On my february post I got a comment saying “A list of similar sounding books all from women. Hmmm. And a virtue signaller as the list maker. Hard pass. Waste of time.” And I’m sorry, but I laughed so hard at this and I had to go back and check that the list was in fact all women, because I didn’t even do that consciously. I see that as a win for female literature, chick-lit and female authors. Not mad about it one bit.
As for the saying all the books were similar, I have no idea what they are even talking about, there was a mix of fiction, non-fiction, short stories, crime, romance, historical and I found something I liked in every genre.
I may be ignorant or naive here, but I have no idea what virtue signaling even means. Haha, but I’ll just keep posting the books I think look interesting. I personally follow the book club books, and for years I have read as many of them as I can. I’ve learned to better curate my books for better reading experiences, but I still see the book clubs as great checkpoints to look into. Even though I don’t read that many of them.
So without further delay – here are the march books.
The book club picks:
Reese’s Book club: Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
Expected publication: March 4
Genre: Historical fiction
Pages: 320
I didn’t get much from the description here, but a farmer is dead, and the pace is that of a thriller. But there also seems to be a past and present love story here, where our heroine feels pressured between her old and her new life.
Described as perfect for fans of “The paper palace” and “where the crawdad sings” – two books I hated. So I will not be picking this up. (I did love the crawdads movie though! The book just did nothing for me.)
So I’m guessing if you’ve loved a couple of Reeses picks about family secrets mixed with crime – this might be for you.
GMA: Count my lies by Sophie Stava
Expected publication: March 4
Genre: Thriller / Mystery
Pages: 336
Sloane is a compulsive liar who lies just for the hell of it. When she one day lands a job as a nanny after lying about being a nurse, she learns that she’s not the only one capable of telling a lie.
The wealthy perfect couple in the brownstone with their daughter in private school has a few secrets of their own.
Oprah’s bookclub: Dream State by Eric Puchner
Expected publication: February 18
Genre: Literary fiction
pages: 448
Cece is in love. She is planning her wedding to Charlie, a medical student with a brilliant future. Charlie asks Garrett, his best friend from college, to officiate, though Cece can’t imagine anyone less appropriate for the task; Garret doesn’t believe in love, much less marriage. But as she spends time with Garrett, and his gruff mask slips, her long-held expectations for her life with Charlie begin to crumble, her feelings for Garrett—a haunted by a tragic event from his past—become impossible to bury; she soon anticipates the big day with dread. And when she finally decides to follow her instincts, ditching her groom for his best man, their lives will be altered forever, the events of that July reverberating through marriage, parenthood, and, in the end, across generations.
Read with Jenna: The dream hotel by Laila Lalami
Expected publication: March 4
Genre: Science fiction / Dystopia
pages: 336
Sara has just landed at LAX, returning home from a conference abroad, when agents from the Risk Assessment Administration pull her aside and inform her that she will soon commit a crime. Using data from her dreams, the RAA’s algorithm has determined that she is at imminent risk of harming the person she loves most, her husband. For his safety, she must be kept under observation for twenty-one days.
I love the minority report vibe and I’ve always found it fascinating. It’s a maybe for me.
New releases March:
Jane and Dan at the end of the world by Colleen Oakley
Expected publication: March 11
Genre: Fiction / Romance
Pages: 368
Jane has been married to Dan for 19 years, her debut book only sold 500 copies and her teenagers don’t need her anymore. To make matters worse, she things Dan never read her book and is cheating on her.
They go out to dinner one night and she’s about to tell him that she wants a divorce when the restaurant is taken hostage by an underground climate activist group. A scene which Jane has written in her book. When the hostage takers say and do everything Jane has written, she’s convinced she (and possibly Dan if he even read it) knows how this is going to end in disaster. But maybe they can try and stop it?
This one sounds so fun! I’m sat!
Tilt by Emma Pattee
Expected publication: March 25
Genre: Fiction / Contemporary
Pages: 240
Set over the course of one day, a heart-racing story about a woman facing the unimaginable, determined to find safety
Annie is nine months pregnant and shopping for a crib at IKEA when a massive earthquake hits Portland, Oregon. With no way to reach her husband, no phone or money, and a city left in chaos, she realizes there’s nothing to do but walk.
I like stories set in one day, one place, one room – it contains the story for me and becomes more about the exploration of emotions and perspective more than action. Sign me up for this one!
Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Expected publication: march 4
Genre: Literary fiction
Pages: 416
Chiamaka is a Nigerian travel writer living in America. Alone in the midst of the pandemic, she recalls her past lovers and grapples with her choices and regrets. Zikora, her best friend, is a lawyer who has been successful at everything until — betrayed and brokenhearted — she must turn to the person she thought she needed least. Omelogor, Chiamaka’s bold, outspoken cousin, is a financial powerhouse in Nigeria who begins to question how well she knows herself. And Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, is proudly raising her daughter in America – but faces an unthinkable hardship that threatens all she has worked to achieve.
Salt Water by Katy Hays
Expected publication: march 25
Genre: Mystery /Thriller
Pages: 336
In 1992 Sarah Lingate is found dead below the cliffs of Capri, leaving behind her three-year-old daughter, Helen. Despite suspicions that the old-money Lingates are involved, Sarah’s death is ruled an accident, and every year the family returns to prove it’s true. But on the thirtieth anniversary of Sarah’s death, the Lingates arrive at the villa to find a surprise waiting for them—the necklace Sarah was wearing the night she died.
