Lia Anshar's Honest Pages

  Genre: Adult Romance Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) We follow Chelsea Parker, a 26-year-old who grew up around football (thanks to her coach father and two linebacker brothers), but her true passion has always been math. She excels at analyzing statistics to predict outcomes, and her greatest ambition is to become the first female head of analytics for an NFL team. For now, she is working to earn an entry-level position with her father’s new team, the struggling Mastodons. Enter Luca Maguire, a pass rusher whose career is on the line. When Coach Parker assigns Chelsea to work with him as his "personal coach" for training camp, Luca has to stay while hiding a secret about their unfinished encounter seven years earlier, and the fact that he has never stopped thinking about her. As a Math Olympiad alumnus, I was immediately drawn to Chelsea’s character. It is wonderful to see a protagonist who is unapologetically smart and passionate about math. Chelsea captures that quirk, genuine love f...

  Genre: Mystery, Thriller Published: March 30, 2026 by Ellery Kane Publishing Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) In 1997, Sweetbriar High’s seniors buried a time capsule at graduation. That same night, their homecoming queen, Blair Lennox, vanished without a single trace. Fast forward to now, and Juniper Pickett is driving all the way from San Francisco straight back to that tiny town. She left her career as a psychologist and a whole mess of trouble behind her. The time capsule is getting dug up tomorrow, and if that happens, her worst secret is out for everyone to see, and she can't let that happen. I was hooked the second I read the premise: a time capsule reveal turns into unearthing a cold case; it sounded promising! I spent the whole book leaning forward like “what is she hiding? Did she actually do it??” I love the small town vibe here. Thrillers hit different when everyone knows everyone’s business, and also everyone’s hiding something. Kane captures the essence of a close-knit community ...

  Genre:  Middle Grade, Mystery Publishing date:  July 28, 2026 Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  IndieBound Synopsis: An eerie middle grade mystery debut that follows a young girl who returns home to find the people of her little town, including her best friend, chillingly changed after the arrival of the prim and proper Gingham family. “A rip-roaring adventure, but more importantly, a kids’ power ballad to the importance of being yourself.” —New York Times-bestselling author Gordon Korman When 12-year-old Joni Bird returns home from summer camp, it’s clear something strange is afoot in Olive Springs. May, her usually head-banging best friend, now wears her hair in a tight bun and calls playing the drums “unladylike.” The ice cream shop only serves vanilla ice cream. The women and girls of the neighborhood all sport big pearl earrings and crisp cotton dresses. At the heart of it all? The creepy new family in the neighborhood wi...

  Genre:  Mystery, Psychological Thriller Published:  July 21, 2026 Rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5) "He never left my side. Not in jail. Not during my first chemo or surgery. Not during long nights when the pain felt endless."  At 4 AM, Nicole gets the news that her daughter Lacey was found barely alive in the woods, covered in blood, next to her friend’s husband who’d been stabbed 44 times. And ever since that night, Lacey hasn’t said a single word. Not to cops, not to her husband, not even to her own mother.  Now Lacey’s locked up, her three children are stuck with an unreliable father, but Nicole knows her daughter. She’s no killer. That silence isn’t guilt; it’s pure fear. Whatever went down in those woods scared her more than prison ever could. So Nicole starts digging and quickly learns some secrets that destroy everything. If you’re only here for a straight-up "whodunit", this might surprise you. The mystery bits are totally addictive, creepy, and page-turning,...

  Series: Colburn Brothers (#3) Genre: Contemporary Romance Published: July 14, 2026 by Sourcebooks Casablanca Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) Twelve years ago, Hazel Pierce packed up and left Star Falls. Now she’s back because her dad’s health has gotten worse, and suddenly she’s face-to-face with everything she ran away from: Tucker Colburn. Now, she runs Pierce Custom Woodwork and ends up working on a job for Tucker’s family, so avoiding him is not really an option. Tucker’s a firefighter now, and while he’s secretly so happy Hazel’s home, he’s doing his best to keep his feelings locked down tight. He’s pretty sure he wouldn’t survive getting his heart broken by her twice. The whole town can see how perfect they still are together, except these two. They’re convinced this can only end badly.  Jill Shalvis’s writing is just so easy and fun to read. The story moves at a nice steady pace, with just enough little moments to keep things interesting. The banter is great, there’s so much heart...

  Genre: Adult Fiction, Romance Published: July 21, 2026 by Page & Vine Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) Where We First Fell follows Ellie Cassidy, who ran away from her hometown, Faircloud, after getting her heart totally broken. Years later, she finally works up the nerve to come back, only to be hit with all the old stares, whispers, and painful memories she tried so hard to leave behind. Just when she starts questioning everything again, one thing stays the same: her childhood best friend, her biggest protector, and the guy who’s loved her quietly for years, Logan Walker. When she needs a break from it all, he offers her a road trip to breathe, and maybe a shot at the kind of love she never thought she’d get. This plot sounds pretty familiar if you read a lot of romances: small town girl/boy leaves, comes home, and realizes their person has been right there the whole time. But what makes it special is the way M. Hartley writes it, which makes it feel really sweet. This has a great slow-b...

