Book Review: Something About Julia

By Melissa Amster

One murder. Three women. And the therapist who knows all their secrets.

Julia Teller’s perfect life shatters the day she finds her husband stabbed to death in their hilltop San Diego home. Blair Banks, a high-powered pharma exec and Julia’s neighbor, may know more than she lets on when detectives ask her what she saw. Sixteen-year-old Isabel Hartley remembers Julia acting strangely that morning when she ran into her at the library, but she doesn’t believe that her neighborhood friend could be so violent. Inconsistent stories leave detectives wondering if the three women are conspiring to hide the truth—especially when they learn that they share more than just an elite zip code. They also share a therapist.

Dr. Kate Cooper finds herself torn between acting in her patients’ interests and seeking justice for a brutal crime. Julia’s marital problems always surface during therapy sessions; obsessive Blair might be overly invested in her neighbor’s life; and lonely Isabel clings to anyone who shows her affection. Intimate knowledge of each woman’s life positions Dr. Cooper to help detectives unravel the crime, but pulling the thread puts her on a dark path to a truth she may not want to find. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

I've enjoyed all the rom-coms I've read from Holly James and was interested in checking out her first thriller, Something About Julia. I'm pleased to share that Holly is as skilled at thriller writing as she is at rom-com writing!

This story kept me on my toes and had me turning the pages quickly. There were surprises around every corner. I was only able to guess at one aspect but nothing else was what it seemed. I liked how the story unfolded and was told from different perspectives. Something About Julia was so gripping and suspenseful! It was also easy to visualize everything, thanks to the attention to detail throughout. I don't want to say too much more to avoid spoiling the story. 

I hope Holly will write more thrillers in the future as she definitely has a knack for them. Check this one out on Kindle Unlimited!

(Trigger warnings below, aside from the obvious. May contain spoilers.)

Movie casting suggestions:

Julia: Maika Monroe

Dr. Kate Cooper: Lucy Hale

Detective Mercer: Alan Ritchson

Detective Ramirez: Lorenza Izzo

Chris (Kate's husband): Patrick Ball

Jacob: Colin Woodell

Blair: Elizabeth Gillies

Isabel: Juliet Donenfeld

More by Holly James:

The Alias Agenda

Nothing But the Truth

In Between Forever

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TW: Sexual assault, suicidal ideation, bullying, death of parents, loss of money, toxic relationship.

Tara Badstubner is making herself at home with us...plus a book giveaway

We're pleased to introduce Tara Badstubner, whose debut, Every Room Remembers, will be available from Sibylline Press starting tomorrow. It's giving similar vibes to the eighties film Always. And a ghost story is perfect for this time of year. Thanks to Books Forward, we have one copy to give away!

Tara Badstubner lives in Pennsylvania and is busy creating her next novel surrounded by her husband, children, grandbabies, and several silly dogs. A former Artist-In-Residence for Bookgardan, Tara can be found at her website and on Instagram.

Synopsis:

After losing her husband Wyatt to a sudden accident, interior designer SJ Monroe believes she is alone with her crushing grief. But nothing is further from the truth. Wyatt, a ghost trapped in a liminal state, must watch in silence, unable to help, as the woman he loves rattles around their unfinished farmhouse in Sleepy Hollow, New York. He mourns all that remained unresolved in their marriage – the children they never had, the depression that stalked him, and the fractures in their relationship.

Over the following months, SJ survives, aided by the company of Wyatt’s dog, Hawk, and nightly drives to Wendy’s for her habitual fry and chocolate shake. She marshals the courage to take a restoration job for the historic Osprey House in her hometown of Beaufort, South Carolina. A vigilant Wyatt follows as she reconnects with family and finds new friends. Signs from the natural world urge her forward. But not everyone wishes her well. 

While trouble looms, an ever-watchful Wyatt resolves to find a way to speak to SJ from beyond the grave – to tell her to abandon the grief and guilt consuming her, and to claim her happiness. Will she hear him? (Courtesy of Amazon.)

