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 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.
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 a recently released book that I’m eager to read:
As the water taxi sped across the lagoon, the two young honeymooners gazed ahead in awe.
So what’s the book?
The Midnight Train by Matt Haig Release date: May 26, 2026 255 pages
Synopsis:
When your life flashes before your eyes, where would you stop?
No one can change the past, but the Midnight Train can take you there. The chance to re-live the moments that meant most. To see what kind of person you really were.
For Wilbur his best days were with Maggie, the love of his life. On his honeymoon in Venice.
Before he gave it all away.
He wishes he could go back and live differently. But to do so risks everything . . .
A magical, time-travelling love story, from the world of The Midnight Library.
I had the pleasure of attending a talk and book signing with the author this week! The event was wonderful, and I can’t wait to start the book.
Title: The Last Lady B Author: Eloisa James Publisher: Gallery Publication date: May 12, 2026 Length: 384 pages Genre: Historical romance Source: Library Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Lady B may have married Bluebeard; she may have fallen in love with a gorgeous, grumpy solicitor; she may have met a ghost and survived to tell the tale! New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Eloisa James delights with witty historical romance with a gothic twist.
In the depths of winter, Lady Genevieve Hughes, her pet piglet, and her septuagenarian husband travel to a haunted abbey in the Scottish Highlands. Evie is excited to meet a ghost (perhaps one of her husband’s three previous wives), but didn’t expect the funny, quirky guests to become the friends she’s never had. And she certainly didn’t imagine meeting Sir Godric Everly, a sardonic, witty solicitor who loathes her husband.
Yet as secrets and lies turn Evie’s world upside down, Sir Godric becomes the one person whom she can trust.
[Note: Redacting part of the synopsis — too spoilery!]
More importantly, she has to figure out whose identity is false, whose vows are dishonorable, whose truths could destroy her reputation—and where her heart belongs.
The Last Lady B is such a fun historical rom-com romp! In this upbeat romance, our main character Genevieve (Evie) goes through twists galore, including ghostly encounters, strange mysteries, and adventures in a possibly cursed castle, before finally arriving at a happy ending.
Perhaps there comes a time in every woman’s life when she discovers that propriety is poppycock. To put it vulgarly, propriety is bollocks.
Or perhaps that only happens to a woman foolish enough to marry a man older than her father.
Evie, at age 25, isn’t much interested in courtship or having a successful season. Her family has a sterling reputation and her father has a title, but their fortunes are in tatters. Evie has seen one too many potential matches dissolved over her lack of a dowry (or new gowns). Then there’s the added fact that the idea of marriage isn’t all that attractive. From what she’s heard, all that bedroom stuff sounds like something to endure, so maybe she’s not missing much.
However, Evie has a beloved younger sister, and she does care very much about her future. And so, she develops a plan: The elderly Lord Burnsby, in his 70s and with three late wives, is looking for wife #4 — someone young, pretty, and a charming companion. Evie isn’t looking for romance, and makes it clear that she expects a platonic relationship — but he’s polite, kind, and willing to sign a contract for a generous dowry for her sister. So yes, call Evie a fortune hunter if you must, but she has a goal and is willing to tolerate scornful sniffs if it ensures a good future for those she loves.
Except things don’t quite work out that way. After an uneventful (boring) half-year of marriage, Evie heads to Lord Burnsby’s estate in the Scottish Highlands for the Christmas holidays — an ancient abbey rumored to be haunted by his three dead wives — and finds that her tolerable husband has secrets and a loathsome side that she never expected. As they’re joined by Lord Burnsby’s heir, his new (lovely) wife, and his best friend, complications abound, including the fact that the best friend, Sir Godric Everly, is attractive and has a wonderful heart hidden beneath a gruff exterior.
It gets even more convoluted, as more unexpected houseguests and residents show up, enormous secrets and scandals come to light, and the chilly, lonesome abbey reveals its own dangers. And is that really a ghost that Evie encounters? Could there be dead wives hovering about? And if they are, what could they possibly want?
The plots twists of The Last Lady B are highly entertaining, with each new reveal leading to yet another secret or misleading clue. Plenty of banter makes for scenes with a certain zing, and Evie’s spirit and willingness to speak her mind make her a delightful lead character.
The storyline offers ups and downs, moments of romantic bliss and erotic tension, while also providing an opportunity for Evie to redefine her own priorities, what she’s willing and not willing to do to achieve her goals, and what a real family might actually look like.
After the various twists concerning Lord B’s shady secrets are finally wrapped up, the book concludes with another couple of chapters focusing on Evie’s love life — and while it’s good to see her finally get the happiness she deserves, I could have done with a bit less detail about her sexual awakening. But that’s a matter of reader preference — your mileage may vary.
This was my first Eloisa James book. I can see from her website (https://eloisajames.com/books/) that she’s an incredibly prolific author. From a glance at all the titles and covers, my impression is that The Last Lady B is a bit of an outlier, with its light, comedic tone, and that most of her other novels are more serious/dramatic romances. Someone correct me if I’m wrong! If she does have other books with more of a similar vibe, I’d love to know about it.
