Can't Wait Wednesday: Alchemy of Secrets

Can't Wait Wednesday is hosted by Wishful Endings and helps us spotlight upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating. 

 

Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber

Pub. Date: October 7, 2025

 

Goodreads says, "The HOTLY ANTICIPATED adult debut novel by the beloved, #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING author of the Caraval and Once Upon a Broken Heart series: a contemporary fantasy kicking off a brand new series!

It starts with a class in an old movie theater.

Folklore 517: Local Legends and Urban Myths, taught by a woman called the Professor. Most students believe the Professor’s stories are just fiction, but Holland St. James has always been convinced that magic is real. When she tracks down a local legend named the Watch Man, who can supposedly tell you when you’ll die, the world finally makes sense. Except that the Watch Man tells her she will die at midnight tomorrow unless she finds an ancient object called the Alchemical Heart.

With the clock ticking, Holland is pulled deeper into this magical world in the heart of Los Angeles—and into the path of a magnetic stranger. Everything about him feels like a bad idea, but he promises Holland that her sister sent him to protect her. As they chase clues and stories that take them closer to the Alchemical Heart, Holland realizes everyone in this intoxicating new world is lying to her, even this stranger. And if she can’t figure out whom to trust, not even the Alchemical Heart will save her."

 

I haven't read Caraval, but have heard good things about it. I am excited to check out this adult debut novel and the start to a new series involving Hollywood glamour with a side of murder. Is this book on your TBR list?

 

Book Review: These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean

 

Pages: 400

Genre: Adult Fiction/Romance

Pub. Date: July 8, 2025

Publisher: Ballantine

Source: Publisher for review

Other Books By Author: Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

 

 

 

Goodreads says, "Alice isn't like the other Storm siblings. While the rest stayed to battle for their parents' approval, attention, and untold billions, she left, building her own life beyond the family’s name and influence. Nothing could induce her to come back, except the shocking death of her larger-than-life father. Now back on the family’s private island off the Rhode Island coast, she plans to keep her head down, pay the last of her respects, and leave the minute the funeral is over.

Unfortunately, her father had other plans. The eccentric, manipulative patriarch left his widow and their grown children a final challenge--an inheritance game designed to humiliate, devastate, and unravel the Storm family in ways both petty and life-altering. The rules of the game are clear: stay on the island for one week, complete the tasks, receive the inheritance.

One week on Storm Island is an impossible task for Alice. Every corner of the sprawling old house is bursting dysfunctional chaos: Her older sister’s secret love affair. Her brother’s incessant mansplaining. Her sister-in-law’s unapologetic greed. Her younger sister’s obsession with "vibes". Her mother’s penchant for stirring up competition between her children. And all under the stern, watchful gaze of Jack Dean, her father’s enigmatic, unfairly good-looking, second-in-command. It will be a miracle if Alice manages to escape the week unscathed.

A story about the transformative power of grief, love, and family, this luscious novel is at once deliciously clever and surprisingly tender, exploring past secrets, present truths, and futures forged in the wake of wild summer storms."

 

 

 

Alice Storm has been estranged from her family for over five years and hasn't visited the family estate on a private island in Rhode Island in years. She is part of the famous Storm family, thanks to her father, Franklin Storm's, success in business. Franklin's untimely death brings all the Storm siblings together on this private island along with their ice queen mother, Elizabeth. There's Elizabeth's sidekick/older sister and people pleaser, Greta. Then there's Sam, the older brother, who is vying for control of the Storm company even if that isn't what Franklin wanted. Lastly, there is Emily, who is a carefree hippy, and the least of Alice's problems. Alice has been shunned by the family for standing up to Franklin and feels deeply uncomfortable at this "celebration" of life for her father. Not to mention, Jack Dean, Franklin's right-hand man, is delivering all the information regarding their inheritance, and she had a one-night stand with him before she knew who he was. Jack reports that the Storm siblings must complete their father's challenges before getting their inheritances, and if one sibling fails, they all fail. Diabiacial to the end. Alice's challenge is to stay a week at their family estate, but she doesn't even think it can last one more hour. The more time she spends on the island, the more secrets are revealed about her family. Sarah MacLean's These Summer Storms is a pageturner of a drama filled to the brim with family, reminiscent of the TV show Succession.

