This Week: January 4th

News and Updates

And just like that, we’re back to normal schedules. It feels like we’ve been working on the holiday schedule since Thanksgiving. This week takes our youngest back to school and us back to full 5-day work weeks. It also brings my first author event of the new year – Paula McLain is speaking here about her new release Skylark!

This Week

I’ve always been a fan of space travel movies and TV shows like Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Trek. This week, I got to read a great novel that’s been on my TBR list for quite some time!

Monthly Reading Challenge: Science Fiction

Weekly Reading Challenge: Space Travel

It’s eminent domain on a universal scale and the last human in the galaxy is just trying to survive in Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

When a intergalactical highway is going to be built right through the Milky Way, the council determines that Earth is in the way, and it must go. Now Arthur is on some spaceship in the middle of nowhere with the guy he thought was just his best friend, but turned out to be an alien, and he’s got no time to adjust before things just get weirder.

If you’re looking for other great books for this prompt, try one of these reads recommended by our StoryGraph community:

Atmosphere, Taylor Jenkins Reid
Critical Mass, Daniel Suarez
Prime Meridian, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Secret Order of the Scepter and Gavel, Nicholas Ponticello

New This week

Two fantastic thriller books we previewed hit bookshelves this week!

St. Medard’s Bay is a community of survivors, having remained standing through several hurricanes over the past 100 years. But it was the political storm that nearly brought her down when the son of the state’s most loved politician was found dead after one of the hurricanes. His family, and most of the town, blamed one low-class woman the man had been in town to see. Their affair was the worst kept secret around, but she was still acquitted of his murder. It was another of his secrets, though, that caused a stir in the middle of yet another storm and nearly saw the end of life as the community knew it.

Sheriff Marge North knows Wildwood like the back of her hand. The people, the places…nothing should surprise her here. Until one crime scene turns her opinion of her town upside down…

You can order both of these books in our Bookshop.org store – preorders available today!

In Case You Missed It

Last Week’s Prompt

Kimbrel wasn’t planning to go out for New Year’s Eve – she’d much rather be home cuddling with her newborn. But here she is in this impossibly tight dress in a ballroom packed with coworkers, friends, and foes, praying she can last a few hours and then make a quick escape. But when an interesting clock catches her eye, and then strange things start happening, any hope she has of making a quick breakaway evaporates as she is transported into another dimension. Will she be able to figure this out before the clock strikes midnight, or is she destined to fall between dimensions forever?

I give The Last Hour Between Midnight by Melissa Caruso 3.25 out of 5 stars. This was a tough follow for me. The story repeats to some degree each time the characters fall into a new dimension. It became difficult to remember where you are in terms of dimension and who knew what. I also found some of the dialogue around the relationship between the two main characters forced. Readers who have enjoyed works by S.A. MacLean or Eliza Chan may find this novel fun. It worked great for our prompt New Years, but if you’re looking for something a little different, check out our StoryGraph challenge page for other ideas!

Last Week’s Articles

The new 2026 Read With Lindsey Reading Challenge officially kicked off on Thursday and we shared some tips and tricks to help you find success. I’m having a lot of fun seeing all the books added to the StoryGraph pages – lots of great ideas and some choices that have given me some inspiration! I hope you’re reading with us either on the monthly challenge or with our weekly prompts!

Last Week’s Preview

A woman who looked to the stars—and claimed her place among them.

In The Woman and Her Stars, Penny Haw brings Caroline Herschel’s remarkable life into focus, tracing her journey from supporting role in her brother’s shadow to a groundbreaking astronomer in her own right. Rich with historical detail and emotional depth, this novel captures Caroline’s determination, brilliance, and lasting impact on science.

I give The Woman and Her Stars by Penny Haw 4 out of 5 stars. You can read the full review here.

Reading Challenge Prompts

In 2026, we’re reading through the genres in our local libraries, starting with Science Fiction! This isn’t my favorite genre, but I’m having fun digging in so far. Which of our weekly prompts is your favorite type of science fiction?

This Week: January 4th

News and Updates

This Week