Last year I, like many of you, read and fell in love with It’s Different This Time by Joss Richards. It was her debut, a beautifully autumn-tinged second-chance romance that features some of my favorite things—namely, Broadway musicals, NYC fine dining, friends-to-lovers, a really beautiful brownstone, and mutual pining.

Now she’s back with her second book, a How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days-esque fake-dating rom-com between a sex columnist and a news reporter. Lucy is a sex columnist who’s insistent that you don’t need a partner to feel fulfilled—until her editor points out that the majority of their audience is coupled up, and gently suggests Lucy try out a new angle.

Enter Marshall Oakley, the new senior news writer. Marshall needs a date to his ex’s wedding, so Lucy devises a plan to fake a relationship—she gets to write about finding “the one” (and the fallout from their inevitable breakup) and he gets a no-strings-attached date to prove to his family, friends, and ex that he’s totally moved on. What could go wrong?

I got the chance to chat with Joss about her new book, her writing process, fandom communities, and how she went from writing for fun to becoming a published author. Enjoy!

LC: When did you first get the idea or spark of inspiration that turned into LET’S KISS AND TELL?

JR: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is my comfort watch romcom. I’ve seen it more times than I can even count at this point. When coming up with an idea for my second novel I was thinking of what love stories I really enjoy - HTLAG was one of the first ones I thought of. Then I asked myself why do I love this movie? It’s the power imbalance, the workplace romance, the hijinks, and having two people date each other, but not really date each other. With those ingredients I came up with Let’s Kiss and Tell!

LC: Do you tend to write in order, or are you more loose with structure and sequence when you’re drafting?

JR: I write in chronological order! Because outlining is something I struggle with, I need to go through the motions with my characters and know exactly what they’re thinking in order to dictate how they feel in the next chapter. I envy those who can write out of sequence.

LC: Were there any plot points (without sharing spoilers!) that changed dramatically from your first draft, or did everything stay roughly the same?

JR: Oh gosh, in the very early drafts (before I even gave a draft to my editor) there were logistics about the fake dating that changed, like why they both needed to enter this relationship in the first place. While I love reading fake dating, it turns out writing it is harder than you’d think. To justify why two people who work under the same company would decide to enter a fake relationship is tough and I needed to make it as believable as possible that both Lucy and Marsh saw this relationship as the best option for both of them.

LC: How did you first get into writing?

JR: I used to write Sound of Music and Mary Poppins fanfiction at the age of 12 haha. I never told anyone and never used my real name. It was something just for me. I stopped creative writing for fun in high school and didn’t pick it back up until the pandemic.

Editor’s Note: I freaking love this anecdote. I also used to write a lot of fanfiction when I was a pre-teen. And no, I will never elaborate. :)

LC: You talk a lot about the power of fangirls and fandom in bookish communities. As someone who also grew up writing and reading fanfiction and basically came of age on Tumblr, I really love this perspective. How do you feel this has influenced your writing and career thus far?

JR: Oh my god, I will defend fangirl behavior until the day I die. I’m a fangirl through and through from fanfiction, to Tumblr, to the video edits I made on Windows Movie Maker then posted to YouTube back in the day. The feeling of community you find when you enter a fandom is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I’ve made some of the dearest friendships through fandom with people in completely other cities and states.

“A fandom is a place to be unapologetically and authentically yourself and that comes out when there is art you admire and want to celebrate that with other people.”

A fandom is a place to be unapologetically and authentically yourself and that comes out when there is art you admire and want to celebrate that with other people. Being myself through those years of my life is something I grew to own and try to take that with me through everything I do - whether it be writing or engaging with readers.

LC: I have a lot of aspiring published authors in my audience (myself included!) who are always curious about other writers’ publishing stories. What was your querying, submission, and publishing journey like for your debut novel?

JR: I’m in a bit of a unique situation because I wrote my debut, It’s Different This Time with no intention of publishing it. It was something I wrote for myself, because I hadn’t done that in more than a decade. It wasn’t until I finished and had my husband read it, he encouraged me to try and do something with the book. I quite literally had to google “how to publish a book?”.

Once I decided that I wanted to pursue traditional publishing I wrote down a list of agents I wanted to query. About 3-4 months later I signed with my agent who I adore, and then after a round of notes we went into submission. I had my editor call right before Thanksgiving 2024 and got my deal for It’s Different This Time officially in January 2025, it came out Sept 2025. This a fast turnaround for publishing and I think there were a few factors - the fact that it was a seasonal book and that my agent helped get it into the best possible shape before submitting it to editors.

LC: Do you feel like there are pieces of yourself in your characters at all? I’m always so intrigued by how fiction writers do or do not relate to their characters.

Absolutely. I wouldn’t say I entirely relate to any one character I’ve written, but there are definitely pieces of me in all my FMCs and my MMCs, even side characters. But they’re also mixes of people I’ve met in my lifetime; maybe not directly but mannerisms, opinions, etc.

Can you tell us anything about what you’re working on next?

I just turned in my draft of my next book! I’ll be able to share more soon, but I promise it will have the voice, heart, and realness of It’s Different This Time and Let’s Kiss and Tell!

Rapid Fire

What’s the first book you remember falling in love with?

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

What’s the best book you’ve read in the last year?

Into the Blue by Emma Brodie

What’s one book you recommend to absolutely everyone?

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

What are you reading right now?

Embrace by Bal Khabra

Which do you prefer: paperback, hardcover, ebook, or audiobook?

Paperback all the way! I love my trophies!

Parenthetical is for the women who dog-ear pages, rewatch the same rom-coms every season, and want their ordinary Tuesdays to feel a little more magical. Paid subscribers get the full Well-Designed Life curriculum, plus Debut Diaries — the unfiltered behind-the-scenes peek at writing (and querying) my first novel.

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Gosh, summer is slipping away so quickly! I can’t say I’m too terribly distraught about that, since I’m an autumn girl through and through, but it is still a whirlwind. Anyways, these journal prompts/conversation starters/whatever you call them have become some of my favorite posts to write each month. It always starts out a bit hard and then the creative juices start flowing like crazy which feels like the right way to approach something like this.

Without further ado, here are August’s questions. Use these as self-reflection, creative writing prompts, conversation starters with friends or strangers, or whatever else strikes your fancy!

1. What’s something you experienced or did recently that your younger self would have found really, really cool?

2. What’s the worst piece of advice you’ve ever received?

3. Write a letter to your favorite fictional character from childhood.

4. List three small joys or nice things you’ve encountered in the past week.

5. If you could produce an unlimited amount of any liquid, one for each finger on your right hand, what would they be? Mine would be iced coffee, rosé wine, soy sauce, pumpkin spice creamer, and water (boring, but wildly useful).

Read more

Oops, it’s been a while! Turns out traveling while also trying to buy a house in one state and sell a house in another is kind of all-consuming.

This past week, I tagged along on my husband’s work trip to New Hampshire, had a lovely time reading by the pool, and then we closed on our new house in Michigan! We’ll be making the move in a few weeks, and I can’t wait to share more photos and behind the scenes.

In the meantime, I’ll be packing up my entire house, visiting friends in Traverse City, moving, and um… trying to sleep I guess? Life has a way of happening all at once, it seems.

Love always,

In Brief

📚 Reading

God of the Woods by Liz Moore – I avoided this book for a long time because it got swept up in the hype cycle, but after two of my friends read it and insisted it was incredible, I bumped it to the top of my list. I’m about a third of the way through it so far and completely engrossed.

📺 Watching

Much like the rest of the English speaking world, I saw The Odyssey during opening week and honestly really enjoyed it. I went into it with very few expectations, so I was pleasantly surprised. I read it at some point in either middle school or high school, and also was very obsessed with mythology as a teen, so I knew most of the plot points. But I was really riveted; I know a lot of people have issues with various plot points or interpretations, but overall it was an entertaining and interesting film that didn’t feel like it was three hours long, so I call that a win.

🎶 Listening

I’ve been loving the guided visualizations in the Humane Space app – especially the ones for focus. I just listened to an immersive one about Monet’s Water Lilies that I really enjoyed. I’m obsessed with this app as an antidote to constant doomscrolling. It has fascinating interactive stories from all different categories (art, science, humanities, etc.), daily creative prompts and practices, and guided visualizations. It’s beautiful to scroll and actually makes me feel like I’ve learned something instead of just increased my cortisol. You can get 20% off an annual subscription with my code LIZZIE20 (but there’s free stuff too!).

As a THS Partner, I may receive commission if you decide to upgrade. But as you know, I only recommend things I truly love and use.

📚 Release Radar

This week’s book releases that are on my radar (and my TBR).

• The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian | When a young woman, a golf prodigy, accidentally kills a caddy with a stray ball at the country club, the investigation of this freak accident reveals a dark and shocking tale of secret affairs, predatory men, and a teenager on trial.

• Meet Me in the Garden by Nina LaCour | A sweeping family saga that wrestles with themes of self-discovery and love in all forms, inspired by the author’s own Creole family.

• How to Find Love in the Cereal Aisle by Alissa DeRogatis | A fresh, charming romcom about the chaos of dating in your twenties, the ache of a brutal breakup, and the hilarious lengths one romance writer will go to get her spark back—including staging her own meet-cutes.

• Kitten by Stacey Yu | An adrift young woman whose growing fascination with her boyfriend’s cat ushers her into the possibilities of her own life—but not without first threatening to unravel it.

• Time Travel for Beginners by Jaclyn Moriarty | Three strangers’ lives converge in the waiting room of Sydney’s Time Travel Agency – a nondescript shopfront that promises impossible things.

• Etna by Paul Yoon | The unforgettable story of a working dog, Etna, who, after a devastating war, embarks on an odyssey in the hopes of returning home.

• Sunlight Finds You by Laura Moriarty | A forbidden love during the Cold War blows open the world of a teenage girl, altering the trajectory of her life.

💌 Reading List

Essays & articles worth reading this week.

Little Monsters | Virginia Quarterly Review

I adored this essay about nerdiness, passion, Dungeons and Dragons, and connecting with your feral children while re-discovering a lost piece of your own childhood.

“The thing I adored most about being a gamer girl,” says one dear friend, “is the same thing that all the Puma-wearing kids constantly hated on: We loved things deeply.” This was the ethos of our lunch table back then. Profound and passionate debate about the things we studied because we had to and the things we studied because we wanted to. “It didn’t matter whether they were real things: goblin hordes, molecular science, robot psychology,” she said. “To this day I am deeply grateful to have been surrounded by so many nerds who unabashedly loved things, rather than being too cool for them.”

It’s OK to Hate Summer | NYT (gift link)

Look, I’m a certified summer hater. I hate being hot, I hate humidity, I don’t particularly enjoy going to the beach, I despise shorts, and overall I would be much happier in sub-60-degree weather. People REALLY dislike it when I say this. I’m sorry! I bear you no ill will on your beach day, just don’t ask me to come.

In my opinion, summer is more to be endured than enjoyed. “You can always put on more clothes — there is only so much you can politely take off,” I tell my husband as I curse the heat. My stress level rises with a lack of routine, which is intensified by having three children out of school.

How To Be A Critical Thinker In Our Noisy Digital World | The Good Trade

A great piece on slowing down and actually having thoughts about the media you consume amidst the constant, ceaseless internet noise, hot takes, and cherry-picked quotes maximized for virality.

In a single, endless swipe we can learn about one event from a dozen people — an investigative journalist, a politician, an influencer, a meme site, a cultural critic, our second cousin, and the boy who threw up on stage in our elementary school talent show. The facts of the event itself are already altered, tinted with however the speaker is feeling about them and how they are positioning their presentation. We aren’t consuming clear reporting, but a heavily editorialized version that has already influenced what we think about it — whether we realize this or not.

🧥 In My Cart

Things I’m eyeing and buying this week.

Bookends, $30 | Cardigan, $85 | Butter Dish, $26 | Mug, $24 | Barrel Bag, $14 | Candle, $30 | Earrings, $10 | Plaid Cardigan, $55 | Birkenstock Clogs, $165

✨ Joy Scrolling

Fun links & recs for your reading pleasure.

• I’m obsessed with these dreamy backyard reading nooks.

• If you’re craving the old school feel of cutting out images from magazines in a convenient digital format, clip art studio is for you.

• How to use social media to increase your joy, not your anxiety, by

• According to Time, a splash of color might be the best way to boost happiness. I wholeheartedly concur.

• This piece in McSweeney’s really made me giggle: A Packing List for the Woman I Will Become on My Vacation to Cape Cod. Kinda how I felt last week tbh. Especially that first bullet point. 🫣

⏰ ICYMI

What I’ve posted recently.

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I could not be more excited.

So, I thought I’d do my little Polyvore-nostalgia thing and create a moodboard of the outfits I’m packing and the books I’m hoping to read while I’m on the island.

On the Plane

The Outfit

Sneakers | Bag | Hoodie | Leggings | Headphones | Hand Sanitizer | Lip Balm

I wish I could be one of those looks-cute-on-a-plane girls, but I’ve flown enough to know that comfort is queen over anything else. You can find me in my all-time favorite leggings with my Beis bag stuffed to the brim with snacks and enrichment activities that will be ignored in favor of my Kindle or dissociating and staring out the window while listening to Taylor Swift.

The Book

Rewitched by Lucy Jane Wood

I’ve been reading this book since last year… for some reason it didn’t click right away, despite how badly I wanted to read it. I dove back in this month after reading a few other witchy rom-coms and it’s going a lot better now. It’s super cute!

Synopsis

Belladonna Blackthorn hasn’t lost her magical spark, precisely… but she hasn’t seen it in a while either. With her witchcraft under wraps and a toxic boss making her days miserable, Belle is struggling to keep her beloved Lunar Books afloat and just make it through the day. The last thing she has time for is perfecting her magic.

So when her thirtieth birthday brings a summons from her coven and a trial that tests her worthiness as a witch, Belle fears the worst. With only the month of October left to prove herself or risk losing her magic forever, Belle will need all the help she can get—from the women in her life, from an unlikely mentor figure and even from an infuriating coven watchman who’s sworn to protect her...

Poolside

The Outfit

Sunscreen | Bag (gifted) | Slides | Linen Shirt (gifted) | Bathing Suit | Sunglasses | Earrings

It’s been a very long time since I’ve worn a bathing suit. So long, in fact, that I no longer had one! I decided to splurge on this super flattering Summersalt one-piece. So far I really like it.

The Book

God of the Woods by Liz Moore

I’ve sort of been avoiding this book after it got swept up in the hype machine last year, but last month my two best friends both read it and agreed that it was phenomenal and I would love it. So far, I really do.

Synopsis

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances.

Dinner Cruise

The Outfit

Earrings | Sunglasses | Scarf | Dress | Cardigan | Shoes | Bag | Nail Polish

Will I actually get any reading done on a dinner cruise? Well, probably not, but you know I’m packing my Kindle juuuuust in case. I adore this little linen-y red dress!

The Book

Whidbey by T. Kira Madden

I was immediately intrigued by this book because I’ve been to Whidbey Island in Washington (famously where they filmed Practical Magic!). And doubly so because the plot sounds like something right up my alley.

Synopsis

Birdie Chang didn’t know anything about Whidbey Island when she chose it, only that it was about as far away as she could get from her own life. She’s a woman on the run, desperate for an escape from the headlines back home and the look of concern in her girlfriend’s eyes—and from Calvin Boyer, the man who abused her as a child and who’s now resurfaced. On her way, she has an unnerving encounter with a stranger on the ferry who offers her a proposition, a sinister solution and plan for revenge.

But Birdie isn’t the only girl Calvin harmed back then. There’s also Linzie King, a former reality TV star who recently wrote all about it in her bestselling memoir. Though the two women have never met, their stories intertwine. Once Birdie arrives on Whidbey, she finally cracks the book’s spine, only to find too much she recognizes in its pages. Soon after, on the other side of the country, Calvin’s loving mother, Mary-Beth, receives a shocking phone call from the police: her only son has been murdered.

