2026

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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.

Another busy week — but the sun finally came out over the weekend, and I was able to get outdoors to enjoy it.

My book group had a Zoom chat with author Marjan Kamali on Saturday, discussing her excellent novel The Lion Women of Tehran. She was very kind and gracious with her time, and the conversation was so interesting!

A programming note:

I’ll be away for about a week and a half starting later this week — my husband and I are heading out on a summer road trip to Ashland, Oregon, the Columbia River Gorge, and various points in between! I expect to mainly be offline while we’ll traveling (maybe some random check-ins here and there). We’ll be on the go every day, but I do hope to be able to unwind each evening with some quiet reading time!

What did I read during the last week?

The Children by Melissa Albert: Chilling, compelling, terrific fantasy/horror. My review is here.

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman: This book seems to have exploded on BookTok in the past year. I’m glad I decided to check it out — my review is here.

Pop culture & TV:

I finished my For All Mankind binge! I loved seasons 1 and 2, thought season 3 was pretty good, mostly felt that season 4 sucked, and then like season 5 better than season 4. I’m glad to be done at this point. Despite the letdown of the last two seasons, I still intend to watch the 6th and final season whenever it’s released (most likely 2027). Meanwhile, I plan to check out the spin-off series Star City, which covers the space race from the Soviet perspective. I posted an overview about my experiences watching For All Mankind — check it out, here.

And now that my binge is over, I’m looking forward to catching up on other shows I’ve been wanting to watch. So many options!

Fresh Catch:

I try not to give in to the temptations of Prime Day… but couldn’t resist when there was a significant price drop on a book that’s been on my wish list for a long time:

I read The Women soon after it came out via the library, and have been wanting a copy of my own ever since.

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

The Midnight Train by Matt Haig: I got a signed copy of this book at an author event in early June, and I managed to get through about half over the weekend. Hoping to finish before we hit the road!

Now playing via audiobook:

Meet Me at the Seaside Cottages by Jenny Colgan: Jenny Colgan audiobooks are always such great entertainment! I’d hoped to finish over the weekend, but ran out of time. Now my goal is to finish before I leave on my trip… and I think I’ll (maybe) manage just in time. Fingers crossed…

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: 46%. Coming up this week: Volume 2, chapters 10 and 11.

Pronoun Trouble: The Story of Us in Seven Little Words by John McWhorter: A really entertaining linguistics book! I do love this sort of thing. I’m reading it in bits and pieces, and this week read the 2nd chapter (called “Poor Little You”). Progress: 46%.

What will you be reading this week?

So many books, so little time…

28Jun2026

TV Time: For All Mankind; seasons 1 – 5

Posted in Pop Culture by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

This week marks the end of my For All Mankind binge. Overall, this is a fascinating, absorbing (but sometimes maddening) show. With one season still to come (possibly in 2027), I’m glad that I took the time to dive in and watch seasons 1 – 5. Here’s my season by season breakdown of the show and my reactions to each.

Warning: Spoilers ahead! I won’t divulge specifics about plots twists, character fates, etc — but talking about the general premise for the show and each season is unavoidably spoilery. In fact, I had no idea what I was getting into when I started season 1, and loved the major twist… but I’d guess that anyone who’s aware of this show and has seen any of the trailers has at least some basic knowledge of what to expect.

Let’s jump right in.

SEASON 1

Setting: Earth and the Moon, 1970s

Here’s where I got my biggest and best surprise: Before starting this show, all I knew was that it was a series about the space race. Period. So imagine my surprise and delight to learn at the end of the very first episode that this is alternate history. It’s 1969, the world is watching the moon landing… and instead of hearing Neal Armstrong’s famous words while taking his first steps on the moon, we hear… Russian.

That’s right, in the world of For All Mankind, the Soviet Union gets to the moon first, a huge embarrassment for NASA, but also just the kick in the pants that the US needs to invest much more heavily in its own space program.

The season focuses on NASA’s moon program, ultimately landing astronauts on the moon and setting up the beginnings of a moon colony adjacent to a crater where ice has been discovered. To accelerate the program and keep up with the Russians, the astronaut corps accepts women, which is where the mix of characters becomes fascinating. We have the type of tough-guy fighter pilot astronauts we’d expect, but also daring women who’ve fought for the opportunity to fly and now go to space.

Season 1 does an excellent job of immersing us in the lives of the astronauts, their families on Earth, the scientists and dreamers of NASA, and an immigrant family who becomes involved with the space program as well. The personal elements add emotional weight to everything that happens. Absolutely fabulous characters.

The alternate history is fascinating. This is our world, but different. What does it mean for the greater society and political environment that the US lost the space race? We get news coverage and snapshots that show the impact, from an earlier end to the Vietnam War to the passing of the Equal Rights Amendment to Teddy Kennedy winning the 1972 presidential election.

Still, it’s the emotional beats (plus space adventures!) that make this season so incredibly powerful.

