Sample Saturday is when I wade through the eleventy billion samples I have downloaded on my Kindle. I’m slowly chipping away and deciding whether it’s buy or bye. This week, all three come from Bookish Beck’s favourites for 2025 so far.

Sleep by Honor Jones

Summary: Every parent exists inside of two families simultaneously – the one she was born into, and the one she has made. This is the story of Margaret’s two families (as a ten-year-old and as a 35-year-old).

I’m thinking: Yes.

Dream State by Eric Puchner

Summary: Cece is in love. She has arrived early at her future in-laws’ lake house in Montana, to finish planning her wedding to Charlie. Charlie has asked Garrett, his best friend from college, to officiate the ceremony, though Cece can’t imagine anyone more ill-suited for the task. As events threaten to scuttle the wedding, Cece must decide between the life she’s dreamed of and a life she’s never imagined.

I’m thinking: Yes.

A Family Matter by Claire Lynch

Summary: It’s 2022, and Heron has just had a diagnosis that turns a life upside down. Telling Maggie, his only daughter, and the person his life has revolved around for so long, seems impossible.

It’s 1982, and Dawn is a young mother – just beginning to adjust to life in her husband’s house rather than her parents’ – when Hazel breezes into her life like a torch in the dark. Suddenly life is more complicated, and more joyful, than she ever expected. But Dawn has responsibilities, she has commitments: Dawn has Maggie.

I’m thinking: Yes.