“Badstubner has created the most beautiful space: a novel we can sink into, that we don’t want to leave. This luminous debut is masterfully built and beautifully detailed, echoing with the fullness of life—the dark moments as well as the glorious light.”
—Stacey Swann, author of Olympus, Texas

“In prose as sure and subtle as a steadying hand on one’s shoulder, Badstubner’s characters find a way to walk into their unimagined futures, where love and memory, the author reminds us, have the power to outlast us all.”
—Kate Moses, author of Cakewalk: A Memoir

In one sentence, what was the road to publishing like for you?
The road to publishing this book required a high degree of tenacity, patience and blind optimism.

How is SJ similar to or different from you?
SJ’s affinity for interior design is one point of similarity. I’ve always been intrigued by architecture and by what makes a home welcoming and beautiful. My own home has been a refuge for me many times over.

If Every Room Remembers was made into a movie, who would you cast in the leading roles?
I think Emily Blunt or Carey Mulligan would be interesting picks for the protagonist, SJ. As Wyatt, SJ’s husband, now a ghost, Michael Fassbender or Andrew Garfield would do a great job of capturing his reflective regret.

Which book made you fall in love with reading?
The very first book that completely captivated me as a child was Eloise. I have vivid memories of sitting on my bedroom floor with the book open in my lap, studying those detailed black-and-pink illustrations, especially the one of her bedroom. To me, Eloise was living the high life: a home at the Plaza, an elevator ready to take her anywhere and a pet turtle!

If your life was a TV series, which celebrity would you want to narrate it? 
First, I’d be amazed that anyone was interested, but I suppose I’d go with Rachel Weisz. She has a fabulous husky voice.

If we were to visit you right now, what are some places you would take us to see?
I would take you to a beautiful gem of a garden called Chanticleer. We’d ramble along the paths and take our sweet time, and then I’d take you to a nearby French café for lunch.

Thanks to Tara for chatting with us and to Books Forward for sharing her book with our readers!

How to win: Use KingSumo to enter the giveaway. If you have trouble using KingSumo on our blog, enter the giveaway here. If you are still having issues, please contact us.

Giveaway ends September 29th at midnight EST.

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Book Review: Sugar Sand Land

By Sara Steven

Twenty-eight-year-old beauty Emerson Blue is the second most followed celebrity on social media. A self-proclaimed “living piece of art” who rose to fame as a reality star and then parlayed her celebrity into a megabucks career as an influencer, she seems to have everything.

Forty-eight-year-old Grammy winner Renn Walker is a fallen country music star. Years ago, he was canceled following allegations of sexual misconduct, and he has lived in seclusion ever since. Once a beloved figure, he seems to have lost it all.

When Emerson and Renn meet, sparks fly. Against all odds, a star obsessed with popularity and a recluse shunned by the world fall in love. Everyone in the public and media has an opinion and thinks they know Emerson and Renn. But in a world dominated by social media—a world that blurs the lines between what’s public and private, what’s real and what’s illusion—do we ever really know anyone? (Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads.)

Sugar Sand Land reminded me a little of the TV show Nashville, although maybe I’ve had Hayden Panettiere on my mind as of late, and Emerson Blue reminded me of Hayden. She is a bright light who draws people to her in all the best of ways, yet is an enigma and not easily understood. No one knows where Emerson comes from, or her past. The only thing they know is how much of a force she is in the social media realm.

Renn Walker has been living in seclusion for years after a public fallout he’d had over allegations of sexual misconduct, and he has no clue how to use social media, or who Emerson is. I think that was a big factor in the attraction Emerson has for Renn, because he’s not interested in her based on her platform, or what she can offer him. He genuinely falls for her based on who she is as a person, a rarity for Emerson. But socially, it doesn’t look great. Not for either of them. The rumors about Renn have far surpassed him, and no one trusts that their budding relationship will survive. 

There are also secrets that Emerson holds close, her hidden past buried so deep, not even the sleuthiest of the sleuths could ever figure it out. But events out of Renn’s control crop up, and he won’t let Emerson go, not without a fight. And not without discovering the real truth behind Emerson’s origins. I thought it was interesting to see how far both of them will go to do what they feel they need to do, in order to protect, and preserve, who they are as individuals and also as a couple. 