By the Sea

The Outfit

Lipstick | Bag | Denim Jacket | Tank Top | Jeans | Necklace | Sandals

I’m working through my life-long fear of white pants (iykyk) to embrace the coastal style and I gotta say, they’re proving to be surprisingly versatile. Plus I love summer for all the fun woven/raffia accessories too. How cute is the chunky buckle on these slides?!

The Book

The Half-Life by Rachel Beanland

A new release this month, I’m really excited to dive in. I’m not always a historical fiction person, but a well-done one is always enjoyable. I’ve been hearing nothing but good things about this book so far!

Synopsis

When twenty-three-year-old Eileen O’Malley meets charismatic naval officer Paul Archer in a Charleston department store, she doesn’t expect to fall so hard, so fast. But Paul is funny and ambitious, and soon, Eileen’s got a ring on her finger and is following him to the tiny, sun-drenched Mediterranean island of La Maddalena, where Paul will be heading up Radiological Controls aboard a submarine tender.

In La Maddalena, Eileen joins a makeshift community of navy wives who are hell-bent on making the island feel a little more like home. But for Eileen, whose brother died in Vietnam, home is a loaded word, and as she settles into life on the island, she begins to love the place for all the ways it is not like where she comes from.

When Italian activists and scientists begin to sound the alarm about possible nuclear contamination in the water, the island erupts in a series of protests, made worse by the ongoing mishaps of the U.S. Navy. Soon, Eileen’s marriage falters and her loyalties begin to shift as she is drawn into a web of secrets—and to a local journalist who forces her to imagine a life beyond the one she’s been handed.

That’s all from me! What are you reading for summer break?

Leave a comment

Parenthetical is for the women who dog-ear pages, rewatch the same rom-coms every season, and want their ordinary Tuesdays to feel a little more magical. Paid subscribers get the full Well-Designed Life curriculum, plus Debut Diaries — the unfiltered behind-the-scenes peek at writing (and querying) my first novel.

Subscribe now

Joy Mail Club Members will receive an envelope each month packed with delight—postcards, mini-prints, stickers, punch cards, junk journal & collage bits, greeting cards, and other fun surprises. A little dose of whimsy and joy, from me, to you.

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It’s been a really up and down year for reading. In February I read NOTHING. Not really sure what I was doing, except watching a lot of 90 Day Fiance and playing with my new Switch so… actually that makes sense in hindsight.

But then, in April, I read SEVEN books, six of which were read in a single week while I was on vacation. After that, a lot of life happened in a short amount of time so my reading went back to sporadic. But, I have had the joy of reading several really great five-star books so far this year, so I wanted to share them here.

Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino

I went into this not really knowing what to expect and WOW it was unhinged. I loved it. It follows Margo, a 37-year-old publicist in DC, who has been trying to buy a house for eighteen months. After 11 lost bidding wars, she’s desperate, so when she gets a tip about The Perfect House going up for sale, she becomes obsessed with buying it before it hits the market. And just as she thinks she has everything figure out, her plan comes crashing down around her. But Margo’s not giving up on her dream house that easily…

I devoured this book in a single evening, and when I was done I wrote on Instagram that it was like Gone Girl meets House Hunters. Delightfully unhinged and insane. Steer clear if you don’t like messy, unlikeable main characters, but otherwise, I highly recommend this one.

You might also like…

• How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

• Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

• Cover Story by Susan Rigetti

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

I had no idea when I read an advance copy of this book in February that it would turn into the cultural zeitgeist that it has. It seems like a very divisive book; everyone either loves it or hates it. As for me, I absolutely loved it. If you somehow don’t know, it follows a trad wife influencer with millions of followers who suddenly wakes up in the late 1800s with no running water, electricity, or Instagram, and has to actually live out the life she’s been cosplaying online.

I’ve read plenty of valid criticism (and invalid criticism—remember, just because a main character is a bad person doesn’t make them a bad character). But overall it was a deliciously acerbic and razor-sharp denouncement of trad wives and of influencer culture at large. At times, it did start to seem a bit mean-spirited. I’ve seen chatter online that Natalie, the main character, is a thinly-veiled version of Ballerina Farm’s Hannah Neelman. I don’t know enough about her to have an opinion, beyond having read that viral NYT piece that seemed like a cry for help.

Regardless, I found the story to be utterly engrossing, in a “can’t look away from a car wreck” way. Natalie is a deeply ugly person inside, and an entirely unreliable narrator, which is fascinating but sometimes makes it difficult to read her inner thoughts. If you’re a fan of “rich people behaving badly” types of stories, I think you’ll definitely like this one.

You might also like…

• Trad Wife by Sarah Langan

• Fallow by Sarah Anderson

• The Mad Wife by Meagan Church

Ready or Not by Cara Bastone

Ready or Not follows Eve Hatch, a buttoned-up office worker who finds herself unexpectedly pregnant following a very uncharacteristic one-night-stand. Her best friend, Willa, has been struggling with infertility quietly for years, so this puts a bit of a strain on their relationship. Luckily, Willa’s brother Shep, who Eve has known since childhood, is there to lend a helping hand with all things baby-related… and coincidentally, is starting to look extremely attractive to Eve…

I finished this book and immediately purchased Cara Bastone’s other two novels. It was SO CUTE. I loved the writing style, loved the main character’s POV, and loved that the love interest was a huge sweetie but also REALISTIC!!!! Sometimes these “book boyfriends” are a little too perfect for me and it makes me cringe.

I also really liked the dynamic with the baby daddy who, while not exactly a stand-up guy throughout it, clearly had his own stuff going on and managed to work it out without being a total jerk. Also this book was laugh-out-loud funny more than a few times too. I just loved it. Eve’s narration was a delight, and there were plenty of genuinely emotional moments throughout that made it feel much more than a run-of-the-mill trope-y rom-com.

You might also like…

• It’s Different This Time, Joss Richard

• Slow Dance, Rainbow Rowell

• Friends With Benefits, Marisa Kanter

Spoiled Milk by Avery Curran

I really enjoyed this gothic horror, which is arguably my favorite genre at this point. The story follows Emily, a student at Briarley School for Girls. Her final year is derailed when her best friend, Violet, dies in a sudden, shocking accident. But Emily quickly becomes convinced that it wasn’t an accident, but the work of their jealous French teacher, who clearly was in love with Violet.

It quickly becomes apparent that there’s something darker and more sinister lurking at Briarley, as one by one girls meet gruesome fates and dark shadows lurk in the corner of their vision. Add in sapphic entanglements, demonic energy, an unspoken eldritch horror, and the turn-of-the-century spiritualism craze and it might as well have been written specifically for me.

My only nitpick: this book is told from the hindsight POV of a much older main character, so it’s rife with sentiments like “if only we’d known” and “I didn’t know then how wrong we were” which to be honest got a bit old after a while. I also sort of wished the overall evil had been explained a bit better but I suppose that’s sort of the point—maybe there isn’t a reason for evil to occur.

You might also like…

• Grey Dog, Elliot Gish

• The Hounding, Xenobe Purvis

• Odessa, Gabrielle Sher

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the eARC!

Turn Off the Light by Jacquie Walters

Without giving too much away at all, this is exactly what I wanted from a gothic haunted house story. It had messy, interwoven timelines, family trauma, shocking revelations, strong female characters (like, unironically), and a house that might as well have been its own character.

The story follows two women, separated by hundreds of years but living in the same house. In the 1700s, Edith is a healer who soon learns that her skills are seen as sinister by the pious congregation in her small Virginia settlement. As she hears disembodied voices, and things go missing in her home, she fears she has unwittingly opened her mind to the devil. Four hundred years later, Claire has returned to her childhood home to help care for her father dying of Alzheimer’s. The house feels darker than she remembers, more alive, like it’s listening. It soon becomes clear that the two women’s fates are linked, and they must reach across centuries to save each other before it’s too late.

I loved it. I gasped out loud a couple times. It was heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful and downright terrifying a few times. If you like ghost stories, I guarantee you’ll like this one.

You might also like…

• Accumulation, Aimee Pokwatka

• Play Nice, Rachel Harrison

• Weyward, Emilia Hart

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown, and Co. for the eARC!

Grey Dog by Elliot Gish

Another turn-of-the-century sapphic-tinted gothic horror for you. I was really on a roll this spring. Grey Dog follows Ada, a disgraced spinster schoolteacher who has accepted a new post in a very rural district on the orders of her authoritarian father. She’s hoping this new assignment is a chance to reinvent herself, and to escape the rumors and shame she left behind at her last school. But it soon becomes clear that all is not well in rural, isolated Lowry Bridge. Ada is plagued by visions of insect swarms, mutilated animals, and other ghastly apparitions. She becomes convinced that an entity called the Grey Dog is leaving her these offerings, and her grip on reality loosens, with devastating consequences.

I really really loved this, and was genuinely quite creeped out by it which is kind of rare nowadays. It didn’t help that I was reading it during a really emotionally fraught time while stuck in my very isolated rural hometown. While this book is fairly gruesome, it’s also a beautiful metaphor for female rage, loss, pain, motherhood, and male violence. I loved it. Chef’s kiss. Proceed with caution if you’re squeamish.

You might also like…

• The Lamb by Lucy Rose

• The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling

• Root Rot by Saskia Nislow

Spellstruck by Martha Waters

This book was so dang CUTE. It filled a Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping-sized hole in my heart. I’ve come to realize that I really love witchy, cozy, lightly-magical rom-coms. Spellstruck follows Vesper Holloway, who runs her family’s centuries-old club in alternate-history London where vestiges of magic remain but have been outlawed. When a spate of magical accidents plague these clubs, Vesper worries for her family’s legacy and livelihood—and is forced to team up with Maxwell Ashbridge, a former friend of her brother’s who now works for the government task force assigned to enforce the magic ban.

It was just so whimsical and cozy and the magical lore and worldbuilding was fascinating without being overwhelming or underdeveloped. I loved it.

You might also like…

• Rewitched by Lucy Jane Wood

• A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

• Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the eARC!

What’s the best book you’ve read this year?

Leave a comment

Joy Mail Club Members will receive an envelope each month packed with delight—postcards, mini-prints, stickers, punch cards, junk journal & collage bits, greeting cards, and other fun surprises. A little dose of whimsy and joy, from me, to you.

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This is part of the Well-Designed Life series, a framework for creating & inhabiting your dream life. Think of this as a field guide for self-discovery, style excavation, and living with intentionality, creativity, and joy.

If you ask most people what their goals are, I guarantee time and time again, the phrase that comes up is something like: “I want to be more creative” or “I want to get back to crafting or creating art or sewing or whatever.”

Since you’re here, I’m going to assume you fall into the creative or creative-adjacent profile. Maybe you consistently do craft projects and create things that make you feel fulfilled. But most likely, if you’re anything like me, you loved taking art classes in school. You’ve dabbled in a ton of different hobbies and crafts. You’ve got piles of unfinished (or unstarted) projects lying around in your house. But without fail, if you try to make something, you feel stumped. Creatively blocked. Unsure how to proceed. And you end up doomscrolling on your phone again.

Or maybe you have all these grand ideas, but end up scrolling Pinterest and blogs to gather inspiration… until you realize you’ve spent three hours thinking about this project without actually doing anything about it, but you’re exhausted mentally now and just call it a day.

Or, then again, maybe you successfully create stuff all the time. So much so that friends and family are always asking you to make stuff for them. Or hey, why don’t you sell them on Etsy and make a few bucks? You could try local craft fairs too! And suddenly, your nice relaxing creative outlet is a side hustle that has sucked all the fun right out of the endeavor.

Sound familiar? I’ve been there. For, like, a decade. Between creative dry spells, forcing everything into a side hustle, turning one of those creative side hustles into my full-time job and then burning out spectacularly… I’ve seen it all.

And in the past couple of years, I’ve been slowly restructuring my relationship to creativity. Busting myths I’ve believed for years (such as waiting for inspiration to strike). Figuring out how to build a practice that is sustainable and realistic to my actual lifestyle, not some imaginary life where I spend endless stretches of time painting in a sunny garden studio.

So, if you’ve felt creatively burnt out, overwhelmed by inspiration, and unsure where to start—this post is for you.

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The Swifties among you will have recognized that “not a lot going on at the moment” is code for “quite a lot going on at the moment, actually.”

Namely, my husband and I have made the decision to move back home to Michigan to be closer to friends and family. In the last two weeks, we’ve found our dream house, put an offer on it, had it accepted, gone through inspections, and are now about to list our condo in Chicago this week. It’s been a whirlwind and simultaneously super fun and completely overwhelming.

The new house is absolutely gorgeous and I can’t wait until everyone is capital-O official so I can share more. For now, send us luck and well wishes for selling our house. It’s a bittersweet moment for sure. We’ve put so much work, energy, and love into this condo over the past nearly-five years. But we’re so very excited for the next chapter. More soon!

Love always,

In Brief

📚 Reading

The Antiquarian’s Object of Desire by India Holton – so far, a cute, lightly magical historical rom-com about professors in love. Swoony.

📺 Watching

Widow’s Bay on Apple TV. I’m a little late to the party, but once I heard what this show was actually about (creepy, cursed vacation town) I was hooked. It was described to me as Parks and Rec if it were written by Stephen King, so I was immediately sold.

🎶 Listening

I’ve been listening to Six of Crows on audiobook while I work lately. I think it’s my ADHD brain, but I can only listen to books I’ve already read a few times (aka, it’s okay for me to zone out because I know what’s happening already). My love of Six of Crows is well-documented, and I’m thoroughly enjoying the voice acting in the audio version.

✅ To Do List

Tasks to help you reset and re-energize for the week.

• Creativity & Curiosity: Find a long article or essay and make yourself actually sit and read the whole thing. No scrolling, no distractions, no skimming.

• Personal Style: Experiment with a new style you wouldn’t normally wear.

• Home & Environment: Switch up the throw pillows, blankets, or artwork in one of your rooms. You’ll be shocked how much difference it can make.

• Connection: Ask someone you love a deep question about themselves. You might be surprised by what you didn’t know about your friends and family.

• Joy & Whimsy: Blow some bubbles.

📚 Release Radar

This week’s book releases that are on my radar (and my TBR).

• Famous Men by Julie Buntin | A gripping novel about ambition, parents and children, and all the ways women still pay for men’s mistakes, Famous Men traces one woman’s journey to the truth of where she comes from, what she’s capable of, and how she might start again.

• The Half Life by Rachel Beanland | From the author of Florence Adler Swims Forever and The House Is on Fire, a novel set on a remote Italian island about a navy wife’s reckoning with power, love, and the price of staying silent in the Atomic Age.

• Make Nice by Ryan Effgen | Sandwich meets The Wedding People in this irresistible comedy of manners as three generations of a family—a snail scientist, a soon-to-be divorcée, her teenage daughter, a hapless con man, and their feckless patriarch—descend on a ritzy Lake Michigan vacation island. (Mackinac Island baby!!!!)

• The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren | New York Times bestselling author Christina Lauren returns with an unforgettable romance in which a fateful accident erases a troubled marriage from memory—and a scientific breakthrough gives love one extraordinary do-over.

💌 Reading List

Essays & articles worth reading this week.

Skill Nostalgia | Aeon

“Will our desire for a lost age of skilled work curdle into technophobia, a distrust of social change, and a desire to return to the ‘way things were’? When we fetishise the skills and objects of the past, are we falling into a reactionary form of Luddism that resists all change? What are the politics hidden within our desire for artisanal sourdough bread and hand-thrown pottery?”

An interesting take on how being nostalgic for the “good old days” of handcrafted artisan work is an extremely old pastime.

