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The Future Saints: When Grief Becomes the Music
When Theo is sent to manage The Future Saints and get their final contracted album recorded, he doesn’t realize he’s about to change his life. Hannah, Ripper, and Kenny lost their manager a year ago and have been flailing ever since. Together these misfits will create the best music of their lives if the…
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January Reading Wrap-Up
In January, I read 14 books in a variety of genres. I had fantasy, sci-fi, romance, mystery, and contemporary fiction. I had zero non-fiction. I do have a goal to read 20 nonfiction books in 2026 so I need to make sure February has at least a couple. One of my favorites from this…
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Small-Town Murder for People Who’ve Never Lived in Small Towns
Booked for Murder by PJ Nelson After moving away from Enigma, Georgia almost 20 years ago, Madeline Brimley inherits her aunt’s bookstore and home. She’s looking to escape her life in Atlanta and grabs the opportunity without hesitation. She didn’t expect solving a murder to be part of the relocation package. This is a…
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We Are Legion, We Are Bob, We Are… Kind of the Same Guy Over and Over
I picked up We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor hoping for John Scalzi in space. What I got was a tech manual with occasional jokes. Look, I love Scalzi’s blend of smart-ass humor and actual storytelling. This book has the smart-ass part down, especially if you’re a Trekkie who’ll catch…
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Beyond WWII: Why The Women Fills a Gap in Historical FictionThe Women
We’ve all read the WWII historical fiction. There are approximately 47,000 books about nurses in London during the Blitz. But Vietnam? That war gets treated like America’s awkward phase we don’t talk about at family dinners, and the women who served there get even less attention. Kristin Hannah fixes that with The Women. Frankie…
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The Pie & Mash Detective Agency
The Pie and Mash Detective Agency promises an oddball couple solving mysterious disappearances, but delivers a cluttered mess instead. Jane and Simon investigate multiple missing women named Nellie Thorne for their PI class, but the central mystery gets buried under scattered subplots: Jane’s job search, Simon’s mom and her friends’ problems, an overeager librarian,…
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Most Eligible: Reality TV Romance Goes Behind the Scenes
Most Eligible by Isabelle Engel is basically Unreal (the Lifetime TV show) in book form. Georgia is a freelance journalist desperate for a full-time gig as a music columnist, and she’s been offered a shot at it if she can take down one of the producers of Love Shack, a Bachelor-style reality show. Her…
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Welcome
Welcome to Beyond the Book Blurb Hi, I’m Laura. I’m an unrepentant book buyer who reads 100+ books a year and owns more than I’ll ever actually get through. My physical TBR is out of control, my Kindle is bursting, and I’m not even a little bit sorry about it. I just love being…