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A running ranking of the year's best books


Finding Grace
★★★☆☆ A difficult novel to review without spoiling the story, it focuses on a family trying to have another child before a shocking event disrupts everything.

Greg Barlin
Aug 14, 20253 min read


My Friends
★★★★☆ Told mostly via flashbacks about four childhood friends, the novel focuses on resiliency and found family in the face of domestic violence and neglect.

Greg Barlin
Aug 3, 20254 min read


Three Days in June
★★★★☆ A woman must set aside losing her job the day before her daughter's wedding as she navigates the intricacies of the wedding weekend.

Greg Barlin
Jul 14, 20252 min read


The Three Lives of Cate Kay
★★★★★ An author who has fiercely protected her anonymity—despite writing the biggest book series on the planet—finally tells all in a memoir.

Greg Barlin
Jul 7, 20253 min read


Heartwood
★★★☆☆ The search for a missing hiker in Maine serves as the backdrop for this novel more focused on the complexities of human relationships.

Greg Barlin
Jul 1, 20253 min read


Lloyd McNeil's Last Ride
★★★★☆ An Atlanta cop with a secret terminal brain tumor attempts to orchestrate his death in the line of duty to help his family financially.

Greg Barlin
Jun 20, 20254 min read


The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife
★★★★☆ A chance set of events leads to a down-on-his-luck elderly man assuming the identity of another in this sweetly sappy feel-good story.

Greg Barlin
Jun 10, 20252 min read


Run for the Hills
★★★☆☆ A woman's life is upended when a half-brother she didn't know she had convinces her to join him on a road trip to find their father.

Greg Barlin
Jun 9, 20252 min read


What Kind of Paradise
★★★★☆ A girl grows up in a remote cabin with just her father, whose distrust of technology and government snowballs with each passing year.

Greg Barlin
May 30, 20253 min read


You Are Here
★★★★★ A sweet and heartfelt story about finding love when you least expect it, told with a distinctly British cheekiness and sense of humor.

Greg Barlin
May 15, 20252 min read


Great Big Beautiful Life
★★★★★ Two writers compete for the opportunity to author the memoir of a reclusive heiress while coming to realize they might just be soulmates.

Greg Barlin
May 2, 20254 min read


The Wishing Game
★★★★★ A teacher's aide who dreams of adopting a young boy from her school competes in a contest for the sole copy of a reclusive author's new book.

Greg Barlin
Apr 25, 20253 min read


Sunrise on the Reaping
★★★★★ Collins returns to give us the origin story of Haymitch Abernathy in a way that might make this the best Hunger Games novel to-date.

Greg Barlin
Apr 15, 20253 min read


Real Americans
★★★★☆ A multi-generational novel that focuses on a Chinese-American family while tackling issues of class, race, technology, and belonging.

Stephanie Barlin
Apr 5, 20252 min read


Black Woods, Blue Sky
★★★☆☆ A young mother falls for a strange, disfigured man and chooses to live with him and her 6-year-old daughter in a remote Alaskan cabin.

Greg Barlin
Mar 28, 20253 min read


Frankie
★★★☆☆ A recounting of the fictional life of Frankie Howe, from Ireland to London to America and back, spanning the 1950s to today.

Greg Barlin
Mar 21, 20253 min read


The Warbler
★★★☆☆ A woman tries to break a curse which causes the women in her family to transform into a tree forever if they stay in a place too long.

Greg Barlin
Mar 1, 20252 min read


A Psalm for the Wild-Built
★★☆☆☆ A non-binary monk leaves on a journey to find themself and in the process encounters a robot who is seeking to learn what humans need.

Greg Barlin
Feb 2, 20253 min read


Foster
★★★★★ A quick 50-page read, the story of a young girl who is delivered by her father to stay with a family in a neighboring town in Ireland.

Greg Barlin
Jan 26, 20252 min read


The River is Waiting
★★★☆☆ Exploring addiction, incarceration, and the impact of tragedy on a family, the story follows a father serving a 3-year sentence.

Greg Barlin
Jan 19, 20253 min read
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