February 2026 Book Picks
Happy New Year!
A new year isn't just a change of the calendar; for us book lovers, it’s a fresh invitation to travel to worlds we haven’t seen and meet characters who will change the way we think. This year, my reading goal isn’t just about a number… okay, yes, it is. I’ve never really done a “I challenge myself to read X amount of books this year” goal. But this is the year. I’m going to do one. What’s my goal? 24 books. I know- for a lot of you, that’s like a month’s reading goal. Buuut- as much as I love my books, I am not a speed reader. I rarely skip or scan paragraphs. I commit. To each word. From cover to cover.
Why? Why am I making this my book challenge? Because life is so busy and mom-filled that I often forget to let myself indulge in one of my favorite downtimes- reading. So perhaps, if I have a numerical goal to strive for- my ‘must accomplish x, y, and z’ brain will rewire itself back to reading more often. Back in the days before mom-dom, I still had this kind of brain, but so fewer tasks on the to-do list that I could check them all off with time to indulge in a good book on a daily basis. Now I’m lucky to be left alone, mentally or socially, to sneak a chapter in.
So this is the year that I reclaim a bit of me-time. Wish me luck!
NEW and IMPORTANT- Please let me know your book picks by the 25th of the current month. Oftentimes, due to scheduling, I prep prepaid boxes a week or two in advance. If you send me your selection after that, it’s going to get bumped to the next month’s shipment.
Now, onto February’s Book Picks.
Dear Debbie by Freida McFadden
This is a newly released trade paperback.
Good Reads/Amazon rating for other McFadden novels: ⭐⭐⭐⭐& 1/2⭐
Perfect for you if you like: Psychological Thrillers - Suspense
Publisher’s Marketing:
A brand new twisted thriller that will have you cheering "good for her!" from the #1 New York Times bestselling and global sensation Freida McFadden, author of The Housemaid!
Sometimes, enough is enough...
Debbie Mullen is losing it. For years, she has compiled all of her best advice into her column, Dear Debbie, where the wives of New England come for sympathy and neighborly advice. Through her work, Debbie has heard from countless women who are ignored, belittled, or even abused by their husbands. And Debbie does her best to guide them in the right direction.
Or at least, she did.
These days, Debbie's life seems to be spiraling out of control. She just lost her job. Something strange is happening with her teenage daughters. And her husband is keeping secrets, according to the tracking app she installed on his phone. Now, Debbie's done being the bigger person. She's done being reasonable and practical. It's time to take her own advice.
And now it's time for payback against all the people in her life who deserve it the most.
From #1 New York Times and international bestselling author Freida McFadden comes a biting, subversive thriller about what happens when women finally choose to take justice into their own hands - with killer results.
The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by Takuya Asakura
This is a newly released trade paperback.
Good Reads/Amazon rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Perfect for you if you like: Magical Realism - Japan - Friendship
Publisher’s Marketing:
For fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, What You Are Looking for Is In the Library, and Days at the Morisaki Bookshop comes an enchanting novel that will linger in your heart long after the last page is turned.
🌸🌸🌸🌸
As the last petal falls, the final page is turned...
Welcome to The Cherry Blossom Bookshop, a haven for book lovers that only appears during the fleeting cherry blossom season. Nestled amidst the bloom of delicate petals, you'll find a sanctuary for those burdened by regrets and past sorrows. Here, Sakura, the mysterious young owner, and her wise calico cat, Kobako, patiently await the arrival of souls in need of solace and healing.
Told over four seasons, each visitor to the bookshop holds a book that bridges their past and present, guiding them towards understanding and acceptance. Within the antique charm of the shop and the soothing aroma of freshly brewed coffee, Sakura and Kobako help their guests confront their lingering sadness through the power of stories, enabling them to move forward with renewed hope.
'Hits all the right notes...pure bookish escapism' Library Journal
🌸🌸🌸🌸
Here Lie All the Boys Who Broke My Heart by Emma Simmerman
This is a newly released trade paperback.
