Long and Short Reviews

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Titles That Include the Word “Beach”

July 7, 2026 By Long and Short Reviews 37 Comments

There’s nothing like going to the beach on a warm, sunny day! Here are ten books that remind me of those peaceful hours.

1. Beach Read by Emily Henry

2. On the Beach by Nevil Shute

3. On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

4. The Beach House by Virginia Coffman

5. Life and Music of Amy Beach the First Woman Composer of America by Amy Marcy Cheney Beach

6. Muscle Beach by Ira Wallach

7. Beaches II: I’ll Be There by Iris Rainer Dart

8. The Beachcombers by Helen Crosswell

9. A Cat on a Beach Blanket (Alice Nestleton Mystery, Book 14) by Lydia Adams-on

10. The Book of the Chesil Beach by John P. Kemp

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings Tagged With: Beach Reads, Blog Hop, Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2026

June 30, 2026 By Long and Short Reviews 46 Comments

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Autumn seems so far away at the moment! As last week was all about summer reads, let’s see which books are coming out from September to November that I might be interested in.

1. Taipei Story by R.F. Kuang

Release Date: September 8

Why I Want to Read It: I haven’t seen many recent books written for adults that discuss the grief of losing a grandparent, so this piqued my interest.

2. Queenie Is Working on It: A Novel by Candice Carty-Williams

Release Date: September 8

Why I Want to Read It: I like to read the books that tv series are based on before I watch the small screen version.

3. Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel

Release Date: September 15

Why I Want to Read It: Ms. Mandel has been on my must-read list of authors since she released Station Eleven. May this book be just as good as that one!

4. Mazywood by Tananarive Due

Release Date: September 22

Why I Want to Read It: Ms. Due is another author on my must-read list. Even if she published her grocery shopping list, I would probably still want to read it. Ha!

5. Fangs With Benefits by Kath Richard

Release Date: September 24

Why I Want to Read It: Honestly, the pun-filled title grabbed my attention.

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6. Baldur’s Gate 3 by T. Kingfisher

Release Date: September 29

Why I Want to Read It: As promised last week, Ms. Kingfisher is once again making an appearance on today’s Top Ten Tuesday list.

7. A Married Little Christmas by Abby Jimenez

Release Date: October 20

Why I Want to Read It: I know some Top Ten Tuesday bloggers and some reviewers for Long and Short Reviews love Christmas. This looks like a festive read, so I’m hoping it will interest at least a few of you. I’m sure curious about it.

8. Public Access Afterworld by Jane Schoenbrun

Release Date: October 27

Why I Want to Read It: This sounds like something conjured up in a fever dream, and I mean that in the best possible way. I love books that play around with logic just enough to feel dreamlike.

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9. Almost Animal: A Memoir of Motherhood, Wildness, and the American West by Amy Irvine

Release Date:November 10

Why I Want to Read It: Postpartum depression isn’t something I know much about, but I’m hoping this memoir will help to educate me about it.

10. Tiger’s Mouth: A Novel (Thousand Voices) by Lucy Tan

Release Date: November 17

Why I Want to Read It: Frenemies is the slang term that came to mind as I read this blurb. Here’s hoping the characters are able to sort out their differences.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings Tagged With: Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Summer 2026 To-Read List

June 23, 2026 By Long and Short Reviews 44 Comments

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

There are so many amazing reads being published this summer! Here are ten of them that I’m looking forward to. The first five have already been released this month.

1. The Double Dutch Fuss: A Memoir by Phill Branch

Why I Want to Read It: This spring I read a celebrity memoir, so now I’m more than ready to go back to reading about the lives of average people.

2. Pool House by Mary H.K. Choi

Why I Want to Read It: Mother-daughter relationships are incredibly interesting to explore in fiction.

3. Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View from Behind the Supermarket Register

by Ann Larson

Why I Want to Read It: As someone who has worked multiple service industry jobs, I think social class and and the service industry should be discussed more often. There’s a lot that can be and in my opinion should be done to improve the lives of people who work these essential but low-wage positions.