SEASON 2

Setting: Earth and the Moon, 1980s

As we’ll come to expect each season, we open with a time jump to the next decade. The Jamestown Colony on the moon is well established and has expanded from the tiny, claustrophobic unit of season 1. Astronauts rotate in and out of Jamestown as Apollo missions continue. The discovery of key minerals on the moon has changed life on Earth, and advances in technology bring private corporations into the business of space exploration. Meanwhile, the Cold War makes its mark on the moon, as territory is divided between the US and USSR, and a competition for resources leads to each country sending armed troops to the moon to protect their own interests.

The main characters from season 1 are back, older and some in positions of greater authority, with new family configurations and personal life complications. We’re so invested in these people by now that anything that goes wrong (and plenty does) feels personal.

Honestly, I was on the edge of my seat throughout this season, and the finale left me more emotionally wrung out than anything else I remember watching in recent years. No spoilers about what happens… but it’s intense, to say the very least.

SEASON 3

Setting: Earth and Mars, 1990s

Another ten years have passed, and the US, the USSR, and private company Helios are in a three-way race to be the first to Mars. Some intense space scenes open the season, which feels like tradition at this point. We also open with the expected montage of news clippings, showing us in super-fast speed what’s happened since we last checked in. Politically, Gary Hart is President, following the presidency of Ronald Reagan; culturally, one piece I loved is learning that John Lennon survived an assassination attempt. Space exploration and the technological advances that it has provided have led to demonstrations on Earth, as coal and other former industries have become obsolete, leading to mass unemployment. While there’s excitement about reaching Mars, a growing segment of the population demands that Earth’s needs come first, and the protests threaten to turn violent.

On Mars, there’s an initial settlement of astronauts and cosmonauts as the US and USSR are forced to share resources in order to survive. The interpersonal dynamics are outstanding, and the drama ratchets higher and higher as significant dangers loom. Again, can’t get too specific without spoilers, but the season ends with shocking events, some joyous and some tragic.

SEASON 4

Setting: Mars (mostly), 2000s

Here’s where the show starts to lose me a bit. Yes, we get the opening new montage, learning that Al Gore is President, Bill Clinton is a political has-been (having never made it to the presidency in the wake of scandals), and gay marriage is the law of the land. But the show’s focus on space exploration has given way, perhaps inevitably, to storylines about living on Mars. It’s less alternate history, and much more standard sci-fi fare — shades of both Battlestar Galactica and The Expanse, in terms of showing off-planet human society and living conditions.

While some of the original characters are still around, 30 years have passed since the first season, and much of the focus has shifted to new characters, including family members of some of the originals. For at least one of the O.G. characters, there’s a personality change that seems unsupported by everything we formerly knew about this person, and I didn’t like it.

Mostly, though, the problem with season 4 is that the focus is mainly on labor unrest and social stratification, and not the challenges of continued space exploration. The workers want rights, better wages, and living conditions. The powers that be want to exploit every resource Mars has to offer for the benefit of Earth, even if it means that the Mars colony becomes irrelevant. Add to that the introduction of someone intended to become a new lead who I found unappealing (and whose storyline, mainly about smuggling, did not show him in a particularly good light), and we end up with a season with not enough space drama and too much emphasis on class and economic struggles.

SEASON 5

Setting: Mars (mostly) and Titan, 2010s

Another 10 year time jump! And now we see how much has changed on Mars. The news from Earth is not that interesting — what matters is that Mars is mining iridium, incredibly valuable on Earth, and that the combined Earth powers (known as the M-6) want to exploit it even further, even if it means that the “Marsies” (the hundreds of workers who live on Mars, along with their families) may see their way of life destroyed.

The last of the O.G. characters fade away, and the next generations and newer characters are firmly in the lead. Armed conflict between the M-6 and the Marsies becomes inevitable, and we see the terrible devastation when things come to a head.

Season 5 is better than season 4… but overall, I think the show has lost the power of its first three seasons, which played up the awe of seeing the space programs develop and the incredible dedication of the people involved. By seasons 4 and 5, the show is just too similar in feel to other sci-fi franchises — yes, with differences, but essentially, it’s become a show about human life on other planets. It’s moved so far beyond our reality that it’s lost the element of surprise and delight that come from seeing alternate versions of our own history. Yes, it’s entertaining, but somehow less special. (And it doesn’t help that one of the lead characters is a total dud, but maybe I’m in the minority on that issue).

Looking ahead: Season 6

Setting: Presumably, Mars and Titan, 2020s… ??

Not much is known yet about season 6, other than that it will be the final season for the series — which makes sense, as it brings the timeline more or less into alignment with ours. Despite the letdown of the last two seasons, I will absolutely want to see how it all wraps up!

Do I recommend For All Mankind?

Overall, yes. The first few seasons are (excuse the pun) stellar. I loved the presentation, the storytelling, and the characters, was on the edge of my seat for so many of the episodes, and felt totally invested every step of the way. The same was not true while watching seasons 4 and 5 — but even so, I was interested enough to see how the various conflicts played out, and still want to know what’s next.

