I read fewer books than usual in November, but one of them was Dan Brown’s new doorstop The Secret of Secrets, which took about as long as it would take me to read two or three normal sized novels. Genres were all over the map this month, including commercial fiction, literary fiction, thrillers, and one supernatural romance (yes, that would be Nicholas Sparks and M. Night Shyamalan’s intriguing collaboration Remain).

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My Favorites

What Kind of Paradise

Janelle Brown

Teenager Jane lives off the grid with her father in Montana, homeschooled in a form of survival living that keeps the two of them under the radar of the feds for reasons unknown to Jane. As she nears adulthood, she yearns to understand her childhood and learn about her mother. When she unwittingly becomes an accomplice to a terrible crime committed by her father, she flees to San Francisco to find herself. Brown’s late 1990’s dot-com San Francisco feels alive, chaotic, and full of possibility, and I enjoyed reliving those early tech days through the novel. I loved the tension between Jane’s father’s fear of technology and her discovery of how it can actually democratize access, build community, and open doors. What Kind of Paradise is a compelling story about finding yourself, growing up, and exploring the loyalties that bind us to the people we love. Get your copy from Bookshop.

Until now, my experience with Nicholas Sparks and M. Night Shyamalan has been limited to The Notebook and The Sixth Sense, but when I saw that these two collaborated on the new supernatural romance Remain, I knew I had to read it. Remain reads like it was written with a camera in mind (as it probably was), with every scene drawn in rich, cinematic detail. The book’s overall vibe – combining an atmospheric, haunting romance with the eerie tension of a supernatural thriller – is so unique that it’s worth reading. Read my full review. Get your copy from Bookshop.

Available Now

The River is Waiting

Wally Lamb

After losing his job, new father Corby Ledbetter is getting through the challenges of looking for a new job while being a stay-at-home father to his twin toddlers with a little help from Captain Morgan and a secret benzo addiction – a terrible combination that leads to a heartbreaking tragedy that splits the family apart and sends Corby to prison. While incarcerated, Corby explores mercy, redemption, and forgiveness with the help of some of the souls he encounters along the way. This book could have been incredibly powerful if the author had descended deep into the abyss of grief, guilt, and redemption. Instead, he kept a safe distance from the edge, so the book never really landed emotionally for me. Read my full review. Get your copy from Bookshop.

The Secret of Secrets

Dan Brown

I haven’t read a Dan Brown book since The DaVinci Code, which I remember as a true page turner. The Secret of Secrets was less engaging for me. Robert Langdon is in Prague with his new girlfriend, a renowned neuroscientist, when a shadowy group attempts to destroy the manuscript of her latest book – a groundbreaking work on the nature of consciousness. Who are these people? Why are they so desperate to erase her research? Those questions launch Langdon into a life-or-death chase across Prague that is an ode to the city’s landmarks and history. There isn’t much symbolism for this renowned symbologist to decode, and the revelations in the manuscript aren’t all that exciting. The story leans heavily on cliffhanger language to keep you turning pages, but it’s several hundred pages longer than it needs to be and none of the mystery turned out to be that interesting to me. Get your copy from Bookshop.

Coming in 2026

Clutch

Emily Nemens

Clutch is a celebration of enduring female friendship in all its messy glory. It opens with five women, best friends since college and now nearing forty, meeting in Palm Springs for a girls’ weekend after not seeing each other for nearly four years. They laugh, cry, take magic mushrooms, check in on children back home, keep secrets, fight, make up, and renew their bond, unaware of all the ways in which their lives are about to blow up and test their friendship. Clutch will be published in February 2026 – put this on your TBR and come back in February to read my full review. Thank you to NetGalley and Zando/Tin Cup for the ARC. Pre-order your copy from Bookshop.