4. Nymph by Sofia Montrone

Why I Want to Read It: A bittersweet summer romance novel sounds great right about now.

5. Leave and Come Back by Lavanya Lakshmi

Why I Want to Read It: Several of the titles on this list cover serious subject matter, so I’d like to balance that out with something romantic and lighthearted.

6. Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay

Release Date: June 30

Why I Want to Read It: The Philip K. Dick reference made this a must-read for me.

7. Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle

Release Date: July 7

Why I Want to Read It: Sometimes Mr. Tingle’s work is too scary for me, but I always give his new books a shot.

8. Immortal Game by Allison Saft

Release Date: August 6

Why I Want to Read It: The plot includes chess, romance, and a storyline that sounds like it’s a retelling of a Greek legend. I am curious to see how all of these topics combine together.

9. Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher

Release Date: August 25

Why I Want to Read It: I’m once again in awe at how quickly Ms. Kingfisher churns out new books. She’s someone I will be mentioning again next week.

10. Dèy by Edwidge Danticat

Release Date: August 25

Why I Want to Read It: This seems like such a thoughtful way to finish out the summer.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings Tagged With: Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Handwriting on the Cover

June 9, 2026 By Long and Short Reviews 33 Comments

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Don’t you love seeing fonts that look like handwriting? I think they’re so beautiful.

Years ago I knew someone who had studied calligraphy and could make their handwriting look very different from one word to the next depending on how flowery, messily, tidly, or rigidly they wanted to draw their lines. They were in my thoughts as I selected a variety of styles for today’s post.

Answer #10 particularly reminded me of the amazing things he could do with a calligraphy pen.

1. The View Was Exhausting by Mikaella Clements

2. Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski

3. Call the Midwife (The Midwife Trilogy, #1) by Jennifer Worth

4. It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis

5. O Beautiful by Jung Yun

6. The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron

7. All These Bodies by Kendare Blake

8. Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

9. I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala by Rigoberta Menchú

10. I Wish You All the Best (I Wish You All the Best, #1) by Mason Deaver

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings Tagged With: Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Secondary Characters

May 19, 2026 By Long and Short Reviews 40 Comments

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

All of these secondary characters were great!

1. Rue from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

She was the person who inspired the main characters to start the rebellion, after all!

2. Samwise from Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

He was such a supportive friend, to say the least.

3. Matthew Cuthbert from Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

None of the Anne books would have been possible if he hadn’t stood up for Anne and asked his sister to keep her after the orphanage mistakenly sent them a girl instead of the boy they requested.

4. Tonkee from The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin

There were so many layers to her personality.

5, 6, and 7. Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which from A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle

Everyone needs some guidance when visiting strange new lands!

8. Mercutio from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

He had such a fantastic sense of humor.

9. Podrick Payne from A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin

He had a wonderful character arc. I also like the fact that he was timid and shy when the audience first met him. There aren’t enough characters written like that for my tastes these days.

10. Kaede from Legend by Marie Lu

She was incredibly brave and loyal, and the main characters would not have survived without her assistance. The same could also be said for Samwise!

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings Tagged With: Characters, Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Picture Books About Gardens

May 12, 2026 By Long and Short Reviews 42 Comments

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Aren’t these picture books about gardens adorable? I think this is a great way to get kids interested in gardening, healthy eating, and the outdoors.

1. Flower Garden by Eve Bunting

2. Our Community Garden by Barbara Pollak

3. Seed to Plant by Kristin Baird Rattini

4. The Story of Frog Belly Rat Bone by Timothy Basil Ering

5. In Enzo’s Splendid Gardens by Patricia Polacco

6. The Bunnies’ Picnic by Lezlie Evans

7. Bring Me Some Apples and I’ll Make You a Pie: A Story About Edna Lewis by Robbin Gourley

8. That’s Not a Daffodil! by Elizabeth Honey

9. Luke and Lottie and Their Vegetable Garden by Ruth Wielockx

10. Two Old Potatoes and Me by John Coy

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings Tagged With: Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Books We’ve Reviewed Whose Titles Begin With the Letter A

April 28, 2026 By Long and Short Reviews 40 Comments

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Pam at Read Bake Create was one of the first Top Ten Tuesday bloggers I noticed who began occasionally blogging about books that began with certain letters of the alphabet, and many others have done so as well.