I liked Alice from the start of These Summer Storms. Readers will appreciate her ability to stand up for what is right and forge her own life as a teacher and artist, without the support of her ultra-wealthy father. She sticks to her ideals, and money isn't a factor, unlike the rest of her siblings. I enjoyed the romance between Jack and Alice, and how it played out, despite an awkward first meeting and confusion of identities, at least on her end. The more time she spent with Jack, the more their attraction built and the more she learned about her father, too.

If you enjoy the TV show Succession, you will love These Summer Storms. The book frequently reminded me of the show, with its themes of an overbearing and controlling father, a brother vying for more power, and toxic family dynamics. Also, the coastal setting of Rhode Island enhanced the book's appeal as a beach read, especially with the storms rolling in.

However, I did have some complaints about These Summer Storms. The repetitive focus on inheritance and the accompanying "challenges," particularly the discussions surrounding them, became tedious. I also grew weary of the constant emphasis on "rich people's problems."  Overall, despite these issues, it was an enjoyable beach read. If MacLean writes more contemporary novels in the future, I would definitely consider picking them up! Let me know in the comments if you are a fan of Sarah MacLean and your thoughts on These Summer Storms.

 

 

Audiobook Review: Elizabeth of East Hampton by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding

 

Genre: Romance/Audiobook

Pub. Date: August 6, 2024

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Audio

Source: Personal Copy

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

 

Goodreads says, "This fresh and whip-smart modern retelling of Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice transports you to summer in the Hamptons, where classes clash, rumors run wild, and love has a frustrating habit of popping up where you least expect it.

It’s a truth universally acknowledged—well, by Elizabeth Bennet anyway—that there’s nothing worse than summer in the Hamptons. She should she’s lived out there her whole life. Every June, her hometown on the edge of Long Island is inundated with rich Manhattanites who party until dawn and then disappear by September. And after twenty-five years, Lizzy wants to leave, too.

But after putting her own dreams on hold to help save her family’s failing bakery, she’s still surfing the same beach every morning and waiting for something, anything, to change. She’s not holding her breath though, not even when her sister starts flirting with the hot new bachelor in town, Charlie Pierce, and he introduces Lizzy to his even hotter friend.

Will Darcy is everything Lizzy Bennet is not. Aloof, arrogant…and rich. Of course, he’s never cared about money. In fact, it’s number one on his long list of things that irk him. Number two? His friend Charlie’s insistence on setting him up with his new girlfriend’s sharp-tongued sister. Lizzy Bennet is all wrong for him, from her money-hungry family to her uncanny ability to speak to him as bluntly as he does everyone else. But then maybe that’s why he can’t stop thinking about her.

Lizzy is sure Will hates everybody. He thinks she willfully misunderstands them. Yet, just as they strike an uneasy truce, mistakes threaten Charlie and Annabelle’s romance, with Will and Lizzy caught in the undertow. Between a hurricane and a hypocritical stepmother, a drunken voicemail and a deceptive property developer, the two must sift through the gossip and lies to protect the happiness of everyone they love—even if it means sacrificing their own. But when the truth also forces them to see each other in an entirely new light, they must swallow their pride to learn that love is a lot like sometimes the only way to survive is to let yourself fall."

 

Elizabeth "Lizzy" Bennett has big dreams. She wants to escape East Hampton and her family's bakery to pursue a career in journalism. Unfortunately, her plans take a turn when her father suffers a stroke, leaving her to help support her parents and keep the family business afloat. On top of that, she has to navigate her mother’s outrageous get-rich schemes and manage her various sisters. Things take an interesting turn when wealthy Will Darcy and Charlie visit the bakery. When Charlie starts dating Lizzy's sister, Jane, they decide to try to set Will and Lizzy up together. Despite their differences, Will and Lizzy develop a connection, but they face numerous obstacles ahead: a hurricane, meddling family members, property developers, miscommunication, and more. Elizabeth of East Hampton by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding is a delightful blend of a Jane Austen retelling with elements of a beach read and romantic comedy. 

