Surprise Spring Group Book Club, Books You'll Scream For, & 2 Great Books To Read

Good Morning Reader,

Thank you so, so much to those who took a few minutes to write a testimonial for the website. They are live on The Uncorked Librarian homepage. 💕

What you will find in this email:

Fictional Ghost Books For Adults
Books & Movies To Armchair Travel To India
Our *Surprise* 2026 Group Read/Online Book Club Selection
Two Books I Recently Loved & Think You Will Too

From Cute PJs To Haunted Houses, Read Our Favorite Fictional Ghost Books For Adults

Not all ghost stories will keep you up at night. Some will make you cry, swoon, or crave a midnight snack in cozy pjs.

Discover the best ghost books for adults, from Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House and Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic to cozy reads like Other Birds and Good Spirits.

Whether you want horror, Gothic fiction, psychological thrillers, or a little romantic magic, this spooky reading list has something for everyone, updated for 2026.

Click here to read our favorite fictional ghost books.

Travel To India With These Books & Movies

We have three updated movie and book lists to inspire your India travels:

🇮🇳 4 & 5-star books about and set in India

🇮🇳 Movies about and set in India if you love history, dancing, and romance

🇮🇳 Great books on Hindu mythology

Surprise Group Read/Online Book Club Discussion (Mark Your Calendar: May 30th Weekend)

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Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy book

An Uncorked Reader suggested that we host an online group read for Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy. I have yet to read this one, so this is a publisher summary:

A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A rising storm on the horizon.

Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers, but with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants. Until, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman mysteriously washes ashore.

Isolation has taken its toll on the Salts, but as they nurse the woman, Rowan, back to strength, it begins to feel like she might just be what they need. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting herself, starts imagining a future where she could belong to someone again.

But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, they all must decide if they can trust each other enough to protect the precious seeds in their care before it’s too late—and if they can finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together.

A novel of breathtaking twists, dizzying beauty, and ferocious love, Wild Dark Shore is about the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love, even as the world around us disappears.

As this is a newer title with long library waitlists, let's aim to read Wild Dark Shore for the May 30th weekend with a casual online discussion in Uncorked Readers. In the future, I would like to move discussions to a special forum platform, as Facebook is a hot mess for many reasons.

I will try my best to get 'preview' discussion questions to you before then, but I don't want to read the book too early either, as my memory is that of a goldfish's.

2 Book Recommendations For You

✨ Grace & Henry's Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman ✨

Click here to buy a copy

🐶 Plot: When Henry and Grace lose their life partners in a plane crash and to cancer, respectively, they must find happiness and love again without betraying the past. Did the past also betray them?

On the day of her husband’s funeral, Grace takes her children to adopt a dog, and soon after, she becomes 'grief friends' with Henry, thanks to their meddling moms. Check the trigger warnings.

💜 Why I Loved It: From the authentic tone and laugh-out-loud, relatable humor to Harry Styles the dog and the mice situation, I could not put down Grace & Henry's Holiday Movie Marathon. Henry has a gem relationship with Grace's children, and I adore Ian and Bella’s personalities.

Just one quote that made me laugh literally out loud: Henry to Grace, “How are you so fast? Your legs are half as long as mine!”

Grace: “I’m a liberal American woman, Henry! I’m fueled by rage!”

The holiday movie tie-in is the cherry on top, and everything about this story is hard and devastating but also cozy-sincere and so hopeful. Their family and friend group reminds me of every good TV sitcom.

✨ Laws of Love and Logic by Debra Curtis ✨

Click here to buy a copy

Plot: One high-school, booze-filled, beach party evening changes the course of Lily, the boy whose name we never learn, and her friends’ lives. As each character moves forward - fighting personal demons - Lily can’t help but think of "the boy," even as she marries a gem of an ornithologist who teaches classes at my alma mater, Smith College.

Lily struggles with the guilt of loving two men, questioning her faith and character. Her sister, Jane, struggles through a troubled but “free” life. Check the many TWs. This is an intense read.

Why I Enjoyed It: Part of Jenna Hager Bush’s Thousand Voices, Laws of Love and Logic is a story about grief, sisters, guilt, responsibility, loyalty, and first love, spanning decades and filled with hope, loss, friendship, and marriage.

I love how Jane and Lily’s mom taught them to be strong, independent women, going to protests and receiving the best educations at Yale and Smith.

I think you'll enjoy the deeply atmospheric New England setting and meditative reflection on the choices we make.

The tail end feels a bit like trauma dumping, which I think celebrity book clubs problematically gravitate toward too often. However, the story is well-written and gripping.

I thought the author would eventually name “the boy” as part of some thought-provoking literary device. She does not, and I don't think that adds value to the themes...it just annoys readers. But I'd love to hear what you think, and book clubs will devour this novel.

Say Thanks With A Tip

If you are participating in a reading challenge or planning on joining our group read, please donate a tip via secure Stripe. While these activities are free to everyone, they are not free to produce and manage - so every bit helps out a lot!

Click here to leave a donation toward the reading challenges.

Up Next & Currently Reading

I'll be back with April bingo card reminders, and I'm working on our summer TBR pile reading challenge. I cannot wait to clear up some of my shelves.

Along with Lonely Planet Prague (and Pocket Prague, which is excellent), I've started an advanced reader copy of Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (April 7, 2026 release date).

This novel is so politically timely, following tradwife Natalie, who wakes up in the pioneer life she emulates for her massive online followers.

Needless to say, Natalie is not equipped for this new, harsh world (I mean, she had her entire kitchen rebuilt to hide its modern appliances for social media) and is pretty detestable. Did I mention she hates women (and her husband), especially "Angry Women?!" Ya know, the ones who go to college, want careers, and call out her BS?

I'm about 30% in and thinking maybe she will learn a few lessons?! Maybe... What a book!

The Uncorked Librarian