The show has a terrific, talented cast and many, many breathtaking space sequences and moments of exhilaration and terror. The alternate history (particularly during seasons 1 – 3) make for a fascinating speculative look at all the “what ifs” of our own world and how small alterations might have huge impacts.

27Jun2026

Book Review: I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: I Who Have Never Known Men
Author: Jacqueline Harpman
Publisher: Transit Books
Publication date: 1995
Length: 173 pages
Genre: Speculative fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Deep underground, forty women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only a vague recollection of their lives before.

As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl—the fortieth prisoner—sits alone and outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others’ escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.

Jacqueline Harpman was born in Etterbeek, Belgium, in 1929, and fled to Casablanca with her family during WWII. Informed by her background as a psychoanalyst and her youth in exile, I Who Have Never Known Men is a haunting, heartbreaking post-apocalyptic novel of female friendship and intimacy, and the lengths people will go to maintain their humanity in the face of devastation. Back in print for the first time since 1997, Harpman’s modern classic is an important addition to the growing canon of feminist speculative literature.

Published in 1995, I Who Have Never Known Men came roaring back in recent years as a BookTok sensation. After hearing the buzz from so many sources, I finally decided to check it out for myself.

In this strange, moving, puzzling work of speculative fiction, our unnamed narrator introduces us to a harsh new world. As the story opens, she is one of forty women locked in a cage in an underground bunker, watched constantly by a rotating set of male guards who patrol outside the cage, armed with whips. They do not interact with the prisoners, using the whips to threaten if the women break rules, such as touching, hiding, or expressing strong emotions. The women have been there for years, and have only vague memories of a life before or how they ended up in the cage.

But our narrator is different. Caged as a child, she knows nothing of any other life. The women share stories of families, husbands, homes… but she has no understanding of what these concepts are. As she enters her teen years, she holds herself apart, but eventually learns to count her heartbeats as a way of making sense of the unknowable passage of time. When the routine finally breaks and the guards flee, she’s able to secure the key that will allow them out of the bunker… but the world they find above is not what they expect.

The women are finally free, but for what? They find themselves on a vast plain, with no other people anywhere within sight. Out in the open, but with no direction or answers, they must fend for themselves and find a way to survive yet another type of existence they have no understanding of.

She wondered when it had dawned on us that we were as much prisoners out in the open as we had been behind bars.

The narrator tells the women’s stories through her own unique voice, mostly devoid of emotion, keen to find sense in the vast nothingness, connected to but never quite understanding her companions. As years and then decades pass, the women forge a community together, surviving their isolated existence in a world devoid of other living beings.

What has happened to lead to this point? Where are they? What became of all the other people? Why are there no animals or seasons? Why are there so many bunkers and cages identical to the one they escaped? And why are these bunkers the only buildings they’ve ever found in all their years of wandering?

If you pick up I Who Have Never Known Men expecting answers… well, this isn’t that sort of book. The narrator makes it clear early on that she’s lived a long, strange life, that she’s the last one left, and that she’ll never truly know what happened to the world that came before. This is the only life she knows or remembers. Readers go along with her and the other women as they journey over the course of many years. The narrator’s inner thoughts provide an odd sort of focus, centering this existence through the perspective of someone who begins as a clean slate and finds purpose, skills, and perseverance through sheer stubbornness and an innate sense of curiosity, a desire to learn and understand.

While described as a work of feminist speculative fiction, I don’t know that I’d stick with that label completely. The story’s focus is about the women, first as prisoners and then through the experiences they have once they achieve freedom. And yet, this doesn’t fit the mold of many works of dystopian fiction, in which women are oppressed by a misogynistic, authoritarian society. We really have no idea why the women are in a cage — but as we learn later, the cages aren’t exclusively for women. As this group of women travel and find bunker after bunker, they find many that had once held forty men as prisoners as well. (The cages always hold forty people. Why forty? Yet another unknown.) The reason for the bunkers isn’t necessarily related to misogyny — we get the impression that there was a total collapse of civilization, perhaps war or some other sort of disaster. But I suppose the fact that what we focus on is how this group of women survivors chooses to live and move forward is where the feminist fiction categorization applies. I don’t have a problem with that — it’s just that the book was definitely not what I expected it to be.

That’s a good thing, actually. It’s nice to have expectations turned upside down. Starting a book with no real idea of where it will go and feeling totally immersed along the way is one of the joys of reading, after all. I Who Have Never Known Men is a short book — under 200 pages — that contains powerful language and imagery on every page.

A note on the reading experience: There are no chapter breaks, or even section breaks. This is one long unbroken narrative, as the narrator — approaching the end of her life — thinks back on the earliest days she remembers, already in the cage, and tells the story of everything she’s experienced since then. Being inside her head is a unique, unsettling experience. Yes, I prefer my books to have chapters! But once I got into the rhythm of this story, it moved so quickly that I was willing to just go with it.

I recommend checking out I Who Have Never Known Men. It’s definitely not like anything else I’ve read lately. Thought-provoking and disquieting, this is a book that will stay with you long after reading the final pages.

