Marin Robinson

Reviews

Books

  • It’s Different This Time Review — Joss Richard

    Romance • 2026 It’s Different This Time By Joss Richard • ★★★★ I’m a fall loving theatre nerd from LA who works in entertainment, so this book felt close to home. It’s a rekindled flames romance that had me swooning, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s a great cozy romance to kick off fall. That…

  • Bad Words Review — Rioghnach Robinson

    A 4-star Bad Words review: an enemies-to-lovers romance with Emily Henry vibes, real character growth, and a too-tidy ending.

  • Famesick Review — Lena Dunham

    A 4-star Famesick review: Lena Dunham’s memoir on chronic pain gets repetitive, but that’s kind of the point. Here’s what worked and what didn’t.

  • The Third Gilmore Girl Review — Kelly Bishop

    A 5-star review of The Third Gilmore Girl: Kelly Bishop’s memoir is a must-read for Gilmore Girls fans and a perfect fall pick.

  • Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It Review — Brooke Averick

    A 4-star review of Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It: Brooke Averick’s delightful, endearing romance, especially for readers with anxiety.

  • Night Road Review — Kristin Hannah

    A 4-star Night Road review: Kristin Hannah’s emotional hangover of a novel is a fast read, though less gripping than The Great Alone.

  • Go Gentle Review — Maria Semple

    A 3-star Go Gentle review: Maria Semple’s follow-up to Where’d You Go, Bernadette is decent but silly, and slow to start.

  • First-Time Caller Review — B.K. Borison

    A 3-star First-Time Caller review: B.K. Borison’s BookTok-famous, Sleepless in Seattle-style romance, and why it deserves a 3.5.

  • The Shampoo Effect Review — Jenny Jackson

    A 4-star The Shampoo Effect review: Jenny Jackson’s novel had me curious going in and mostly satisfied coming out.

  • In Her Own League Review — Liz Tomforde

    Romance • 2026 In Her Own League By Liz Tomforde • ★★★★★ I love baseball. Truly, it’s the best sport and one of the most underappreciated. I’d been waiting weeks for this one to become available at the library, and when it finally did, it did not disappoint. This book was almost a grand slam…

  • The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris Review — Evie Woods

    Romance • 2026 The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris By Evie Woods • ★★★ I was actually looking for a different Evie Woods book, but it wasn’t available at the library — this one was. It sounded fun and whimsical, and since I’m learning French, the Parisian setting tempted me enough to give it…

  • The Bright Years Review — Sarah Damoff

    Literary Fiction • 2026 The Bright Years By Sarah Damoff • ★★★★★ I wish this book had come with a trigger warning — though it wouldn’t have stopped me from loving it. My dad is an alcoholic, and my relationship with my mother was non-existent after a certain point in my teen years, so this…

  • Into the Blue Review — Emma Brodie

    Romance • 2026 Into the Blue By Emma Brodie • ★★★ This book quickly rose to TikTok popularity, so I went in with high hopes. And while it was enjoyable, I came out feeling a little fooled. The story didn’t need to be 400+ pages long, and a lot of that padding comes from a…

  • Atmosphere Review — Taylor Jenkins Reid

    I went in expecting something almost comedic — a thriller with a wink. What I got was something more grounded and more uncomfortable, and a quiet portrait of what women in the 50s and 60s actually lived through.

  • What Happens in Amsterdam Review — Rachel Lynn Solomon

    I went in expecting something almost comedic — a thriller with a wink. What I got was something more grounded and more uncomfortable, and a quiet portrait of what women in the 50s and 60s actually lived through.

  • Best Offer Wins Review — Marisa Kashino

    I went in expecting something almost comedic — a thriller with a wink. What I got was something more grounded and more uncomfortable, and a quiet portrait of what women in the 50s and 60s actually lived through.

  • The Secret Lives of Murderers’ Wives Review — Elizabeth Arnott

    I went in expecting something almost comedic — a thriller with a wink. What I got was something more grounded and more uncomfortable, and a quiet portrait of what women in the 50s and 60s actually lived through.

  • Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I’ve Cried About Review — Isabel Klee

    This felt like a modern-day Girls or Sex and the City — but with characters you actually root for. I always wanted to live in NYC in my 20s and never got to. Isabel let me experience that life vicariously, even if a decade late. I started crying on page 91 — the moment Sweet…

  • Piglet Review — Lottie Hazell

    Book Review — Lottie Hazell This is the kind of book I want to exist. I wanted to love it. I didn’t. Piglet covers a lot of ground — self-discovery, class systems, sexism, ambition, purpose — and it does all of it through the lens of an eating disorder. The main character copes through binge…

  • Strangers Review — Belle Burden

    Book Review — Belle Burden I went into this knowing nothing about Belle Burden. Truly thought she was just another person writing about their divorce. Then I found out about the Paleys and the Vanderbilts, and by then I was already too invested to care. The biggest criticism of Strangers — and you’ll see it…

  • The Ending Writes Itself Book Review — Evelyn Clarke

    Book Review — Evelyn Clarke Glass Onion and Murder on the Orient Express had a baby — and it felt like a fever dream. That’s the only way I know how to describe The Ending Writes Itself. Six struggling authors summoned to a private Scottish island to write the ending of a dead novelist’s final…

  • Loved One Book Review — Aisha Muharrar

    Book Review — Aisha Muharrar From the rave reviews I’d seen online I expected something that would hit harder. It didn’t, at least not immediately. The first half of this book went over my head — which, lately, seems to be a trend. I’ve been sitting with why, and I think I landed on an…

  • Remarkably Bright Creatures Book Review — Shelby Van Pelt

    Book Review — Shelby Van Pelt I was sitting at Eagle Harbor Book Co. on Bainbridge Island, reading this book, when a staff member told me the author was speaking at Elliott Bay. Of course I went. That’s how I found out Shelby Van Pelt is from the Pacific Northwest — and that Remarkably Bright…

  • Wild Dark Shore Book Review — Charlotte McConaghy

    Book Review — Charlotte McConaghy I picked this up on a whim from my library’s new releases shelf. The Goodreads reviews were promising — around 4 stars — and the plot sounded compelling enough. I wanted to like it. I really did. Wild Dark Shore reads like two separate books, and that’s both its strength…

  • Heart the Lover Book Review — Lily King

    Book Review — Lily King I went into this book thinking it would be a light romance I could easily blow through. I was wrong. The first 100 pages of Heart the Lover went in one eye and out the other. To be fair, work was consuming my life at the time and the only…

  • A Guardian and a Thief Book Review — Megha Majumdar

    Book Review — Megha Majumdar One of the most well written books I’ve read in recent memory — and I almost missed it entirely. A Guardian and a Thief is a simple story on the surface. But everything in it is written with such care that you feel the weight of every sentence. Megha Majumdar…

  • Scream With Me Review — Eleanor Johnson

    Book Review — Eleanor Johnson A random TikTok sent me to the library waitlist for this one. Months later, I finally got my hands on it — and I was hooked within a few pages. I’ll be honest: I don’t like horror movies. Reading the descriptions of the films covered in this book scared me.…

  • Margo’s Got Money Troubles Is Getting a TV Series — Read the Book First

    Book Review — Rufi Thorpe I’d vaguely heard of Margo’s Got Money Troubles from various online book communities and only knew it was supposed to be funny. That’s all I went in knowing — and honestly, that’s exactly how I’d recommend you read it too. It was a pleasant surprise. The humor reminded me of…

  • Madonna in a Fur Coat Review – Sabahattin Ali

    Book Review — Sabahattin Ali I discovered this book the way so many others do — BookTok. I knew almost nothing about the plot, which turned out to be the right way in. It’s 1920s Berlin. A young Turkish man named Raif arrives to learn a trade (soap-making, of all things) and falls into a…