This week we’re joining in on the trend.

Here are ten books we’ve reviewed here at Long and Short Reviews whose titles begin with the letter A.

1. A Body in the Brewery by Victoria Chatham

2. The Abnormal Gumshoe by Tamar Anolic

3. Armored Hearts by Angela Knight

4. All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Bringley

5. Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves by Author: Anonymous and Albert Seligman (Editor)

6. A Friend for Hope by Amie White

7. A Symbol of Time by John Westley Turnbull

8. A Summer Lasts Forever by Tamar Anolic

9. Acceptance – A Self-Guided Approach to Trauma Recovery by Tiberius Ryuu

10. A Darkly Shining Star by MS Morris

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings Tagged With: Blog Hop, Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: April Showers

April 21, 2026 By Long and Short Reviews 49 Comments

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Blue is such a soothing color for a book cover, don’t you think? This week I’m sharing ten blue covers with all of you.

1. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

2. The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh

3. Lorali by Laura Dockrill

4. Blackberry Pie Murder (Hannah Swensen, #17) by Joanne Fluke

5. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

6. Deep Blue (Waterfire Saga, #1) by Jennifer Donnelly

7. Blue Dog by Louis de Bernières

8. Everything We Didn’t Say by Nicole Baart

9. A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

10. Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings Tagged With: Blog Hop, Blue Book Covers, Book Covers, Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Spring 2026 To-Read List

March 24, 2026 By Long and Short Reviews 58 Comments

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

The first two titles on this list are already available to buy or maybe even borrow from your local library, and I’m sharing the release dates for the rest of them as well.

1. How Simi Got Her Groom Back by Sonali Dev

Why I Want to Read It: The reference to the 90’s romance film How Stella Got Her Groove Back was honestly what first caught my attention because I loved that movie, but the blurb sounds really good as well.

2. Daughter of Crows by Mark Lawrence

Why I Want to Read It: High fantasy isn’t a genre I’ve read in ages, and it may be time to change that.

3. The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett

Release Date: April 7

Why I Want to Read It: Both the 1930s and stories about orphans who probably will never be adopted are of interest to me.

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4. Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

Release Date: April 21

Why I Want to Read It: Mabel sounds like a delightfully exasperating and interesting character. Sometimes I need to read about folks who aren’t all sweetness and light.

5. Where the Earth Meets the Sky: A Story of Penguins, People, and Place in Antarctica by Louise K. Blight

Release Date: April 26

Why I Want to Read It: Of course I want to read about penguins. I am lowkey fascinated by them.

6. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Release Date: April 29

Why I Want to Read It: Letters aren’t included often enough in modern fiction for my tastes, so I’m hoping this will be a good example of what an epistolary novel can be like in the twenty-first century.

7. Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel

Release Date: May 5

Why I Want to Read It: Like #4, this features a senior citizen protagonist. I think it’s really cool that we’re getting more stories about that age group.

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8. John of John by Douglas Stuart

Release Date: May 5

Why I Want to Read It: There’s something so interesting to me about characters who fail at their original goals and must find alternative ways to live a good life.

9. Say Nephew: On Boyhood, Unclehood, and Queer Mentorship by Steven Pfau

Release Date: May 26

Why I Want to Read It: This sounds like such an interesting read.

10. Spawning Season: An Experiment in Queer Parenthood by Joseph Osmundson

Release Date: May 26

Why I Want to Read It: There is so much I don’t know about this topic, and I’m curious to hear how the discussions between the author and the women who were thinking about using him as a donor turned out.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings Tagged With: TBR Lists, Top Ten Tuesday