Sugar Sand Land was an interesting take on what goes on behind the scenes of what we see in our social media lives. How much of it is real, and how much of it is generated for the public, showcasing our best selves and graying out the other areas that we don’t want anyone to find out about. I’m not a big presence on social media and I’m not super into it myself, but I watch plenty of reality tv to really identify with what Emerson and Renn are dealing with, most likely finding themselves in similar situations that I’ve seen on tv but have no real idea of what’s beneath that surface. I was on the hook and invested in their story from page one, right up until the very end! 

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

More by Patricia Leavy:
Spark
Hollyland
Cowboy Eyes

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Spotlight: Well Versed

Today we are celebrating the publication of Jen DeLuca's latest Renaissance Faire rom-com, Well Versed! This is the fifth novel in the Well Met series, but can be read as a standalone. (It contains spoilers for the first four books though, and you definitely should read all of them anyway!) Melissa enjoyed reuniting with all the characters and getting to know Caitlin better this time around. Check out her review on Goodreads and Storygraph. Whether or not you've been to a Ren Faire before, this novel (and series) will definitely put you in the mood to visit!

Caitlin Parker was eighteen when she fell out of love with the magic of the Willow Creek Renaissance Faire—the site of her first real heartbreak. But now, twenty-four and unemployed, she finds herself in her childhood bedroom and her childhood lady-in-waiting costume, assisting a rotating cast of substitute queens for the season. The very last person she wants to see is Alexander Wright—the sword-fighting, Shakespeare-spouting young man who won and broke her teenage heart. Yet there he is, older, annoyingly hotter, and back on stage at her Faire.

When Alex broke things off with Caitlin the first time, he thought he was just ending a summer fling. He didn't realize how much he’d fallen for her until he let her go, and he certainly didn't know he’d tarnished her memories of her cherished Faire and worse, shattered her view on love and relationships. His need to right that wrong this summer brings them together again and again, and this time, it won’t be so easy to let go of this summer fling.

But as summer winds down, real life is catching up to both of them. Caitlin’s always thought that being an adult with adult responsibilities means leaving whimsy behind. Alex, with a life full of stage combat, songs, and sonnets, doesn’t know how to live any other way. Can they go after their dreams and find a future together where they can still say “huzzah”? (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

“An absolute delight that will have you rooting for second chances and wishing it was Ren-Faire season!”
—Erin A. Craig, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Jen Deluca writes with exceptional warmth.”
—USA Today bestselling author Rosie Danan

"Featuring an endearing small-town setting, an elaborate Ren Faire backdrop, second-chance and new adult storylines, and a vibrant cast of characters from previous books in the beloved “Well Met” series, this charming novel will delight fans and new readers alike."
—Library Journal

Credit: Morgan H. Lee (2023)

Jen DeLuca is the USA Today bestselling author of the Well Met series, inspired by her time volunteering as a pub wench with her local Renaissance Faire, as well as the Boneyard Key series, set in a haunted Florida tourist town. 

Jen loves Publix chicken tender subs, cold brew coffee, and the Oxford comma. She lives in the Arizona desert with her husband, their rescue dog, and almost too many cats. (Bio courtesy of Jen's website.)

Visit Jen online:

Website * Facebook * Instagram

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Book Review: Thank You for Remembering

By Jami Denison

Soap operas raised me, so I’ve always had a pull toward amnesia plots. They can be a catalyst for any genre: thriller, historical fiction, mystery, comedy, romance. When you can’t remember your past, how can you plan your future? 

The heroine of romance-author-and-Jane-Austen-devotee Emily Harding’s new book, Thank You For Remembering, isn’t suffering from complete amnesia. When Marnie Stephens wakes up in a hospital, she’s only lost the past year. But what a year it was. In it, she left her life in Los Angeles to follow her boyfriend to Boston, only to get dumped. Even worse, she cut eight inches off her blond hair and now has bangs! With a box of mementos and her cute but grumpy neighbor as her guide, Marnie tries to relearn her new neighborhood in order to jog her memory. Will it lead her back to her old boyfriend… or to a new love?