Advanced reviews average rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Perfect for you if you like: Mystery - Romantic Suspense - Women Sleuths
Publisher Marketing:
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder meets Tell Me Lies in this binge-worthy debut murder mystery about a college student whose senior year takes a dark turn when her exes start turning up dead...
Every time a guy breaks my heart, I write him a eulogy in my journal. It's kind of my thing--closure through creative mourning. They don't actually die... or, at least, they didn't.
Now? These guys aren't just dead to me, they're dead to everyone. And I'm the prime suspect.
With my senior year at Pembroke College--and my entire future--on the line, I've got no choice but to play detective. Unfortunately, that means teaming up with my long-standing frenemy, Asher, who is insufferable and somehow always there when I need him the least. We bicker, we banter, we occasionally almost hook up, but with the body count rising and my name all over the suspect board, there's no time to get distracted.
Between college parties, messy exes, suspicious deaths, and a murder investigation I never asked to be a part of--one thing's for sure: this is not how I thought my last year would go.
Here's to hoping I can find out who the real killer is... before someone ends up writing my eulogy.
Sunk in Love by Heather McBreen
This is a newly released trade paperback.
Advanced reviews average rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Perfect for you if you like: Romantic Comedy - Forced Proximity - Second Chances
Publisher Marketing:
A second chance at love sets sail when a couple on the verge of divorce pretends they're still together for one last family trip, from the author of Wedding Dashers.
Roslyn and Liam met nine years ago and have been the perfect couple ever since. Through every up and down, every milestone--from Liam's residency to the publication of Roslyn's debut romance--they've been each other's rock. Until now.
Pulled apart by the untimely death of Roslyn's mom and the undertow of grief, they're now navigating the final wave in their marriage: divorce.
Heartbroken and unsure how to tell her family she's called it quits with everyone's favorite son-in-law, Roslyn keeps the impending split to herself. But when Roslyn's grandparents ask if Liam can officiate their vow renewal ceremony aboard a Hawaiian cruise during their annual vacation, Roslyn needs to tell the truth or figure out a way to keep her secret. A week trapped at sea with her ex isn't ideal, but neither Roslyn nor Liam want to rock the boat, so they concoct a plan--they'll fake it.
After five years of marriage, they can figure out how to pretend for jungle hikes and mai tais, right? But when reality and make believe starts to blur, and old feelings begin to resurface, Roslyn and Liam have to decide whether it's sink or swim for their marriage.
Dream State by Eric Puchner
This is a newly released trade paperback (hardcover was released February 2025).
Good Reads/Amazon rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This is an Oprah Book Club Pick
Perfect for you if you like: Literature - Family Life
Publisher’s Marketing:
"For a big, immersive American saga, deeply pleasurable yet tinged with melancholy, you could do no better than Dream State." --The Guardian's Best Fiction of 2025
Cece is in love. She has arrived early at her future in-laws' lake house in Salish, Montana, to finish planning her wedding to Charlie, a young doctor with a brilliant life ahead of him. Charlie has asked Garrett, his best friend from college, to officiate the ceremony, though Cece can't imagine anyone more ill-suited for the task--an airport baggage handler haunted by a tragedy from his and Charlie's shared past. But as Cece spends time with Garrett, his gruff mask slips, and she grows increasingly uncertain about her future. And why does Garrett, after meeting Cece, begin to feel, well, human again? As a contagious stomach flu threatens to scuttle the wedding, and Charlie and Garrett's friendship is put to the ultimate test, Cece must decide between the life she's dreamed of and a life she's never imagined.
The events of that summer have long-lasting repercussions, not only on the three friends caught in its shadow but also on their children, who struggle to escape their parents' story. Spanning fifty years and set against the backdrop of a rapidly warming Montana, Dream State explores what it means to live with the mistakes of the past--both our own and the ones we've inherited.
Written with humor, precision, and enormous heart, both a love letter and an elegy to the American West, Dream State is a thrillingly ambitious ode to the power of friendship, the weird weather of marriage, and the beauty of impermanence.