For more about this book, check out this essay from The New Yorker and this article from The Guardian. More about the book’s resurgence thanks to social media buzz:
Medium
The Cut

Purchase links: Amazon – Audible audiobook – 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.

26Jun2026

First Lines Friday 6/26/2026

Posted in Fun and Whimsy by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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!

This week’s lines are from an upcoming July release that sounds eerie and atmospheric:

Clay Lockhart’s cries echoed for half a mile up the rain-drowned coastline, carried on the late January storm that tore across the Outer Hebrides — an isolated windswept stretch of archipelagos in western Scotland. The rain had come quick, driven by a snell of cold wind that cut through old, rattling windowpanes and down to bone. In Saltwell — a small shoreline community along St. Magnus Bay — the residents shuttered windows, called in their children, and herded livestock indoors as they had always done when a western gale lashed against their sturdy homes.

But Clay Lockhart flung open his oak front door and strode out into the storm, a body slumped and weighted in his arms: golden hair spilling from a pallid skull, arms swaying like wet dishrags.

I got so caught up in this opening that I just had to share the first two paragraphs!

Vocab time: Snell
Scottish / Northern English Dialect (Adjective)
Meaning: Quick, active, sharp, or bitterly severe.
Context: It is most commonly used to describe piercingly cold or biting weather (e.g., “a snell wind smote us”) or a witty, sharp remark.

So what’s the book?

Habits of the Sea by Shea Ernshaw
Release date: July 7, 2026
304 pages

Synopsis:

A new adult novel from New York Times bestselling author Shea Ernshaw, in which a woman rediscovers the mythical island she stumbled upon as a child—and the man she once met who apparently hasn’t aged.

The night Clay Lockhart’s wife dies, a violent storm tears their home—and the eight hectares of land beneath it—away from the Scottish coast, sending it adrift into the Atlantic. Thirty years later, twelve-year-old Ellie Mills discovers the fabled floating island off the coast of Nova Scotia and finds Clay still living in the weatherworn farmhouse perched on its highest hill.

When the island vanishes overnight, Ellie is left questioning whether it ever existed at all. But decades later, the island resurfaces—and Ellie, now in her thirties, returns, determined to uncover the truth. What she finds is even stranger: Clay hasn’t aged a single day.

Faced with the impossible, Ellie learns that some mysteries aren’t meant to be solved—and that a life shaped by wonder may hold more promise than one bound by certainty.

With her signature atmospheric, lyrical prose, Shea Ernshaw offers us an original work of folklore with a masterful modern touch. A haunting tale, Habits of the Sea spans centuries and coastlines, journeys through time and memory, and redefines the very meaning of love itself.

I’ve read two previous novels by Shea Earnshaw, including the excellent A History of Wild Places — so I was delighted to win a copy of Habits of the Sea in a Goodreads giveaway, and can’t wait to get started.

Does this sound like something you’d enjoy?

Happy Friday! Wishing everyone a great weekend!

25Jun2026

Book Review: The Children by Melissa Albert

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Children
Author: Melissa Albert
Publisher: Bramble
Publication date: June 2, 2026
Length: 416 pages
Genre: Fantasy/Horror
Source: Library
Rating:

An intoxicating, haunting new novel from New York Times bestselling author Melissa Albert, in which the estranged adult children of a legendary author, written into their dead mother’s beloved fantasy series, contend with the vine-like creep of legacy, memory, and magic.

Guinevere Sharpe has two childhoods.

In one, she lives in the wooded shadow of her family’s isolated Vermont farmhouse; in the other, the pages of her mother’s world-famous Ninth City books, where her magical adventures have made her a household name. In reality, Guinevere’s childhood isn’t the enchanted idyll her mother’s readers imagine: she and her older brother are growing up near-feral, unwashed and underfed, escaping each day to the lichen-clotted woods they’ve made their playland. As Edith Sharpe’s books explode into epic popularity, the threats of a rural childhood give way to the escalating perils of fame—until the night it all goes up in flames, leaving Edith’s series unfinished and her children the sole survivors.

Now an adult coasting on her mother’s name, Guinevere is mid-promotion for a ghostwritten memoir when her estranged brother, an artist who has until now spurned his family’s legacy, announces an upcoming installation titled Mother. As rumors swirl around a death connected to his last show, unsettling recollections from Guinevere’s childhood begin to surface. Her public facade starts to crack, forcing her to confront the questions she’s spent the last twenty years running from: What really happened the night of the fire? And what dark history lies behind their mother’s creative genius?

Wise to the mythic weight childhood memories gather over time, The Children whispers to you from the hallway outside your bedroom, lights flickering as you turn the pages of a book that didn’t seem so scary a moment ago. It’s a story for anyone who’s ever revisited an old favorite and found it cast in a darker light, the line separating magic and memory blurring as the gap widens between the authors we imagined and the people they turn out to be.

