Content Warnings: violence, gore, dark themes, strong language
Summary:Like all ruinous things, he came from the abyss.
Kidan Adane has finally embraced her darkness. She’s killed without remorse, lied, and broken Uxlay University’s most sacred law by inviting elusive rogue vampires, the Nefrasi, into Uxlay. Trapped with a violently unstable vampire and reeling from her sister’s return, Kidan wields her anger like a weapon. She vows to master her house and protect the sacred artifact hidden inside, even if it means forging an alliance with the depraved leader of the Nefrasi, Samson Sagad–and betraying Susenyos.
A dangerous new philosophical text seems to hold the answers and promises the very thing Kidan has lost: control. Even as the dark pages consume her, Kidan knows no soul at Uxlay is trustworthy—least of all Susenyos. For Kidan and Susenyos, the lines of loathing and attraction may blur, but the quest for power rules them both. And neither is willing to surrender.
As devastating secrets resurface from the past, Kidan and her sister, June, must finally confront each other and take their rightful places in the looming war.
Image Source: Courtesy of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Kidan’s Journey Into Darkness
Kidan Adane is not the same eager student from before. In Eternal Ruin, she’s taken the helm of her own fate, and it feels electric. Imagine your favorite character leveling up into a darker version you still root for. From page one, the stakes are sky high as Kidan grapples with new powers and old mistakes. She’s killed without remorse and now faces the fallout. Every choice she makes clangs like a warning bell: will she save her world or watch it burn? You can practically feel the tension seep off the page.
Vampires, Villains, And Wild Alliances
Think vampire drama only happens in ancient castles? Think again. The Nefrasi vampire clan, led by the volatile Samson Sagad, crashes the party in a way that feels fresh and dangerous. This isn’t a typical fangs and moons story. Samson is dangerously charming in a twisted way, making you think “uh oh, here we go” on every page. Kidan has to make a deal with this wild card, which leads to backstabbing feints and power plays worthy of the coolest supernatural TV series. One moment, Kidan’s enemy Susenyos is on her side; the next, she’s out for blood. The tension is so thick you’ll want to rewash your hands!
Love, Hate, And Everything In Between
Okay, we all love a little romantic chaos, right? The chemistry between Kidan and Susenyos is a magnetic tug-of-war. These two swing from savage arguments to sizzling looks faster than you can say “vampire kiss.” It’s like their hearts and hate grow stronger with every chapter. Imagine your favorite Romeo and Juliet in a supernatural hustle: one minute they’re trading flame sparks, the next they’re leaning in for a fight or a kiss, and honestly, you’re here for it! Every twist is messy and affectionate without ever feeling syrupy; perfect for fans of slow burn enemies to lovers.
Sister Spells And Savage Secrets
Grab your tissue box, because family feuds get epic here. Kidan’s sister June returns with a bang, and their sibling bond is as twisted as it is tender. Think of it like a heated family game night gone wild: every move could hurt or heal. No spoilers, but secrets from Kidan and June’s past are leaking out, and it adds layers of suspense. There’s betrayal at the dinner table and then some. These sisters fight like hell and care like hell, and watching that pull between them is intense!
Magic, Mayhem, And Ancient Mysteries
If you like lore and hidden puzzles, you’re in luck. Uxlay University isn’t just a school; it’s practically a haunted mansion full of secrets. A creepy old philosophical text holds clues to Kidan’s lost control; imagine unlocking a secret app on your phone you didn’t know existed. Every chapter has something uncanny: a corridor that shouldn’t exist, a midnight monster hunt, or an artifact with a mind of its own. Reading this feels like stealing a flashlight to sneak through an old library… deliciously eerie yet oddly comforting.
Why We Can’t Stop Turning Pages
Finally, why does this book wring out our souls and leave them begging for more? Picture finishing your favorite late-night series on an absolute cliffhanger. Each chapter of Eternal Ruin makes you gasp, then flips the scene before you can catch your breath. The pacing is wild but controlled, driven by Kidan’s raw grit and determination. It’s polished in writing but feels chatty and urgent like a friend texting, “Wait, what happens next?!” You’ll stay glued to the pages with your heart in your throat. By the time the final scene ends, you’re salivating for the next book!
In the shadows of Uxlay, Kidan’s journey becomes a wild ride through darkness and light.
What are your thoughts on Immortal Dark: Eternal Ruin? You can get a copy here if you don’t have one already! Let us know all your thoughts in the comments below or over on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook!
Content Warnings: violence, war, fire, heartbreak, betrayal
Summary:An irresistibly winning romantic historical adventure, set in medieval Japan and tinged with fantasy, revolving around the art of waka poetry.
Matsuo is expected to be a samurai, like his father before him. But as he is training in the art of war, he realises he was destined for a different art altogether. Turning his back on his future as a warrior of the sword, he decides instead to do battle with words, as a poet.
Thus begins a story of intrigue and adventure, passion and betrayal. Matsuo’s quest to find his true self, and his true love, takes him across medieval Japan, through bloody battlefields and burning cities. But his ultimate test will be the uta awase – a tournament where Japan’s greatest poets engage in fierce verbal combat for the honour of victory, and where Matsuo will find himself fighting for his life.
The Samurai of the Red Carnation is both a thrilling, swashbuckling adventure and a sensitive meditation on love and poetry. Denis Thériault, is known for his award-winning novel, The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman, which also made extensive use of original poetry in Japanese styles and which won the author the Japan-Canada Book Prize.
Image Source: Courtesy of Penguin Random House
Imagine training with a sword and realizing your true weapon is a poem. Denis Thériault’s novel mixes swashbuckling adventure with tender romance in a lyrical way. It’s like watching a grand samurai film with a poetry score. From its vivid medieval Japan scenes to an epic poetry duel, the story feels fresh and full of wonder. For those of you who crave both adrenaline and artistry, this tale delivers something truly new!
The Samurai of the Red Carnation follows Matsuo, born into a samurai family but secretly a poet. Instead of wielding a sword, he picks up a pen. Bending tradition, the biggest battles in his life shift from war to words; Matsuo must fight for his life with verses instead of blades. His journey begins with one bold choice: abandon his destiny as a warrior. That kind of passion, choosing art over duty, makes Matsuo surprisingly relatable.
A Samurai By Name, A Poet By Nature
From the start, Matsuo is torn between duty and desire. He trains as a warrior, but a secret longing for poetry calls. When he walks away from his armor, he shows courage of a different sort: the courage to follow his true self. He learns waka, a classical form of Japanese verse, from a wild Zen master on his journey. This mischievous teacher, more rogue monk than sensei, turns Matsuo’s world upside down with riddles and verses. Thériault lets us feel Matsuo’s dreams and doubts. Even when Matsuo stumbles, he remains a hero you root for!
An Ancient Japan Painted In Words
The setting is a major draw. Thériault, long fascinated by Japan, paints Heian-era Kyoto and beyond with vivid detail. You can almost smell incense in a shrine and feel the heat of a burning city. In fact, the novel opens on a night when Kyoto is ablaze, hinting at intrigue to come. Peace and turmoil live side by side: in one chapter Matsuo meditates in a garden; in the next he hides from samurai on a mountainside path. You sense an era where beauty and danger collide… where courtly grace meets clan rivalries on the horizon.
Battles Of Wit And Wordplay
Forget sword duels; the book’s fiercest fights are poetry contests called uta-awase. Picture a medieval rap battle: poets duel with clever verses and sharp insults. A panel of nobles listens as if lives depend on each line (because they often do). Losing can mean ruin. Thériault treats these word duels like life-or-death matches. Between the quips and metaphors, you really feel the tension. Fans of wordplay will relish it. Every so often, even a single line can feel as sharp as a blade!
Forbidden Love And Family Loyalties
Of course there’s romance. Matsuo falls for a princess’s attendant, a poised young woman with a secret smile, who is already promised to a powerful general. Their situation feels like star-crossed fate: an ache anyone who’s loved from afar will recognize. Even with war swirling around them, their quiet connection blooms. This romance brings real heat and heartbreak. Family expectations and battle pressures add drama! Each choice tests Matsuo’s loyalty and honor. Yet hope flickers through it all, and each setback strengthens his resolve while keeping the story moving.
Mystery, Myth, And A Touch Of Fantasy
The novel isn’t just historical… it hints at something mystical! Heian Japan was said to be “haunted by spirits of Nature,” and Thériault weaves in that sense of the uncanny. The story opens with a mysterious figure watching Kyoto burn, casting a strange shadow over Matsuo’s path. Other moments feel dreamlike: a shrine that murmurs secrets, or a poem that reads like a prophecy. The line between reality and myth blurs in small, eerie ways! These touches give the journey a magical sheen.
Thériault’s Poetic Legacy
Denis Thériault’s earlier hit The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman also mixed Japanese verse into its tale; it even won the Japan–Canada Book Prize. Fans of that quirky, lyrical style will find plenty here! Thériault’s prose often reads like poetry itself: carefully chosen, rhythmic, and full of gentle humor. Even the action scenes have an elegance, as if choreographed. The English version keeps that charm, making the verses and jokes land smoothly. All in all, it feels like a novel as carefully crafted as a poem.
For anyone who wonders if the pen is mightier than the sword, Matsuo’s world might have the answer!
What are your thoughts on The Samurai of the Red Carnation? You can get a copy here if you don’t have one already! Let us know all your thoughts in the comments below or over on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook!
Content Warnings: mental illness, neurodivergence, abandonment, government experimentation, conspiracy theories
Summary:A weird and revelatory debut that vividly captures the dislocation of growing up BIPOC and neurodivergent in a country awash in both conspiracy theories and genuine conspiracies.
“The invisible D in my name is my mother’s second most lasting contribution to my life.”
‘Wayne Le—known as “Invisible-D ‘Wayne” at school—has been invited to participate in a seemingly ordinary, innocuous adolescent health study by a prestigious university. The study has a few nice perks, but most important to ‘Wayne, is the opportunity to give his immigrant father an accomplishment to be proud of—something that’s been in short supply since ‘Wayne’s mother left.
But the study quickly proves to be anything but ordinary and innocuous, and ‘Wayne, his best friend Kermit, and a fellow study participant named Jane (a girl who shall not be manic-pixied) find themselves sucked into an M. C. Escheresque maze of conspiracies that might be entirely in their heads or might truly be a sinister government plot.
Image Source: Photo Courtesy of Penguin Random House
1. Hooking You Before Page One
You know what? Sometimes a book arrives and feels like it’s whispering in your ear: “Hey…I’m going to turn your assumptions upside down.” That’s exactly the energy of This Moth Saw Brightness by A. A. Vacharat. From the first line hinting at an “invisible D” in the narrator’s name, the novel signals that it won’t settle for comfortable. It invites you into a story that’s part coming-of-age, part speculative thriller, part identity essay, and yes, you’re going to like the ride!
2. Who’s Narrating This Train-Wreck Disguised As Adolescence
Meet Wayne Le, or “Invisible-D ‘Wayne,” as the school calls him. He’s BIPOC, neurodivergent (or at least navigating life in ways that don’t match the “neurotypical” checklist), and he’s invited to participate in a so-called innocuous adolescent health study by a prestigious university. The study promises perks: a chance to give his immigrant father something to be proud of, a small win in a life defined by absence (his mother leaving) and expectation. But things go off the rails fast.
3. Weirdness And Conspiracies: High School Meets M.C. Escher
Here’s where the plot takes the weird turn: the study is anything but ordinary. ‘Wayne, his best friend Kermit, and Jane (yes, a girl “who shall not be manic-pixied”) find themselves in an Escher-cornucopia of conspiracies; overlapping, bending reality, maybe in their heads, maybe not. The narrative feels breathing, alive, slightly off-kilter…in a good way.
4. Identity, Neurodivergence And That Immigrant-Dad Pressure
Beyond the twists and conspiracies, there’s the muscle of the story. What does it feel like to grow up neurodivergent in a world that assumes you’re “just like everyone else?” What does it mean to carry the weight of immigrant expectations on your shoulders when your mother has already left, when your father’s pride is something you chase? The “invisible D” in his name? Symbolic. His sense of invisibility? Real. Vacharat doesn’t shy away from those questions, and she doesn’t answer them neatly. That feels honest.
5. The Tone: Quirky, Clever, And Zipping Along
If you expect a straight-laced narrative, you’ll be surprised. The tone flicks between sardonic, anxious, reflective, bizarre, like life when you’re awake in the middle of a strange dream and someone hands you a biology textbook. The novel rewards readers who enjoy short chapters, playful breaks, and surprising shifts in rhythm. One moment you’re thinking of high school drama, next you’re wondering about Big Tech, surveillance, and your own concept of control. The result? You won’t just read this book, you’ll feel its pulse!
Despite the grand themes, the story keeps it grounded in adolescence. There’s the best friend who still codes and hacks (hello, Kermit). There’s the crush who complicates everything (hello, Jane). There’s the parent who expects too much, and the absence of the parent who left. There’s the feeling that you’re slightly off-center and everyone else is lining up like they know what’s going on. If you’ve ever felt side-lined, weirded out, or “why am I not normal?”, then ‘Wayne’s story will resonate. The conspiracies become metaphors for the nagging sense that the world is rigged, and you’re trying to find your spot in it.
7. Why You Should Care (And Maybe Freak Out A Little)
Because this book doesn’t just entertain. It pushes you. It asks: What is trust? What is identity? Who decides who matters? And in a world full of surveillance, half-truths, and algorithms, how do you even locate your own truth? Vacharat wraps it all in genre elements: thriller, mystery, coming-of-age, so you’re on your toes the whole time. The ending? It’s unsettling. Not because it’s bad. Because it leaves you thinking. Hey, that’s a win!
8. The Caveats (Yes, There Are A Few)
If you like your stories tidy, you might bristle at the sharp corners here. The plot layers move fast, and some minor characters veer into caricature. But honestly…the messiness is part of the point. Life is messy. Identity is messy. Conspiracies? Definitely messy. If you’re up for the ride, you’ll be fine.
9. Final Verdict
In short: This Moth Saw Brightness is weird, wild, heartfelt, and smart. It’s a debut that doesn’t play it safe. It introduces a narrator you’ll root for, a world you’ll question, and a genre-blend that sticks with you. If you’re looking for a book that lingers after you close the cover, that challenges you while making you laugh (and maybe wince), this is it!
A. A. Vacharat’s This Moth Saw Brightness quietly teaches you that sometimes the conspiracy is simply that you were never invited to believe you belonged.
If you enjoyed this review, grab a copy of the book, let those footnotes surprise you, and let the conspiracies swirl! Because the brightest lights sometimes hide behind the weirdest moths. What are your thoughts on This Moth Saw Brightness? Let us know all your thoughts in the comments below or over on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook!
Daniel Whiteson and Andy Warner’s upcoming book, Do Aliens Speak Physics? And Other Questions about Science and the Nature of Reality presents the best combination of all these things. The book imagines what it would be like to discuss physics with aliens, drawing from a diverse array of experts in the history and philosophy of science—accompanied by Warner’s delightful illustrations plus physics puns and hypothetical donuts.
Co-author Daniel Whiteson is a particle physicist at CERN and the University of California, Irvine, as well as a science communicator and host of the podcast Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe. Gizmodo spoke to Whiteson about the philosophical nature of the search for aliens and what it reveals about our own humanity. The following conversation has been lightly edited for grammar and clarity.
Gayoung Lee, Gizmodo: Okay, so, do aliens speak physics? What is this question even asking?
DanielWhiteson: I don’t know if aliens speak physics! That’s why I wrote this book, to argue both sides of this question. I feel like a lot of physicists assume that the physics we are doing is universal… that the way we’re doing things and our way of life is the only way.
I wanted to push back on that a little bit and explore and make the opposite argument and suggest that there might be a lot of humanity in the physics that we’re doing—the way we think about it, the questions we’re asking, the answers we accept, and our path into physics.
Gizmodo: At the very start of your book, you introduce an extended version of something called the Drake equation. What is it, and how have you reimagined it?
Whiteson: The Drake equation is a fun way to organize your thoughts about whether there are other intelligent civilizations in the galaxy. There have to be stars or planets for them, life that evolved to develop sentience and technology, and they have to do it all roughly within a time window that we can communicate with them.
It breaks these features apart because they are separate issues. It emphasizes something really crucial: you’ve got to have all the pieces to work. If any of those numbers go to zero, you’re out of luck.
But in the book, we’re not just interested in intelligent aliens. We want to find intelligent aliens that do science the way that we do so we can learn from them. Otherwise, it’s just too big a space to explore, and all those things must come together for this intergalactic science conference that is my personal fantasy.
Gizmodo: Okay, so let’s unpack some of these additions. The first one is about whether aliens do science at all.
Whiteson: Sure. This was tricky to tackle. I think a lot of people assume that if aliens arrive, they’re technological—because they’ve gotten here. They have some way to cross the vast distances between the stars, so they must have a scientific understanding of how they did that.
But historians of science and philosophers of science understand that technology doesn’t require science. We’ve been using stone tools for millions of years. We had technology in terms of writing, fermentation, metallurgy, and agriculture. These are technological improvements that have improved our lives without us understanding how they worked.
Having a scientific mindset is going to accelerate your technology, but it’s not essential. So that’s what we dig into in that question. Is science actually essential? What is science anyway?
Gizmodo: So assuming aliens are scientific, another element is whether they ask the same questions.
Whiteson: One motivating piece of philosophy for me was this question of emergence—why is the universe understandable at all? We can use fairly simple mathematical tools to understand the world around us. Instead of the universe just being filled with chaos, somehow this simplicity emerges.
We don’t know what the fundamental layer of reality is—if it even has one. So, all of our science studies emergent phenomena. It might be that it’s sort of a way we filter the universe. The universe is crazy and filled with all sorts of buzzing noise, but we see certain stories that are of interest to us.
On the other hand, if emergence is something that’s part of the universe—like there’s just some way things average out—then we’ll have that in common with aliens. They’ll study planets the way that we do. They’ll study particles the way that we do. They’ll see the same simple stories. But it’s not something we know the answer to until they show up.
Gizmodo: Do you think there’s any point in trying to communicate with animals on Earth to prepare for aliens? It can be argued that interspecies communication among animals on Earth has practically zero bearing on how an extraterrestrial, intelligent being might message us.
Whiteson: I think I would disagree. I mean, I agree that it’s unlikely that learning dolphin is going to help us communicate with the aliens. But the fact that we’ve failed to communicate with those species tells us that we have a lot to learn about talking to other species and that more practice and more success could set us up for more success in the future.
There are definitely some assumptions we’re making and some barriers we haven’t pushed through. So, we can’t understand why or how whales are singing to each other and how bats are clicking to each other, but there’s definitely something going on there.
Gizmodo: The extended Drake equation isn’t a yes-or-no question on whether aliens exist. It’s an ideal scenario in which we could have a meaningful, intellectual exchange with them.
Whiteson: Yeah.
Gizmodo: I’m sensing that makes it even harder for us to encounter the “ideal” alien civilization. In your view, what is the worst-case scenario that doesn’t end with everyone on Earth dying?
Whiteson: (Laughs) Yeah, well, one amazing outcome is that we have everything aligned with them. They just tell us the answers, and we’re catapulted into the future of science—incredible!