 

As a fan of all things Pride and Prejudice, I made sure to carve out time for this book this summer, and I'm so glad I did. The mix of a classic story set in a coastal environment resonated with me. I appreciated the nods to the original while enjoying how the authors modernized the tale. Lizzy, portrayed as a budding journalist and surfer, truly captured my interest, along with her comical mother and the diverse personalities of her sisters. The authors also brought Will to life very well; yes, he is still arrogant, but lovable deep down.

 

I haven't read the first book in this series, Emma of 83rd Street, so you don't need to be familiar with it to enjoy Elizabeth of East Hampton. However, I did notice several references to the first story. Despite this, I found it to be the perfect summer audiobook escape, especially for those who enjoy a touch of Austen.

The audiobook was delightful, narrated by Teddy Hamilton (whom you might recognize from the Fourth Wing audiobook series) and Brittany Pressley. Both did an excellent job of capturing the beloved characters and modernizing the narrative.

In the comments below, let me know if you've read Elizabeth of East Hampton and if you like Jane Austen re-tellings.

 

 

Can't Wait Wednesday: Overdue

Can't Wait Wednesday is hosted by Wishful Endings and helps us spotlight upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating. 

 

Overdue by Stephanie Perkins

Pub. Date: October 7, 2025

 

Goodreads says, "Ingrid Dahl, a cheerful twenty-nine-year-old librarian in the cozy mountain town of Ridgetop, North Carolina, has been happily dating her college boyfriend, Cory, for eleven years without ever discussing marriage. But when Ingrid’s sister announces her engagement to a woman she’s only been dating for two years, Ingrid and Cory feel pressured to consider their future. Neither has ever been with anybody else, so they make an unconventional decision. They'll take a one-month break to date other people, then they'll reunite and move toward marriage. Ingrid even has someone in mind: her charmingly grumpy coworker, Macon Nowakowski, on whom she’s secretly crushed for years. But plans go awry, and when the month ends, Ingrid and Cory realize they’re not ready to resume their relationship― and Ingrid’s harmless crush on Macon has turned into something much more complicated.

Overdue is a beautiful, slow-burn romance full of lust and longing about new beginnings and finding your way."

 

Stephanie Perkins, one of my favorite YA authors, has her adult debut romance coming out this fall. I think it sounds great and I can't wait to read it. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

 

Blog Tour: Friends to Lovers

 

I've been loving all the summer wedding beach reads that have come out this summer. High up on my list is Friends to Lovers by Sally Blakely, which comes out today and is about two childhood best friends who have one last summer wedding to fall in love.

I'm part of Canary Press's blog tour featuring this new beach read and an excerpt from the novel. I hear it's perfect for fans of The Summer I Turned Pretty and People We Meet on Vacation.

Learn More About the Novel:

 

Friends to Lovers by Sally Blakely

Pub. Date: July 22, 2025

Goodreads says, "Always each other’s plus-ones, but never each other’s real dates, two childhood best friends have one last summer wedding to fall in love in this dual-narrative debut. 

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—and avoiding the truth of why they have to fake it in the first place. 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."

You can purchase your own copy of Friends to Lovers at Harper Collins, Bookshop, Barnes and Noble and Amazon. Also, you can learn more about Sally Blakely by visiting her website and connecting with her on Instagram. 

 

Read an Excerpt:

SUNDAY

I pull up to the salt-weathered house late Sunday afternoon, seagulls announcing themselves above and the ocean crashing in far below. As I step out of the car, I suck in the Pacific Northwest air, like it’s the first breath I’ve taken in two and a half years. It’s briny out here on the coast, where the sky stretches endless and blue over water that sparkles in tiny fractals, and where one week from now, my little sister will be married under the red-roofed lighthouse that juts out from the green headland a short walk away.

The trunk of the rental car heaves open with a groan, a stark contrast to the perfect Oregon day. It’s fitting that my return to the West Coast would not only be on the heels of losing my job, but involve a dented Mazda that sounded like a freight train running off the tracks the entire way from PDX. Coming back here was never going to be easy, but the journey could have been a little kinder.

