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!
Today’s line are from a gorgeous book that I bought months ago but haven’t started yet:
To the best of her knowledge, Vera was twenty-two years old. And by the time she finished tying the laces of her running trainers on this early October morning, she had ten hours and fourteen minutes remaining of the life she knew in a little town called Glastonbury in the southwest of England.
So what’s the book?
The Once and Future Queen by Paula Lafferty Published 2025 512 pages
Synopsis:
Vera always knew she didn’t fit in. When she learns that she is meant to be in another time, she leaps at the chance to embrace a new life in a world of valor, intrigue, and unexpected magic in this bold and romantic retelling of Arthurian legend . . .
22-year-old Vera is at a crossroads: waiting tables, grieving her previous relationship, and jogging aimlessly each morning as if toward an uncertain future. Then an odd man shows up at her workplace, insisting that she was once the legendary Queen Guinevere of Camelot, and that her lost memories hold the key to changing both the past and the present. Somehow, it all feels like the direction she’s been looking for. But when she asks the mysterious man to tell her more about Lancelot, Arthur, and a faithless queen, he can only say that much of what she’s heard about Camelot is wrong. The truth, he claims, is something she must see for herself.
After jumping through a portal in Glastonbury’s historic center, Vera is not prepared for what she finds. Magic is everywhere, but a curse on the kingdom means it dwindles every day. She has no idea how to perform a queen’s duties. Her fast friendship with Lancelot sets gossip flowing, and the stranger she must call “husband” often refuses to meet her eye. Arthur is a puzzle: cold, forbidding, and, while angry to her face, keeps leaving secret tokens of tenderness in her chambers. Worst of all, Vera’s memories—and the answers locked within them—show no signs of returning. If Vera is truly destined to save Camelot, she’ll have to trust her instincts. And her king will have to trust her . . .
I’ll admit that what first drew me to this book is how absolutely stunning the hardcover edition is!
So yes, I bought myself a copy when it was released last year… and just haven’t found the right moment to start it. With a sequel scheduled for release in January 2027, I’m committing to reading this book by the end of 2026. The timeslip elements sounds right up my alley!
Title: Theo of Golden Author: Allen Levi Publisher: Atria Books Publication date: October 3, 2026 Length: 399 pages Genre: Contemporary fiction Source: Purchased Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden. No one knows where he has come from…or why…
His name is Theo. And he asks a lot more questions than he answers.
Theo visits the local coffeehouse, where ninety-two pencil portraits hang on the walls, portraits of the people of Golden done by a local artist. He begins purchasing them, one at a time, and putting them back in the hands of their “rightful owners.” With each exchange, a story is told, a friendship born, and a life altered.
A story of giving and receiving, of seeing and being seen, Theo of Golden is a beautifully crafted novel about the power of creative generosity, the importance of wonder to a purposeful life, and the invisible threads of kindness that bind us to one another.
Theo of Golden is one of those books that seemed to come out of nowhere… and then turned up everywhere. The book has been on the New York Times bestseller list (combined e-book and print) for 38 weeks as of now, and has been selected by countless book groups (celebrity and otherwise) around the world. A debut novel, this gentle story showcases kindness and caring; it’s easy to see why it’s captured so many hearts.
Theo, who never provides more than his first name, is an 86-year-old man of Portuguese descent who arrives in Golden, Georgia (roughly modeled on Columbus, Georgia) and settles in. He wanders the town, observing the shops, the main street, and the river, exchanging pleasantries and greetings with the random people he encounters. When he stops by The Chalice, a local coffee shop, he’s stunned by the pencil-drawn portraits that line the walls. As he soon learns, a local artist has created these portraits, each one showing the face of a Golden resident. For Theo, the portraits are revelatory: In each, he sees hopes, fears, dreams, pains, and purpose. He admires how beautifully the artist has captured the individuality of these 92 people.
And thus, Theo’s mission is born. Learning the portraits are for sale, he decides to purchase them one by one and gift them (as a “bestowal”, as he comes to think of it) to the people they portray. Via handwritten letters, he reaches out to the various portraits’ subjects, asking them to meet him by the fountain at the center of town, where he gives them their portraits and spends time in conversation, learning who each person is and what their inner lives are like.