The Last Lady B is a fun, engaging romance with a strong sense of sassy humor and snark. It was just the right book to lighten my mood when I most needed it, and I really enjoyed it. Highly recommended!
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.
Title: Take Me with You Author: Steven Rowley Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Publication date: May 19, 2026 Length: 368 pages Genre: Contemporary fiction Source: Review copy via NetGalley (audiobook purchased via Audible) Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
A poignant, hilarious, and wholly original love story, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Celebrants and winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor.
College professor Jesse del Ruth has been abandoned. Thirty years into their relationship, Jesse witnesses his husband Norman get out of bed late one night, walk into their Joshua Tree backyard, step into a strange beam of light and . . . disappear. How could Norman desert him after a lifetime together? Where did he go? And, most confoundingly . . . will he ever return? Jesse knew they were longing for something, both feeling stuck. But had Norman been so stuck that his only option was to leave Jesse behind?
As Jesse struggles to understand Norman’s disappearance, he tries to piece together his new reality. Is he expected to wait patiently for a partner who may never come back? Or is this an opportunity for reinvention? He is, after all, alone for the first time in his adult life. Should he return to the classroom? Put in a pool? Get a dog? Call his estranged mother? What does it mean to be alone when you’ve always been one half of a whole?
When Norman’s sister Lally lands on Jesse’s doorstep with an urgent request, Norman’s absence becomes even more profound. Add to Jesse’s grief and confusion a conspiracy-theorist neighbor, a strange man following him, and suspicions that he may have had a hand in Norman’s disappearance, and Jesse starts to crack under the pressure. With his husband missing and the world closing in, all eyes are on Jesse. Before he can understand how Norman could leave it all behind, Jesse must confront what it means to stay.
In Take Me With You, Steven Rowley brings his resonant wit and emotional insight to an epic love story – an exploration of the forces that draw two people into the same orbit and the gravity that threatens to pull them apart.
Take Me With You is a sweet, gently humorous look at love, long-term relationships, being left behind… and alien abduction. Yes, that’s correct: In this lovely work of contemporary fiction, a man leaves his partner of 30-something years to soar off in a strange beam of light. And yet… don’t pick up Take Me With You expecting a science fiction adventure. The aliens are just the trappings of the story: The novel is actually about what it takes to stay together, what it means to be left, and how to find ways to move forward.
Jesse and Norman met as young men when their paths collided, literally, during a skating/biking accident. While very different people, they connected instantly and have grown — if not old — then certainly mid-to-late middle aged together. Living in a solitary home in the desert of Joshua Tree, they’ve built a good life together. So yes, their knees may creak, and Jesse is not okay with Norman’s new tongue scraper… but they’ve seen each other through a lot, and expect to always be together.
Until one night, Jesse wakes up to a bright light, and runs to the backyard just in time to see Norman step into a beam of light that draws him up into the sky. It’s not an abduction, really: Norman seems to be a willing participant. And then he’s gone, and Jesse is left behind, and he has no idea what to do with himself.
Jesse is an award-winning author, already committed to teaching a class on humor writing at the local community college. But how is he supposed to teach anyone to be funny, especially when his own life feels particularly tragic?
Much of the novel is told through Jesse’s perspective, until we hit a shift about halfway through. Norman’s sister Lally becomes the point-of-view character at that point, as she seeks answers about Norman’s whereabouts with an agenda of her own.
Because I listened to the audiobook (narrated by actor Michael Urie, who is fabulous), I wasn’t able to highlight great quotes/lines as I went along, which is a shame. The writing in Take Me With You is wonderful — not a surprise, given how terrific the author’s use of language is in previous novels such as The Guncle and The Celebrants. There’s an underlying sadness to so much of what happens here, but there’s joy and plenty of laughter too. Even at his lowest, Jesse can’t help but be funny, and his interactions with the people in his life make the book sing.
Abandonment is an overarching theme of this book. Many characters experience or have experienced abandonment at some point in their lives, whether through deliberate choices or unexpected tragedies — but there’s also the abandonment involved in emotional distance. Jesse and Norman have spent decades together, but are they truly still together the way they once were? Is Norman’s departure the act of abandonment, or have they each removed themselves from one another through inertia and routine and the general erosion of long relationships?
I’m not sure that I entirely understand what happens very near the end of the book… but that’s okay. I can live with some ambiguity, and meanwhile, loved getting to know these richly drawn characters and their quirky lives.
Take Me With You didn’t delight me quite as much as Steven Rowley’s previous books did… but I still enjoyed it very, very much. Upbeat writing adds a needed dose of light to what might otherwise be heavier moments. Memorable characters, an unusual premise, and clever dialogue make this a book to savor.
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: Obstetrix Author: Naomi Kritzer Publisher: Tor Publication date: June 9, 2026 Length: 208 pages Genre: Thriller Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
From the Hugo award-winning author Naomi Kritzer comes a tense portrait of a future we desperately hope to escape.
O Lord, deliver us.
Doctor Liz has just been acquitted for performing the last abortion in North Dakota when she’s kidnapped.