Inside, the house is largely the same. The kitchen sits at the front, the long oak table that we can all fit around under the windows. Through a small mudroom opposite are French doors leading to the screen porch that runs along one side of the house. When everyone else arrives the day after tomorrow, there will be laughter rolling in from the yard, conversation in the kitchen, music playing.

For now, there’s only silence.

I drop my car keys on the granite island and walk my bags into the living room, where the sun streams in through the floor-to-ceiling windows. I should go upstairs and unpack, start the week on a responsible note, settle myself in before the others arrive. But a wave of all the memories this place holds suddenly washes over me, and I find myself unable to move another step. This house has seen me through so many versions of myself, and this newest one feels like a stranger here, an intruder.

I brace myself. If I’m going to survive this week, I need to pretend that I haven’t intentionally been staying away these past few years. I take another deep breath, pour a glass of wine, and fold my legs under me on the couch. It was this view of the ocean that sold my parents and the Websters on the place when they purchased it together twenty years ago. And now, with the familiar feel of the sun warming my shoulders, the sight of the waves shimmering before me, that same view quiets my mind for the first time in days.  

MONDAY

I wake up the next morning sprawled face down on top of the comforter, a dull throb behind my right eye. What started as one glass of wine turned into three on the back deck as I watched the sun go down over the ocean, curled under a well-loved Pendleton throw in one of the Adirondack chairs out there.

I close my eyes again for a minute, listening to the waves rolling in, enjoying the cool breeze drifting through the window as it brushes across my neck.

And that’s when I hear the front door.

My eyes fly open. I sit up and scramble for my phone, checking to see if Stevie has texted that she and her fiancé, Leo, decided to head up early, but I don’t have any new messages. Still, it wouldn’t be that unlike my sister to show up unannounced. I stand with far too much confidence for a hungover woman alone in a coastal house, and shuffle downstairs.

Just in case, in the living room, I pick up a heavy geode from a sideboard and raise it above my head as I approach the kitchen, ready to—what? Pummel someone at short range?

At the sound of keys being tossed onto the counter, I lower the rock, my heart slowing. “Hello?” I call. “Stevie?” I poke my head through the door, catch sight of the person turning at my voice.

It is not my sister.

At first, I think I might be making him up, as if despite the energy I’ve spent repressing him since the second I stepped foot inside this house, some memory managed to spring free and wander around like a reminder of everything I’ve been missing. But this person is flesh and blood, fully corporeal.

I take him in like there’s a curtain slowly rising up to reveal him. Here are the long legs that used to bike around town with me when we were kids, here are the forearms that used to lean against the bar across from me, here are strong shoulders and here is a head of messy, dark hair.

“Joni,” Ren says, my name familiar on his lips. “Hi.”

I stare back at him. Dust particles catch in the bands of light filtering in through the kitchen windows behind him like he’s a particularly well-lit figure in an indie film. His gray T-shirt sits against the tan of his arms, Wayfarers tucked into the front pocket.

I had one more day to get ready for this, one more day to live in delusion that this moment might never come, that I would never have to face him. The person who knows—knew—me better than anyone in the world. The reason I’ve avoided Oregon for so long. I was going to be cool, casual, act like nothing had changed between us while our families were around and ignore him the rest of the time. I wasn’t going to be alone with him.

If the vague nausea I was feeling before was because of the wine I drank last night, now it is firmly due to the fact that not only do I have to face him alone, but I have to do it pantsless, in only a Portland Mavericks T-shirt that hangs partway down my thighs. As luck or fate or the laughably unfair universe would have it, he’s here a day early, wrecking my plans. 

“Hi, Ren,” I croak. I clear my throat. “I didn’t know you’d be here.”

Obviously. 

My eyes snag on the barely there lines that frame the corners of his mouth, twin parentheses serving as proof of how much joy I know can fill up his body. They deepen even when there’s just a hint of a smile on his face. I used to chase them like I did his laugh. But Ren isn’t smiling now.