As Theo spends time in Golden, he connects with people from all walks of life, and listens with an open heart as they tell him their stories. Through Theo, strangers become friends, and he leaves behind a sense of connection and caring wherever he goes.
Theo of Golden is, first and foremost, a book about kindness. It’s a soft, sweet sort of story, but it’s never sappy or dull. Theo seems like someone we’d all want to know. He doesn’t push or intrude; he offers sincerity and is ready to listen and give his time, and that’s what so many of the people he encounters truly need.
I enjoyed seeing Theo weave connections and leave joy in his wake, and his acts of generosity and kindness truly change lives. The plot may feel a bit meandering at times, but it’s building toward something, and by the end, the various threads and hints all come together.
I have just minor quibbles about this book. First, Theo is a man of wealth, who chooses not to share anything about his business or properties or how he became the person he is. He’s able to use his money to change lives, which is lovely, whether it’s shown by way of covering medical bills or buying special gifts or other acts of generosity. This is all beautiful… but part of me wondered how Theo’s acts and encounters might have turned out if he didn’t have such wealth to pave the way.
My other quibble relates to the ending, where we finally get substantive answers about Theo. It’s wonderful in its own way, but also feels a little out of the blue. I can’t say more, but in some ways, it seems a little too neat and tidy. But maybe that’s just my inner curmudgeon peeking out!
I was charmed by Theo of Golden, and wanted to know more. Here’s an article about the real life coffee shop that was the inspiration for The Chalice! Also, check out this book-related guide to Columbus.
Theo of Golden is a lovely, uplifting read. I don’t often go for books that sound overly sentimental, but something drew me to this novel, and I’m so glad to have read it. The book’s messages about kindness, love, and community are something I think we all could use right about now. Highly recommended.
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: Kill the Beast Author: Serra Swift Narrator: Moira Quirk Publisher: Tor Books Publication date: October 14, 2025 Print length: 309 pages Audiobook length: 10 hours 40 minutes Genre: Fantasy Source: Library Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
The Witcher meets Howl’s Moving Castle in this debut original faerie tale of revenge, redemption, and friendship―for fans of T. Kingfisher, Naomi Novik, and cozy fantasy with a dash of gritty adventure.
The night Lyssa Cadogan’s brother was murdered by a faerie-made monster known as the Beast, she made him a promise: she would find a way to destroy the immortal creature and avenge his death. For thirteen years, she has been hunting faeries and the abominations they created. But in all that time, the one Beast she is most desperate to find has never resurfaced.
Until she meets Alderic Casimir de Laurent, a melodramatic dandy with a coin purse bigger than his brain. Somehow, he has found the monster’s lair, and―even more surprising―retrieved one of its claws. A claw Lyssa needs in order to forge a sword that can kill the Beast.
When the witch Ragnhild decrees that Alderic and Lyssa must gather the other ingredients to forge the weapon together, or else the spell will fail, Lyssa gets more than she bargained for. Alderic is ill-equipped for the task at hand, and almost guaranteed to get himself killed.
But as the two of them search for the materials that will be the Beast’s undoing, Alderic reveals hidden depths: dark secrets that he guards as carefully as Lyssa guards hers. Before long, and against Lyssa’s better judgment, they begin to forge a blooming friendship―one that will either lead to the culmination of Lyssa’s quest for vengeance, or spell doom for them both.
Kill the Beast is a creative, often blood-soaked fairy tale retelling… and given the title, it’s really no surprise to discover exactly which fairy tale we find ourselves immersed in.
In this tale of vengeance and redemption, Lyssa has a fearsome reputation as “the Butcher”, a brutal sword for hire who specializes in killing trolls, goblins, and other magical menaces. But beyond that, Lyssa’s true purpose is killing Hounds — faerie-made creatures whose bloodthirsty rampages lead to mass deaths, and who have a reputation for being unkillable.