More frustrating, what you might call a worst-case scenario, is that there is nobody else out there doing science the way that we are. They’re not interested in our questions. They’re looking for different answers. They see a different slice of the universe—we’re alone at the table at the Intergalactic Science Conference. That would be unfortunate.
From a philosophical point of view, it might be more fun if the aliens don’t satisfy any of our requirements, because that’s when we learn about our own peculiarities. Like, “Oh, wow, that is interesting that we do this science this one way, and everybody else is doing it that way. What does that mean about being human?”
So I think the philosophers would be more excited if we were the only ones in the galaxy doing science this particular way. But the physicists would be frustrated for sure.
Gizmodo: On that note, is the search for intelligent alien life really humanity’s own ego search?
Whiteson: Oh, for sure. Definitely. On one hand, we want to find aliens similar to us, because it validates us. On the other hand, that discovery, finding lots of human-like aliens, would make us less special.
My favorite thing about searching for aliens is that any answer is mind-blowing and wonderful in its own way. So, I’m definitely pro-aliens, no matter what. Even if the aliens show up and do send us to the hydrogen mines, I still think that would be interesting. I’m that much pro-alien visitation—I’ll take the risk!
Gizmodo: The book presents an impressive union of philosophy and science, but you’re a physicist at heart. So, having written this book, doing the research for it… How has the process changed the way that you approach your own work as a scientist?
Whiteson: Good question. You know, I’ve always been interested in philosophy at an amateur level. But I realized that particle physics is filled with people who have strong philosophical opinions but think philosophy is a waste of time. They have this [Richard] Feynman attitude that physicists need philosophers the way birds need ornithologists.
If you ask them, is the top quark real? Was it there before we discovered it? They’ll say, “Of course, what are you, an idiot? Of course it is. It’s physical; it’s there. We found it; we didn’t create it.”
… I found those two things in conflict. Yeah, we didn’t create these particles, but we never see them, we don’t hold them in our hands, and we don’t interact with them. We’re telling stories about the way the universe works. But in the end, those are stories, and they’re stories that satisfy us. We don’t know if the same stories would satisfy other people, so it definitely shines a light on my own work and makes me wonder what it means.
But even if physics isn’t universal, it doesn’t make me less interested in doing physics. I still think it’s a super fun puzzle to try to unravel the universe. We’re in this intimate relationship with the universe, and it matters what matters to us. It’s part of being human.
Do Aliens Speak Physics? is being published by W. W. Norton & Company and will be available online or in hardcover on November 4, 2025.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre arrives for a news conference in 2024. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The girlboss is dead, or so I thought. She belonged to a brief moment in a longer struggle over women and our suitability for life outside the home. Now the home might swallow us up: The right wing dreads “the longhouse,” ruled by women and their “weepy moralism,” or “the great feminization” of society. The girlboss had begun to look quaint by the time I picked up Karine Jean-Pierre’s new book, Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines. She is best known as Joe Biden’s former White House press secretary, the first Black and openly LGBTQ+ person in the role, and she earned some attention earlier this year when she announced she was leaving the Democratic Party to become — don’t hold your breath — an independent. The memoir is short, which is a mercy. Reading it made me wonder if I’d consumed a life-altering quantity of Benadryl and hallucinated a trip back in time. She writes as if the year is still 2014 and a woman’s professional accomplishments outweigh moral considerations. The girlboss lives after all.
A review in the Washington Post called Jean-Pierre an “artifact of an age that looks recent on paper but feels prehistoric in practice,” defined by “the word ‘empowerment,’ the musical ‘Hamilton,’ the cheap therapeutic entreaties to ‘work on yourself’ and ‘lean in’ to various corporate abysses.” Indeed, the phrase self-care appears in the book, though not in jest. There’s little independence on display, either, as she devotes page after page to the magnanimity and sharp instincts of Biden. The girlboss might lean in, self-advocate, [insert cliché here], but she works within the system, not outside it. The same goes for Jean-Pierre, whatever her subtitle suggests. Instead, she’s still doing the job that Biden once paid her to do — and poorly. The Biden we all saw during his catastrophic debate with Donald Trump did not exist. She says he simply had a cold. She believed in him, though I’m still not sure why. She writes, incessantly, of her own feelings and comfort, or the lack thereof. During the Democratic National Convention, Jean-Pierre turned off the TV “and nestled against the cushions of my living room couch.” (Must have been nice.) The White House press corps was too mean to Biden — but not nearly as mean as it was to Jean-Pierre, who berates reporters for publishing “jabs” and “thoughtless gossip” about the quality of her work.
Sometimes she looks away from her mirror to consider the rest of the world. This produces a few trenchant observations, like “It was during Covid, a bizarre as well as historic moment,” and “In this political moment, we need to find ways to maintain our individuality even as we build coalitions.” Good talk, thanks. Elsewhere, she recalls the uprisings of 2020, which followed the police murder of George Floyd and launched “a vigorous conversation about being antiracist” with books like “White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo gaining in popularity.” Dinosaurs walk the earth, but how dangerous are they? Biden is no longer in power, and neither is Jean-Pierre. Independent is more of an audition to co-host The View than a serious analysis of the Democratic Party and its troubles, and it fails on both counts. Still, it’s hard to dismiss Jean-Pierre, if only for what she represents. The girlboss has always been more than an empty pantsuit.
When Sheryl Sandberg published Lean In in 2013, she sought “to redefine what revolution means,” the ex–Facebook employee Kate Losse wrote in Dissent magazine. If feminist goals were once understood as the end point of a collective struggle to restructure society itself, Sandberg offered something else. In Lean In, revolution was “a battle to restructure the self,” Losse argued. Sandberg is hardly the sole — or even the most important — architect of our present woes, but she is a useful study. The writer Susan Faludi observed “little tangible cross-class solidarity” from Sandberg and her ilk, who preferred instead to contemplate themselves or, more rarely, women of similar status. When Margaret Thatcher died — and left a trail of misery behind her corpse — the official Lean In Facebook page asked followers to post their warmest memories of her career, Faludi wrote. Thatcher had clawed her way to the top, and that mattered more than anything else she’d done. In Independent, Jean-Pierre credits Thatcher for wielding “power with such force that she was dubbed the ‘Iron Lady’” and honors her alongside Golda Meir, the former prime minister of Israel, who expanded illegal settlements and said that Palestinians “did not exist” at the founding of her nation.
If strong female leadership is valuable in its own right, individual success takes precedence over the public good. Independent has something in common with PragerU’s Women of Valor, a children’s book that celebrates the history-making achievements of Thatcher’s and Meir’s, whether Jean-Pierre intends this or not. The girlboss has priorities, but they are centered on herself; her compass always points inward. Jean-Pierre was the voice of the U.S. government, a responsibility she demotes to a form of self-actualization. She exempts herself from introspection and regret. Did Biden, the hero, get anything wrong? Did she? Israeli forces killed thousands of Palestinians with arms that Biden sold them, but Jean-Pierre never questions him or admits her complicity. The genocide in Gaza is some “terrible conflict.” Biden announced a temporary cease-fire toward the end of his presidency. End scene. “It was a whirlwind, leaving me little time to reflect about endings or beginnings, whether they were Biden’s or my own,” she writes.
I then recalled a BuzzFeed News listicle that still haunts me. Midway through the first Trump term, an illustrator in Brooklyn created a series of prints that depict “impactful women through history having their period,” as BuzzFeed put it. Sacagawea’s naked rear hovered over a shrub. Joan of Arc sat on a wooden board with a hole in it. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was perched on a toilet, still in her robes. The point, allegedly, was to celebrate #MightyMenstruation and the power of women, who get shit done while bleeding once a month. We could have it all, a legal career and a regular cycle, the dreams of our foremothers realized at last. The message was a little archaic even in 2018. The age of the girlboss was already synonymous with surrender, and a menacing era for American women had gotten underway. Ginsburg bore some of the blame. Two years after that listicle, she died on the bench and gave Trump a prized opportunity to replace her with Amy Coney Barrett. Roe v. Wade did not last much longer.
The girlboss was cringe — and dangerous, too. Underneath the kitsch, she’s a mercenary, and she persists because of powerful incentives for her behavior. Jean-Pierre is right: The Democratic Party is broken. But she’d have to look beyond herself in order to tell us why. “Being independent means refusing to silence your voice just so you can belong,” she concludes. Our voices carry further when we have something of substance to say. Otherwise, we’re just making noise.
Content Warnings: sexual assault, stalking, blackmail, coercive control, infidelity, trauma
Summary:Jenna, who runs a successful private therapy practice, still struggles with trust issues of her own. She’s made a promise to stop snooping in her husband Colten’s phone, but sometimes she can’t help herself. One night, she discovers a troubling exchange between him and his cousin Bodie, who’s one of his closest friends. A dancer from a bachelor party they both recently attended is threatening Bodie, claiming they crossed a line sexually and that she’ll expose the truth to his family if she doesn’t get what she wants. They don’t know much about this woman, or how far she’s willing to go. But Jenna might.
Lexus Chardonnay, the stage name of the dancer from the party, is one you don’t forget. And Jenna’s heard it before—from one of her clients.
Kaitlyn is a medical school student who dances on weekends to put herself through school. Jenna’s been her therapist for years, except she hasn’t seen her for three months. Not since Kaitlyn stopped showing up for treatment, without explanation. As Jenna begins to listen back to their past sessions, desperate for answers, a more complicated picture emerges, and she must decide who to trust as her career and her family hang in the balance.
Courtesy of Simon & Schuster
Everyone says they want honesty in a relationship, but how many of us have sneaked a peek at a partner’s phone when nobody’s looking? Jenna knows she shouldn’t, yet one quiet night, she breaks her promise and scrolls through her husband’s texts. What she finds isn’t your run-of-the-mill flirty message or a secret Instagram account. It’s something much more alarming: a digital Pandora’s box that threatens not just her marriage, but the very career built on trust and confidentiality.
Lucinda Berry’s new thriller, This Is A Safe Space, puts a modern twist on the old idea that some secrets refuse to stay buried. In an era when our whole lives (and our darkest lies) can hide behind a lock screen, this story taps into a very real, very today kind of fear. What if the person who creates a “safe space” for others has nowhere safe for herself? It’s a question Jenna is forced to confront as her professional world collides with a deeply personal nightmare.
1. Our Phones, Our Secrets
What would someone find if they opened your phone right now? It’s a disarming question, and in This Is A Safe Space, the answer nearly shatters one family. Jenna’s late-night phone snooping isn’t just a plot device; it’s a painfully relatable lapse in judgment. In an age of fingerprint locks and Face IDs, the smartphone has become a diary, confession booth, and safe deposit box of our secrets all in one. Jenna promised herself she’d trust her husband Colten, but the temptation of that glowing screen proves too strong. And when her worst suspicions appear confirmed by a string of cryptic texts, it kicks off a chain reaction of suspicion and fear.
This thriller gets how a tiny breach of digital privacy can snowball. One moment of “just checking” leads Jenna into a web of lies connecting her home to her therapy practice. It’s a modern scenario that feels disturbingly familiar, tapping into the way real trust issues often begin with a single notification at 2 AM. By anchoring the mystery in something as ordinary as a text message, the story makes its psychological punches hit close to home!
2. One Name, Two Lives
Meet Lexus Chardonnay. It’s a stage name you won’t easily forget. For Jenna, it’s the name that makes her blood run cold. Those threatening messages on her husband’s phone revolve around a mysterious dancer with this flashy alias. But Jenna has heard it before, in a far different context. Lexus is actually Kaitlyn, a bright medical student who has sat across from Jenna in therapy for years. By day, Kaitlyn is studying to heal others; by night, under neon lights, she becomes Lexus, dancing to pay the bills.
This dual life isn’t just a plot twist; it’s a commentary on the curated identities people juggle. On social media, we often present highlight reels of our lives, and some of us even keep whole parts of ourselves hidden under alter egos. The novel deftly shows how those separate worlds can collide in an instant. Jenna suddenly realizes the woman sending shockwaves through her family is the same person she’s tried to help through panic attacks and personal struggles. It’s a collision of worlds that raises the stakes and begs the question: how well do we really know anyone, even those we’re supposed to trust most?
3. Victim Or Villain?
Thrillers thrive on uncertainty over who wears the white hat and who’s hiding a dagger behind their back. This Is A Safe Space takes that uncertainty up a notch. The dancer threatening Jenna’s family might be an extortionist preying on men’s worst fears, or she could be a young woman lashing out after surviving something unspeakable. The story constantly tugs the rug out from under assumptions. One chapter, you’re convinced Bodie (Colten’s hapless cousin caught in the scandal) is being unfairly trapped; the next, you wonder if he’s not as innocent as he seems.
It’s a fascinating tightrope walk between sympathy and suspicion. The novel asks if it’s possible to be both a victim and a perpetrator at once. In real life, people who are hurt sometimes hurt others in return, intentionally or not. Berry isn’t afraid to live in that gray area. She lets readers sit with the discomfort that comes when you simply can’t slot someone into “good” or “bad.” It makes the suspense that much more intense.
4. When Control Turns Coercive
Behind the thriller’s twists lies a sobering commentary on power and credibility. The situation Jenna uncovers isn’t just about a scandal. It’s about who gets believed and who gets blamed. Kaitlyn’s alter ego, Lexus, resorts to late-night threats and demands, behaviors that look like stalking on the surface. But the novel nudges readers to consider why she feels this is her only recourse. Women who speak up about being harmed are too often dismissed as “crazy” or attention-seeking, especially if their story threatens a tight-knit family’s reputation. It’s a frustrating reality that This Is A Safe Space digs into: if Kaitlyn truly was wronged, would anyone believe her without proof or pressure?
The flip side is equally unsettling. If she’s lying, then she’s weaponizing the doubt that real victims face, making it harder for others to trust women’s stories. The narrative walks this fine line without preaching. Instead, it heightens the suspense: every character is unsure who to trust, and that creeping feeling of being watched or manipulated keeps both Jenna and the reader on edge. Coercive control isn’t always overt violence: sometimes it’s a barrage of texts, a veiled threat, or the silent treatment that warps reality. Berry shows how these subtler forms of manipulation can be just as chilling, especially in a world where deleting a message doesn’t erase what happened.
5. Blurred Boundaries, Big Dilemmas
Therapists are supposed to keep a professional distance, but what happens when the “someone” needing help is on the other side of the couch and also at your dinner table? Jenna’s predicament is every psychologist’s nightmare scenario. Ethically, a therapist shouldn’t entangle their personal life with a patient’s, yet here she is, smack in the middle of her client’s secret crisis. When Kaitlyn vanished from therapy without a word three months ago, Jenna never imagined their next encounter would be like this. Now Jenna is combing through old session notes and audio recordings, searching for clues in conversations that were meant to heal, not solve a mystery.
The book grapples with the ethics of these dual relationships in a very human way. Jenna isn’t portrayed as a saint or a sinner for the choices she makes, just a person trying to protect her family and her patient at the same time. It raises tough questions: Can you ever really separate personal feelings from professional duty? Jenna knows the rulebook, but This Is A Safe Space shows how real life often laughs in the face of those rules. The tension of watching her walk that tightrope between what’s right as a therapist and what’s necessary as a wife and mother adds another layer of depth to an already twisty thriller.
6. When Betrayal Hits Home
Beyond the mystery and mind games, Berry delves into the emotional wreckage that betrayal leaves behind. Jenna might be a therapist, but discovering her husband’s possible deceit puts her on the other side of the couch, reeling, doubting, and hurt like anyone else. The novel illustrates betrayal trauma in a way that young readers and older ones alike can feel in their gut. When someone you love breaks your trust, it doesn’t just sting; it alters how you see the world. Jenna’s outlook shifts as she grapples with the notion that the man she built a life with may have dangerous secrets. Her empathy is tested too; can she still sympathize with her client’s pain when she’s drowning in her own?
Lucinda Berry’s background as a psychologist shines through in these moments. The story doesn’t lecture about trauma; it shows it unfolding in real time, from Kaitlyn’s anxiety spirals to Jenna’s simmering panic behind her professional poise. The characters’ reactions feel authentic, messy, and human. This Is A Safe Space isn’t just another page turner; it’s a thriller that truly understands the psychology of broken trust!
The scariest part of This Is A Safe Space isn’t what people confess; it’s what they keep to themselves.
The Wages for Housework campaign demanded economic power the average housewife otherwise lacked. Photo: Bettye Lane/Schlesinger Library
For a little while, American women had more rights than their foremothers. That’s no longer true after Dobbs, which accelerated a much older assault on legal abortion, and the law is only half the story. The day of the girlboss is over, and with her goes the valorization of individual choice. We once heard that our place was in the White House but that if we wanted to stay in the kitchen, that was all right too. Choice feminism was a political fiction; it presumed autonomy, which we had not yet won. Liberalism has no answer for the vengeful anti-feminist backlash that is taking its place. Women are entering a new era of struggle.
Although we still have choices, they are limited and under renewed threat. To Vice-President J.D. Vance, “childless cat ladies” threaten an essential American project; by withholding children, they withhold the most meaningful social contribution they can make. President Trump once proposed a vague “tax credit” for family caregiving, which is largely performed by women, but never released a formal plan and is silent on the matter now. Secular pronatalists say they want to create mothers, not housewives, but in prizing fertility rates above reproductive liberty, they offer women a familiar fate. The most extreme Christian nationalists are so keen to keep us down that they would deny us the vote. If they are correct, and a woman is wired by God or biology to stay in the kitchen, then she deludes herself by desiring anything else. “It’s in our nature,” the influencer Alex Clark said recently. Women who prioritize career over family life are “more medicated, meddlesome, and quarrelsome than women need to be,” Scott Yenor of Boise State University said at the National Conservatism conference in 2021.
The problem with the kitchen is not the kitchen itself but who’s in it and how she got there. If women are so suited to domestic labor, perhaps we’d be happier — but in Holding It Together: How Women Became America’s Social Safety Net, the sociologist Jessica Calarco depicts an immiserated generation. To Calarco, policy works alongside social conditioning to keep women in place. Pronatalism did not begin yesterday, or even with Dobbs. Instead, most women hear early in their lives that motherhood is a unique source of personal fulfillment, if not a religious or cultural obligation. But motherhood is not just a biological relationship; it is a social role with political implications, and without a functional safety net, it can also become a weight around a woman’s neck.
Through policymaking and social conditioning, women are still the nation’s caregivers, often at the expense of our own wellbeing. We thus have one leg in a trap the Wages for Housework movement sought to blow open decades ago. As the historian Emily Callaci recounts in her new book, Wages for Housework: The Feminist Fight Against Unpaid Labor, a global and multiracial coalition of women in the 1970s demanded recognition for the work they did at home and more. Economic power would be a step toward a new and liberatory world. That world is still possible, decades later, no matter how distant it may appear.
To write Holding It Together, Calarco carried out a series of sweeping research surveys, beginning in 2018, and reached thousands of participants. Her subjects are ideologically, geographically, and racially diverse, an overdue departure from the usual narratives about women and work. Stack up the books and the hot takes about who’s opting out and why, and the principle characters will be white-collar women of means. Calarco takes a broader view, and her analysis is richer for it. The women she interviews offer complex and sometimes unexpected conclusions about the decisions they make and the labor they perform. Their experiences, while distinct, complete a portrait of thwarted ambition and desire. A woman who dreams of children and a large family can still long for autonomy and resent its absence. Unless she has wealth of her own, her choices are often restricted by the decisions of others: her spouse, his employer, and policymakers.
