This book begins with some personal comments from authors Fern (a trauma and relationship expert and psychotherapist) and Cooley (a professional restorative justice facilitator and diversity awareness trainer) explaining where the ideas for the titular “Shame Triangle” originated. Fern recalls an anecdote from her personal life in which her “competing needs” reminded her of how often she thinks about herself in terms of “parts” that seem to have their own “concerns, priorities and desires.” What follows is a breakdown of the authors’ views on the key components of shame and its impact on people and relationships. They posit that shame is viewable through a triangular framework based on psychiatrist Stephen Karpman’s Drama Triangle, which includes the roles of Victim, Persecutor, and Rescuer. Fern and Cooley’s Shame Triangle, however, includes slightly different roles, as it applies to both internal and external conflicts; these roles are the Inner Critic, Shame, and Escaper. The authors detail the strategies and behavioral impacts of each part of the triangle: Where do they come from? Why do they exist? How can we begin to address them? Each of these ideas is effectively supported by humanizing personal anecdotes and peer-reviewed academic literature. Fern and Cooley have prepared this book with accessibility in mind, seeking to ensure that even readers with limited knowledge of psychology and medicine will be able to use these strategies to start the journey toward self-understanding. They make it clear that the goal is not necessarily to change the self, but rather to work with natural inclinations to find healthier ways to resolve conflicts, both within and outside the mind. This book will be appreciated by anyone searching for new ways of understanding shame and trauma, especially for the purpose of enhancing mental stability and relationships.

Thanks to her best friend and crush, Blake Abrams, who performs CPR, 16-year-old Altagracia “Grace” Martínez is revived. While she’s recovering, Grace, who’s a bisexual filmmaker and musician, finds her world forever altered when she begins seeing the dead everywhere. Most notably, a ghostly teen named Mohammad Ahmadi, who died in 1987, appears in her bedroom wearing a noose. Grace, who’s grieving her mother’s suicide two years earlier, starts investigating Mohammad’s death. She faces skepticism from her friends, self-absorbed father, and judgmental stepmother, all while decoding Mohammad’s messages, which he delivers via retro song lyrics. Her search for the truth uncovers buried family secrets, political corruption, and even La Llorona herself. The author offers an original premise with cultural depth, high emotional stakes, and intriguing themes of grief, family legacy, and identity, which ground the supernatural elements. However, deeper exploration of fewer plot points would have led to a richer reading experience. The key relationships, especially that between Grace and Blake, would also have benefited from more depth. The cast of characters, which is diverse in both ethnic background and sexuality, adds richness to the narrative. Grace presents Mexican American, Blake is Jewish, and Mohammad is Afghan American.

Tragedy strikes on the eve of Rosa’s 15th birthday: Rosa’s beautiful 18-year-old sister, Julia, is killed by Kike, her jealous boyfriend who’s a member of Mara Salvatrucha, the gang also known as MS-13. After Kike, who’s 28, stabs Julia and Julia’s friend Herman right in front of Rosa and her little brother, Juanito, the siblings are forced to flee; as witnesses, their lives are in danger. The pair set off for the home of their Aunt Hilda in Guatemala, where they plan to wait for Mamá to join them. But when Hilda’s husband announces a plan to force Rosa into prostitution, Hilda tells her to run to her Aunt Teresa in Houston, a journey that involves life-threatening risks. This fast-paced story provides a stark reminder of the senselessness and terrifying impact of gang violence, but the narrative moves at a breakneck speed, jerking readers from one harrowing situation to the next without allowing enough time to pause for real reflection. Some statements feel unsuited to the intended audience, as when Pablo, the father of a family Rosa travels with, observes that she’s at risk because she “has nothing but her youth and beauty. And tragedy is a companion of beautiful women.”

This literary pas de deux from the veteran author and Pulitzer winner Butler is ostensibly set in Paris in 2020. That’s where novelist Amanda Duval and literary scholar Howard Blevins had hoped to revisit the places they first met in 1968—before they married, divorced, and remarried back in the U.S. But with Covid forcing everyone indoors, the novel largely takes place in their rented apartment, and more precisely in their memories. To pass the time, they encourage each other to write and share stories about their courtship, split, and reconciliation. Litigating the past is fraught for the two—an infidelity, acknowledged but not discussed in detail, prompted their divorce—but Butler’s goal is more subtle than staging he-said-she-said debates. Rather, by having them write out their recollections, Butler plays with their distinct styles—Amanda more literary, Howard more bluntly factual—to show that while a couple might agree on the facts, their meaning and the intensity of feelings they evoke can differ substantially. There are silly moments that feel forced, like Howard’s tryst with a fellow modernist scholar determined to precisely reenact the closing pages of Ulysses, but Butler’s approach is generally sober, built on less explosive vignettes about the couple’s past romances and relationship with their daughter. While the overall mood is generally tender and affectionate—the two are in their 70s and disinclined to fly solo again—Butler also adds enough tension to suggest that a marriage involves navigating and reconciling a lot of miscommunication, regardless of the couple’s stage in life.

In a prologue, Peter Jay uses the key given to him by his recently deceased father, John, to access a manuscript that “looks beneath the record” with margins “crowded with a single name, written over and over—Mr. Smith.” The narrative then continues in chapters that jump back and forth in time to share the saga of the Doctrine, a covert agency led by Smith, that spans from the run-up to the American Revolutionary War to Andrew Jackson’s rise to the presidency. This latest series installment introduces a new fictional main character called Cyrus, a foundling brought by Smith—whose origin story was covered in Phantom Patriot (2025)—to John Jay and his wife, Sarah, in Spain in 1780. The couple were residing in the country during Jay’s ambassadorship there. Cyrus is raised as part of the Jay family, eventually moving back with the clan to the United States. Meanwhile, he receives secret instructions on how to become a Doctrine asset. By the age of 16, he begins his assignments, with Cyrus and others traveling the globe to perform such tasks as switching shipping manifests. A watershed moment involves Cyrus meeting the alluring Camille, soon revealed to be a French intelligence agent, with the two drawn to each other despite differing missions. Both Smith and Cyrus elude assassination attempts thanks to surprising saviors. Then, by 1829, the Doctrine itself is in jeopardy with “Jefferson’s shadow fading fast” and “half the old norms…being stripped for sport” in the new Jackson era.

“If this story sends you back to the footnotes others skim—if you pause when the archive goes too quiet too quickly—then it has done its work,” notes Gosselin in his afterword, objectives well met in this intriguing imagining of an Illuminati-type force operating on behalf of the emerging U.S. on the world stage. The author points to his discovery of a notation for “payment rendered for intelligence” to a “Smith” in a 1786 ledger found in the Library of Congress as inspiration for his series. Gosselin’s love of documentation is evident throughout this latest installment, with the Doctrine’s work often involving forging or misdirecting papers and Peter Jay left puzzling over a final code in that unlocked manuscript, setting the stage for a possible fourth volume in this series. Unfortunately, the author can focus a bit too much on Doctrine mechanics and minutiae (the secret meetings, even those with Founding Fathers, become somewhat repetitive) while not always providing enough background on the actual historical events covered. Many readers will likely stop and consult external sources to better understand the context of this novel’s references to the Chesapeake-Leopard affair, the Shays’ Rebellion, U.S. concerns in Haiti in 1802, and more. Scenes featuring Doctrine operatives other than Cyrus and Smith also distract from the compelling duo. Still, the most striking takeaway of this engaging work is how fraught the U.S.’s beginnings were, with the issues faced by the young nation—including disagreements about trade embargoes and how to enter others’ wars—still resonating today.