Thank You For Remembering is a quick, light read that delivers its promises. Plucky Marnie, in her first-person narration, never gets too glum about her situation. When she is sad, she bounces back quickly. Romantic comedy is a genre in which protagonists get what they need (not always what they want), happily-ever-after is implied, and gentle jokes and funny situations abound. There are several chapters exploring Boston, the Red Sox, bars full of drinkers who sing "Sweet Caroline" and demand that people kiss. The twist at the end is easily predicted. No heavy lifting by the reader is required.

And yet, underneath this happy gloss are questions that go unprobed. Marnie was raised by a grandmother who told her to trust fate, even though “fate” killed her parents in a car crash and later stole her grandmother with dementia. Does “what was meant to be will be” mean avoiding responsibility for your choices? What does it feel like to give up your entire life to move across the country for a relationship that doesn’t work? These aren’t questions that Marnie engages in, and perhaps they’re not necessary in a romantic comedy. But I was angry on Marnie’s behalf, and there was no place in the book to deal with that anger. 

Thank You For Remembering is really cute, and readers who love Boston will be especially enthralled. Thriller fans like me might want to stick to genres in which women come out of amnesia with both guns blazing.  

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

More by Emily Harding:

How Freaking Romantic

Emma of 83rd Street (with Audrey Bellezza)

Elizabeth of East Hampton (with Audrey Bellezza)

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Spotlight: Tabitha, Stay Up

 

After a shattering disappointment, Tabitha must find new ways to get up—and stay up. 

In this sequel to Tabitha, Get Up, she faces a determined antagonist and a possible new love, or the return of what appeared to be lost love. She must save the world’s best bar, contend with diabolical twins and a persistent mystical vision, survive a former cowboy campground, refuse to count her blessings, and at last walk down the aisle again, although not in the way she anticipated. 

Tabitha continues her forays into philosophy—how to survive disaster, defy humiliation, and build a life where optimism may be renewed, whenever it needs to be renewed, which is by the minute.

**Can be read as a standalone**

Praise for Tabitha, Get Up:

"Riding herd, Upton wrangles a novel that writes itself and rights itself."

—Michael Martone, author of Plain Air: Sketches from Winesburg, Indiana

"Smart, funny...and a total joy!"

—Iris Smyles, author of Droll Tales

"It's Lee Upton's best, funniest, and most ingenious work of fiction yet."

—Brock Clarke, author of Who Are You, Calvin Bledsoe? 

Lee Upton is a multi-genre author who was named a semi-finalist for the 2026 Thurber Prize in American Humor Writing for her comic novel Tabitha, Get Up. A sequel, Tabitha, Stay Up, is forthcoming in September 2026. She is also the author of the literary mystery Wrongful (2025) and the dystopian thriller, The Withers, which published in June 2026. Her poetry has appeared in the New Yorker, Poetry, Agni, and in many other magazines as well as three editions of Best American Poetry. A volume of her new and selected poems is forthcoming in 2027 from Saturnalia Books. www.leeupton.com.

Visit Lee at her website and on Instagram.

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Sara and Melissa Talk About...Getting Older

We've been running a column series to get more personal with our readers. We are now getting toward the end of our seventh year!

Since we're fifty (or close enough to it), we're talking about aging today.

We're always open to topic suggestions, so please don't hesitate to share those in the comments. We'd also love to know if you can relate to anything we've said or hear your own thoughts on the topic. So don't be shy. 😊 We look forward to getting to know you as much as we're letting you get to know us. You can find our previous columns here, in case you missed them.

Sara Steven:

Lately, I’ve been watching Little House on the Prairie. Not the reboot on Netflix, but the old school TV show from the late seventies/early eighties. It’s a show I loved when I was a kid, and it’s become a bit of a comfort show for me when I have some downtime or need some downtime. 

In season seven, episode twenty ("I Do, Again"), Caroline, the matriarch of the Ingalls family, discovers she’s going through menopause. She assumed she was pregnant, so the news that she isn’t pregnant and very well may never get pregnant again was devastating for her. She felt like her life was over and even said something comparable to that. She didn’t want to tell her husband the news. She didn’t want to face the reality of any of it. 