They’re not just any kidnappers, but a fundamentalist cult, deep in the rural west, without respect for law or decency, and in desperate need of an OB/GYN.
Guarded, isolated, without access to the outside world, Liz nevertheless is treated with respect as the only doctor on the compound, but she is very aware of what happened to the last obstetrician they kidnapped.
She must escape, and bring help to the girls trapped at the compound, if it’s the last thing she does.
Dr. Elizabeth Gwinn is a dedicated OB/GYN in desperate need of a fresh start. After facing a harrowing trial for performing an abortion, she’s narrowly managed to avoid prison — but legal fees have left her broke, the arrest and threat of conviction have destroyed her nerves, and she faces the sad truth that despite the critical need, there are now states with absolutely no obstetricians still in practice at all.
After a dismal job interview for yet another hospital job she’s doomed not to get once the hiring committee realizes just who she is, she agrees to meet with a representative of a home birth collective looking for an obstetrician to complement their team of midwives. Although the location of the interview seems unusual, Elizabeth really needs a job and sits down to learn more… only to find herself drugged, kidnapped, and transported in a van to some unknown destination.
Upon arrival, she finds herself held captive by a fundamentalist cult in a remote rural area. There are no phones, no internet, no books, no privacy. Watched every moment, Liz is informed that her role is to care for the cult’s seemingly endless parade of pregnant women. Although the compound has some modern medical supplies — drugs, ultrasound machine, surgical implements — it’s by no means an adequate medical facility, and Liz is disinclined to cooperate… until she hears what came of the last obstetrician who refused to play along. Liz decides to bide her time and look for a chance to escape, and meanwhile, she begins caring for the women, some really just girls, and provides more general medical care to the children and men of the compound as well.
The patriarchal, repressive society is headed by Pastor John, and rules are enforced through corporal punishment. Liz sees women and children with welts and other marks that would absolutely have her contacting the appropriate authorities if she were to see these type of injuries in a clinical setting. Here, in the middle of nowhere, at the mercy of her captors, all she can do is try to relieve pain and mitigate harm where she can.
Meanwhile, to self-soothe, Liz returns in her mind to the favorite fantasy book of her youth, recalling it page by page from memory and using it as a means of centering herself, holding out hope, and looking for any chance of contacting the outside world.
I’ve seen this book shelved as horror, dystopian, thriller, even sci-fi, and while there are bits of many of these (well, not sci-fi), none of these labels feel entirely spot-on. I’d described this book more as a near-future thriller, not to mention being a cautionary tale. Liz’s trial has concluded by the time the novel starts, and yet it’s not at all far-fetched to see this as a possibility not too far off in our own future. Learning that obstetrical care is no longer available in major areas of the country feels chillingly possible.
And in a world where choices are so controlled or outright denied, a religious cult that prizes pregnancy and birth above anything else a woman might represent seems like just one more likely outcome. Particularly painful is the revelation that a bright 13-year-old girl who’s eager to become Liz’s apprentice is scheduled to be married as soon as she turns 14, to an adult man who fully expects to start making babies right away. When Liz points out that the girl isn’t physically mature enough to safely carry a pregnancy, the woman behind her kidnapping who shadows her every move declares that “a woman’s body won’t grow a baby that’s too big for her to deliver”. The casual disregard of medical expertise and the casual expectation that a young girl is ready for childbearing are simply horrifying.
Obstetrix is a fascinating psychological study, a dystopian nightmare, and even an action tale, as Liz desperately struggles to find a way out, even while growing to care more and more for some of her patients, who clearly are victims themselves and just as much in need of rescue as she is. The tension mounts as the story progresses, and it’s a race to the finish to see how Liz will get out of this terrible situation.
Meanwhile, we can’t help but admire Liz’s dedication to her professional ethics and her devotion to patient care. Even without the blatant threats, she can’t refuse to treat those who need her. She may be distressed, she may feel that conditions are hazardous, but she still tends to those who need a physician, because she simply can’t do otherwise.
As Liz informs us:
The word obstetrics comes from the Latin words obstetrix, which means midwife. Literally it means “stands opposite to,” and references the person who stands opposite to the woman giving birth.
As Liz passes weeks at the compound, struggling not to lose hope, she uses her position of slight authority to oppose the system that might further harm the young women and girls in her care — an obstetrix indeed.
Obstetrix is a fast, compelling, chilling read. Highly recommended.
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.
Title: Dolly All the Time Author: Annabel Monaghan Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Publication date: May 26, 2026 Length: 395 pages Genre: Contemporary romance Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
A hardworking single mom returns to her seaside hometown and stumbles into a fake dating situationship with a wealthy, workaholic scion, from the New York Times bestselling author of Nora Goes Off Script.
“This book is like a spicy margarita…sweet and a little salty, tart and hot…I have fallen in love with Dolly and with funny, fizzing Annabel Monaghan!” —Catherine Newman, New York Times bestselling author of Sandwich
If they start by pretending, can they end with something real?
Dolly Brick has never met a problem she couldn’t solve. Not when her mom left when she was twelve, and not at thirty-nine when she moves with her son back to Whitfield, Rhode Island, for the summer to keep her dad and brother from losing the family home.