Calacro speaks with Audrey, who wanted her toddler daughter to have a sibling. Then she lost her retail job in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. Unemployment was difficult for her. The job “had been the thing that helped most in overcoming” her postpartum depression, Calarco writes, and Audrey wanted to delay her next child. Though she couldn’t tolerate hormonal birth control, her husband, Colby, wouldn’t wear condoms, and one day he didn’t pull out, either. “It’s very clear that it wasn’t something I was okay with,” she tells Calarco later. “It wasn’t something that I consented to.” Although she believes sexual assault is an “appropriate” term for Colby’s abuse, she says that many in her life disagree. She relies on their Evangelical church friends for emotional support and practical help with meals and child care, and they disapprove of abortion and divorce. Audrey fears she can’t afford to leave Colby, either. She’d need paid work again, which means she’d also need to pay for child care on top of her credit-card payments, medical debt, and car loans, “which totaled more than $40,000,” Calarco writes.
Even if a woman’s partner or co-parent tries to be involved and supportive, structural inequalities make it difficult for her to exercise whatever freedom she has on paper. In 2019, Sierra, a young Black woman who lived in Indiana with her toddler son, worked as many hours as her fast-food job would allow. She earned less than $1,000 a month, which qualified her for WIC, welfare, and Medicaid, but the benefits weren’t enough to lift her out of poverty. Her child’s father, Derek, moved to Alabama to work in poultry processing, and Sierra followed him so their son would grow up with both parents nearby. When the pandemic struck, Derek managed to hold on to his job, but they struggled to pay for necessities until the federal government mailed their first stimulus checks. That money gave them breathing room, which paid work had not delivered, and Sierra got to spend more time with her son. “We do finger painting, and we color,” Sierra tells Calarco. What more could any mother want?
As Calarco observes, a woman’s wants matter less to policymakers than the unpaid work she performs. Put another way, America needs women, but it doesn’t need women to be people. A woman is too often defined by what she can do for others and not by her innate dignity and worth. Someone has to change a baby’s diapers. Someone has to supervise a grandparent with dementia. Either Supermom does it herself, or she pays another, more precariously situated woman for her labor. Calarco writes that our “DIY society” depends on “the magic of women.” But it’s not magic — it’s work. There are no miracles here.
Who should a woman blame for her condition? There are many villains in our lives, and sometimes they are male. Although American men do more household work than ever before, a discrepancy persists, and women make up the difference. Still, most of us don’t live in a sitcom, even if we’re heterosexual. If women are human beings, so are men, and we all make decisions within certain constraints. I can count on one hand the number of times my father ever played with me, or cooked dinner, or scrubbed a toilet. When I’m searching for an explanation, I can refer to our Evangelical convictions, or to my father himself, but if that’s where I stop, I’ll never get the full truth. We needed my father’s income, such as it was, and our economic reality bracketed a hoary old hierarchy. My father won the bread, and my mother, naturally, did everything else.
In 1975, the Italian scholar Silvia Federici wrote of a distinct problem with housework. Unlike waged work, housework was not only “imposed on women” but “transformed into a natural attribute of our female physique and personality, an internal need, an aspiration, supposedly coming from the depth of our female character,” she wrote in Wages Against Housework, perhaps her most famous essay. A wage is a form of recognition, even leverage, that the archetypal housewife lacks. Though a woman might liberate herself in a limited way through wealth or education, she is not free as long as housework remains “a feminine attribute,” Federici wrote. A half-century later, the right is proving her point in the crudest terms possible. “Having children is more important than having a good career,” the late Charlie Kirk told women. America’s “DIY society” is built on similar sentiments, as Calarco writes. It’s capitalism by another name.
Illustration: Jacquie Ursula Caldwell/Library of Congress
To Federici and her comrades in the Wages for Housework movement, the housewife was trapped in the same web as her husband, even if she occupied a different and less advantageous location within it. In Emily Callaci’s new book on the movement, she describes it as a “critique not only of women’s oppression, but of global capitalism in its entirety.” Some members demanded a literal sum for the domestic work of women; others did not. As Callaci observes in her introduction, the movement could be somewhat controversial, even in the world of second-wave feminism, but the basic analysis is difficult to refute. A woman can’t escape capitalism by vanishing into her home. Once she is there, love — for her children and, maybe, their father — becomes one more restriction on her life.
Callaci writes that for Mariarosa Dalla Costa, another prominent Italian scholar, autonomy is a “central” notion. Influenced by operaismo, which considered “work the means to a paycheck” and not “a source of identity,” Dalla Costa does not think of autonomy as a form of isolation but rather the opposite. In Dalla Costa’s postcapitalist vision, a woman is no longer stuck in the kitchen, alone with her children. Once she is free to share the work with others, in communal laundries and nurseries and elder-care homes, her identity becomes hers to define. To campaigners, liberation was a material goal, not a mere slogan. Before Wilmette Brown co-founded Black Women for Wages for Housework, she joined the Black Panthers in Berkeley, California, during the late 1960s. There, Callaci writes, “she would have participated in discussions about Black self-determination and autonomy,” and she was “drawn” to the work of Frantz Fanon, who sought “reparations, rather than charity, for formerly colonized peoples.” Brown, a lesbian, was not living a traditional life, but as she wrote later, the perspective of Wages for Housework “made it possible” for her “to connect with other Black women in whatever situation, because we are all struggling against housework, against heterosexual discipline, heterosexual work discipline, and for money — to be independent.”
In the most pedantic reading of history, Wages for Housework might seem like a failure. Whether we call it housework or care work, most women around the world still perform it without much recognition, let alone pay. A future without capitalism feels especially distant in the U.S. But Callaci is too skilled a historian to lapse into easy literalism. A radical vision may defy a simple translation into policy and retain all of its value. Ideas can have unpredictable afterlives, as Callaci shows. Although the campaign has faded, Callaci’s subjects apply their energy and their principles to other, linked struggles: the decriminalization of sex work, an end to war, and the preservation of our environment. In the early aughts, the late scholar and activist Andaiye launched a Wages for Housework campaign in her native Guyana, protesting the austerity measures imposed by the IMF and the World Bank on countries like hers. Others, like the writer and activist Selma James, still want cash for caregiving. “Once we have it, it is very hard for them to take it away,” she said at an event that Callaci attended.
Cash helps. A woman can buy some mobility with it, but freedom is more elusive. In Women Talking, the novel by Miriam Toews, a group of Mennonite men have drugged and raped women and girls in their community. (The novel is based on a real crime.) When the women gather in secret to discuss their response, one cautions, “When we have liberated ourselves, we will have to ask ourselves who we are.” It is the same question we all face, no matter what’s in our pockets.
No policymaker ordered Calarco’s subjects home, or forced a career woman to do most of the housework, but no one had to. Housework still codesfeminine, and so does caregiving itself. We are circling the kitchen, warily, wondering if the door will shut on us and who might lock us in. Everyone is explaining our desires to us, our nature, through polling numbers and white papers and the almighty discourse, and there is no room for women to be people.
Consider The Dignity of Dependence: A Feminist Manifesto, a new book by the Catholic writer Leah Libresco Sargeant. In Sargeant’s view, autonomy is impossible, and that is especially true for women. Because most of us can give birth, we are “shaped by dependance” in ways that men are not, and we cannot free ourselves by denying our essence. If “the freedom we enjoy is imagined to be the freedom to ‘control … one’s destiny’ rather than to shape it within natural constraints,” she writes, “then the whole outside world becomes women’s enemy because it does not bow to our will.” The Wages for Housework campaign is still relevant, she adds later, if only because it named the value of unwaged domestic labor, but that is where she leaves it. Women “can’t live fully within the lie of autonomy,” she writes. She proposes “caregiver credits” as partial compensation for work that mostly falls on women, and in her role at the right-leaning Niskanen Center, she once called for a one-time “baby bonus” payment to new parents. To some, that’s enough: She spoke at the Abundance Conference this year.
Others concede that women might pursue their interests, if only within those “natural constraints.” Earlier this year, Scott Yenor wrote a piece for the right-wing Institute for Family Studies where he set out a taxonomy of “tradwives.” The “side-hustle wife” is an “ambitious, intelligent woman” who does a bit of “extra work” to help the family finances, he explained. She finds meaning in her paid work, but not too much; she believes her husband should be the provider. To her, motherhood is “worth the sacrifice,” and it is “the most important thing” in her life. Some conservatives are more explicit about what they’re asking women to surrender. In an interview with Albert Mohler of the Southern Baptist Convention, podcaster and author Allie Beth Stuckey attacks the abortion-rights movement for telling women they have “a desire that needs to be fulfilled, and that is to be autonomous,” a political sensibility that lacks “the constraint of the sacrifice of motherhood.” A woman should give up her body, her time, and even her mind.
If a woman must choose between dependence on a husband and his employer or dependence on her own wage, the latter is preferable to the former. Some choices are indeed better than others. And yet a woman with a salary makes sacrifices too. Whether she likes her job, or tolerates it, or actively loathes it, she surrenders most of her time and cognitive effort to an employer who might not think she’s a person, either. Her wants don’t matter on the job site. “Work has not brought us liberation, freedom, or even much joy,” the journalist Sarah Jaffe wrote in Work Won’t Love You Back. Calarco’s subject, Audrey, needs her own steady income and a more egalitarian church, but more than that, she needs a different sort of world. A baby bonus won’t get us there, and neither will a side hustle. The women of Wages for Housework “wanted to confront collectively the present systems of social production and reproduction rather than merely individually escape them,” explains the scholar Kathi Weeks, who prefers a guaranteed basic income. If that income met our “basic needs,” a person could “refuse waged work entirely,” though most would likely pursue a “supplementary wage,” Weeks adds in The Problem With Work. Autonomy is neither isolation or “interchangeability between the sexes,” as Sargeant put it, but a form of self-determination. It is the freedom to decide, for yourself, who you are and what you want.
I always knew I didn’t want my mother’s life, and as I entered my early 20s, her fate terrified me so deeply that I thought I had to define myself against her or the women around me. Some night, as I neared the end of my time at an Evangelical college, I watched three couples enter the dining hall. The men sat down. The women stayed upright and started walking away to fetch dinner for their boyfriends. Because I was young and righteous and sad, I asked them why they were doing it. They looked shocked at the question. “We want to do this,” one said. “It’s just an act of service.”
Only years later did I realize that I’d gotten it wrong, in my anger. Why did I say something to the women and not their smug men? Why didn’t I shake my fist at the religion we shared, which told us from birth that God made us subservient? I was so pleased with my own choices. I would not become my mother. And I haven’t, and still we’re not so different, my mother and I. Sometimes a woman makes a bad choice because it’s the best of her terrible options. Revolution begins there.
Content Warnings: death, parent deaths, gore, war, violence, illness and plague, cheating
Summary:Hazel Trépas has always known she wasn’t like the rest of her siblings. A thirteenth child, promised to one of the gods, she spends her childhood waiting for her godfather, Merrick, the Dreaded End and Death himself, to arrive. When he does, he lays out his plan for Hazel’s future. She will become a great healer, known throughout the kingdom for her precision and skill. To aid her endeavors, Merrick blesses Hazel with a gift, the ability to instantly deduce the exact cure needed to treat the sick.
But all gifts come with a price. . . .
Hazel can see when Death has claimed a patient—when all hope is gone—and is tasked with ending their suffering, permanently. Haunted by the ghosts of those she’s killed, Hazel longs to run. But destiny brings her to the royal court,where she meets Leo, a rakish prince, and against her better judgment, she falls in love. But Hazel faces her biggest dilemma yet when she is called to heal the king. Hazel knows what she is meant to do and knows what her heart is urging her toward, but what will happen if she goes against the will of Death for the sake of love?
Imagine being blessed at birth, not by a fairy godmother but by Death himself. That’s the haunting premise of Erin Craig’s The Thirteenth Child, a YA novel that spins a darkly enchanting tale from a Grimm fairy tale. It’s part epic fantasy, part romance, and it’s already topping bestseller lists. So what makes this gothic story stand out? Here are 7 reasons it’s casting a spell on young readers:
1. A Grimm Inspiration Reborn
Based on a Brothers Grimm tale, but far from a quaint fable. It draws inspiration from a lesser-known Grimm story called Godfather Death, but don’t expect a straight retelling. Craig uses that dark premise as a springboard for something much bigger! The novel nods to the original folktale’s themes of bargains and fate, then ups the ante with richer characters and higher stakes. It feels like a classic fairy tale at heart, but with far more twists and teeth.
2. Hazel Trépas: A Heroine With A Dark Gift
At the story’s heart is Hazel, a girl blessed (and cursed) by Death. Hazel Trépas is the thirteenth child of a poor family, promised from birth to the God of Death. When her eerie godfather finally shows up, he blesses Hazel with the power to heal any illness. The catch? She can also tell exactly when someone is beyond saving, and then she must end their suffering. Imagine the burden of that gift! Hazel is compassionate but haunted, determined to forge her own path despite the grim duty hanging over her. It’s impossible not to root for her as she fights for control of her life under Death’s shadow!
3. Death As The Ultimate Godfather
When Death becomes your mentor, expect the unexpected. Merrick, the god of Death himself, isn’t your typical hooded reaper. As Hazel’s godfather, he’s stern and otherworldly, yet oddly caring in his own way (more so than Hazel’s actual parents, frankly). He takes Hazel under his wing to mold her into the great healer he expects. Their bond is a fascinating push-pull of duty and affection. It’s not every day that Death plays dad, and here it’s equal parts chilling and touching.
4. Gothic Atmosphere And Storybook Vibes
Think candlelit castles, misty forests, and ghosts at the door. The book’s atmosphere is pure gothic goodness, from midnight chapel vigils to woodland spirits lurking by the road. Craig vividly renders a world where every blessing comes with a curse attached, making it feel like you’ve stepped into an eerie old storybook. Yet for all the dark, lush detail, the writing stays crisp and clear. It gives you goosebumps without ever getting you lost in the woods.
5. Royal Intrigue And High-Stakes Twists
Palace politics, family secrets, and fate hanging by a thread. When Hazel is summoned to the royal court to heal a dying king, the story kicks into high gear. Suddenly she’s navigating a den of vipers: scheming nobles, hidden agendas, and maybe even a murderous plot. In this kingdom, no one is entirely trustworthy, and danger lurks in every corridor. The novel delivers twist after twist as Hazel unravels what (or who) is behind the king’s illness. The stakes are sky-high, with Hazel’s own future tied to the fate of the realm, so by the climax you’ll be holding your breath hoping she can cheat Death itself!
6. A ‘Romantasy’ Worth Swooning Over
Amid the darkness is a swoon-worthy spark. Even in a dark tale, there’s room for love. Hazel’s chemistry with Prince Leo (the king’s younger son) brings a welcome glow to the gloom. Their banter is quick and witty (Leo’s cynicism meets its match in Hazel’s no-nonsense charm) and their reluctant alliance slowly blossoms into something more. Importantly, the romance never overshadows the main story; instead, it raises the emotional stakes. You’ll find yourself rooting for this couple to find a happily-ever-after, even as doom hangs over them. In a world so shadowed, their romance is a warm, defiant light.
7. Haunting Themes With Heart
A fairy tale that makes you think (and maybe cry). Beyond the magic and mayhem, this story tackles big questions about mortality and sacrifice. Hazel’s very role asks: What makes a life well-lived? How far should one go to save someone they love? There are definitely scenes that tug at the heartstrings (keep tissues handy), but there’s also a thread of hope shining through!
The Thirteenth Child doesn’t just retell a fairy tale: it redefines it for a new generation, turning a morbid premise into a story about the fierce, fragile beauty of life!
Summary: Thea has a secret. She can tell how long someone has left to live just by touching them. Not only that, but she can transfer life from one person to another—something she finds out the hard way when her best friend, Ruth, suffers a fatal head injury on a night out. Desperate to save her, Thea accidentally kills the man responsible and lets his life flow directly into Ruth.
Thea comes to understand that she has a godlike power, but how to use it quickly becomes a question of self-control. Is it really so wrong to take a little life from a bad person—say, a very annoying boss—and gift it to someone who’s truly good? Realizing she needs to harness her newfound skills, Thea creates an Ethical Guide to Murder. But as she embarks on her mission to punish the wicked and give the deserving more time, she finds good and bad aren’t as simple as she first thought.
How can she really know who deserves to live and die, and can she figure out her own rules before Ruth’s borrowed time runs out?
Image Source: Courtesy of HarperCollins
The premise sounds like something dreamed up after a late‑night crime podcast binge: what if you could see the exact moment someone will die just by touching them, and what if you could siphon off their remaining hours for someone else? That’s the hook of AN ETHICAL GUIDE TO MURDER, the debut novel by Jenny Morris. The story follows twenty‑six‑year‑old Londoner Thea, a self‑described flake who barely scraped through law school and now works in HR while living with her medical‑student best friend, Ruth. During a night out celebrating Ruth’s success, Thea brushes her roommate’s hand and suddenly knows she will die at precisely 11:44 p.m. When Thea later snatches life from the drunk man who knocks Ruth over, transferring his remaining years to save her friend, she realizes she’s stumbled into a power normally reserved for comic books and ancient myth. Those early pages set up the novel’s central dilemma: if you could decide who deserves to live and who deserves to die, what rules would guide you?
So, She Wrote An Ethical Rule Book
Faced with a godlike ability, most of us would panic. Thea makes a spreadsheet. Together with Sam, a high‑powered lawyer and former flame, she tries to codify her newfound talent into something altruistic. The result is the “ethical guide to murder,” a checklist of justifications she’ll use before taking someone’s life: the target must have caused excessive harm, shown no remorse, and be likely to hurt others again. Bonus points if they’ve already killed someone. These rules, borrowed from her own conscience rather than any legal code, sound simple until they collide with messy reality. A belligerent stranger at a club or a corrupt boss might seem like easy marks, but Thea quickly learns that people rarely fit neatly into columns of good and bad.
This tension between intent and action is where Morris has fun. When Thea lends extra years to a masseuse as a generous tip or takes a few months from an annoying colleague, you start to feel complicit. It’s disturbingly relatable to fantasize about redistributing time from the unpleasant to the deserving. The spreadsheet isn’t enough; morality leaks out around the edges, and Thea’s attempts to play judge and jury feel more like someone gamifying guilt than a righteous crusade.
Dark Humor In A Morality Play
One reason the novel might resonate with younger readers is its tonal agility. Morris is a behavioral scientist with a PhD in cognitive psychology. That background peeks through in the way she balances ethical debate with deadpan humor. Thea’s existential crisis is peppered with observational jokes about HR bureaucracy, London nightlife, and the absurdity of trying to quantify morality with bullet points. In one scene, she refers to her power as a “life‑hack” that would make productivity gurus blush. Thea may be saving lives, but she still complains about office politics and ends up planning kills during spin class. That juxtaposition feels very twenty‑first century: serious questions about justice delivered alongside memes about procrastination.
Morris never lets the humor undermine the stakes. Beneath the quips lies a grieving woman traumatized by her parents’ deaths in a hit‑and‑run. The accident left her with a constant need to right wrongs, and her vigilante streak is as much about revenge as altruism! As Thea’s body count rises and Sam’s influence grows, the tone shifts from quirky urban fantasy to thriller. Theirs is a relationship built on shared secrets and convenience; Sam pushes Thea to kill for his own vision of justice, and we’re left wondering whether she’s fallen for him or for the ease of having someone else make the hard decisions.