The Upside of Being an Only Child | Cup of Jo

“As a preteen, though, I sometimes wished for a sibling: specifically, an older sister. Older sisters are, from what I can tell, the meanest human beings on the planet, but they are also the gatekeepers to becoming a woman. They know about tampons and foundation and getting asked to dances and that the cool girls in high school don’t carry backpacks, they wear messenger bags. I lived and died by my stacks of teen magazines, but flipping the stark white pages of Seventeen is not the same as your sister coming into your room, pulling out a lip liner, and showing you how to use it. If you have an older sister, you don’t have to use the metallic gunmetal-gray Lancôme eye shadow your mom gave you from a bonus gift at Nordstrom, apply it alone in your poorly lit bathroom, and then wear it to the Friday-night dance looking like you got a black eye from a robot.”

I am also an only child who once longed for an older sister as I read through the pages of Seventeen magazine. Much like the author of the piece, , I too mostly loved my weird childhood spent discussing adult topics like the news and weather and befriending school librarians and administrators. As I’ve gotten older, I have felt at times a longing for a sibling or two, someone else who knows exactly where I came from and what I’m going through, but overall I’ve always loved being an only child.

The End of Reading is Here | The Atlantic

“In 2024, in a national test, just 35 percent of high-school seniors were “proficient” at skills such as analyzing complex fictional themes and evaluating the effectiveness of an author’s argument. About the same number scored below “basic,” meaning that they may struggle to draw conclusions from concepts explicitly included in a text, or to use context clues to determine the meaning of an unknown word. Adult-literacy scores have also dropped: Nearly 30 percent of American adults cannot paraphrase or make inferences from a multipage text. In 2017, that number was less than 20 percent.”

This piece has definitely been making the rounds this week, and the stats are certainly alarming. I don’t really know what to say. How do we fix this? I feel like bringing back free personal pan pizzas for reading books is a step in the right direction.

🧥 In My Cart

Things I’m eyeing and buying this week.

1. Smocked Tie-Strap Midi Dress, American Eagle 2. Scallop Shell Hair Clip, Jenny Lemons 3. The New Vegetarian Cookbook, Anthropologie 4. Off-Duty Snoopy Tote Bag, American Eagle 5. Don’t Play It Cool Tee, Vibe2k 6. Leave Pretty Anti-Puff Eye Patches, Pacifica 7. Ruffle Tie-Neck Top, Old Navy 8. Wood Bookshelf Lamp, Target 9. Campus Rugby Sweatshirt, American Eagle

✨ Joy Scrolling

Fun links & recs for your reading pleasure.

• This tomato, halloumi, and nectarine salad sounds like pure summer deliciousness.

• Love this list of the 40 prettiest main streets in the country. I LOVE a good historic downtown main street with cute little shops. Though I have to say, we’re missing a lot of midwest representation here. Michigan has some GORGEOUS main streets.

• Artist Derrick Lin creates these gorgeous miniature dioramas that somehow perfectly encapsulate feelings of nostalgia, loneliness, love, etc. I’m fascinated.

• A fantastic list of sleepy, sultry crime movies for hot summer nights. Rear Window is one of my all-time favorites!

• Stumbled upon this episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood where he visits Eric Carle’s (of Very Hungry Caterpillar fame) studio. Delightful.

⏰ ICYMI

What I’ve posted recently.

Anyways, this led me on a mad tear through the internet to find another book that fit the bill. And then that led me to thinking—I bet other people have this same issue and maybe I can use my upsettingly vast knowledge of books and where to find them to play detective.

I asked in our group chat if anyone had any specific genres, plots, tropes, or otherwise obscure requests, and sure enough, I got tons of amazing prompts. Without further ado, here are my best suggestions!

Ooh, I also am a big fan of autobiographies and memoirs, so I’ve got lots of ideas here. Here are some of my favorite memoirs, both celebrity and non.

• Little Weirds by Jenny Slate | Surprisingly tender and unsurprisingly hilarious essays and musings from Jenny Slate, best known (by me, anyways) as the voice of Marcel the Shell and Mona Lisa Saperstein on Parks and Rec.

• Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham | Lena’s first memoir-in-essays about young adulthood, creativity, fame, nostalgia, etc. Somehow both out of touch and completely universal, I adored it when I was a twenty-something.

• Tacky by Rax King | Essays on the joys of low pop culture and bad taste, exploring growing up in the 2000s in the age of Hot Topic, Creed, and frosted lip gloss. All I can say is, her essay on Bath and Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar body spray made me ugly cry. A must-read for any child of the 2000s.

• When the World Didn’t End by Guinevere Turner | An acclaimed screenwriter tells the story of her childhood growing up with the infamous Lyman Family cult—and the complicated and unexpected pain of leaving the only home she’d ever known.

• I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy | Former Nickelodeon child star tells the story of her tumultuous childhood with a deeply narcissistic mother as she struggled to support her family and navigate fame, mental health issues, and upsettingly creepy older men in the industry.

• Sociopath by Patric Gagne | A fascinating, revelatory memoir revealing the author’s struggle to come to terms with her own sociopathy and shed light on the often maligned and misunderstood mental disorder.

• The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion | From one of America’s iconic writers, a stunning book of electric honesty and passion. Joan Didion explores an intensely personal yet universal experience: a portrait of a marriage—and a life, in good times and bad—that will speak to anyone who has ever loved a husband or wife or child.

I too am a big fan of the “rich people behaving badly” subgenre, ever since I read The Nanny Diaries and The Devil Wears Prada as a pre-teen. Some of these skew a bit more drama/thriller, but I think you’ll still like them.

• Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson | Shot through with the indulgent pleasures of life among New York’s one-percenters, Pineapple Street is an addictive, escapist novel about the peculiar unknowability of someone else’s family, the miles between the haves and have-nots, and the insanity of first love—all wrapped in a deliciously funny, sharply observed debut of family, love, and class.

• Park Avenue by Renée Ahdieh | Jia Song has always been destined for greatness. As the daughter of Korean bodega owners, she promised herself that she would have every Fifth Avenue luxury when she grew up, and it is all finally within reach. She has just made junior partner at her prestigious Manhattan law firm, so when her boss asks her to sit in on the hush-hush family implosion of a high-level client, she accepts without hesitation—only to find out that it is one of the most famous Korean families in the world.

• The Hunting Wives by May Cobb | Sophie O’Neill left behind an envy-inspiring career and a stressful, competitive big-city life to settle down with her husband and young son in a small Texas town. It seems like the perfect life with a beautiful home in an idyllic rural community. But Sophie soon realizes that life is now too quiet, and she’s feeling bored and restless. Then she meets Margot Banks, an alluring socialite who is part of an elite clique secretly known as the Hunting Wives.

• Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan | An outrageously funny debut novel about three super-rich, pedigreed Chinese families and the gossip, backbiting, and scheming that occurs when the heir to one of the most massive fortunes in Asia brings home his ABC (American-born Chinese) girlfriend to the wedding of the season.

• The Lake Club by Lina Patton | A sizzling, soapy summer debut, in which two women in a wealthy lakeside suburb clash over a cute male nanny, setting off a chain reaction that pulls the town’s darker secrets to the surface. As the heat rises between the three of them, the truth behind a long-buried scandal comes to light, and everyone at the club must reckon with the consequences.

Oh, you are speaking my language. I have PLENTY of ideas for this one.

• The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant by Liza Tully | A brilliant Boomer detective and her ambitious Gen Z assistant try to get along in this delightful feel-good mystery.

• Welcome to Murder Week by Karen Dukess | In this delightfully funny and heartfelt new novel, an American woman travels to the English countryside when she discovers tickets her late mother had purchased for a murder mystery simulation in a small British town. (This counts, she’s AMERICAN!)

• Death Was Not on the Guest List by Jenni L. Walsh | This one takes place right down the street from where I used to live in Chicago!!!! From bestselling author Jenni L. Walsh comes a witty Jazz Age mystery where rivalry, ambition, and deceit glitter under every chandelier… and no one gets out until the killer is unmasked.

• The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective by Jo Nichols | Mrs. B, the landlady of The Marigold Cottages, is a stubborn idealist who only rents to people she cares about. The tenants live contentedly in their sleepy Santa Barbara neighborhood, until their peace is shattered when Anthony, a quiet, hulking, ex-con moves in. Three weeks later, a dead body is discovered. Anthony is arrested, and the tenants heave sighs of relief. Until Mrs. B, convinced that he’s innocent, confesses to the crime herself.

• A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro | This one is technically a YA series, I believe, but I still absolutely adore it. It follows the descendants of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson as they meet at a posh Connecticut boarding school, get entangled in a crime spree meant to frame them for murder, and (duh) fall in love.

• Rachel West and the Fallen Starlet by Emma Mills | Celebrity gossip can cut to the quick, but when it turns deadly it’s up to an aspiring reporter and her quirky neighbors to close the case in the first of a witty and nostalgic new mystery series set in 2008 California.

So, I’m not a big audiobook person, so I can’t promise that all of these are great on audio, but I know they’re all fascinating and, at least for me, often about things that I normally wouldn’t gravitate towards but am interested in learning more about.

• The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green | The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this collection of essays adapted from his critically acclaimed podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale.

• Cultish by Amanda Montell | I won’t stop until everyone has read this book. This book dives deep into the language that cults use to recruit and retain people to their ranks—and how things like MLMs, gym memberships, parenting groups, and other seemingly-innocuous organizations have seamlessly co-opted this language.

• Selling the Dream by Jane Marie | Peabody and Emmy Award–winning journalist Jane Marie expands on her popular podcast The Dream to expose the scourge of multilevel marketing schemes and how they have profited off the evisceration of the American working class.

• Girl on Girl by Sophie Gilbert | A blazing critique of how early-aughts pop culture turned women and girls against each other—and themselves—with disastrous consequences.

• The Science of Last Things by Ellen Wayland-Smith | A collection of essays that probe the raw edges of human existence, those periods of life in which our bodies remind us of our transience and the boundaries of the self dissolve—losing a parent, giving birth, experiencing a nervous breakdown, coping with breast cancer, etc.

• Filterworld by Kyle Chayka | With algorithms increasingly influencing not just what culture we consume, but what culture is produced, urgent questions arise. What happens when shareability supersedes messiness, innovation, and creativity? What does it mean to make a choice when the options have been so carefully arranged for us? Is personal freedom possible on the Internet?

• Butts: A Backstory by Heather Radke | Part deep dive reportage, part personal journey, part cabinet of curiosities, Butts is an entertaining, illuminating, and thoughtful examination of why certain silhouettes come in and out of fashion—and how larger ideas about race, control, liberation, and power affect our most private feelings about ourselves and others.

Ooh, this is a juicy one. I had one idea right out of the gate, but had to really put on my detective hat (ahem, deerstalker) to find some more.

• Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab | Gosh, have I recommended this book enough? It really ticks all the boxes—lots of deep lore about vampires (not just what you’d expect), plus it spans literal centuries and is beautifully written.

• Outlander by Dianna Gabaldon | I haven’t read this series yet, but they’re kind of the quintessential “generation-spanning deep lore” books. The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles… and into Scotland circa 1743.

• A Time of Witches by Madeline Martin | Across centuries, Lilith and Sybil are bound by blood and by danger. To save themselves, and each other, they must confront the silence that has stolen women’s power for generations—and dare to claim their voices before it’s too late.

• Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm | In this lyrical debut, three generations of Palestinian women must put the haunting of their ancestral home to rest, before the secrets of the past drown them all. Our Cut of Salt is a powerful and intimate look at what it means to make a home, to lose it, and to return, only to find it irrevocably changed.

Got any recs to add? Have a request for the next installment? Let me know in the comments!

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Parenthetical is a publication for women who dog-ear pages, overthink their seasonal wardrobe, and want to make their ordinary days more magical. Paid subscribers get access to the full resource library, plus The Well-Designed Life curriculum.

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Use these as self-reflection, creative writing prompts, conversation starters with friends or strangers, or whatever else strikes your fancy!

1. If you could re-live any moment from your past, what would it be and why?

2. Write a poem or short story using only song titles.

3. If you were to put together a museum exhibit of your life, what artifacts or events would it feature?

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Instead, this is a list of the books that have stuck with me, shaped my life or worldview, or just really entertained me. They will span genres and reading levels and I’m sure some will be cliche or cringe or old news, but if you have similar taste as me, then I hope you find some new treasures here—or just feel like you know me a little bit better.

And along the way, please enjoy a smattering of vintage Bookstagram photos circa 2014-2017, back when you could post a single square photo of a single book and get 500 likes, easy.

The Books That Raised Me (Ages 5-14)

The first book I can remember reading by myself was Fox in Socks, when I was four or five. It was love at first “sound-it-out” and I was instantly a voracious reader. Like, on a first-name basis with the elementary school librarian level.

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

I know, no one wants to talk about Harry Potter nowadays (for good reason, JKR is a ghoul). But, like many millennials, this is kinda where it all starts for me. I already loved reading by the time I first became aware of Harry Potter, but most of what I read was nonfiction from the school library. I was six, in first grade (yes I was one of those ~gifted~ kids who was reading at a high school level in elementary school) and the first movie was about to come out.

My grandma, who I love but who had interesting ideas about religion, told me that it was of the devil and I should never read or watch them. I dutifully told my mom this and she said something along the lines of “that’s ridiculous, it’s a children’s book and I’m your mother, you can read it if you want to!” So I did, and it was, for lack of a better world, magical. This kicked off a two-and-a-half-decade-long love affair with fiction, fantasy, and yes, sorry Grandma, witchcraft.

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

I credit Lemony Snicket primarily for my stint as regional spelling bee champion and my brief foray into the Reader’s Digest Word Power Challenge. I also credit him for getting me into weird, creepy, gothic literature. I love these books so much. I loved the terrible movie they made. I loved the much much better Netflix series they made. All of it.

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Anne Shirley was the OG maladaptive daydreamer girlie, and I found so much of myself in her when I first read this classic. Years later in high school, our theatre company did a stage version of the story, which only cemented my love. I did not, tragically, get to be Anne, because I was only an underclassman. (I played Jane Andrews, a generic school chum that I’m not even sure was actually named in the book).

The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray

I think this series is largely to blame for my outsized fascination with witchcraft, the occult, and feminism. I loved these books so much. I read and re-read them endlessly. If Lemony Snicket kicked off a curiosity for gothic-leaning lit, the Gemma Doyle trilogy cemented it. Side note, they’ve redesigned the covers in the intervening two decades and they’re hideous.

The Chemical Garden Trilogy by Lauren DeStefano

Justice for this series!!!!! It deserved to be turned into a third-rate CW series or a film trilogy starring a former Disney girl. Anyways, I remember I found this book by strolling into a suburban Barnes & Noble with a birthday gift card and picking a few books purely by cover vibes and blurbs. Anyways it’s a classic dystopian future story where some virus or something has limited lifespans to 20 years for women and 25 for men. As you can imagine, that causes a whole host of issues. I kind of want to re-read these to see if they hold up, even though I’m not much for YA anymore, because I remember them being haunting and beautiful.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

I mean. Was it good? No. Was it a deeply formative early experience of fandom culture? Yeah. Did I make my entire family go see the movie at 10pm in Chicago because our vacation coincided with the opening night? Yeah. Did I wear a replica of Alice’s necklace from Hot Topic every day for the better part of a year? Yeah. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Confessions of Georgia Nicolson Series by Louise Rennison

You may be familiar with the 2008 film adaptation Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging. I’m here to tell you that, delightful though it may be, it pales in comparison to this insane, hilarious book series that it’s based on (and the book’s proper title is Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging, but that was deemed a bit too inappropriate). Anyways, I was something of a budding anglophile already in my younger years, even before Doctor Who and BBC Sherlock got involved in the 2010s, so this series about British teen Georgia Nicholson and her insane family, friends, and cats, was utterly delightful. Also I read some of them again a few years ago—still hilarious! Even my mom thought they were insanely funny at the time. (Anyways, for me it was always Dave the Laugh. Robbie was boring.)

