Book Review:: Girls Our Age | Pheobe Thompson

This psychologically intense story of female friendship was kind of like a fever dream, if I’m honest. Lily, Ana, and Margot have been friends since they were roommates in college, and now ten years later, things are more complex than ever.

Girls Our Age by Pheobe Thompson Book Cover

Each of the girls is struggling in a different way. One with the resurgence of a mental illness that once consumed her. One with her relationship with her high school sweetheart and coming to terms with her social status. One with her career.

The novel lives inside each of their heads, walking through the state of their thinking and the facts of their lives. The friendship is what ties them together, but, as with many old friendships, the thing itself is hardly ever a priority, and that becomes part of the story too.

I don’t know, maybe this book deserves more than three stars. If I was judging by writing craft alone, I would certainly rate it higher, but all I can do is rate it as an experience as a whole, and there’s something holding me back there for that fourth star.

Perhaps you love reading about the complexities of female friendship and the kind of coming-of-age that comes through dodging psychological shrapnel. In that case, I can recommend this title to you whole-heartedly. But for me, there was a layer of something missing. My feelings about this book probably say more about myself than the book itself.

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: Girls Our Age
Author:: Phoebe Thompson
Genre:: Literary Fiction
Publisher:: Lake Union Publishing
Length:: 340 pages
Published:: May 5th, 2026
The Litertarian Rating:: 3-Stars



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Book Review:: Both Things Are True | Kathleen Barber

I love a good complex second chance romance story, but hanging it all upon a series of miscommunications is risky business, and in Kathleen Barber’s new release Both Things Are True, I didn’t quite buy it.

Both Things Are True by Kathleen Barber Book Cover

After years apart, Vanessa and Sam end up living in the same building. Both of them are at pivotal moments in their lives and careers and are harboring old feelings for one another. The present timeline is honestly so sweet between the two of them, and I totally bought into all the romance and leftover feelings. I was rooting for them so hard. But as their past started revealing itself in layers, and especially once the revelations came up in the back half of the book, the problems that came up between them made me like them less. It was one miscommunication after another. Really, did they understand one another at all? I accept that miscommunication is a realistic element to many serious relationships, but to rely on that entirely and for that to ‘fix’ everything in the end…it kind of ruined the good thing they had going.

Would I still recommend this book? Gah, maybe. There is still plenty of good romance and other storylines that make the novel interesting, but it wasn’t a smash hit for me. Hey, both things are true.

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: Both Things Are True
Author:: Kathleen Barber
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: Lake Union Publishing
Length:: 303 pages
Audio Length:: 8h 38m
Audiobook Narrator:: Amy Handelman
Published:: September 1st, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 3-Stars



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