Characters You Love To Side‑Eye
Readers expecting a plucky heroine may be surprised. Thea is messy. She flunked her bar exams, half‑heartedly chases a career she doesn’t really want, and uses her supernatural gift as both a coping mechanism and a power trip. Her best friend Ruth is grounded and earnest, a doctor who believes in the Hippocratic oath even when it clashes with Thea’s vigilantism. Sam, with his endless legal connections and questionable ethics, oscillates between ally and antagonist. He sees Thea’s talent as a business opportunity, a way to remove obstacles and curry favor, and his moral compass points wherever the money flows. Even Thea’s crusty grandfather, who raised her after her parents’ accident, brings complexity; he embodies the traditional values Thea flouts yet quietly approves of her loyalty to Ruth.
This cast makes Thea’s world feel like a dysfunctional found family. Their dynamics lean into the blurred lines between friendship and co‑dependence: who hasn’t kept a toxic ex around because they feel like there’s unfinished business? Thea’s loyalty to Ruth is the novel’s beating heart; their bond, forged through childhood illness and shared trauma, anchors the narrative. When Thea’s actions threaten that friendship, the story’s moral stakes become personal.
When The Fantasy Gets Uncomfortably Real
The novel’s high concept might sound fantastical, but many of the themes mirror contemporary debates: restorative justice, cancel culture, and who gets to decide what accountability looks like. Morris asks you to confront your own biases. Would you shave years off a murderer’s life to save an innocent? If a corrupt CEO loses a few months of retirement, is that justice or vengeance? And what about smaller, pettier infractions; the commuter who pushes past you on the train, the politician who lies on television? Thea’s internal monologue touches on all of these, and it’s hard not to imagine one’s own ethical spreadsheet.
The book also critiques the allure of vigilantism. It’s seductive to believe in personal retribution, yet the plot shows how quickly righteous action becomes self‑serving. As the story progresses, Thea becomes addicted to the rush of playing god and justifying her choices by cherry‑picking examples of bad behavior. This slippery slope is dramatized when her and Sam’s schemes veer into financial crimes and personal vendettas. The once‑clear lines blur until she’s unsure whether she’s acting to protect others or to soothe her own unresolved anger.
Tempo, Twists, And The Payoff
Pacing can make or break high‑concept fiction, and AN ETHICAL GUIDE TO MURDER mostly delivers. The first half feels like an episodic series of vignettes in which Thea tests out her rules and stumbles through moral messes. Some readers may find these chapters repetitive; the thrill of discovering a new superpower gives way to a rhythm of identification, judgment, and redistribution of time. However, the back half accelerates as Thea and Sam’s enterprises unravel. A financial scandal, an investigation into Ruth’s extended lifespan, and Thea’s hunt for her parents’ killer converge in a taut finale that justifies the slow burn! The climax forces Thea to confront the very question she’s been avoiding: can one ever balance the scales when playing with life itself?
Why It Clicks With Younger Readers
There’s a reason this book has been popping up on BookTok feeds and in DMs between friends. The central premise, a woman with an Excel file deciding who deserves more time, speaks to a generation raised on side hustles and moral complexity. For an audience that grew up watching superheroes dismantle systems but also wrestles with the consequences of “canceling” someone, Thea’s story feels like an allegory. It asks whether individual action can substitute for institutional justice, a question that resonates when trust in systems is low.
The novel’s mix of gallows humor and genuine philosophical inquiry also reflects the way many young adults process trauma: through memes, sarcasm, and earnest conversation in equal measure. Thea’s penchant for witty asides while discussing murder invites the kind of darkly comic commentary that thrives on social media threads. Even the ethics spreadsheet has inspired readers to create their own “life‑swap bingo cards” online. The book’s cultural footprint shows that high‑concept crime fiction can be both thought‑provoking and wildly entertaining!
The Verdict
AN ETHICAL GUIDE TO MURDER is messy, provocative, and undeniably fun. Its central conceit will stretch your suspension of disbelief, but its characters and the questions it raises about justice and self‑interest will keep you up at night. Young readers will appreciate the mix of dark comedy and serious introspection, and even those who find Thea unlikable may still be captivated by her journey. Ultimately, the book succeeds not because it tells us who should live or die, but because it forces us to confront why we feel qualified to make that call. It’s a novel that invites you to argue with yourself, jot down rules, cross them out, and then throw the list away! If you’re craving a fresh voice in crime fiction that doubles as a philosophical thought experiment, this one’s worth your time.
Maybe the real crime isn’t the kill, but how casually we assume we’re the ones who should decide who gets to live!
Long novels demand respect. Entering a bookstore and picking up a 600-page literary novel, many readers will make an instinctive calculation: This must be serious. No author would spill so much ink without having something essential to say. A reader’s expectations may rise further if the writer were, say, a hermetic celebrity who has not published a book for 19 years — and higher still if that famous novelist were writing about writing, staking her claim on the form of the novel itself.
In this instance, the writer is Kiran Desai, the novel is The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, and the page count is 688. Booker longlisted already, it’s the follow-up to Desai’s 2006 Booker-winning superhit The Inheritance of Loss. And it is a big swing. Set primarily in India and the United States between 1996 and 2002, and told in an omniscient third person that nods to the 19th-century Russian novel, it combines various traditions of realism: It’s part marriage plot, part trauma plot, and part novel of manners. Most ambitiously, it’s a book concerned with Indian identity that levels a metacommentary on the very act of writing about identity. Desai’s protagonists — Sunny, a reporter, and Sonia, an aspiring novelist — are isolated cosmopolitan writers. By choosing as protagonists two people writing about loneliness and identity — perennial themes in immigrant fiction — Desai aims to make well-trodden terrain her own.
The marriage plot forms the spine of the novel and is largely successful. The love story is an arranged-marriage tale, something Sonia’s first boyfriend calls a cliché in Indian fiction. Yet Desai offers a twist: The novel opens with the protagonists’ families attempting to matchmake; however, the initial proposal fails because Sunny secretly has a white girlfriend. Later, Sonia and Sunny get together on their own terms. Desai’s multipart meet-cute lets her challenge neat old-world–new-world dichotomies. Her marriage plot is about the complex ways immigration inflects intimacy and how the romantic is political. Sonia, who studied in the U.S. but cannot get a visa to return, feels like a burden to Sunny, who guards his green card jealously. “She was giving Sunny too much bad news, like a Third World relative whom your only choice is to ditch before their problems disrupt your First World life,” Desai writes. When the couple travel to Italy and Sunny can’t stop talking about refugees, they have a rare fight. Sonia tells Sunny, to his dismay, that she wants to enjoy her trip to the First World without worrying about “other Third-Worlders.” Here, Desai intelligently recasts the 19th-century marriage plot as a 21st-century story of global identity.
The romance, however, competes with the tale of trauma. Early on, Sonia falls into an abusive relationship with an older painter, Ilan — a romantic dynamic that Desai acknowledges as “a tedious stereotype of older, monster male artist and younger, aspiring female artist.” Desai tries to write past this stereotype by introducing a surreal plot point: Sonia literally loses her creative powers to Ilan when he steals her family heirloom, a protective amulet. Then, when she and Sunny get together, they are both haunted by a “ghost hound,” a manifestation of Sonia’s trauma. Such a high-concept literalization of trauma is, in 2025, about as clichéd as the stereotype it attempts to represent.
In the case of the novel of manners, Desai’s metanarration offers up as intertext Anna Karenina, which a rapt young Sonia reads. Desai does have a Tolstoyan talent for both empathizing with and skewering the upper classes from within. Sonia, Sunny, and their kin — people who can afford to vacation in Europe, though only after being humiliatingly interrogated to get a visa — are case studies in uneven privilege. When Desai writes into these complications, she triumphs. Sunny, for example, feels solidarity with his working-class immigrant neighbors in Queens while repressing the fact that his family funded his education with black money. Desai especially shines when rendering Sunny’s mother, Babita, a petty widow who raised her son to immigrate yet resents him for leaving her in India; her trip to London is ruined by the shameful sight of a desi cleaning a toilet, and she seeks out an exhibit about maharajas (the impressive kind of Indian) to inflate her sense of self. Through Babita, Desai puts forth many cogent observations about cosmopolitan Indians: “this striving to escape India felt patriotic,” she writes. “If you were a worthy Indian, you became an American.”
Material details are Desai’s specialty. Her gaze captures everything from a bobby-pinned henna toupee to a potato-chip bag floating downriver. At times, though, Desai goes too far, and those “millions of observations” make for purple prose. A kurta is “woven in the red of coconut husk, the khaki under a banyan, the purple of sea monsters drawn from the depths by monsoon tides and cast upon the beach.” The sentences get sloppier as the book nears its conclusion, a sure sign it is straining under the weight of its many competing elements.
The reason for the strain may lie in the novel’s least convincing preoccupation: the loneliness of migration and the difficulty of articulating one’s identity in a world that erases Indians. Because these themes form the framework that holds it all together, Desai must make the most of them for the novel to cohere. This task requires her to dramatize the concepts of loneliness and identity to say something original and surprising. This is challenging, in part because loneliness is such a familiar theme in the 21st-century Indian American novel (blame Jhumpa Lahiri and her literary inheritors). Of course, with precisely sketched social worlds, deep character development, and plots that turn ideas into narrative, novelists can always find new riffs on old themes. Indeed, with her well-imagined side characters and subplots, Desai does make loneliness specific: Babita’s loneliness leads to an intriguingly bloody (albeit rushed) crime story line, while Sunny’s friend Satya’s loneliness sends him on a comically meandering quest for an Indian bride.
The protagonists’ many plotlines, however, do not advance the concepts at stake in Sonia and Sunny. Desai’s attempts to relate Sonia and Sunny’s love story to her wider themes lead her to indulge in cliché. When they meet, they are immediately infatuated because they have both been lonely Indians in the West and because they are both fleeing relationships with shallowly characterized racists who sling insults about curry. In trying to capture the comfort of being with a fellow Indian, Desai uses essentializing platitudes: Sonia imagines Sunny and herself bound by “a culture so deep” with its “eternal waters”; Sunny, too, enjoying Sonia’s company, reflects that “dusk in India felt always settled, ancient, a civilization that had come to fullness.” These are uncritically written descriptions of immigrant nostalgia that readers of immigrant fiction will have encountered many times before — two people flattening a country and a culture, making it easier to imagine and easier to yearn for. A 2025 novel about immigrant identity, especially one that aims to say something about the representation of immigrant identity, owes its readers a bit more nuance.
It is a pity that the metacommentary in Sonia and Sunny is so inchoate, because, as an author and public figure, Desai is well positioned to sort through the rubble of our often inane representation discourse (and to articulate its wider social consequences). In addition to being a respected Indian novelist in her own right, Desai is a genetic heir to the postcolonial novel as a daughter of three-time Booker-shortlisted Anita Desai. She is also no stranger to the sensitivities and stakes of representing India for a western audience. While many global readers celebrated The Inheritance of Loss, the novel incited controversy on the subcontinent for its representation of Nepalis; there were threats of book-burnings in Kalimpong. Yet the essayistic musings in Sonia and Sunny read more like armchair postcolonialism than a major writer laying muscular claim to the novel as form.
Had Desai wished to more deeply explore such sociopolitical themes through the lives of her subjects, her ingeniously imagined secondary characters are waiting in the wings. In addition to Babita and Satya, there is Sonia’s aunt Mina Foi, a Hindu-raised woman besotted with Christianity. Desai might also have engaged more explicitly with politics. Sonia and Sunny takes place between two historic moments of anti-Muslim violence: the 1992 razing of a mosque in Ayodhya and the 2002 riots in Gujarat. The Hindu majority behind much of this violence also invoke the idea that a nation-state has a soul. It would have been fascinating to see Desai do more to contrast Sonia and Sunny’s perhaps “legitimate” desire to capture the truth of India with the logic of the conservative movements that lurk at the edges of the novel.
It is tempting to admire long novels solely for the sheer labor that goes into crafting them. And long novels are sometimes even more pleasurable for their glorious mess, assuming they add up to something fresh. But upon reaching page 688, it is disappointing to feel, despite Desai’s many talents, that Sonia and Sunny is ending very close to where it began.
Content Warnings: death (including parental death), car accident, drowning, violence, psychological manipulation, grief
Summary: A dead teacher at an elite boarding school. Four students who had every reason to want her gone. Who is the monster?
At an elite New England boarding school, eight students are selected for an exclusive storytelling workshop with the one and only Meredith Graffam—an enigmatic writer, director, and actress. For sixteen days, they will live in the isolated estate of the school’s founder, surrounded by snowy woods and a storm-tossed seas. Only one of the chosen will walk away with a lifechanging opportunity to realize their creative dreams.
Everyone, including Graffam, has a compelling reason to be there—Effy, the orphan, Isaac, the legacy, Ness, the wallflower, Ramon, the outsider, and Arlo, whose unexpected arrival leaves Effy spiraling—but only the most ambitious will last the term. Graffam’s unorthodox methods push the students past the breaking point, revealing their darkest secrets, taking unthinkable risks, and slowly starting to turn on one another. But Graffam never expected they would turn on her . . .
Image Source: Courtesy of Penguin Random House
Ever wondered what secrets lurk behind ivy-covered boarding school walls? Jennifer Niven’s latest novel When We Were Monsters invites readers into an elite world where ambition runs high, creativity is a blood sport, and not everyone makes it out alive. In this engaging new YA thriller, Niven, best known for heartfelt favorites like All the Bright Places, trades small-town angst for a dark academia setting dripping with suspense and stormy New England atmosphere. The result is a story as dynamic and fresh as it is chilling!
Let’s break down why When We Were Monsters is capturing attention and imaginations, especially among younger readers. From its killer premise (literally) to the relatable fears it taps into, here are the key takeaways from this conversational yet polished review of Niven’s newest page-turner.
1. A Killer Premise That Hooks You Early
Niven doesn’t waste time drawing us in; the novel opens with a line that practically dares you not to read on: “The day before we kill Meredith Graffam is calm and blue. Like Massachusetts in summer after rain.” With that evocative sentence, we’re immediately thrust into a murder plot at an elite New England boarding school. The victim? Meredith Graffam, a charismatic yet feared teacher running an exclusive 16-day storytelling workshop for eight hand-picked students. The twist? Each of those students has a motive, and each had every reason to want her gone. It’s a classic whodunit setup, a dead mentor, a locked-room (or rather, locked-mansion) mystery, but given a contemporary spin that feels anything but dated.
This killer premise hooks you early by combining the glittering upper echelons of society with the creeping suspicion that monsters walk among us. The phrase “Who is the monster?” becomes the novel’s haunting refrain. Is the monster one of the ambitious teens vying for their big break? Is it Meredith herself, whose teaching methods verge on psychological warfare? Or is it something more metaphorical: the darkness lurking in each of them? By posing these questions up front, Niven crafts an irresistible hook. You find yourself playing detective from page one, looking for clues in every tense interaction and snowy corridor. The hook is set, and trust us, you won’t escape it easily!
2. Dark Academia Vibes With A Gothic Twist
If you’re a fan of dark academia aesthetics, think old manor houses, secretive seminars, and stormy nights, this book delivers in spades. The setting is an isolated estate on the New England coast, complete with “snowy woods and storm-tossed seas” as a backdrop. That remote mansion might as well be a character itself: its halls bristle with decades of secrets, and its walls seem to whisper dread. There’s even a dangerous cliffside nearby, upping the stakes (and the gothic drama) as the story progresses. It’s easy to imagine candlelight flickering against wood-paneled walls while a nor’easter howls outside; a perfect stage for things to go very, very wrong.
Seasoned readers might catch homages to classic gothic thrillers. The atmosphere is drenched in unease, wrapping around you like a thick fog. Yet, Niven keeps it fresh for a younger generation. This isn’t a dusty old haunted house tale; it’s more like The Secret History meets Pretty Little Liars. The students wear contemporary school uniforms and trade barbed comments and furtive glances in the age of Instagram (though phones aren’t much help when you’re snowed in at a remote estate). The result is a vibe that’s both classic and cutting-edge; as if the Brontë sisters got a TikTok account and a taste for murder mysteries. It’s atmospheric, yes, but never boring. You can practically smell the old library books and feel the chill in the air as you read, completely immersed in Niven’s wintry scholastic nightmare.
3. Characters With Secrets (And Scars) To Spare
Any good thriller needs a compelling cast of suspects, and here we get eight teenage creatives who are anything but cookie-cutter. Each student arrives at the workshop with baggage and burning ambitions:
Effy: the orphan determined to turn her tragic past into story gold. She’s piecing together a tale about the betrayal that led to her mother’s death, and that personal quest makes her equal parts vulnerable and fierce.
Arlo: the outsider who wasn’t originally invited. He hopes to publish a novel and maybe win back Effy’s heart after ghosting her three years ago. (Yes, there’s history there, and it’s juicy!) His unexpected arrival immediately puts everyone on edge, especially Effy.
Isaac: the legacy student under pressure to live up to his family name.
Ness: the wallflower who observes more than she lets on.
Ramon: the wild card from a different background, fighting for his place among these elites.
And that’s just to name a few. Everyone, including Graffam herself, has a compelling reason to be there. They’re competing for a life-changing prize, only one will win this coveted mentorship opportunity, so jealousy and drive are dialed up to ten. It’s a recipe for drama even before anything sinister happens.
What’s also intriguing is how Niven peels back each character’s layers through the intense workshop challenges. Dark secrets? Check. One by one, under Graffam’s demanding eye, the students reveal things they’d rather keep hidden. The novel alternates between Effy’s and Arlo’s perspectives, giving us intimate access to their thoughts. We feel Effy’s anxiety as old wounds resurface, and we ride along with Arlo’s determination to prove himself; not just to Graffam but to the girl whose heart he broke. The dual POV adds a relatable depth: one moment you’re in Effy’s head, wrestling with grief and attraction, the next you’re with Arlo, balancing guilt and ambition. It’s an effective one-two punch that keeps the narrative personal even as the external stakes (you know, little things like murder accusations) escalate.
You will likely find pieces of yourself in these characters. Who hasn’t felt like the outsider at some point, or yearned to redeem a past mistake? The students’ vulnerabilities make them more than potential killers; they feel real and flawed, like people you might know…if your friend group was comprised of aspiring novelists and filmmakers with a possible murderer among them.
4. A Mentor From Your Nightmares
At the center of this storm stands Meredith Graffam, the famed writer-director-actress who runs the workshop. Imagine the intimidating aura of your most challenging teacher, then crank it up to eleven. Graffam is enigmatic, brilliant, and more than a little unorthodox. She’s the kind of mentor who might quote Shakespeare one minute and set a near-impossible creative task the next, all with a serene smile that says, “Trust me.” Under her tutelage, the teens are pushed past their breaking point. She has them confront their fears, spill their secrets, and push their art to extremes. It’s the sort of high-pressure, borderline cruel mentorship that breeds both geniuses and, well, monsters!
