Unapologetic Reviews

I read The Villa by Rachel Hawkins for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, for prompt #38 “A book with any type of fruit on the cover or in the title”. The cover is full of bright lemons and Italian sunshine, but the story underneath is much darker. This is a thriller about murder, complicated female friendships, creative ambition, ownership, and the way a story can become more powerful than the truth behind it. The novel is told across two timelines, both centred on the same villa near Orvieto, Italy. In the present day, Emily is a writer whose life has stalled. Her marriage is ending, she has spent much of the previous year suffering from a mysterious illness, and she is struggling to finish the tenth book in her long running cosy mystery series. Emily is not a huge bestselling author, but she has built a real and dependable career. Her books sell consistently and provide her with a decent living, yet her soon to be ex-husband Matt now believes he deserves a share of that income be...

I read Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, for prompt number 25, “A book that explores influencer culture”. This book is marketed all wrong. Interestingly, this is not the first book I have encountered recently that was sold almost entirely through trendy buzzwords. A romantasy that is not really a romantasy. A humorous fantasy that is barely funny. Now a novel advertised as being about a trad wife and time travel that is actually about something much more interesting. On the surface, Natalie seems to be exactly what social media celebrates. She is a successful trad wife influencer living on a ranch with her growing family, baking bread, raising children, and presenting the image of the perfect conservative Christian wife. When strange events suddenly disrupt her life, the story splits into two timelines. One follows her present, while the other gradually reveals the path that brought her to this point. The book spends far more time exploring Natali...

I read A Siege of Bitterns by Steve Burrows for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, for prompt number 45, "A book that features birding". And there was certainly plenty of birding in this book. No one could accuse it of not delivering on the prompt. The story follows Detective Chief Inspector Domenic Jejeune, a French-Canadian detective who moved to England after a scandal in Canada interrupted his career. He has a reputation as an exceptional investigator, but he is also an avid birder. He lives in Norfolk, surrounded by marshes, wetlands, and bird reserves, and when several deaths occur, the investigation becomes intertwined with birdwatchers, conservation efforts, and environmental issues. Unfortunately, this was a very disappointing mystery for me. I gave the book two stars. My biggest problem was that the balance felt completely wrong. I went into the story expecting a murder mystery with some birdwatching elements in the background. Instead, it felt like I got a birdw...

I read The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, for prompt #8, "A book about a sexless marriage." There is certainly no sex here, so the prompt fit perfectly. Set in Amsterdam in 1686, the novel follows eighteen-year-old Petronella "Nella" Oortman. After the death of her father left the family nearly penniless, her mother arranged a marriage with Johannes Brandt, a wealthy merchant over twice her age. Nella arrives at his grand house expecting the ordinary life of a wife. Instead, she finds herself in a household full of secrets and silences. As a wedding gift, Johannes gives her an elaborate cabinet house, a miniature version of their own home. Wanting to furnish it, Nella contacts a mysterious miniaturist. What she receives is unsettling. Not only do the requested pieces arrive, but so do strange additional objects, tiny creations that seem to reveal secrets before they happen. As the mysterious miniatures keep appearing, Nella gr...

I read The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, for prompt number 16, "A book less than 260 pages.” The story follows Chih, a cleric whose duty is to collect stories and preserve history. In a lonely palace beside a lake, they meet Rabbit, an elderly servant, and through seemingly ordinary objects scattered around the abandoned rooms, Rabbit slowly reveals the life of Empress In-yo and the events that changed an empire. Rather than telling the story in a straight line, the book unfolds piece by piece, with memories attached to embroidery, clothing, gifts, and other possessions. And that was both the book's greatest strength and my biggest problem with it. I appreciate what the book was trying to do. The structure is clever, and I can see why many readers love it. But my brain struggled with this style of storytelling. I am terrible with names, and because the story is revealed through fragments and memories rather than in a straightfo...

I read Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, for prompt number 42, "A book inspired by a real song, album, band, artist, or musical." Going into it, I expected it to be fine at best. Contemporary fiction is not usually my thing. I tend to gravitate towards fantasy, science fiction, and stories with larger than life stakes. Here, there are no quests, no alien worlds, no one trying to save humanity. There are only people. Messy, talented, selfish, loving, complicated people. And somehow, this became one of the biggest surprises of my reading year. I ended up giving it five stars. The story follows Daisy Jones and the members of The Six, a hugely successful rock band in the 1970s. But what makes the book stand out is its format. Rather than a traditional novel, it is presented as an oral history. The entire story unfolds through interviews, with each character recounting events years later. Because I listened to the audiobook,...

I read How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy’s Guide to Silencing Women by Claire Mitchell and Zoe Venditozzi for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, prompt number 43, “Two books written by real-life partners or spouses (1).” This book was written by the women behind the Witches of Scotland podcast, and that connection really shapes the whole book. It is not just a history of the Scottish witch trials. It is also part of a wider attempt to make people remember them properly. The book looks mainly at the Scottish witch trials, but it does not treat them as a vague dark chapter from the past. It explains how they happened. It looks at the religious atmosphere, the economic pressures, the legal structures, the books and ideas that fed the panic, and the way fear could be turned into accusation. It also goes into individual stories, which was important because the scale of the trials can make the victims blur together. When the book pauses on one accused woman, one community, one interroga...

I read The Astral Library by Kate Quinn for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, prompt number 31, “A book that makes you feel FOMO.” Sadly, this was a real disappointment for me. The premise sounded exactly like something I would love. There is a magical library where people can enter books, live inside stories, and move through literature as if the pages were real places. The library is also in danger somehow, which made me expect a fun, imaginative adventure through books, with mystery, magic, and a real sense of wonder. The idea is wonderful. The execution, for me, was not. The first problem was that the book felt very much like it was aimed at BookTok. I know the author has said that she chose books she personally loved, and that the public domain books included were ones she saw as great classics. But while reading, it felt like a roll call of the usual big titles and familiar references. Fourth Wing gets mentioned. George R. R. Martin gets mentioned. Oz, Narnia, and Tolkien co...

