www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/08/11/books/review/nonfiction-book-adaptations.html
Crime fiction
Writers Revealed
Four Walks in Central Park by Aaron Poochigian
#FamiliusBooks #NetGalley
Central Park is an iconic part of New York. It is a remarkable space that was set aside in the city’s real estate for people of all classes, and one that is beloved by many. Poochigian invites the reader into the park from the first page where he dedicates his book to the man who planned the park, Frederick Olmsted. His admiration is clear.
Poochigian immediately speaks directly to the reader, urging them to take a look at the park, which, they will come to see, is filled with beauty and variety. Next, the walks and commentary-there are four and they are glorious with inviting text (really(!) because the reader is constantly invited to come see) and photos. I wish that there were more of these.
Follow one of these walking tours, either virtually or when it is possible to be at the park in person. Those who are visiting for the first time will, I think, be amazed by how much is on offer. Those who already think that they know the park, will find that there is a bit more to discover. Note that some of this is grim as in the detailing of “The Preppy Murder.” Yet, the good far outweighs the sad.
The text is beautifully written and a pleasure to read. Poochigian is a poet and it shows.
Get to know the park through this title. It is special.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Familius for this title. All thoughts are my own.
Pub date: 09 September 2025
144 pages
Gilded Age reading
An e book bargain-Let’s join: The Busybody Book Club by Freya Sampson-my stop on the blog tour for this title that is published on 27 May 2025
#TheBusybodyBookClub #NetGalley
About THE BUSYBODY BOOK CLUB
They can’t even agree on what to read, so how are they going to solve a murder?
Having recently moved from London to a small Cornish seaside village, Nova Davies started a book club at the local community center, but so far it’s a disaster. The five members disagree on everything, and to make matters worse, a significant sum of money is stolen during one of the meetings, putting the much-loved community center at risk.
Suspicion for the theft falls on book club member Michael, especially when he disappears and a dead body turns up at his house. But the book club has their own theories. Agatha Christie superfan Phyllis is determined to prove Michael’s been framed, while romance reader Arthur believes there’s a mystery woman involved, and teenage sci-fi fan Ash thinks dark forces are at play.
While trying to locate Michael, solve the murder and recover the stolen money, each of them has their own secrets to protect. But despite the danger closing in, they won’t rest until they’ve cracked the case and gotten everyone safe at home with a book, where they belong.
About the Author
Freya Sampson works in television as a creator and executive producer. Her credits include two documentary series for the BBC about the British royal family as well as a number of factual and entertainment series. She studied history at Cambridge University and in 2018 was short-listed for the Exeter Novel Prize. She lives in London with her husband, two young children, and an antisocial cat.
My thoughts:
I very much enjoyed Freya Sampson’s Nosy Neighbors. Anyone who liked that one will want to read this author’s new release. For those who have not read books by Sampson, here is a lovely place to start.
Sampson writes stories that feature quirky individuals who find themselves in interesting situations. The novels are about connections between people, and the plots that surround them. That is certainly the case here.
Nova has moved to a small Cornish village with her partner. They are living with his family which is not easy. Pamela, a bossy future in law, is over organizing Nova’s life. Will Craig and Nova survive as a couple?
At the same time, Nova’s work life is equally challenging. To mention just a few of the obstacles, there is a book club member who may be a thief, Nova’s employer is attacked, and dealing with the idiosyncratic people who come to the center. These include a woman with a smelly dog who sees herself as Miss Marple, an elderly man whose blind wife loves romances in fiction, and a young boy with a crush, among others.
Readers will enjoy finding out how the many people and plots are resolved in a perfect escapist read. Give it a try!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for this title. All opinions are my own.
Pub date: 27 May 2025
From the Publisher
What is: The Secret of Orange Blossom Cake
by Rachel Linden
#TheSecretofOrangeBlossomCake #NetGalley
This is a lovely story about adapting to change, questioning assumptions, planning life’s next steps, family, loss, food, Italy, and romance. So much to like in these pages.
As the story opens Jules feels as if things are going well. Along with her roommate, she does a short video each week that features recipes from the past-think jello mold for one. Jules thinks that a big break is about to come-does it? Find out early in the story.
Jules has faced loss. Her mother left the family for a new relationship. The subsequent death of her father was a real cause of grief. In this novel, she will come to understand more about her family and herself and will put her life pieces back together.