Honestly I was draw to this because the cover is so different from typical thriller mystery books. It’s not giving me much in the description, but I could be willing to try.
Wild dark shore by Charlotte McConaghy
Expected publication: march 4
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 320
A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A rising storm on the horizon.
Both has secrets that are about to collide.
Nobody’s fool by Harland Coben
Expected publication: March 25
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Pages: 352
MALAGA – 2000
Sami Kierce, a young man backpacking in Spain with friends, wakes up one morning. He is covered in blood. There’s a knife in his hand. Beside him, the body of a woman. Anna. Dead. He doesn’t know what happened. He begins to scream.
NEW YORK CITY – 2025
Kierce, now a disgraced detective, is teaching night classes when he recognizes a familiar face in the crowd. Anna. It’s unmistakably her. As soon as Kierce makes eye contact with her, she runs. For Kierce there is no choice. He knows he must find this woman and solve the impossible mystery that has haunted his every waking moment since that day.
His investigation will bring him face-to-face with his past. Soon he discovers that some secrets should stay buried . .
Personally I’ve loved so many Coben books, but after they started making the series, I fell off that bandwagon. I just don’t like how the series are made, and it’s made me forget why I like his books.
You killed me first by John Marrs
Expected publication: March 11
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Pages: 399
It’s 5 November, and a woman awakens to a nightmare. Bound and gagged, she lies trapped in the heart of a towering bonfire. As the smoke thickens, panic sets in – she’s moments away from being engulfed in flames. How did it come to this?
Rewind eleven months: Margot, a faded TV star, and her long-suffering friend Anna watch as glamorous Liv and her flawless family move into their street. The three women soon fabricate the perfect pretence of friendship, but each harbours her own deadly secret – and newcomer Liv senses something is terribly wrong beneath the polished exteriors.
As cracks widen in the veneer of perfection and lies escalate out of control, tension ignites. Bonfire Night is approaching and someone is set to burn…But who will it be?
Everything is tuberculosis by John Green
Expected publication: March 18
Genre: Non- Fiction /Science
Pages: 208
I’d read anything Green puts out. Period. He’s my autobuy, regardless of genre.
This apparently is about the history and persistence of out deadliest infection.
Sure, why not. Looking forward to it actually.
Our infinite fates by Laura Steven
Expected publication: March 4
Genre: YA/ Romantasy
Pages: 352
They’ve loved each other in a thousand lifetimes. They’ve killed each other in every one.
Evelyn remembers all her past lives. She also remembers that in every single one, she’s been murdered before her eighteenth birthday by Arden, a supernatural being whose soul―and survival―is tethered to hers.
The problem is that she’s quite fond of the life she’s in now, and her little sister needs her for bone marrow transplants in order to stay alive. If Evelyn wants to save her sister, she’ll have to:
1. Find the centuries-old devil who hunts her through each life―before they find her first.
2. Figure out why she’s being hunted and finally break their curse.
3. Try not to fall in love.
Described as a mix of “The invisible life of Addie Larue” and “This is how you lose the time war”. – I loved one, but did not understand the latter, so I’m on the fence on this one.
Oathbound by Tracy Deonn (Book 3 in the Legendborn cycle)
Expected publication: March 4
Genre: YA / Fantasy
Pages: 502
The series is about a black girl stumbling upon underground secret societies at her university. She finds herself in the center of a the legendborn order and that it has a connection to her mothers death.
A book based on arthurian legend built into a whole big world of legendborn, Shaddowborn, Rootborn, hellfoxes, merlins, hellhounds, and so much more. I’m sure there are many awaiting this finale.
This series blew up on tiktok a few years ago and I fell hard for the first book Legendborn in 2023 and rated it 5 stars. The second book was lost on me because the worldbuilding did not stop and I found myself having a hard time keeping track of all the characters, their names and the structure. The names that were impossible to pronounce didn’t help like: “𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘆𝘄’𝗿 𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗱𝗱𝗳!”
I might try to read it, in hopes that the story comes together and concludes nicely, but it’s a big maybe.
Sunrise on the reaping by Suzanne Collins
Expected publication: march 18
Genre: YA /Dystopian /Fantasy
Pages: 400
Oh here we go again, this time it’s Haymitsh and the 50th hunger games. How long can they milk this series? I’m not complaining though, I actually liked The ballad of songbirds and snakes.
Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.
When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town.
As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.
Will you read it? I might just wait for the movie. It’s coming out 2026.
Books I’m planning on reading in March
Mid february I got caught by the fantasy bug and I went on a spree. I’ve picked up around 12 fantasy books so far and I’m trying to figure out the genre. The first book I read was mistborn – being high fantasy, I quickly learned that that was very much up my alley! Then I tandem read powerless and powerful and learned that you absolutely cannot read a debut YA fantasy book after high fantasy. But the journey continues, and I plan to read many more fantasy books in march. I suggested to the Padma reading group on fable that we read “The Marriage portrait” by Maggie O’Farrell, and the book got voted in, so I’m definitely reading that. Here’s what I’m thinking so far:
If you’re looking to get into fantasy and you enjoy a slow burn with great worldbuilding and character development, I highly suggest the first mistborn book: The final empire (though it might have been renamed “mistborn” certain places.) I found it to be a great starting point because Sanderson eases you into the magic system and you learn along with one of the characters. I found it so well done and very engaging! Can’t wait to continue this series. Since I’m new at fantasy, if you have any suggestions, I would highly appreciate them!
Marie III 