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

I selected this book for my term project in College Prep English my freshman year of high school because, you guessed it, it’s Bella’s favorite book in Twilight. What a weirdo. Anyways, I absolutely loved it. And putting together this list really has me realizing how much I have always loved gothic lit. You can imagine that the recent Wuthering Heights movie discourse was excruciating for me.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

I think I was maybe the only person ever who read this entire series and somehow remained blissfully unaware of the thinly-veiled religious undertones. Seriously? How? Anyways, I adore Lucy Pevensie (and yes I did play her in a stage version of LWW in high school 😇).

My Coming of Age Stories (Ages 15-19)

My teenage years consisted of melodramatic manic pixie dream girl novels and classic lit-girl titles like The Bell Jar, The Virgin Suicides, and The Lover.

Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

THE seminal text. I know it got memed into oblivion when the (excellent) film came out in 2012, but this book is so, so dear to me. Reading it as a sixteen-year-old felt like that first time you really feel seen and understood by someone or something. I know a lot of that is simply adolescence, but I think the enduring fact that we all sort of feel roughly the same around the same age in life is a beautiful thing about human beings.

“I know these will all be stories one day, and our pictures will become old photographs. We’ll all become somebody’s mom or dad. But right now, these moments are not stories. This is happening. I can see it. The one moment you know you’re not a sad story. You are alive.”

Looking for Alaska by John Green

For better or worse, this book kicked off a fascination with drinking Boone’s Farm (it’s terrible) and chain-smoking (only made it through about a pack and a half, and this was in college). It broke my heart, which to this day is often how I measure new favorite works of literature and film. I was also a staunch John Green defender when everyone was claiming he wrote flimsy, one-dimension female characters (that was the whole POINT!!!!!).

Our Town by Thornton Wilder

Our Town was the spring play my freshman year of high school. I wasn’t in it, being a freshman and all, but I remember sitting in the nearly-empty auditorium during dress rehearsal absolutely weeping once they got to Emily’s final monologue. It really sums up a lot of how I feel about life.

Oh, Mama, look at me one minute as though you really saw me. Mama, fourteen years have gone by. I’m dead. You’re a grandmother, Mama! […] But, just for a moment now we’re all together. Mama, just for a moment we’re happy. Let’s really look at one another! …I can’t. I can’t go on. It goes so fast. We don’t have time to look at one another. I didn’t realize. So all that was going on and we never noticed. Take me back—up the hill—to my grave. But first: Wait! One more look. Good-bye, good-bye world. Good-bye, Grover’s Corners... Mama and Papa. Good-bye to clocks ticking... and Mama’s sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new ironed dresses and hot baths... and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you are too wonderful for anybody to realize you. Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it—every, every minute?

The Lover by Marguerite Dumas

I think about the first line of this book SO often: “Very early in my life, it was too late.” I read this book as part of a literature course I took my freshman year of college. A lot of what we read wasn’t my taste, but I remember really loving this one. A lot of the details have faded but that one line in particular really stuck out to me.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Reading this as a teenager and being like, “guys I think something might be wrong with our society if we don’t intervene soon” is like a seminal budding-feminist experience, I think. And the Hulu show was good until it wasn’t. C’est la vie.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

I read this fairly young, as a self-selected summer project for my advanced English classes. I’m pretty sure I chose it for the vibes and aesthetic, since I was deep in my brooding goth-adjacent phase. But I ended up really loving it. I really need to re-read it as an adult, because so much of the detail is fuzzy now, except for how I felt about it. And I do distinctly remember sitting in bed well past midnight on a hot muggy summer night when I first read the infamous fig tree passage, and feeling like I’d been punched in the stomach. Ironic, that the quote resonated so much already at the tender age of FIFTEEN, but I’ve always been prone to melancholy and nostalgia.

“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn’t quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”

My Twenties (Ages 20-29)

Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo

My best friend kept pestering me to read these books back when they came out, and I was not convinced. High fantasy with maps in the front is not usually my type of thing, but finally I decided to pick up Six of Crows and oh my GOD. I truly will (and have) read anything Leigh Bardugo publishes, because she’s pure magic. And her writing and characterizations managed to suck me into a YA fantasy novel series well past its intended age bracket. (Well maybe not… I was only about 23 come to think of it).

Faithful Place by Tana French

I maintain that Tana French is one of the greatest crime writers, certainly the best one living currently. A bold stance, to be sure, but I’ve tried to read some of her contemporaries and … woof. Anyways, I love LOVE her entire Dublin Murder Squad series, some of the only books I’ve re-read in recent years. This book in particular, the third in the series, just utterly breaks my heart.

Goodbye to All That by Joan Didion

Okay, this is an essay, not a book, but whatever. It’s my literary canon, I’ll cry if I want to. I think about this quote constantly. I’ve got a lot more Joan to read, but I know she’s a kindred spirit (well, me and every other former gifted kid on this app, let’s be real).

“That was the year, my twenty-eighth, when I was discovering that not all of the promises would be kept, that some things are in fact irrevocable and that it had counted after all, every evasion and every procrastination, every mistake, every word, all of it.”

Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham

I think everyone collectively owes Lena Dunham an apology for their behavior towards her in 2014. I love love loved this book, and read it constantly. Yes she’s a privileged nepo-baby who is often out of touch in this book. But also, some feelings (like those experienced in one’s early twenties) are kind of universal and damn if she didn’t nail it.

“If I had known how much I would miss these sensations I might have experienced them differently, recognized their shabby glamour, respected the ticking clock that defined this entire experience. I would have put aside my resentment, dropped my defenses. I might have a basic understanding of European history or economics. More abstractly, I might feel I had truly been somewhere, open and porous and hungry to learn.”

My Thirties (Ages 30-Now)

This category is something of a work in progress, since I’m only 32 as we speak, but already I’ve found a handful of works that I can’t get out of my head, that have shaped my ever-evolving worldview even further.

Penance by Eliza Clark

I think this book might be almost single-handedly responsible for ending my tenure as a certified “true crime girly.” Now, do I love mysteries and still get interested in true crime content? Yes. But the True Crime Industrial Complex freaks me out so bad now. The thought that I spent so many years listening to podcasts where, despite what fans would have you believe, the hosts are essentially making jokes about and riffing off of heinous crimes, is deeply upsetting to me.

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

I read Normal People and didn’t really love it as much as I wanted to. But I decided to give this one a try, I think because I really wanted to be the type of person that liked Sally Rooney. When I came across this quote, I immediately pasted it into my notes app for easy access, because I knew I’d be getting a lot of mileage out of it.

“I think of the twentieth century as one long question, and in the end we got the answer wrong. Aren’t we unfortunate babies to be born when the world ended? After that there was no chance for the planet, and no chance for us. Or maybe it was just the end of one civilisation, ours, and at some time in the future another will take its place. In that case we are standing in the last lighted room before the darkness, bearing witness to something.”

This book was just so cathartic, reading the thoughts of what feels like my entire generation, but also seeing how the characters grow and evolve despite it all feeling like the end of the world. It was simultaneously validating and healing, I think.

Beach Read by Emily Henry

The book that put me back in touch with my rom-com-loving roots. I’ve talked a lot here about how I had certain preconceptions and ideas about romance as a genre and how it wasn’t for me. Until something finally hit me: hey, dummy, all your favorite movies are rom-coms from the 90s & 00s, why wouldn’t you like romance novels? And to be fair, I was under the assumption that “romance novel” automatically meant “bodice-ripper” which is definitely not my vibe. But I’ve since found such a wealth of wonderful, heartwarming, beautifully-written books in the romance genre. Thanks EmHen!

What books have shaped you throughout your life?

Leave a comment

Parenthetical is a publication for women who dog-ear pages, overthink their seasonal wardrobe, and want to make their ordinary days more magical. Paid subscribers get access to the full resource library, plus The Well-Designed Life curriculum.

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Hello from the literal fires of Hades! Chicago has a heat index of 105 today, and I’m sweating my makeup off as we speak. This weekend my husband and I cleared out two overstuffed closets and our entire basement storage unit and dropped off an entire carload of stuff to a charity shop. It was so much work, but I feel so accomplished. And now I’ve got the purging bug and I’m ready to attack my closet and underneath our bed next. There’s no stopping me!

Love always,

In Brief

📚 Reading

I finished Spellstruck and absolutely adored it. If you like Sangu Mandanna’s books, you will love this. Out in September!

📺 Watching

We watched the Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? mini-series last week (based on the Agatha Christie book) and I absolutely loved it. Christie adaptations seem very hit or miss (big pet peeve of mine is when they completely change the ending, which happens surprisingly often). But this one was delightful!

🎶 Listening

New Phoebe Bridgers!!!!!

🧣 Wearing

I snagged this red boatneck shirred tank from Uniqlo a few weeks ago, and I’ve been waiting for the weather to heat back up so I can wear it. Finally getting the chance today, and I love it!

✅ To Do List

Tasks to help you reset and re-energize for the week.

• Creativity & Curiosity: Pick up a new book that’s outside your typical genre comfort zones, but that sounds interesting. You might be surprised!

• Personal Style: Spend some time documenting your favorite outfits for easy access. Could be a photo album, notes app, or just a good old-fashioned notebook.

• Home & Environment: Clean out one single closet, storage unit, or other spot where you’ve just stuck things for ages and not thought about.

• Connection: Put together a care package for a friend or loved one who is going through a hard time or could just use a little extra support. It doesn’t have to be super expensive—cozy socks, a paperback, some artisanal coffee or hot cocoa, and a cute mug goes a long way.

• Joy & Whimsy: Play hooky—call in sick to work or school and do something fun for yourself.

📚 Release Radar

This week’s book releases that are on my radar (and my TBR).

• Rules for Aging and Larceny by Julia London | Ocean’s Eleven meets the Golden Girls when an all-female group of chaotic, elderly thieves come out of retirement for one last heist.

• Main Characters by Bobby Palmer | Told from the eyes of their audience—friends and flatmates, rivals and lovers, strangers and confidants—Main Characters is a sweeping portrait of all sides of Clara and Seb. Everyone has their version of events, but only the main characters can decide how it ends.

• Picky by Julie T. Kinn | Zillah’s twenty-three and stuck—stuck living with her quirky mother, stuck with a diet of ten toddler-approved foods, and stuck in a relationship with a man who thinks sharks are immortal. Things change when she eavesdrops on her neighbor’s exposure therapy and decides to DIY her own mental health.

• One Day, Hard and Clear by Anne Baldo | It’s 2004 and childhood friends Sami and Lucy are on the edge of adulthood. Lucy knows what she is going to do—she’s going to school and getting out. But Sami, caught in an endless loop with a boy from a troubled family, can’t seem to get unstuck.

• The Summer of the Serpent by Cecilia Eudave | This surreal, horror-tinged work is a kaleidoscopic descent into the small violences and hidden horrors of one sweltering summer, forming a coil of vignettes that slither under the skin for a strange, deeply human portrait of memory, myth, and family.

• The Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson | An ambitious young woman insinuates herself into a tight-knit social set, shaking up friendships and marriages in a small seaside town. A frothy novel of love, money, sex, and friendship, from the bestselling author of Pineapple Street.

• Six of Crows: A Darker Shore by Leigh Bardugo | From bestselling author Leigh Bardugo comes a new Grishaverse short story: a mystery told through found documents and set after the events of Crooked Kingdom.

💌 Reading List

Links, essays, Instagram captions, carrier pigeons… anything and everything I’ve enjoyed reading this week.

How to Have Deeper Conversations With Anyone | Time

“People badly underestimate how interested others are in connecting—and how good a deeper conversation will actually feel, says University of Chicago behavioral scientist Nicholas Epley […] His research suggests that we brace for awkwardness and come away happier, more connected, and more understood than we predicted.”

How Creative Rituals Can Help You Break Free From the Idea Echo Chamber | It’s Nice That

“And in a moment where so much of the technical side of creativity can be outsourced or automated, having a deeper understanding of who you are, what your tastes are and how you come up with ideas away from the usual sources really matters. AI tools generate, refine and perhaps polish, but they can’t decide what is worth making in the first place, they can’t tell you what feels meaningful, or urgent, or true to you, that still sits with us. Which is why creative rituals feel less like a luxury and more like a kind of defence against the slow erosion of taste, attention, and intention.”

Librarians on Horseback | Oxford American

In the 1930s, the Pack Horse Library project emerged as a program that could satisfy New Deal goals of literacy expansion and job creation by paying local women (and a few men) to deliver books on horseback through the mountains of eastern Kentucky. Due to meager funding for new reading material, the Pack Horse Librarians often circulated scrapbooks they assembled by hand, makeshift volumes filled with content from magazines, damaged books, or old pamphlets.

🧥 In My Cart

Things I’m eyeing and buying this week.

1. Mini Lamp, Target 2. Blouse, Banana Republic 3. Tarot Plate, Anthropologie 4. Velvet Vanity, Urban Outfitters 5. Resin Purse Strap, Quince 6. Staub Bowl Set, Crate and Barrel 7. Heeled Sandals, Aerosoles 8. Pearly Fish Earrings, Loft 9. Dream Lip Oil in Bare Sand, Summer Fridays

✨ Joy Scrolling

Fun links & recs for your reading pleasure.

• This post on “how to stay married” made me giggle (and also seems like pretty solid advice).

• Summer mocktail recipes for my low- and no-proof pals.

• A roundup of summer camp aesthetic decor inspiration.

• New trailer for Sense and Sensibility with Daisy Edgar-Jones!!!

⏰ ICYMI

What I’ve posted recently.

Parenthetical is a publication for women who dog-ear pages, overthink their seasonal wardrobe, and want to make their ordinary days more magical. Paid subscribers get access to the full resource library, plus The Well-Designed Life curriculum.

Subscribe now

Dear Friend,

This is the 25th edition of Coffee Break, which is exciting! That’s nearly half a year of almost weekly posts! In the spirit of “building in public” I’m making some changes to the format. I’ll still be sharing links, recs, and tasks for each week, just organized a bit differently.

I’ll also be sharing new book releases coming out each week, and paid subscribers will receive a little bit extra at the end of each email—creative prompts for the week to use as journal starters, reflection prompts, or however else they spark inspiration, plus occasional printables, downloads, and other digital goodies.

Parenthetical has grown so much in the past few months, it’s mindboggling, so I just wanted to say a big thank you again for being here and reading along. ❤️

Love always,

In Brief

📚 Reading

Spellstruck by Martha Waters (out September 29th). Diving into this historical, magical, British rom-com that follows the manager of an illegal magic speakeasy and the government employee sent to take down her family’s business—but when tainted magic makes its way into the supply chain, the two enemies have to team up to figure out where it’s coming from. 👀 I haven’t gotten super far, but so far I really like the writing and characters.

🍔 Eating

Trader Joe’s salads continue to reign supreme. Lunch this week is the Broccoli Slaw and Kale Salad with White Chicken Meat. It’s tangy, sweet-ish, and a tiny bit spicy.

📺 Watching

The entire Lord of the Rings trilogy on 35mm film. Because somehow it’s been 25 years since The Fellowship of the Ring released??? Anyways, my favorite theater, The Music Box in Chicago, played the entire trilogy all weekend and we watched the first one on Friday night and the last two on Saturday. Long day!

🧣 Wearing

Not beating the allegations about Kelly green being my new favorite color. I’ve been wearing these linen-blend bright green trousers CONSTANTLY. They’re super comfy, super on-trend, and the petite sizing means I didn’t even have to hem them.

✅ To Do List

Tasks to help you reset and re-energize for the week.