One thread of the story centers on the cookbook contract that Julia must fulfill. She has a summer to do it but is very stuck. The novel brings her and her half sister (whom Jules had thought had a perfect life-but does she?) to Italy. Here Jules will spend time with her beloved grandmother and try to unblock and create her book. Still, she wonders, why can’t she see the pages of her grandmother’s beloved recipe book which are blank to her but not her grandmother.
In Italy, Jules will again meet her teenage first love. Yes, readers will want to know how this goes. Oh, and don’t forget the book’s title-what is the significance of the orange blossom cake?
There are many reasons to pick up this book. The pages turn in this appealing novel.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this title. All opinions are my own.
Pub date: 30 September 2025
384 pages
Romance-Women’s Fiction-Sci Fi and Fantasy
From the Publisher
An e book bargain-Death and Croissants
I definitely found the title and cover of this lighthearted mystery to be rather appealing. What could be better than a good story accompanied by the classic French breakfast?
I was not familiar with the author who is a British comedian. That explains the tone of the story. Here is a rather hapless hotel owner who gets sucked into an adventure by an exotic guest of his establishment. It becomes a bit crazy with even hints of the Mafia. How will it all get resolved? Read this one to find out. It is a book that shows what can happen when one ventures (way) out of a comfort zone.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this title. All opinions are my own.
Spotlight on: I Know How This Ends by Holly Smale
Part of the HTP Summer 2025 Blog Tours series
August 12, 2025
Mira Books
Hardcover
ISBN: 9780778368632
What it’s about:
If you knew how your life would turn out, what would you change now?
The second brilliantly uplifting and page-turning novel from the multi-million bestselling author of Geek Girl and Reese’s Book Club Pick Cassandra in Reverse.
Margot Wayward is in manically gleeful self-destruct mode. Following the implosion of a ten-year relationship, she’s wilfully derailing her successful career, joyfully taking down men on dating apps, and living in total chaos.
Until one day, when Margot has a vision of herself with a man she’s never met before. She doesn’t believe in fate. But when Margot meets single-dad Henry, the vision comes true: exactly as she’d foreseen it.
As her future continues to reveal itself, a glimpse at a time, Margot realises she knows exactly what’s going to happen, and when. And there’s nothing she can do to change any of it.
So Margot has to decide how to live, how to love again, and how to be herself… Because if you can’t change your destiny, how on earth do you live your present?
Start reading:
“So, basically you’re a Weather Girl.”
I lean back in my chair and study the face of Date Number Fifteen. According to his online profile, the key to John’s heart is “Cuddles and Coffee,” and he doesn’t like “people who don’t message back— we r hear to talk!” (But not to spell, apparently.) John enjoys “long walks on the beach,” “honesty LOL” and randomly adding LOL to basic statements. He claims to be forty- two years old, a Gemini (“whatever that means haha”) and
a “six-foot- stop- asking” accountant who drinks “socially” but “never smokes” and is looking for his “next big adventure—i s it you?”
At no point did John say he enjoys smugly demeaning his dates, yet here we are.
“Sure.” I take another sip of red wine. “Why not.”
“But not on telly.” There’s a manic, slightly feverish glint in his eyes, like a light bulb about to pop. “So not a real Weather Girl. Bet you would look very nice in one of those perky little suits, though. Just saying.”
John winks and takes a huge swig of his pint: fingertips stained yellow.
“I wouldn’t know,” I say brightly. “As you say, I’m not On Telly.”
“You could be, though.” He leans forward and I catch a strong whiff of the cigarettes he never smokes. “You’re hot enough, Margaret. Like, an eight. Maybe. Not quite. Seven and a half, but with the right lighting . . .”
I grin at the waiter as he arrives with two plates of pasta.
“Thank you so much.” Picking up my fork, I attack my tagliatelle. “Could we also please get a side of garlic bread— make that two— a burrata with pesto and tiny tomatoes, a Ca-prese salad, stuffed artichokes, garlic mushrooms and . . . ooh, a bottle of your most expensive red wine? And a tiramisu, please.” John chokes slightly on his free bread roll and I smile sweetly at him.
“How rude of me,” I add. “Was there anything extra you wanted? Coffee, obviously. It is the key to your heart, after all.”
Date Number Fifteen glances at the menu, boggles slightly at the prices, then forces a smile at the patient waiter.
“No, I’m good.”
John looks me up and down, presumably to work out what my body will look like after £65 worth of Italian side dishes and whether it’ll be worth the financial investment. He says he’s an accountant; I’d imagine he’s calculating it to the penny.
“I like a girl who isn’t afraid to eat,” he says uncertainly as I pile pasta into my mouth and wipe carbonara sauce off my chin. “It’s very . . . sexy.”
