Waiting on Wednesday: The Astral Library

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature is where I highlight a soon to be released novel I can't wait to read.

This week's pick: The Astral Library by Kate Quinn

Due out: February 17, 2026

Synopsis taken from Amazon:

From New York Times bestselling author Kate Quinn comes a gorgeously written fantastical adventure which poses the question: Have you ever wished you could live inside a book? Welcome to the Astral Library, where books are not just objects, but doors to new worlds, new lives, and new futures.

Alexandria “Alix” Watson has learned one lesson from her barren childhood in the foster-care system: unlike people, books will never let you down. Working three dead-end jobs to make ends meet and knowing college is a pipe dream, Alix takes nightly refuge in the high-vaulted reading room at the Boston Public Library, escaping into her favorite fantasy novels and dreaming of far-off lands. Until the day she stumbles through a hidden door and meets the Librarian: the ageless, acerbic guardian of a hidden library where the desperate and the lost escape to new lives...inside their favorite books.

The Librarian takes a dazzled Alix under her wing, but before she can escape into the pages of her new life, a shadowy enemy emerges to threaten everyone the Astral Library has ever helped protect. Aided by a dashing costume-shop owner, Alix and the Librarian flee through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen to the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes and the champagne-soaked parties of The Great Gatsby as danger draws inexorably closer. But who does their enemy really wish to destroy—Alix, the Librarian, or the Library itself?

Non-Fiction Tuesday: Land Rich Cash Poor

I grew up in the 80s on a farm in Iowa, the same farm my mother grew up on with her five siblings.  That background permeates every part of who we are.  I found Land Rich Cash Poor to validate what I've long felt about farm life.  It is hard - back-breakingly hard at times, but also rewarding.  My parents worked to buy my grandparents' farm from them, and as my mom ages and contemplates what will happen to the land when she moves away from her lifelong home, it is hard to even grasp what that loss will feel like.

Reisinger captures this all so accurately as he is a member of a four generation farm family, and has watched his parents and grandparents work hard to preserve the farm that they have all grown up on and worked on.  
 

Anecdotes of tough times - along with some fun times - are included in every chapter.  From their house burning down to a variety of accidents that were suffered, Reisinger's book also explores the economic impact farmers have felt throughout the generations and the ways different legislation has hurt the family farm.

I think this book should be read by the urban dwellers who don't necessarily understand what rural life is like, and as our country is so diverse this book provides a great representation of the families that still are eking out a living in farming.

Monday Mini Reviews: February Releases

 

I've always loved adding to my TBR and I'm constantly looking for books that are going to be published, but I always have too many books I'd like to read and not enough time to get to them. 

This year I'm trying to read a few more of the ARCs I receive from NetGalley before they are released instead of continuing to get further and further behind.

One of my favorite reads in January was Laws of Love and Logic by Debra Curtis.  Lily and her high school boyfriend seem to have a perfect relationship and have big plans for their futures, until his rage at a boy he believes has hurt Lily changes things forever.  But even though decades pass and the two have both moved on with their lives, the love they share in high school is still simmering under the surface.  

This Is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman is a novel in stories featuring various members of the Rubinstein family.  A family tree helps readers understand the relationships between family members and as each chapter shares a small snippet of the family's highs and lows and everything in between.  I love a dysfunctional family novel, but I'm not sure I'd call the Rubinsteins truly dysfunctional; they are a regular family with the normal challenges that life brings.

It's Not Her by Mary Kubica was a fast read.  Courtney, her husband and daughter are on a vacation with Courtney's brother and his wife and three kids. When Courtney's brother and sister-in-law are found murdered in their cabin and the oldest daughter, Reese, is missing, Courtney is desparate to find her niece, but also worried that Reese may have had something to do with her parents' deaths.  This is a page turner, but I found a few things to be rather hard to believe, and I just couldn't quite get past that. 

Despite the fact that February has just started, I am hoping to start on a March release tonight.  The days pass quickly and before I know it, February will be coming to an end.

Friday Five: January Is Finally Coming To An End

I'm always happy for a Friday to roll around.  The weeks do fly by, but there is no time for relaxing this year and I am definitely in need of a break by Friday at 3 PM.  I'm also ready for spring weather; this week has been bitterly cold.  