Thirteen years earlier, Lyssa saw her beloved older brother slaughtered by a creature known as the Beast, and vowed to avenge him. Over the years, her blood oath has led to successful quest after successful quest, but her ultimate quarry — the Beast — has remained elusive. When she receives a letter from a rich nobleman offering to hire her, she’s skeptical, until she realizes that he also wants to see the Beast dead.
Alderic is not what she’d expected. Beyond the drunken dandy who seems to only care about outrageously gaudy clothing, she finds a man who has a vengeance goal of his own. When the witch who acts as both mentor and spell-creator for Lyssa pronounces that she’ll need to work with Alderic to kill the Beast if they’re to have any chance of success, she hates the idea, but has no choice. The only thing she’s wanted all these years is to kill the Beast, and she’ll put up with Alderic’s company if she must if that’s the only way to get it done.
As they gather the ingredients they’ll need to forge a powerful enough weapon to destroy the Beast, Lyssa starts to see Alderic’s hidden depths. After near misses and dangerous encounters, their goal is within reach, but devastating secrets threaten to derail it all before the end.
The truth behind what’s going on is much (MUCH!) more shocking to Lyssa than it will be to any reader who’s ever watched a certain Disney movie (although Disney was never as bloody as Kill the Beast!). Still, despite a revelation that really isn’t much of a surprise, it’s enthralling to see how the story gets there, what the complicated explanations and origins turn out to be, and to see how the entire plot comes together.
Lyssa is a bristly, argumentative, thoroughly aggressive character who seems to have never met a problem that she couldn’t punch or stab into submission. She’s tough to love, yet we can understand how deeply wounded she is underneath the hard exterior — so even while wishing she’d stop and listen more often, or learn to control her blood lust, it’s hard not to empathize as well. Her partnership with Alderic leads to comic moments as well as surprisingly tender ones. Their friendship is strange and strained, but rings true.
In terms of pacing, the plot sags for a while as Lyssa and Alderic journey from place to place collecting the items they’ll need for the spell to forge a sword with enough magical power to kill the Beast. There are some tense set pieces, but it’s a lot of figuring out what they need, where to find it, how to get it, and then going through some sort of challenging circumstances to make it happen. The story is much more engaging when the focus is on the characters, their personal struggles, and their secrets. Collecting bits of stuff… not so much.
By the final third, Lyssa and Alderic’s quest picks up in terms of intensity and interest level. As hard truths are revealed, we learn just how much is truly at stake for each of them, which makes the entire story feel more dramatic and dire. I appreciated the climactic scenes and the realizations that come — practically too late — as Lyssa finally is forced to reconsider everything she’s held on to since her brother’s death and choose a path forward that might not be what she’d envisioned all along.
The audiobook for Kill the Beast is narrated by Moira Quirk, who’s been a favorite ever since I first listened to her narration of Gail Carriger’s Finishing School and Custard Protocol series. She’s quite wonderful here, especially when it comes to imbuing Lyssa and Alderic with distinct voices, but also at making the action sequences spring to life.
Kill the Beast is much darker in tone than I originally expected, but that’s okay. It’s a fairly grim story, but there are some nice little moments here and there to add a touch of lightness too. With storytelling flair and terrific characters, this is an enjoyable, compelling tale, and I look forward to reading more by this author in the future.
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.
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!
Here’s a long-ish opening that I found really amusing… so I didn’t want to cut anything!
LYSSA HEFTED THE bloodstained burlap sack and shoved her way through the door of the Kingmaker, tracking sooty slush on the expensive carpet. She bypassed the line of patrons waiting to be seated, ignoring the ripple of protests that followed in her wake, and made her way to where a pinch-faced headwaiter stood by the entrance to the main dining room. He glanced her way with an automatic, “I’m sorry, miss, you’ll have to…” then faltered, his expression landing somewhere between disgust and horror as the sight of her sank in. The trio of ladies he had been speaking to turned—as well as they could in forty pounds of petticoats, layered skirts, steel-boned corsets, and starched collars, anyway—and glared at her. Their eyes skated right over the bloody bag in Lyssa’s arms, seeming to find her mud-spattered pants and unkempt braids far more objectionable.
