Five Star Friday is my version of the monthly wrap-up. On the first Friday of each month, I will share my five-star reads from the previous month. Fingers crossed, I have lots of books to tell you about.
This month, I was able to read 23 books, and I had 3 five-star reads.
Published by Dutton Books on September 22, 2026
Age/Genres: Adult, Fiction
Rating:
Goodreads
A behind-the-scenes Hollywood love story that brilliantly confronts the private cost of a public life
For rising young actors Kai Laramie and Juniper Castillo, being cast in the buzzy biopic Andy Warhol Never Gets Old is the opportunity they’ve been waiting for. They’re on the verge of breaking out, and maybe even falling in love. Soon the movie is blowing up and so are their lives—in exciting but also terrifying ways.
John Green artfully blends a behind-the-scenes Hollywood love story with an unflinching examination of the insatiable attention economy. Told through dual points of view, the novel follows Kai and Juniper from their first days on location to the movie’s premiere, brilliantly juxtaposing their story with the on-screen study of Warhol’s life at the dawn of celebrity culture.
Hollywood, Ending is a deeply observed novel about the tension between a public and a private life, and finding your safe someone to hold onto. Tender, heartbreaking, and shrewdly funny, this is a story as only Green can tell it.
John Green, it's been too long. Reading this reminded me how much I adore Green's writing. Perhaps his characters seem a bit pretentious at times, but the dialogue is always so smart and the commentary thought-provoking. I loved it!
Published by Avon on October 13, 2026
Age/Genres: Adult, Mystery, Romance
Rating:
Goodreads
A billionaire’s grandson and the housekeeper’s daughter square off in this cat-and-mouse holiday romance-mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year.
Ella Chambers didn’t kill Liam Montgomery.
If she had, she certainly wouldn’t have done it outside his family’s mansion during the Christmas party of the year. She definitely wouldn’t have loaded his body into the trunk of her car. And she absolutely would not have announced to the town that the boy who ruined her life ten years ago was “so dead to her.”
But now Liam is missing—nothing but a bloody spot on the drive and a host of unanswered questions—and Ella is the only person who knows he’s still alive.
So it’s up to her to prove it.
Liam Montgomery didn’t want to die.
But, it turns out, when you’re the sole heir to a billionaire, someone might want you dead. Luckily for Liam, being dead works for him.
Now he’s on the hunt for a killer. Unfortunately, Ella is on the hunt for him.
She’ll have to prove he’s still alive to clear her name, but that’s easier said than done in a quaint mountain town where everyone knows your story but no one knows the truth. Can the billionaire’s grandson and the housekeeper’s daughter join forces to catch a killer? Or is their past too steeped in secrets and lies?
As the storm of the century blows in, every step will bring these two childhood rivals closer to a killer—and each other.
Because, this Christmas, only one thing is it’s beginning to look a lot like murder.
• Holiday Romance
• Childhood Enemies-to-Lovers
• Cat and Mouse
• Slow Burn
• Forced Proximity
This series continues to delight me! Fast paced with witty banter and great history between the main characters. I had a great time remembering the past and trying to solve the mystery with these two.
[review]
Published by Dell on October 6, 2026
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Rating:
Goodreads
In this heartfelt romance from the author of Always, in December and Yours for the Season, a bittersweet Christmas countdown opens the door to healing, hope . . . and maybe even love.
Ali has always loved Christmas, but this year she doesn’t think she’ll make it through. Christmas was always her and her best friend Robyn’s Every year, they exchanged Advent calendars filled with challenges. Tell the hot guy at the coffee shop you like him. Delete your ex’s number. Throw out the bathroom scales.
But this Christmas, Robyn is gone, because she didn’t get the heart transplant she needed.
There is one last calendar, though—given to Ali before Robyn died, with a promise to open it in December.
The first challenge sends Ali to the Alps, where she takes a seasonal job at the ski lodge that she and Robyn had planned to visit together. But when another challenge leads her co-workers to think she’s dating her boss—the stoic, seriously hot Leo—things get complicated.
To save her embarrassment, Leo agrees to play along. As Ali spends more time with him, she realizes that he’s grieving, too. And as he helps her complete Robyn’s challenges, she starts to wonder if their fake relationship could become something real.
But the truth behind Leo’s grief could bring them closer . . . or tear them apart for good.
I look forward to Emily Stone's holiday release every year, and once again, she wrote a lovely story that tugged at my heartstrings and warmed my heart.
Honorable Mention
October was packed with great reading. Here are my honorable mention books. All earned 4.5 stars.
- Annie Knows Everything by Rachel Wood
- Solar Eclipse of the Heart by Kate Robb
- Bad Words by Rioghnach Robinson
- Under the Orchard's Spell by Ann Adams
- The MASH Up by Laura Marie Meyers
- Free Falling by Lyla Sage
- Back for Seconds by Betty Corrello
- Entities to Lovers by Mallory Malowe
Let us know in the comments!
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