Book Review: Magic Uncorked

📚 ARC Book Review: Magic Uncorked

Annabel Chase

🗓️ Publication Date: January 21, 2026

📚 My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

📚 My Review: I adored this! It felt like a little ray of sunshine with humor, heart, and just the right touch of magic. The pacing was great, the writing was easy and enjoyable, and I flew through it!

I don’t tend to read a lot of paranormal books, but this was the perfect balance — light, charming, and seamlessly woven into the story. The characters were fun and easy to root for, and the overall vibe was positive and uplifting, even as it explores midlife chaos, fresh starts, and unexpected second chances. A cozy, feel-good read with a magical twist!

Thank you to Storm Publishing via netgalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

📚Goodreads Synopsis: Witches are created, not born.

The only magic word Libbie Stark seems to know these days is ‘ibuprofen’ thanks to a headache-inducing job, two teenagers, one ex-husband, and a deadbeat boyfriend—until the death of a friend brings unexpected consequences. Libbie and the other members of her weekly cocktail club are shocked to discover that their eccentric friend was a witch and that they are the recipients of her magical assets.

Libbie would’ve preferred to inherit an island beach house, especially when her life starts to unravel. With the help of the other Dread Pirate Witches and a handsome lawyer with a head of hair that Fabio would envy, Libbie strives to understand her gift and dig herself out of the hole she’s created, one cocktail at a time. The more her life changes, however, the more Libbie realizes that maybe the end of midlife as she knows it is exactly what she needs.

Book Review: The Good Mothers

📚 Book Review: The Good Mothers

Caitlin Weaver

🗓️ Publication Date: January 15, 2026

➡️ For Goodreads Synopsis 

📚 My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

📚 My Review: A page turner that kept me invested from start to finish! I really love the author’s writing style. It's engaging, a little edgy, and the twists weave in without feeling over the top. I’ll admit that I struggled a bit with how easily Lacey trusted Regina (especially with a child to look out for), but maybe that’s the point: that desperation can blur lines you never thought you’d cross.

The found-family dynamic pulled me in and the morally gray areas made everything so much messier! This was a thought-provoking, tense, and ultimately very human read that fans of domestic thrillers will enjoy!

Thank you to Storm Publishing & Netgalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

📚Goodreads Synopsis: With an eight-year-old son struggling with ADHD and nowhere else to turn, soon-to-be-divorced mom Lacey answers a life-saving “Seeking responsible single mom to join our household. Motherhood can be lonely and we support each other!”

When she arrives at Wildwood Lane she finds a ramshackle house with a welcoming bright yellow door and a wraparound porch with its cozy couch and scattered toys. And inside, three mothers who have forged their own rules for survival.

As Lacey battles her conspiracy-theorist ex-husband for custody while juggling a new, make-or-break job, she discovers these women offer more than shared childcare, communal dinners and late nights bonding over wine after the kids’ bedtime. They're building something a chosen family where women don’t just survive—they thrive.

But when her enigmatic housemate comes up with a risky plan which could secure her financially and protect her son’s future, she faces an impossible choice: How far will she go to protect the family she’s found?

Book Review: The Storm

📚 Book Review: The Storm

Rachel Hawkins

🗓️ Publication Date: January 6, 2025

📚 My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

📚 My Review: This was my first read from this author and it definitely won’t be my last. I loved the writing style and how the story was told through multiple POVs and timelines. Lo, Geneva, Edie and August were such compelling characters with perspectives that kept me questioning everyone’s motives. The tension between past and present was so well done, and the final 10% became unputdownable! So many secrets and so many motives, this was a slow-burn build with a payoff that absolutely delivered!

Thank you to St. Martins Press via Netgalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

📚Goodreads Synopsis: St. Medard’s Bay, Alabama is famous for three things: the deadly hurricanes that regularly sweep into town, the Rosalie Inn, a century-old hotel that’s survived every one of those storms, and Lo Bailey, the local girl infamously accused of the murder of her lover, political scion Landon Fitzroy, during Hurricane Marie in 1984.

When Geneva Corliss, the current owner of the Rosalie Inn, hears a writer is coming to town to research the crime that put St. Medard’s Bay on the map, she’s less interested in solving a whodunnit than in how a successful true crime book might help the struggling inn’s bottom line. But to her surprise, August Fletcher doesn’t come to St. Medard’s Bay alone. With him is none other than Lo Bailey herself. Lo says she’s returned to her hometown to clear her name once and for all, but the closer Geneva gets to both Lo and August, the more she wonders if Lo is actually back to settle old scores.

As the summer heats up and another monster storm begins twisting its way towards St. Medard’s Bay, Geneva learns that some people can be just as destructive—and as deadly—as any hurricane, and that the truth of what happened to Landon Fitzroy may not be the only secret Lo is keeping…