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My Friends
By Fredrik Backman
Atria, May 2025, 448pp.

The Short of It:

A keeper. Whether it’s on audio, in paperback or hardback. Get yourself a copy.

The Rest of It:

The title is appropriate. My Friends promises to be a buddy story, and let me tell you, it does not disappoint. Think Stand by Me or Stranger Things but without the Demogorgons.

Louisa received a postcard of three children on a pier and from that moment on she has been obsessed with that image. More so, because she is an artist herself. Oh sure, she doesn’t see herself as one but her obsession with that image brings her to the museum where that painting is hanging on a gallery wall.

So begins the story. Louisa’s rough upbringing lends her a raw, tattered edge that most see as trouble. She looks homeless because she is. At just 18 years old, she’s seen things and although she has found love once before, the idea of ever finding it again seems impossible. She’s guarded and hides behind her hair most of the time.

One day in an alley, after fleeing a tense situation that she got herself into, she meets a “homeless” man who changes everything for her. Just their meeting sparks something inside of her. Who is this man? And what wisdom does he hold?

I don’t want to give the story away because it’s an amazing story of friendship and love. A buddy story for sure but so much more. These characters are so real, I felt like I knew them. They each represent someone we know. Guaranteed.

Get yourself a copy. You won’t be sorry. There is so much here about love and art and friendship. It brought a tear to my eye a few times.

Highly recommend.

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

Wreck
By Catherine Newman
Harper, October 2025, 224pp.

The Short of It:

A standalone story but one that brings back a beloved character from Sandwich.

The Rest of It:

Rocky is back.

In Newman’s previous book, Sandwich, Rocky and her family spent the summer in Cape Cod. An iconic, idyllic setting. I fell in love with that book and that family.

In Wreck, Rocky and the fam are back two years later, at home doing the things every family does but in a totally Rocky way. Rocky way? Rocky is a character. She is the type of person who says what you are quietly feeling. Honestly, she is a lot like me. I just blurt out my thoughts for all to hear. Most of the time with dead accuracy. Much like Rocky.

This time around, the story is centered around home and some irritating medical challenges that Rocky faces. An unknown rash, slowly taking over her body. Her internal dialogue about said rash, and the doctors who keep bouncing her back and forth between specialists is what women of this age go through daily. Ahem, myself.

Rocky has no filter. If you enjoy that kind of thing then this is the book for you. She talks about her day in a very witty, self-deprecating way. It’s often laugh out loud funny. As she goes about her day, and the many doctor’s appointments that follow, she thinks fondly of her adult children and reminisces about when they were younger. It’s what we do.

There’s not a lot of plot. You need to know this going in but it’s comforting in a way that visiting with an old friend is. Dealing with every day trials in the form of laughter and snippy comebacks. My only complaint with this story is that it ended abruptly. There didn’t seem to be a lead up, I just turned a page (on my device) and boom, it ended.

Episodic is a good way to describe these books. I like them and I recommend them both. They could each be read as a stand-alone.

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

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