TLC BOOK TOUR REVIEW: Playthings by Ilan Mochari

 A Review of Playthings in poetic form 

These poems arrive like riddles in disguise,

small locked boxes that beg for your eyes.
I turned them around, tried each clever key,
ruminating on what they meant to me.

The author writes love notes to life, to the wild and the weather,
finds the sacred in spiderlings, bubblegum, feathers—
the mundane gets lifted, given wings, given flair,
proof that wonder hides in the mundane somewhere.

Some poems made me laugh, some left me undone,
tragedy and comedy sharing the sun.
Every page beautiful, none of them thin—
an aperitif that leaves you wanting seconds again.

So, call it a snack, an amuse-bouche, a bite—
but I finished it hungry, and read into the night.

About the Author

Ilan Mochari is the author of the poetry collection PLAYTHINGS and the novel ZINSKY THE OBSCURE. His short stories and poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Cincinnati Review, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Salamander, Hobart, Juked, J Journal, North Dakota Quarterly, The Louisville Review, Valparaiso Fiction Review, and elsewhere. His work has been nominated for multiple Pushcart Prizes, as well as the Derringer Award for crime fiction, and he has been the recipient of a Literature Artist Fellowship grant from the Somerville Arts Council.

PLAYTHINGS is now available on Bookshop.org and Amazon!

My Rating:

I would like to thank TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour. 

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The Cerebral Girl is a middle-aged blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.

I received a copy of this book to review through TLC Book Tours and the author in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel. 

REVIEW: An Infinite Love Story by Chanel Cleeton

 

Synopsis

When an astronaut is lost in space, his wife relives their epic love as she attempts to unravel what truly happened to him, in this sweeping love story set against the backdrop of the 1960s Space Race, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes.

When Joe Mitchell launches into space, the world is watching. It’s 1968, and the country waits with anticipation and excitement for another successful mission, another celebration as America sets its sights on the Moon. And then comes the knock at the door.

Joe Mitchell’s spacecraft has lost contact. He and his fellow astronauts onboard are feared to be dead. It’s his wife Vivian’s worst nightmare come to life, her grief suddenly taking center stage as the nation waits and mourns. In her quiet moments, Vivian relives their memorable story, unable to accept that this is the end to a love that felt as though it was written in the stars.

As the investigation surrounding Joe’s lost spacecraft intensifies and the mishap is written off as an operator error, Vivian is determined to clear her husband’s name and uncover the mystery of what happened in space. When someone starts sending Vivian messages—messages she believes only Joe could send—she begins to wonder if their love is stronger than space and time, and she’ll do whatever it takes to bring her husband back to her.

Format 352 pages, Paperback

Expected publication July 7, 2026 by Berkley

ISBN 9780593816936 (ISBN10: 0593816935)

About the Author

Chanel Cleeton is the Cuban American New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of many novels, including Reese's Book Club pick Next Year in Havana. Originally from Florida, Chanel studied in London where she earned degrees in international relations and global politics. In law school, Chanel discovered her passion writing novels and embarked on a new adventure following her lifelong love of books. 

Learn more on the author's website

My Thoughts

"Come back to me," she whispered to the sky.

Vivian is practical, with no patience for egos or nonsense — a woman carving out her place in the male-dominated world of 1960s television news. A few months after Viv begins sharing an apartment with Polly in Arlington, VA, the two women meet Joe and Frank, fighter jet pilots with astronaut ambitions. Joe is romantic and impassioned, focused and driven — an adrenaline junkie who loves motorcycles and jets and burns with the dream of reaching space.

"I've never felt more at peace, more in awe of the world around me, of life, than when I'm in the air. There's a poetry about it, a simplicity and beauty to how very small you feel when confronted with the vastness of the universe and your place inside it. It humbles you, I suppose. Or makes you feel like anything is possible. Maybe that's the humbling part. I can never decide."

Polly and Frank fall in love quickly and marry. Viv and Joe are more deliberate — the sparks are immediate, but complications keep them at arm's length for a time. Eventually they find their way to each other. Joe achieves his dream of becoming an astronaut, while Viv quietly sets aside her own dream of becoming a news anchor to support his. Then comes that fateful day when mission control loses contact with Joe's spacecraft, and Viv is left suspended in time, reliving their life together.

"She'd known when he went up that the chance of him coming back to her alive was as good as a coin toss. Now those odds seemed decidedly worse and stacked against her.

How could they lose a spacecraft?"

The portrayal of astronaut families and the politics of space exploration feels richly familiar — very much in the spirit of The Right Stuff, which the author apparently read in preparation.

"Astronaut wives had long been subjected to public fascination and consumption, and considering the army of reporters camped out on her front lawn waiting for a glimpse of her, they didn't care that this was one of the absolute worst moments of her life."

