First Pub Day of 2026

It's the first pub-day of 2026 and so many wonderful books are coming out!

{First and foremost, thank you to my friends at @macmillan.audio for both of these listening copies!}

▪️Meet the Newmans by Jennifer Niven - Sometimes I’m leery when a book is comped to a popular one. It makes the reader have preconceived notions. Is it accurate? Will it live up? In this case, the comps to Lessons in Chemistry feel spot on to me. It’s not just the era and both books involving a tv show, but the brilliant nod to feminism. The Newman family consists of husband and wife, Del and Dinah, and sons Guy and Shep. Over the years they became ‘America’s Favorite Family’. But, somehow along the way, they’ve lost their identity and everything feels like they are caricatures of themselves. They have one last shot at staying on the air and securing a sponsor. Instead, Del who always wrote the scripts, gets into an automobile accident and Dinah not only discovers a lot of secrets, but becomes aware just how many things she isn’t allowed to or supposed to do without her husband. Full of secrets and the perfect balance of funny & serious issues. Narrated by the brilliant and beloved—Marin Ireland!

“I can’t very well climb back into the damn box when I’m telling woman they don’t have to live in one. Can I?”

▪️The Odds of You by Kate Dramis - Dramis is know for her romantasy and this is her first contemporary novel. While I really enjoyed this one, the slow—I can’t state this enough—slow burn kept this one from being a slam-dunk for me. The narrator, Georgina Sadler, kept me engaged and in the end, I’m glad I saw this one through!

-A really good ‘meet cute’

-Characters bump back into each other

-Bookish (MFC is an author)

-MMC is an actor

-Comic Con

-British Charm

-Scotland

“Once is a chance, twice is fate.”

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