“What a relief, John.” I finish my wine. “You’re a true gentle-man.”
This pleases him: he is a gentleman. Here, finally, is a woman who sees him.
“You’re a breath of fresh air, Margaret.” He shakes his head, ruefully picking at his ravioli. “Online dating is the worst. You would not believe the amount of crazies I’ve met. Absolutely bonkers out there.”
“Oh no.” I tilt my head at him. “How awful for you.”
“At least you look mostly like your profile photos,” Date Fifteen grins at me with an errant piece of crab stuck between his teeth, “although obviously they’re flattering— but we all tweak now and then, don’t we?”
“We do.” I feel my nostrils flare slightly. “Which beach do you favor for your long walks, in this non- coastal city of Bristol?”
“Oh.” He blinks. “I went to Weston- super- Mare last year.” “True commitment! And what’s an average weekend like in the life of Gemini John?”
He’s starting to look irritated now, and I think I can guess why. “You know, just . . . normal stuff.” John rubs his finger yet again, and I make a mental note of it: number seven.
“Wonderful.” I beam at him. “And last weekend, specifically?”
“What is this?” John tries to laugh, which is unfortunate because the crab is still protruding, as if making a final doomed bid for freedom— possibly encouraged by all the talk of beaches. “A first date or an interview?”
I glance at my watch. “Are they not the same thing?” Just in time, the waiter arrives with my order. I grin at him and he grins back.
“Actually.” I put my fork down and pat my stomach. “Can we get all this to go? I want to make sure we have enough energy for later, if you know what I mean.”
I wink at John and his surliness evaporates like water drop-lets on a hot car bonnet.
“Ooooh, bad girl. Straight to the point. I like it.”
“I’m thirty-six years old,” I say calmly, wiping my mouth and watching as John rubs his finger for the eighth time. “I haven’t been a girl for two decades. But thank you so much for repeatedly overlooking that chronological flaw. Much in the same way you have overlooked your own age, which I’m guessing is what— forty- seven?”
Date Number Fifteen winces. “Like I said— we all tweak. Right?”
“Absolutely!” I grin at him. “It makes sense to strategically alter the data to make sure you hit a younger female demographic. What an interesting way to reject the burden of time we all carry.”
The waiter saves him from responding by arriving with the bill and, with a twitching mouth, placing it in the middle of the table. I keep my hands flat and dimple at John for a few seconds— playing a game of bill chicken— until he sighs slightly and reaches for it. The muscles under his eyes twitch, and I watch his internal struggle. Am I worth extra garlic mushrooms? He glances at my breasts and decides: just. With a gallant flourish, Date Fifteen pays the whole bill, leaving no tip.
“So.” With my most seductive eyes, I push back my chair. “Shall we go?”
Poor John’s face lights up with such ferocity, I almost feel guilty. Almost but not quite. “Absolutely. My place or yours?”
I grin. “Both.”
“Um, how does that work?”
“Well, John.” I put a twenty- pound note on the table, stand up and grab my raincoat, handbag and giant umbrella. “I am going to go to my house, and you are going to yours. So that’s how it will work.”
“But— ”
“You’ve failed this date, John. Sorry.”
“I don’t— ” He stands up too and stares at me for a few seconds with his mouth open (crab still present), then looks at my tip lying on the table. “Why?”
“I’m so glad you asked.” I smile at the waiter, who is holding a paper bag. “Because you haven’t asked me a single non- rhetorical question all evening. You have stared at my breasts for the entire, uncomfortable hour. And not a single thing on your profile is true, including your height.”
All five foot ten of him bridles. “I am six foot. It’s not my fault you’re wearing bloody heels.”
“Oh, and you’re married.”
At this, his face completely changes, which immediately erases the one percent uncertainty still remaining. “What the— ”
“With children.”
John pales. “You’re— ”
“Crazy?” I laugh properly for the first time this evening. “I doubt it, John. You’ve rubbed the indent on your ring finger eight times. You also have one piece of dried alphabet cereal stuck to the back of your jacket, along with baby spit- up on your collar. Having assessed this data, I surmise that you have two children. One is less than six months, the other learning to read, so I’m guessing three or four years old. It’s an A, by the way. In case he or she is missing a vowel.”
John— or whatever his actual name is, I’m assuming I’ll never know now—s tarts to froth like an overloaded washing machine. “What the hell kind of business is it of yours if my wife and I are— ”
“Except your phone has pinged six times this evening and you checked it as soon as I went to the bathroom. So I’m guessing you are currently ‘stuck at work,’ sad- face emoji. Don’t feel too bad. Statistically, thirty percent of people using online dating apps are secretly married, so it’s not just you. You’re just shockingly bad at covering it up.”
Suffice to say, John isn’t LOL-ing anymore. It’s a good thing this little Italian restaurant in Clifton is so quiet on a Monday, because I think now he’s really “hear to talk.”
“So, you knew you weren’t interested and just let me pay for dinner anyway?”
“Yes.” I pick up my takeout bag. “Thank you. Much appreciated.” I hold up the bottle of wine to the waiter, along with the previous glass I’d already poured. “I’ll bring this back next Monday, OK? Washed, obviously.”
The waiter laughs. “Gotcha.”
I glance out of the window— yup, just as expected— and sling my raincoat on. John told me when we met that my raincoat and umbrella were “overkill in August,” but I’ve been watching the cumulonimbus clouds gather all afternoon. The sky doesn’t lie, unlike the majority of my online dates. As I walk toward the front door, I can feel John crackling behind me, the way you feel electricity in the air just before a thunderstorm.
“By the way,” I say, holding up the bottle of wine, before he can start yelling. “My name is Margot. And I’m not a ‘Weather Girl.’ I’m a bloody meteorologist.”
Then I open my umbrella just as the first few drops begin to fall.
And walk straight into the rain.
Excerpted from I KNOW HOW THIS ENDS. Copyright © 2025 by Holly Smale. Published by MIRA, an imprint of HTP/HarperCollins.
Meet the author:
Holly Smale is the internationally bestselling, award-winning author of The Valentines teen series, and Geek Girl series which have sold 3.4 million copies worldwide. She is the co-creator, writer and exec producer of the GEEK GIRL TV show, which launches on Netflix worldwide and renewed for season 2. In January 2021, Holly was diagnosed autistic at the age of 39. Suddenly a lot of things made sense. Holly regularly shares, debates about, and celebrates neurodiversity on Twitter and Instagram @holsmale. Cassandra in Reverse is her adult debut and was named A Reese’s Book Club Pick, an Amazon Editors’ Top Pick of the Month, and a June Must Listen on Apple.
Links:
Buy Links:
HarperCollins: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/i-know-how-this-ends-holly-smale?variant=43118705704994
BookShop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/i-know-how-this-ends-original-holly-smale/21769881
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/i-know-how-this-ends-holly-smale/1146210616
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0778368637/keywords=women%2Bgifts?tag=harpercollinsus-20
Social Links:
Author Website: https://www.hollysmale.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/holsmale/
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5824402.Holly_Smale
My thoughts:
The cover and opening chapter drew me right into this novel. I stayed for the interesting premise.
Readers will want the very best for Margot. They will enjoy spending time with her.
Many thanks to everyone at HTP for the invite to the blog tour.
The Magnolia Palace
A Novel
by Fiona Davis
An e book bargain.
The Frick museum recently reopened which makes this title quite timely.
City residents and/or tourists have surely passed the Frick museum on Fifth Avenue many times. . The art that Frick collected is magnificent and includes works by Rembrandt and many others. Seeing them is well worth a trip.
But, how much do you know about Frick himself? He was one of those Americans who, like Morgan, Carnegie and others, made huge fortunes and lived luxurious lives.
This historical novel by Fiona Davis imagines aspects of his life primarily through the stories of the very real Helen Frick, his daughter, and another character Miss Lillian who is based on a real person.
Miss Lillian, also known as Angelique, was an artist’s model and the one whose sittings were most desired. The real Angelique adorns many New York City landmarks. The book will provide a good sense of where to look for them. Like the true personage, Lillian faces some difficulties. In the novel, these lead her to a fortuitous opportunity as Miss Helen’s private secretary.
The relationship between Helen and Lillian forms the basis for one story line in the book. Through this narrative, readers get a bird’s eye view of what life in the Frick household was like for both the upstairs and downstairs residents. Readers learn about a tragedy in the family and its on-going repercussions. They also learn why the novel is called The Magnolia Palace.
In a more modern timeline, set in the sixties, readers spend time with a young model who becomes snowbound in the mansion following a photo shoot. She spends time with a young Black intern. Together they make some surprising discoveries. Will the two narratives come together? Pick up the book to find out.
Lovers of historical fiction and those who have enjoyed other titles by Ms. Davis will want to take a look at The Magnolia Palace. The author’s notes what was true and where literary license occurred.
While not my favorite Fiona Davis book, I did enjoy this one. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.
Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too! 