Saturdays at the Café

Saturdays at the Café is a weekly feature hosted here to talk about and discuss the books I’ve discovered during the past week, added to my shelf and am excited about reading. They may be new/scheduled releases I’ve seen on NetGalley, at the library, or from publishers or they may be older titles my friends have reviewed and shared on Goodreads or blogs.

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The Montgomery House was once a crown jewel of the White Mountains. Perched on a cliff with stunning views, it offered up summertime adventures, winter skiing and family get-togethers around the large log fire.

Until late one October night, a power cut – and the Montgomery parents and their four children vanish, leaving behind a trail of bloody footprints, a derelict house of secrets, and an enduring mystery that no one can solve.

But the formerly grand mansion is once more stirring into life. For Bee and Theo Davis, who’ve met, married and moved from downtown Boston in a matter of months, this is their forever home, and all is going well – until a young girl arrives with no memory of the property yet an unerring knowledge of where the first skeleton is hidden.

Now, Bee and Theo face a daunting choice of what to believe, who to trust, and how to survive. Because in the tiny village of Shereford the time has come to unravel the events that happened one terrifying night thirty years ago…

Thanks to Eva @ Novel Deelights for featuring this in her Most Anticipated Books of 2026 post. Scheduled for release in August, it’s an audio review hopeful.

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In a life-affirming, poignant, and evocative novel set against unparalleled beauty of the Tuscan countryside, a couple’s plans to spend the summer renovating an old property go awry in surprising and sometimes wonderful ways . . . Full of heart, charm, and queer joy for readers of Steven Rowley, Linda Holmes, Bryan Washington, and Paul Rudnick.

Stories don’t always unfold quite the way you expect them to, and Adam Webb has reason to be glad of that. Out of the blue, he’s inherited a farmhouse and castle in Tuscany from a great uncle he never met. It’s the catalyst for Adam to give up his HR job in Manchester and fly out to Italy for the summer to do repairs on the home he hopes to turn into a rental. The best he’ll be sharing this summer of adventure with his partner of two years, Theo. It’s a fairytale in the making.

But there’s a last-minute twist, in the shape of Theo’s three children. Theo’s ex-wife can’t take them for the summer after all, so Callum, Mabel, and Archie are coming to Italy too. Their open hostility to their dad’s boyfriend isn’t helped by the lack of Wi-Fi and the mounting chaos of renovation problems and bad plumbing, not to mention the resident lizards and mice.

Despite everything, Adam finds himself falling in love with the place, whether he’s watching golden sunsets from the castle ruins with Theo, sipping coffee on the patio, or driving around the neighboring medieval towns. And as they sort through Uncle Wilf’s possessions, another story begins to take shape—one that will help Adam navigate the family secrets that have marred his past and the decisions that will shape his future. What emerges isn’t a fairytale, but it’s a rich, complex narrative of love, acceptance, and second chances that could pave the way for the best kind of happy ever after.

Thanks to Yvo @ It’s All About Books for featuring this in her Stacking the Shelves post. Scheduled for release in April, it’s an audio review hopeful.

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From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brad Thor and USA TODAY bestselling author Ward Larsen, comes a heart-pounding thriller of survival, espionage, and global brinkmanship, where the frozen Arctic becomes the deadliest battlefield on Earth.

A vanished plane. An earth-shattering secret. A countdown to World War III.

Hemisphere Airlines Flight 777—the most advanced jetliner ever built—disappears without a trace over the North Pole. Crippled by sabotage, it crash-lands on the ice, stranding the surviving passengers in a wasteland of frigid cold and chaos.

The real storm, however, is still coming.

Hidden inside the wreckage is the prototype for a revolutionary piece of technology that could upend the balance of world power. Now Washington, Moscow, and Beijing are racing to be the first on scene to retrieve it—at any cost.

Trapped in the middle of the world’s most dangerous flashpoint are CIA operative Kasey Sheridan and former fighter pilot turned first officer, Brett Sharpe. Hunted by enemy forces, they must spirit both the device and its creator across the ice to safety—before rival superpowers turn the Arctic into a war zone.

With the clock ticking and the temperature dropping, the fate of the free world is about to be decided at the top of the globe.

I accepted this for audio review after reading a great review by a trusted Goodreads friend.

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The brand new hilarious, emotional and thought-provoking book club read about twin sisters who make a bet to switch lives for a week, for fans of David Nicholls, Sophie Kinsella and Cecelia Ahern.

Two sisters. One Bet.

And a lifetime of secrets uncovered…

Morning TV’s favourite twin sisters, Alice and Edie, may share the screen, but that’s where their similarities end. Their viewpoints are far from identical, and whilst their on-air clashes keep viewers hooked, off-camera, their relationship is far from picture-perfect.

After a heated argument on live television threatens their jobs, the fiery duo make a neither could last a week in the other’s shoes. Determined to prove each other wrong, they secretly swap lives — without telling a soul.

What starts as a battle of wills quickly spirals into chaos, as each sister discovers that the other’s life is far more complicated than it seems. Between dodging awkward work situations, marital issues, and meddling in each other’s families, Alice and Edie’s rivalry turns from a competitive bet into an opportunity to help change each other’s lives for the better.

But will their relationship survive?

Thanks again to Nicki @ Secret Library Book Blog for her great review. It’s on my Libro.fm wishlist.

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The woman is lying on her back, eyes closed, face still. The blood from the single stab wound in her chest has pooled on the ground, interrupted only where her killer stood to watch her die…

Detective Kim Stone knows from the moment she looks down on Ashley Reynolds that this is no ordinary crime. No one has a bad word to say about this loving wife and mother. So why did someone murder her, and wait to make sure she was dead?