The Children is a creepy, haunting tale that drew me in practically from page 1 and never let me go. I found myself immersed in this story about the children of a bestselling author — whose childhood was anything but the ideal dream portrayed to the public.

Edith Sharpe writes the children’s fantasy series, The Ninth City, at the family’s rural Vermont home, an isolated place known as the Farmhouse, surrounded by forests and orchards, miles from anywhere. As Edith’s fame grows, so too does the never-ending streams of stars and artists and wannabes who gravitate into Edith’s orbit. Edith’s children, however, never asked for or agreed to the fame that they’re forced into by their mother, who gives her main characters her children’s names. The world thinks they know Ennis and Guinevere Sharpe, the brave, clever brother and sister who star in the series. Only Ennis and Guin know the truth about their childhood — one in which they essentially grew up wild and untended, cared for only by one another while their parents indulged in a life of creative frenzies, dissipated parties, and a general lack of interest about their children’s wellbeing.

As adults, Guin and Ennis have been estranged for twenty years, ever since the horrific night of a fire that destroyed their world and thrust them into very different lives. Now in her early 30s, Guin has been living off her mother’s legacy, in terms of both her inheritance and being part of the publicity machine that keeps Edith Sharpe on the bestseller list year after year. While promoting her own memoir — a whitewashed, ghost-written, surface-level and sunny depiction that bears little resemblance to the truth — Guin learns that Ennis will be opening a new art installation entitled “Mother”, and is immediately consumed by the need to reconnect with him… and to find out whether he’s finally decided to break his silence on Edith Sharpe after all these years.

As Guin goes off the rails, ruining her carefully constructed publicity tour through unpredictable and ill-advised interviews, she’s thrust back into childhood memories she’s worked so hard to ignore or deny.

The story unfolds through modern-day chapters, in which adult Guin spins out of control in her search for meaning and for Ennis, woven among chapters going back to the siblings’ childhood, from arriving at the Farmhouse when Guin was five years old to the final disaster when she was eleven. There’s a certain beauty to some elements of their early years, as they run wild, unhindered in their exploration of the forests, with no rules and little to no guidance about their daily lives. They’re supposedly home-schooled, but they’re not. They’re fed… when someone remembers, or when they fend for themselves. Their father, a gifted actor who was forced out of the spotlight due to scandal, is a shining, glorious creature… until he’s not; until something, somehow causes him to lose bits and pieces of himself and fade into a failed has-been.

And then there’s Edith, a woman who’s never been predictable, married young to an older man, and an uninvolved mother even at the best of times. But something happens at the Farmhouse. Guin loves the house, except for the sinister 3rd floor room where Edith writes. And Edith writes in frenzied bursts, clacking away on her typewriter with no interruptions allowed.

The sense of menace is pervasive throughout The Children. We may not know exactly why, but we know from the start that very bad things have happened. At the same time, we know that the Ninth City books were life-changing for their millions of fans, and that Guin and Ennis are seen as heroes, standing in for Edith and the world she created even as they attempt to live their own lives. The neglect that Guin and Ennis live through is disturbing in and of itself, but add to that the sense that something other is going on, something very much not right, and the chills ratchet up higher and higher.

While I had guesses about the mysteries of The Children, I never did quite manage to figure it all out, and I’d guess that most readers end up in the same boat. The revelations near the end of the book are mind-blowing, yet tie the entire story together in a way that makes a frightening sort of sense. I simply couldn’t put the book down; each chapter is stunning in its own way. I cringed quite a bit over adult Guin’s choices and actions, but there’s no denying that she follows a path that seem practically foreordained. The childhood chapters are more deeply disturbing and impactful, but the entire book works so well together that it’s impossible to point out any moments where the story lags or loses focus.

I’d say that my only complaint about The Children has more to do with my reading experience than with the book itself. I tore through the final third or so in such a mad dash to get to the end that I’m afraid that I may not have absorbed it all as deeply as I might have if I’d taken my time. I can definitely see going back for a reread to savor it more slowly and pick up the themes and hints I might have missed along the way the first time through.

The Children is one of this summer’s biggest, buzziest books… and it’s well worth giving in to the hype and giving it a chance! Creepy, scary, disturbing, and compelling, this story will stick with you long after the final pages.

Want to know more? Check out these great reviews:
Tammy at Books, Bones & Buffy
Krysta at Pages Unbound

Purchase links: Amazon – Audible – 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.

23Jun2026

Top Ten Tuesday: Top ten books on my TBR list for summer 2026

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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 Books on My Summer 2026 to-Read List.

Before getting started with my summer TBR, I took a look back at my spring TBR post… and discovered that I did pretty well! Of my 10 winter TBR books, I actually read eight and DNFd one. I still intend to read the one remaining book, which is the first in a series I’ve been planning to start this year:

So, I’ll leave Just One Damned Thing After Another here as a reference… and meanwhile, I’m picking another ten books for my summer reading TBR! Of course, narrowing it down to just ten is practically impossible, but here’s the batch of books I’m putting high on my priority list right now:

The Midnight Train by Matt Haig
To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage
My Imaginary Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews
The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett
We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
The Fox and the Devil by Kiersten White
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

What are you planning to read this summer? Please share your TTT links!