The Quiet Librarian by Allen Eskens
This is a newly released trade paperback (hardcover was released February 2025).
Good Reads/Amazon rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐& 1/2⭐
I absolutely devoured this book, so, of course, I highly recommend it.
Perfect for you if you like: Historical Fiction - Suspense
Publisher’s Marketing:
After the murder of her best friend, a librarian's search for answers leads back to her own dark secrets in this "searing and timely" novel about a woman transformed by war, family, vengeance, and love, from the author of the beloved bestseller The Life We Bury (Kristin Harmel, author of The Paris Daughter).
Hana Babic is a quiet, middle-aged librarian in Minnesota who wants nothing more than to be left alone. But when a detective arrives with the news that her best friend has been murdered, Hana knows that something evil has come for her, a dark remnant of the past she and her friend had shared.
Thirty years before, Hana was someone else: Nura Divjak, a teenager growing up in the mountains of war-torn Bosnia--until Serbian soldiers arrived to slaughter her entire family before her eyes. The events of that day thrust Nura into the war, leading her to join a band of militia fighters, where she became not only a fierce warrior but a legend--the deadly Night Mora. But a shattering final act forced Nura to flee to the United States with a bounty on her head.
Now, someone is hunting Hana, and her friend has paid the price, leaving her eight-year-old grandson in Hana's care. To protect the child without revealing her secret, Hana must again become the Night Mora--and hope she can find the killer before the past comes for them, too.
"Fans of Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale or Kate Quinn's books will be caught up in this story of a courageous woman."―Library Journal (starred review)
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendricks
This is a newly released trade paperback (hardcover was released January 2025).
Good Reads/Amazon rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Perfect for you if you like: Thrillers/Horror
Publisher Marketing:
They were never girls, they were witches . . . .
They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they're sent to the Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, to give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.
Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, frightened, and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There's Rose, a hippie who insists she's going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who plans to marry her baby's father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.
Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they're allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by the adults who claim they know what's best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it's never given freely. There's always a price to be paid . . . and it's usually paid in blood.
In Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, the author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group delivers another searing, completely original novel and further cements his status as a "horror master" ( NPR).
THIS TITLE HAS CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS
The Rose Bargain (Book 1) by Sasha Payton Smith
This is a newly released trade paperback (hardcover was released February 2025).
Good Reads/Amazon rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Perfect for you if you like: Romantasy - Victorian Era - Young Adult
Publisher’s Marketing:
Vying for the hand of one brother.
Falling in love with the other.
A new Victorian-inspired romantasy, perfect for fans of Bridgerton, The Selection, and The Cruel Prince.
"If you're looking for the next YA sensation, here it is." --Adalyn Grace, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Belladonna
London, 1848--For four hundred years, England has been under the control of an immortal fae queen who tricked her way onto the throne. To maintain an illusion of benevolence, Queen Mor grants each of her subjects one opportunity to bargain for their deepest desire.
As Ivy Benton prepares to make her debut, she knows that not even a deal with the queen could fix what has gone wrong: Her family's social standing is in shambles, her sister is a shadow of her former self, and Ivy's marriage prospects are nonexistent. So when the queen announces a competition for Prince Bram's hand, Ivy is the first to sign her name in blood. What a bargain can't fix, a crown certainly could.
Ivy soon finds herself a surprising front-runner--with the help of an unexpected ally: Prince Bram's brother, the rakish Prince Emmett, who promises to help Ivy win his brother's heart...for a price. But as the season sweeps Ivy away, with glittering balls veiling the queen's increasingly vicious trials, Ivy realizes there's more at stake than just a wedding. Because all faerie bargains come with a cost, and Ivy may have discovered hers too late.
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Witch Haven comes a tale that will leave readers eager to bargain for a sequel.
So there’s our February line up! Please let me know which title(s) you’d be overjoyed to see in your February book box. And please please please let me know by January 25th! Submissions after that are NOT disregarded, but if your February shipment has already been packed, the request will be moved to your March shipment.
