#5OnMyTBR is a bookish meme that was hosted by E. @ Local Bee Hunter’s Nook. Learn more about it here.
Anticipating
I love any opportunity to feature more books and found this meme an interesting way to take a look at my TBR. I hope to also get some feedback from you. Should I keep these books on my TBR? Should I push them up the list? Without further ado, below are five books that I had featured in my ANTICIPATING posts but still have not read.
The Memory Gardner by Meg Donohue
Sure to charm fans of Chocolat, Garden Spells, and The Scent Keeper, USA Today bestselling author Meg Donohue’s The Memory Gardener is a cozy and moving tale about the power of memory and the nourishing magic of gardens.
Lucy Barnes has an uncanny ability to know exactly which scent among the flowers she grows will return a person to a long-forgotten memory, a key from their past that has the potential to change their future. When she takes a position as the gardener at a somber, colorless assisted-living home, the evocatively scented flowers that she grows awaken not only the home’s gardens, but the entire community, stirring new pleasures and unearthing long-buried secrets within all who venture through the gardens’ gates.
But when a secret comes to light that threatens to shatter the newly close-knit community, the future suddenly looks uncertain. Have the memories that Lucy has unearthed awakened something wonderful … or are some memories better left buried?
The Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O'Neill
n this debut, for fans of J. Courtney Sullivan and Mary Beth Keane, three adult sisters grapple with a shared tragedy over a Thanksgiving weekend spent in their childhood home, navigating complex relationships and old tensions.
It’s been years since the three Ryan sisters were all home together at their family’s beloved house on the eastern shore of Long Island. Two decades ago, their lives were upended by an accident on their brother Topher’s boat, a friend’s brother was killed, the lawsuit nearly bankrupted their parents, and Topher spiraled into a depression, eventually taking his life. Now the Ryan women are back for Thanksgiving, eager to reconnect, but each carrying a heavy secret. The eldest, Cait, still holding guilt for the role no one knows she played in the boat accident, rekindles a flame with her high school crush, Topher’s best friend and the brother of the boy who died. Middle sister Alice’s been thrown a curveball threatening the career she’s restarting and faces a difficult decision that may doom her marriage. And the youngest, Maggie, is finally taking the risk to bring the woman she loves home to her devoutly Catholic mother. Infusing everything is the grief for Topher that none of the Ryans have figured out how to carry together.
When Cait invites a guest to Thanksgiving dinner, old tensions boil over and new truths surface, nearly overpowering the flickering light of their family bond. Far more than a family holiday will be ruined unless the sisters can find a way to forgive themselves—and one another.
Messenger Cat Café by Nagi Shimeno
Tabby cat Fuuta has passed into the afterlife and will do anything to see his human again . . . if only he can not disrupt the balance of the universe.
After a long life with a loving human family, tabby cat Fuuta has passed into the afterlife, but he is not as far from his owner, Michiru, as it seems. Slight openings bridge the divide between the lands of the living and the dead, and they can be traversed.
Eager to see Michiru again, Fuuta interviews for a position at Café Pont, a café that exists in the liminal space between the two worlds, known for its unique message delivery service: Customers leave requests with the name of the person they wish to meet, and a messenger cat is assigned to arrange the "meeting."
If Fuuta doesn’t maintain plausible deniability, he could cause panic amongst the living, or worse: He could upset the balance of the universe itself. It is a weighty task for an old tabby cat, but Fuuta is up for the challenge. After all, the job offers a special reward: the right to see Michiru. And he’ll do anything to reunite with his family.
The A to Z of Everything Debbie Johnson
P is for Paris, where it all started. J is for Jealousy, where it all went wrong. But the most important letter is F for Forgiveness, the hardest of all.
Sisters Poppy and Rose used to be close, but now they haven't spoken in over a decade. They live separate lives until they both receive a call that tells them their mother has passed away--without ever having the chance to see her daughters reunited.
Andrea, though, wasn't the kind of woman to let a little thing like death stand in the way of her plans. Knowing her daughters better than they know themselves, she has left behind one very special last gift--The A to Z of Everything.
When the estranged sisters are brought together by two boxes of letters, recordings, and instructions from their mother, they embark on an unforgettable journey of love, loss, and healing.
Available for the first time in the US market, The A to Z of Everything is a warm, witty, and deeply moving novel about family rifts, long-held secrets, and the power of second chances. It's a story that will make readers laugh, cry, and maybe call someone they've been meaning to forgive.
The Burning Side by Sarah Damoff
From the author of The Bright Years, the story of April and Leo, a couple on the brink of collapse. When their house goes up in flames, family secrets and thorny histories emerge as they are forced to decide what is worth salvaging.
When April and Leo’s house burns in the middle of the night, they escape with their two young children and the quiet knowledge that the fire is not the only thing threatening their family. They retreat to April’s childhood home in Dallas, where her spirited parents and siblings provide both comfort and complication.
As the family reckons with the aftermath—grief, guilt, logistics, and memories scorched and intact—the fire exposes the cracks already forming in April and Leo’s marriage. The novel unfolds in alternating perspectives: from April, who feels the crushing weight of motherhood, marriage, and self-blame; from Leo, a high school history teacher shaped by a lonely, fractured childhood; from Deb, April’s generous and no-nonsense mother who has to contend with her husband’s recent Alzheimer’s diagnosis; and from flashbacks that trace April and Leo’s relationship from its earliest days of connection to the devastating decisions that led them here.
A family saga suffused with humor, longing, and heartbreak, The Burning Side is about what we inherit and what we choose, about forgiveness and the ache of being known. It is, above all, about the meaning of home and the costs of long love.
What anticipated books
are STILL on your TBR?
Let us know in the comments!
are STILL on your TBR?
Let us know in the comments!
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