As you contemplate the end of this calendar year and the start of the one ahead, I’d like to encourage you to adopt a motto for 2026. Last summer, as I was preparing to start my two-year journey as Dean of the Class of 2027, one of the kids in the class (Hi, JK!) recommended…
Author: caritagardiner
NetGalley Review of An Academic Affair
title: An Academic Affair author: Jodi McAlister publisher: Atria Books publication date: November 11, 2025 pages: 384 peppers: 3 (on this scale) warnings: parental death (in past) parental abandonment (in past) mean parents (present) abandonment issues alcohol spousal abandonment summary: Jonah and Sadie have been academic rivals for more than a decade with only six…
NetGalley Review of Hate You, Maybe
title: Hate You, Maybe author: Julie Christianson publisher: independently published publication date: September 20, 2025 pages: 350 peppers: 1 (on this scale) warnings: past trauma summary: Sayla wants to win the big grant for her theater program, so when her boss tells her that she needs to prove she’s a team player by going on…
361. Why Life’s Going to Life
I bought a T-shirt with the image above many years ago as a baby present for a friend who named her kid Henry. Just kidding, she named him Tate. If you know a Tate and/or like potatoes, you can click on the photo above to see a website where you can buy the shirt. I…
NetGalley Review of Something Wicked
title: Something Wicked author: Falon Ballard publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons publication date: December 2, 2025 pages: 384 peppers: 3 (on this scale) warnings: violence magical violence mind control murder blood summary: Cate and her twin sister Audra have been working as courtesans for Harry since he took them in from an orphanage, where they were…
NetGalley Review of Hearts in Circulation
title: Hearts in Circulation author: Sarah Monzon publisher: Bethany House Publishers publication date: November 18, 2025 pages: 304 peppers: 1 (on this scale) warnings: chronic medical issues and medication summary: Hayley’s new job as circulation librarian brings her nearly to a small town when the bookmobile falls apart ten seconds before a rock slide blocks…
360. Why I’m Not Proud
The photo above shows me giving a speech the night before last spring’s graduation. If you want to watch the speech, you can click this link and advance about 27 minutes. I am proud of my speech and was thrilled with how the 2025s reacted to hearing my words. You might be thinking, “The title…
NetGalley Review of Second Chance Romance
title: Second Chance Romance author: Olivia Dade publisher: Avon publication date: November 25, 2026 pages: 400 peppers: 3 (on this scale) warnings: fake news summary: Two years after her ugly divorce and twenty years after leaving Harlot’s Bay just before her high school graduation, audiobook narrator Molly learns of the murder of her high school…
359. Why Count Up
There’s a passage I’ve always loved in Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees in which the characters discuss whether they like sunrises or sunsets more. I agree with the protagonist, who says she loves sunrises because, no matter how many insurmountable tasks are on her to-do list each day, at sunrise, she still has hope that…
358. Why Count Down
This week at my school is Spirit Week, the days leading up to the end of our Fall sports season, a day on which almost all of our teams play against our rival school. One of my favorite traditions is that many of the previous year’s graduating seniors return to see one another and cheer…