It was too bad no one had ever figured out how to feed off the disdain of the rich; the downtrodden would never go hungry again.
So what’s the book?
Kill the Beast by Serra Swift Published 2025 309 pages
Synopsis:
The night Lyssa Cadogan’s brother was murdered by a faerie-made monster known as the Beast, she made him a promise: she would find a way to destroy the immortal creature and avenge his death. For thirteen years, she has been hunting faeries and the abominations they created. But in all that time, the one Beast she is most desperate to find has never resurfaced.
Until she meets Alderic Casimir de Laurent, a melodramatic dandy with a coin purse bigger than his brain. Somehow, he has found the monster’s lair, and—even more surprising—retrieved one of its claws. A claw Lyssa needs in order to forge a sword that can kill the Beast.
Alderic is ill-equipped for a hunt and almost guaranteed to get himself killed. But as the two of them search for the rest of the materials that will be the Beast’s undoing, Alderic reveals hidden depths: dark secrets that he guards as carefully as Lyssa guards hers. Before long, and against Lyssa’s better judgment, an unlikely friendship begins to bloom—one that will either lead to the culmination of Lyssa’s quest for vengeance, or spell doom for them both.
I picked up a copy of this book earlier this year, but haven’t had a chance to start it yet. Have you read it? And if not, does it sound like something you’d enjoy?
Title: Pronoun Trouble: The Story of Us in Seven Little Words Author: John McWhorter Publisher: Avery Publication date: April 1, 2025 Length: 240 pages Genre: Non-fiction / linguistics Source: Purchased Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
With his trademark humor and flair, bestselling linguist John McWhorter busts the myths and shares the history of the most controversial language topic of our times: pronouns
The nature of language is to shift and evolve—but every so often, a new usage creates a whole lot of consternation. These days, pronouns are throwing curveballs, and it matters, because pronoun habits die hard. If you need a refresher from eighth-grade English: Pronouns are short, used endlessly, and serve to point and direct, to orient us as to what is meant about who. Him, not her. Me, not you. Pronouns get a heavy workout, and as such, they become part of our hardwiring. To mess with our pronouns is to mess with us.
But many of today’s hot-button controversies are nonsense. The singular they has been with us since the 1400s and appears in Shakespeare’s works. In fact, many of the supposedly iron-clad rules of grammar are up for debate (Billy and me went to the storeis perfectly logical!), and with tasty trivia, unexpected twists, and the weird quirks of early and contemporary English, John McWhorter guides readers on a journey of how our whole collection of these little words emerged and has changed over time.
Pronoun Trouble is sure to delight word nerds everywhere! In this savory little linguistics book, author John McWhorter takes us through the history of I, you, we, he, she, they — and more! — investigating word origins and the twisty paths these pronouns have followed to get us to modern day usage.
Along the way, he proves wrong certain assumptions about usage, explains what is and isn’t logical, and how the use of singular “they” has evolved from non-specific to particular.
Does this sound like dry reading? It’s anything but.
The author makes linguistics entertaining, and even funny. For example, in a section devoted to the evolution and usage of “you guys” as a plural for you:
In cases like this, it is useful to consider that there is an alternate explanation.
I respectfully submit one: in you guys, guys no longer means guys.
Or another example of changing meanings:
For Chaucer and Shakespeare, going to referred to getting somewhere physically; both would have been thrown by someone sitting at a table and saying “I’m going to try to eat all of this in ten minutes”:” and then fressing down the food but not getting up to go anywhere.
On explaining why created pronouns don’t seem to catch on, he explores how nouns can shift and vary over time without a huge amount of resistance, because they are less foundational to daily speech, whereas:
Pronouns, in contrast, are at the very foundation of human expression at all times. Full words are the windshield wipers and the headlights — things you turn on now and then. He and she are the accelerator and the brake pedal — what you are working down below, all the time, without thinking.
Certain bits started to drag somewhat when the examples became a little too technical for my level of interest, but overall, I found this book clever, informative, and highly engaging. A terrific gift for the word lovers in your life!
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: 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:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
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.
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.
