March 2026
It's Almost Time for a New Bookshelf
Hello! Put on your party hats and pull out your Libby apps because it's Book List time.
Before we get into the reviews, I need to make a confession or maybe it's a celebration of something amazing: I need another bookshelf.
I currently have several that are all full, mostly of books I have not yet read. I once considered this a character flaw and most definitely a hoarding situation, but I have since changed my tune. Books are my favorite thing to do, my favorite thing to decorate with, and very few things make me more giddy than a row of book spines.
Currently, I have around thirty books on the floor with no home, and I'm starting to cram books higgledy piggledy into any open bookshelf space, like a deranged game of Jenga.
It's time for a new bookshelf.
Where will this go? I have no idea. Do I have a problem? Perhaps. Am I ashamed of this? Only 2% of the time, and that is usually hormone-related. So now I am on the hunt. I will put "book vessel" at the top of my thrifting list and go out into the Greensboro world, awaiting a little storage magic. Wish me luck.
On to the books!
I read eight books in February, and nothing was below four stars. That's pretty rad. One thing to note about this list - none of the fiction I read was in physical book form. All were ebooks or audio. That bums me out because I love to hold a book and didn't. I wouldn't have noticed that without the list, and now it's a priority for March.
Thankfully, I have bookshelves full of options.
(Just let me have this, you guys.)
This Month’s Books
Book Reviews
Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Casting: None
Content warnings: A lot of violence, including towards children
Book words: Weird, apocalyptic, tender-hearted, intense
I love being surprised by a book, and this one had me all upside-down. The plot sounds bizarre (it is) and you might wonder if it's even worth reading (it's definitely not for everyone), but it was an out-of-the-park homerun for me.
It's the future but recognizable. The main difference is the presence of robots. Much like smartphones are now ubiquitous, so are domestic robots in this story - nannies, gardeners, personal assistants. Walking AI is everywhere.
Pounce is a "nannybot" that looks like a tiger and has been happily taking care of eight-year-old Ezra since he was born. As the story begins, Pounce stumbles upon the box he came in and realizes that one day he'll likely be put back in there. As he wrestles with his disposability, a robot revolution catches fire, and Pounce must choose between his freedom and the little boy he's been programmed to love.
It's an apocalyptic adventure story that made me feel every emotion under the sun. Wildly enjoyable. I was so sad when it was over.
This goes on my list of favorite weird little books.
The Favorites by Layne Fargo
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
Casting: I had been watching so much Bakeoff at this point that I imagined Katrina as Alice from series ten and Heath as Dylan from series fifteen. That's not a good casting, but I could not get it out of my head. The fact that I still loved it says a lot about the story.
Content warnings: Domestic abuse, infidelity
Book words: All the drama in every facet - relationships, competition, friendship, money, everything
This felt like a prestige Lifetime movie. So much drama but done perfectly. This is Taylor Jenkins Reid after a night of drinking wine.
Katrina Shaw's dream has always been to be an Olympic figure skater, and Heath Rocha's has always been to be with Katrina. Drawn together by dark childhoods and loneliness, they take their natural chemistry to the ice, charting a tabloid-worthy path of fame and drama to get to the top.
Shonda Rhimes should make this into a show. It's her kind of drama, and I totally loved it.
Tell No One by Harlan Coben
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Casting: Dylan O'Brien came to mind as David, but it's not a crucial casting
Content warnings: Violent but not gory or gratuitous
Book words: Thrilling in every way
Another popcorn book. Harlan Coben writes cinematic thrillers better than anybody.
David Beck is a pediatrician in a poor area of New York City. His wife was kidnapped and murdered eight years before, and he heard it happen. Now he just goes through the motions, unable to get over losing her. Then some bodies are found on the site where she was taken, and the investigation opens again. Not only that, David starts getting cryptic messages about past events, warned to tell no one, and all the chaos comes out in full force.
It felt like watching a shiny Netflix series, and I really enjoyed it.
