he needs a skilled detective to go undercover and procure answers to questions the law will not ask.
The assignment falls to Clare Wright, a young Pinkerton agent. Disguised as one of Harvey’s famous hostesses, Clare travels west where she risks being exposed at every step of her investigation. To get answers – and to get out alive – there are only two things she can trust: her instincts, and her derringer.
Dana Stabenow’s Kate Shugak series is one of my favorites, so of course I was eager to try The Harvey Girl, the first book in the author’s newest series. Here, the focus is on crime-solving in the lawless Wild West of the 1890s, as a young woman working for the famous Pinkerton Detective Agency goes undercover to solve a series of train robberies in the booming New Mexico territory.
Clare, at age 22, is young, brave, well-trained, and up for a challenge. She’s hired by Fred Harvey, founder of the Harvey Houses — restaurants located at every major stop of the railroad, where respectable young women offer pristine food service to passengers and locals, held to high standards of conduct at all times. Fred Harvey’s goods have been stolen during brazen train heists, and he needs the crimes solved — and stopped — immediately.
As Clare arrives in Montaña Roja, New Mexico, she begins work as a Harvey Girl, and must quickly unravel the tangle of mining tycoons, bankers, sheriffs, and the various outlaws, cowboys, and businessmen who make up the boomtown’s population. Meanwhile, she works demanding shifts carrying out her Harvey Girl duties according to the high standards expected, while befriending the other girls and hiding her own true purpose there.
The Harvey Girl is at its best portraying frontier life during the Gilded Age, when greed and profit rule, lawlessness runs rampant, and bar fights ending in gun battles are seemingly everyday occurrences. Vibrant descriptions capture the desert settings, the natural beauty, and the feel of a Western town enjoying rapid growth, as well as the personalities of the upwardly mobile and wannabes attempting to cash in on every available source of profit.
Learning about Harvey Houses and Harvey Girls was fascinating. I was unfamiliar with this piece of history, and fell down a few major internet rabbit holes while looking for more details and images. I even stumbled across the IMDb page of a 1946 movie musical called The Harvey Girls, starring Judy Garland! I may have to track it down and watch it, if it’s available to stream.
I struggled more with the mystery around the train robberies and related crimes which Clare uncovers. Honestly, the trail of clues and suspects felt difficult to follow. The conclusion is rushed, with a lot of exposition as Clare explains her findings, but the answers didn’t seem especially concrete or supported by what we actually see happening on the page.
Still, there’s a lot to enjoy here, especially some action-packed moments of danger, a couple of parties that illustrate different types of social gatherings, and cameos from some real historical figures alongside all the fictional characters. Clare herself is an interesting character, although I wish we’d gotten a bit more of her internal life, rather than just snippets of her background and scenes showing her detective skills.
A second book in the series, The Iron Trail, has been announced already, with a projected release date of November 2027. It looks as though this installment will provide Clare with new adventures while also picking up some of the lingering threads from The Harvey Girl. I’ll be interested in seeing where the story goes!
Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.
Title: Well Versed Series: Well Met, #5 Author: Jen DeLuca Narrator: Brittany Pressley Publisher: Berkley Publication date: September 22, 2026 Print length: 352 pages Audiobook length: 10 hours, 8 minutes Genre: Contemporary romance Source: Purchased (audiobook); e-ARC via NetGalleyRating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
It’s a second chance at first love at the Renaissance Faire, where the search for a new queen shapes a destiny, from USA Today bestselling author Jen DeLuca.
Caitlin Parker was eighteen when she fell out of love with the magic of the Willow Creek Renaissance Faire—the site of her first real heartbreak. But now, twenty-four and unemployed, she finds herself in her childhood bedroom and her childhood lady-in-waiting costume, assisting a rotating cast of substitute queens for the season. The very last person she wants to see is Alexander Wright—the sword-fighting, Shakespeare-spouting young man who won and broke her teenage heart. Yet there he is, older, annoyingly hotter, and back on stage at her Faire.
