Book Review | Book Chatter

Dear Debbie
By Freida McFadden
Poisoned Pen Press, January 27, 2026, 336pp.

The Short of It:

Whoa, Nellie. What a wild ride.

The Rest of It:

Debbie is a small town advice columnist whose career is going nowhere. Like, really nowhere. Most of the “advice” she provides can only be saved to a private file because it’s NSFW or life. I am being slightly dramatic. Her advice is GREAT but probably not legal. When she finds herself let go, she doesn’t immediately panic since her husband Cooper is the real breadwinner anyway.

But…Cooper’s career is a real mess too. Desperate for a promotion but really, really not wanting to ask for one, he is left without a choice when Debbie tells him to go in there and demand what he wants. This doesn’t end well.

While their careers hang in the balance, other things hit the fan like their eldest daughter’s loser boyfriend causing trouble, and their younger daughter getting kicked off the soccer team. An athlete with incredible talent. Debbie is appalled and goes off the rails dealing with all of it. That’s the thing with Debbie, you really don’t want to be on the wrong side of her.

Debbie is a real go-getter so when her husband isn’t, it’s easy as a reader to read between the lines when other people get involved. Let me tell you though, McFadden pulls some surprising punches that I did not see coming. It’s wild!! I read one chapter again, just to be sure I was understanding it correctly.

This is a fun, dishy read. My first McFadden. If you want a page turner that makes you laugh at loud in places, and gasp in others, then this is the book for you. It took me right out of my day and entertained me in a way I had not been entertained in a while.

Recommend.

Source: Review copy sent to me by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

The Ten Year Affair
By Erin Somers
Simon & Schuster, October 2025, 304pp.

The Short of It:

Compelling and thoughtful.

The Rest of It:

When Cora meets Sam at a baby group in their small town, the chemistry between them is undeniable. Both are happily married young parents with two kids, and neither sees themselves as the type to engage in an affair. Yet their connection grows stronger, and as their lives continue to intertwine, the romantic tension between them becomes all-consuming—until their worlds unravel into two parallel timelines. In one, they pursue their feelings. In the other, they resist. ~ from the publisher

I saw The Ten Year Affair on the Tournament of Books 2026 shortlist and was immediately intrigued. Luckily, I found it quickly on Libby and blew through it. It’s an amazing read in that you absolutely feel the conflict between these characters as well as the temptation. Oh boy, the temptation.

Cora is happily married to her husband. But is she really happy? Things have gotten rather safe. Her husband spends a lot of time smoking weed on the balcony while the kids sleep. The weed, well, it affects things in the bedroom. He’s struggling at work and she’s just miserable doing the same thing over and over both at work and at home.

Sam, is the dad of dads. His wife is an overachiever and very successful. He holds down the fort but is this his life now? Going to daddy and me classes and running the kids back and forth?

Sam and Cora end up at one of those baby and me classes and there is an instant attraction. Sam listens to Cora in the way that her husband does not. The two forge an immediate bond. Friendly, sweet. They decide to bring their significant others into the mix, signifying a platonic friendship, just looking for a little parental support.

That’s how it starts out.

Then, Cora begins to imagine an alternate reality. In that timeline, she and Sam are seeing each other. In the real world she refrains, they both do, but in that other timeline, things get serious pretty fast. The story bounces back and forth between the imagined timeline and what is actually happening until the two blur together and then there is only one timeline.

This is an intense read. Sam and Cora’s “relationship” spans ten years. Ten years of wishing, and hoping and then pulling the trigger. How does such a relationship affect these two families. How is it right, when two marriages are at stake? But it FEELS right. That’s the conflict. Erin Somers writes a story that has you going one way and then the other. Cora isn’t in the wrong. She’s not getting the attention she needs. And then, how could Cora do that? How could they start something while still fully involved with their spouses?

I would hazard to guess that anyone who has been married for say 15+ years or more, has experienced some of these feelings. Somers has created real, flawed, characters but ones that you root for even though what you are rooting for is potentially a marriage break-up. That’s conflict to the highest degree. If I had to assign a song to this book, it would be Depeche’s A Question of Lust.

Highly recommend. I went digging around to see what else she’s written and I see one other book, Stay Up with Hugo Best and I will for sure find a copy.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

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