You will love to hate Meredith Graffam. She’s a charismatic genius with a cruel streak, a character so larger-than-life that everyone’s drawn to her despite the fear she instills. At times, you catch glimpses of a more human side, hints of regret, or empathy, but just when you think you’ve got her figured out, she reminds you who’s in charge. This dynamic creates a delicious tension: Graffam is ostensibly there to help these kids achieve their dreams, but her methods and motives are suspect from day one. Is she a villain, a victim, or something in between? That ambiguity makes every interaction with her crackle. And it makes the question of “who turned on whom” all the more compelling when she ends up dead.
One can’t help but think Niven had fun crafting this character. In a recent interview, she revealed that Graffam was partly inspired by a real professor who wronged her in college. That real-life bitterness adds an authentic bite to Graffam’s scenes. She’s the embodiment of every authority figure who ever abused their power, and seeing students push back (or plot back) is oddly satisfying. By the end, Meredith Graffam stands as one of the more memorable YA mentors in recent memory; not entirely a monster, but far from innocent!
5. Thrills, Twists, And A Slow-Burn Suspense
Though When We Were Monsters involves a murder, don’t expect a typical breakneck thriller with jump scares at every turn. Niven opts for a slow-burn suspense that simmers from start to finish. The tension in this story is like a low, eerie hum in the background; you might not notice it at first, but before long, it’s under your skin. From the moment the students step into that isolated mansion, an impending sense of doom blankets the narrative. Little conflicts and strange occurrences keep stacking up: a rivalry here, a betrayal there, an unexplained midnight scream down the hall. Each chapter leaves you with that unsettled feeling, wondering what fresh drama the next day will bring.
The payoff for this steady build is a climax that feels both shocking and earned. No spoilers here, but let’s just say that by the time the big reveal comes, you’ll be clutching the book with clammy hands. Some savvy readers might guess the culprit before it’s revealed. The novel plays fair with its clues, but even if you do, the journey is the real thrill. Niven keeps the twists coming in the interpersonal dynamics as much as the murder mystery itself. Alliances form and fracture among the teens. First kisses happen at decidedly inconvenient moments. Secret alliances and lies complicate what could have been straightforward investigations. It’s messy and human in the best way!
One standout aspect is how Niven maintains suspense without relying on gore or cheap tricks. The dread is psychological. Much of the fear comes from watching characters we care about make potentially catastrophic choices. The students are asked to do some truly alarming things in the name of “art” (there were moments we thought, “Nope, couldn’t be us…” We would’ve bolted from that mansion on day two). This creates a different kind of horror: not jump-out-of-your-seat scares, but the creeping realization of how far people will go for success or validation. By the end, you might find yourself questioning what you would be willing to do in their shoes. It’s a thriller that makes you think, even as it keeps you entertained.
6. Emotional Depth And A Sizzling Undercurrent Of Romance
Despite the spooky setting and deadly stakes, this novel beats with a lot of emotion at its heart. Jennifer Niven made her name writing about teen feelings, love, loss, mental health, and those themes haven’t gone away just because there’s a murder afoot. In fact, the emotional arcs give the story its soul. Effy’s journey through grief (she’s still haunted by her mother’s death and the unanswered questions around it) adds a surreal layer to the narrative. Her writing project for the workshop forces her to confront that tragedy head-on, which is both cathartic and painful to witness. Arlo, for his part, carries guilt not just about how he left things with Effy but something more secret, too. When these two share scenes, the pages practically spark with unresolved feelings and tension.
Yes, there’s a romance subplot here, and it’s a good one. Niven weaves in a “sizzling romance between two stubborn, wounded people” (hello again, Effy and Arlo) that doesn’t overwhelm the thriller but complements it. Their chemistry offers a ray of light in an otherwise dark tale. It’s the kind of push-and-pull romance where a heated argument might suddenly turn into a surprise kiss, or a midnight collaboration on a story becomes an excuse to be close. Fans of Niven’s earlier love stories will be happy to know she hasn’t abandoned heartfelt moments; she’s just set them against a backdrop of danger this time. And because the novel is third-person and written with a bit of journalistic polish, the romance avoids sappy territory. Instead, it feels earnest and earned, a natural outcome of two people thrown together under extreme circumstances.
By the final chapters, don’t be surprised if you’re not only eager to learn whodunit but also genuinely invested in whether these characters heal their hearts. In the midst of lies and accusations, there are scenes of genuine connection, friends confiding fears, a wistful midnight dance in the snow, perhaps, reminding us that even in a story about “monsters,” humanity shines through. This blend of thrills and feels is classic Niven. It’s what makes the book resonate on a deeper level. You come for the murder mystery, you stay because you actually care about these people making it out okay (or as okay as possible).
7. Why When We Were Monsters Stands Out
Jennifer Niven has taken a bold step outside the expected with When We Were Monsters, and it pays off. The book manages to be edgy and poetic at the same time, much like an adrenaline rush with a soul. It combines the suspense of a psychological thriller with the heart of a coming-of-age story. In other words, she’s serving up something new that still feels like Niven; fiercely emotional and compulsively readable.
This novel also taps into the current YA zeitgeist. Dark academia is having a moment, and Niven’s take offers a fresh perspective by centering creative competition and the pressure to succeed. It asks timely questions: What do young people sacrifice for ambition? How do trauma and talent intersect? And who do we become when we’re pushed to the brink? The story doesn’t preach answers, but it gives you plenty to chew on between thriller beats.
Stylistically, the narrative flows with a clear, conversational tone that will appeal to younger audiences without ever talking down to them. There’s an almost cinematic quality to the prose, no surprise given Niven’s screenwriting chops, that makes you feel like you’re watching the drama unfold in real time. The dialogue snaps, the descriptions transport you, and the pacing keeps you turning pages late into the night.
Ultimately, When We Were Monsters is more than just a murder mystery at boarding school. It’s a tale of creativity and corruption, of young love and old grudges, of what it means to confront the monsters around us; and those within us. By the final chapter, one thing is clear: Jennifer Niven isn’t afraid to venture into darker territory, and she does so while keeping that empathetic touch that made readers fall in love with her work in the first place. The result is a book that feels at once eerily haunting and achingly human. Only the monstrous will survive; and in Niven’s capable hands, that makes for one heck of an engaging read!
A taut, atmospheric thriller that balances chills with emotional depth; When We Were Monsters is Jennifer Niven like you’ve never seen her before!
Content Warnings: death of a parent, grief, arson, murder, violence, mental health struggles, abandonment, sexual content, manipulation
Summary: When 18-year-old River Santos loses everything after her house burns down, someone anonymously donates two million dollars to her GoFundMe. It’s like she’s won the worst sort of lottery. She’s a millionaire, but at what cost?
With every person who comes into the diner where she works, she wonders, “Was it you?” The only person she’s sure didn’t donate the money is her extremely hot—and extremely standoffish—coworker, Logan Evans. Ever since he started at the diner, he’s acted like he hates her. Which is why she’s shocked when he helps her save face in front of her ex…
Their attraction can’t be denied, but when River discovers a long-hidden family secret, she suddenly finds herself questioning everyone in her life. Her dad, who wasn’t as perfect as he seemed. Her chaotic mother, who left without so much as a goodbye at the beginning of her senior year. The anonymous donor, whose intentions may not have been altruistic after all. And most especially Logan, who has dark secrets of his own.
After the fire, River thought she had hit rock bottom. But as it turns out, there’s always more to lose…
Image Source: Courtesy of Penguin Random House 
What would you do if you lost everything, only to have a mysterious stranger drop $2 million at your feet? Sloan Harlow’s ALL WE LOST WAS EVERYTHING poses this question, then cranks the drama up to eleven. In this dark and twisty young adult thriller, 18-year-old River Santos watches her life literally go up in flames. After her house burns down and her father dies in the fire, River is left clinging to the ashes of her old life. As if that isn’t enough to rock anyone’s world, an anonymous benefactor deposits a fortune into her GoFundMe, a no-strings-attached gift that feels more like a curse. From that gripping premise, Harlow spins a tale that’s equal parts mystery, romance, and emotional coming-of-age. It’s a story about trusting no one and learning to trust yourself; all set against the unforgiving beauty of the Arizona desert.
1. A Genre-Blending Thriller That Hits Home
ALL WE LOST WAS EVERYTHING doesn’t fit neatly into a single box, and that’s a good thing. It’s a high-stakes mystery-thriller wrapped in a heartfelt YA coming-of-age story, with a generous dash of dark romance for good measure. One minute, River is a small-town teen slinging pancakes at the local diner; the next, she’s thrust into a real-life whodunit with a secret admirer’s millions hanging over her head. The novel walks a fine line between edge-of-your-seat suspense and genuine emotional depth, making it a crossover hit for fans of both E. Lockhart and Colleen Hoover. Harlow’s narrative feels like Veronica Mars grew up in the age of TikTok: witty and modern, yet unafraid to delve into raw feelings. And it all stays surprisingly grounded: River’s voice is down-to-earth and relatable, even when she’s grappling with million-dollar mysteries. By blending genres, Harlow has crafted a story that burns bright with thriller tension while still tugging at the heartstrings!
2. Heartache, Secrets, And The Weight Of Grief
At its core, this is a story about loss and the messy, painful healing that comes after. River isn’t just dealing with a tragic freak accident; she’s navigating bone-deep grief, family secrets, and the rubble of her identity. Six months ago, she had a loving father, a troubled but present mother, and a life full of music (her beloved guitar and songbook perished in the fire). Now, she’s essentially orphaned: her dad gone, and her mom missing without a trace for nearly a year. Living with her Tita Ana (aunt) and leaning on her best friend Tawny, River faces each day in survival mode, stuck between mourning and moving on.
The secrets make that dance even more complicated. When River discovers unsettling clues about her father’s past, including threatening letters hinting that his perfect facade hid something horrific, her understanding of her family begins to crumble. Was the fire that killed him truly an accident, or the final act in a long-brewing tragedy? Suddenly, River is questioning everything she thought she knew about her parents, her friends, and even herself. This book isn’t afraid to ask the hard questions: Can you ever really know the people you love? Can you forgive the unforgivable? Each new revelation brings River a mix of pain and clarity. It’s heavy stuff for a teenager to confront, but that’s exactly what makes the story so compelling. By the end, River isn’t the only one forced to rethink her past; you will be right there with her, sifting through the clues and confronting the unsettling idea that sometimes the people closest to you harbor the darkest secrets.
3. Twists, Trust Issues, And A Love Triangle Done Right
Don’t let the grief and melodrama fool you; this novel moves fast. Harlow piles on the mysteries from page one and never lets up. River’s sudden windfall sets the stage for a guessing game, and that’s just the beginning. Soon her ex-boyfriend, Noah, waltzes back into town with regret in his eyes and secrets on his lips. At the same time, her aloof co-worker Logan, previously more inclined to roll his eyes at River than talk to her, starts revealing a surprisingly soft side. The result is a tension-filled love triangle that actually serves the plot. It’s Team Logan vs. Team Noah, but not in the shallow way YA triangles sometimes play out. Each guy represents a different path and a different set of dangerous questions for River. Noah is the golden boy ex-best friend who broke her heart without explanation. Logan is the enigmatic new crush whose own family history is entangled with River’s in shocking ways. Choosing between them isn’t just about romance; it’s about uncovering the truth.
Every character in River’s life, from her loyal friend Tawny to the anonymous donor, seems to be hiding something. In ALL WE LOST WAS EVERYTHING, everyone has a secret, and no one can be fully trusted! Harlow masterfully juggles multiple mystery threads that intertwine like puzzle pieces, keeping even the savviest readers guessing. Just when you think you’ve solved one puzzle, another revelation comes out of left field, keeping you on your toes. And yes, there are twists on twists. By the final act, the connection between the fire, the missing mom, and that $2,000,000 twist of fate becomes a web of lies and loyalties that will make your jaw drop. Yet amidst the breakneck plotting, Harlow never loses sight of her characters. River, Logan, Noah, and Tawny are more than pawns in a mystery; they’re teenagers dealing with trauma, loyalty, and first love in a very intense situation. The dialogue crackles with authenticity, and moments of humor and warmth peek through the darkness, reminding you that these are young people trying to reclaim some normalcy. And for readers who crave a bit of spice with their suspense, fear not: River and Logan’s chemistry sizzles. Their flirtation starts slow and hostile, then blooms into a passionate connection with genuinely steamy scenes (prepare for some upper-YA heat).
4. Forgiveness And Hope Rising From The Ashes
Beneath the mysteries and make-outs, ALL WE LOST WAS EVERYTHING carries a surprisingly uplifting message: even after the worst happens, you can choose to find hope. River’s journey is more than just solving the whodunit and figuring out which boy deserves her heart. It’s about learning to let go of anger and to forgive others and herself. Throughout the novel, characters grapple with mistakes and betrayals that would break many of us. River learns gut-wrenching truths about her father’s past and her mother’s disappearance, the kinds of revelations that could easily breed lasting bitterness. Instead, our heroine finds an unexpected strength in her ability to understand and forgive those who hurt her. This isn’t the cheap, fairy-tale kind of forgiveness; it’s the hard-earned kind. Harlow shows that forgiveness is not about saying “it’s okay” to wrongs; it’s about refusing to let those wrongs destroy you. River can’t change what happened to her family, but she can decide not to be consumed by rage or regret. That’s a powerful takeaway for any reader, young or old!
By the final chapter, redemption and second chances take center stage. The question of “Can we forgive the unforgivable?” lingers over the story, and Harlow isn’t interested in easy answers. Instead, she offers something more honest: the idea that forgiveness is a journey, not a destination. Characters who seemed irredeemable earn sympathy, and those who betrayed trust get a chance, however slight, at redemption. Importantly, River also learns to forgive herself for the survivor’s guilt she carries, for the naive faith she placed in people who let her down, and for the mistakes she makes along the way. In a narrative filled with literal flames and figurative daggers, it’s this emotional arc that gives the novel its soul! After all the twists and heartaches, the lasting impression is one of resilience. River’s story reminds us that even when you’ve lost everything, you might just find yourself.
ALL WE LOST WAS EVERYTHING doesn’t just keep you guessing; it makes you feel every broken piece and hard-won hope along the way.
Summary: Two years ago, Mercy Gray was hailed as a hero for saving lives during a mall shooting. She still carries souvenirs from that day: the fragment of a bullet lodged in her back, a mountain of medical debt, and guilt for ignoring her sister’s warnings that the sweet boy next door was anything but.
So when billionaire turned TV host Damien Dare recruits Mercy to compete on his new survivalist reality show, she can’t turn down a chance at the whopping cash prize that could send her sister to college. But when she and the other contestants arrive at the off-grid location, something isn’t right. The set is empty. The gates close without warning, trapping them inside. And then one of them turns up dead. What appeared at first to be a tragic accident quickly transforms as more contestants start dropping like flies. With time and resources running low, surviving this show takes on a whole new meaning. Mercy must figure out who to trust. Before she’s next.
Image Source: Courtesy of Penguin Random House 
Imagine signing up for a reality TV survival show, only to find out the cameras aren’t rolling and the stakes are life or death. That’s the nightmare scenario at the core of Kate Alice Marshall’s new YA thrillerWE WON’T ALL SURVIVE. Written in a gripping, conversational style, the novel blends a high-octane survival game with a whodunit twist. It’s a story that feels chillingly relevant in the age of viral stunts and billionaire showmen. The premise might sound like The Hunger Games crossed with One of Us is Lying. But Marshall makes it feel fresh.
In WE WON’T ALL SURVIVE, Mercy Gray is a teenager carrying some heavy baggage. Two years ago, Mercy became an unlikely hero after saving lives during a mall shooting. But that “hero” label came with scars. She’s got a bullet fragment lodged in her back, a mountain of medical debt, and guilt for ignoring her sister’s warnings about the sweet boy next door (who turned out to be anything but). That’s not exactly the happily-ever-after you’d expect for a teen who saved the day. Worse, Mercy is haunted by guilt. She ignored her younger sister’s warning about the shooter beforehand, a mistake that weighs on her every day.
Now 18 and desperate to help her family, Mercy jumps at a strange but tempting opportunity. Enter Damien Dare: a billionaire-turned-TV-host with a flair for the dramatic (and the bank account to fund it). He recruits Mercy to compete on his new survival reality show. The prize? A life-changing cash payout that could solve Mercy’s problems in one fell swoop. A billionaire running a private survival game for entertainment sounds almost dystopian, right? In 2025, it also feels just plausible enough to give you chills. Mercy figures braving a few weeks in the wilderness on camera is a small price to pay for a shot at financial freedom. What could possibly go wrong?
1. Lights, Camera,…Murder?
Mercy and a motley crew of fellow contestants arrive at an isolated, off-grid camp. They expect the usual reality TV setup: camera crews, producers, maybe some cheesy team challenges. Instead, they find no cameras, no crew, and no way out. The set is eerily deserted. Before they can say “tribal council,” the compound’s gates lock shut, trapping them inside. Then one contestant turns up dead under mysterious circumstances. It’s clear this isn’t the game any of them signed up for. There’s no audience to vote anyone off the island. No medic to call when things go wrong. Just a group of terrified teens and a ticking clock.
At first, some think the death might be a freak accident; after all, they are roughing it in the wild. But as more contestants start falling victim one by one, it becomes obvious that someone (or something) is picking them off. Is there a killer among the contestants? Is this all an insane stunt orchestrated by Damien Dare for ratings? The novel keeps you guessing. Each chapter raises new questions and doubts. Trust quickly erodes between these stranded competitors. In a twisted funhouse-mirror version of Survivor, alliances form and break in real time. Literally no one knows if they’ll be alive by the season finale.
The billionaire puppet-master, Damien Dare, is notably absent once the mayhem kicks off. His presence looms over the story through the elaborate game design. And there’s always the fear that he might be watching from behind the scenes. It’s like he created his own private Lord of the Flies experiment for the TikTok generation. Honestly, the idea of a celebrity billionaire trapping people in a secret survival game doesn’t even feel far-fetched. Not in our era of extreme reality TV. That subtle “this could actually happen” vibe makes the reading experience that much more thrilling and unsettling!
2. Mercy Gray: A Hero With Scars And Heart
One of the reasons WE WON’T ALL SURVIVE hits so hard is its protagonist. Mercy isn’t your typical horror-movie final girl or attention-seeking reality show contestant. She’s grounded and relatable. A girl who’s been through tragedy and is just trying to protect her little sister and secure a future. Marshall gives Mercy a depth that’s sometimes rare in thrillers. Yes, Mercy is tough and resourceful (you don’t survive a shooting at 16 without some serious grit). But she’s also vulnerable. She has lingering trauma and survivor’s guilt from that day at the mall, and a cynicism beyond her years. When she agrees to join the show, it’s not for fame or fun. It’s out of a sense of duty to her family, and maybe a bit of desperation. That motive makes her easy to root for from page one.
Mercy’s past also plays into how she navigates the deadly game. She’s been hailed as a hero before, but she doesn’t feel like one. In the reality show gone wrong, she’s cautious and guarded. Mercy is wary of playing hero again unless absolutely necessary. That internal conflict adds a compelling layer to the story. Everyone expects her to be the fearless hero, but inside she’s still a terrified teen. It’s not just about external survival. It’s about Mercy grappling with what survival even means to her. Watching Mercy slowly come to terms with the fact that she wants to survive (not just for others, but for herself) is quietly empowering amid all the chaos.