Save

22Jun2026

The Monday Check-In ~ 6/22/2026

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Life.

Do you ever have weeks where you feel like you’re just bad at reading? I know I’m not, really, but this past week, I was so busy and had so much going on that even when I had a few minutes to pick up a book, my concentration was not there. I made almost no progress in the ebook I was reading, despite being really interested and wanting to be able to get into it. Thank goodness for audiobooks! At least I’m able to listen during my daily commute.

Work was crazy (what else is new?)… but in real life, it was actually quite a good week! We had our adult kids in town, had a fun family dinner at home one night, then Father’s Day dinner out at a favorite restaurant. It’s always a treat to get to spend time together with our awesome kids and their wonderful spouses.

Random bookish stuff:

Both of these feel very specific to my life:

I feel seen.

What did I read during the last week?

The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali: Beautiful story of women’s lives and friendship in 20th century Tehran. My review is here.

Time Loops and Meet Cutes by Jackie Lau: A very fun rom-com with a clever premise and great characters. My review is here.

Pop culture & TV:

I’m midway through the 5th season of For All Mankind… and honestly, I about ready for this binge to be done. I loved seasons 1 – 3, but season 4 was such a disappointment. Season 5 is better, but I think overall the show has lost a lot of what made the early seasons so special. I’ll probably share a wrap-up post once I finish this season — and yes, despite not loving the show quite as much at this point, I’ll certainly be back for the sixth and final season whenever it drops (most likely sometime in 2027).

Fresh Catch:

After being fairly restrained about buying physical books lately, I splurged this week! I had a gift card burning a hole in my pocket and, well, here we are!

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews: Can’t wait to read this book!
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: I’ve been buying these special editions over the last few years — this is the last one I needed to have the full set!
Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune: Read already… and loved.
This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page: One of my favorite books of 2026.

Also this week:

A Goodreads giveaway! I was notified that I’d won a copy of The Foursome by Christina Baker Kline back in March, and it finally arrived this week. I’ve already read the book via NetGalley ARC, but I’m delighted to have a copy of my own — and getting a finished, lovely hardcover makes it worth the wait for my giveaway to get here.

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

The Children by Melissa Albert: I started this book early in the week and had no time to really focus on it until the weekend… and then I got totally hooked! I have about 25% left to go, and wish I could just sit and read straight through to the end.

Now playing via audiobook:

Meet Me at the Seaside Cottages by Jenny Colgan: If it’s summer, it must be time for a new Jenny Colgan book! I always enjoy this author’s audiobooks. Just getting started.

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: 43%. Coming up this week: Volume 2, chapters 8 and 9.

Pronoun Trouble: The Story of Us in Seven Little Words by John McWhorter: A really entertaining grammar book! I do love this sort of thing. I’m reading it in bits and pieces, and have read the first chapter (all about “I” and “me”) so far. Progress: 25%.

What will you be reading this week?

So many books, so little time…

21Jun2026

Audiobook Review: Time Loops & Meet Cutes by Jackie Lau

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Time Loops & Meet Cutes
Author: Jackie Lau
Narrators: Cindy Kay & Raymond J. Lee
Publisher: Atria
Publication date: May 6, 2025
Print length: 339 pages
Audio length: 9 hours 15 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

The “masterful, inspiring, and full of heart” (Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author) Jackie Lau returns with a thoroughly unique love story about a woman reliving the same Friday over and over again—and the intriguing man who can’t quite remember her.

Noelle Tom really shouldn’t have eaten those dumplings at the night market. But the old lady at the stall said they’d give her what she needed most, and what Noelle desperately needed after another long workweek was food.

Except now she’s reliving the same Friday over and over. Every morning her alarm goes off at 6:45 no matter what, the Wordle answer is always “happy,” and she watches a silly squirrel video go viral day after day. And no matter how much she works on the same proposal, it’s always erased when she wakes up. It seems Monday will never come in this workaholic’s worst nightmare.

Noelle has no idea how being trapped in a time loop is the “thing she needed most,” especially now that everything seems meaningless. Sure, three fancy meals in a row is a fun treat, but it’s getting repetitive. Noelle’s not sure what lesson the old lady was trying to impart. Even a trip to the dumpling stall doesn’t help…because there’s no sign of it.

But then she meets a young woman who also ate the dumplings, and good-looking Cam, who appears in multiple places on her Friday. While he seems to have no memory of their encounters, there are signs he might be the key to getting un-stuck. But Noelle will have to put work aside and live a little in order to make him notice her. As their flirtation progresses, Noelle begins to worry that if she ever gets to turn the calendar page, Cam won’t know who she is and her life may never return to what it was before that fateful Friday…

In Time Loops & Meet Cutes, Noelle’s life revolves around work, even though she never gets the recognition she deserves and seems to constantly be the last to leave the office, staying late to clean up other people’s projects. She lives frugally, despite a decent salary as a mechanical engineer, denying herself any indulgences in order to make sure her savings will see her through whatever the future might hold. After a painful breakup years earlier, she’s also sworn off relationships, and she’s not terribly good at staying in touch with old friends either.