I read The Tea Dragon Society by K. O’Neill for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, for prompt number 46, “a sapphic comic.” This is definitely a comic, and it is sapphic in a very sweet, gentle, all ages way, so it fits the prompt nicely.  This is a short, whimsical fantasy story set in a world of magical creatures, blacksmiths, tea shops, dragons, and tiny tea dragons. The main character is Greta, a young blacksmith apprentice who is learning her family’s craft in a world where sword making seems to be fading into something more decorative than practical. I actually found that part interesting, because the story hints at a wider world without fully explaining it. We know swords are no longer needed in the same way, but we do not really know why. Maybe the world has moved on from them. Maybe it has become more peaceful. Maybe there is another explanation entirely. The book does not go very far into that, but it gives the setting a quiet sense of history. The story begins when Gr...

I read The Garden by Tomi Champion-Adeyemi for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, for prompt number 1, “a book where gardening or a garden is central to the plot”. This was not the most successful pick for me. I chose this because the obvious choice for this prompt would have been The Secret Garden , and I really did not want to read The Secret Garden . So I picked The Garden , which sounded like it might be mysterious, emotional, and a bit unusual. The story follows Lęina, a young woman whose mother disappeared when she was a child while searching for a mysterious garden in Brazil. Years later, Lęina feels drawn to that same garden. She has her mother’s journal, which is connected to the garden, and she travels to Brazil to look for the place that has been calling to her. On paper, that sounds exactly like something I should enjoy. A missing mother. A mysterious garden. A journey to Brazil. A young woman chasing something that might be memory, grief, inheritance, or obsession. Ther...

I read Child X by Jamie Mustard for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, for prompt number 36 “A book about a mob (fiction or nonfiction)”. I interpreted “mob” more loosely here, as a high control group rather than organised crime. Though honestly, when it comes to Scientology, the book could fit the original intent of the prompt as well. This book is Jamie Mustard’s memoir about being born into Scientology and eventually leaving the movement at nineteen. I ended up feeling quite ambivalent about it, because there were parts I genuinely loved, and parts that I found frustrating. One of the strongest aspects of the book is just how intelligent it feels. Mustard constantly references history, literature, films, music, philosophy, and cultural events. The narration itself is also extremely sharp. His use of language is thoughtful and deliberate, and there is a real sense that this is somebody who thinks deeply about everything around him. Even ordinary moments are layered with associatio...

I read Murder Is a Piece of Cake by Valerie Burns as part of the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge for prompt 14, “A book set in Michigan or written by an author from Michigan”. Valerie Burns herself is not from Michigan, but the book clearly is set there, so it fits the prompt through the setting. The story takes place in New Bison, which is a fictional small town based on New Buffalo, Michigan. It has that classic cosy mystery atmosphere. Close knit community, familiar faces, and just enough secrets under the surface to keep things interesting. This is the second book in the Baker Street Mysteries series. I had already read and enjoyed the first one, so I decided to continue with the series. That turned out to be a very good decision, because the first book leaves a few threads open, and this one continues to build on them rather than resetting everything. The plot follows Maddy, who is still settling into her new life as a bakery owner. Her development is one of the strongest aspects...

I read Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder by Valerie Burns for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, prompt 12, “A book with "pop" or "sugar" in the title”. I gave it four stars. This is a straightforward cosy mystery. Maddie is an influencer in Los Angeles whose life collapses after she is left at the altar. She then inherits a bakery, a house, and a dog from her great aunt in a small town called New Buffalo. The will requires her to stay there for a year. Soon after she arrives, the town’s mayor is murdered, and she gets involved in the investigation, while using her influencer career to the advantage of her new bakery, and the whole town. The strongest part of the book is the cast. Maddie works as a main character because her situation forces a clear transition. She is used to a curated online life and has to adjust to a slower, more personal environment. That contrast drives a lot of the early interactions. The side characters are distinct and easy to keep track o...

I read Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, prompt number 6, “A book with an overweight main character whose story isn't about losing weight”. I went into this expecting a light but eventful romantic comedy, something built around Chloe’s list and the idea of her stepping out of her comfort zone. What I got instead was a very slow, very internal, and very repetitive romance that did not work for me. I ended up giving it two stars. The premise is simple and promising. Chloe Brown is a wealthy woman living in the UK who, after almost being run over by a car, creates a list of things she wants to do to “get a life.” She has fibromyalgia, which limits her energy and shapes how she navigates the world. To complete her list, she enlists the help of Red, the building’s handyman, who is also a painter. From there, the story focuses almost entirely on their developing relationship. The problem is that the list, which should have driven the narra...

I read Doctor Who: Ghosts of India by Mark Morris for the 2026 Popsugar Reading Challenge, prompt 30, “A travel ghost story”. I did not read it fully in print. I started the book, but it did not quite feel like Doctor Who on the page, so I switched to the abridged audiobook. That version worked much better for me and shaped my overall experience of the story. The novel is set in 1947 in India, during the final days of British rule. This is not just a backdrop. The setting is very present. There are tensions between communities, people moving, uncertainty about what comes next. The story builds on that instability and places a supernatural mystery into it. At first, the events appear ghostly. There are sightings, fear, and confusion. Gradually, the science fiction layer comes in, and the explanation shifts toward something more typical of Doctor Who, with an alien presence behind what initially looks like a haunting. The main characters are the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble, which is on...