One of my goals this year is to help you spend less time wondering what to read next and more time actually reading.

Every Tuesday on Instagram, I share a roundup of books hitting shelves that day. But over here, we get to answer the real question: Should you read it or skip it?

This week’s stack took me everywhere from influencer-fueled psychological thrillers and complicated family beach dramas to necromancers, unicorns, magical forests, and one absolutely gorgeous literary fiction novel that may end up being one of my favorite books of the year.

As always, these are just my personal reactions. A book that didn’t work for me might end up being your next five-star read, and a book I loved may not land the same way for everyone else. That’s the fun part of reading.

So let’s sort through this week’s new releases and figure out which books earned a spot on your TBR and which ones I’d leave on the shelf.

🎧 Man of My Dreams

Read or Skip: SKIP
Rating: 3 stars

I spent most of this book feeling like I had accidentally picked up the wrong story.

The synopsis promises one thing. The book delivers something completely different.

And look, I don’t mind a good twist. I don’t mind a mystery leading into another mystery. But I do mind when an entire storyline feels like it exists purely to distract the reader from what the book is actually about.

By about a third of the way through, it became painfully obvious that the mystery I thought I was reading wasn’t really the mystery at all. Once that clicked, I couldn’t stop wondering why I had spent so much time investing in a plotline that ultimately felt irrelevant.

The biggest issue for me was that it felt like two separate books smashed together. One story is introduced, another story takes over, and neither one felt fully satisfying by the end.

I know some readers will enjoy the layered mystery approach, but personally, it left me frustrated rather than impressed.

Final thought: If you love mysteries that constantly pull the rug out from under you, this may work better for you than it did for me. Unfortunately, I spent more time feeling irritated than intrigued.

🎧 Tell Your Friends

Read or Skip: SKIP (for me)
Rating: 3 stars

This is one of those books where I loved the premise far more than the execution.

The idea is fantastic. A woman who grew up on her family’s wildly successful vlog channel begins questioning the life that was built for public consumption. The conversations around influencer culture, internet fame, parasocial relationships, and identity were easily the most interesting parts of the story for me.

Maybe it’s because I work in content, but I found myself much more invested in the questions underneath the thriller than the actual mystery itself. Who are you when your entire life has been curated for an audience? How much of your identity belongs to you versus the version people expect you to perform?

That’s fascinating territory.

Unfortunately, the mystery never fully came together for me. I kept waiting for a twist that would genuinely surprise me or a reveal that would completely reframe everything I thought I knew, but it never quite arrived.

I also listened on audio and found the POV transitions surprisingly confusing. Despite having a single narrator, there were multiple moments where I had to stop and figure out whose perspective I was actually in.

Final thought: An interesting exploration of influencer culture and internet fame wrapped inside a psychological thriller, but I wanted more from the mystery than it ultimately delivered.

👨‍👩‍👧 Down with the Shipmans

Read or Skip: READ
Rating: 4 stars

Some books feel like summer. Not because they’re light or fluffy, but because they understand nostalgia.

Down with the Shipmans is one of those books.

After the death of their mother, three sisters return to their family beach house only to discover their father plans to sell it. On paper, that’s the plot.

In reality, this book is about everything that house represents.

Childhood memories. Family history. Old wounds. The versions of ourselves that seem to reappear the second we walk back through the front door of a place that once felt like home.

What worked best for me was how complicated the family dynamics felt. Nobody is entirely right. Nobody is entirely wrong. They’re simply people carrying years of shared history and trying to navigate grief, change, and each other.

The New Hampshire coastal setting adds so much warmth and atmosphere, but beneath that cozy summer exterior is a surprisingly honest story about loss and moving forward.

Final thought: A heartfelt beach-town family drama that perfectly balances nostalgia, grief, humor, and complicated sibling relationships.

🩵 Whistler

Read or Skip: READ IMMEDIATELY
Rating: 4.5 stars

Ann Patchett somehow managed to write a book that feels both quiet and enormous at the same time.

Whistler begins with a chance encounter at a museum when Daphne Fuller unexpectedly comes face-to-face with Eddie Triplett, the former stepfather she hasn’t seen in decades.

From there, the story unfolds into something beautiful, reflective, and deeply human.

This is a book about memory. About the choices that shape our lives and the people who leave permanent fingerprints on us, even when they’re only part of our story for a short time.

What struck me most was how effortlessly Patchett captures the feeling of looking backward. The realization that entire versions of ourselves still exist in other people’s memories. The understanding that seemingly small moments can quietly alter the course of a life.

It’s understated in the best possible way. There aren’t huge dramatic twists and there doesn’t need to be.

The emotional impact comes from the humanity of it all.

Final thought: One of the most beautiful books I’ve read this year and a reminder that sometimes the quietest stories leave the deepest marks.

🦄 The Unicorn Hunters

Read or Skip: READ
Rating: 5 stars

Anne of Brittany wanted to avoid marriage so badly that she invented an elaborate unicorn problem.

Honestly? Iconic behavior.

The Unicorn Hunters is exactly the kind of historical fantasy I love: rich with real history, layered with folklore, filled with clever women, political intrigue, magical forests, and just enough wonder to make everything feel possible.

Katherine Arden takes the story of Anne of Brittany and reimagines it through the lens of myth and magic, weaving unicorns, lost cities, prophecy, and the legendary forest of Brocéliande into a story that feels both fantastical and deeply rooted in history.

I was completely swept away. The magic is wonderful, but what really stood out was Anne herself. Arden allows her to be clever, strategic, stubborn, ambitious, and deeply human in a way that feels incredibly refreshing.

Also, Louis throwing himself into danger at every opportunity in the name of love? More of that, please.

Final thought: Magical forests, court intrigue, clever women, unicorns, and history reimagined through fantasy. Katherine Arden remains incapable of disappointing me.

💀 Hopelessly Necromantic

Read or Skip: READ
Rating: 4 stars

Bone jokes? Check.

A burned-out thirty-something necromancer who really wishes someone else would save the kingdom? Also check.

Hopelessly Necromantic follows Sikras, a disgraced royal necromancer grieving the loss of his wife while reluctantly getting dragged into another world-saving adventure alongside a demon recruit and an extremely charming skeleton brother-in-law.

The humor here worked really well for me. It’s packed with puns, self-awareness, and that specific kind of fantasy comedy where everyone seems slightly exhausted by the fact that they’re in a fantasy novel.

At its core though, this is a story about grief, healing, friendship, and finding reasons to move forward. The romance is very light and develops quickly, but I found the friendships and found-family dynamics far more compelling anyway.

My only real criticism is that everything feels a little surface level. The heavier emotional themes are there, but the book rarely digs as deeply into them as I wanted it to.

Still, it’s incredibly charming.

Final thought: A funny, cozy fantasy full of skeletons, necromancy, found family, healing, and enough bone puns to make me question all my life choices.

And that's this week's release-day stack.

As for the standouts, Whistler and The Unicorn Hunters were easily the stars of the week for me, while Down with the Shipmans delivered exactly the kind of nostalgic summer family story I tend to love.

Now I want to hear from you: Which of these new releases are you most excited about? And if you've already picked one up, let me know whether you agree with my verdict or think I completely missed the mark.

Until next Tuesday, happy reading. 📚