Motherhood | Book Chatter

Trad Wife
By Sarah Langan
Atria, September 29, 2026, 320pp.

The Short of It:

Trad Wife is everything that Yesteryear wasn’t. There, I said it.

The Rest of It:

*No Spoilers*

“Every day, millions watch Mia Wright, the “trad wife” queen, on her idyllic three-hundred-acre farm. With her handsome husband, seven well-behaved children, and a life of from-scratch meals and pastoral bliss, she’s an icon of modern femininity. But behind every perfect image is a secret. And in this case, the secret is a horror.”

Naturally, someone with this following commands the attention of every journalist out there, but Jenny Kaplan is the one who lands the assignment. Why? She has no idea. She’s been trying to get bigger stories, but the smallish press she works for errs on the conservative side after her last story stirred up trouble with a rogue online group that targeted Jenny for the opinions she expressed. Unfortunately, those opinions cost her her job, and she is immediately let go.

It turns out Mia Wright requested Jenny specifically to cover her story. Everyone is chomping at the bit to get this story, so Jenny’s boss gives her the assignment, and Jenny heads off to Black Swan Farm.

Mia’s family is charming. Her husband, Steadman, is loving and fully invested in the family farm. Mia is pregnant with her eighth baby and still cooking everything from scratch while tending to her online business selling Black Swan merch. Jenny observes everything, and Mia is very kind. She opens her home to Jenny, provides her with living quarters, and, in a week’s time, they will switch places so Jenny can see what it’s really like to run Black Swan Farm.

Enter cherry-scented everything. The entire home smells like cherries because it’s the farm’s number one selling product. It also covers up the disgusting stench that wafts over Jenny’s room every now and then. What is that? One of the children explains that something probably died in the wall.

Um, red flag.

What follows is an intimate look at the influencer lifestyle, what it takes to be successful, and what’s a little more smoke and mirrors than actual fact. In just a week’s time, though, the farm has lost its shine. It seems run-down, almost withered. Looking at it with fresh eyes, Jenny can’t believe it’s the same farm she arrived at just a few days ago.

Well, things have changed. Trad Wife is so, so good. You see, there is a backstory and plenty of history to that little town. Jenny is introduced to it in bits and pieces, mostly through observation but also through Mia’s children and some others in town. What begins as an exposé turns into a horrifying encounter.

Why this one worked so much better for me than that other book:

Plot
Likable characters
A true sense of foreboding and horror
A deeper, underlying message
A good “what is going on?” factor

Buy it. Get a copy. Comes out September 29th.

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

All the Little Ways
By Laura Lekkos
Gallery, June 9, 2026, 320pp.

The Short of It:

A wholesome exploration of female friendship.

The Rest of It:

Liz and Victoria couldn’t be more different.

Liz is a wayward soul with a good heart, but she can’t quite stick the landing on any one thing. Raised by her hippie, eccentric mother and with no real relationship with her father, she drifts through life somewhat happily, but always with an underlying sense of restlessness.

Victoria is older, driven, and successful. She knows exactly what she wants and isn’t afraid to go after it. She’s effortlessly put together, polished, and shrewd when she needs to be. What could these two possibly have in common?

They’re both expecting their first child and end up in the same parenting class.

Liz quietly observes Victoria, admiring the way she carries herself. After they exchange a few kind words, Liz starts to wonder if Victoria might be the friend she’s been missing.

As they navigate pregnancy and their relationships, it becomes clear that neither woman’s life is as perfect as it appears. Victoria and her husband are forced to confront a serious breach of trust, while Liz realizes that she and her boyfriend, Preston, simply don’t fit the way she always imagined they would. Sure, he’s the baby’s father, but do people really have to stay together just because they share a child?

Both women face challenges throughout their pregnancies. Some are professional, but most are deeply personal. They lean on each other through it all until they don’t. Can two women with such different outlooks truly support each other when their values and choices begin to clash?

This was a very readable novel, but the real magic comes together in the final third of the book. For a debut, I was impressed. I would definitely read Lekkos again.

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

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