Title: A Town with Half the Lights On Author: Page Getz Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark Publication date: April 22, 2025 Length: 384 pages Genre: Contemporary fiction Source: Purchased Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
For readers of J. Ryan Stradal and The Music of Bees (with a dash of FX’s The Bear) comes a quirky and refreshing epistolary novel about family of culture-shocked Brooklynites transplanted to Goodnight, Kansas and their fight for their unexpected lifeline: the legendary May Day Diner.
Welcome to Goodnight, Kansas.
Population: Many Kansans, three New Yorkers, and one chance to save the place they love most
With more wind chimes than residents, folks don’t move to Goodnight when their lives are going well. That’s why all eyes are on chef Sid Solvang and his family from the moment they turn down Emporia Road to the dilapidated Victorian they inherited.
While Sid searches for work and a way back to Brooklyn, his daughter searches for answers to the cryptic messages her grandfather left behind to save both her family and the town. But then Sid makes an impulsive purchase: the fledgling May Day Diner, an iconic eatery under the threat of the wrecking ball.
As the Solvangs search for their ticket out, they discover the truth of Goodnight: one of heart and tradition, of exploitation and greed, and neighbors you would do anything to save. And the Solvangs must navigate all of it—plus wayward girl named Disco, a host of rambunctious alpacas, and the corrupt factory sustaining the town—in order to find their way back home…wherever that may be.
Told through diary entries, emails, school notes, and an anonymous town paper of the Lady Whistledown variety, A Town with Half the Lights On is a tender testament to the notions that home isn’t just the place you live, family isn’t just your relatives, and it’s almost never easy to find the courage to do what’s right.
A Town with Half the Lights On is a fish-out-of-water tale of New Yorkers forced into exile in a tiny Kansas town, and how they inadvertently manage to save the town and themselves in the process. Told through emails, newspaper clippings, and even letters in bottles, this epistolary novel is a fast, light-hearted read that combines Southern quirkiness and small-town shenanigans with some more serious real world issues.
The Solvang family arrive in Goodnight, Kansas fresh from the disastrous loss of their family business in Brooklyn. None of them want to be there, but given their financial and reputational ruin, they really have nowhere else to go. Sid and Scarlet and their teenaged daughter Harlem are dismayed by the dusty little town, the boarded up main street businesses, and the incessant church bells — but having just inherited Scarlet’s late father’s Victorian home and all that goes with it (including three alpacas), they have no option but to settle in.
The Solvangs’ goal is to sell whatever is worth selling from Pop Bannister’s estate and build up enough cash to return to New York. There’s no way they’re going to spend a moment longer in Kansas than they have to! But Scarlet’s father’s will is mysterious: Written in Latin (which he doesn’t actually know) the translated document is full of strange wording and even stranger messages, including what appears to be a hint about a secret treasure. Harlem becomes determined to find this treasure — maybe it’ll be their ticket back to New York!
Meanwhile, the neighbors and various townsfolk are wary of these strangers, and practically hostile toward Scarlet, who left Goodnight over twenty years ago with nary a word to anyone. As we see through letters to the local paper, as well as assorted emails, outsiders aren’t exactly welcome in Goodnight, and New Yorkers must be in league with the Devil himself!
But Goodnight is a town in trouble. The Goodnight American Tire Company is the main town employer, and its frequent rounds of layoffs and pay freezes leave half the town in poverty, with everyone else vying for the few remaining jobs at the factory. The town social and eating hub, the May Day Diner, is about to close, which distresses everyone, especially a strange local girl named Disco who trails glitter and causes mayhem wherever she goes. While Disco would love to buy the May Day herself, she only has the cash she’s earned from weeding neighbors’ gardens — but she has an idea. Sid and Scarlet Solvang were chefs in their former lives: Who better to rescue the beloved May Day?
As Sid and Scarlet get involved, they continue to defer their return to Brooklyn, discussing each investment in Goodnight as a means to save up to leave, but really getting deeper and deeper into the fabric of the community. First the diner, then a food lifeline for out of work locals, then a rehab/rescue of the local hotel… before long, the Solvang family has started injecting life into this boarded-up little town. When the grandfather’s secrets are finally discovered, there’s even more change in store for Goodnight, but not everyone appreciates these outsiders’ interference, and a local battle looms.
