Each Wednesday, Long and Short Reviews hosts a weekly “blog hop”. For more details on how to participate, please click here.
Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2026
June 30, 2026 By 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.
(This book cover was too large to load. Click below on the title to see it).
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.
Version 1.0.0
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.
TV Review: One Piece: Into the Grand Line (Season 2)
June 29, 2026 By Leave a Comment
ONE PIECE: Into the Grand Line (Season 2)
Showrunners/Developed By: Matt Owens and Steven Maeda
Starring: Iñaki Godoy, Emily Rudd, Mackenyu, Jacob Romero, Taz Skylar, Charithra Chandran, Mikaela Hoover
Publisher: Netflix
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Action/Adventure
Rating: 5 Stars (Ten stars on IMDB)
Reviewed by DicentraWith his straw hat and ragtag crew, young pirate Monkey D. Luffy goes on an epic voyage for treasure.
Netflix’s ONE PIECE: Into the Grand Line is a jolly good time and entertaining for both those familiar with the original manga/anime and those new to the world. A series based on the manga by Eiichuro Oda and led by Iñaki Godoy, playing the fearless leader of the Straw Hat Pirates Monkey D. Luffy, there is lots of adventure and new places to explore as they work towards finding the One Piece.
The Straw Hats are the centerpiece of the story, but in Season 2 they both gain new crewmates and new adversaries. With the new crewmates, there is Miss Wednesday (played by Charithra Chandran from Bridgerton) as well as the most adorable medical professional I’ve ever seen – Tony Tony Chopper (voice and facial motion capture by Mikaela Hoover). The adversaries come in pairs, in the form of the many Baroque Works agents trying to kill them. I snorted out loud when Roranoa Zoro (played by Mackenyu) made a comment about them plundering other pirate’s treasure to pay for their costume budget, as it’s a very fair and valid point with how elaborate almost all of them are dressed. The amount of wax required to style Mr. 3’s hair (played by David Dastmalchian) is exorbitant. While journeying through the Grand Line, they also take on the voracious and exiled former King Wapol (played by Rob Colletti) who has come back to reclaim his kingdom. There are so many other cool side characters that I can’t name them all (especially without spoilers), but I thought the team at Netflix did a great job bringing the CGI parts to life as well as making very realistic and immersive sets. In going down a YouTube rabbit hole, I found out that they made a full size Going Merry to film on, and I think that’s totally awesome.
Overall, this was an excellent season and I think that it has real potential to be one of Netflix’s lead titles since Stranger Things had its series finale last year. It’s super exciting that Season 3 is already in production, and I’m eager to see how the Straw Hats fare against Joe Manganiello’s Mr 0 and the rest of Baroque Works.
Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge for June 24, 2026
June 24, 2026 By 2 Comments
Each Wednesday, Long and Short Reviews hosts a weekly “blog hop”. For more details on how to participate, please click here.
Have You Attended a High School Reunion Lately? Why or Why Not?
Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Summer 2026 To-Read List
June 23, 2026 By 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.
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.
Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge for June 17, 2026
June 17, 2026 By 2 Comments
Each Wednesday, Long and Short Reviews hosts a weekly “blog hop”. For more details on how to participate, please click here.
Something to Know Before Visiting My Country/City
Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge for June 10, 2026
June 10, 2026 By 2 Comments
Each Wednesday, Long and Short Reviews hosts a weekly “blog hop”. For more details on how to participate, please click here.
A Story About My Best Teacher
Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Handwriting on the Cover
June 9, 2026 By 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
Movie Review: Remarkably Bright Creatures
June 8, 2026 By Leave a Comment
Title: Remarkably Bright Creatures
Writers: Olivia Newman and John Whittington
Director: Olivia Newman
Starring: Sally Field, Lewis Pullman, and Colm Meaney
Publisher: Netflix
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Romance, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars (6 on IMDB)
Reviewed by AstilbeA widow who works at a local aquarium finds joy again when she forms an unlikely bond with a giant Pacific octopus and a wayward young man who comes to town in search of family. Together, they uncover a mystery that will lead them to a life-changing discovery and restore their sense of wonder.
Loneliness is a heavy burden to carry.
Some of the best scenes were the ones that explored how quickly news can spread in a small town and what happens when gossip doesn’t match what actually occurred. It rang true to life in my experience, and I enjoyed watching the characters react to the stories that were either being spread about them or that they were spreading about their friends and neighbors. Some of them liked this process far more than others did, and my opinions of all of them shifted for the better or the worse depending on how they handled this topic.
I did find the character development flat, especially when it came to the protagonists. Even given the tragic backstories of certain characters, I struggled to connect to them due to the limited amount of information that was shared about them outside of the painful events they were processing. As much as I wanted to give this one a higher rating, I wasn’t able to do so thanks to this issue.
The magical realism was handled nicely. While the vast majority of the storyline was rooted in realistic conflicts and events, there were a few moments that were slightly outside of the realm of possibility in our world. These scenes were handled so sensitivity and creatively that I could easily imagine them really occurring which is exactly what I love to see in this sub-genre. The ordinary experiences of the characters in the vast majority of their lives only made those rare deviations from the norm all the more spectacular.
Remarkably Bright Creatures made me smile.
Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge for June 3, 2026
June 3, 2026 By 2 Comments
Each Wednesday, Long and Short Reviews hosts a weekly “blog hop”. For more details on how to participate, please click here.