• Creativity & Curiosity: Make a list of creative projects you want to complete in the next six months, and plan out the steps to make it happen.

• Personal Style: This week I’m giving you permission to buy that thing on your wishlist you’ve been thinking about for ages.

• Home & Environment: Open a window. Even if it’s too hot. Just open a window for a half hour to remember what it’s like to have a breeze in your house that isn’t from the air conditioner.

• Connection: Message someone from your past that you haven’t talked to in a while, just to catch up. (This is not permission to text your toxic ex).

• Joy & Whimsy: Take some books to your nearest Little Free Library to exchange.

📚 Release Radar

This week’s book releases that are on my radar (and my TBR).

• Agnes Lives! by Hallie Elizabeth Newton | Agnes seeks a willing murderer and wonders what she should wear. As she Ubers from Upper East Side shopping to Craigslist gun deals, Agnes’ desperation becomes an exhibition, a swan song of millennial sexuality as internalized abuse.

• The Future Perfect by Cay Kim | A portrait of a brilliant young woman growing up between worlds, and a glorious love letter to girlhood, family, and the great dreams we hold for ourselves, no matter where we’re from.

• Winner Takes All by Emily Martin | When two rival music executives wake up married in Las Vegas with no memory of tying the knot, they have to recreate their night together while competing to sign the band of their dreams.

• Long Island Girls by Gabrielle Korn | A sharply observed, deeply nostalgic coming-of-age story set against the indie music scene of the early 2000s that captures the ache of growing up, the messiness and joy of queer identity, and the way music, memory, and desire shape who we become.

• When You Loved Me by Beatriz Williams | A young widow returns to her late father’s New England estate, only to be drawn into the hunt for the rumored pirate treasure that consumed his life.

💌 Reading List

Links, essays, Instagram captions, carrier pigeons… anything and everything I’ve enjoyed reading this week.

How Personal Taste Fell Out of Fashion | The Guardian

“It has become impossible to ignore: personal taste has been seriously debased – if not completely destroyed – by technological advancement. We know the internet has radically altered the way we form our opinions and beliefs. Now we’re waking up to another sobering truth: it has wrecked our capacity to form our own preferences.”

A Diary from the Psychic Capital of the World | The Paris Review

“I dressed in all black, which Mimi said would let the spirits know who to come to. Around my neck I wore a brass whistle. It belonged to Dan and had been issued by the army, and it slotted into the hollow of my throat. Should we take some of Dan with us? Mimi asked. So I scooped a thimble of his ashes into a rinsed-out anchovies jar and he rode shotgun in the pocket of the door as we headed west, when the storm started.”

Jump Into the Ball Pit: Emily Rapp Black on the Creative Power of Play | LitHub

The guiding image of my process was not an outline, but the ball pit found at indoor playgrounds, beloved by children and feared by adults who carry hand sanitizer just for such activities. When a kid sees a ball pit, they don’t think that is a viral infection waiting to happen, or when and how do the foam balls get washed, if ever? No. They see a pit of possibilities and in they gleefully go, connected to joy but disconnected from outcome. It’s just a ball pit. You can see it in their faces: Let’s see what happens. No fear of water that’s too hot or too cold or full of sharks, no worries if there’s someone already in there or if it’s empty, just a bright and cheery willingness to mess around.

🧥 In My Cart

Things I’m eyeing and buying this week.

1. Justine Basket Bag, Sezane 2. Claudia Scrunchie One Piece, J.Crew 3. Rough Draft Mini Notebook, Bando 4. Fisherman Jelly Sandals, J.Crew 5. Chunky Beaded Necklace, J.Crew 6. Short Sleeved Ribbed Polo, Old Navy 7. High-Waisted Satin Track Pants, Old Navy 8. Yellow Stoneware Mug, Target 9. Library Card Pinboard, Anthropologie

✨ Joy Scrolling

Whimsical links & recs for your reading pleasure.

• The 100 greatest bird names of all time. Prepare for some middle-school level giggling.

• Look at these incredible kinetic sculptures of birds made from paper! I’m in awe.

• This artist has been creating a massive map for decades using a super cool creative process where he pulls cards that determine what he’ll do next.

• Crime Reads rounded up five great lesser-known cozy mystery novels.

• A gorgeous home tour in San Francisco. That kitchen!

⏰ ICYMI

What I’ve posted recently.

Parenthetical is a publication for women who dog-ear pages, overthink their seasonal wardrobe, and want to make their ordinary days more magical. Paid subscribers get access to the full resource library, plus The Well-Designed Life curriculum.

Subscribe now

When I was a kid, back when the internet was in its infancy, before social media feeds or algorithms or short-form video content existed in the general public consciousness, I spent hours and hours by myself, whiling away the days during many a Midwestern summer break.

I made crafts, I painted, I ran around in the sprinkler outside, I rode my bike, I attended summer camps, I ate popsicles in the hammock until my mouth had a giant red ring around it. But mostly, I read. Voraciously, constantly.

Now, of course, I spent time inside. I watched cartoons and later, Disney Channel originals and MTV music videos. I talked to my friends on the phone. I stayed up way past my bedtime watching reruns of sit-coms I was too young to really understand.

But still. Most of my childhood was lived off of screens. I either made my own fun, or I sat there, bored.

There’s been a lot of chatter online this year about analog living, and while some of it certainly borders on performative, I think it stems from a communal exhaustion surrounding screens, algorithms, social media, and the inescapable constant background hum of information.

So I wanted to share a bucket list full of nostalgic summer fun, no screens required. Whether you’re looking for date night ideas, solo adventures, or stuff to do with your kids, I’ve got you covered.

Have a bonfire.

I love sitting around a bonfire as the night falls and the temperature slowly drops, breathing in the smoke and watching the sparks dance. And also eating a lot of s’mores. Like, a LOT.

Sit by a lake.

There’s a small lakefront beach in my tiny hometown with a little ice cream window that’s been there since the 60s probably, and as a kid I loved getting one of those Flavor Burst soft serve cones in the fluorescent green apple flavor and sitting on the swings overlooking the lake. Bliss.

Tube down a river.

I’m the least athletic person I know, but even I enjoy tubing down a (calm!!!!) river with a cooler tied between your tubes, just having a grand old time. It’s been about two decades since I did it, mind you, but the thought is always there.

Ride a bike.

Nothing makes me feel like a kid again faster than riding a bike. Ideally you would be riding the bike to go get an ice cream cone or go swimming at the lake but I’ll leave it up to you. (Side note: I still really want this retro pink bike).

Go to the library.

Spending hours on end in the public library was such a staple of my childhood summers. And aside from books, don’t forget that libraries always have tons of resources available, and lots of fun events for both kids and adults. It’s a great option on a rainy day (or if you’re like me and allergic to summer, a sunny day).

Pick some fresh berries.

Picking your own blueberries or strawberries is such a quintessential summertime activity. I lowkey kind of hated it as a kid (because there was HEAT and BUGS) but now it’s something that I think sounds lovely. There are few things in life better than a perfectly ripe strawberry at peak season.

See some fireworks.

I feel like people fall into two camps: either “eh, you see one firework you’ve seen ‘em all” and “fireworks are cool no matter what” and I am firmly in the latter camp. Something about watching a fireworks show always makes me feel like a little kid again. When I first moved to Chicago, you could see the fireworks from Navy Pier off of our roof deck every single night all summer long, and it was magical every time.

Have a picnic.

Get a blanket, a book, and some girl dinner and you’ve got yourself a grand old time. Last summer my coworkers and I all trekked to Millennium Park downtown for their Movies in the Park series to watch Pride and Prejudice, and we packed all sorts of charcuterie and snack-y goodies from Trader Joe’s and chowed down. It was so lovely.

Go for a long walk without your phone.

No podcasts, no playlists, no Strava, just you and nature (or as close as you can get to it wherever you live). Spend time observing the world around you instead of trying to drown it out. You never know what you might see. (Last week I saw a squirrel daintily sipping out of a puddle on the sidewalk and it made me a bit emotional. Though that may be the PMS talking).

Grow some herbs.

You don’t need a big garden plot to grow some fresh herbs – you can just put a little pot on your windowsill and have fresh basil, oregano, thyme, or dill all season long! Nothing beats picking a few leaves of basil to top off your dinner with.

Visit the farmer’s market.

Head to your local farmer’s market to grab some farm-fresh seasonal produce. Summer is especially perfect for peaches, cherries, tomatoes, strawberries, corn, zucchini, watermelon, and peas. Perfect for making a delicious summer salad, one of my greatest joys in life.

Watch a movie outside.

Get a cheap-o projector (or a nice one if you’re committed) and a white sheet and have a screening of something fun. Do not forget the popcorn, blankets, and pillows.

Go to the mall.

Nothing says 90s/00s summer break like hanging out at the mall. Do your best to find one that’s not all sad and dying, if you can. Have a pretzel, do some window shopping, see a movie, live it up!

See an outdoor concert.

I definitely prefer outdoor concerts to being crammed into a giant auditorium, if I had to choose. And while I would much rather have an assigned seat, there is something to be said about packing a picnic blanket or folding chairs and camping out to get a good spot on the lawn. Monumentour 2014 lives large in my memory.

Go to a county fair or street festival.

I love love love a county fair. Give me a demolition derby. Give me some saltwater taffy. Give me elephant ears and funnel cakes and corn dogs. I want to walk around with a walking taco and see the SIGHTS.

Go to a drive-in movie theater.

Allegedly there’s a drive-in theater somewhere near me and I desperately want to go. It sounds like such a fun, nostalgic thing to do, and also reminds me of Grease. Pack some blankets and pillows and some snacks and make it an event.

Eat outside.

Last summer we got a little bistro table and chairs for our back porch and eating outside always feels so nice and refreshing. Except for the bugs. I don’t love that part.

Make friendship bracelets.

Was anyone else the de facto bracelet maker in their group of friends? Once I learned that chevron stripe pattern, it was all I could do. But there are so many cute kits, whether you want the classic embroidery floss or the beaded Taylor Swift ones.

Tie-dye a shirt.

I feel like I was always tie-dying something as a kid and that practice really fell off into adulthood. Probably due largely in part to a less-frequent participation in group activities like summer camps, but STILL. You have free will, you can tie-dye anything at any moment. (But you might want to start with a kit if you’re out of practice).

Go to a skating rink.

I want to go roller skating SO BAD and apparently there’s going to be a retro roller rink opening on Navy Pier all summer, so you’ll find me there. I loved going to the one sad roller rink nearby my hometown as a kid. I think we only went a few times, but it was always so fun (and pro-tip: they’re less aesthetically pleasing, but inline skates are way easier than the classic four-wheeled ones).

Eat at an old-school diner.

This one might take some planning, but eating at one of those cool old school diners (ideally one of those ones in an airstream trailer) is so summer-coded to me. If you can’t find one, then just go to a Steak and Shake or something. Same vibes.

Do a wine tasting at a vineyard.

I’ve still never done a true wine tasting, and I really want to! Going to a beautiful vineyard and trying all sorts of tasty wines sounds like a lovely afternoon. Though I’ve heard from friends that you definitely want to make sure to pack some snacks or head to a restaurant quickly so you’re not completely trashed by accident.

Watch a sunset.

When was the last time you actually sat and watched a sunset? It’s beautiful! Just unplug and enjoy the show nature has for you.

Go mini-golfing.

Regular golf? I could not care less. Add some windmills and crazy trick holes, and I’m so there. I love mini-golf, I don’t know why. I think because it’s kind of impossible to be good at it, truly. It’s just a lot of fun to do as a group.

Go stargazing.

One thing I miss the most living in the city is being able to see the stars. When I was back home a few weeks ago, one night we could see a ton of constellations and three whole planets! I love standing outside on a warm summer night just gazing up at the stars.

Camp in your backyard.

I remember when I was really little, my dad and I would sometimes pitch a tent in the backyard and sleep outside during the summer. It usually involved a bonfire, s’mores, and catching fireflies in a jar to use as a nightlight, and I loved it.

Draw with sidewalk chalk.

The best thing you can do is to draw a hopscotch board (grid?) on the sidewalk and then watch people who pass by try to do the hopscotch as they go on their way. It’s very adorable to me.

Have a barbecue or cookout.

Have a classic “everyone bring a dish to pass” potluck cookout with hotdogs, hamburgers, brats, or something more elaborate if you’re feeling fancy. Bonus points for lawn games like bocce ball, cornhole, or horseshoes.

Make a summer playlist.

Need some inspo? Here are some of my favorites:

• Summer Hits of the 90s

• Summer Hits of the 00s

• Women of 90s Country

• After School Club

Make some homemade ice cream.

And no, I don’t mean with a Ninja Creami (though if you have one of those, I’m jealous and also can I come over?). You only need a few basic ingredients to make homemade ice cream in five minutes flat, and you can get as basic or complex as you want with toppings and mix-ins.

Read a book outside.

One of my favorite parts of summer as a kid was the local library’s summer reading challenge.

Want some summer reading recs? Enjoy these great roundups from some of my Substack pals:

• The 2026 All Things Summer Reading Guide by

• The BIG Summer Reading Guide by

• 2026 Summer Reading Guide by

So that’s that! I personally am looking forward to a (semi) unplugged summer full of friends and family, tasty food, and lots of good books. What are you most looking forward to this summer?

Leave a comment

Parenthetical is a publication for women who dog-ear pages, overthink their seasonal wardrobe, and want to make their ordinary days more magical. Paid subscribers get access to the full resource library, plus The Well-Designed Life curriculum.

Subscribe now

Dear Friend,

I’ve been writing this roundup for like three weeks now, so it’s a real hodge-podge of things. As some of you may know, a couple weeks ago, my sweet, warm, generous, kind-hearted father-in-law passed away following an 18-month battle with pancreatic cancer.

It was terribly heartbreaking for everyone, and I’ve just been in that grief bubble supporting my husband as best I can through the whole experience. This past week was the first one back in the “real world” after three weeks in our hometown so it’s all a bit disorienting and overwhelming, to say the least.

Thank you for your patience and grace as newsletters have been rather spotty over the past weeks. I’m hoping to get back to regular programming this week. In the meantime, tell someone you love them today. You never know how many more chances you’ll get to say it. ❤️

In Brief

📚 Reading

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune – I started reading this to be in the zeitgeist of a new show for once, though to be honest it seems like people are somewhat displeased with the adaptation and I’m not quite sure if this book is for me yet or not.

🍔 Eating

Trader Joe’s Dill-icious Salad Kit – this thing is INCREDIBLE. If you like dill, you’ll love this. It has this delicious creamy dill ranch dressing and Trader Joe’s dill pickle chips (a perennial favorite of mine) to use as a sort of crouton situation. I had two last week alone, and I may eat it every single day for lunch this week, I’m not sure yet.

🎶 Listening

This rom-com office job playlist on Spotify. That’s all.

📺 Watching

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958). Gosh, what a film. I rewatched it for the second time this weekend, and it’s just so good.

📚 Books & Creativity

Weekly Task

Browse a used bookstore and let yourself buy one book based purely on the cover or blurb. No googling reviews or bestseller lists or whatever, just whether or not it sounds interesting to you.

Roundup

• I just discovered the Quirky Cup Collective and I’m obsessed with all of their bookish products. I’ve got my eye on this forest green leatherbound journal and this gorgeous velvet Kindle pouch.

• I was beyond flattered when asked me to be a part of her summer reading list, and the post is, of course, amazing. She’s broken down book recs based on a summer hits playlist. Go find a good book to read!

• Who wants to go on a murder mystery weekend to the Six Bells Inn with me? It sounds so fun, and I’m dying to stay there anyway. Win-win.

• I’ve definitely talked here before about how much I love Ban.do and their newest collection is no different – how cute is this “I’d rather be home reading” notebook?!