The tone of A Town with Half the Lights On is upbeat and humorous, even when the subject takes a turn toward darkness. Sid is depressed and full of self-doubt, having run his generations-old family deli into the ground through his focus on tranforming it into a molecular gastronomy destination. Now, he’s sworn never to cook or enter a kitchen again. Harlem struggles to fit into such a strange environment, and is branded a “non-conformist” from day one in her new school, which is really a death sentence among the middle school crowd. Local girl Disco is a riot, but she has very real struggles with her homelife and her pariah status, and while she’s a force for positive change in the town, she also suffers for it.
A major plot thread throughout is the corruption of the tire factory, and what seems like a few funny statements early on become more significant when the factory’s damage to the community is revealed. As the community goes through a whistle-blowing scandal, labor organizing, and mass layoffs, we see the more serious implications of the situation. Even so, the individual letters and emails that narrate events retain their humorous, quirky tone.
A Town with Half the Lights On is an engaging read, although not everything worked perfectly for me. Oddly, while the story is told through emails and newspaper articles, almost all of these are undated. The opening emails are dated in 2002, and we see a few references to what month it is… but for the most part, everything is undated, other than being identified by days of the week (occasionally) or time of day. Because of this, it’s difficult to tell how much time has elapsed between events, which feels problematic. How long did it take to turn the diner around? How long did the factory collapse take? It’s puzzling to me that we don’t get a clear timeline, especially since the story is told through documents that so easily could have been dated.
The epistolary approach allows many characters, major and minor, to have their say. It’s enjoyable to see so many personalities and voices, which gives a good picture of the variety of people who make up the community of Goodnight. The downside is that we’re reliant on whoever’s writing in the moment to tell us about events — some feel glossed over or briefly summarized, when it might have been more effective seem these events unfold with more of a real-time description.
Those points aside, I did enjoy reading A Town with Half the Lights On. The small-town vibe is lots of fun, and varying viewpoints, opinions, and gossip provide plenty of entertainment value. I’m glad I checked out A Town with Half the Lights On — it’s a quick, joyful read with heart.
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Title: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter Author: Stephen Graham Jones Publisher: Saga Press Publication date: March 18, 2025 Length: 448 pages Genre: Horror / historical fiction Source: Library Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 2.5 out of 5.
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians comes a tale of the American West, writ in blood.
This chilling historical novel is set in the nascent days of the state of Montana, following a Blackfeet Indian named Good Stab as he haunts the fields of the Blackfeet Nation looking for justice.
It begins when a diary written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall in 2012. What is unveiled is a slow massacre, a nearly forgotten chain of events that goes back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow, told in the transcribed interviews with Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar and unnaturally long life over a series of confessional visits.
This is an American Indian revenge story, captured in the vivid voices of the time, by one of the new masters of literary horror, Stephen Graham Jones.
Unpopular opinion time: This story of a vampire seeking revenge for the massacre of his people, the Blackfeet of Montana, should have been right up my alley… and yet, I had to force myself to stick with it and slog my way through to the end.
This book has an endless number of rave reviews, including from media sources and bloggers I tend to align with. And yet, it just didn’t work for me.
There’s a great premise: A newly discovered diary left behind by a Lutheran pastor in 1912 reveals a shocking set of confessions from a Blackfeet named Good Stab. Good Stab seeks out Arthur Beaucarne to share the story of his unnaturally long life, his transformation into a vampire, and the punishments he’s meted out to those he deems responsible for murdering his people.
And yet, I found myself disengaged and frustrated throughout much of the book. There are some compelling and horrifying set pieces, some very moving interludes as Good Stab recounts what’s happened to the Blackfeet and to the buffalos… and yet, the story he tells is full of names, places, and incidents that loop and cross, sometimes dropping important pieces of information into long bits of a tale so that they get more or less buried. I found it confusing to track the who and how and why of many of the developments, and ultimately ended up caring far less than I should have, with what should have been big revelations falling flat.