So when she comes across Stewart Whitfield—annoyingly handsome scion of the Whitfield family—with a flat tire and at the wrong end of a very public, very humiliating breakup, it’s in her nature to help. But Stewart’s proposed arrangement ends up being more than either of them bargained for, because as public dinners and high-society benefits turn into sunset boat rides and kisses that hit her bloodstream like a ghost pepper, Dolly starts to feel something more than helpful. She’s never relied on anyone besides herself—can she really start now?
If summer is just around the corner, then it’s time for an Annabel Monaghan novel! Once again, her newest book is a delightful mix of grounded characters, interesting situations, sincere emotions, and fantastic beachy vibes.
Dolly Brick seems to never stop working. A single mom on the verge of 40, Dolly works four (yes, four!) jobs to make ends meet, support her son, make sure her dad and disabled brother have a non-leaky roof over their heads, and basically keeps everyone and everything going through sheer willpower. As Dolly All the Time opens, she’s headed back to her Rhode Island hometown for the summer — not what she’d had planned — to deal with the aftermath of a small electrical fire at her family home.
Once there, she jumps right back in — working at the counter at her father’s fish store during the busy tourist season, making sure her brother Chris gets his meds adjusted, bringing in a contractor to look at the fire damage, and figuring out how much of the needed repairs she can do on her own. Dolly is incredibly adept at fixing and creating — that’s what living on a shoestring budget will do for you! — but when she learns from the fire department that the roof is in such bad shape that the house may be condemned if they don’t replace it, she comes close to despair. Even with all her jobs, there’s no way the family has that kind of money.
Rescue arrives in the form of Stewart Whitfield, son of the town’s extremely wealthy founding family and next in line to be CEO of the family business. Or rather, Dolly starts off by rescuing Stewart, who finds himself in desperate need of help when he gets a flat tire and has a dead cell phone battery. Of course, he’s never changed a tire in his life, and of course, Dolly is a pro. When a passing paparazzo snaps a photo of them, Stewart realizes Dolly may represent more than just roadside assistance. After being very publicly dumped by his fiancée, Stewart needs to show his family that he’s stable and grounded enough for the CEO job. Cue the fake girlfriend trope!
Stewart offers Dolly a deal, complete with NDA. If she’ll pose as his girlfriend for the summer, attending key galas and family events with him, he’ll pay her enough to fix the roof (and then some). It’s a weird offer (which Dolly immediately connects with Pretty Woman), but really too good a chance to save the family home to pass up. Stewart is stiff and seems to be a workaholic, but Dolly detects a glimmer of something more relatable underneath the suits and fancy cars, and she agrees to the deal.
After an adorable makeover outing with Stewart’s younger sister (one of my favorite characters in the book), Dolly begins her role as Stewart’s fake girlfriend. She’s quirky and definitely not trained for high society, and yet there’s something in her non-conforming demeanor that starts to put Stewart at ease. As they spend time together, she challenges him to loosen up, even just a little. Why not take out the sailboat that he hasn’t touched in years? How about a break from working around the clock to enjoy a bit of summer? When Stewart meets Dolly’s family, she gets a chance to see how considerate he can be, and as the weeks pass, Stewart and Dolly begin to connect in ways that no longer feel like it’s all for show.
There’s just so much to love about this book! First, Dolly herself is amazing. While she struggles to allow others to share her burdens, her devotion to her family is incredibly admirable. She doesn’t resent her responsibilities — she’s a deeply committed caregiver, and her 24/7 priority is keeping her family safe and happy. As she learns over the course of the book, she really doesn’t have to take everything on her own shoulders, but learning to let others in is part of her personal journey. She’s a fantastic mother to 13-year-old Gus. I admired the honesty with which she interacts with him — they have a lovely dynamic.
The romance feels real very quickly, and is well-developed. We see Stewart and Dolly opening up to one another, and can track how their appearances-for-show turn into time spent together that means something to them both. The plot may follow key trope milestones in some ways, but it comes across as genuine. There’s no doubt that these two have a connection and understand one another in ways no one else does. They’re wonderful together.
Now, there is a 3rd-act breakup, which I generally dread these days while reading contemporary romances. Here, the events make sense. None of the more common failure-to-communicate or the (awful) I’m-dumping-you-for-your-own-good scenarios! When Dolly and Stewart’s relationship blows up, we know exactly why. We can hate it, but we also understand what went wrong (and fortunately, can be very confident that there will be a happy ending, even if they have to suffer before getting there).
Dolly All the Time conveys heartwarming messages about devotion to family, taking time to care for oneself even while caring for others, and giving thought to what real happiness might look like. The family dynamics are outstanding, and the romantic elements really sing.
I’ll note that this book has plenty of romantic, swoon-worthy moments, but that sex scenes are closed-door / off-the-page… which I, for one, really appreciate!
Dolly All the Time is both a terrific summer read — oh, to be in a little seaside town with salt breezes, ice cream shops, and walks on the beach! — and an engaging love story. There’s deep emotional impact, yet the tone is upbeat, with plenty of humor and whimsy to balance the more serious moments.
He’s in a tuxedo that was woven by angels with tiny hands to the exact specifications of his body. His black shoes have been professionally tied by the royal shoe tyer.
Great plot, wonderful characters, and a seaside, sunny setting all add up to a wonderful start to beach reading season. Highly recommended — for any time of year!
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.
Title: The Foursome Author: Christina Baker Kline Publisher: Mariner Books Publication date: May 12, 2026 Length: 384 pages Genre: Historical fiction Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Christina Baker Kline comes a boldly original reimagining of an astonishing true story of two sisters in nineteenth-century North Carolina—Kline’s own distant relatives—who married world-famous conjoined twins from Siam.
When Chang and Eng Bunker arrive in Wilkes County in 1839, they’re not just a curiosity—they’re a sensation. Everyone is eager to learn whether the salacious rumors about them are true. Within months, the twins have opened a general store, bought land, and begun building a plantation. Now, word has it, they’re looking for wives—and in a place that thrives on gossip and legacy, their ambitions set the community on edge.
Sarah and Adelaide Yates, daughters of a once-prominent local family brought low by scandal, are drawn into their orbit. Bold, beautiful Addie sees in the twins’ fame a chance to reclaim her future. Sallie, quiet and observant, isn’t so sure. When the twins’ lives become entangled with theirs, they must navigate loyalty, longing, and identity in a world where everything—including race, class, and gender—is rigidly defined.
Spanning five decades and unfolding against the backdrop of a fractured nation hurtling toward war, The Foursome is both intimate and a story of love and constraint, identity and reinvention. With piercing insight and emotional precision, Kline brings to life a forgotten chapter of American history and the complex, boundary-defying marriages at its center.
In this fascinating work of historical fiction, author Christina Baker Kline shines a spotlight on the conjoined twins for whom the term “Siamese twins” was coined, by showing their lives through the eyes of one of the sisters who married them.
Most of us take for granted that, at the very least, we come into this world alone and die our own deaths But this was not true for my husband and his brother. They could not escape each other.
The Foursome is narrated by Sarah “Sallie” Yates, a young woman with a damaged reputation as the novel opens in the 1840s. After a family scandal, she and her younger sister Adelaide face limited prospects. When the famous conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker (the “Siamese Double Boys”) settle in their North Carolina community, the sisters are as curious as everyone else, but when curiosity turns to courtship, it’s Addie who leads the way, seeing the twins as a way out of their difficulties and a route to a secure future.
The engagement and marriage is, of couse, scandalous. Chang and Eng are joined by a band of flesh at the base of their chests. They’re active, healthy, educated men who pride themselves on living as gentlemen, but to the people of North Carolina, they’re seen as foreigners and as freaks. When the brothers marry the Yates sisters, the gossip is intense and personal.
As Sallie shares with readers, navigating a marriage to a man who can never leave his brother’s side presents complex challenges, from the embarrassment of figuring out sleeping (and sexual) arrangements to sharing a household with her sister to never once being able to have a truly private conversation with her husband. Sallie’s marriage to Eng does eventually turn into one of love and compatibility, but the unavoidable presence of Addie and Chang is a constant source of tension.
Still, something must work. Between them, the two couples have a total of twenty-one children over the years! The sisters eventually demand separate homes, but even so, the rigid scheduling and presence of a husband’s brother mean that the families can never truly be separate.
I saw how they leaned on each other — how their bond became a kind of fortress, both shelter and prison. How, sometimes, it shut out even those who loved them.
Beyond the domestic, The Foursome explores the lives of the Bunker husbands and wives in the context of the looming Civil War. Chang and Eng are landowners — and in the North Carolina of the 1800s, that means that they’ve slave owners. Sallie accepts that enslaved workers are simply a fact of life, but over time, her eyes are opened to what this actually means for the people who raise her children and care for her needs. As their community is drawn into war, and as sons of both households go off to fight, Sallie increasingly finds herself at odds with Addie and their husbands about the Confederacy’s ideals and what it is that they’re fighting to preserve.
Sallie’s voice in The Foursome is open and revealing. She shares the joyful moments, especially as she gives birth to child after child, as well as the discomfort of being married to a man who’ll always belong more to someone else. The descriptions of the family’s adaptation to the brothers’ conjoined nature offer a fascinating look into a situation that seems practically beyond belief.
(L–R) Sarah, her son Patrick Henry, Eng, Chang, his son Albert, Adelaide
I did wish that Sallie’s awakening to the evils of slavery came sooner. I couldn’t help but feel that some of her change in perspective was driven by the purely personal, in terms of how slavery affected her rather than out of a sense of compassion and justice for the enslaved. She can’t make up for the past, but she eventually attempts her own version of reparation by offering new beginnings and opportunities to those she’d wronged.
There are sins of action and sins of inaction. I cannot forgive myself for the times I saw wrong and turned away.
Because the story is told through Sallie’s point of view, we only understand Addie through her eyes. This is understandable, yet sometimes frustrating. Addie is the catalyst for the marriage — I would have liked a deeper understanding of Addie’s inner life and why she felt so strongly that the choice to marry the brothers was their best (and only) option.