• Camp Snap has a new screen-free digital camera in time for summer that comes in four incredibly Y2K-coded translucent colors. I need the Strawberry Splash one ASAP. Plus, they’re only $69 AND you can take 7% off with my code, LIZZIEC7. Win-win.

🧥 Personal Style

Weekly Task

Identify one wardrobe gap (missing a good blazer? need comfortable flats?) and prioritize filling it.

Roundup

• How cute are these layered sports bra tanks?! I may or may not have purchased them in three different colors. They feel so 90s/Y2K coded and will be great for pilates this summer.

• I’m getting a lot of joy from this butter yellow Essie nail polish lately.

• I sort of forgot about Loft, but was reminded how dang cute their stuff is this weekend. I’m eyeing this gingham peplum tank, this Kelly green linen wrap skort, and these medium wash kick flare jeans (side note: Loft has great petite options for my fellow short girls!).

• This weekend we happened to be downtown and stumbled upon a J.Crew Camp Crew popup on Michigan Ave. It was so cute (I’m such a sucker for anything camp-themed) and I had to snag this retro “Camp Staff” ringer tee.

• Allure has published a primer on how to pull off a headscarf, and not a moment too soon. Every time I try to wear one, I look like Rosie the Riveter. A vibe, for sure, but not the one I was going for!

🏡 Home & Interiors

Weekly Task

Make your bedroom a true sanctuary space (blackout curtains, quality bedding, minimal clutter).

Roundup

• How freakin’ cute is this tomato-print doormat from the new Ruggable x GrossyPelosi collection? Psst, it’s on sale for Memorial Day!

• Loving this sunshine-y, butter yellow mug from Target for a whopping $5.

• This pasta salad recipe sounds like the perfect refreshing bite for summer picnics or al fresco dining. (or for devouring while standing over your kitchen sink at 1am, I do not judge).

• I’m obsessed with this adorable retro a-frame. I want a little a-frame cabin so bad.

• The Apartment Therapy Best in Home award winners are live! I always love looking through these because I feel like their editors do a really great job with curation and I trust their reviews.

💌 Connection & Self-Care

Weekly Task

Send a "just because" text to someone you've been thinking about.

Roundup

• In case you didn’t know, Father’s Day is next weekend. If you still need a gift, may I suggest this deeply chic burl wood frame from Framebridge?

• Food & Wine rounded up 19 recipes for summer pasta dishes, ripe with corn, fresh garden tomatoes, herbs, and more. I’m eyeing that Green Goddess Pasta Salad, personally.

• Spending just fifteen minutes outside, even in a city, can have a profound positive effect on your mental wellbeing, according to Time Magazine.

✨ Joy & Whimsy

Weekly Task

Plan a themed dinner party or movie night with friends.

Roundup

• Just look at this insanely gorgeous and FUN camper renovation. I’m putting this in the joy category because it feels like pure joy, tbh. It looks a little like the inside of Jeannie’s bottle in I Dream of Jeannie, something I always coveted as a child.

• I loved reading the comments section on ’s recent post, “What’s On Your Resume of Special Skills?” For the record, I think mine would be an uncanny ability to quickly and thoroughly memorize rap songs. Largely useless, but fun at parties. My friend Becca calls these “Mundane Super Powers” and I remember discussing them often. Hers was always avoiding speeding tickets, even when she really should have gotten one.

• A recent Gallup poll showed that a majority of Americans report seeing small acts of kindness in their everyday lives quite frequently, and it made me a bit emotional. Maybe everything isn’t always terrible.

• I’m deeply intrigued and amused by this documentary about several businesses housed in what used to be Pizza Huts. You know how you can always tell when a building was a Pizza Hut, because of the weird shape? Yeah, that’s about it. Except the documentary is also about nostalgia, decay, and transformation.

• This:

⏰ ICYMI

Parenthetical is a publication for women who dog-ear pages, overthink their seasonal wardrobe, and want to make their ordinary days more magical. Paid subscribers get access to the full resource library, plus The Well-Designed Life curriculum.

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This is part six of the Well-Designed Life series, a framework for creating & inhabiting your dream life. Think of this as a field guide for self-discovery, style excavation, and living with intentionality, creativity, and joy.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the concept of a “power outfit.” Not in the corporate girlboss sense — I mean the phenomenon of putting something on and immediately feeling like the most coherent version of yourself. The outfit that makes you walk differently. The one you reach for before big days without consciously deciding to.

The interesting thing about power outfits is that they’re usually not complicated, and they’re never particularly trendy. They tend to be the same things you’ve been reaching for for years, in the same silhouettes, in the same palette you keep returning to. They work because they’re not performing anything — they’re just you.

The whole project of building a wardrobe that actually works is, really, just the project of having more days that feel like your power outfit day. Fewer mornings standing in front of a closet full of clothes with nothing to wear. Fewer pieces that looked appealing in the store and live in quiet exile in the back. More getting dressed in ten minutes and feeling good about it for the rest of the day.

This month, we’re building that wardrobe — season by season, category by category — not as a minimalist exercise in wearing eight items forever, but as a genuine guide to the pieces worth having, whatever your specific aesthetic happens to be. Think of it less like a capsule and more like a well-stocked pantry. The staples are the staples. What you cook with them is entirely your own.

Read more

I’d like to propose, however, that there is no real seasonality to books, and that horror and mystery can make fantastic summer reading fodder. Now, sure, some spooky books just lend themselves best to curling up with a cup of cocoa and a cozy blanket by a fireplace in October (dark academia, for one, feels very autumnal to me).

But there are so many books filled with the type of sweltering, sticky, oppressive heat that makes people go just a little bit crazy. Southern Gothics, wilderness and folk horror, anything set in Appalachia—these things aren’t solely in the realm of October.

So without further ado, I’d like to share a roundup of beach reads with teeth—eerie, creepy horror and mystery novels where the summer heat may as well be its own character.

Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez

It’s been years since Ingrid has heard from her childhood best friend, Mayra. But when Mayra calls out of the blue to invite Ingrid to a weekend getaway in the Everglades, she impulsively accepts. They spend the weekend exploring the labyrinthine house, which holds as much mystery and danger as the swamp itself. Indoors and on the grounds, time itself seems to expand, and Ingrid begins to lose a sense of the outside world, and herself.

Turn Off the Light by Jacquie Walters

Edith is a healer, a woman of knowledge—and a woman watched. Terrified she has opened her home to the Devil, Edith makes a desperate choice. Four hundred years in the future, Claire returns home to care for her dying father and finds her childhood house… listening. As one sleepless night bleeds into the next, she becomes convinced something is stirring beneath the floorboards. As the danger mounts, Edith and Claire will discover they’ll need each other to survive. But they are separated by four hundred years. And time is running out for them both.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the unsolved murder of a preteen girl and the disappearance of another. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic mother or to the teenage half-sister she barely knows. Now, back in her old bedroom in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.

Little One by

​It’s been a decade since Catharine abandoned the sinister commune in Florida where she was raised, and she’s done her best to reinvent her life—until an email from a journalist interrupts her peace. Her first instinct is to ignore the stranger’s prying questions. But when she realizes the journalist knows far more than he’s letting on, she reconsiders. If Catharine can stay one step ahead of him, she may be able to find the one thing she never wanted to leave behind—her sister, Linna—and make sure her own secrets remain buried too.

The Witch’s Orchard by Archer Sullivan

PI Annie Gore’s latest case takes her to an Appalachian holler not unlike the one where she grew up. Ten years ago, three girls went missing from their tiny mountain town—and only one returned. Annie begins to track the truth, navigating a decade’s worth of secrets and folklore. But while the case may have been buried, echoes of the past linger. And Annie’s arrival stirs something into action.

The Antidote by Karen Russell

The small town of Uz, Nebraska is collapsing—not just under the weight of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl drought, but beneath its own violent histories. The Antidote follows a “Prairie Witch,” whose body serves as a bank vault for peoples’ secrets; a wheat farmer who learns how quickly a hoarded blessing can become a curse; his orphan niece, a basketball star and witch’s apprentice; a voluble scarecrow; and a New Deal photographer whose time-traveling camera threatens to reveal both the town’s secrets and its fate.

Marrow by Samantha Browning Shea

Years ago, Oona was kicked out of her mother’s coven, and gave up on her dreams of magic. Now, she’s carved out an ordinary life, but is filled with a deep longing. If she could only become a mother, then she will come into her magic. But after years of failed pregnancies, Oona is desperate. Out of options, she decided to return to the remote island where she was raised, to seek help from her mother, a dark, enigmatic witch who gives childless women the chance to become mothers. A gift, Oona soon learns, that hides a sinister darkness.

Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine

Sixteen years old and enslaved since she was born, Junie has lived her whole life on Bellereine Plantation in Alabama. Her days are spent in service to the master’s daughter, while she spends her nights roaming the forest, consumed with grief over her sister’s sudden death. In the face of upheaval, Junie commits a desperate act that raises her sister’s spirit and sets Junie on a collision course with the plantation’s darkest secrets.

Brutes by Dizz Tate

In a scorched suburban Florida town, three thirteen-year-old girls orbit around the local preacher’s daughter, Sammy. But when Sammy suddenly goes missing, the girls discover a dark secret about their fame-hungry town and the cruel cost of a ticket out.

The Waters by Bonnie Jo Campbell

Dorothy “Donkey” Zook, the eleven-year-old granddaughter of an enigmatic local healer, spends her days searching for truths in the lush landscape of Michigan’s Great Massasauga Swamp. Little does she know, family secrets, passion, and violence are waiting in the wings to upend her idyllic childhood.

The Haunting of Paynes Hollow by Kelley Armstrong

As a child, Sam’s testimony helped convict her father of murder, leading him to take his own life. Her grandfather staunchly maintained her father’s innocence until the day he died. Sam is surprised to find that her grandfather left her the very cottage where these events transpired, with a caveat—Sam must stay at the cottage for a month to finally face the fact that her father was innocent, in her grandfather’s words. Plagued by nightmares of eerie figures crawling from the lake, Sam is forced to question everything she thought she knew.

The House Built on Alligator Bones by Sophia Huneycutt

After her mother’s death, Dartrine Beaumonth learns of long-lost wealthy relatives living in Florida. Confused but excited, Dart travels to her grandmother’s stately mansion for answers, just in time to stake a claim on an unusual inheritance: an alligator farming empire. Instead of a welcoming family, Dart is met with fierce competition, unsettling warnings of a family curse, and shadowy figures creeping through the mansion’s halls. As Dart uncovers the truth about her violent birthright, she faces a terrible choice—accept her place in her family’s grim legacy or forge a new path by slaying a different beast entirely.

We Hexed the Moon by Mollyhall Seeley

It’s the summer after high school graduation, and four best friends are about to be forced apart by their futures. Rather than process the world of expectations bearing down on them, they perform a ritual on the moon. They don’t expect it to actually work, but suddenly the moon is gone from the sky and at their sleepover, and she’s not interested in going back. As the August night unfolds, the girls scramble to find a human sacrifice to replace the moon before their world is plunged into chaos.

Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey

Celia is so tired of being alone. All she wants is to have a family―to belong to someone. That’s why she’s going to Kindred Cove for the annual Salt Festival held by the secluded community that lives there. They promise that healing is possible. They promise that transformation is inevitable. There is no grief at Kindred Cove, because there is no suffering. Celia’s ready to be healed. She’s ready to be transformed. She’s ready to believe.

Morsel by Carter Keane

Determined to lift her ill mother out of poverty, Lou, a first-generation college grad, accepts an assignment in rural Ohio. She quickly finds herself stranded in the middle of nowhere with something stalking her through the Appalachian woods. Sooner or later, Lou will have to face the fact that her job isn’t the only thing that wants to eat her alive.

In the Woods They Wait by Carrie Lee South

A park ranger in Devil’s Den becomes obsessed with the case of a missing child—a case that mirrors the disappearance of her own brother, whom she lost in the woods many years ago—and the possibility that both were taken by something vicious and unnatural that lives deep in the Ozarks.

Solace House by Will Maclean

In the summer of 1993, a broke college student joins a team clearing out a Victorian mansion bequeathed to the university by a reclusive hoarder. As the students delve deeper into the house’s secrets, one of them becomes obsessed with deciphering the owner’s strange journals and his promise of another world... and they may be willing to sacrifice everything, and everyone, to get there.

Diavola by Jennifer Marie Thorne

Anna always dreads her family’s annual vacations. Between her overbearing older sister, her chronically go-with-the-flow twin brother, and her passive-aggressive parents, there isn’t much to look forward to—but at least the villa in a remote Italian town seems just about perfect. Until the strange noises and unsettling warnings from the locals start, and Anna unravels the dark, violent past of the villa itself.

Herculine by Grace Byron

Herculine’s narrator has demons—literal and figurative. Nothing, though, prepares her for the new malevolent force stalking her through the streets of New York City. Desperate to escape this ancient evil, she flees to an the loving oasis of an all-trans girl commune in rural Indiana. Still, something isn’t quite right at here. Soon what once looked like an escape becomes a trap all its own.

The Summer of the Serpent by Cecilia Eudave

At a traveling fair, a young girl visiting with her family will ask a “serpent woman” to tell her future. The serpent woman’s answer is cryptic, but back in their neighborhood, the lives of the girl and her sister will be haunted by a ghost and a boa as their world shimmers between the real and unreal.

The Compound by Aisling Rawle

Lily wakes up on a remote compound alongside nineteen other contestants on a reality TV show. To win, she must outlast her housemates while competing in challenges for luxury rewards and necessities, like food, appliances, and a front door. As the competition intensifies, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation. If Lily makes it to the end, she’ll receive prizes beyond her wildest dreams—but what will she have to do to win?

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author who disappeared. But now everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny Starling House―and its lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot. Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur must make a choice to dig up buried secrets and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found. As a panicked search begins, the secrets of the Van Laar family, and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, are unearthed

Godshot by Chelsea Bieker

Drought has settled on the town of Peaches, California. The area where fourteen-year-old Lacey and her alcoholic mother live, once a paradise, is now a barren wasteland. In their desperation, its residents have turned to a cult leader named Pastor Vern for guidance. Lacey has no reason to doubt the pastor. But her faith is shaken when her mother abandons her for a man she hardly knows, leaving her in the care of her apathetic grandpa, Cherry. As Lacey endures the increasingly appalling acts of men, she begins to uncover the full extent of Pastor Vern’s shocking plan to bring fertility back to the land.

Observer by Nicholas Russell

On a scorched summer day, Renata Scarborough comes home to find the contents of her estranged mother Corinne’s life on her doorstep. Her aunt and cousin seem eager to conclude that the troublesome Corinne is dead. Renata isn’t convinced and begins poring over her mother’s journals for answers. Among descriptions of Corinne’s work at the McNairy Observatory, Renata unearths descriptions of her mother’s encounters with a mysterious entity. Compelled beyond reason, Renata journeys to the now-abandoned outpost in the Nevada wilderness to search for the truth.

Hello and happy summer! I know, I know, yadda yadda summer solstice, whatever – June 1st is the beginning of summer in my book.

I feel like so much journaling advice or prompts I see are so serious. And I think that journaling should be something you can have fun with too, as much as it is a tool for reflection and self-discovery. So for this summer, here are 30 prompts to get you thinking creativity and curiously about your life.

Use these as self-reflection, creative writing prompts, junk journal starter pages, or whatever else strikes your fancy!

1. Next time you’re in public, do some well-meaning eavesdropping and write a short story about whatever conversation catches your fancy.

2. If you were a light source, what would you be and why? A table lamp, a candle, a fancy chandelier?

3. Write a love letter to your favorite place on Earth. Could be the house you grew up in, a place you visited once on vacation, or somewhere you have yet to see.

Read more

Though for the first time in quite a while, I went through a spate of books that, while not wholly unenjoyable, didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

I did, however, discover two new five-star reads (in wildly different categories) and altogether it was a pretty good spring, book-wise. Let’s get into it!