I’m definitely in the minority on this one. By the end, I just wanted it all to be over.
Title: The Impossible Fortune Series: The Thursday Murder Club, #5 Author: Richard Osman Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books Publication date: September 30, 2025 Length: 368 pages Genre: Mystery Source: Library Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Who’s got time to think about murder when there’s a wedding to plan?
It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favorite criminal.
But when Elizabeth meets Nick, a wedding guest asking for her help, she finds the thrill of the chase is ignited once again. And when Nick disappears without a trace, his cagey business partner becomes the gang’s next stop. It seems the duo have something valuable—something worth killing for.
Joyce’s daughter, Joanna, jumps into the fray to help the gang as they seek answers: Has someone kidnapped Nick? And what’s this uncrackable code they keep hearing about? Plunged back into action once more, can the four friends solve the puzzle and a murder in time?
It’s always a treat to pick up another Thursday Murder Club book — and now that I’ve finished The Impossible Fortune, I’m all caught up!
This installment picks up a year after the events of book #4, The Last Devil to Die. The gang is as close as ever, but they’re getting a bit itchy to solve more murders. When Joyce’s daughter Joanna’s wedding rolls around, the best man reaches out to Elizabeth for help. He thinks someone is trying to kill him… and based on the bomb placed under his car, it looks like he’s right.
As the group dig into Nick’s worries, they learn about a top-secret storage facility, a potential fortune in Bitcoin, possibly double-crossing business partners and investors, and all sorts of shady secrets. Meanwhile, their personal lives have unanticipated complications, and while Joyce is beaming with joy ever time she gets to mention that she now has a son-in-law, she’s also more than ready to interrogate suspects over tea and baked goods.
The writing in The Impossible Fortune is as clever as always, full of sharp little twists and plenty of humor.
Connie would love to get married. Perhaps she should do something about that? What she really needs is a Tinder for criminals. Everyone could use their most recent mugshot.
The crime is twisty and well-constructed, with a handful of suspects and more than a few red herrings. Meanwhile, there are bad guys to be dealt with, as only our group of septuagenarians can. And even amongst the good guys, there’s room for words of wisdom and the occasional dose of snark.
“We’re not going to be dissuaded,” says Ron. “Don’t try.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” says Elizabeth. “You go right ahead. Perhaps they’ll put you all in the same prison? That would make it easier to visit.”
“No one’s going to prison,” says Jason.
Elizabeth nods, reassured. “I wonder if anyone who ever said that before actually did end up in prison? Surely not.”
The 5th book in a series is obviously not the place to start… but take my word for it, it’s absolutely worth the time to start at the beginning and then keep going. I’ve enjoyed every moment with this terrific cast of characters, and I’m only sorry that I’ve run out of Thursday Murder Club books to read. According to the author’s notes, there’s more to come, although I haven’t seen anything definite yet about an expected date for another book. Whenever it does come along, I’ll be waiting!
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Title: The Poisoned King Series: Impossible Creatures, #2 Author: Katherine Rundell Narrator: Samuel West Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers Publication date: September 11, 2025 Print length: 304 pages Audio length: 7 hours 6 minutes Genre: Middle grade fantasy Source: Purchased Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Return to the magic of the Archipelago in the dazzling sequel to the runaway, #1 New York Times bestseller Impossible Creatures, hailed as “an instant classic” (Katherine Applegate, Newbery Medal Winner for The One and Only Ivan)!
Christopher Forrester woke to find a dragon chewing on his face—and his heart leapt for joy! He’d been dreaming of going back to the Archipelago, the secret cluster of islands where all the creatures of myth still live, and here was his summons.
But there is a poison spreading in the Archipelago. Rooting it out will involve a daring rescue mission on the back of a sphinx, a stealthy entrance to a dragon’s lair, and a death-defying plan to save a prisoner held in the heart of a castle. At the center of this storm is Anya: a small girl with a flock of birds at her side, a new-hatched chick in her pocket, and a ravenous hunger for justice.
Katherine Rundell’s second thrilling installment in the Impossible Creatures series involves castles, dragons, and revenge—the things of which great stories are made. The splendors within are brought to life with more than fifty illustrations, including a map and a bestiary of magical creatures.
As The Poisoned King opens, a teen-aged boy named Christopher is woken by a dragon chewing on his nose. Which is less dangerous than it sounds — this is a Jaculus dragon, a creature the size of a sparrow, but with an outsized sense of its own importance. Jacques — the dragon — has come with a summons: Christopher is required to come with him to the Archipelago immediately. Someone is poisoning the great dragons, and there’s no time to lose.
What is the Archipelago? It’s a magical world comprising many large and small islands, inhabited by an astonishing variety of humans and creatures, hidden from our own world and accessible only through certain connecting locations known as waybetweens. Waybetweens are protected and kept safe by Guardians, of which Christopher’s grandfather is one — as Christopher learned the previous summer while visiting him at his remote home in Scotland, which led to Christopher’s grand, dramatic adventures in Impossible Creatures.
Christopher is a good, brave person who would never ignore a call for help, so he returns to the Archipelago to discover that things are even worse than he feared. Upon arrival, he’s met by a sphinx, who instructs him that he has a detour to make before proceeding to the dragons: A princess named Anya is in desperate need of rescue, and his mission and her plight are bound together.
And so we meet Anya Argen, granddaughter of the king of the island of Dousha. Anya’s father has raised her far from the castle, free to explore the forest they both love and spend time with the creatures who live there. When the King insists that she learn to behave like a proper princess, they’re forced to return to the castle, much to Anya’s dismay. As the story opens, the King is murdered, and her father — heir to the throne — is framed for the crime, leaving the way clear for his younger brother to act as Regent until Anya comes of age to rule herself. But her uncle Claude is not a patient man, and Anya finds her own life threatened.
As Christopher and Anya’s journeys connect, they join forces to unravel the mystery of what’s happened to the dragons while also laying plans to keep Anya alive and rescue her father, now imprisoned and sentenced to death for the murder of the King. Their quest takes them to new and old friends, and brings them into contact with even more fascinating magical creatures, while also giving them time to develop trust, friendship, and loyalty to one another.
The Poisoned King is a terrific second book in this captivating middle grade series. It has the surprises and delights of encountering magical worlds and beings, journeying through lands with rules and customs so different from our own, and seeing two young humans struggle to fix situations that have gone very badly.
Christopher is as lovely as ever, and Anya is a compelling addition to this fictional world. She’s complex and spiky; her desperate need to save her father is paired with a burning thirst for vengeance, and we see her grapple with the idea of revenge and what its impact might be on the type of person she is and wants to be.
The Poisoned King isn’t quite as glorious as Impossible Creatures — but that’s to be expected in the 2nd book of a series. Impossible Creatures introduced us to a new magical world and its wonders; The Poisoned King tells another story in that world, but lacks just a bit of the awe that comes with a world-building introduction. That said, The Poisoned King is very good, and is a worthy successor to such a stellar first book.
As with Impossible Creatures, I listened to the audiobook, narrated by actor Samuel West (currently starring in All Creatures Great and Small as Siegfried Farnon). He is an amazing voice actor, with delightful voices for Christopher, Anya, and all the various creatures, from tiny dragon Jacques to a deadly manticore and more. I did have a bit of trouble understanding one or two non-human characters due to the pitch of their voices, but that was only for a fraction of the audiobook experience, and didn’t detract from the overall enjoyment at all.
Repeating my reading note from Impossible Creatures: While I loved the audiobook experience, I strongly encourage anyone going that route to also follow along with a print edition. The book is filled with beautiful black and white illustrations by artist Ashley Mackenzie that add so much to the story. A bestiary at the end of the book gives more in-depth explanations of the various creatures in the book, from Batrachomyomachian Mouse to Winged Unicorn, accompanied by illustrations for each. The visual delights of this book should not be missed!
I loved returning to the world of Impossible Creatures, and highly recommend The Poisoned King (but do start with the first book!). A third book, The Neverfear, is scheduled for publication in fall 2026, and I absolutely plan to read it.
The Neverfear (Impossible Creatures, #3) Release date: September 1, 2026
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