Wednesday, February 4, 2026

Can't Wait Wednesday!

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

I am combining CWW with Books From the Backlog hosted by Carole at Carole's Random Life in Books. This will allow me to feature some newly "rediscovered" books, which I plan on reading, alongside a new release.

This week I can't wait for


Just Friends
 by Haley Pham
Published by Atria Books on March 3, 2026
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Goodreads

This heartwarming and swoon-worthy second chance romance about childhood friends reconnecting as adults is the highly anticipated debut novel from BookTok icon Haley Pham.

Blair and Declan were inseparable growing up—best friends who knew each other better than anyone else. But when an impulsive kiss took them from friends to something more, everything changed. Just as quickly as their romance started, one moment shattered it all, leaving them with nothing but heartbreak and silence.

Now, four years later, Blair is back in their coastal hometown of Seabrook to support her mom and care for her great-aunt Lottie as her health declines. To make ends meet, Blair applies to work at a coffee shop—only to discover it’s managed by none other than Declan. The boy she loved. The boy she lost. The boy who still makes her heart race.

As Blair’s path keeps crossing with Declan’s, old wounds resurface, secrets are revealed, and sparks reignite. But could their future ever be free of their past?

Told in dual timelines that unravel the magic and pain of first love, Just Friends is a moving, romantic story about second chances, the weight of dreams, and finding your way back to the people who feel like home.

I am a little leery of TikTok romance books, but I am always eager to read a friends-to-lovers story. I am obsessed with the idea that a character never lost that loving feeling, and that they are willing to give it another try. I think if this story is done right, it could be a good one for me. 





The Lady on Esplanade
 by Karen White
Published by Berkley on November 4, 2025
Age/Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Mystery
Goodreads

People and secrets from the past threaten to disrupt Nola Trenholm’s new life in New Orleans in the third novel of the Royal Street series by New York Times bestselling author Karen White.

Nola is ready to focus on starting over in the Big Easy. She wants to get back to work on the renovations of her Creole cottage, and she is eager to launch a new murder-house-flipping business with contractor, closet psychic, and part-time nemesis Beau Ryan. After a near-death ghostly encounter and the return of Beau’s missing sister, they are confident that the ghost of his mother can finally rest.

Nola believes the shotgun house on famed Esplanade Avenue is a prime fixer-upper for her first project. It may have been the site of a woman’s murder and the disappearance of an entire family, but the house will be perfect for new-to-town Cooper Ravenel—who happens to have caused Nola’s first heartbreak.

That’s the least of Nola’s worries, though. In addition to the elusive spirit of an angry young woman who accompanied Cooper to New Orleans, the house on Esplanade has its own ghosts, including one that is becoming increasingly dangerous as he tries to hide his dark secrets. And the wet footprints from the spirit of Beau’s mother have returned to let them know there is still unfinished business before she can rest. Spectral danger is headed toward them, and it’s up to Nola to convince Beau to help before it’s too late. . . .

I am a big fan of White's Tradd Street series, of which this is a spin-off. This is book 3, and I hope there will be some progress on the Nola + Beau front. But, White follows the Tradd Street formula quite well, so this should drag on the same way Melanie and Jack's will-they-won't-they did. I am still eager to read it though. I can't help myself. 


What are you waiting on?
Let us know in the comments!

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