Here are the things that caught my eye this week:

 

1.  Heart Embroidered Hoodie

2.  Raisonnel Short Sleeve Stripe Sweater

3.  Bailey Rose Fair Isle Toggle Cardigan

4.  Maeve Long Sleeve Diagonal Stripe Sweater

5.  Soft Brushed Bias Plaid Shirt

6.  Hoodie Cardigan with Bow

7.  Oversized Pullove Sweater

8.  Women's Casual Casual Loose-Fitting Round Neck Sweater with Heart Embroidery

9.  Loraine Bit Loafer

10.  Edmund Fitzgerald: 50 Years Below Podcast

That's it for me this week.  What's caught your eye?

Waiting on Wednesday: The Hired Man

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature where I highlight a soon to be released novel I can't wait to read.

This week's pick: The Hired Man by Sandra Dallas

Due out March 31, 2026

Synopsis taken from Amazon:

The Dust Bowl sweeps a handsome stranger into a small Colorado town to dangerous effect

1937. It’s been seven years since the dust storms started in Colorado. Folks can barely remember a time when the clouds were filled with rain instead of dirt, and when the fields were green instead of brown. High school student Martha Helen Kessler and her family are luckier than most; they still eke out a living from the land. Even so, evidence of the Dust Bowl’s grim impact on families, especially on the women who bear the brunt of their husbands’ frustration and their children’s hunger, is everywhere.

When Martha Helen’s compassionate mother insists they take in Otis Hobbs, a handsome drifter who saves a local boy from a vicious storm, she quickly discovers a darker side to their rural community. Suspicion, jealousy, and prejudice grip their neighbors – and emotions reach a frenzy after Martha Helen’s best friend, Frankie, disappears and is then found murdered. Ultimately, Martha Helen is forced to make sense of her conflicting feelings and loyalties in order to help find retribution and to reconcile the difference between the law and justice.

Full of period detail and Sandra Dallas’s trademark focus on the lives of women, The Hired Man entertains and ultimately surprises.

Friday Five: Baby It's Cold Outside

 We had our first snow day today which gives us a second three day weekend in a row - and just a three day work week.  I did a little grocery shopping, a little reading, and a little school work today.  

This time of year is weird for clothes shopping.  It's still freezing cold out, but I'm ready for warm weather and there are hints of spring clothing online.  While it's nothing I can wear right now, it does give me something to look forward to.

Here's what's caught my eye this week:

1.  Mackenzie Swim Top

2.  100% Organic Cotton Fisherman Crew Sweater

3.  The Brooklin Tie-Front Printed Pull-on Pants by Maeve

4.  Clean Cut T-Shirt

5.  Cherry Lawn Pullover

6.  Hadley Cable Denim Mixed Cardigan

7.  US Ski and Snowboard by JCrew Fair Isle Roll Neck Sweater

8. The A&F Madeline Crochet Style Crew

9. Ornate Ballet Flat

10.  Kidnapped on Netflix

That's it for me this week.  What's caught your eye?

Waiting on Wednesday: The Take

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature where I highlight a soon to be released novel I can't wait to read.

This week's pick: The Take by Kelly Yang

Due out April 14, 2026

Synopsis taken from Amazon:

A provocative, fast-paced novel about two creative women—a young writer fighting to be heard and an older producer clinging to relevancy—and the age reversal treatment that intertwines both of their lives…from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the beloved Front Desk series

Maggie Wang, a broke young Asian American writer, needs a lifeline. Ingrid Parker, a veteran white Hollywood producer with her career on the edge, offers an irresistible deal: $3 million for ten experimental medical sessions to reverse her aging, using Maggie as a transfusion partner, and mentorship.

For Ingrid, it's a chance to reboot her fading career. For Maggie, it's access and freedom—money to support her parents and the connections to finally get her novel published.


What starts as a professional transaction exchanging blood quickly becomes a complex psychological dance. As Maggie gains unprecedented access to Ingrid's hard-earned wisdom, Ingrid sees in Maggie a weapon against an industry that's been trying to sideline her.

As their relationship intensifies, they're forced to confront the harsh realities of race, age, and success. Who has the power to tell stories? And what are they willing to sacrifice to succeed?