“I’m sorry,” he says, in what might be the most quintessentially Ren answer possible. He’s apologizing, like he really did break into my personal vacation home. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I would have called if—”

“No, it’s okay.” I hadn’t told anyone I’d be here early, hadn’t wanted to alert them to the reason—the sudden and dramatic end of a job I loved—behind my last-minute schedule change. There’s no way Ren could have known I would be here. “What are you doing here?” I ask him.

It takes Ren a beat to answer. He reaches up to either tug at his hair or rub at his neck, but he releases his arm at the last second, settles his gaze on me. “I thought I’d head up before everyone arrives tomorrow to get some things out of the way,” he says. “You know, mow the lawn, clear the path down to the lighthouse, that sort of thing.”

Right. Ren would be here out of selfless reasons. As Stevie’s maid of honor, I have a list of all the things I’ll need to prepare for starting tomorrow, but Ren, helper that he is, is diving in well before anyone even asks him to.

“Of course,” I say. “Same.”

“Your hair—” Ren says, and I glance up in time to see him nodding toward me.

“Shorter,” I say, smoothing the back of my hair, which just clears my shoulders, the only vestige of its former self my bangs. I cut it a year ago, after Stevie told me hair holds memory or emotion or something along those lines. I was willing to try anything to fill the hole that had taken up residence in my life.

“You’re still—” I gesture at him, coming up short, nerves climbing up my neck. His hair looks like it’s been trimmed recently, but it’s still his usual style. His shoulders seem like they might be broader under his T-shirt, but he’s always been in good shape, so maybe it’s just a trick of the light. The ways he’s different are too minute to mention: a face and body two and a half years older in ways only someone intimately familiar with them would notice.

“—tall,” I finally finish, wincing a little. 

“Yeah,” Ren says. “Been trying my hardest to knock off a few inches, but…” He shrugs, and I realize too late he’s trying to make a joke, so my laugh comes out stilted.

“Well,” I say. “I’m in my old room, but I’ll stay out of your way.”

Ren raises a fist to his forehead. For a moment, the mask falls, his eyes honing in on me again. Ren’s always had a way of seeing through me, and suddenly I’m sixteen again, crying against his shoulder because I just failed a math test, or eighteen, anxiously poring over a dog-eared welcome packet as we drive north to Portland as college freshmen, or twenty-seven, standing on a cold sidewalk on New Year’s Eve, the last time I saw him.

“Right,” Ren says, eyes still on mine, then, “Actually, I should probably mention—” He stops short when he sees the small flinch on my face, like I’m bracing for what he’s going to say next. His fist drops to his side.

“We’re on the screen porch again this year.”

I clamp my lips together. “Hmm?” I say.

“You and I,” Ren says, nodding between us like that is the part of his sentence he needs to clarify. “They put us on the screened-in porch again this year.”

“Who is they?” I ask, though there’s only one possible answer. Our families. The other people you’ve been avoiding.

“Well,” Ren says. “The last couple years—” He pauses. 

I paste as placid a look on my face as possible, like it’s normal that I haven’t been here for the last two summers, like it’s normal that he and I are no longer a we, bound together by something that I used to think was profound, and now just feels like time, proximity, all those things that can tie people together.

“Stevie and Leo have been in the room you two used to share, and Thad’s in the one I usually take.”

“No worries,” I say, smile tight, already angling my way out of the kitchen. What did I expect? That they’d walk by my room in hushed reverence all this time, maintaining it like a shrine when there’s hardly enough space for all of us as is? That Stevie and Leo wouldn’t use it as their own? “Let me know if you need any help. Otherwise, I’ll meet you on the screened-in porch tomorrow.”

His brows bend toward each other and his eyes go dark. “Right. I won’t get in your way, then.”

I, a nearly thirty-year-old woman, salute him on my way out.

From FRIENDS TO LOVERS by Sally Blakey. Copyright 2025 by Sally Blakely. Published by Canary Street Press, an imprint of HTP Books/HarperCollins.

 

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and if you'll be adding Friends to Lovers on your summer TBR list.