Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

The Summer of the Serpent by Cecilia Eudave review: A haunting novel that needed more room to breathe

Some novels leave you wanting more because they are so immersive you never want them to end. Others leave you wanting more because they feel unfinished. Unfortunately, The Summer of the Serpent by Cecilia Eudave falls somewhere between those two experiences.

Set in Guadalajara during the sweltering summer of 1977, The Summer of the Serpent unfolds through a series of interconnected vignettes narrated by children, adults, ghosts, and even a snake. The result is a fragmented portrait of a neighborhood haunted by disappointments, strange encounters, and the lingering weight of memory. Drawing heavily from myth, folklore, and surrealism, Eudave crafts a work that feels less like a traditional novel and more like a collection of stories circling a common emotional center.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Ways to Find Yourself by Angela Brown: A thoughtful, quietly surreal novel about identity, memory, and starting over

At 33, Grace Whittaker is convinced she’s finally figured herself out. By 38, that certainty has unraveled completely. In Ways to Find Yourself by Angela Brown (releasing May 1, 2026), that shift—subtle at first, then all-consuming—becomes the foundation for a story that explores how fragile our sense of self really is.

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The novel opens with Grace at 33, secure in who she believes herself to be. But when the narrative moves forward five years, everything has changed. Her mother has died, her writing career has stalled, and her marriage is quietly falling apart. Returning to Sea Drift, the beach town of her childhood, feels less like a retreat and more like a last attempt to make sense of a life that no longer fits.

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