And let’s be real: Mercy’s not the only one carrying baggage. Each contestant on Dare’s show has their own secrets and reasons for being there. (Honestly, who signs up for a survival game like this unless they really need the money or the fame?) The book drops hints that everyone has something to hide, which means plenty of red herrings once bodies start dropping. Mercy must decide whom to trust. She knows that trusting the wrong person could be a fatal mistake.
3. High Stakes And Twisty Mysteries
Describing WE WON’T ALL SURVIVE as a page-turner almost feels like an understatement. Marshall cranks up the tension to 11 and never really lets your heart rate drop. The moment Mercy and company realize this isn’t just play-acting for TV, the novel launches into survival-mystery overdrive. Every chapter seems to end with a mini cliffhanger. There’s always a new puzzle piece that makes you question what you thought you knew. It’s the kind of book where you tell yourself, “just one more chapter” at midnight. Suddenly, it’s 3 AM and you’re wide-eyed, wondering who will make it to morning. (Consider yourself warned).
Marshall also knows how to play with tropes and expectations. Think you’ve identified the love interest or the sidekick? Think again. The story doesn’t hesitate to put anyone in danger. There were moments that had us yelling, “No way did that just happen!” Marshall isn’t afraid to shock you, but nothing feels like a cheap trick. The twists are earned, and clues are cleverly laid out for sharp-eyed readers to pick up (you’ll have the urge to play detective alongside Mercy). As the contestant pool shrinks and paranoia skyrockets, you start suspecting everyone. And that’s exactly what the author intends. It’s a wild ride, but a fair one; all the puzzle pieces click by the end! Just know that the finale brings one last surprise that might make you gasp, and it cements the book’s status as one of the most entertaining YA thrillers of the year.
4. Themes (More Than Just A Thrill Ride)
For all its adrenaline and “gotcha” moments, WE WON’T ALL SURVIVE also packs some thematic punches. This isn’t a shallow slasher story. Marshall uses the extreme scenario to explore deeper issues. The book tackles trauma, for one: how people cope (or don’t) after surviving the unthinkable. Mercy’s trauma from the mall shooting didn’t magically vanish. It’s an ongoing part of her life, influencing her choices. Through Mercy and others, the narrative shows how survivors are treated by society. They’re hailed as heroes, then left alone to deal with nightmares and medical bills. There’s a streak of social commentary here about media and voyeurism, too. A billionaire literally turning tragedy into prime-time entertainment sounds crazy, but it also hits a nerve. Are we as a society guilty of turning real pain into spectacle? Shows like Squid Game might be fiction. But the popularity of extreme reality contests makes Marshall’s premise feel like a pointed cautionary tale.
The novel also isn’t afraid to call out toxic masculinity and power imbalances. Remember that sweet boy-next-door who turned out to be a violent threat? Mercy’s backstory highlights the danger of ignoring warning signs. And the story at large examines how some people manipulate trust and sympathy, whether in personal relationships or on a larger scale (looking at you, Damien Dare). Indeed, the messaging is there if you look for it, but it never slows down the story’s pulse. You can absolutely enjoy WE WON’T ALL SURVIVE as a straightforward thriller. Alternatively, you can delve into the questions it raises about trust, guilt, and the lengths people will go to in order to survive. Both readings are equally satisfying!
Finally, there’s an underlying theme of community and alliances. A crisis can bring people together or tear them apart. Strangers start as teammates, then become suspects, then, in some cases, friends who’d sacrifice for each other. The relationships (and heartbreaks) that form under life-or-death pressure give the book its emotional core. It’s not all doom and gloom. There are moments of human decency shining through the darkness, too. Those bonds make you care about the characters’ fates even more.
5. A Fresh, Fast-Paced Read For Thrill Seekers
Stylistically, Marshall delivers a thriller that’s brisk and accessible. The prose is conversational and not overly drenched in gore. It stays suitable for a teen audience without sacrificing suspense. In fact, the book’s restraint on graphic violence lets the tension and psychological fear take center stage. Readers who might shy away from full-on horror will appreciate that WE WON’T ALL SURVIVE is more about nerve-wracking suspense than gross-outs. It’s the kind of read that’s perfect for a wide audience. Seasoned mystery lovers will enjoy piecing together clues. Horror fans get the survival-game chills. Even more casual readers will be hooked by the reality-show-gone-wrong premise.
Pacing is one of the novel’s strong suits. At about 336 pages, it’s a quick read that wastes no time. Marshall sets the scene and kicks off the action early. You’re deep in danger before you know it. But she also gives you just enough breathing room to latch onto the characters. The alternating beats of character reflection and sudden peril create an addictive rhythm. If you’re a fan of witty banter or gallows humor among stressed-out teens, there’s a bit of that, too. It offers welcome relief amid the tension.
For those who keep up with YA trends, WE WON’T ALL SURVIVE stands tall among 2025’s releases. It shares DNA with other popular YA thrillers (think Holly Jackson or Karen McManus vibes). But it also feels uniquely timely. Marshall’s earlier work, like I Am Still Alive, showed she knows her way around survival stories. And here she ups the ante. It’s clear she’s in command of the genre. She knows when to hit the gas and when to let a character’s quiet fear sit with you. By the time the book reaches its climax, you’ll likely be incredibly invested. You might even find yourself mentally bargaining with the author to let your favorite characters live. And that emotional investment is the mark of a thriller doing its job!
WE WON’T ALL SURVIVE is more than a catchy title, it’s a promise, a pulse-pounding ride that entertains while holding up a scarily plausible mirror to our obsession with spectacle!
We think everyone with an internet connection knows about Beth Reekles. You may know her from books like The Reunion and Love, Locked Down. And, of course, she’s the bestselling author of The Kissing Booth! Sound familiar yet?
Love & Lattes is Beth Reekles’ new YA rom-com, also known as Sincerely Yours, Anna Sherwood in the UK! It follows Annalise Sherwood, a college student about to start a prestigious summer internship in London. But things go awry when she unknowingly kisses the son of the company CEO only nights before she starts interning.
We’ve made Love & Lattes our latest obsession, and we don’t regret it! Here are three things we love about Love & Lattes by Beth Reekles.
Image Source: Penguin Random House
Book Overview: Love & Lattes
Content Warnings: deceased parent, mention of postpartum depression, divorce
Summary: Annalise Sherwood has worked herself to the bone to get a place in a prestigious internship program, and nothing will stop her now. Work hard, play later, that’s her motto. She figures one night letting her guard down won’t hurt, though – especially when it ends with the best kiss of her life.
But to Anna’s horror, she discovers that the mystery guy she kissed that night is none other than Lloyd, the company CEO’s son. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he’s everyone’s favorite guy and a total charmer, swanning around like he owns the place. And from the moment they meet again, he rubs Anna up the wrong way.
As the summer and the internship wane, Lloyd seems to be finding any excuse to annoy Anna, and she’s not afraid to return it to him. But when a lot of late-night work brings them unexpectedly closer, she wonders if there’s more to him than she initially thought.
The Romance
We wouldn’t be writing a proper book review of Love & Lattes without highlighting Anna and Lloyd’s push-pull romance! An intern dating the boss’s son is already enough of a scandal on its own. But no matter how hard Anna tries, she keeps letting her guard down around Lloyd. And Lloyd somehow gets Anna to open up about secrets she’s never told anyone else. Everything would be easier for our main characters if they could be honest about their feelings, but there’d be no plot and no fighting for love!
Lloyd’s Charm
Anna is so much stronger than us because we wouldn’t have been able to reject Lloyd as many times as she did in Love & Lattes. She has to put her career first, of course. Her professional reputation would be ruined if people started to think that she was using Lloyd to move up the corporate ladder. But Lloyd’s personality makes us fold every single time! He’s considerate, funny, and charismatic. He asks the right questions and wears his heart on his sleeve. Lloyd communicates so well and knows his self-worth. (Pop off, king!)
The Supporting Cast
Finally, we love Love & Lattes for its supporting characters. The other interns in Anna’s cohort are the types of friends we need in our lives. They invite you everywhere even though you have a busy schedule. They look after everyone who’s been drinking, which happens almost every weekend. And when someone tries to blackmail you and blast your personal life for the office to see, they help you clean up the mess. Monty, Dylan, and Elaine are just the realest.
With a delightful will-they-won’t-they romance and a lovely supporting cast, we fell head over heels for Beth Reekles’ Love & Lattes!
Love & Lattes by Beth Reekles comes out on October 22nd, and you can preorder a copy of it today!
What do you think about Love & Lattes? Are you excited about Beth Reekles’ latest novel? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!
The adult romances this summer have been checking all our boxes! We at THP love to explore rich stories and characters, and today’s no different. We’re excited to review Noué Kirwan’s latest novel, Frequent Fliers.
Frequent Fliers by Noué Kirwan follows Melanie “Lanie” Turner, a woman who somehow becomes the best mate/maid of honor at her cousin Gemma’s wedding. Oh, and Gemma’s marrying Lanie’s lifelong crush Jonah. As Lanie travels between New York City and London to plan the wedding, she repeatedly runs into a handsome, no-nonsense seatmate named Dr. Ridley Aronsen.
Can Lanie make things work with Ridley? Or will they just barely miss the right timing? We won’t keep you waiting too long. Here are three things we love about Frequent Fliers by Noué Kirwan!
Image Source: HarperCollins Publishers
Book Overview: Frequent Fliers
Content Warnings: parental abandonment, parental neglect, anxiety, and panic attacks, mention of partner death, mention of terminal disease, divorce, mention of cheating
Summary:Lanie Turner has some loose ends: – A nearly complete PhD. – A job she basically enjoys. – And a lifelong crush…that she’s almost gotten over.
On a trip to reunite with her family in England—and said crush, Jonah—Lanie intends to take care of one of those items. Her favorite cousin, Gemma, is engaged…to Jonah. And they want Lanie to be both their maid of honor and best “mate” at the wedding. It’s the perfect opportunity to prove the pitying gazes wrong: she’s over Jonah. Really.
As Lanie travels between New York City and London to help with wedding prep, she befriends her handsome seatmate. Dr. Ridley Aronsen—a widower and single father—is prickly at first, but feisty Lanie reminds him of a more carefree time in his life. And after a steamy layover in Iceland, the pair take a direct flight from seatmates to lovers. Ridley even agrees to be her plus-one for the wedding. For once, everything seems to be falling into place.
But Lanie’s used to getting hurt, and Ridley finds opening up difficult. How will a long-distance relationship even work once Lanie’s back in NYC permanently? It’s easy enough to let one more loose thread unravel…after all, life’s problems seem tiny from thirty-five thousand feet in the air.
Tough Conversations
We absolutely love Frequent Fliers for the way it addresses finding love after loss. It’s been almost three years since Ridley lost his wife, Thyra. Then, when he meets Lanie, he hesitates to open up about his family and reveal the truth about his late wife and 14-year-old daughter, Beatrix. But Ridley starts to care for and love Lanie faster than he can tell Bea. And the reality is this: introducing a new partner to his daughter takes a lot more difficult conversations, parenting, and breakdowns than he could’ve expected.
Lanie’s Development
The main character’s development is our next reason for loving Noué Kirwan’s Frequent Fliers. Lanie’s past relationships have taught her not to expect the good in people. She’s gotten used to people finding any reason not to be with her anymore. But Lanie learns that she needs to love and value herself and be the most important person in her life before committing to someone else. Lanie’s romance with Ridley shows that someone loves her enough to stay and find her no matter where she goes.
The Wedding
Are we suckers for big wedding celebrations in books? Yes, and we have no shame in admitting that! Gemma and Jonah’s wedding in Frequent Fliers comes and goes with minimal issues, thanks to Lanie being at the helm. But the whole time, she’s anxiously awaiting Ridley’s response after she confessed her love in a drunken voicemail. We love that the author didn’t skip to the end immediately after the wedding and actually took more time to develop Lanie and Ridley’s relationship and find its true happy ending.
Noué Kirwan’s Frequent Fliers offers us a unique, emotional, and relatable story about showing up for loved ones and finding love after loss.
Frequent Fliers by Noué Kirwan is out August 13th, and you can preorder a copy of it here!
What do you think about Noué Kirwan’s Frequent Fliers? Do you have it on your TBR? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!
It’s no secret that one of our biggest weaknesses is a swoony adult romance. Gabriella Gamez’s debut novel, The Next Best Fling, may just be our favorite one this year! And we can’t think of a better time to read it (or re-read it) than now, just before the peak of the summer.
The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez follows Marcela Ortiz, a plus-size, Latina librarian who’s been secretly in love with Ben Young, her best friend from college. When Ben gets engaged, she realizes it’s time to move on. But what she doesn’t realize is how much Theo Young, Ben’s older brother, will change her life with a rebound relationship.
We read this book in one sitting, so we can tell you just how much we’re obsessed with this debut! Here are three things we love about Gabriella Gamez’s The Next Best Fling!
Summary: Librarian Marcela Ortiz has been secretly in love with her best friend for years—and when he gets engaged, she knows it’s long past time to move on. But before she gets the chance, she has a bigger problem to contend with in the form of Theo Young, ex-NFL player and older brother of the man she’s in love with. When she discovers Theo’s plans to confess his feelings for his brother’s fiancée at their engagement party, Marcela is quick to stop him—despite how tempting it is to let him run away with the bride-to-be. She manages to convince Theo to sleep off his drunken almost-mistake at her place and when they arrive at a family brunch the next day together, everyone wrongly assumes they hooked up.
Since Theo needs a cover for his feelings for the bride and Marcela needs a distraction from her unrequited feelings for the groom, they decide to roll with the lie. Until one late night at a bar, they take it a step further and discover a layer of attraction neither realized existed. Soon, they find themselves exploring the simmering chemistry between them, whether in library aisles or Marcela’s bed. There are no boundaries for the rebound relationship they form—just a host of complicated feelings, messy familial dynamics, and uncovered secrets that threaten to tear them apart before they can even admit to themselves that their rebound is working. Maybe a little too well.
Marcela’s Relatability
We love when a book makes us feel seen, and The Next Best Fling does exactly that! The main character, Marcela, has a lot of baggage. But who doesn’t? Her father left her when she was 12, and she’s been pining after her best friend Ben for years. She’s dealt with dating and hooking up with people who have treated her terribly for being plus-size. Marcela’s character is so relatable, both in how she copes with trauma and in the growth she goes through. And it helps that she’s a huge bookworm like us, even starting a YA book club at her library. We want to be her when we grow up (we say as if we aren’t around the same age).
Theo’s Green Flags
If we ever met someone who treats us the way Theo treated Marcela, we’d fold immediately. Because we fell in love with the way he communicates with Marcela and is as honest as he can be, given his past trauma. Theo respects Marcela’s boundaries, making sure she initiates the intimacy she’s most comfortable with. He took two weeks to plan a proper date with a super sweet surprise at the end of the night. And he pays attention to so many details about Marcela that even we forgot about. Theo’s just a 10/10 love interest. We want to know how to find someone like that ourselves.
Their Chemistry
Okay, we need another section just to talk about Marcela and Theo’s chemistry because hello?? We can honestly say we’ve never giggled this much reading an adult romance before! Their flirting and banter checked off all our boxes. We can feel the passion radiating off our main characters. Not only that, but they make each other better people when they’re together. They share so much patience while figuring out their complicated relationship. And there’s a perfect balance between the sweet romance, the emotional angst, and, of course, the spicy scenes!
Good news! The Next Best Fling is only the first in Gabriella Gamez’s Librarians in Love series, so we’re already excited for the next installment. Will it be Marcela’s best friend Angela exploring her asexuality? Or will it be the mysterious managing librarian Erica? Either way, we hope this isn’t the last time we’ll see Marcela and Theo!
Gabriella Gamez’sdebut captures the perfect blend of a swoony and spicy romance, combined with an emotional plot that will have you crying, laughing, and everything in between!
The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez is out July 9th, and you can preorder a copy of it here!
Have we convinced you to read The Next Best Fling yet? Are you giving this debut romance a try? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!
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Are you looking for enlightenment?
For centuries, philosophers, therapists, spiritual leaders, and nowadays motivational speakers have grappled with the age-old question: “What on earth am I here for?” Whether you’re a seasoned self-help enthusiast or on the cusp of your personal growth journey, the path to understanding life’s purpose can be as perplexing as it is rewarding.
In this specially curated list of 13 profound books, we plunge into the depths of human experience to bring you a selection of wisdom-laden guides, each promising to shed light on the elusive quest for meaning.
From Viktor E. Frankl’s poignant reflections on human resilience in “Man’s Search for Meaning” to the nuanced exploration of blissful existence with Ken Mogi’s “The Little Book of Ikigai Way,” these works are more than mere pages; they are a compass for your soul.
Get ready to flex your mental muscles and venture into the literary realms that challenge, uplift, and inspire—to find not just any purpose but one that resonates with the core of who you are.
Whether it’s unlocking the secrets of a joyous life with “Ikigai” or discovering your unique ‘why’ through Simon Sinek’s thoughtful exercises, these 13 books are set to guide you on an unforgettable odyssey towards the fulfillment of your life’s potential.
Join us as we reveal the best books for connecting with your ultimate calling, and perhaps, find the answers woven into your very being.
The Advantages of Knowing Your Purpose in Life
The following are some of the benefits you’ll enjoy when you’re aware of your life’s purpose:
Man’s Search for Meaning explores the author’s experiences as a Holocaust survivor, offering profound insights into the human capacity for resilience, meaning, and purpose in the face of extreme suffering.
The book delves into the concept of finding meaning in life, highlighting the transformative power of maintaining a sense of purpose and hope even in the most dire and challenging circumstances.
It emphasizes the importance of embracing personal responsibility and choice, guiding readers to recognize the freedom to choose one’s attitude and response to life’s inevitable hardships.
Man’s Search for Meaning underscores the value of finding meaning in suffering, providing a thought-provoking perspective on how individuals can transcend adversity and find purpose in their experiences.
The author shares profound philosophical and psychological reflections, offering valuable insights on the human spirit, resilience, and the pursuit of meaning in the midst of profound suffering and uncertainty.
Written from the perspective of a Holocaust survivor, Man’s Search for Meaning is one of the most inspiring books about how to find meaning amidst a life filled with suffering.
Born in 1905, Frankl was an Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist. He was known for his breakthrough work in logotherapy.
When WWII broke out, he and his family (who were Jews) were sent to concentration camps. Most of his family did not survive this experience.
Frankl was able to make it, and wrote this book to chronicle his personal experiences in four different concentration camps.
The book shares the following insights:
Our ultimate challenge, as human beings, is to find meaning in our lives.
No matter what situation we are in, we have the power to find meaning in our lives.
The way we react to suffering has an impact on how we find meaning.
Holding on to a sense of purpose is equivalent to having the will to live.
2. The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? By Rick Warren
The Purpose Driven Life emphasizes the significance of discovering and living out one’s divine purpose, providing a spiritual framework for understanding and fulfilling one’s role in the world.
The book delves into the concept of living intentionally and aligning one’s life with God’s purposes, offering insights on how to cultivate a deeper spiritual connection and find meaning in everyday existence.
It explores the importance of serving others and making a positive impact, guiding readers to embrace a life of purpose, fulfillment, and contribution to the well-being of others.
The Purpose Driven Life underscores the value of spiritual growth and personal transformation, providing practical guidance on deepening one’s faith, living with gratitude, and finding joy in serving others.