Beg, Borrow, or Steal by Sarah Adams

★★★★☆ | Really liked it

Synopsis

Emily Walker and Jack Bennett have a lot in common—both are second-grade teachers in Rome, KY, both have secret side hustles writing books, and both absolutely can’t stand the other. Emily was thrilled when Jack left mid-school year, but now he’s back, and what’s worse—he’s now her next door neighbor.

With their animosity at an all-time high, Emily accidentally sends an email to their school’s principal with her very steamy romance-novel-in-progress attached. She needs to steal back her manuscript, and Jack—much as she hates to admit—is just the man to help her.

Review

This book was on my list for ages! Overall, I really liked it. It was sweet, had some depth, and the main characters were fun. It got a bit trope-y, but that also might be me burning myself out on one too many rom-coms. Also I think I was a liiiiiittle biased because the book Emily is writing is like, the exact opposite of any book I’d ever want to read (no judgement, I just know my own interests). I am, however, a huge sucker for enemies to lovers, it’s just so delicious. And Jack seemed like a certified cutie-patootie. Guys he was willing to get rid of his motorcycle because it freaked Emily out. 😭

You might also like…

• When in Rome, Sarah Adams

• An Academic Affair, Jodi McAllister

• Hot Desk, Laura Dickerman

Ready or Not by Cara Bastone

★★★★★ | Loved it

Synopsis

Eve Hatch winds up pregnant following a very out-of-character one night stand. Her best friend Willa starts being distant right when Eve needs her most, and the baby’s father is complicated to say the least. Oddly enough, it’s Shep, Eve’s childhood friend and Willa’s brother, that ends up lending a hand more often than not. And suddently starts looking very attractive…

Review

I finished this book and immediately purchased Cara Bastone’s other two novels. It was SO CUTE. I loved the writing style, loved the main character’s POV, and loved that the love interest was a huge sweetie but also REALISTIC!!!! Sometimes these “book boyfriends” are a little too perfect for me and it makes me cringe. I just really liked the dynamic with the baby daddy who, while not exactly a stand-up guy throughout it, clearly had his own stuff going on and managed to work it out without being a total jerk. Also this book was laugh-out-loud funny more than a few times too. I just loved it.

You might also like…

• It’s Different This Time, Joss Richard

• Slow Dance, Rainbow Rowell

• Friends With Benefits, Marisa Kanter

Spoiled Milk by Avery Curran

★★★★☆ | Really liked it

Synopsis

Everything goes off the rails following the sudden death of a popular student at an all girls school in 1930s England. Demonic forces are at work as time ripples and contracts, and the bodies pile up.

Review

I really enjoyed this gothic horror, which is arguably my favorite genre at this point. Add in sapphic entanglements, demonic energy, an unspoken eldritch horror, and the spiritualism craze and it might as well have been written specifically for me.

This book is told from the hindsight POV of a much older main character, so it’s rife with sentiments like “if only we’d known” and “I didn’t know then how wrong we were” which to be honest got a bit old after a while. I also sort of wished the overall evil had been explained a bit better but I suppose that’s sort of the point—maybe there isn’t a reason for evil to occur.

You might also like…

• Grey Dog, Elliot Gish

• The Hounding, Xenobe Purvis

• Odessa, Gabrielle Sher

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the eARC!

Demons and Diplomacy by Megan Frampton

★★☆☆☆ | Cute but not for me

Synopsis

In Victorian London, Cora Hastings, a regular human girl, has been appointed as a species ombudsman following the Great Revelation—namely, that other species are real (vampires, werewolves, demons and more), and humans are at the bottom of the pecking order.

Now it’s the Great Exhibition and the Devil wants to visit London. Cora is tasked with keeping him happy and preventing any incidents between the denizens of hell and the human residents of London. And that means dealing primarily with Marcellus, the devilishly handsome Devil’s son. (See what I did there?)

Review

This book was cute enough overall and I liked the interesting world building with the various species. Cora as a character felt a bit bland to me—another classic “brunette girl with pale skin who doesn’t know how beautiful and smart she is until a handsome man tells her.” Parts of it reminded me of Twilight (in a bad way), with Cora constantly remarking about how dangerous Marcellus could be and how easily he could kill her. We get it girl! You’re kinda into that! Overall it didn’t really work for me. The premise had a lot of potential but I just didn’t like it as much as I wanted to.

You might also like…

• Books & Bewitchment, Isla Jewell

• Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter, Heather Fawcett

• How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days, Jessie Sylva

This book releases on August 25, 2026. Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the eARC!

You Should Have Been Nicer to My Mom by Vincent Tirado

★★★☆☆ | Liked it, wanted to like it more

Synopsis

In the midst of a raging storm, Xiomara is forced to convene with her dysfunctional, estranged family members for the reading of her grandfather’s will. Instead of inheritance, however, it states that one of the people in the house is the demon that he made a deal with in his youth. The family must find the demon and kill it within 12 hours lest they all be damned.

Review

I wanted to like this more than I did—overall it was very suspenseful and I liked how it played with memory and time. The last quarter of the book felt a bit rushed to me, however. The big reveals left me feeling a bit underwhelmed in a way I wasn’t expecting. Overall a fun modern gothic, but I was hoping for a more satisfying ending? I’m not really sure what I was looking for, but it left me wanting a bit more.

You might also like…

• Starling House, Alix E. Harrow

• Fiend, Alma Katsu

• The Manor of Dreams, Christina Li

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the eARC!

Turn Off the Light by Jacquie Walters

★★★★★ | Loved it

Synopsis

Edith is a healer, a woman of knowledge—and a woman watched. Shadows move where they shouldn’t. Whispers creep through the dark. Terrified she has opened her home to the Devil, Edith makes a desperate choice.

Claire doesn’t believe in ghosts—until she returns home to care for her dying father and finds her childhood house... listening. As one sleepless night bleeds into the next, she becomes convinced something is stirring beneath the floorboards. Something that has waited a long time to rise.

As the danger mounts, Edith and Claire will discover they’ll need each other to survive. But they are separated by four hundred years. And time is running out for them both.

Review

Without giving too much away at all, this is exactly what I wanted from a gothic haunted house story. It had messy, interwoven timelines, family trauma, shocking revelations, strong female characters (unironically), and a house that might as well have been its own character.

I loved it. I gasped out loud a couple times. It was heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful and downright terrifying a few times. If you like ghost stories, I guarantee you’ll like this one.

You might also like…

• Accumulation, Aimee Pokwatka

• Play Nice, Rachel Harrison

• Weyward, Emilia Hart

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown, and Co. for the eARC!

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

★★★☆☆ | Liked it

Synopsis

In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorn family. There, they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honor an ancient contract to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family’s latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees. But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters’ bond but also their lives will be at risk…

Review

I grabbed this in the Seattle airport because I was tired of holding my iPad and wanted a short book to read on the plane, and boy this was indeed short. 100-something pages, half of them illustrated which I wasn’t expecting. But it was very pretty and a really interesting concept.

It was very dreamy and prose-y. Maybe I’m biased against short stories or novellas, but I would almost have loved to have an entire fleshed out story in this universe. I realize that was not the author’s intent, and perhaps it’s a mark of it’s success that I’m craving more, but the characters and folklore was so fascinating that I just want to know everything I can about them.

You might also like…

• The Summer War, Naomi Novik

• Cinder House, Freya Marske

• The Everlasting, Alix E. Harrow

In the Woods They Wait by Carrie Lee South

★★★★☆ | Really liked it

Synopsis

When Audrey was a teenager, her 13-year-old brother Benny went missing in the Ozark National Forest—and it's all her fault. Held in place by guilt, Audrey became a search and rescue officer in the very forest that ruined her life.

Now, fifteen years later, another little girl has vanished without a trace, bringing back all the unburied feelings from Benny's disappearance—along with some very strange and unexplainable events in the forest. Audrey has to brave the unknown entities that lurk in the woods if she's going to find six-year-old Ivy. And she just might uncover the truth of what happened to Benny all those years ago...

Review

This book was definitely based on an r/nosleep series that I loved like a decade ago about search and rescue officers in national parks. But just when I thought I knew exactly what was going to happen, the story diverged in an unexpected twist that worked quite well for me. I felt bad for most of the side characters, but the trauma of Audrey's past and how it's kept her stuck into the present day was fleshed out well, and I really enjoyed the book. It had plenty of creepy, and honestly a bit nauseating scenes so maybe proceed with caution if you're squeamish.

You might also like…

• Wolf Worm, T. Kingfisher

• Morsel, Carter Keane

• What Feeds Below, Tatiana Schlote-Bonne

This book releases on Sep 22, 2026. Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown, and Co. for the eARC!

Hello! Due to some family things, I can't write out a whole post this week. So I thought I'd reshare an old favorite since there are so many new faces around here. Enjoy!

Hi friends! I’ve spoken at length here about how I had avoided reading Emily Henry for years because I had preconceived notions about what they’d be like. After seeing Book Lovers recommended over and over by people with similar taste to me, I finally took a chance on it this summer, and ended up reading her entire body of work in one month.

I have been officially converted to the church of EmHen. That being said, I immediately was craving books with similar vibes and (hopefully) similarly comprehensive characters and backstories. So I decided to make a roundup of books to read based on your favorite Emily Henry book(s)!

P.S. did you see the trailer for the Netflix adaptation of People We Meet on Vacation? I’m so excited! I ♥︎ Poppy and Alex.

If you liked Beach Read…

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

Bookshop | Goodreads

Eva Mercy is a single mom and bestselling erotica writer. Shane Hall is a reclusive, award-winning novelist. When the two meet at a literary event, sparks fly. What no one knows is that when they were teenagers, Eva and Shane spent one crazy week madly in love. They can pretend they’ve never met, but they can’t deny their chemistry – or the fact that they’ve been secretly writing to each other in their books through the years.

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

Bookshop | Goodreads

Florence Day is a romance novelist whose recent breakup has left her no longer interested in writing love stories. Not that it matters, since her frustratingly handsome new editor refuses to give her an extension on her deadline, and Florence is ready to kiss her career goodbye.

When Florence’s father dies, Florence must return to the hometown she’s spent her adult life running from. Though she misses her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay in this town where nothing has changed for decades.

Until she finds the ghost of her editor standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, confused, infuriatingly handsome, and very dead. Now his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.

Beg, Borrow, or Steal by Sarah Adams

Bookshop | Goodreads

Emily Walker and Jack Bennett have a lot in common – both are second-grade teachers in Rome, KY, both have secret side hustles as bestselling authors, and both absolutely can’t stand the other. Emily was thrilled when Jack got engaged and left mid-school year, but now he’s back after summer break having called off his wedding and ended his relationship. And what’s worse – he’s now her next door neighbor.

Jack is glad to be back, and eager to get to work on his next novel. But when he realizes he’s now neighbors with his arch nemesis, he discovers he’s even more excited about thwarting Emily’s petty plans to sabotage his return.

With their animosity at an all-time high, Emily accidentally sends an email to their school’s principal that could reveal her secret literary side hustle. She needs to steal back her manuscript, and Jack – she hates to admit – is just the man to help her. Surprisingly, he agrees. Will their unlikely alliance put an end to their rivalry? Or could it lead to a steamy plot twist?

Passion Project by London Sperry

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If your twenties are supposed to be the best years of your life, Bennet Taylor is failing miserably. She’s a temp worker in New York with no direction, no future, and no social life. And at the painful center of this listlessness is grief over the death of her first love.

When Bennet runs into Henry Adams just hours after standing him up for a first date, she makes a confession: She’s not ready to date. In fact, it’s been years since she felt passion for anything. Instead of being put off, Henry jumps at the opportunity for adventure. He suggests that every Saturday, he and Bennet will try something new – as friends! – to find her passion in life.

As their “passion project” continues, the pair tackle everything from carpentry to tattooing to rappelling off skyscrapers, and Bennet feels her guarded exterior ebbing away. But as secrets surface, Bennet has to decide what she wants, and if she’s truly ready to move on.

If you liked Book Lovers…

A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston

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Eileen Merriweather loves a good happily-ever-after. The fictional kind, anyway. Because at least imaginary men don’t leave you at the altar. She feels safe in a book. Which might be why she’s so set on going her annual book club retreat this year. But when her car unexpectedly breaks down on the way, she finds herself stranded in a quaint town that feels like it’s right out of a novel… Because it is.

Impossible though it may be, Elsy finds herself in Eloraton, the fictional town from her favorite romance series. It’s perfect – except that it’s frozen, trapped in the late author’s last unfinished story. Elsy is sure that’s why she must be here: to help bring the town its storybook ending.

Except there is a character in Eloraton that she can’t place – a grumpy bookstore owner with mint-green eyes and impeccable taste in novels. And he does not want her finishing this book. Which is a problem because Elsy is beginning to think the town’s happily-ever-after might just be intertwined with her own.

Hot Desk by Laura Dickerman

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In the post-pandemic publishing industry, two rival editors are forced to share a “hot desk” on different days of the week. Having never set eyes on each other, Rebecca Blume and Ben Heath begin leaving passive-aggressive Post-it notes on the pot of their shared cactus. But when revered literary legend Edward David Adams (known as “the Lion”) dies, leaving his estate up for grabs, their banter escalates as both work feverishly to land this career-making opportunity. Their fierce rivalry ultimately forces each to decide how far they’ll go to get ahead, what role they want to play in the Lion’s legacy, and what they mean to each other.

As their battle for the estate gets more heated, Rebecca learns of a connection between her mother, Jane, and the Lion. The story travels back four decades earlier to when Jane arrives in Manhattan and meets Rose, soon her best friend. Jane and Rose are two strong, talented young women trying to make their mark in the publishing world at a time when art, the written word, and creative expression were at their height. But one fateful day during the April blizzard of 1982 will change the course of Jane’s life, and of their friendship, forever...

Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone

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Lenny’s been completely lost since her best friend died of cancer. She’s avoiding her concerned parents, the apartment she’d shared with her friend, and the list of things she promised to do to survive her grief. The only gigs she can handle right now are temporary babysitting jobs, and she just landed a great one, helping overworked, single mom Reese and her precocious daughter, Ainsley. The only catch: Ainsley’s surly-but-handsome uncle, Miles, always seems to be around. Worse – he seems to be able to see right through her.

Surprisingly, Miles knows a lot about grief and he offers Lenny a proposition. He’ll help her complete everything on her “live again” list if she’ll help him connect with Ainsley and overcome his complicated relationship with Reese. Lenny doubts anything can fill the void her best friend has left behind, but between late night ferry rides, midnight ramen, and a well-placed shoulder whenever she needs it, Miles just won’t stop showing up for her. Turns out, sometimes your life has to end to find your new beginning.

You, Again by Kate Goldbeck

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When Ari and Josh first meet, the wrong kind of sparks fly. They hate each other. Instantly.

A free-spirited, struggling comedian who likes to keep things casual, Ari sublets, takes gigs, and never sleeps over after hooking up. Born-and-bred Manhattanite Josh has ambitious plans: Take the culinary world by storm, find The One, and make her breakfast in his spotless kitchen. They have absolutely nothing in common . . . except that they happen to be sleeping with the same woman.

Ari and Josh never expect their paths to cross again. But years later, as they’re both reeling from ego-bruising breakups, a chance encounter leads to a surprising connection: friendship. Turns out, spending time with your former nemesis is fun when you’re too sad to hate each other—and too sad for hate sex.

As friends-without-benefits, they find comfort in late-night Netflix binges, swiping through each other’s online dating profiles, and bickering across boroughs. It’s better than romance. Until one night, the unspoken boundaries of their platonic relationship begin to blur…

Basically, an updated, gender-swapped retelling of When Harry Met Sally.