It made me ponder over my own feelings of getting older, now that I’ve turned forty-eight this year. The changes I’m going through within my own body, new medications I never really thought about (or knew existed) in order to get through this phase in my life. It’s funny because I never knew what an estrogen patch was, but there are so many YouTube videos and articles out there about it. And the women who are applying the patches to their bodies are stunning, helpful, and seem to have no qualms about the patch. 

They certainly don’t seem to be lamenting over this next phase in life. And not that there’s anything wrong with that. I think a lot of us have mixed emotions about becoming middle-aged and feel like Caroline. In some ways I feel just like I did a decade ago, but in other ways, I know I’m not the same. I think there is a lot of deep processing, emotionally, mentally, and physically, to be had when you know you’ve got one foot in the past, and one in the future. It was only yesterday my children were little, and now they’re twenty-one and soon-to-be sixteen. It doesn’t feel like that much time has gone by. 

While I do miss them at those ages and stages, I also appreciate where they are now, and the relationship I have with my kids. They are stepping into their own special phases in life, just like I am. I think one of the reasons Caroline had a tough time was because she didn’t feel like she knew of anyone else going through it, like she was. But I have friends who are open and honest with me with what they’re experiencing. And I do the same for them. There is support. Camaraderie. And above all, I don’t feel like my life is ending. Some days are better than others. I can feel moody and sad. I know this is life-changing. But there can be good in having life changes, too. 

When I was in my thirties, I used to help out at a yoga studio in exchange for free yoga. The owner of the studio was in her late forties, and I remember thinking, “I could do this. I would love to do something like this when I’m older.” I recently realized that I’m there, now. Which prompted me to work on getting my yoga certification, so I can instruct. Who knows, maybe I’ll run my own studio someday. I’m also training for a duathlon in October. I work part-time. I adopted three guinea pigs who take up a lot of my time. I take care of my household, and spend time with my husband and kids. I’ve changed a lot, but I’m still the same. 

Towards the end of the Little House episode, after Caroline’s husband discovers the truth, she discovers that he loves her and supports her, so much so that they decide to re-marry one another and will re-marry every year moving forward. Which some might see as a little excessive, but I thought it was sweet. My plan is to continue to do the things I want to do in life, and find the joy in that, as best as I can, and lean on my support system when I need it, and be a support, too. So many of us are traversing through this period in our lives. It’s at times confusing, and difficult. I don’t have all the answers. But I know with support, we can all get through it. 

Melissa Amster:

I posted a couple months ago that I recently turned fifty. And this past weekend, my oldest child turned twenty-one. Time is just flying! Since Sara and I like talking about perimenopause symptoms and all that goes along with aging, this ended up becoming fair game for a topic. Don't worry, I'm not going to post about perimenopause. 

This past weekend, I was looking at some photos from my past and came across ones where my parents were in their forties or fifties. It was strange because they looked older than I look at the same age. I'm not even saying it to be mean. I know that there are celebrity pictures showing actors who were in their fifties back in the 1980s, but they look like they could be in their seventies. I was so shocked about Alice from The Brady Bunch being in her late forties on the show. 

Courtesy of Thunder Dungeon

Anyway, I feel young at heart, and also embrace being fifty. Yeah, there are physical things that go along with aging, such as aches and pains and the need to wear glasses more often than I used to. Sleeping is definitely a challenge. Even so, I feel like it's easy to stay connected with my kids vs. how challenging I made it for my parents as a teenager. My daughter still wants to spend time with me and doesn't mind being seen with me in public. She was also thrilled when I wore a shirt that said "Awesome Like My Daughter." I won't claim to know or understand their music and slang (especially when I thought "HELP" meant there was an urgent situation instead of not being able to stop laughing about something). However, we can have long conversations and it's really nice! 

I'm also doing things to make myself look and feel younger, like letting my hair grow instead of wearing it short like I used to, and focusing more on weight-loss and getting into better shape. I wear makeup more often than I used to, as well.

Overall, I can't complain about aging too much and every birthday is an affirmation of life. So instead, I'll leave you with some humorous images and memes and call it a day!

Courtesy of @the_80s_90s_guy

Courtesy of @nostalgiafreak

Courtesy of Happier Human

Courtesy of 9GAG

What are your thoughts on aging?

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