After an old friend jumpstarts Lindsay’s imagination, she investigates what really happened the night her best friend Edie died. Her drunken blackouts had prevented her from questioning the official ruling of suicide, though inconsistencies niggled at her. As Edie’s friend, Lindsay had been a fifth wheel to her roommates, but partied hard along with them in their ramshackle rooming house filled with other 20-somethings, some of them musicians whose bands played there, where drugs flowed freely. Personalities clashed, emotions swelled, and friendships ebbed and flowed, until Edie was found dead by a roommate. Ten years later, Lindsay faces her fears to find out the truth. Bartz presents an unreliable narrator and unsympathetic character so well Dear Reader roots for her when she ends up in an impossible situation. Fans of The Wife Between Us, Something in the Water, and Bring Me Back will appreciate this suspense thriller. I was fortunate to receive a digital copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

A simple DNA test taken just for fun rips bestselling author Dani Shapiro’s life apart, leaving her wondering who she is after discovering that her dad is not her biological father. She shares her journey to find her origins, understand her parents’ decisions, and come to terms with it all, delving deeply into the implications of the discovery for her faith, marriage, and son. It seems that almost every family has a secret. Learning that secret hits like a hammer, damaging relationships and rending familial bonds, especially when the parents who held that secret have passed and cannot explain why. Dear Reader follows Dani through heart-wrenching emotions, feeling unmoored by the inability to ask her parents why, while remaining hopeful in finding answers through her biological father. As riveting as the writing is, it’s hard to watch her struggle with the sense of betrayal and crisis of identity as she searches for a path to healing. Read this memoir if you’re a Dani Shapiro fan, are working through a family secret of your own, or just love learning how the process of life works. It’s worth your time. I was fortunate to receive a copy from the publisher for an honest review.

An unforgivable betrayal halts the wedding of Colleen Donohue, who immediately runs away to NYC, estranging herself from family. A decade later, a family crisis pulls her home, requiring collaboration with her betrayer, making forgiveness the only option left to her. In the midst of the crisis, a secret is revealed that changes her entire understanding of herself and family. Henry pulls Dear Reader into this beautiful story of complicated emotions and familial dynamics with down-to-earth descriptions and perfectly placed hints. Fans of Diane Chamberlain and Liane Moriarty will appreciate Henry’s style. I’m grateful to have received this wonderful story from through NetGalley.

Despite expectations, Professor Chandra is passed over for the Nobel Prize in Economics. Again. He brushes off condolences, determining that it had been his last chance to hope, for the world was moving on without him. As he drifts into auto pilot with a side of grumpiness, he wanders in front of a bicyclist, causing him serious injuries and a silent heart attack. At the hospital, the doctor tells him to cut back on everything and follow his bliss, which he decides to do in California as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at UC Bella Vista. He ends up going to a spiritual retreat offered by his wife’s second husband. Balasubramanyam brilliantly portrays a self-important man disconnected from others through self-sabotage stemming from his background and rigid personality. Dear Reader gets to see all that Dr. Chandra does not communicate, and how much more complicated he makes relationships that matter the most to him, building tension and engaging sympathy for a challenging character. Though reminiscent of Barbara Claypole White’s father in The Perfect Son in his inability to see others and clinging to his ideas that are not serving him, Dr. Chandra wouldn’t dare consider that he might have OCPD, as White’s character determines and enters therapy. He prefers to muddle through on his own, pleading for understanding. It’s intriguing and leads to revelatory confrontation. Fans of anti-heroes will appreciate Dr. Chandra and his struggles. I was fortunate to receive this complex and enlightening story of facing one’s mortality through life-altering paradigm-shifts from Dial Press / Random House by NetGalley.