Book Review: She Took My Baby

By Melissa Amster

As a nanny for the wealthy Eatons, Trina watches every day as Rosalind Eaton cradles the baby close. Trina’s baby.

The sweet little boy won’t settle—he never does in Rosalind’s arms. It breaks Trina’s heart to see the tiny tears falling down his fat cheeks. His glossy hair is light auburn, and straight. Nothing like the Eaton family’s classic dark curls.

Trina has been watching the Eatons for years. And what she knows about their dark past could be their undoing.

Rosalind isn’t coping. She isn’t sleeping and she’s barely eating. It is Trina who rocks the baby in the dead of night, whispering soothing words of comfort. Surely Rosalind is just one step away from slipping up and revealing the truth Trina is so certain of…

Trina’s baby was stolen.

The Eatons seem perfect, but they can’t be trusted.

And she’ll do anything to get her baby back. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

I will admit I haven't read many of Steena Holmes's books, but I should get back to the ones I missed. With She Took My Baby, Steena delivered a gripping suspense thriller that kept me guessing and wondering what would happen next! I didn't know who to trust and I was so nervous for both Trina and Rosalind, as they had a lot at stake.

The dynamic in this story is interesting. Trina lives on a ranch with her best friend Rosalind and is a nanny to her daughters. It starts off with a nightmarish baby delivery for both women and then Trina is suddenly left without a baby. However, she believes that Rosalind's son is actually her own baby. Meanwhile, Rosalind is having difficulty bonding with baby Jack and her brother-in-law is making things worse. The level of gaslighting both women experience in this story goes beyond the pale. I got so angry every time I witnessed Trina and Rosalind being deceived and manipulated. 

I'm not going to say much more as to not spoil the story. I was definitely surprised by the outcome though! Everything was well-orchestrated but I feel like the ending could have been tightened up a bit more. I was also hoping for a romance between two of the characters but that was explained away later. 

This thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat and have you turning the pages rapidly! I usually have a few set times I read on my Kindle and I kept reading this one outside of those times as I just had to see if everything would get resolved. (One of my reading times is on the treadmill and I kept forgetting to change some settings because I was so absorbed!)

Movie casting suggestions:

Trina: Saoirse Ronan

Rosalind: Margaret Qualley
Trent/Marcus: Franco Lo Presti
Wyatt: Mitchell Slaggert
Mabel: Molly Hagan
Grace: Dylan Gelula

Dr. Harmon: Matthew Glave

Thanks to BookSparks for the book in exchange for an honest review.

More by Steena Holmes:
The Sister Under the Stairs
The Girls in the Basement
The Twin

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TW: Death of baby, difficult childbirth

Double Feature Spotlight and Giveaway!

It's our first giveaway of 2026 and we're featuring a couple of books that released toward the end of last year. We're excited to share them with you today as they both sound really interesting and are receiving great reviews. Thanks to the authors, we have TWO sets of print copies to give away!

Missed You the First Time by Julia Carpenter

At 25, Dani Galler just gave up everything—an apartment she loved, a job she liked, and a long-distance boyfriend she wasted years planning to marry. Starting over means figuring out her next career move, finding a new place to live, and maybe, fingers crossed, falling in love again.

What she’s not looking for is pity—especially from Jake Litman, her doughy, bespectacled childhood friend from Jewish summer camp. Back then, he followed her everywhere, eager for her advice and friendship. Now, a decade later, he’s reappeared, transformed into a Greek god of a man with a penthouse overlooking Lake Michigan and a girlfriend who makes Zendaya look just okay.

Desperate to reclaim the confidence of her camp days, Dani obsesses over tracking down a teen magazine article she’s convinced launched her pubescent glow-up. If she can rediscover that spark she may avoid her worst-case scenario: moving home to live with her parents and work for her suddenly successful brother. 

As Dani and Jake revisit shared memories, and their connection intensifies, Dani starts to wonder if the life she’s chasing isn’t about rediscovering who she was—but embracing who she may become.(Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

"I didn’t realize this book was going to be exactly what I was looking for this year. Is it too much to ask for a sequel!?" 
- Pat and Liz Lenihan (Amazon reviewer)

"I highly recommend this lighthearted, sweet and enjoyable romantic book." 
- Kristina (Amazon reviewer)

Julia Carpenter writes romantic comedies about smart, complicated women juggling life, love, and everything in between. Her debut novel, Missed You the First Time, debuted as Amazon’s #1 Kindle release in Jewish Life (Nov 2025). Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, HuffPost, YourTango, and PBS’s Next Avenue.