The author shares actionable insights and spiritual principles for discovering and living out one’s divine purpose, offering valuable perspectives on faith, fulfillment, and a life guided by spiritual meaning and significance.
Think Like a Monk offers insights into cultivating a more mindful and purposeful mindset, drawing from the author’s experiences as a monk and providing practical guidance for integrating monk-like wisdom into everyday life.
The book delves into the concept of self-discovery and personal growth, offering actionable strategies for developing greater self-awareness, resilience, and inner peace through mindfulness practices.
It explores the significance of aligning one’s thoughts and actions with personal values and purpose, guiding readers to lead a more intentional and fulfilling life rooted in compassion, gratitude, and service to others.
Think Like a Monk underscores the value of cultivating a positive and resilient mindset, providing insights on overcoming challenges, managing stress, and nurturing a sense of inner peace and purpose. The author shares actionable insights and practical wisdom for integrating mindfulness and purpose-driven principles into daily life, offering valuable perspectives on personal growth, fulfillment, and living with greater intention and compassion.
In this book, Shetty discusses complicated issues such as the search for self-identity,fear andnegativity, and living with intention.
In this book, you’ll find a lot of ancient wisdom, as well as anecdotes of Shetty’s personal experiences as a monk. It encourages readers to find where their true passions lie in order to start living life with purpose.
4. Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life: How to Finally, Really Grow Up by James Hollis
Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life explores the psychological and spiritual dimensions of personal growth and fulfillment in the later stages of life, offering insights on embracing the challenges and opportunities of aging.
The book delves into the concept of self-examination and self-discovery, guiding readers to confront existential questions, reevaluate priorities, and cultivate a deeper sense of meaning and purpose in the second half of life.
It explores the significance of embracing change and transitions, providing perspectives on how to navigate the complexities of midlife and beyond, and find deeper fulfillment and authenticity.
Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life underscores the value of introspection and inner work, offering insights on how to confront fears, confront the shadow self, and embark on a journey of self-actualization and personal transformation.
The author shares actionable insights and psychological perspectives for navigating the challenges and opportunities of the second half of life, offering valuable guidance on finding meaning, fulfillment, and personal growth as individuals mature and transition into new life stages.
Some people view mid-life as the point where you’ve got most things figured out. However, other people experience mid-life as a time of major changes, disappointments, and a deeper evaluation of what life truly means.
These significant upheavals are addressed in this book by James Hollis
It is a refreshing alternative to the usual viewpoint that mid-life is the time for material success and public recognition.
The War of Art explores the challenges of creative work and the resistance that often impedes artistic endeavors, providing insights on overcoming self-doubt, procrastination, and other obstacles to creative expression.
The book delves into the concept of “resistance” as a formidable adversary to creativity, offering practical strategies for identifying and confronting the internal and external forces that hinder creative pursuits.
It explores the significance of discipline and perseverance in creative endeavors, guiding readers to cultivate a mindset of professionalism, dedication, and relentless pursuit of their artistic goals.
The War of Art underscores the value of embracing the creative process and committing to the daily practice of art, providing insights on how to overcome self-sabotage and achieve creative breakthroughs.
The author shares actionable insights and strategies for combating resistance and unlocking creative potential, offering valuable perspectives on cultivating resilience, discipline, and the courage to pursue artistic endeavors with unwavering determination.
The book delves into the Japanese concept of “Ikigai,” which represents the intersection of one’s passion, mission, vocation, and profession, offering insights on finding purpose and fulfillment in everyday life.
The book emphasizes the importance of living with intention and finding joy in simple pleasures, guiding readers to cultivate a sense of purpose, satisfaction, and longevity through meaningful daily activities.
It explores the significance of balance and harmony in life, providing perspectives on how to integrate work, leisure, and social connections to nurture a fulfilling and purpose-driven existence.
Ikigai underscores the value of self-discovery and lifelong learning, offering insights on how to align one’s daily pursuits with personal values and aspirations to lead a more meaningful and contented life.
The authors share actionable insights and practical wisdom for embracing the principles of ikigai, offering valuable perspectives on finding purpose, joy, and a sense of fulfillment in the pursuit of a long and happy life.
The concept of ikigai can be described as the place where your passion, vocation, profession, and personal mission intersect. It is loosely translated as “one’s reason for living.”
Garcia and Miralles share the results of their interviews with the long-living residents of a village in Okinawa, Japan, inspiring readers to embrace the things that truly make them happy.
The Untethered Soul explores the nature of consciousness and the path to spiritual growth, offering insights on transcending the limitations of the ego and embracing a more expansive and liberated state of being.
The book delves into the concept of inner exploration and mindfulness, providing practical guidance on releasing habitual thought patterns, emotional reactivity, and inner resistance to experience greater peace and freedom.
It explores the significance of surrender and letting go, guiding readers to cultivate a deeper sense of inner peace, acceptance, and connection to the present moment.
The Untethered Soul underscores the value of self-awareness and inner inquiry, offering insights on how to navigate the depths of consciousness and unlock the transformative power of mindfulness and introspection.
The author shares actionable insights and spiritual principles for achieving greater freedom and inner harmony, offering valuable perspectives on embracing the journey beyond the self and experiencing a more liberated and authentic way of living.
Here are some of the insights to be gained through the book:
Change is here to stay and is a constant part of life. The only way to cope with change is to accept it and realize that it helps bring forth personal growth.
To gain freedom, we need to accept the presence of pain rather than avoid it.
True happiness comes to us when we decide to be happy.
You hear the voice in your mind, but this voice is not you.
By realizing these and other insights, the reader can move away from their attachments to ego and start living more authentically, in keeping with their true purpose in life.
8. A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle
A New Earth delves into the nature of human consciousness and the awakening to a higher state of being, offering insights on transcending ego-driven patterns and embracing a more enlightened way of living.
The book explores the concept of present moment awareness and the transformative power of living in the now, providing practical guidance on releasing attachment to the past and future to experience greater peace and fulfillment.
It emphasizes the significance of transcending the egoic mind and embracing a deeper sense of interconnectedness and compassion, guiding readers to shift from self-centered thinking to a more expansive and inclusive perspective.
A New Earth underscores the value of inner transformation and spiritual awakening, offering insights on how to cultivate a greater sense of presence, purpose, and alignment with the unfolding evolution of consciousness.
The author shares actionable insights and spiritual principles for achieving personal and collective awakening, offering valuable perspectives on embracing a new level of consciousness and living in harmony with the greater purpose of life.
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose is one of the most highly respected resources on finding your purpose. In it, Eckhart Tolle reveals how our ego-based state of existence creates our pain and suffering.
Tolle also offers a new way of being that involves going beyond the ego’s promptings and finally living an authentic and fulfilled life.
There are 10 chapters in the book, including:
The Flowering of Human Consciousness
Ego: The Current State of Humanity
The Core of Ego
Role-Playing: The Many Faces of the Ego
The Pain-Body
Breaking Free
Finding Who You Truly Are
9. Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potential by Caroline Myss
Sacred Contractsdelves into the concept of archetypes and their influence on personal and spiritual development, offering insights into identifying and understanding the symbolic patterns that shape one’s life.
The book emphasizes the significance of recognizing and fulfilling one’s divine purpose, guiding readers to explore the archetypal forces at play in their lives and align with their higher calling.
It explores the importance of self-examination and introspection, providing practical guidance on how to identify and embrace the archetypal patterns that influence personal choices, relationships, and life experiences.
Sacred Contracts underscores the value of embracing the journey of self-discovery and personal transformation, offering insights on how to navigate the complexities of archetypal influences and live in alignment with one’s divine potential.
The author shares actionable insights and spiritual principles for uncovering and embodying one’s sacred contracts, offering valuable perspectives on embracing a life of purpose, meaning, and spiritual fulfillment.
The author, Caroline Myss, is a medical intuitive. Through her work with clients, she has discovered that mental disorders such asdepression and anxiety, as well as physical illnesses, manifest when people do not know what their purpose is in life.
Through this book, readers are introduced to the concept of archetypes and their role in helping us develop a sense of fulfillment by living life in keeping with our purpose.
The book emphasizes the importance of understanding the impact of past experiences on present behavior, guiding readers to explore their patterns and develop tools for healing and self-discovery.
It explores the significance of integrating mind-body practices and holistic approaches to well-being, providing practical guidance on nurturing mental, emotional, and physical health.
How to Do the Work underscores the value of self-reflection and inner work, offering insights on how to cultivate self-awareness, release limiting patterns, and create a more authentic and empowered sense of self.
The author shares actionable insights and holistic strategies for personal transformation, offering valuable perspectives on recognizing patterns, healing from past experiences, and fostering greater self-awareness and well-being.
11. Find Your Why by Simon Sinek, David Mead, and Peter Docker
The book delves into the concept of the “Golden Circle” and the significance of understanding the “why” behind one’s actions, providing actionable guidance on clarifying personal and organizational purpose.
It explores the importance of authenticity and values-driven leadership, offering insights on how to create a culture of purpose and inspire meaningful contributions within a team or organization.
Find Your Why underscores the value of fostering a sense of belonging and fulfillment, providing perspectives on how individuals and teams can leverage their purpose to drive engagement, innovation, and success.
The authors share actionable insights and practical exercises for uncovering and articulating one’s “why,” offering valuable perspectives on aligning personal and professional endeavors with a deeper sense of purpose and fulfillment.
The book emphasizes the importance of self-discovery and aligning with one’s innate gifts and passions, providing practical guidance on embracing one’s dharma to lead a more fulfilling and purpose-driven life.
It explores the significance of understanding one’s unique traits and tendencies, guiding readers to identify their dharma archetypes and leverage them to make meaningful contributions to the world.
Discover Your Dharma underscores the value of embracing personal growth and self-realization, offering insights on how to live authentically and in alignment with one’s dharma for greater fulfillment and impact.
The author shares actionable insights and Vedic wisdom for discovering and embodying one’s Dharma, offering valuable perspectives on living with purpose, authenticity, and a sense of deep fulfillment.
Cultivate a positive mindset and appreciate the simple pleasures in life, such as spending time in nature and enjoying good food.
Prioritize building strong social connections and nurturing relationships with family, friends, and community members.
Practice mindfulness and live in the present moment, finding joy in everyday activities and experiences.
Strive for a balanced lifestyle that includes regular physical activity, healthy eating, and adequate rest to promote overall well-being.
Final Thoughts on Books On Purpose
In this exploration of literature on finding life’s purpose, we’ve traversed a landscape rich with wisdom and inspiration. Each book on our list has served as a beacon, illuminating the path to a more purposeful and fulfilling existence. From Viktor E. Frankl’s profound experiences to the cultural insights of Ikigai, these authors have offered us keys to unlock greater meaning in our lives.
The takeaways are clear and compelling – leading a life driven by purpose is not merely a lofty ideal; it has tangible benefits. Those who anchor their actions to meaningful goals tend to lead longer lives, enjoy better heart health, and possess a stronger immune system. The correlation between a clear purpose and a reduced risk of dementia is a testament to the profound effect a driven mindset can have on our mental longevity.
But the advantages don’t end with health; a purposeful life manifests joy and satisfaction, contributing to a happier disposition. It even extends to the practicalities of financial well-being, with a purpose-driven approach being linked to the ability to earn more.
Through the narratives and lessons of books like Man’s Search for Meaning, The Purpose Driven Life, and The Untethered Soul, we find diverse perspectives that converge on a singular truth — finding and pursuing our purpose is one of life’s most rewarding journeys. Whether we’re navigating the second half of our life with the guidance of James Hollis or uncovering our creative battles with Steven Pressfield, the message resonates with clarity and urgency.
Our list has introduced a symphony of voices, each contributing a unique note to the melody of purpose. While Find Your Why offers pragmatic strategies, Discover Your Dharma and The Little Book of Ikigai guide us through introspection and personal realization.
In closing, these 13 texts offer more than just pages filled with advice; they serve as companions and catalysts for change. They encourage us to question, to dream, and to act with intention. Whether you are at the outset of seeking your purpose or looking to deepen your understanding, these books stand ready to assist in your personal evolution.
Armed with the knowledge gleaned from thought leaders and experts, may you stride forward with confidence and courage on your purposeful path. May your quest be vigorous, your transformations be profound, and your life be a reflection of the very best version of yourself that your purpose defines
If you enjoyed this article and are interested in more resources about finding your purpose, the following articles are also worth checking out:
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What are the best mindfulness books?
What books will help you find peace, enlightenment, and a better way of living? What is mindfulness?
These are questions many people have when they hear how books on mindfulness can change their lives for the better.
Just in case you are new to mindful living, let’s quickly go over the last question first.
What is mindfulness? When you strip away religious and metaphysical trappings that sometimes surround the concept of mindfulness, you find that mindfulness is simply using extreme focus to pay attention to a single thing.
You can be mindful of just about anything that matters. That is why you may have heard about so many types of mindfulness:
Mindful eating.
Mindful meditation.
Mindful relationships.
Mindful walking. The list goes on and on.
The reason it matters is because of what you notice (and figure out) when you are being mindful. People rarely spend time listening to what other people are saying, much less really being mindful about the things in their lives.
When you approach things in a mindful matter, a whole new universe opens up. A good example is simply being outside. When you are outside, chances are you are going somewhere, and your mind is filled with the things you want to do when you get there.
But if you are resting outside, thinking mindfully, you will notice the breeze on your skin, the sun on your face, the shapes of clouds, the way the elements interact, and the joy of the children playing across the street.
Being mindful can open up a new world that is always there, but that we may not always have time for.
Below is my list of the best mindfulness books. These books on mindfulness will not make you a guru, but should give you a great understanding of what mindfulness means, and how to achieve it.
20 Best Mindfulness Books to Help You Find Peace in a Crazy World
Because of these thoughts, people often second-guess their actions and doubt their value as people. This voice inside everyone’s head feels overpowering, but people can learn to manage it.
Mark Coleman is a meditation teacher and therapist who helps his readers release themselves from their inner critics through the use of mindfulness and compassion. In each chapter, Coleman gives the reader an understanding of what creates and quiets the critic.
He offers stories of real people to help guide the reader, and teaches simple practices that anyone can use to help find peace in their lives.
This book is written in an engaging and informal style that allows a serious topic to be approached in an easygoing way. One of the best things about this book is that the author really practices what he preaches. He has true self-respect, and it may be surprising to some that his mind was once very critical.
He offers himself as a great example of what the book is about, and that making peace with your mind will work if you apply what you learn in the book to your own life.
2. Declutter Your Mind by SJ Scott and Barrie Davenport
It has sold tens of thousands of copies and generated hundreds of positive reviews, such as the one below.
“Man, I wish I had this book decades ago—literally would have saved me a lot of grief. This isn’t some New Agey woo-woo book about just being mindful and living in the present moment. It’s actually jam-packed with things to DO: tactics, tricks, exercises that you can use to strengthen your mental “now” muscle. We feel guilt or regret when we live in the past; we feel anxiety or stress when we’re living in the future. This book will help you to realize that the time is always NOW.”
Cure: A Journey Into the Science of Mind Over Body offers the reader a cautious investigation into how the brain can help heal the body. It also addresses how brains that are damaged by stress may make the body more susceptible to illness and accelerated aging.
People easily accept that stress and anxiety can damage one’s overall health, but rarely consider the idea of healing thoughts. This book addresses evidence that one’s thoughts, emotions, and beliefs can stop or reverse the damage that has been done to the body.
In this book, award-winning science writer Jo Marchant goes around the world to talk to doctors, patients, and researchers about this new idea of healing.
The reader learns how meditation can help protect against diseases such as depression and dementia, how social connections improve one’s health, and how patients who have a support system can recover from surgery faster than those who do not.
The author uses specific real-life stories, such as one about a transplant patient who uses the scent of lavender to relieve his immune system, and another about an Olympic runner who is able to improve his performance through positive thinking.
This is a great book for people who do not have faith in the placebo effect. The content is interesting and enlightening, offering ideas for managing chronic illness and other areas of health.
The author goes into great depth in her research, and is honest about her own initial skepticism about the topic. Using both clarity and compassion, the author teaches the reader about a system of medicine that treats people holistically.
4. Full Catastrophe Living (Revised Edition) by Jon Kabat-Zinn
The reader will learn how to use meditation-based mind-body approaches to reduce stress, establish a greater balance between the body and the mind, and encourage healing.
The mindfulness practices offered in this book are meant to be integrated into the reader’s life to help manage chronic pain, promote healing, reduce anxiety, and improve one’s quality of life and relationships. This book includes results from studies into the science of mindfulness, and recent statistics about the practice.
This book is written for people of any age who are looking to live a healthier and more peaceful life. It is especially great for those who are interested in the Mindfulness Stress Reduction Program.
It provides a thorough explanation of the program that is easy to understand. The writing is succinct, making the entire book relevant and revealing.
In this guide, Thich Nhat Hanh offers the reader stories and practical exercises to help teach the skills of mindfulness.
This is one of Hanh’s most popular books because it is an interesting read that is about how to take hold of one’s consciousness and teach you to live in the present reality, no matter how mundane the task at hand is.
Even if you are just washing the dishes or eating a snack, the author shows how the meditative mind can be achieved all the time, and how it can help people heal.
The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation is written very sincerely, and includes useful, literal steps to guide the reader through introspection. The author uses simple words to explain the concept of mindfulness. This book is especially great for people who are new to the practice.
The Now Effect: How a Mindful Moment Can Change the Rest of Your Life aims to help the reader alleviate stress, let go of emotional burdens, find a healthy mindset, and ease pain using cutting-edge mindfulness techniques. Dr. Goldstein offers the reader techniques to help connect to the present moment, relieve anxiety, and increase focus. This book also helps people learn how to feel empathy and approach problems in their lives with grace.
The advice in this book is able to make deep, permanent life changes that allow the reader be present in their lives and connect with the positive things that matter. This book essentially teaches how the present moment can change the rest of one’s life.
Readers have found this book to be a very practical introduction to the benefits of mindfulness. The author offers a simple and clearly understandable presentation using practical methods to give the reader immediate benefit. Dr. Goldstein consistently makes the reader feel welcome in this book with his emphasis on the importance of self-care and respect for oneself. This is a great book for both novice and advanced mindfulness practitioners.
7. 10-Minute Mindfulness by SJ Scott and Barrie Davenport
It includes a total of 71 habits, which you can incorporate into your life to achieve more mindfulness. Most of us are pressed for time, and mindfulness takes time, so this list is limited to fairly “short” habits.
It is not intended for readers to do all 71 habits at once. This is more of a “menu” of mindfulness choices, so you can pick the right three of mindfulness habits for you and bring them into your life.
8. The Mindful Way Workbook by John D. Teasdale Ph.D., J. Mark G. Williams DPhil, Zindel V. Segal Ph.D., Jon Kabat-Zinn Ph.D. (Foreword)
This mindfulness-based cognitive therapy program has proven itself to be effective in clinical trials worldwide.
This book allows the user to get the benefits of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy at any time and in any place by working through the guide.
The authors introduce the reader to specific mindfulness practices to focus on each week, in addition to offering questions for reflection and tools to help keep track of progress. This is a great step-by-step guide on a path toward change. Many readers have found this program to be life-changing.
This book is based on acceptance and commitment therapy, as well as cognitive behavioral therapy to help the reader stop questioning their decisions and constantly worrying about the future.
