First Light: Sailing Solo but Not Alone

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by Cole Brauer
First sentence: “At seven in the morning I am just 15 miles into my journey sailing solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and can still see land off the aft port quarter, when I hit a problem.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: September 15, 2026
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs. There are some intense moments as well. It will be in the Biography section (though it could also land in the Sports section) of the bookstore.Cole

Cole Brauer fell in love with the sea at 17, but she didn’t fall in love with competitive sailing until she found herself at the University of Hawai’i. There, she learned that competitive sailing is a demanding, yet highly rewarding sport. One that put her – as a 5 foot 2 inch woman – at a disadvantage. She eventually found boats that she could crew, and worked her way up to the skipper. Brauer had known for a while that she wanted to compete in the solo around the world competition, but she didn’t have a boat or a sponsor that was willing to let her. And then she found First Light. The boat was perfect, and the owners supportive. So she gathered her team and in October of 2024, set off.

This is not only the story of that journey, but the way that Brauer worked towards that goal and the opposition she faced – not only from the outside bur from learning her own limits – in getting there. It’s harrowing at times (sailing solo around the Southern Ocean is no joke), but it’s also introspective, funny, and an interesting book. I do wish there was a map – there may be in the final version – because I ended up looking up where these places were that she was sailing past. I thorougly enjoyed Brauer’s story and am awed at the grit it took to accomplish.

A really good read, especially for those who long to be out on the open ocean.

Hometown

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by Shaun Tan
First sentence: “Here I am.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: September 15, 2026
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There’s really nothing. The publisher says it’s for ages 10-14, but the text is a bit simple for that. This one might be difficult to find the right audience.

This is the story of a human-looking girl who lives on a planet of non-human creatures. She’s fine with this; they are her family and her friends. She doesn’t even question her existence as being “different” until an outsider – another human – comes and tells her she’s different and that she doesn’t belong.

It’s a simple story; there isn’t a lot of text. But the art. Oh my gosh, the art. It’s breathtaking. It’s funny at times. It’s telling so much story. THIS is why I love Tan’s books. He tells so much in art, so much story with so little. It’s telling a story of belonging, of found family, of colonialism, of exploration. And I adored it.

The question is, however, will it be able to find its audience? Because it definitely deserves to.

Monthly Round-Up: July 2026

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July was a lot, and it went by FAST. Even though I didn’t read as much as I wanted on vacation (silly me), I did read some, and I managed to finish a few books since we returned. There was one that I DNFed at 26% on audiobook, but I couldn’t bring myself to review it. My favorite ended up being the one for Romance Book Club:

The Missed Connection (audiobook)

Adult Fiction:

Everyone in this Bank is a Thief (audiobook)
Murmuration

YA Fiction:

Wondrous

Non-Fiction:

All About Love (audiobook)
We Are the Answer (audiobook)

Graphic Novels:

Heartstopper, Volume 6
Last Day Pool Party
Mixed Feelings
The Whole Wide World of Mabel Mulligan

Middle Grade Fiction

This is a Door

What was your favorite this month?

Wondrous

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by Heather Fawcett
First sentence: “I was late running away, of course.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: October 6, 2026
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There are some intense moments that may be scary for younger readers. It will be in the Young Adult Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Alice has been wanting to get back to Wonderland ever since she went there as a young teen. Now she’s 18, and her parents are threatening to marry her off to an older baron, and she wants none of it. So she runs off to Wonderland for good. Once there, she discovers that there are holes – hollows – in the world and the Queen of Hearts has gathered all the Alices from across time and the world to kill the mock dragons and heal Wonderland. Whoever does so will be considered The Alice and everyone else will be banished. So, Alice decides that what she needs to do is just that: become The Alice.

In any less capable hands, this story would have been trite and silly. But Fawcett brings a depth and charm to it that makes it work for me. It’s not a retelling – Fawcett makes references to both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass – but an expansion of the story. And I thought it was clever and fun. It wasn’t deep, though Alice learns about the wider Upland – and how her situation is quite privledged compared to some of the other Alices. It gives the story a depth and makes it stand on its own. There is a small romance, of sorts, but it’s really not worth mentioning. This is Alice’s story, and she figures out how to make friends, solve problems, and be her own person.

It was a delight to read.

Audiobook: The Missed Connection

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by Tia Williams
Read by Khaya Fraites
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs, talk of trauma and anxiety, and a few on-page sex scenes. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

After a year off, Sasha thinks she’s ready to get back in the game. She’s a casting agent, and she’s been hired to cast a lipstick commercial for makeup brand Seraphina. Which means getting on a plane for a transatlantic flight. She’s not happy about this, but when she meets Seat F, she feels like there’s an instant connection. They spend the flight talking and holding hands… but when they get to Paris, she loses him. Which is why she goes back to her old contact – a former private detective Wes (I can’t remember his last name!) – to help her find Seat F. But, the connection between her and Wes may be too much to ignore.

I really enjoyed this one! It was good to have a grounded romance, well-written, with fleshed-out characters that kept my interest without me rolling my eyes! I think I had a few nitpick items, but honestly, it didn’t really matter. Williams handled this in a way that felt realistic while also adhering to the guidelines in romance, and everything in the book felt intentional. It was smart, it was fun, and I definitely will be reading more from her.