When Alex broke things off with Caitlin the first time, he thought he was just ending a summer fling. He didn’t realize how much he’d fallen for her until he let her go, and he certainly didn’t know he’d tarnished her memories of her cherished Faire and worse, shattered her view on love and relationships. His need to right that wrong this summer brings them together again and again, and this time, it won’t be so easy to let go of this summer fling.
But as summer winds down, real life is catching up to both of them. Caitlin’s always thought that being an adult with adult responsibilities means leaving whimsy behind. Alex, with a life full of stage combat, songs, and sonnets, doesn’t know how to live any other way. Can they go after their dreams and find a future together where they can still say “huzzah”?
It’s good to get back to the Faire! Four years after the release of Well Traveled, Jen DeLuca’s delightful Renaissance Faire romance series is back, delivering her signature mix of Faire fun and modern-day romantic challenges.
In Well Versed, Caitlin — whom we first met way back in book #1, Well Met, as a 14-year-old volunteering at the Faire — is now all grown up! Time flies for sure. Caitlin is now 24 years old and recently laid off from a tech job, and while she job hunts, has moved back home with her mother April and April’s partner Mitch (whose love story was the focus of book #3, Well Matched). And since it’s the start of summer, that means it’s also time for the Willow Creek Renaissance Faire, organized by Caitlin’s aunt and uncle and the focus for their entire community each summer.
Caitlin used to love the Faire as a teen, when she’d don the costume of a lady-in-waiting, get into character, and wander the faire grounds at the side of her queen. But a heartbreaking end to her first love left her disillusioned and absolutely done with anything related to Faire — she hasn’t been back, and even swore off her love of Shakespeare in order to pursue a career in IT. No more swoony sonnets for her!
The past comes crashing back on opening day of Faire, when her ex Alex strolls back into her life. Two years older than Caitlin, he’d broken up with her after their first romance, telling her to find someone her own age (he was 20, she was 18). She’s never forgiven him, and is furious that he’s back, up on a stage spouting Shakespeare and looking unfairly great. It gets worse, though — when Mitch is injured, Alex steps in to take his place in the Faire’s centerpiece swordfighting exhibition, and that means he’s at her house every day to practice. She can’t get away from the guy!
Meanwhile, the Faire itself is missing its queen — the former queen has officially retired, and each replacement seems to miss the mark. It seems inevitable that a certain jaded someone will finally step up and embrace the role, if only she can recapture some of that earlier joy she used to feel at the Faire each summer.
As Caitlin and Alex spend time together, old wounds are finally given time to heal. Caitlin thinks a summer fling with Alex might be a great way to have fun, as a break from dealing with the pressures waiting at the end of the summer — figuring out jobs, where to live, and what to do with the rest of her life. But as things heat up, Caitlin and Alex’s feelings definitely go beyond a mere fling, leaving them wondering how to balance this new beginning with all the demands of adulting that they feel closing in on them.
As always, the sense of delight at the Renaissance Faire is fully embodied here in Well Versed. The book captures the summer experience, the joy of putting on a costume and embracing a different way of being, and the sense of community as people come together to create something magical.
While it was a bit of an adjustment at first to see Caitlin as an adult (we met her as a young teen!), she’s an interesting main character to spend time with. Caitlin’s struggle to get over past hurts, assert herself differently, fit back in with her hometown, and also figure out her future feel realistic for a young woman in that particular phase of her life. I enjoyed seeing her reconnect with family and friends, especially since they’re all so much a part of the Well Met series’s broader story. How fun to catch up with them all and see how they’re doing!
The love story elements are well done, showing the repairing needed before Caitlin can accept Alex as a friend once again. I appreciated that Caitlin comes to realize that Alex’s intentions were good all those years ago, despite his not-great delivery, and that the time wasn’t right back then for a serious relationship. Of course, being set at a Ren Faire, their reconciliation is full of swoony gestures, and all the swordplay and sonnet deliveries don’t hurt!
I treated myself to a signed paperback, which came with this adorable artwork!
I did wish for a bit more Faire content — we see them at the Faire throughout, of course, but often it’s just a recap of how the day went after a few brief scenes of the day starting. Perhaps the author felt that we didn’t need full-on scenes of Faire life, after the previous four books… but I did! I wanted to spend just a little more time wandering the lanes, hearing about characters and accents and flower crowns and mead, seeing the jousts… all the little touches that make these books so enjoyable.
The inevitable communication issues pop up right near the end, as is typical for so many romances. Thankfully, here the issues are less about misunderstanding one another than that the characters are so in in their own heads that they’re not fully listening to one another… and also, thankfully, it all gets resolved without too much agonizing to wade through.
Brittany Pressley is one of my favorite audiobook narrators, and once again, she does a terrific job with the characters and the Ren Faire dynamics. She lets the various personalities shine through and keeps them all distinct, conveys the humor and whimsy of so many scenes, and captures the dialects (pirate, Scottish warrior, Queen!) of the Faire voices with flair.
Overall, I really enjoyed Well Versed… and as usual, really hope we’ll get more books set in this world! Huzzah!
Interested in this series? Don’t miss the previous books:
Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Book Covers Featuring Autumnal Colors.
My list includes books I’ve read plus a bunch from my TBR. My top 10 are:
My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.
Life.
Last weekend, I was away in Colorado visiting my daughter, and got home Monday night. It was a wonderful trip, but I didn’t rest at all before getting back to work Tuesday morning, so I kind of dragged all week. Luckily, the sun came out over the last couple of days, and I was able to enjoy some outdoor time this past weekend, and still managed to take care of some much-needed errands (including buying myself a new pair of walking shoes — yay!).
Bookish bits & bobs:
I’m sure everyone already saw the announcement, but I’ll share this one anyway:
Goodreads has FINALLY added quarter and half stars! It’s about time — people have been asking for this for years. Of course, now there’s something new to be annoyed about — tags no longer seem to be available to select while leaving a rating and review; we have to shelve the book (i.e., add tags) from the book itself, so it’s extra steps to do so after finishing.
Still, it’s nice to not have to constantly add a note on reviews to say “rounding up from 3.5” or what have you.
Is anyone going back to modify previously submitted ratings? I’m not — seems like too much of an effort, and not all that important — but I’m curious if others are doing so.
What did I read during the last week?
Wool (Silo, #1) by Hugh Howey: Terrific science fiction. Can’t wait to continue the series! My review is here.
No Matter What by Cara Bastone: Touching contemporary romance about a marriage in trouble and the couple’s slow reconnection. My review is here.
Dive Bar at the End of the Road by Kelley Armstrong: Mind-warping horror from a favorite author. My review is here.
Well Versed (Well Met, #5) by Jen DeLuca: The newest book in a very fun romance series centered around a small town Renaissance Faire. Finished on Sunday — watch for my review later this week!
Pop culture & TV:
Dancing with the Stars check-in: My favorites (Amber Glenn, Ezra Frech, Julia Stiles, and Tatyana Ali) are all still in it! I enjoy the rehearsal videos and performances, but the popularity contest aspect of the eliminations makes me so mad sometimes. And yet, I keep watching!
Speaking of watching… check out the move toward the end of this dance, which has now become a challenge all over the socials:
Elsewhere on my screen… I managed to catch up with the 2nd season of the Outlander prequel series, Blood of My Blood, and have now seen the four episodes available so far (with six more yet to come this season). Episode 3 was especially good. The show is inconsistent, and some storylines are much better than others. No news yet on whether there will be a season 3… but since I just saw a comment from a cast member that season 2 ends with a cliffhanger, I certainly hope there will be more to come!
Fresh Catch:
One beautiful new book arrived this week:
Plus two used books that I’d ordered a couple of weeks ago:
What will I be reading during the coming week?
Currently in my hands:
As You Wake, Break the Shell by Becky Chambers: I’ve loved everything I’ve read by this author, and I’m excited to be starting her new release.
Now playing via audiobook:
The Once and Future Queen by Paula Lafferty: I think this will be my next audiobook! I’ll be starting later today. The book has been on my shelf for a while now, and with Julia Whelan as narrator, audio feels like a great option.