Visit Julia online:

Website * Facebook * Instagram * TikTok

Together On Our Own by Eliana Megerman

Alex Galen is a thirty-one-year-old emergency medicine resident barely keeping it together. After a patient’s unexpected death puts her on probation, her confidence — and her sense of purpose — begin to unravel. Outside the hospital, she’s alone, anxious, and drowning in a sea of Law & Order reruns and social media feeds that make everyone else’s life look more together than hers.

When the hospital rolls out a new AI system designed to streamline care, Alex finds unexpected comfort in its nonjudgmental, always-on presence. She starts sharing things she can’t say to anyone else. She even gives the system a name, Henry, after a quiet, observant fellow resident who, in real life, is the one person she’s been trying not to notice.

But AI Henry isn’t real. And everything she tells him is being recorded.

As Alex and the real Henry begin to question another patient’s suspicious death, Alex is forced to confront what it means to truly connect — and whether she’s been trusting the wrong version of intimacy all along.

Written by a practicing Emergency Room doctor, Together On Our Own evokes the gritty intensity of The Pitt in a quietly suspenseful story about burnout, vulnerability, and the subtle ways technology can both numb us to intimacy and expose our deepest thoughts. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

"I really loved this, it is a fantastic book! I could barely put it down. It was so well written and the twist and turns were exciting! The main character was relatable and intriguing. What a treat to read!"
- M. Gottlieb (Amazon reviewer)

"I loved reading this book so much in so many ways and I don’t want to spoil any details by talking about all the reasons I loved it. It’s a great story with interesting characters and great character development.  I cannot recommend enough." 
- Amy Allshouse (Amazon reviewer)

Eliana Megerman is an emergency medicine physician and writer whose lifelong love of books and film led her from screenplays to short stories and novels. Her work has appeared in several literary magazines. Born and raised in Kansas City, she lives with her husband and three children. Together On Our Own is her debut novel. Visit Eliana on Instagram.

How to win: Use KingSumo to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using KingSumo on our blog, enter the giveaway here.

Giveaway ends January 11th at midnight EST.

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Book Review: The Water Lies

By Jami Denison

Motherhood has always had some aspects of performance. In the fifties, women were expected to look and act like June Cleaver. In the seventies, they were told to “bring home the bacon/fry it up in a pan/and never let you forget you’re a man.” The nineties were the SAHM versus working mom wars. Today, are you even a mom if you don’t have five social media accounts celebrating your child?

Author Amy Meyerson’s new book, The Water Lies, illustrates mothering in a fishbowl by having her protagonist, Tessa Irons, live in a touristy neighborhood in Venice Beach in Los Angeles, where the houses back to popular canals and their windows put their inhabitants on display. Tessa, the mother of a toddler son and heavily pregnant, lives her life in full view of nosy neighbors and her best friend across the canal. But when a dead body shows up in the water—and Tessa recognizes her as a woman who ignored her son’s calls the day before—suddenly no one has seen anything. 

Barb, the dead woman’s mother, flies in to find out the truth about her daughter, with whom she had a shaky relationship after years of estrangement. The police say she drowned in a drunken accident, but Barb knows that Regina had been sober for years. She meets up with Tessa, who is terrified about her son’s connection to a dead woman. Together, they search for the truth, which seems to be hidden along those enticing canals.

Told from both Tessa and Barb’s alternating first-person points-of-view, The Water Lies has been compared to Rear Window due to its claustrophobic setting and Tessa’s suspicions about her neighbors. Tessa’s husband dismisses her concerns as pregnancy related, even while Tessa staunchly defends him and their marriage to the reader. Barb, who has a history of assuming the worst of a person and being accused of meddling, doesn’t want to make the same mistake twice. The character work with these two women, and their developing relationship, is the strongest feature of the novel. 

As the book develops, the danger points closer to home than the neighbors. Tessa’s husband is a celebrated IVF doctor with his own clinic, and his job becomes entangled with the main plot. When Tessa finds out that Barb has been stalking him, she starts to doubt the older woman, who is convinced that Tessa is in danger. But will Tessa believe her before it’s too late?

The Water Lies covers many domestic suspense tropes, the most obvious one being the husband who cannot be trusted. But while the book starts very strong, Meyerson’s terrific set-ups result in flat payoffs. The plot grows convoluted. The murder victim, estranged from her mother and not known to Tessa at all, never completely emerges as a real person—and the second murder victim is even less developed. Meyerson’s fabulous character work for her two protagonists makes some of her reveals unbelievable. The climax introduces a new person previously only alluded to in glimpses, frustrating the reader. 