Murmuration

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by T.J. Klune
First sentence: “It happens the moment before he crosses into Amorea.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: November 17, 2026
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There is some swearing, including multiple f-bombs, instances of domestic violence, and an on-screen sex scene. It will be in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Mike Frazier has lived in Amorea for several years. It’s a small town where he’s a bookstore owner. There’s a rhythm to the days: he goes to the diner for breakfast and to flirt with Sean, he runs the store where there’s a book group on Mondays, and he goes to poker night once a week. It’s a good life. But things are crumpling at the edges: there’s the tattoo on his wrist (which itches sometimes) that he can’t figure out, one of his friends – Oscar – disappears before his eyes, and there are these murmurations of starlings that he seems to be the only one who sees. The more he asks questions, the weirder the town seems. He’s determined to get to the bottom of this – while also falling more in love with Sean – but is he prepared for what he’ll find.

In the afterward, Klune mentions two things: One, this book is heavily influenced by The Twilight Zone. I was never huge into the show, but I have seen a bunch of episodes, and I can feel the influence the show had on this book. It really has that uncertainty surrounding it, the vague uneasiness that you can’t quite shake as you try to figure out with the main character just what is going on. And two, that he was afraid this book would be too weird to publish. It’s another one of his older ones, before House in the Cerulean Sea became big, and he thought it was weird. My response: I like weird Klune so much better than angry Klune. I loved this one. I loved the weirdness, I loved the relationship between Mike and Sean, and I am especially fascinated by the way it played out in the end. There’s a lot of things to discuss here, and I can’t wait for others to read it so I have someone to talk about it with.

It’s absolutely worth the read.

Audio book: We Are the Answer

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by Timothy J. Heaphy
Read by Matt Godfrey
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There really isn’t anything. It’s short, it’s accessible to pretty much any level of reader (or interest in politics). It’s in the Current Events section of the bookstore.

Heaphy – who was the lead investigator into the January 6th insurrection as well as the Charlotte, VA white supremacist marches – sets out in this small book to give readers advice on how to best fight the encroaching authoritarian tendencies of the US government. The basics: read, talk to your neighbors, find a community, and participate. It’s simple, even it it’s not easy.

And it’s honestly nothing new, if you’ve been paying attention for the past 10 years. Especially the last six. There’s been so much about mutual aid, about putting local over national, about getting to know your neighbors and building a community. But, for those who haven’t been paying attention (or who are just now beginning to pay attention): there is still hope. We don’t have to give up and give in to authoritarianism.

The narrator was fine – it’s such a short book, he didn’t really make an impression. I wouldn’t say this is the most important book to read about the Times we’re living in, but it’s a good start.

The Whole Wide World of Mabel Mulligan

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by Victoria Jamieson
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher
Release date: October 6, 2026
Content: There are challenging moments with communication with parents. It will be in the Middle Grade Graphic Novel section of the bookstore.

It’s the summer before fourth grade, and all Mabel wants to do is hang out with her stuffed animals (which are WAY better than real kids) and build a treehouse with her dad. But things don’t go her way: they don’t have the money for her younger sister’s daycare, so she’s underfoot all the time. Her mother is throwing up every morning, which is very concerning – is she dying? There’s no treehouse, and instead, Mabel is getting moved up to the attic four years earlier than she expected. And, worst of all, she overheard her dad saying she was too babyish to play with her stuffies all the time.

With humor and heart, Jamieson tackles these very real issues for an 8/9 year old kid, someone for whom life isn’t as certain or as easy as we think it might be. There are ups and downs, the parents aren’t perfect, and they make mistakes. I liked that Jamieson portrayed the stuffies as “real” – Mabel had full conversations with her favorites. I liked that Mabel had a growth arc over the course of the book – she figured out how to get along with her sister, she even made a friend (one who didn’t play sports all the time), and she made peace with her parents. It was a charming book, perfect for those who are struggling with change, and want to feel like they aren’t alone.

Very sweet.

Mixed Feelings

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by Sara Amini and Shadia Amin
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There is a mention of girls having crushes and name-calling. It’s in the Middle-Grade Graphic Novel section of the bookstore.

It’s the start of sixth grade, and Sara wants to make it the best year ever. Except that she has no classes with her best friend, she’s suddenly sprouted leg hair, and she just doesn’t feel like she belongs anywhere. Part of that is because everything is awkward in sixth grade, but part of it is that she is half Colombian and half Persian, and doesn’t feel like she’s enough for either.

Then she finds the drama club and discovers that acting helps make her feel like she belongs.

The book follows the whole school year: the ups and downs with Sara’s best friend, and her making new friends; the drama of not feeling like you fit in with everyone else. There’s nothing major, really, but it does capture the tiny trials of sixth graders, especially one who is bi-racial. It’s a solid story, and one that I think a lot of kids will relate to.

Last Day Pool Party

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by Emma Steinkellner
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher
Content: There are some moments of bullying. It’s in the Middle-Grade Graphic Novel section.

It’s the last day of eighth grade, and several different kids ended up at a pool party, hosted by Dustin. There are best friends who are going through a breakup, the popular girl who is being forced to go by her mother and her cousin who does not want to be there, and Rosie who just wants to stop being invisible. Their worlds collide at the party, and things shake out in unexpected ways.

This was quite good. I liked that it all took place over one day, that the friendships felt real – both the BFFs that were falling apart, and Rosie’s attempt to make new friends. The art does service the story well, and I appreciated the diversity in characters. There’s nothing super exceptional about this – but it is a good graphic novel, and one that I can see kids really liking.