The Sunday Salon... New Year, New Books!

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! Happy New Year! The Sunday Salon is the place where Book Bloggers from around the world share their bookish finds with one another in a virtual place called The Sunday Salon. Thank you to for Deb at ReaderBuzz keeping us all together on Sundays and hosting The Sunday Salon now! I also visited with Kim at The Caffeinated Reader, another Sunday gathering place for us bookish people called The Sunday Post ! It's a beautiful day in South Carolina and a perfect day to talk books. And talking books is what The Sunday Salon is all about! 

And just as soon as Thanksgiving and Christmas arrived, they were gone... and the new year slipped in.

I never make new years resolutions anymore. But I do put up a GoodReads books read tracker on Chick with Books, and make a guess as to how many books I want to read this year. This year I put a very reasonable 25 as the goal. Of course, I will probably go over that, but it will be fun to see when I get to 25. Already I have a new pile of books waiting for me because... ALL my reserve books at the library came in the SAME day! Even though they were all suppose to be months away! The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb, Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid and Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite have been waiting for me to finish my "first book", Heart the Lover. 

(Psst, I finished Heart the Lover, started The River is Waiting, finished that last night and next up is Atmosphere).

Do you make a goal of how many books you will read this year?

What the new year definitely brings are new books! What are you looking forward to? Are your favorite authors releasing anything new? Here's what's coming soon from some great authors...

Skylark by Paula McLain... 

1664: Alouette Voland is the daughter of a master dyer at the famed Gobelin Tapestry Works, who secretly dreams of escaping her circumstances and creating her own masterpiece. When her father is unjustly imprisoned, Alouette's efforts to save him lead to her own confinement in the notorious Salpêtrière asylum, where thousands of women are held captive and cruelly treated. But within its grim walls, she discovers a small group of brave allies, and the possibility of a life bigger than she ever imagined.

1939: Kristof Larson is a medical student beginning his psychiatric residency in Paris, whose neighbors on the Rue de Gobelins are a Jewish family who have fled Poland. When Nazi forces descend on the city, Kristof becomes their only hope for survival, even as his work as a doctor is jeopardized.

A spellbinding and transportive look at a side of Paris known to very few—the underground city that is a mirror reflection of the glories above—Paula McLain’s unforgettable new novel chronicles two parallel journeys of defiance and rescue that connect in ways both surprising and deeply moving.

I am so excited to read this! My favorite book by Paula McLain is Circling the Sun. She does an incredible job bringing to life historical women.

Published by Atria Books and coming out this Tuesday, January 6th!

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Woman Down by Colleen Hoover...      

Her words used to set the page on fire. But a viral backlash over her latest film adaptation forced Petra Rose to take a hiatus, resulting in missed deadlines and an overdue mortgage. Branded a fraud and fame-hungry opportunist, she learned the hard way what happens when the internet turns on you. And she’s been uninspired to write ever since.

Now, with her next suspense novel outlined and savings nearly gone, she retreats to a secluded lakeside cabin, hoping to find inspiration. It’s Petra’s last-ditch attempt to save her career―and herself.

Then he shows up.

Detective Nathaniel Saint arrives with disturbing news, his presence igniting a creativity in her she thought long since burned out. Petra’s words return in a rush, and her fictional cop character begins to mirror the very real cop who’s becoming her muse.

Don't we all love those twisty romances Colleen Hoover writes! This sounds like another winner by her!

This is published by Montlake, an imprint of Amazon and will come out January 13th.

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The Storm by Rachel Hawkins... 

St. Medard’s Bay, Alabama is famous for three things: the deadly hurricanes that regularly sweep into town, the Rosalie Inn, a century-old hotel that’s survived every one of those storms, and Lo Bailey, the local girl infamously accused of the murder of her lover, political scion Landon Fitzroy, during Hurricane Marie in 1984.

When Geneva Corliss, the current owner of the Rosalie Inn, hears a writer is coming to town to research the crime that put St. Medard’s Bay on the map, she’s less interested in solving a whodunnit than in how a successful true crime book might help the struggling inn’s bottom line. But to her surprise, August Fletcher doesn’t come to St. Medard’s Bay alone. With him is none other than Lo Bailey herself. Lo says she’s returned to her hometown to clear her name once and for all, but the closer Geneva gets to both Lo and August, the more she wonders if Lo is actually back to settle old scores.

Published by St. Martin's Press and will be released this Tuesday, January 6th!

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Weekly Wrap-up...

Thursday... we reveal our "First Book of the Year" for 2026! (Hint... I read it in 24 hours, it was that good!

Friday... is all about first lines, and these first lines will make you happy if you're a fan of "the bookwoman"!

Saturday... was my FIRST book review of 2026! Heart the Lover by Lily King was definitely a 4 star read.

So, this has been my crazy first week of the year! How was yours?!

Let me know what new books are on your radar... and if you picked out a "first book" for the new year!

Happy Reading... Suzanne