On a Friday in June — June 20th to be exact — Noelle is so hungry after yet another long day at work that she stops at a night market on the way home to grab a bite to eat, and stops at a dumpling stand with a hand-written sign and no line. The charming older woman behind the counter tells her that these dumplings will give her what she needs most — and give how starving she is, their deliciousness seems to do the trick.

The next morning, Noelle’s alarm goes off at 6:45, which is weird since it’s the weekend. And then the Wordle is the same as the previous day’s — huh, an odd glitch? But as the day progresses, Noelle realizes that it’s June 20th again… and so is the next day, and the next, and the next. As hard as it seems to believe, Noelle is forced to accept that she’s stuck in a time loop, and has no idea why or — more importantly — how to get out of it.

It’s amazing how many possibilities there are in a single day. You can quit your job… or not. You can go to Vancouver and feel the rain on your skin. You can eat three types of dumplings and get sprayed by a skunk when you go hunting for ghosts in a cemetery.

On the bright side, she learns that each day is a clean slate, so she can splurge on a fancy meal or new haircut, and all will be reset when she wakes up once again on June 20th — no damage to her bank account or credit card, no long-lasting remorse if she decides the pixie cut really isn’t for her. When she keeps running into a very attractive man named Cam, who seems to recognize her without knowing why, she decides that he might be the key to escaping the time loop. Could it be like a fairy tale, where true love’s kiss has the power to break a spell? But beyond escape, Noelle starts to enjoy these daily first meetings with Cam, especially since there are no consequences that last more than a day — so if she makes a stupid joke or does something especially cringe-worthy, it’ll just get wiped away by the next morning.

But as Noelle continues to “meet” Cam, over and over again, and goes on a series of lovely first dates with him, it starts to feel like not enough. She’s developing feelings, and he seems to respond in a way that shows that something’s pulling him toward her — but she can’t truly connect with someone she has to meet again for the first time every time she sees him.

I was surprised by how utterly charming I found Time Loops & Meet Cutes. The why and how of the time loop is much less important than the fact of it. Noelle meets another woman, Avery, who’s stuck in the same loop, and their friendship offers them both companionship and a sense of normalcy in an incredibly abnormal situation. As Noelle and Avery navigate the ways in which their June 20ths are similar and different, we get a clear-eyed view of why it might be wonderful to experience certain things over and over again for the first time… and how awful it would be to repeat the worst moments too.

The story offers powerful examples of how people can stagnate in safe or predictable lives, and how taking chances can lead to moments that can change the future. Noelle doesn’t become a new person overnight, but over the course of the many months she spends in the loop, she’s able to experience the outcomes of various “what if” moments, which help her see that good things can come from taking chances, as well as the value in being honest and repairing family relationships that she’d once just accepted as being unpleasant.

The romance is sweet and often funny, as Noelle and Cam have first date after first date, each one a bit different. At first, Noelle sticks to a sort of script in her flirting, knowing that Cam responds positively to certain jokes… but as she gains confidence and starts to know him better, she’s able to behave more naturally and enjoy their moments together.

The resolution of the time loop offers fresh problems and dilemmas which are quite interesting. Noelle has to adjust to yet another new reality, one in which she doesn’t get a clean slate each day. Can she still be bold and try new things — and try to connect with Cam — when her actions will carry over to tomorrow?

The audiobook narrators (one for Noelle, one for Cam) do a terrific job bringing the characters to life and showing their personalities and senses of humor. Most chapters are told through Noelle’s perspective, but the Cam chapters are a nice way to break up the sound of the story and add another viewpoint to these decidedly unusual events.

Time Loops & Meet Cutes is a fun, upbeat story with plenty of introspective and sensitive moments too. The big-picture plot points are outlandish, but seeing the time loop play out in relatively ordinary people’s lives makes it all feel relatable… and highly entertaining.

I’ve read several of author Jackie Lau’s previous books, and always enjoy her well-written characters, interesting narratives, and seriously amazing food moments! I recommend Time Loops & Meet Cutes for anyone who appreciates a rom-com with heart — and a very quirky premise.

For more by Jackie Lau:
Donut Fall in Love
The Stand-Up Groomsman
Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie

19Jun2026

First Lines Friday 6/19/2026

Posted in Fun and Whimsy by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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!

This week’s lines are from a 2026 release by an author whose previous books I’ve enjoyed:

Is now a good time to mention that my husband has been leaving me in increments (first the far side of the bed, then the guest room, and now, apparently, his own apartment) and I’m not taking it well?

So what’s the book?