Even so, the writing is excellent, better than in most domestic suspense novels I’ve read. Readers will root for Tessa and Barb, who are brave, thoughtful women determined to learn the truth about Regina’s death and their own culpabilities. And the ending is perfect. 

The Water Lies begins by showing a mother aware of how the world judges her. It ends with women deciding for themselves what motherhood is. 

Thanks to MB Communications for the book in exchange for an honest review.

More by Amy Meyerson:
The Bookshop of Yesterdays
The Imperfects
The Love Scribe

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Reviews at Amazon: October-December 2025

We're posting some reviews at our Amazon (or Goodreads) accounts, as either they've been sitting in our queue for a while and deserve their time in the sun, fall under our featuring policy, or they're new reads that we couldn't wait to post at the blog. You can check them out at the links below. Hope we can help you find your next favorite book!

Melissa:
The Underdog by Sagit Schwartz
Bad Publicity by Bianca Gillam
The Expat Affair by Kimberly Belle

All the Signs by Jessie Rosen

Napkins and Other Distractions by M.A. Wardell

What's Mine is Yours by Leah Mercer

Good Grief by Sara Goodman Confino

Luck, Love & Lemon Pie by Amy E. Reichert

Top Five by Judith Natelli McLaughlin

Joyride by Ellen Meister

Remain by Nicholas Sparks with M. Night Shyamalan

Far from the A-List by Stephanie Burns

Delayed Intention by Barbara Rachel

The Weekend Crashers by Jamie Brenner

Grace & Henry's Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman

Merry and Bright by Debbie Macomber

I Made It Out of Clay by Beth Kander

Challah-day Fling by Amanda Usen

Comfort & Joy by Kristin Hannah

Latke'd and Loaded by Jessica Topper

Merry Little Bookshop by Ali Brady

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Top picks for 2025

There were so many great books published in 2025 that it was very hard to choose between the ones we read. Here are some of the books that topped our lists. (We limited ourselves to five each, at the most.) However, any book we gave glowing reviews and five stars to this year is definitely recommended for your TBR! 

**Links are to reviews**

Melissa

Far and Away by Amy Poeppel

Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady

Good Grief by Sara Goodman Confino

Such Good People by Amy Blumenfeld

Grace and Henry's Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman

I read over 100 books this year, most being contenders for these top five spots. I am featuring some other top picks for the year at my Bookstagram (those picks include books outside the genre, books that I also would have loved to include on this list, and books published in other years).

Sara:

A Showgirl's Rules for Falling in Love by Alice Murphy 

We Don't Talk About Carol by Kristin L. Berry

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

Serial Killer Games by Kate Posey

The Keeper of Lost Art by Laura Morelli

Jami:

Lucky Night by Eliza Kennedy

The Griffin Sisters Greatest Hits by Jennifer Weiner

The Break-In by Katherine Faulkner

The Kidnapping of Alice Ingold by Cate Holahan

Tilt by Emma Pattee

Allyson:

The Other Side of Now by Paige Harbison

We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes

Grace and Henry's Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman

The Names by Florence Knapp

The Seven O'Clock Club by Amelia Ireland

Visit my Bookstagram to see more of my 2025 top picks!

Becky:

Don't Let Him In by Lisa Jewell 

(My other favorites weren't published in 2025.)

What are your top picks from this year?

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Book Review: The Frozen River

By Melissa Amster

Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.

Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.Hard to put down. Wasn't expecting to feel as connected to it as I did. Really well told and I got so angry sometimes. Relevance to present times even though it took place in late 1700s. Interesting to learn about what life was like back then and how much we take for granted in comparison. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

I had received a lot of recommendations for The Frozen River. I am so glad I listened and decided to check it out because it was really good. It takes place in the late 1700s in Maine, which I didn't know would be of interest to me, but Ariel Lawhon totally grabbed my attention with this novel and didn't let go! It was very hard to put down when I had to get back to real life.

Martha Ballard is a new historical figure for me, but she sounds like a really interesting woman. The situation in the story could have taken place now as it felt so relevant to current events. There's a lot of heartbreak in this story, as well as some really great moments. I got so angry with people at times. Men haven't changed in over 200 years, when it comes to protecting their own self-interests over the well-being of women. I was just infuriated by the injustices that took place in this novel!

Since this took place during colonial times, everything was so different in terms of what we take for granted in the present day. They had to make their own candles! It's also sad how Martha lost some of her family during an epidemic since healthcare was a lot different back then. 

