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Book Reviews – August 2026

Well, I didn’t intend to disappear for a month, but life sure is full, isn’t it? I did get some good reading time in, so let’s get to the book reviews!

While covering different genres, I do not read anything that has blatant sexual content. I will tell you if there is any sort of such (typically very mild and delicately put) in them and if I don’t think they’d be appropriate for young/teenage readers.

The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by Takuya Asakura, translated by Yuka Maeno – Sakura and her cat Kobako are the owners of the bookshop that appears only at the height of cherry blossom season. Nestled among the delicate blooms, the mysterious young owner and her wise cat wait for souls that are in need of solace and healing from past sorrows and regrets.

~I adore this books’ cover – it’s so delicate and dreamy that it just invites you to relax. As for the story itself, I was a bit uncertain about it as I started reading. I got a quarter or so of the way through before I was gripped by the stories. There are four different tales, one for each season. I am so glad my mom encouraged me to keep reading (recommended and loaned by her!), because I ended up enthralled with this lovely little story that had nuggets of wisdom throughout and an ending that I didn’t expect. Definitely recommend.

A Dragon Rider’s Guide to Retirement (Dragons of Safe Haven #1) by Julia Huni – Dragon rider, William Ordell reitres to the island of Safe Haven after receiving an injury in battle. He looks forward to trading peace for war and rebuilding an abandoned lighthouse, but too many days of quiet unsettle him. Before he knows it, he’s starting a fire fighting brigade, the first of its kind on the island, with the help of the sea dragons. Calantha Stormbringer has returned to the island as a retired witch with what remains of her magic and the goal of running her late aunt’s bookshop. What neither of them want is to run into each other again.

~This was a fun vacation read that I pulled off a friend’s shelf. I read it in two days as, once I got into the story, I just couldn’t stop reading. It was certainly nice to read about main characters that were in their fifties rather than teens or twenties! The dragons were a fun part of the story as well. There were a few instances of inappropriate remarks that were, in my opinion, completely unnecessary to the plot. And I did think that the repetition of Calantha’s ‘change’ was overdone but all in all, this gets a solid four stars from me! Also, Huni is a local author to the Pacific Northwest and I met her at a local convention this summer.

The Black Hand: The Epic War Between a Brilliant Detective and the Deadliest Secret Society in American History by Stephan Talty – A gripping true-crime story of the wave of terror of extortion, kidnappings, bombings and murder that swept through New York and the United States in 1903 and the brilliant detective, Joe Petrosino, that led an all-Italian police squad to capture the members of the group known as the Black Hand.

~I got this as part of research for my own novels. It’s hard to describe because it’s not just non-fiction as so many that I’ve read are… it read closer to a novel style without actually being one. It was fascinating to read about Petrosino’s life and how he rose from a shoe shiner to the first Italian detective in New York. I didn’t end up finishing this before returning it to the library but it was really good and I do recommend it. I just had too many other things going on to realistically finish.

Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive #2) by Brandon Sanderson – Kaladin is given command of the royal bodyguards, per Dalinar’s orders, as well as trying to master the strange powers he has that are somehow linked to Syl. Szeth is on a killing rampage and Dalinar is one of his targets. Shallan struggles to lead two seemingly separate lives – both of those depend on her stopping the return of the Voidbringers and the Desolation. Amidst this, in the heart of the Plains, the Pareshendi are at a deciding point. Their numbers are dwindling and Eshonai convinces them to return to the powers of the gods they fled centuries ago. Their decision might be catastrophic for all on Roshar.

~ It has been fun to slowly read through this series again with the aim of reading book 5 that came out a couple years ago. I’ve been especially liking Dalinar’s story this time through. Shallan does seem to bounce back or through, all sorts of things rather easily but I would assume that’s partly because of how she copes? Eshonai, Eshonai, Eshonai…

Beauty and the Beast by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve – I don’t feel that I need to actually give a synopsis for this classic fairytale. I had realized that I’d never read the original, even though I adore retellings. I did certainly enjoy this (it didn’t hurt that the edition I got from the library was a special edition and so was absolutely gorgeous), though there were parts in it that surprised and maybe even disappointed me. If you’re a lover of fairytales, I certainly recommend you giving this one a try.