Book Notification Weekly Picks #36

By Vince MoralesFeb 13th, 2026

Book Notification Weekly Picks: February 13th, 2026

Vin - Entertainment Editor

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Book Notification Weekly Picks.

I finished reading Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, which I recommended here way back in Weekly Picks #15. This one had been on my TBR list for quite a while, and I was glad to finally check it off. There is a lot of good stuff in this book, but ultimately it’s just not long enough. I know that’s a weird thing to say, especially about a 367-page book, but I definitely wanted more, and it felt like a lot was left on the table. Still, a very enjoyable, if violent, 7/10.

“Wuthering Heights” releases in theaters this weekend, and the reviews are starting to come in. The quotation marks have always been the weirdest part of the title, but it now makes sense as it has come out that the movie only really takes the main characters and tells a different story than Emily Brontë‘s book. I’ve seen reviewers say that Brontë is “rolling in her grave” over this adaptation, which is weird because someone would first need to explain to her what a movie even is for her to do that. She died in 1848. It will still do well, I’m sure, but be warned, this is not a true adaptation.

That’s all I have for this week. Let’s get to the picks.

Vince
Entertainment Editor @ Book Notification

A Book You’ve Been Meaning To Read
Title: The Underground Railroad
Author: Colson Whitehead
Series: Standalone
Published: 2016

Description: On a Georgia plantation, an enslaved young woman escapes with another slave via the Underground Railroad, confronting shifting landscapes of danger, betrayal, and fragile freedom.

Title: The Hook Up
Author: Kristen Callihan
Genre: Sports Romance
Series: Game On
Published: 2014

Description: A college student and a star quarterback agree to a secret no-strings arrangement, but their rules grow harder to keep as attraction deepens into real feelings.

Title: A Game of Life or Death
Author: Triona Campbell
Genre: Young Adult
Series: A Game of Life or Death
Published: 2023

Description: After her sister’s suspicious death, a teenager infiltrates a tech company’s esports tournament to uncover the hidden truth behind a revolutionary virtual reality game.

Title: Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea
Author: Rebecca Thorne
Genre: Cozy Fantasy
Series: Tomes & Tea
Published: 2022

Description: An assassination attempt leads a royal guard and the realm’s most powerful mage to abandon court life to open a bookshop and tea house, only to face lingering political threats.

Title: While We Were Burning
Author: Sara Koffi
Genre: Domestic Thriller
Series: Standalone
Published: 2024

Description: After her best friend’s death, a Memphis woman hires a poised assistant who is secretly investigating her son’s police killing, entwining their lives in a search for truth.

Title: Parable of the Sower
Author: Octavia E. Butler
Genre: Sci-Fi
Series: Earthseed
Published: 1993

Description: In a near-future America ravaged by climate collapse and violence, teen Lauren Olamina survives disaster, develops a new belief system, and leads others toward a fragile hope for humanity’s future.

Title: The Shop on Hidden Lane
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Standalone
Published: 2026

Description: Rival psychic families Sophy Harper and Luke Wells join forces to find their missing relatives and protect a dangerous secret, uncovering murder and betrayal at a strange desert art colony.

Title: The Pilgrim’s Revenge
Author: Scott Mariani
Genre: Historical Fiction
Series: Will Bowman
Published: 2025

Description: After his wife is murdered by crusading soldiers in 1190, a farmer joins Richard the Lionheart’s army, pursuing vengeance across Europe during the Third Crusade.

Title: The Engine House
Author: Rhys Dylan
Genre: Detective
Series: DCI Evan Warlow
Published: 2021

Description: When two bodies surface on Pembrokeshire’s coastal path, retired DCI Evan Warlow returns to investigate the reopened case he once led, as new murders expose long-buried secrets.

Title: How We Learn
Author: Stanislas Dehaene
Genre: Self Help
Published: 2018

Description: Explores how the human brain learns, drawing on neuroscience, psychology, and computer science to explain its mechanisms and inform education and artificial intelligence.

Title: The Cleaner
Author: Mark Dawson
Genre: Spy Thriller
Series: John Milton
Published: 2013

Description: Government assassin John Milton goes into hiding after a failed mission, but intervenes in a gang conflict that draws both criminals and his own agency’s killers to his door.

Title: The Mothers
Author: Brit Bennett
Genre: Coming of Age
Series: Standalone
Published: 2016

Description: In a seaside town, a grieving teenager’s secret pregnancy and cover-up bind her, her former lover, and her best friend to choices that shape their intertwined adult lives.

Vince is the Entertainment Editor at Book Notification. His first book was Green Eggs & Ham by Dr. Seuss, and his passion for reading took off from there. He'll read just about anything, but can usually be found re-reading his favorite Pynchon novels and Seattle Mariners box scores.

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