Ongoing reads:
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe: My book group’s classic read. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week. Progress: 95%. Coming up this week: Volume 4, chapters 15 and 16. So close to the end!
Title: Dive Bar at the End of the Road Author: Kelley Armstrong Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Publication date: October 6, 2026 Length: 288 pages Genre: Horror Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Final Destination meets The Cabin at the End of the World in this supernatural horror from New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong, in which a series of car accidents traps a group of strangers at a dive bar.
A forested road at night, slick from the pounding rain and eerily illuminated by flashes of lightning. Just before midnight, a car swerves to avoid something―or someone―mysteriously standing in the road, only to slam into a fallen tree instead. In the pitch black, four more cars follow in a pileup no one can seem to avoid.
Stumbling out of the wreckage, soaked from the rain and nursing various injuries, five strangers find themselves in a backwoods dive bar, waiting for daybreak and hoping for cell service. But as tensions rise and the storm rages on outside, the occupants of the dive bar start to notice that not everything is as it seems. Time is moving differently, and they quickly learn that going outside―whether to assist another accident victim or to hike for help―is a very bad idea.
There’s something in the woods, something that isn’t natural. Could the figure in the road have been a warning? Or something more sinister? None of this is normal, and they’ll need to work together to figure out what’s happening if they have any hope of surviving the night.
If it’s October, it must be time for a new stand-alone horror novel from the prolific and talented Kelley Armstrong! Dive Bar at the End of the Road delivers a menacing sort of existential horror, as a puzzling situation turns life-threatening and characters find themselves in a trap that defies logic and understanding.
Ellie drives through a storm to reach her parents’ home, but ends up on a deserted road with no GPS or cell service after following detour signs. A shocking crash leaves her stranded, and within moments a second car collides with her own. Wounded and disoriented by their sudden accidents, she and Henry stumble up the road in search of help, following lights to a bar in the middle of nowhere, empty except for the bartender and one strange woman. Before long, they hear the sounds of further crashes, and soon, there are five accident survivors huddled in the bar, seeking shelter until the storm passes and cell service is restored.
But this is no ordinary storm, and these are not ordinary car crashes. Dangerous anomalies abound; they’re all sure that they left their hazard lights on when leaving their totaled vehicles, but each new driver swears that the cars were in pitch blackness with no lights on at all. Could someone or something have intentionally caused the massive pile-up? If so, why?
More terrors await. Venturing off the road into the forest, Henry swears he sees zombies… but another driver encounters a rabid dog, and Ellie is sure someone is hunting her with a gun. Meanwhile, the bartender cracks jokes and the strange woman makes only cryptic comments. As the night wears on, some answers surface, but not before there’s bloodshed and absolute nightmares that are all too real.
Dive Bar at the End of the Road delivers chilling moments of horror, as experienced by a group of seemingly ordinary people who simply have the bad luck to be on that particular road at that particular time. But as we learn, it may not be random or bad luck… and each may have a reason why they find themselves stuck at this awful bar.
One of the most fascinating elements of this book is the character focus, as the various people — especially Ellie and Henry — are revealed to have backstories that add complex issues to their current lives. For a story that takes place over a relatively short time frame, we get to know most of them very well. The author lets us really feel the conflicts that drive each of them, as well as the deeply embedded fears and issues that they carry.
The action is compelling, and while much of the horror feels psychological, there’s also plenty of blood and gore. Some scenes are particularly brutal and frightening. While I had a few ideas about what might actually be going on, the revelations about the meaning of it all were nothing that I could have anticipated, and I could empathize with the sense of disbelief, shock, and denial the characters experience when answers are finally provided.
Dive Bar at the End of the Road is a fast, compelling read that’s impossible to put down. Scary and disturbing, it’s a great choice for a horror-filled October.
I’ll Be Waiting (2024) — I gave this book 5 stars! Check out my review.
The Haunting of Payne’s Hollow (2025) — 4.5 stars! My review.
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