It might be The End of Romance, but it’s the beginning of my tenure shouting from the rooftops how much I love this book. Lily Meyer’s second novel brings us into the world of Sylvie Broder, a woman who is going to solve the issue of romance by ending the concept entirely. A perfect literary romance that questions the very concept of a romance.

Jennette McCurdy writes her first novel with the same lyrically fabulous words of her memoir. A darkly humorous read that turns the age-gap trope on its head and leave you thinking about relationships and what they mean to everyone they touch long after the final page.

Also loved by Natalie & Abigail!

I devoured this book in one sitting, as if overtaken by a beast satisfied only with story’s end. An absolutely stunning reimagining of a medieval werewolf poem, weaving third person, second person, and poetic stream of consciousness to tell a fairytale of sickness, exile, and monstrous yearning.

A short but moving novel about two sisters who decide their uncle needs to die, complete with multiple choice quizzes!

Nurses working the ICU at a hospital in San Bernardino during the height of Covid, lifelong friends who are now forced to make weighty decisions for patients and in their personal lives. When one of their daughters goes missing, the community of mostly Mexican-Americans is mobilized. I love this story of a Southern California you don’t usually hear about from a writer who “writes the West”.

A first for me: queer fantasy romance. My review: hilarious and entertaining. Greer Strothers could be a stand-up comic. To defeat the mad sorcerer, the knight must die. But what if the knight is gorgeous and cowardly? What does he do? Begs the sorcerer to save him. Then the two of them might go from enemies to…

I was already a Jenny Tinghui Zhang fun, but, oh, how I was drawn into the orbit of Superfan! Zhang’s take on parasocial relationships, online communities, and loneliness is timely and pitch-perfect. I adored this gorgeous novel.

Also loved by Aly & Abigail!

The best book of 2025. A Siddhartha story for raging, wild women. Ten years after her disappearance, teen mom April writes her daughter a letter detailing her abandonment, anger, and journey to enlightenment. Pure poetry in a small package, master playwright Quiara Algería Hudes does somersaults with language. April Soto, I GET YOU, and that’s why this book hurts so badly but in all the right ways.

What if you could bring a book character you loved to life? It happens! But how will the story end?

Tilly Nightingale is grieving when she receives a call to pick up a book at her local bookstore. She didn’t order anything and is surprised to learn that her late husband hand-selected a monthly book for her for the next 12 months. She reads her way through the year, becoming friends with the booksellers, and working her way to a new normal.

When Halley’s Comet arrives, a murder occurs. The characters in this upstairs-downstairs locked-room mystery are peculiar and peculiarly entertaining. A downstairs footman and an upstairs lady team up to investigate, uncovering dirty family secrets.

Nobody steps on to the Elsewhere Express, you simply open your eyes and you have been transported on a train that is made of daydreams and desires. Join Raya and Q on their unlikely trek in a place they never meant to be, but might just help them find a purpose in their lives.

Not much happens in this novel, but it left my heart racing with the anticipation of what could happen. A woman in a hotel room, with the man with whom she is having an affair, unable to leave due to a terrorist event. A dual timeline takes us back through her younger years, meeting her husband, and meeting her current companion. I think this book ends perfectly.

Powerful book that tells parallels two stories of escape from Paris, one set in the 1600s, the other set in the 1940s. The characters quickly draw you in as you become invested in their journeys. Parallels to events happening today may weigh heavy on some readers. Definitely a thought provoking read.

A woman hires someone else to pretend to be her on the day of her husband’s murder. Now they both need an alibi. Secrets and lies unravel in this twisty thriller.

Also loved by Jenness!

An aging movie star lotteries off his multimillion dollar salary to anyone who buys a ticket. His not-so-famous lover watches from the sidelines, astute but helpless. An unknown screenwriter tinkers with the perfect script. Beautifully described as “Bojack Horseman meets Joan Didion,” follow Verity, Helen, and Phoebe as their interconnected worlds collide in this smart, sultry debut by the brilliant Lauren Rothery.

In this fantastic follow-up to I Think They Love You, a friends-to-lovers story a decade plus in the making comes to life with humor and yearning to spare. The lovable leads and their well-developed and complex history make for an intensely satisfying HEA.

If you’re struggling with the grief of heartbreak, here are two books I recommended you read immediately: Lily King’s Heart the Lover and Notes on Heartbreak by Annie Lord. Calling your ex isn’t going to fix anything, but picking this book up will.

Kings and Pawns is a stunning portrait of both the ascendant Jackie Robinson and the increasingly ostracized Paul Robeson, as the two find themselves pitted against one another testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Brilliantly exploring the intersection of race, politics, and sport, King and Pawns effortlessly cements Howard Bryant’s place as one of the very best sportswriters alive.

Some books just speak to you on a personal level – either due to their oh-so relatable subject matter, their engaging language, or your own tendency to imbue inanimate objects with personality and feelings. Humanish checks *at least* two of these boxes. A touchstone book for all of us super-anthropomorphizers.

A beautiful and moving memoir from Summer House’s Carl Radke. Carl opens up about his addiction, the grief of losing his brother, and struggling to find a place and meaning in this world. This memoir is so deeply personal and vulnerable that everyone will be able to relate to it.

It is so rare for a nonfiction book to immediately announce itself as the definitive work on a subject, but The Warmth of Other Suns convincingly does just that. Exploring the Great Migration through the lives of three of its participants, Wilkerson masterfully interweaves personal stories with the larger historical narrative, resulting in a genuine masterpiece that is the single best history book I’ve ever read.

Also loved by Kim!

The Shining is one of King’s greatest character studies. Across a slow-burning 700 pages, we come to know Jack, Wendy, and Danny Torrance through their complex interiorities. Things scarier than a haunted hotel: The cycle of abuse, addiction, generational trauma, and pressures of the nuclear family. It all builds to Jack’s creeping descent into madness, culminating in his explosive rage. Here’s Johnny.

Also loved by Jake & Kim!

This uniquely structured collection of short stories gives each story a “rhyming” pair, a counterpart in which an object or event connects two stories across time. A painting, a Bible, an extinct bird, a mysterious series of deaths at a logging camp, and more tie the lives of characters in one story to those in another, unbeknownst to the characters themselves. Often heartbreaking and frequently beautiful.

Two identical twin sisters from a small, southern Black community leave home at 16 to start new lives. One sister continues her life as a Black woman in the south, the other lives her life as a white woman in LA, keeping her past a secret to those around her. That past threatens to resurface when the twin sisters’ daughters start to search for their mothers’ vanished half.

Follow Macfarlane across some of the oldest walking paths in human history and learn so much about what makes us human along the way.

First Editions Club: February Selection

Love, Parnassus: February Selection