The Foursome is actually the second novel I’ve read about these historical figures. Chang and Eng by Darin Strauss, published in 2000, is a fictionalized account of their lives as told by Eng. I don’t remember a lot of the details at this point, but I do remember how interesting I found it. Reading The Foursome, I was reminded of many of the biographical details, and was entirely drawn in by this new approach and perspective on their lives.
The Foursome is a powerful, compelling read about remarkable lives, set against the backdrop of one of the most devastating and consequential periods in American history. Sallie’s voice is memorable, and the experiences she describes paint a picture of a particular family’s life that might seem unbelievable if it weren’t actually based on historical events. Highly recommended.
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Title: The Shippers Author: Katherine Center Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Publication date: May 19, 2026 Length: 336 pages Genre: Contemporary fiction Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
One of the hottest, fastest-rising rom-com stars delivers her latest swoon-worthy novel about a destination wedding on a cruise ship.
After a whole lifetime of being bad at love, JoJo Burton decides to solve her intimacy issues once and for all at her sister’s destination wedding on a cruise ship. With the help of a little pop psychology, she diagnoses herself with a fixation on the neighborhood guy who was her her first crush and first kiss (and who just happens to be a newly-divorced wedding guest ), and she decides to woo him during the cruise for some long-delayed closure. Only problem is, her sister’s a little busy being a bride at the moment—so JoJo ropes in her childhood bestie, Cooper Watts, to be her wing man. Cooper: who RSVPed no, but then showed up, anyway. Cooper: who left town without a word four years earlier and moved to London. Cooper: who was, if she’s honest, the worst heartbreak of JoJo’s life. It’s bliss for her to see him again, and it’s agony, too—and the more they team up for Project Conquest, the more she obsesses over questions she can’t bring herself to ask.
Shipboard antics ensue in this witty, heart-tugging, childhood-friends-to-lovers romance—as JoJo and Cooper fake flirt, slow dance, share a cabin, sing duets, treat sunburns, get jealous, rescue each other over and over, and finally, at last, figure it all out in the most blissful, swoony, romantic way.
No one does summer romance quite like Katherine Center. THE SHIPPERS will take readers on the cruise of a lifetime in a story awash with romantic longing, top-notch banter, long-held secrets . . . and true love rediscovered.
I usually love Katherine Center books, but The Shippers is a bit too slight and focused on silliness to entirely work for me.
In The Shippers, we open with main character Jojo’s wedding. She’s wearing her soon-to-be mother-in-law’s itchy, awful wedding gown — quite a clear sign that nothing about this wedding truly fits Jojo. She has a history of dumping guys as soon as they fall for her, and her fiancé’s distance and disinterest have kept her in the relationship far longer than made sense. As she’s about to walk down the aisle, her childhood best friend Cooper walks in. Cooper essentially ghosted her four years ago without explanation, but his sudden appearance (and suggestion to fake a faint at the altar) help Jojo realize how little she wants to get married. Fake fainting turns out to be her key to escape.
Six weeks later, Jojo is forced to endure endless gossip and family and neighborhood togetherness for her sister Ashley’s cruise-based wedding. But thanks to Ashley’s interest in psychology, the sisters seem to have figured out Jojo’s problem: They conclude that she’s fixated on her first kiss (at age 10), while carrying some serious abandonment issues courtesy of their distant dad, and will never be able to have a successful, healthy relationship until she resolves the feelings associated with that kiss. Fortunately, the kisser will be on the cruise too, and Jojo will have a week to get him to fall in love with her.
When Cooper unexpectedly shows up for the cruise as well, Jojo loops him into her plan — and when the obnoxious cousin Jojo is rooming with makes it clear that their cabin will be otherwise occupied most nights, Jojo ends up bunking with Cooper. With all that togetherness, it’s only a matter of time before Jojo and Cooper confront their pasts… but her fixation on the kiss may drive them apart for good this time, despite the fact that Jojo seems to be finally waking up to how awesome (and attractive) Cooper is.
“How did you turn into a Disney prince?”
“You think I look like a Disney prince?”
“I really do.”
“You think I look like a cartoon?”
“Not a cartoon like SpongeBob. A sexy cartoon.”
The vibe of The Shippers is mostly goofy. It’s hard to take Jojo’s emotional baggage seriously when it’s addressed in between comical scenes of her wearing inappropriate clothing, falling off her high heels, getting badly sunburned (I mean, that’s not actually funny, but it’s presented as yet another ridiculous thing that Jojo gets herself into), and entering a slow-dance contest with guy who’s clearly wrong for her. We’re obviously meant to be rooting for Jojo to wake up to the fact that Cooper has been her person — and love of her life — all along, but the frantic focus on Jojo making odd choices and getting into crazy situations makes it all seem rather frivolous and shallow.
To be clear, The Shippers is entertaining and zips along with never a dull moment. For me, it was just all so intentionally silly that I couldn’t take any of it particularly seriously, even when the characters attempt to address past hurts and issues in a more thoughtful way.
Still, fans of the author will find plenty to enjoy, and The Shippers would make a good choice for a sunny summer beach read.
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Title: Our Perfect Storm Author: Carley Fortune Narrators: AJ Bridel and Jack Copland Publisher: Berkley Publication date: May 5, 2026 Print length: 420 pages Audio length: 10 hours 51 minutes Genre: Contemporary romance Source: Purchased Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Frankie and George have been best friends since they were eight years old. Both passionate, impulsive, and headstrong—they’ve always clashed . . . and come back together. Until now. It’s the eve of Frankie’s wedding weekend, and she doesn’t know where they stand or even if George will show up as her best man.
Then, at the start of the festivities, in walks George. For one glorious evening, surrounded by her loved ones, Frankie’s life is finally perfect. But it all comes crashing down when her fiancé dumps her the next morning, leaving only a note as an explanation.
Crushed and confused, Frankie returns to her family’s home to wallow. But George has a different idea and a plan for healing Frankie’s broken heart. He wants her to go on her honeymoon. With him. For one week, to the lush rainforests and misty beaches of Tofino.
Frankie agrees, seeing the trip for what it really is: one last chance to repair their friendship. Even if it means unearthing secrets and long buried feelings neither knows how to handle. Even if it means falling apart for good.
There’s nothing like a Carley Fortune book! Heartfelt storytelling, deep connections, and beautiful settings are the hallmark of her beach bag-ready novels. Her fifth novel, Our Perfect Storm, captures all the elements I love so much about her writing and delivers a friends-to-lovers story that, despite the trope, feels fresh and expansive.
Our Perfect Storm opens at the start of Frankie’s wedding weekend — a high-end affair at a luxury resort, no expense spared. But initially, it’s not perfect: Frankie is distracted throughout the opening dinner because her best friend (and best man) George hasn’t arrived. Her seemingly ideal fiancé Nate is sitting right next to her, but she can’t enjoy the food or the company… until George finally walks in. (It may not be obvious to Frankie, but we readers know deep, unacknowledged love when we see it!)
The perfect wedding is now back on track… until Frankie wakes up the next morning to a note from Nate, calling off the wedding with no explanation whatsoever. Devastated, Frankie moves back home with her parents and spends the next couple of months trying to get her life back on track.
George hasn’t been seen since the wedding, so Frankie is shocked when he shows up one day, and has a plan. Nate has already told Frankie that she should go to the resort he’d booked for their honeymoon, since it was already paid for. Frankie had no intention of going, but George insists that it’ll be just what she needs — and that he’s going with her. Frankie needs an escape from the world so she can heal, George has been researching recovery after a breakup, and he’s going to guide her through the process.
So off they go to Tofino, a beautiful location on Vancouver Island, where they’ll be staying in a luxury villa at a fancy resort, with nothing to do but enjoy the scenery, explore, eat good food, and let Frankie find fresh inspiration and let go of the past. Of course, the past is not so simple. While Frankie had only known Nate for a total of one year prior to their almost-wedding, she’s known George since childhood. They’ve been there for one another through family sorrows, personal challenges, growing up, and turning into adults. From next-door neighbors to best friends to college roommates, they were inseparable for most of their lives, until George pulled away in recent years, leaving Frankie to miss him and wonder what happened to their friendship.
As they week in Tofino unfolds, George and Frankie reconnect, falling back into their easy dynamic, sharing truths and secrets, but also noting new elements to their chemisty… like a intense attraction that Frankie was never willing to fully acknowledge in the past. It becomes clear that there’s way more between them than friendship, but they’ll need to get past old hurts and traumas before they can fully trust that what they feel might just be love… and that they might have a very different future ahead of them than either could have imagined.
I just loved Frankie and George! They’re both fully developed characters. We can care about them because we get to know them so well. Flashback chapters take us back to their childhood and adolescence, and of course it’s clear to a reader that these two are way beyond “best friends”. The way they trust one another is lovely, as is the way they’re so easily able to fall back into spending constant time together, even after being apart for years.
In addition to her cancelled wedding, Frankie has a lifetime of unresolved issues to finally come to terms with, particularly in regard to her complicated relationship with her mother. I appreciated seeing the thoughtfulness with which the characters deal with this, and how past trauma gets addressed and acknowledged.
Of course, the heart and soul of the story is the connection between Frankie and George. The plot points I’ve mentioned so far may not sound action-packed, but that’s not what this book is. There’s plenty of humor, serious talks and situations too, but overall, the pacing is leisurely and gives time for the relationships and character growth to unfold.
The armchair travel elements can’t be ignored. Carley Fortune’s books always have the most lovely settings, and I was practically dying over the descriptions of Tofino. (Sad but true: I took a fantastic road trip to Vancouver Island last summer, but didn’t have quite enough time to get to Tofino… clearly, I need to go back!)
As with the author’s other books, the audiobook is narrated by AJ Bridel, who does a wonderful job. This time, she’s joined by Jack Copland, who does the dialogue for the male characters. I loved listening — the voices, pacing, and delivery are all fantastic.
Obviously, I’m a big fan, and Our Perfect Summer hit all the right notes for me. I’ll eagerly await whatever Carley Fortune writes next. Meanwhile, I highly recommend Our Perfect Summer, and all of her other books too!
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Title: Dead Weight Author: Hildur Knútsdóttir Translated by: Mary Robinette Kowal Publisher: Tor Nightfire Publication date: May 26, 2026 Length: 160 pages Genre: Thriller Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
An Icelandic night may hide secrets and affairs – or even bodies – in this gruesomely cathartic horror thriller from the author of The Night Guest.
Unnur was living a normal, if lonely, life until a black cat showed up at her door.
When she tracks down the cat’s wayward owner, she finds a young woman just as lost and in need of help. Like a gust of cold air in a Reykjavík night, Ásta and her pet slip into Unnur’s life.
It’s unexpected, but welcome. Unnur likes the company, and she begins to rely on Ásta in turn. But like a black cat, trouble has been tailing her new friend, and Unnur is the only one there for Ásta when things take a violent turn.
The two women quickly learn: nothing tests a friendship like blood on your hands.
This new Icelandic thriller opens with a bang, as I shared in a recent First Lines Friday post:
I have thought long and hard about how I would dispose of a dead body. I have carefully weighed options such as digging, sinking, burning, hiding. It’s something I do when I can’t sleep. I used to think that everyone did this, that each person I met had a plan of their own. But the day I casually mentioned mine during lunch at work, a weird and uncomfortable silence settled over the table. So it turns out that most people listen to audio books when they can’t sleep. It’s only me who hides bodies. I find it relaxing.
With an opening like that, it’s clear that at some point in this tense novella, there WILL be a body to deal with. The questions are — whose, and why, and how?
I’ll pause here for a second — I don’t typically share content warnings, but when it comes to abuse, I feel it’s necessary.
Content warning: Domestic/relationship violence, physical and emotional abuse. Content reassurance: Cats are an important part of the plot… and they are fine! No animal deaths or injury (although they are threatened).
The story is told by Unnar, who is somewhat of an odd duck, and does not necessarily appear to be a reliable narrator. She’s a successful businesswoman who has learned to feign reactions to get what she wants.
I practice the look I’m going to use. Raise my eyes up and to the right. Because I’ve read that people look there when they’re doing creative thinking, but to the left when doing recall.
Meanwhile, she lives alone and conducts a passionate relationship with a married man, whose influencer wife she stalks on Instagram, convinced that he’s being honest when he says that theirs is a loveless marriage and he’s only staying for the sake of the children. Hmm, no married man has ever claimed that before, have they?
Unnar’s predictable life is interrupted when a cat shows up on her doorstep. The cat seems to find a way inside, even when the apartment doors are closed. After a couple of days of visits, Unnar searches Facebook for posts about missing cats, and tracks down the owner, a young woman named Ásta. Ásta is thrilled to be reunited with Io, but has an odd request: Can Unnar keep her for a while? Ásta’s boyfriend really doesn’t like cats, and she doesn’t want to rock the boat. When Unnar comes home again to find that Io has had a kitten, she agrees with Ásta’s proposal that mom and baby kitty will stay until the kitten is old enough to be moved, and they set up a schedule for Ásta to come and visit.
But with each visit, Unnar becomes more and more concerned about Ásta’s well-being. She shows up with bruises, and is clearly scared to upset her boyfriend. When he tracks her to Unnar’s home, violence ensues, and the growing friendship between the two women leads to startling results.
I’d love to be able to say which book (from almost 30 years ago) that this reminded me of… but even to name the book would be to reveal more than I should about the plot! Suffice it to say that things take a turn for the grisly, and Unnar’s detachment and level-headedness become a necessary counterweight to Ásta’s emotions and fragility.
I have mixed feeling about Dead Weight. On the one hand, it’s a highly readable, fast-paced, absorbing story — and given that it’s novella-length, it’s a very quick read. On the other hand… I’m not sure what to make of certain plot elements and characterizations.
Unnar is both incredibly competent and seemingly emotionally stunted. She hints at incidents from her family history, but we never entirely get the full picture. Her romantic relationship shows both her ability to feel and her ability to compartmentalize and shut down the emotions that don’t serve her own narrative; there are clear signs of denial and possibly even more serious mental health concerns that become apparent as she interacts with Ásta.
On a more practical note, Unnar’s narration makes very clear all the ways in which society doesn’t value women’s strength, expects certain types of performance and demeanor, and doesn’t recognize or have sufficient resources when a woman experiences abuse and needs an escape plan. Unnar seems to lack a moral compass, yet even thought she’s practically a stranger to Ásta, she’se the only person in Ásta’s corner when she’s in danger.
I found the ending ambiguous. I’m not sure how to interpret the very final scene. (There are two options — I don’t know which answer I like better, and I’m not sure whether we’re supposed to know or guess).
This book is definitely not a good choice for the squeamish — only read if you can tolerate blood and gore!
Overall, while I still prefer the author’s previous book, The Night Guest, I found Dead Weight an intriguing, all-in-one-sitting read. Check it out for the Icelandic vibe, and if you enjoy ambiguity and unreliable narrators.
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Bookshelf Fantasies 