I’ve read quite a few novels this winter, but here are a few reviews that I’d like to share. I will be interviewing two of these authors, Sean Patrick Little and Lis Angus, on my substack blog this spring. I can’t always read the novels of the authors I interview so it’s nice when I can. Keep an eye out for those interviews!
Stops Along the Way, by Anna Sortino
Genre: YA Romance
Publication date: May 19, 2026
Penguin Young Readers Group | G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
A sunny YA romance about a road trip and life’s unexpected turns from the author of Give Me a Sign.
Iris doesn’t trust the odds. Not when she has a 1 in 4 chance of inheriting the same vision diagnosis as her sister, Amelia.
When Iris travels to the east coast to help Amelia drive her things back from college, the last person she expects to run into on campus is Declan, her board game club rival, but he’s also there to drive his brother home for summer break. The unlikely occurrence results in the four of them caravaning together to Nebraska.
Iris and Declan are used to competing with dice and cards across a table, but the romantic feelings unfolding as they drive across the map are a total surprise. The odds of falling in love on the road seem low, especially amid car troubles and sister drama. Can Iris look past probability and embrace the unexpected?
As advertised, Stops Along the Way was a cheerful, sweet romance. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it!
Iris and Declan have a playful, competitive dynamic as they navigate their emotions, situations, and their passion for playing and creating board games. Sortino captures first love in all its awkward, precarious beauty. Their siblings add a fun element. I really appreciated how the author showed Iris and Amelia’s hidden (for now) disabilities and how it affects their lives, but doesn’t let the disability dominate the story.
Present tense, first person POV (Iris)
I received an advanced reading copy of Stops Along the Way from Netgalley and was not required to write a positive review.
The 13th Step by Lew McCreary
Genre: crime/thriller
Publication Date: September 10, 2024
At the center of the novel is a private investigator named Archie Lightman. Archie and his partner Delia Sanchez stumble upon a pattern of killings in which the victims are all criminals who—in an age of rampant plea bargaining—are often too lightly punished for their crimes.
The investigation leads them to a support group modeled along the lines of a traditional 12-step program called COSOVO, Circle of Survivors of Violent Offenses. Its members the surviving kin of murdered loved ones.
Roger Witt is one of the members of the group, his life utterly ruined . . . first by a wanton criminal act that takes the life of a loved one, and later by an ineffectual justice system. He is thus doubly afflicted with derangements that follow in the wake of terrible losses. And he becomes vulnerable to Candace Morgan, the charismatic leader of COSOVO, who gradually grooms certain members to become murderers themselves, offering them the supposed healing balm of a vengeful 13th step.
Meanwhile, Archie is experiencing his own thoughts of revenge. He recently received an anonymous letter that rekindles unresolved questions about the circumstances of his mother’s death decades earlier. Was it suicide, was it homicide? All Archie knows is it wasn’t an accident. Will he succumb to the lure of the 13th Step?
This work of literary crime fiction explores how unrelenting grief can drive us to do things we never thought imaginable.
I liked this book, but I didn’t love it, as it felt a bit slower paced than I prefer for a thriller. Archie is a fundamentally decent man who tries (though often fails) to understand people. But he’s obsessed wtih understanding his mother’s long ago death and it threatens to overwhelm his life. Running parallel to Archie’s story is Roger Witt’s story. Like Archie, Roger is obsessed with a senseless death (in this case, his brother’s murder, which took place on 9/11) and obsesses over his brother’s killer. The support group dynamics feel accurate to me. McCreary captures how group dynamics can often be more destructive than constructive, especially when the leader exploits his/her power over the others.
For me, I found Archie’s story more compelling than Roger’s, but Roger’s dominates the book. McCreary does a great job of capturing Roger’s mental chaos and how he circles around and around about his various obsessions: the murder, the young killer, the injustice, his attraction to Candace, 9/11, revenge. But that also means the story feels repetitive at times as he fixates on the same images and themes, and as a result, the pace felt slow to me.
All the same, I’m glad that I read it. The 13th Step is a solid four stars.
Bring the Heat by Sean Patrick Little
Genre: crime noir/private investigator mystery
Publication date: June 24, 2025
It was supposed to be a simple case: track a man suspected of having an affair and get proof of the affair for the man’s wife. It was the sort of case Abe and Duff had worked a thousand times throughout their careers.
When the husband catches a bullet while Duff is watching, a whole new mystery emerges. To find out who killed Robert Bloch, Abe and Duff will have to call in some favors, venture into the labyrinth of Chicago’s underworld, and deal with some of the questionable men who run criminal empires.
As with anything in which the less-than-dynamic duo find themselves mired, there are always more questions than answers, more problems than solutions, and a good chance to ruffle the wrong feathers while they search for the truth.
Nothing in Abe and Duff’s lives is ever easy, and this case will make the boys sweat more than an unforgiving Midwest summer heat wave.
Clever and oddly funny for a noir crime novel. In Abe and Duff, Little has created two lovable, social misfit private investigators who somehow figure out whodunnit, though they can’t seem to figure out their personal lives. The mystery is interesting, with loads of characters who are never quite what they seem (or that the reader expects), and a satisfying ending. I particularly enjoyed the pop culture references! I haven’t read the previous books in the series but I was able to follow this book just fine.
FYI: I have an interview with Sean coming up on my substack, so keep an eye out for it! Also check out his Substack, Straight Outta Wisconsin.
That Other Family by Lis Angus
Genre: Suspense
Publication date: December 29th, 2025
“A nail-biting cat-and-mouse thriller.” — Katie Tallo, international bestselling author
Julie Walker thought she knew her life: three teenagers, a husband, and her job at the Ottawa library. But when a stranger confronts her with a shocking claim about her late father, everything she believed about her family is thrown into question.
At first she struggles to know what to believe. But once the truth is revealed, a series of unsettling incidents escalate into real danger: her family has become the target of someone with resources she cannot match and few limits to what they might do. Drawn into a web of menace and betrayal, and uncertain who to trust, Julie must find the strength to confront an enemy she doesn’t fully understand.
Layered with dread and emotion, THAT OTHER FAMILY is a domestic thriller about fractured loyalties and one mother’s fight to keep her family safe.
A terrific suspense novel.
Told in both first person (Julie) and other characters in third person, the story slowly reveals the family secrets, with some great plot twists. The characters are relatable, so I felt invested in their lives as they (especially Julie) wrestled with how to handle these revelations about their beloved family. It left me wondering, what would I do if …? (And being thankful that I wasn’t faced with a similar situation!)
FYI #2: I also have an upcoming interview with Lis on my substack blog, so keep an eye out for that.
Over to you, readers. What have you read and enjoyed this winter?
Talk to me! What do you think?