Wonder by Meredith Miller
My friend wrote this one!
Meredith Miller is a trustworthy voice in the area of helping kids and their parents find time and space to get to know God. Her resources are less about "what should we do to be a Christian?" and more about "what do we think this says about God?" Her work has such refreshing simplicity, and I'm a huge fan.
She just released Wonder: A Grown-Up's Guide to Exploring the Bible with Children. It has 52 Bible stories (great for one a week if you're looking for a rhythm) and ways to talk about them. It's not a read-along but more of a study guide for adults. She shares a story, some themes to consider, questions to ask, and questions to anticipate your kids asking.
You know when you have a parenting issue, and you ask a trusted friend what they do in that situation? This book is that, but for talking to kids about the Bible. It's like having a smart, humble friend right there on your bookshelf, ready to help.
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans 🎧
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
Narrated by an ensemble
Casting: None
Content warnings: Loss of a child
Book words: Beautiful, epistolary, tender, a tiny bit quirky just because Sybil is
No book has ever been recommended this much. Y'all were determined to get me to read this one. Since I actively dislike books written as letters (aka epistolary novels), I knew I would need to listen to this one. The hold took 71 years, but once it was my turn, I was excited to jump in.
Sybil Van Antwerp is a divorcee with grown children and loves writing letters. She's been doing it since she was a child, making sense of the world through her writing. She even writes to Ann Patchett and Joan Didion to tell them what she thought of their recent books. This novel is told in those letters, teaching us who Sybil is and the grief she's been holding on to for years.
I enjoyed the whole thing but took a bit to get into it. By the end, I was a wreck. It's an emotional slippery slope, a reading experience I rarely engage in, but this definitely got me, much like it has thousands upon thousands of other readers.
It's worth the hype.
The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny 🎧
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Narrated by Ralph Cosham
Casting: None
Content warnings: Murder but not gratuitous
Book words: Cozy thriller
I had to look up what this particular story was and still couldn't remember it exactly. I think that's what I love about the Inspector Gamache series. I like how it makes me feel, and I like the steadiness of the characters. It's like going to a beloved aunt's house and sitting at her kitchen drinking tea out of a chipped mug. You don't remember the specific conversations with each visit, but you like going. That's how I am with Three Pines.
This story wasn't memorable, but I still enjoyed listening to it.
A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny 🎧
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Narrated by Ralph Cosman
Casting: None
Content warnings: Same as above
Book words: Cozy thriller
This story was far more memorable, possibly because it took place outside of three pines. Inspector Gamache and his wife are staying at a lodge/resort/inn situation for their anniversary and happen to be there when Peter and Clara (staple characters from Three Pines) are there for Peter's family reunion. Someone dies of course, and Gamache solves the murder.
I enjoyed the intrigue of this one a little more than others. The particularities of the crime seemed a bit more unsolvable, like a Knives Out mystery, and that was a fun change. But it was still a great time in the same place with the same chipped mug feeling the same way about Inspector Gamache.
God's Junk Drawer by Peter Clines 🎧
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
Narrated by Ray Porter
Casting: Funny enough none
Content warnings: Violence
Book words: Propulsive, dramatic, feels like a blockbuster movie
What a wild concept of a book. The weirdness would put it at five stars, but I experienced a strange edge when I read this, almost like a rock in my shoe, that kept it from being five stars. I haven't been able to articulate it, but that's okay.
A group of college astronomy students go on a hike to do some experiments. When their professor, Dr. Noah Barnes, mysteriously goes off on his own and says that no one should come with him, a handful of the students worry about him and follow anyway. What happens next is a wild time travel wormhole situation, and the group is trapped in a world that somehow holds all of the scary things: aliens, dinosaurs, and a sun that doesn't seem to move. It's like they've landed in God's junk drawer, a place where all of the discarded bits of nature now live, and they have to find a way out.
It's wild, weird, and so much fun, like Jurassic Park on a sci-fi acid trip. Of course I loved it.