No Matter What by Cara Bastone
Release date: March 3, 2026
337 pages

Synopsis:

Roz and Vin can’t look each other in the eyes anymore, let alone share a bed. It’s been a year since they survived a life-altering accident, and their marriage hasn’t been the same. But Roz has held out hope that they can fix things, until she discovers Vin has signed a new lease. So she does what any soon-to-be-divorced Manhattanite would do: sign up for a figure-drawing class.

Between Roz’s determined attempts to improve her artistic skills and her adventures with her best friend, Raffi, she can almost ignore Vin’s impending move-out date and his footsteps in their previously unoccupied guest room. But it would all be a lot easier if Vin wasn’t Raffi’s older brother, and if she didn’t still find him incredibly, debilitatingly attractive and kind.

So kind, in fact, that Vin offers to let Roz draw him. What is she supposed to say? It’s probably better than her original plan of finding some random male model online, and she needs all the practice she can get. Plus, that’s sure to make a separation easier, right? Focus on every detail of your estranged spouse’s body while drawing him in the nude? But after the year they’ve spent avoiding each other, it feels good to see and be seen by one another again.

As Roz works to capture the wholeness of the person she fell in love with, will they both be able to draw upon the feelings they buried deep inside to finally heal together?

I’ve read two previous novels by Cara Bastone, and just got on the library waitlist for the audio version of this one.

Does this sound like something you’d enjoy?

Happy Friday! Wishing everyone a great weekend!

18Jun2026

Book Review: The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Lion Women of Tehran
Author: Marjan Kamali
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication date: July 2, 2024
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams for a friend to alleviate her isolation.

Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions of becoming “lion women.”

But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother are afforded the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life. Now a popular student at the best girls’ high school in Iran, Ellie’s memories of Homa begin to fade. Years later, however, her sudden reappearance in Ellie’s privileged world alters the course of both of their lives.

Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures. But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences.

The Lion Women of Tehran is a powerful, moving look at the lifelong friendship between two remarkable women, set against the political upheavals of 20th century Iran.

“You know what we’ll both become when we grow up?”

“I do not,” I said.

“Shir zan. Lionesses. Us. Can’t you just see it, Ellie? Someday, you and me—we’ll do great things. We’ll live life for ourselves. And we will help others. We are cubs now, maybe. But we will grow to be lionesses. Strong women who make things happen.”

Ellie and Homa meet at age seven, as Ellie attends her first day of school after moving “downtown” — to a poor neighborhood of Tehran — after her father’s death. It’s 1950, the Shah is in power, and Ellie’s station in life has changed dramatically, something her aristocratic mother seems unable to accept. Homa, from a lower class family, is full of life and energy, and immediately befriends Ellie. While Ellie’s mother bans Homa from their home, Ellie is welcomed by Homa’s warm, loving family.

But three years later, Ellie’s life shifts again when her mother remarries and they return to the privileged life they’d once enjoyed, leaving the downtown neighborhood — and Homa — behind. The girls may be best friends, but at age ten, their ability to stay connected is limited, and over time they drift apart and lose touch. Years later, they’re reunited when Homa transfers to Ellie’s elite high school, and their bond is soon reestablished.

Ellie’s mother wants what she considers a good life for her daughter — marriage, children, and high standing in Tehran’s upper class society. But Homa encourages Ellie to think differently. They both excel in school; why not pursue a university education and careers? Homa dreams of attending law school, becoming Iran’s first woman judge, and making a true difference in achieving a fair and equitable society. As the friends move into their college years, they remain tightly bonded even as their goals diverge, but Homa’s political activism becomes dangerous, and leads to an unimaginable consequence.

As Ellie and Homa become estranged in their adult lives, neither can forget their friendship and what they once meant to one another. When revolution and war devastate Iran in the 1980s, Homa reaches out to Ellie once again, and the two must fight to reclaim what they once had and find a way to safeguard the people they love.

The overarching theme of life-long friendship adds sweetness and sorrow to this emotional story, even as Iran’s political and religious upheavals threaten the characters’ lives. We may all know the headlines from this time period; The Lion Women of Tehran provides an opportunity to learn about the lives of people who lived through these events. By focusing on Ellie and Homa, who represent two very different walks of life, readers are allowed into the day-to-day experiences of life in Tehran under the Shah and during the early years of the revolution. Their journeys — together and apart — provide a personal lens through which to view these events and understand the impact on individuals within the larger society.

Despite the seriousness, the story includes lovely moments of joy as well. The tastes and smells of the food the girls share add texture to the narrative. Their adventures as girls and young women also show the more beautiful aspects of life in Tehran, helping readers understand the yearning for home and love of their country even when life there becomes extremely dangerous.

Overall, I was incredibly moved by the richly described friendship between Ellie and Homa, and profoundly affected by the upheavals and tragedies in their lives. The Lion Women of Tehran is a beautifully written book. Once again, I find myself grateful that my book group led me to such a wonderful reading experience. Highly recommended.

The author’s website (https://marjankamali.com/) includes a link to download of recipes from the book. They all look amazing!

I’m eager to check out the author’s previous novel, The Stationery Shop. Learn more about it, here.