If you liked Funny Story…

The Last Chance Library by Freya Sampson

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Lonely librarian June Jones has never left the sleepy English village where she grew up. Shy and reclusive, she’d rather spend her time buried in books than venture out into the world. But when her library is threatened with closure, June is forced to emerge from behind the shelves to save the heart of her community and the place that holds the dearest memories of her mother.

Joining a band of eccentric yet dedicated locals in a campaign to keep the library, June opens herself up to other people for the first time since her mother died. It just so happens that her old school friend Alex Chen is back in town and willing to lend a helping hand. Alex’s feelings for her are obvious to everyone but June, who won’t believe that anyone could ever care for her in that way…

Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez

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After a wild bet, Alexis Montgomery has had her world turned upside down. The cause: Daniel Grant, a ridiculously hot carpenter who’s as casual as they come – and her complete opposite. Yet their chemistry is undeniable.

While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. She’s fine with being a “mere” ER doctor. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important.

Bringing Daniel into her world is impossible, and yet she can’t just give up the joy she’s found with him either. With so many differences between them, how can Alexis possibly choose between her world and his?

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

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Olive Torres is used to being the unlucky twin: from inexplicable mishaps to a recent layoff, her life seems to be almost comically jinxed. By contrast, her sister Ami is an eternal champion... she even managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a slew of contests. Unfortunately for Olive, the only thing worse than constant bad luck is having to spend the wedding day with the best man (and her nemesis), Ethan Thomas.

Olive braces herself for wedding hell, determined to put on a brave face, but when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. Suddenly there’s a free honeymoon up for grabs, and Olive will be damned if Ethan gets to enjoy paradise solo.

Agreeing to a temporary truce, the pair head for Maui. After all, ten days of bliss is worth having to assume the role of loving newlyweds, right? But the weird thing is... Olive doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, the more she pretends to be the luckiest woman alive, the more it feels like she might be.

Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon

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Ari Abrams has always been fascinated by the weather, and she loves almost everything about her job as a TV meteorologist. Her boss, legendary Seattle weatherwoman Torrance Hale, is too distracted by her tempestuous relationship with her ex-husband to give Ari the mentorship she wants. Ari, who runs on sunshine and optimism, is at her wits’ end. The only person who seems to understand how she feels is sweet but reserved sports reporter Russell Barringer.

In the aftermath of a disastrous holiday party, Ari and Russell decide to team up to solve their bosses’ relationship issues. Between secret gifts and double dates, they start nudging their bosses back together. But their well-meaning meddling backfires when the real chemistry builds between Ari and Russell.

If you liked Happy Place…

You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle

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Naomi Westfield has the perfect fiancé: Nicholas Rose holds doors open for her, remembers her restaurant orders, and comes from the kind of upstanding society family any bride would love to be a part of. They never fight. They’re preparing for their lavish wedding that’s three months away. And she is miserably and utterly sick of him.

Naomi wants out, but there’s a catch: whoever ends the engagement will have to foot the nonrefundable wedding bill. When Naomi discovers that Nicholas, too, has been feigning contentment, the two of them go head-to-head in a battle of pranks, sabotage, and all-out emotional warfare.

But with the countdown looming to the wedding that may or may not come to pass, Naomi finds her resolve slipping. Because now that they have nothing to lose, they’re finally being themselves – and having fun with the last person they expect: each other.

Our Last Vineyard Summer by Brooke Lea Foster

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After suffering through her first year of graduate school at Columbia following her senator father’s death, Betsy Whiting is hoping to spend the summer with her boyfriend… and hopefully end the summer as his fiancée. Instead, her mother – a longtime feminist and leader in the women’s movement – calls Betsy and her sisters back home to Martha’s Vineyard, announcing that they need to sell their beloved summer house to pay off their father’s debts.

When Betsy arrives on the island a week later, she must reckon with her strained familial relationships, a long-ago forbidden romance, and the complicated legacy of her parents, who divided the family even as they did good for the world.

The Vacationers by Emma Straub

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For the Posts, a two-week trip to the Balearic island of Mallorca with their extended family and friends is a celebration: Franny and Jim are observing their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, and their daughter, Sylvia, has graduated from high school. The sunlit island also promise an escape from the tensions simmering at home in Manhattan. But all does not go according to plan: over the course of the vacation, secrets come to light, old and new humiliations are experienced, childhood rivalries resurface, and ancient wounds are exacerbated.

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

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Gail Baines is having a bad day. To start, she loses her job – or quits, depending on whom you ask. Tomorrow her daughter, Debbie, is getting married, and she hasn’t even been invited to the spa day organized by the mother of the groom. Then, Gail’s ex-husband, Max, arrives unannounced on her doorstep, carrying a cat, without a place to stay, and without even a suit.

But the true crisis lands when Debbie shares with her parents a secret she has just learned about her husband to be. It will not only throw the wedding into question but also stir up Gail and Max’s past.

If you liked People We Meet on Vacation…

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell

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Shiloh Butler was supposed to get out of north Omaha. She used to sit out on the front porch with her best friend, Cary, and plot their escape. Shiloh was going to be an actress – she had a scholarship to a good school – and Cary was laser-focused on the Navy. Sharp, stoic, golden-eyed Cary . . . thin as a stick of gum and poor as dirt. He was probably the most decent person Shiloh has ever known. She hasn’t spoken to him in fourteen years.

When Shiloh gets an invitation to a high school friend’s wedding, Cary is the first and only thing on her mind. She desperately wants to see him again, but she doesn’t know if she can bear being seen by him. What would Cary think of Shiloh at thirty-three? A divorced mom living in the same house she grew up in. Someone who works behind a desk, not onstage.

Would Cary even want to see Shiloh after all this time? After everything? The answer, it turns out, is a resounding yes.

Friends with Benefits by Marisa Kanter

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When Evie Bloom is selected for a fellowship opportunity that would make all her career dreams come true, she’s quick to spot the catch: there are no health benefits, and for someone with a chronic illness, that’s a non-starter. Theo Cohen is an elementary school teacher who is facing eviction after his roommates couple up and move out. But there is one loophole in his lease: each tenant must meet an income threshold, unless the tenants are married.

For Theo, the answer is obvious. Marry Evie, his best friend. It’s not as if they don’t spend all their free time together anyways. Not only will Theo be able to keep his apartment, but Evie can be added to his insurance plan so she can accept her dream fellowship. It’s such a logical, practical solution. Never mind that Evie doesn’t really want to be married to anyone, ever. Or the small fact that Theo has always been a little bit in love with Evie.

But it doesn’t have to be a big deal. Marriage. It will just give them space to breathe, and much-needed relief from the daily financial stress. It won’t change anything. Right?

Ready or Not by Cara Bastone

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Eve Hatch loves her cozy apartment in Brooklyn that’s close to her childhood best friend Willa, and far from her midwestern, traditional family who has never really understood her. While her job is only dream-adjacent, it’s comfortable and steady. She always knows what to expect from her life… until she finds herself expecting after an uncharacteristic one-night stand.

The unplanned pregnancy cracks open all the relationships in her life. Eve’s loyal friendship with Willa is feeling tense, right when she needs her the most. And it’s actually Willa’s steadfast older brother, Shep, who steps up to help Eve. He has always been friendly, but now he’s checking in, ordering her surprise lunches, listening to all her complaints, and is . . . suddenly kinda hot? Then, as if she needs one more complication, there’s the baby’s father, who is (technically) supportive but (majorly) conflicted.

Friends to Lovers by Sally Blakely

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Best friends Joni and Ren have been inseparable since childhood. So when Joni moves across the country for her job, the two devise a creative way to stay in touch: they’ll be each other’s plus-ones every year for wedding season, no matter what else is happening in their lives. It’s a tradition that works, until a line is crossed and the friendship they once thought was forever is ruined.

Now Joni is back at their families’ shared summer home for her sister’s wedding, and she’s determined to make the week perfect, even if it means faking a friendship with Ren. How hard can it be to pretend to be friends with the person who once knew you best?

But as sunny beach days together turn into starry nights, Joni begins to question what her life is without Ren in it. And when the wedding arrives, bringing past heartaches to the surface, she’ll be forced to decide if loving Ren means letting him go, or if theirs is a love story worth fighting for.

If you liked Great Big Beautiful Life…

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself.

Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ‘80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.

The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E. Smith

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Just after the death of her mother – her first and most devoted fan – and weeks before the launch of her high-stakes sophomore album, Greta James falls apart on stage. The footage quickly goes viral and she stops playing, her career suddenly in jeopardy – the kind of jeopardy her father, Conrad, has always predicted.

Months later, Greta, still heartbroken and very much adrift, reluctantly agrees to accompany Conrad on the Alaskan cruise her parents had booked to celebrate their fortieth anniversary. It could be their last chance to heal old wounds in the wake of shared loss. But the trip will also prove to be a voyage of discovery for them both, and for Ben Wilder, a charming historian struggling with a major upheaval in his own life. As Greta works to build back her confidence and Ben confronts an uncertain future, they find themselves drawn to and relying on each other.

The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer

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From the day she watched her kindergarten teacher drop dead, Clover Brooks has felt a stronger connection with the dying than she has with the living. After the beloved grandfather who raised her dies alone while she is traveling, Clover becomes a death doula in New York City, dedicating her life to ushering people peacefully through their end-of-life process.

Clover spends so much time with the dying that she has no life of her own, until the final wishes of a feisty old woman send Clover on a trip across the country to uncover a forgotten love story – and perhaps, her own happy ending. As she finds herself struggling to navigate the uncharted roads of romance and friendship, Clover is forced to examine what she really wants, and whether she’ll have the courage to go after it.

This is a Love Story by Jessica Soffer

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For fifty years, Abe and Jane have been coming to Central Park, as starry-eyed young lovers, as frustrated and exhausted parents, as artists watching their careers take flight. They came alone when they needed to get away from each other, and together when they had something important to discuss. The Park has been their witness for half a century of love. Until now.

Jane is dying, and Abe is recounting their life together as a way of keeping them going: the parts they knew – their courtship and early marriage, their blossoming creative lives – and the parts they didn’t always want to know – the determined young student of Abe’s looking for a love story of her own, and their son, Max, who believes his mother chose art over parenthood, and who has avoided love and intimacy at all costs.

Dear Friend,

Wow, what a week! On Thursday I got the official notification that I’ve achieved Substack Bestseller status! 🎉 It was also the one year anniversary of going all-in on my Substack, so I wrote a whole recap post about that here.

I also announced a new Founding Member tier called The Joy Mail Club, which gets you delightful little paper goodies, stickers, prints, cards, and other surprises each month in the mail. Read more about that here!

I just wanted to say another heartfelt thank you to everyone who reads, subscribes, and follows me here. I’ve so enjoyed building this community over the past year, and I’m looking forward to many more!

In Brief

📚 Reading

I bumped up Grey Dog by Elliot Gish in my rotation after a glowing review from my coworker. It’s giving dark academia gothic sapphic vibes which you know I’m always here for.

🍔 Eating

I tried Ayoh! Dill Pickle Mayo and wow is it tasty. I love dill so much.

📺 Watching

We started rewatching Chernobyl this week, and gosh what a beautiful but incredibly bleak miniseries.

📚 Books & Creativity

Weekly Task

Revisit a book you loved years ago and see how it reads differently now.

Roundup

• Need some color palette inspiration? This site catalogs color palettes from famous works of art, and it’s very fun to scroll through.

• Time rounded up a list of books they feel perfectly encapsulate the current American landscape, just a couple months out from the country’s 250th birthday.

• I love this! High schoolers are electing to learn cursive in extracurricular clubs at school. Seriously, without the ability to read or write cursive, future generations have no hope of deciphering historical documents. It’s sad! I’m glad to hear that some schools are considering adding it back to their standard curriculums too.

• W Magazine put together a primer of the top films coming out of Cannes this year. I was already seated for Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma and then I saw Gillian Anderson is in it? Sold, sold, sold.

• This piece on “what makes a good bookshop?” really did it for me. I so agree with all of these points!

🧥 Personal Style

Weekly Task

Take photos of five favorite outfits so you remember what works. Save it in a folder, Notion, or notes app for easy access.

Roundup

• I’m desperately in need of a pair of these double cloth Cali pants from Marine Layer. I have a pair of shorts in this same fabric, and it’s so great because it has all the perks of linen, but the puckered fabric hides any wrinkles.

• Loved this post on sharing real people’s outfits she saw on the street in NYC. So much great inspo!

• I totally forgot about this until I was cleaning out bookmarks this weekend, but did you know that Anthropologie has a resale section where you can buy gently used Anthro-brand items from Nuuly at crazy deep discounts? Like, $200 dresses for $25. It’s wild, and they do NOT make it easy to find.

• I’m still on the hunt for a bathing suit that I like, but also isn’t $200 for no good reason. I think I might take a chance on this Quince bubblegum pink one-piece. It’s a fun color and has lots of good reviews, plus at $50 I won’t be quite so devastated if I end up hating it after a couple wears.

• This woven tote is perfect for beach days or summer trips. And it’s easy to pack too!

🏡 Home & Interiors

Weekly Task

Organize your pantry or one kitchen cabinet completely.

Roundup

• The New Savant so kindly gifted me two candles from their spring collection, and wowowowow they are dreamy. I chose Heatwave – which smells likes summer in a jar with notes of dill, basil, eucalyptus, cucumber, and fresh dirt – and Morning Matcha, which smells just like it sounds. They are both seriously so so good.

• How stunning is this cabin in Minnesota? It manages to pull off wood panelling in a way that doesn’t feel “cabin” at all, but is still somehow super cozy feeling. I’m in love.

• Three words: Caesar Salad Pasta.

• Interior designers on what colors they’re replacing beige with this year. I for one am very glad for the reintroduction of color into the mainstream!

• A dreamy Hudson Valley artist’s home tour, and the case for decorating like a four year old, via on .

💌 Connection & Self-Care

Weekly Task

Make plans with someone beyond “we should hang out sometime.”

Roundup

• I loved this piece by about the micro-routines she uses to add a bit of structure and whimsy to her incredibly busy daily life.

• How gorgeous are these playing cards?

• Summer = picnics, and Camille Styles has a great guide to packing a picnic for every occasion.

• Some great tips from designers on how to display family photos throughout your home.

✨ Joy & Whimsy

Weekly Task

Attend a local event you wouldn't normally go to. You might be surprised what you find out about yourself!

Roundup

• Somehow at work the other day we got on the topic of roller derby, and I found this massive list of all the registered team and player names. They’re so, so good. My favorites include Yoko Oh No!, Luscious Malfoy, Mary Tyler Gore, Truck Norris, and Princess Die. Ever since watching Whip It in college I’ve harbored a wildly unrealistic dream of playing roller derby. However I would probably break every bone in my body. Alas. For the record, my roller derby name would be Sylvia Wrath.

• Need some grandmotherly advice? Look no further than Grandma Stand, a little booth in NYC where you can chat with a grandmother. I think this is so sweet and adorable.

• I stumbled upon this print newspaper that is “all games, no news” – aka, the most fun part of the Sunday paper. Each one features art, word games, crosswords, puzzles, and everything else you could want for a relaxing analog Sunday routine!

• I am utterly enamored with the concept behind the book On Looking by Alexandra Horowitz, in which she endeavors to walk around a city block with eleven different experts, ranging from geologists to artists to dogs, and discuss the art of truly seeing things. This book is apparently from 2013, but this is the first I’ve stumbled across it and I can’t wait to read.

• I’m obsessed with this concept of childlore – the cultures and rituals that children come up with that seem to defy generational divides and the passage of time. Remember drawing the “Cool S”? Remember cootie catchers and MASH and “slug bug” and all those delightful little games and nonsense from being a kid? I’m so charmed to know that they’re still going strong in today’s generation.

⏰ ICYMI