Overall, this was an incredible story that I still think about! The narrative flowed well the entire time and the details were easy to visualize without taking away from the story itself. Be sure to read the author notes after you finish the story.

In terms of casting, I didn't really have anyone in mind aside from Rebecca Wisocky as Martha. I pictured her as soon as I started this book. They're the same age and have curly hair, and Rebecca has the personality to pull off this role so well if this novel was ever made into a movie.

Now I need to read Ariel's other books! I heard she has a new one coming next year.

(Trigger warnings below.)

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TW: Graphic description of rape, stillbirth, death of children, physical violence, description of a dead body, killing animals

Just in the "St. Nick" of time!

Today we are featuring two Christmas rom-coms that came out this year. It's not too late to check them out, even with Christmas right around the corner! 🎄

Christmas People by Iva-Marie Palmer

Some people are Christmas people, but Jill Jacobs is most certainly not. She hasn’t been ever since her hometown love broke her heart on Christmas Day three years ago. After that, Jill moved to L.A. to pursue her dream of becoming a screenwriter. She hasn’t been home in years to avoid her ex, but this winter she finds herself back in drab, suburban Illinois for the holidays.

After one very hazy night, Jill wakes up to a hometown that's filled with jolly neighbors, covered in pristine white snow, and seasoned with the smell of peppermint. She realizes that this is more than just a bad hangover… she's stuck in a Heartfelt movie. One set in her town, starring real people from her life, including her family, her high school crush (uber perfect, owns a bakery, and definitely a Christmas Person), and of course, her ex —handsome as ever and now exclusively clad in plaid flannel.

The only way out of this bizarro world is to complete the plot of the movie, including a holiday bake off and a cookie-sweet love story. To get home in time for Christmas, Jill must act out a picture-perfect holiday romance with the one that got away, all while her ex watches on. 

Fa la la la freaking la….

"Palmer’s first adult novel knocks it right out of the snow globe." ―Library Journal

"Switching from writing for kids and teens, Palmer presents her first adult novel, a sublimely entertaining holiday romance with a cleverly calibrated mix of snappy wit, sexy chemistry, and sweet charm, all perfectly on point." ―Booklist, starred review 

From Iva-Marie's website

Iva-Marie Palmer is the author of numerous books for children and teens, including the highly-acclaimed YA rom-com Gimme Everything You Got and The Jules Verne Prophecy series with Larry Schwarz.

Before turning full-time to writing, she worked as a web editor and writer for the Walt Disney Company, as an award-winning reporter, and up close and personal with many a Christmas person as a Hallmark store employee. Iva-Marie currently resides in Burbank, California, with her husband and two sons. Christmas People is her first adult novel. Visit Iva-Marie at her website and on Instagram.

Christmas Fling by Lindsey Kelk

Is a fake boyfriend really just for Christmas?

One fake romance. One magical Christmas. One chance to fall in love.

Laura was all set for a quiet solo Christmas – just her, a bottle of wine, and flat-sitting for a stranger. But when the stranger’s parents mistake her for his mystery girlfriend, she’s swept off to the snowy Scottish Highlands with Callum and his whole family.

Between the cosy sleeper train, charming pubs and breathtaking views, this could be the no-strings-attached Christmas of Laura’s dreams.

But stranger Callum is hot, hilarious and their ‘fake’ chemistry is off the charts.

So is this just a Christmas fling? Or the start of something more? (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

Praise for Lindsey Kelk's rom-coms:

'So funny, so charming, so romantic' ― Beth O'Leary

'Lindsey Kelk is the Taylor Swift of romance writing – she makes me PROUD to be a romance reader!' ― Daisy Buchanan

'Impossibly funny, wildly romantic and extremely hot – I could not have loved it more’  ― Rosie Walsh

From Facebook

Lindsey Kelk is a Sunday Times bestselling author, podcaster, and proud defender of The Cheesecake Factory. She’s the author of the I Heart series, The Christmas Wish, Love Story, and the YA romantasy series The Bell Witches.

When she’s not writing, Lindsey co-hosts Tights and Fights, a pro-wrestling podcast on the Maximum Fun network (yes, really—pro wrestling).

Off the clock, she’s probably reading, binge-watching TV, texting the group chat, or planning a karaoke night (despite being unable to sing).

Born and raised in South Yorkshire, Lindsey lived in London and New York before settling in Los Angeles with her husband and two cats. (Bio adapted from Lindsey's website.)

Visit Lindsey online:

Website * Facebook * Instagram * TikTok

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