The techniques used in this book show the reader how to recognize their anxious thoughts, and teaches then how avoiding these thoughts can backfire and even make anxiety worse.
The book explains a natural function of the brain, which is to seek out danger so it can be avoided. While genetics and training impact the severity of one’s anxiety, it is important to learn how to accept the natural feeling without giving into it.
Readers like this book because it frees up a lot of space in one’s mind to live and enjoy, rather than obsessively trying to gain perfect mind control. It is written in an approachable manner by a well-informed professional who is able to easily gain the reader’s trust.
This refreshing book is a self-empowerment guide that offers the reader an honest tough-love approach to overcoming self-imposed limitations.
Unfu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Life is a straightforward book that provides the tools and advice that people need in order to get rid of the thoughts that prevent progress. The author urges the reader to understand that it is their own negative self-talk that is keeping them from succeeding.
Readers come away from this book understanding that they are able to win, that they can embrace uncertainty and let go of expectations, and that they do not have to be controlled by their thoughts.
Many have found that this is a great book to read if you are stuck in a rut. It lays out clear steps to help change one’s life, and provides the reader with the motivation that is needed to make habit changes and achieve goals.
11. The Mindful Way Through Depression by Mark Williams
This is a useful book for anyone who has struggled with depression. It focuses on mindfulness as a simple but powerful tool to help people learn how to pay attention to their difficult experiences and emotions. Williams argues that people can break the cycle of depression by learning mindfulness.
This book includes lessons inspired by Eastern meditative traditions as well as cognitive therapy to demonstrate how to avoid mental habits that lead to depression, such as rumination and shame.
This book comes with a CD that is narrated by Jon Kabat-Zinn to guide the reader through meditations. This complete package is meant for anyone who is seeking to regain their sense of hope and comfort.
While this book will not solve all of a reader’s problems, it will provide the reader with the necessary guidance to help them deal with their depression and prevent a downward spiral.
This book is great for people who are constantly nervous about making bad decisions or missing great opportunities. It aims to teach the reader the methods of the best thinkers and highest achievers.
This book is about learning how to think smarter and find one’s inner genius. It includes research and scientific studies about making smart decisions and improving one’s intuition. It focuses on people’s everyday thought patterns, and highlights small but serious mistakes that can be corrected.
Readers appreciate how this book details the personal experiences of the author, as well as some of the most well-known studies in cognitive improvement to demonstrate the way to improved critical thinking, decision-making, and judgment.
While some people find that the book uses a few too many clichés, most really like the tone and presentation. The book presents a self-improvement message of taking control of your mindset and your life to see the results that you want.
Specific-Purpose Books on Mindfulness
This list is a little bit different from many of my other book review lists, because of the way I separated it into two parts. There is nothing wrong with the books in the second part. In fact, they may have just the answers you are looking for from books on mindfulness.
Each one of the remaining books focuses on using mindfulness to help a specific group of people, or focuses on using mindfulness to solve specific problems. We have mindfulness for 20-somethings, relationships, meditation, money, eating, parenting, cognitive therapy, and children.
Many young adults feel stress and vulnerability during this developmental stage, when they are faced with critical decisions that can have a long-term impact on their lives.
This evidence-based mindfulness training program for young adults has been proven to benefit sleep, stress, and self-compassion. Through this book, the program is accessible to everyone who is entering adulthood and feeling its stress.
Readers have found this book to be a useful tool that is easy to read. With the approach that is taken in this book, readers are able to cultivate skills such as compassion and mindfulness that are necessary to manage life’s challenges in a calm way.
14. Mindful Relationship Habits by Steve Scott and Barrie Davenport
This is the newest book from my partner Barrie and me. It deals with a specific group of people (couples) who are trying to solve a specific problem (relationship problems), or are looking for ways to make strong relationships stronger by using mindfulness.
The author teaches about the form of awareness and way of life that mindfulness embraces to help readers become free from stress.
After reading this book, the reader will be more aware of the science of mindfulness, how practicing mindfulness can calm the mind, how to become hyper-aware, how to practice mindful meditation, and how mindfulness can benefit one’s life.
This book also includes information that is specifically for people who are suffering from anxiety. In this section, the book uses developments in neuroscience to help the reader rewire their brain and free themselves from anxiety and panic attacks.
Readers have found this to be a very interesting book. It is well written, and it provides clear instructions on how to practice meditation techniques. This book has encouraged many skeptics to start practicing mindfulness and stick with it.
The author of this book is both a financial planner and a Buddhist. He argues that it is possible to be a conscientious citizen while also growing wealth. DeYoe states that money drives many decisions that people make.
Most people worry about money in some way, whether it is about earning it, spending it, or saving it. However, very few people truly understand money’s nature.
Many readers believe that this book should be required reading for young adults. It really addresses how to live in comfort in this world, and how managing money and other resources is mandatory.
The author’s Buddhist approach is useful and applicable to the world around us.
17. The Mindfulness-Based Eating Solution by Lynn Rossy, PhD
This book asks what people are really hungry for. The author is a mindfulness expert, and offers an effective, whole-body approach to uncovering the real reasons why people are overeating.
This book is encouraging for anyone who wants to adopt healthy eating habits by showing the reader how to listen to the body’s intuition, discover the psychological causes of your overeating, and be mindful during meals.
Many people find themselves eating without thinking, due to boredom or sadness. But emotional eating is a slippery slope that can lead to obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
The program that is offered in this book teaches the reader how to listen to the needs of the body in order to stay happy and healthy, without having to go on a strict diet. This is a great book if you want to lose weight while still being able to enjoy food. It offers easy strategies that anyone can incorporate into their daily routines.
This book focuses on the science of the brain, and uses cognitive neuroscience to help explain child development.
In this book, Dr. Race refers to our generation as “Generation Stress,” which can be helped with mindfulness practices that stimulate the prefrontal cortex of the brain, helping people feel happier, healthier, calmer, and less stressed, and have the ability to concentrate and think clearly.
This book addresses how the brain works, and why families today are more stressed and anxious than ever before. He offers solutions to this problem through examples of things that parents can do to teach their brains to be more relaxed and happier.
He offers quick tips called “brain coolers” to be used at any moment a family needs to feel relaxed and recharge. Readers have found that the author does a good job of understanding the reality of raising children in the modern world, and that the solutions he offers are both reasonable and easy to use.
19. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy For Dummies by Patrizia Collard
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy For Dummies takes the reader through an eight-week mindfulness-based cognitive therapy course, using cognitive behavioral therapy alongside the principles of mindfulness.
The reader will learn how using mindfulness-based cognitive therapy can reduce one’s risk of developing depression and other mental health problems, such as stress and anxiety.
Readers have found that this book provides the solid foundation that people need when they are on the road to positive mental health. It comes with downloadable audio files that have guided meditations to talk the reader through the practice.
This might be the right book for you if you suffer from depression, anxiety, insomnia, or other mental health disorders. This book helps to keep the reader in the present moment and build a positive future.
The author has found that playing games is an effective way for children to develop their attention skills and become more mindful. She is a successful mindfulness teacher, and offers her experiences in this book. She shows how parents and teachers can develop mindfulness qualities at home and at school.
Readers have found that this book offers a playful way to introduce kids to breathing practices for developing their focus, concentration, sensory awareness, and other skills.
Some of the games include “anchor” games to help cultivate concentration, visualization games to encourage kindness, analytical games to help children think clearly, and awareness games that help children learn how to manage relationships.
While the games in this book are written for children, they can also be used for adults. The author encourages parents to develop their own skills. She teaches the reader that a parent’s mindfulness has a powerful effect on everyone around them, especially children.
Children notice when parents are calmer, composed, and joyful, and learn by the example that their parents set.
Final Thoughts on Mindfulness Books
Mindfulness is not just a practice; it’s a way of being, and these books are here to accompany you on that transformative journey.
Remember, the path to mindfulness is a personal one, and these books are like trusted guides, providing you with tools to navigate the journey within.
20 Best Books on Mindfulness
Whether you’re just beginning your mindfulness practice or you’re deepening your understanding, each book on this list is a treasure trove of mindfulness wisdom waiting to be explored.
Try to integrate these teachings into your life and find moments of peace in the midst of chaos, clarity in the midst of confusion, and a deeper connection with the present moment.
And if you’re looking for more resources about mindfulness, be sure to check out these blog posts:
There might be affiliate links on this page, which means we get a small commission of anything you buy. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Please do your own research before making any online purchase.
What’s the meaning of life?
What are we here for?
How do we find our purpose?
If you’re looking for answers to questions about life, we’ve compiled nine of the best books that can help you in your quest.
Life can be hard and confusing at times, but it can also be exhilarating and inspiring.
Sometimes, we need guidance on how to navigate throughlife’s challenges in order to arrive at our own definition of what life is.
This collection features both fiction and nonfiction books on the topic of life. These titles are from the areas of psychology, spirituality, science, and literature. They can all help you figure out what life is really all about.
Whether you’re reading for pleasure, looking to learn something new and expand your knowledge, or simply whiling away the time, books have the power to change your perception of life.
Many people go through life with the belief that they are not good enough and are therefore unworthy of love. They get caught up in their pursuit of perfection and end up with lives devoid of happiness and love.
Specifically, this book gives you the tools for developing “worthiness.” You’ll discover a new definition of love and uncover the barriers of living and loving wholeheartedly.
This is the best book for learning about self-acceptance, authenticity, and inspired living.
In The Celestine Prophecy: An Adventure, readers follow an unnamed narrator as he journeys to Peru in search of an ancient manuscript containing nine insights about humanity’s evolution.
The book is quest-like in its format, with the narrator looking for each insight in the order they were written in the manuscript. Experiences during the narrator’s quests are directly related to the insights being discussed.
Some of the insights readers will discover include:
The world is designed in a spiritual way.
People exchange energies with each interaction.
People struggle for power (or energy), using “control dramas” to obtain energy.
Intuition will help humanity reach the next level of its evolution.
This is a great book to read to learn about life’s purpose from a spiritual perspective.
If you’ve ever asked how the universe came to be and where we’re headed, A Brief History of Time contains the answers.
Published in 1988, it defied the expectations that a book on theoretical cosmology would only interest academics and university students. Instead, it appealed to the general public as an easy-to-understand book about concepts related to astronomy, physics, and mathematics.
The humor, analogies, and Hawking’s overall writing style are the main reasons why this book is a bestseller.
The book has four main sections, with each focusing on a specific topic, including:
Discipline
Love
Growth and Religion
Grace
M. Scott Peck’s writing style makes it easy for the general reader to understand the concepts of psychotherapy and spirituality discussed in the book. He also shares numerous anecdotes to help readers grasp the concepts covered.
This is the ideal book for those looking for a guide on how to achieve true and lasting happiness.
Although written primarily for young readers, The Giving Tree appeals to readers of all ages.
The Giving Tree is about the passage of time, and it is seen through the relationship between a tree and a young boy.
As the boy grows older, his needs become more complex than just running around and playing with the tree. Yet, throughout life, the tree manages to supply all he needs, even in his old age.
This story has been interpreted as a metaphor for life, and delves into the sacrifices we make for those we love, how childhood bliss is replaced by adult worries, and our desire for happiness, peace, and rest.
6. Carl and the Meaning of Life by Deborah Freedman
The story of Carl the Earthworm shows how everything in the world is interconnected. It affirms the fact that we are all significant in the greater scheme of things, even if we don’t realize it yet.
Those visits were an opportunity for the professor, Morrie Schwartz, to share lessons about life and living it well. The book contains these lessons and flashbacks to Morrie’s lectures when he was still a professor.
Sections in the book include:
We Talk About the World
We Talk About Regrets
We Talk About Death
We Talk About Family
The melancholic narrative is filled with lessons that readers can apply in their lives in order to experience a sense of fulfillment.
This bestselling work of fiction from Brazilian author Paulo Coelho is a story of self-discovery.
The Alchemist is about the adventures of a young Spanish shepherd named Santiago who decides to follow a dream that told him there is treasure hidden beneath the pyramids of Egypt.
This book is written as an allegory or fairy tale, and is about being empowered to be self-sufficient. It provides actionable guidelines for conquering depression and cultivating self-esteem. Finally, it is an inspiring resource for manifesting and applying theLaw of Attraction.
As the book’s now-famous quote states: “…When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
9. Meaning in Life and Why It Matters by Susan Wolf
The author, Susan Wolf, has another theory: Human actions are motivated by love for the things we believe are worthy of our love. And through these actions, life becomes imbued with meaning.
Final Thoughts on Books About Life
There you have it—nine books about life to help you formulate your own answers to the questions you may have about the purpose of it, your reason for being here, and life’s meaning.
If you want to discover more resources related to this topic, you can check out the following posts:
There might be affiliate links on this page, which means we get a small commission of anything you buy. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Please do your own research before making any online purchase.
Most people would like to improve their finances. People with little spare cash. Those who want to save for a big purchase. Even people with extra money they want to invest.
Our personal finances are based on our habits, and habit can be changed and improved.
This page showcases the best finance books from multiple finance book categories. It details many hours of reading and research. Enjoy.
Best Finance Books
In this collection of finance books will help you find over 100 total books on personal finance, budgeting, frugal living, investing, saving money, debt-free lifestyle, wealth building, economics and more.
Want to keep it simple? Underneath the finance book categories below I have collected the top 5 overall finance books, based on popularity and universal appeal.
Looking for the best finance books? Check out each of the targeted sub-lists below to find the books that fit your needs.
Want to learn how to make a budget? How to get out of debt? How to safely invest your money in your future. Want to learn the basics of money management? Then this collection of 22 books is for you.
This selection of personal finance book contains many of the most popular authors in the personal finance world. Dave Ramsey. Suze Orman. David Bach. Plus a few excellent personal finance authors you may not have heard of before. Check it out.
Many books for managing money focus on what to do when you have money. But what can you do when you are flat broke. Budgeting is part of the equation. But that will only stop the bleeding.
The finance books in this sub-list focus on ways to get by when you have very little income coming in. Creating a financial plan. Couponing. Frugal living. Decreased spending. All the little things that help your dollars stretch a little bit further.
People who live paycheck-to-paycheck or who accumulate large credit card debt should seriously consider taking a hard look at many of these books to help them get out of debt and improve their financial situation.
Make Money Books (Side Hustle, Make Money Online, etc.)
(this section of the finance books is forthcoming)
Making money online is a tricky topic. On one hand it is achievable. I have been making a full-time income online for nearly 15 years. Since well before I wrote my first book or started this website.
It is possible, but it is also a niche full of scams and false information. Like any “gold rush”, it sometimes seems that the people really making money are the ones selling picks and shovels, not the people searching for the gold.
This book list will showcase what I believe, to be honest and reputable books that detail realistic methods for making money online or building a side hustle. None of the spammy MMO deals.
I find this to be the fun part of personal finance. Budgeting, scrimping and saving and struggling those can be a big pain in the a**. They are the most important part of money management.. but still a pain. Once you get to investing, it is the fun part- making your money grow and work for you.
This collection of 23 of the best finance books has some information that you need to know before you invest your money. Although the idea of investment is fun.
It stops being fun when your money dwindles rather than grows, so research and knowledge of investing is key to getting good results when putting your money into a good investment strategy.
In personal finance, once you have caught up on your credit card bills and settled into a good financial plan it is time to start making your money work for you. It is time to invest.
Real estate investment is one of the single best investment opportunities.
It can make you money in good times and bad. But it is also a higher risk investment. Bad tenants can cost you months without rent or cost you a ton of money by wrecking your property.
Investing in rental property has huge potential. Both in risk and reward.
It is such a big investment you will want to read every single book you can to get a balanced idea of all the pitfalls before you jump in.
Knowledge is power, after all. The more you know about real estate investing before you get started, the greater success you will have.
I currently have invested in three real estate rental properties and I am still constantly trying to learn more. If you are even thinking about investing in real estate you will certainly want to check out these finance books.
Retirement is not something you want to wait until retirement age to think about. Due to the miracle of compound interest your retirement money will have a much greater impact on your
retirement life the earlier you start saving.
This collection of retirement books includes a wide range of books to help you plan your retirement. This list has books to help you plan (and maximize) your retirement savings that should be read well before your retirement age.
But there this collection also includes books that will help you plan your retirement if it is imminent. These finance books teach you:
How to get the most from social security.
How to live frugally on your retirement savings.
Ideas for retiring overseas.
Where to live when you retire.
How to “semi-retire” and keep a part-time income.
How to make money in retirement from your passions.
Economics Books
(this section of the finance books is forthcoming)
Understanding the intricacies of personal finance is what most of us need. It helps us to budget, save and invest. However, it can also be nice to understand what is happening in the global markets.
I am no economics expert. But that is why I enjoy a good book on economics written for laymen. It can give view of the “big” picture of what is going on in the world, without making you feel like you are lacking the proper background to understand what is being discussed.
These are my picks for great economics books. Written for those of us who do not happen to be economists.
Top 5 Best Finance Books
As stated earlier. Each sub-list has more targeted books for specific areas of finance and money management.
This “top ten” list includes the most popular and enduring books in personal finance (plus a bonus book). These are all books that are general primers to get up to speed on improving your money management.
You may still want more targeted books, but if you know little about finance, these books will teach you a great deal. These books are in no particular order. They are all well worth your time.
If there is one person who is synonymous with money and finance, that person is Dave Ramsey. With a following of over 8 million listeners on the radio and 5 New York Times best sellers Dave has helped millions to improve their money management.
Adulting is an increasing popular topic. It is about learning all the life lessons you have somehow missed. This book is the cliff notes version of all those life lessons you should have learned by adulthood.
Most personal finance books are a slow build. Focusing on the basics and building up money management knowledge.
It dives right into very specific lessons driving home larger principles of financial management by focusing on the 99 individual lessons that everyone should know to get their finances in good order.
This stylistic choice makes this book interest, fresh and makes it a quick and easily digested (and understood) approach to money matters.
Jen Sincero had a blockbuster hit with her debut book, You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth. This book helped people to come to terms with the things that were holding them back in life and keeping them from reaching their potential.
She does the same thing with this version. Except she does it for money.
She helps people to understand the things that are holding them back financially. She helps people reach their money making potential, and shows us the proper mindset to achieve financial success. And she does all this with a unique style and sass that made people love the first book.
I love plans. I like things practical and step-by-step. Getting the right “mindset” has its place but I will always prefer a guide that tells me what to do and when to do it. That is what this book is.
Laid out in a practical and easy to understand manner it lays out an excellent plan for how to improve your finances – without needing to learn all the stuff you don’t need to know.
This is the perfect book to help you develop your own plan to setup a more secure financial future.
Let’s face it. Budgets are boring. This is not a flashy topic, like making money, investing or starting a side hustle. It is drab and boring. Like brushing your teeth.
But what brushing your teeth is to personal hygiene, budgeting is to finance. It may be boring but doing it right is the linchpin on top of which all financial success rests.
In this book, we tried to make budgeting as interesting as it possibly could be. But more importantly, we strive to give a practical step-by-step guide for how to properly create a budget.
Final Thoughts on the Best Finance Books
I hope you have enjoyed this collection of finance books. It covers a wide collection of money management topics. I hope that you have found what you are looking for.
Now, if you’re looking for other books to read, take a few minutes to go through our Book Review playlist on Youtube to see if any of these books interests you:
