“Book reviews are not just comments under the work; they are the bridge connecting authors to readers, they are the podium amplifying the voice of your work amidst the clamor of countless titles.” –From ISBN Direct
- Missing Sister
- Written by Joshilyn Jackson
- ISBN #: 978-0063158719
- William Morrow, March 3, 2026
Twins, Murder, and Instinct
It’s said that twins have a special connection. One can feel what the other does, but what happens if one of those twins dies in untoward, questionable circumstances while the other one lives? Is the bond so strong that the dead twin can advise her sister, or is her conscience dictating what her sister might say? Joshilyn Jackson addresses these issues through the experiences of a police recruit seeking revenge on her sister’s killer in her newest suspense novel Missing Sister.
Penny’s twin, Nix, who got messed up in the drug scene, reached out to her twin on her last night, leaving a voice message that begged for help. They’d been tight for years, going to the same places, and doing the same things, and now there’s nothing but guilt for Penny. She’s a rookie cop when she sees the body of one of the three men accused of her twin’s murder. Too stunned to cope, she steps away and finds herself with a woman holding a box cutter. Penny takes it, but gives the woman a second chance after she says that the murder is a part of something bigger and it has to do with sisters. What is it? How can Penny help? And what should she do with the murder weapon if she wants to learn more from the mystery woman?
Revenge runs rampant through Missing Sisters. The mysteries twist and turn, and no one is who they seem to be with the exception of Nix’s and Penny’s parents. Whether they’re good guys or bad guys, the characters will keep you on the edge of your seat as the tension rises with each chapter. There’s depth and thought to complement the suspense, turning this into a wonderfully 3-dimensional look at human behavior.
Author Joshilyn Jackson is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of eleven other novels, including gods in Alabama and Never Have I Ever. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Jackson is also a former actor and an award-winning audiobook narrator. A recent expat from the American South, she and her family have settled in upstate New York.
If you love suspense and are intrigued by human nature and desires for revenge, this is the book for you. Pick it up at a bookstore or library and don’t make any plans for the night.
- Does Anyone Else Feel This Way?: Essays on Conquering the Quarter-Life Crisis
- Written by Eli Rallo and Reviewed by Baily Cooper
- ISBN #9780063417533
- Harvest Imprint of Harper Collins, October 14, 2025
Finding Direction in the “Terrible Twenties”
“Sometimes the only plan you’ll have- for your whole life- is what you’re doing later that night. And that’s enough.” Eli Rallo
There is a reason why the decade between twenty and thirty is often called the “terrible twenties.” After growing up in a life largely planned and structured by parents, many young adults find themselves asking what’s next. In Does Anyone Else Feel This Way? a collection of essays by Eli Rallo, Rallo reflects on the uncertain journey of the search for identity after college.
Each essay centers on a question that fills in the blank “Does anyone else…” discussing friendship, loneliness, internet addiction, adulting responsibilities, and the quarter-life crisis. Like many twenty-somethings leaving college, Rallo expected her post-graduate life to be filled with date nights, a fulfilling job, and exciting social plans. Instead, she finds herself navigating anxiety, loneliness, and uncertainty about the future.
Elli Rallo doesn’t promise simple answers, but she offers reassurance that even in the confusion of one’s twenties, moving in any direction can be a step forward. Rallo advises that the opinions that matter most may be those our younger selves looking forwards and our future selves looking back.
Eli Rallo is writer, content creator, host of the Prose Hoes Literary Salon book club, and graduate of Columbia University’s Journalism School and the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance.
Most young people and teenagers will relate with Eli as she struggles through finding her way in the world. The essays cover topics and concerns relevant to today’s young people. Although the essays have autobiographical elements, the trajectory of the essays is not chronological.
@@@
Reviewer Bailey Cooper graduated with B.A. in Spanish literature and a minor in linguistics in December 2025. Her favorite genres are YA, microhistories and pop science books.
@@@
- What We Left Unsaid
- Written by Winnie Li
- ASIN : B0DJ1YCJTZ (Paperback version coming in August 2026)
- Atria/Emily Bestler Books, August 19, 2025
Family Mysteries and a Sibling Road Trip
Now that you’re an adult, do you get along with your sibling(s)? Or do the old teasing and unprocessed family mysteries haunt you? How would you resolve your past differences if you could? When their mother insists that her 3 adult children come to see her after a stroke, Bonnie, Kevin, and Alex Chu come to terms with their history, the present, and their uncompleted trip to the Grand Canyon, which started when they were kids, in Winnie Li’s What We Left Unsaid.
The three have avoided each other for years but when their mother insists they must go on a road trip together to the Grand Canyon before she has an operation, they must comply. After all, they were raised with a deep respect for their parents.
Years earlier, a strange incident had canceled their trip there when they were only a few miles away. No one’s ever really spoken about it. So why does their mother want them to travel together and see this natural wonder before they see her? Facing their own prejudices and those of others, they somehow learn to bridge the distances between them and band together during their Great American Road Trip along Route 66. Their side trips enhance the journey and as they share the details of their lives and memories, we readers embrace how far they’ve deviated from their parents’ expectations.
Dr. Winnie M Li is an author, activist, and educator. Taiwanese-American and originally from New Jersey, she has lived and worked in the creative industries in Ireland, Qatar, Singapore, and the UK. Her debut novel, Dark Chapter (2017), won The Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize, was nominated for an Edgar Award, and has been translated into ten languages. She has recently adapted it for the screen. Her second novel, Complicit(2022), draws from her earlier career in the film industry and was described by The New York Timesas “harrowing, timely, and thoroughly book-club worthy.” She has always been interested in storytelling in its different forms.
In this story she weaves an eye-opening exploration of family, race, growing up, living with tensions, and overcoming disappointment as she explores what it means to be American.
@@@
- Remain: A Supernatural Love Story
- Written by Nicholas Sparks with M. Night Shyamalan
- ISBN # 979-8217154067
- Random House October 14, 2025
Can Spirits Return to Earth?
Have you ever dreamed about someone who died? Or caught the glimmer of a deceased person in the corner of your eye? Or seen a dead relative at the foot of your bed? Can ghosts return to earth? And if so, what can and can’t they do when they’re among the living? All of this, and a whole lot of love, are explored in Remain: A Supernatural Love Story, which is written by Nicholas Sparks with input from M. Night Shyamalan.
After a bout with depression that landed him in a psychiatric facility Tate Donovan arrives in Cape Cod to design his best friend’s summer home. He plans to make a fresh start without his sister. Sylvia who told him that she can see spirits who are still tethered to the living world just before she died. Tate struggles with the idea that this trait runs in his family until he meets Wren, a gorgeous woman who will challenges his belief system when she returns to the historic home he rented, which is also the place where she died.
A chemistry neither one has experienced is immediately apparent. Tate is infatuated with a woman he cannot touch, a woman whose presence fades in and out, and a woman who appears in different forms depending on whether it’s day or night. Author Nicholas Sparks takes us through his one-step-at-a-time discovery process with great skill.
Can love free us from loss and sorrow? What is the truth about life on the other side? Can love bridge it?
Nicholas Sparks is one of the world’s most beloved storytellers. All of his books have been New York Times bestsellers, with over 130 million copies sold worldwide, in more than 50 languages, including over 92 million copies in the United States alone.
Eleven of Nicholas Sparks’s novels—The Choice, The Longest Ride, The Best of Me, Safe Haven, The Lucky One, The Last Song, Dear John, Nights in Rodanthe, The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, and Message in a Bottle—have been adapted into major motion pictures.
M. Night Shyamalan is an acclaimed filmmaker known for his supernatural thrillers. Born in 1970, he rose to fame with his blockbuster hit The Sixth Sense and has continued to captivate audiences with his unique storytelling. He believes that storytelling is a powerful means of connecting with others, and he aims to pass that passion on to the next generation.
Whether you love romance or are curious about what follows death, this story will hook and hold you.
Leave a Reply