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I LOVE YOU DON'T DIE

Name: I LOVE YOU DON'T DIE
Author: Jade Song
ISBN: 9780063433885

by Jade Song ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 17, 2026

A primal scream-meets-love letter to a generation struggling to survive late-stage capitalism.

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On most days, Vicky, a copywriter for the “funeral innovation” start-up Onward, can pretend enough to get by.

OK, so not most days. Some days. Even if that means typing in bed in her sixth-floor walk-up in Manhattan’s Chinatown, hiding behind a glib fluency in corporate jargon secretly suffused with self-loathing. While warding off the horrors of the outside world—from layoffs to mass shootings to environmental destruction to deaths by overdose—Vicky takes refuge in her collection of zhiza, paper constructions “burned as sacrifice so the dead could own the depicted riches in the afterlife”: things like laptops, dim sum, cars, cats. There are a few flashes of hope that stave off, however temporarily, the shadow of her constant dread. One is her relationship with her college friend Jen; they were initially drawn to each other because of their mutual embrace of the world’s “bleak emptiness.” Vicky also finds herself in the midst of a blossoming connection with a couple she met on a dating app, the silver-ringed Kevin and blue-streak-bobbed Angela. But just as things are, however tepidly, beginning to look up, Vicky and Jen’s relationship deteriorates after a falling-out over a photo shoot at Roller, the glossy wellness company where Jen works, plunging Vicky into even more isolation. Tragedy strikes soon after and Vicky is faced with a choice—to suffer through her despair or try to find a way out, for better or worse. This novel starkly depicts the effects of untreated mental illness, social isolation, and the social and economic pressures of today’s U.S. The hope that gleams through the pages is well earned.

A primal scream-meets-love letter to a generation struggling to survive late-stage capitalism.

Pub Date: March 17, 2026

ISBN: 9780063433885

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026

Categories:

LITERARY FICTION | GENERAL FICTION

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PHOEBE BERMAN'S GONNA LOSE IT

by Brooke Averick ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 26, 2026

An affirming novel catering to all the anxious romantics out there.

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A 29-year-old with a “phobia of intimacy” is determined to lose her virginity in Averick’s debut novel.

Phoebe Berman thinks there is something wrong with her. On paper, her life looks ideal: She has her dream job teaching pre-K, a supportive family, and a tightknit group of friends in Los Angeles. But as her 30th birthday approaches, Phoebe fixates on her lack of romantic experience—specifically, the fact that she’s still a virgin. Though she considers herself a lifelong romantic, intimacy has terrified Phoebe ever since a middle school incident turned a potential first kiss into a public disaster. So hyperorganized Phoebe does what she does best: She makes a list. Instead of following her therapist’s suggestion to catalog her accomplishments, she creates “Phoebe’s Guide to Losing Her Virginity in Thirty Days,” a checklist featuring tasks that range from “Redownload Hinge” to “Get drunk and make out with a stranger.” Phoebe soon finds herself torn between several romantic prospects, including Matthew, a former high school classmate with whom she shares her daily Wordle scores; Finn, the charming new fourth grade teacher at her school; and Jonathan, her longtime roommate and best friend of 12 years, with whom her parents always dreamed she’d end up. Throughout it all, Phoebe is forced to confront her fears and assumptions about love, intimacy, and herself. Averick’s writing is consistently funny and sharp, balancing comedy with emotional honesty. Phoebe is an intensely relatable main character whose kindness and vulnerability make her easy to root for. Filled with plot twists readers won’t see coming, the book is an irresistibly fun ride that also delivers a compassionate exploration of anxiety and the courage and self-acceptance needed to move through it.

An affirming novel catering to all the anxious romantics out there.

Pub Date: May 26, 2026

ISBN: 9798217088263

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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THE MIDNIGHT TRAIN

by Matt Haig ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 26, 2026

A shaky balance between saccharine and sage will nevertheless appeal to the author’s fans and readers seeking balm.

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An elderly man’s posthumous journey back through his life has unexpected consequences for several people, and lessons for everyone.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that readers adore any novel set in a reading group, bookshop, or library, from the terribly sad (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, 2008) to the puzzle-heavy (Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, 2012) to the downright clever (The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett, 2007). Haig, who’s already written The Midnight Library (2020), mines a similar vein in this novel centered on a bookseller named Wilbur Budd; place this one in the seriously sentimental category. Wilbur dies at 81 just after receiving a call from his ex-wife, Maggie. He finds himself on a classic steam-train carriage, accompanied by a younger version of the woman who founded the bookstore he turned into a global conglomerate. As Mrs. Agnes Bagdale explains, he’s on a trip to significant places and events from his life, but he’s forbidden from interfering in them, thus possibly changing the course of other people’s lives. True to his maverick tendencies, Wilbur struggles with the three rules of the train (“You get on and off the train as required. You never try and speak to yourself. And you must never be there when you fall asleep”) and struggles even more mightily as he realizes that Maggie was his true love and lifelong lodestar. While some moments verge on maudlin, as when Wilbur and Maggie goggle at Venice during their honeymoon, these are tempered by quieter observations, as when Wilbur’s oldest friend, Charlie, tells him frankly during lunch at a trendy restaurant that his constant ambition is a failing. This isn’t a subtle book and it’s not trying to be; it’s urging readers to think about their own choices, wherever they find themselves.

A shaky balance between saccharine and sage will nevertheless appeal to the author’s fans and readers seeking balm.