Sharp, timely, and utterly compelling, The Take is perfect for readers of Yellowface and Such a Fun Age—a searing portrait of two women fighting to rewrite their story.

Monday Mini-Reviews: Novels of Suspense

 2026 is starting out with some really good books.  The quantity I've read hasn't been what I'd like - blame that on more work issues as teacher librarians find themselves once again trying to defend the necessity of our jobs as the school district looks to make even more deep cuts - but what I have read, I've enjoyed.

Novels of suspense seem to be working for me right now, at mostly these are books I can burn through quickly.

The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave picks up five years after The Last Thing He Told Me ended.  I didn't remember every detail of that story, but I did recall enough that picking this up was no problem.  Hannah and Bailey haven't seen Owen for five years and have managed to move on with their lives. When Owen shows up at Hannah's art exhibition, the two immediately begin executing the plan that was put in place for their protection and leave the life they've built.  There's suspense, the hope that they will be reunited with Owen, and many questions that need to be answered.

Anatomy of An Alibi by Ashley Elston - Camille is living a picture perfect life.  But her husband Ben is controlling and hiding something and Camille is ready to leave their marriage.  When she meets Aubrey, a bartender whose name and bar address she finds in Ben's things, the two hatch a plan that involves Aubrey posing as Camille so that Camille can find out what  Ben is really up to.  Aubrey already has her suspicions about Ben, ever since her parents were killed in a car accidet a decade ago. There are so  many twists and turns - and secrets and lies - in this story, but it all makes for a great page turner.

It's Not Her by Mary Kubica- I've been a fan of Kubica since her very first book, and while I found this one engaging, it is the least favorite of the three I am sharing today.  Courtney and her husband and daughter have rented a cabin next door to her brother and sister-in-law and their children.  When Nolan and Emily (Courtney's brother and S-I-L) are found murdered in their cabin, an investigation begins immediately.  I found some of this story hard to believe (Courtney leaving her 10 year old daughter and niece alone in the cabin while she went to the lodge to report the crime is one example) but the plot does move along nicely, and I did manage to read it in one sitting.  I was also satisfied with the resolution - and then Kubica adds a final chapter that changes things immensely - and which was unnecessary IMO.  I still enjoy her books, but this one is not my favorite of hers.

These three would be easy to pick up and devour on a cold winter day - or while lying by the pool. 

Friday Five: January Is The Longest Month

 

1.  Bomber Coated Jacket, Exclusive

2. Cloud Soft Polo Henley Pullover Sweater

3.  Daily Practice Indy Half-Zip Pullover Sweatshirt

4.  New Balance 471

5.  Jensen Speckled Sweater

6. Diamond Knit Jumper

7.  Pablo Jacket

8. Cotton Poplin Shirt

9.  SoSoft Loose Crewneck Sweater

10.  The People We Meet On Vacation

That's it for me this week.  What's caught your eye? 

Thursday: Nonfiction for Middle Grade

 I love adult nonfiction - and I also love good middle grade nonfiction.  Today's kids are lucky at the variety of topics that are written about, the illustrations and photographs they contain, and the quantity of nonfiction being published.

Poop: A (Very) Natural History And A Powerful Future by Ben Hoare and Jennifer N. R. Smith is a fun book to pick up and look at. I've had a lot of middle school students who perhaps wouldn't pick this up on their own, but when I show it to them and read some disgusting poop facts, they are interested. (I've also learned waaaaaaaay too much personal information about middle schoolers' bathroom habits.

There Are No Silly Questions by Mike Rampton is another fun coffee table style book that is fun to browse. Interesting questions with answers that are a paragraph or two in response.  This book is colorful and engaging and I've laid it on my front counter so as students talk to me at the circulation desk, many will browse through it. This has led to some interesting conversations. 

The Vanishing of Lake Peigneur: A Graphic Novel Based on a True Story by Allan Wolf, illustrated by Jose Pimienta - a graphic novel is a fun way to learn about history - and this lake that vanished in 1980 is an unsolved mystery. 

This beautiful new book is full of basketball history.  From iconic players, quotes and full page illustrations I found myself looking through this book unable to put it down.  Everything Kadir Nelson does is amazing.

There's something for everyone with the new nonfiction that is being published!