Ashley was a social worker, and some claimed she tore families apart. But her husband is also acting strangely, planning to take their daughter and leave town. Did the threat to her come from home or work?

Then another woman is killed in the same cold, calm way. Nadine was a honey trapper, and the men she tricked blamed her for destroying their marriages. Someone clearly believes Ashley and Nadine were wicked… and that wicked women deserve to die.

But when a third woman is murdered, Kim and the team can’t find anything that even the sickest mind would find fault with. Certain that time is running out, they search desperately for something that links their victims.

And then Kim realises something that chills her to the bone. Because if she’s right, the worst danger is yet to come…

A brilliantly gripping crime thriller about secrets and revenge that will have you gasping at the final reveal. Fans of Karin Slaughter, Val McDermid and Robert Dugoni will love Wicked Women.

I squealed when I got the alert from Fantastic Fiction about this upcoming April release of the next book in the DI Kim Stone series! I’ll be listening to the book but the audio edition isn’t yet available.

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From the critically acclaimed author of No Exit and The Last Word comes a story of two friends who embark on an ill-fated caving expedition—and the dark truth of what happens deep underground.

After years of excuses, Tess has finally agreed to go caving with her best friend Alma. Their lives have diverged sharply since high school—Alma is a self-made travel influencer, while Tess is a shy (and claustrophobic) legal assistant struggling to pay for law school. Maybe she’s a little jealous of Alma’s globe-trotting life. Who wouldn’t be?

As Tess and Alma descend into the depths, they realize they’re not alone. A stranger who claims to be a fellow caver harasses them. Confident, take-no-shit Alma insults the guy—and he retaliates. Soon, Tess is trapped inside a narrow crawl space hundreds of feet underground, fighting to stay alive.

Twenty-four hours later, as a hospitalized Tess recounts her harrowing story of survival, the detective interviewing her shares new and shocking secrets about Alma’s true past. Together, they begin to suspect the brutal attack wasn’t so random after all.

Who was Alma, really? Why did this man target them? And did Tess really leave the danger behind when she escaped the cave?

Thanks to Yvo @ It’s All About Books for featuring this in her Top Ten Tuesday post. Scheduled for release in February, it’s a library audiobook hopeful.

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Rippling with humor, warmth, and style, Lost Lambsis a new vision of the charms and pitfalls of family dysfunction.

The Flynn family is coming undone. Catherine and Bud’s open marriage has reached its breaking point as their daughters spiral in their own chaotic Abigail, the eldest, is dating a man in his twenties nicknamed War Crime Wes; Louise, the middle child, maintains a secret correspondence with an online terrorist; the brilliant youngest, Harper, is being sent to wilderness reform camp due to her insistence that someone—or something—is monitoring the town’s citizens.

Casting a shadow across their lives, and their small coastal town, is Paul Alabaster, a billionaire shipping magnate. Rumors of corruption circulate, but no one dares dig too deep. No one except Harper, whose obsession with a mysterious shipping container sends the family hurtling into a criminal conspiracy—one that may just bring them closer together.

Irreverent and addictive, pinging between the voices of the Flynn family and those of the panorama of characters around them, Madeline Cash’s Lost Lambs is a debut novel of quick-witted observation and surprising tenderness. With Lost Lambs, Cash has crafted a family saga for the twenty-first century, all held together with crazy glue.

Thanks to Louis @ Book Me a Read for his great review. The audiobook is on my library wishlist.

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In the latest in this New York Times best-selling series, Evan Smoak takes on his most complex mission yet―one where he has to not only protect but also avenge, and find a way to balance vengeance with mercy.

Once a black ops assassin for the government known as Orphan X, Evan Smoak broke with the program and went deep underground, using his operational rules and skills to help the truly desperate with nowhere else to turn.

When Luke Devine, one of the most powerful men in the world has a psychological crisis, Evan flies to the East Coast to meet Luke. While there, he learns of a young woman who was kidnapped off the New York City subway, clearly in danger and in need of aid. With no name and few clues, Evan and his team track down the missing woman, who was assaulted and abandoned. Evan offers his help―and sets out tracking down the young men responsible. But the woman insists that Evan abandon his usual methods―no vengeance and, in particular, no killing. Which will prove no easy feat given the mounting incoming threats from all sides. In a mission that takes Evan from coast to coast, from the poorest corners of society to the richest, Orphan X must figure out a way to protect the innocent, avenge the victimized, and balance justice, with a measure of mercy.

One of my most favorite series, I received this for audio review.

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Your neighbors have secrets. How far would they go to keep them?

“A simple, ordinary mistake explodes into a suburban nightmare in this hugely compelling, one-sitting read packed full of thrilling moments and genuinely surprising twists. Andrea Mara is at the very top of her game.” —Catherine Ryan Howard

You press send and your message disappears. Full of secrets about your neighbors, it’s meant for your sister. But it doesn’t reach her – it goes to the entire local community WhatsApp group instead.

As rumor spreads like wildfire through the picture-perfect neighborhood, you convince yourself that people will move on, that this will quickly be forgotten. But then you receive the first death threat.

The next day, a woman has been murdered. And what’s even more chilling is that she had the same address as you – 26 Oakpark – but in a different part of town. Did the killer get the wrong house? It won’t be long before you find out…

Thanks to Kim @ It’s All About the Thrill for her great review. The audiobook is on my library wishlist.

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What books did YOU add to your shelves this week?