Genre:  YA Horror Publishing date:  July 14, 2026 Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  IndieBound Synopsis: A deliciously twisted, fast-paced YA horror, where debutante dreams become bloody nightmares–perfect for fans of House of Hollow and Their Vicious Games.  It’s 1921, and Mrs. Caroline Reginald Kane, the last surviving descendant of a family of oil barons, has invited four young debutantes to visit her at Greystone Manor. There, they’ll compete for the ultimate to become heir to her unspeakably vast fortune. But only one girl can win. And the manor is watching. Dorothea is a thief, and the best liar in the American Northeast. Her mother vanished at Greystone years ago, and she’s determined to find out why–so long as no one uncovers her secrets first. Vaughn isn’t crazy. She was born for this life– and she won’t let anyone come between her and the fortune she deserves.   Birdie doesn’t know why she’s been invited, but she ...

  Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) "Feeling his words like something tightening around me, I take a deep breath. 'I haven’t killed her yet.'" What would you do if you couldn’t stop thinking about killing someone? That’s exactly what Jemma Stelling is dealing with in The Opposite of Murder. She’s so scared she might actually kill her stepmother, Marianne, that she does something totally unexpected: she walks into a police station and confesses, "before" she ever does anything. She plans that if her dark thoughts are officially on record, she’ll never go through with it because she’d get caught right away. But things get wild fast: while she’s still talking to the cops, Marianne is found dead, stabbed exactly the way Jemma described. Now Jemma has a perfect alibi, but she knows way too much about the crime. Is she an innocent woman trying to do the right thing, or a mastermind who planned every detail? It’s such a clever idea that immediately pulls you in, though this isn’t...

  Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) "In the end, if Lucky lost Dina, wasn’t it his own fault for not having the courage to ask her himself and face rejection?" The story is centered on Dina who is a Toronto lawyer and she’s dead set on not ruining her sister's wedding day by keeping her divorce a secret, and even hoping her awful ex stays quiet too. But things get messy fast when she meets the groom’s best man: Luqman “Lucky” Latif, her old crush who vanished without a word.  Lucky’s got his own side of the story. He gave up his dreams to help his family, built a great business from scratch, and thought he was over Dina. After all, she “rejected” him and married his best friend, Arshad! Seeing her again brings all those old feelings rushing back, and he’s not sure if he can handle it.  As all the fun, crazy wedding events go on, they start reconnecting and realize everything between them was a lie. Arshad manipulated them both just to get close to Dina and her family’s law firm. Now the...

Genre:  YA Fantasy, Romance Publishing date:  July 6, 2026 Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  IndieBound Synopsis: Prepare for a deliciously dark standalone, set in the same world as Of Flame and Fury, where star-crossed enemies gamble with their hearts, their empires, and the fate of a lost god. On an island ruled by pageantry and pain, power comes at an impossible price. Inna is the perfect heiress to the Pallo crime family: poised, cunning, untouchable. Behind this glamorous facade, she hunts for the sinister truth behind her older sister’s death. Despite the cover-up she’s been led to believe, Inna can feel an enemy lurking in the shadows, or perhaps even hiding in plain sight. Rylan has sculpted himself into a talented thief. His heart may be guarded, but his purpose is clear: retribution for his family, murdered by Inna’s mother. Armed with illusion magic, Rylan plans to steal an ancient riddle from the Pallo vault, one that lea...

  Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) "Before she could speak—not that she could—the man took her into his arms and lowered his mouth to hers." Lady Sophie is naturally shy and prefers to stay out of the spotlight, but her quiet night takes an unexpected turn when she gets lost in the corridors, only to be swept into the arms of a stranger and kissed out of nowhere. That stranger is Lord Tamworth, a viscount who has sworn he will not marry until he turns thirty.  He must first finalise important personal plans before he can even consider settling down with a wife, so when he accidentally kisses an innocent young woman, he hurries to make amends only to stumble into another awkward mistake. Unable to get the lady with the soft lips and sharp mind out of his thoughts, he goes to great lengths to see her again.  Sophie is later surprised to learn Lord Tamworth will be joining the Belinda School for Curious Ladies as a guest teacher. Though she intends to avoid him, he keeps seeking her out f...

Genre: Anthology, Fantasy, YA Fiction Coming September 8, 2026 Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)  The book opens with a girl running across the desert, fleeing soldiers who destroyed her home. Along the way she meets other refugees, all heading somewhere safe. To get through the hard journey, they take turns telling each other stories, stories about jinn, sibling quests, lands being taken over, and magic everywhere, in caves, deserts, mountains, but most of all in each other. These are not just idle tales, they are fables rooted in the myths and legends of the authors’ diverse cultures, echoing the loss, hope, and struggle they face in the real world.  What makes this book stand out from every other anthology I’ve picked up is how tightly it is woven together. Most anthologies feel like separate pieces placed together, but here, every tale is actually connected and builds into one beautiful whole. It’s a structure I’ve never seen done this way before and I loved it so much!  Mind you, t...