Around 70% in, the story takes a turn that carries a distinct Interstellar quality — though told from a wife's perspective rather than a daughter's. It's a clever blend of romance, sci-fi, and emotional depth that keeps the story feeling fresh: Interstellar meets The Time Traveler's Wife.

But at its heart, this is a love story — many love stories, really. There is love between people, love for dreams, love for life itself. Yet threading through all of it is Viv's story, and it is hers above all else.

Five words: sentimental, mind-bending, slow ride, romantic, murky

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My final thoughts: This is ultimately about Viv and Joe — a love that transcends time, a meditation on loss and the quiet rebirth of love. The story moves slowly and tenderly, and while the sci-fi elements raise questions that remain unresolved, I still found myself deeply absorbed in their journey. For fans of emotionally resonant sci-fi like The Time Traveler's Wife, I'd recommend this one if you're looking for a gentle read that stirs your heart, nudges you to contemplate the vastness of the universe, and leaves you comfortable sitting with more questions than you started with.

My Rating:

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The Cerebral Girl is a middle-aged blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.

I received a copy of this book to review through BookBrowse in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel. 

QUICK REVIEW: Upward Bound by Woody Brown

 

Synopsis

Upward Bound is not a place anyone dreams of spending their days. The dreary adult daycare center for Los Angeles's disabled community is, for many of its clients and staff, a place of last resort. This includes Carlos, a young aide who lost his mother as a boy and now works there alongside his beloved sister Mariana; Jorge, the gentle nonspeaking giant whom Carlos seeks to befriend (and prevent from escaping); Tom, a beautiful young man with cerebral palsy, who pines for Ann, the summer lifeguard at the center's pool who feels out of her depth; then there's Dave, Upward Bound’s director who came to L.A. to pursue an acting career but now channels his passion into staging an overly ambitious holiday show starring the center's irrepressible clients. Framing these intertwined narratives—and connecting them in surprising, shattering ways—is the riveting and sometimes ironic testimony of Walter, a recent community college graduate who, after a family tragedy, must return to the company of his disabled peers.

In Upward Bound, Woody Brown has created an indelible, authentic, and profoundly moving group portrait of autism and other disabilities, all illuminated by his empathy, sly sense of humor, and enormous gifts as a novelist. With remarkable sophistication, insight, and creativity, Brown depicts a community too-often invisible in literature and society. Filled with characters you won't soon forget, Upward Bound will inspire and touch you, teaching you as much about yourself as the tender, miraculous world behind the center's doors.

Format 208 pages, Hardcover
Published March 31, 2026 by Hogarth
ISBN 9780593979976 (ISBN10: 0593979974)

My Thoughts

The story unfolds through the first-person perspectives of both patients and workers at an adult day care center — a world that doesn't often find its way into fiction, and one that turns out to be quietly rich with humanity.

What makes it work is the angle. Rather than observing these characters from the outside, you're dropped directly into their inner lives — their small victories, their frustrations, their moments of unexpected connection. It feels fresh in a literary landscape where the same settings and storylines seem to recycle endlessly.

That said, don't go in expecting a page-turner. Upward Bound is not a story that grabs you by the collar. It's more of a gentle companion — the kind of listen you settle into rather than race through. As an audiobook it worked particularly well for that reason, fitting naturally into quieter moments of the day.

My final word: Upward Bound took me by surprise with its setting and approach. It won't be the most thrilling thing you listen to this year, but it's a genuinely pleasant diversion with more substance than you might expect. Sometimes that's exactly what you need.

My Rating:

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The Cerebral Girl is a middle-aged blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.

REVIEW: Wait for Me by Amy Jo Burns

 

Synopsis

From the author of Mercury and Shiner comes a novel about the bond between two female folk singers, the love stories that haunt them, and the music that brings them together to burn bright.

Young folk singer Elle Harlow reaches the height of her prowess in 1973, with two wildly beloved albums to her name and a hidden history of impossible heartbreak. When she sets foot on the famed Grand Ole Opry stage, a far cry from the mountain that raised her, Elle gives the biggest performance of her life. Then, to the dismay of shocked fans, her producer, and the man who still loves her, she vanishes.

Almost two decades later, eighteen-year-old Marijohn Shaw is spending her summer pumping gas, writing songs on her broken mandolin, and longing for a mother. Her father, Abe, has always sworn he was the last person to see Elle Harlow alive, but when a meteor strikes the woods of their sleepy Pennsylvania town and a piece of Elle’s past emerges from the wreckage, the truth of her disappearance sets fire to everything Marijohn believes about herself, her music, and her ability to love with abandon.

Wait for Me exalts the lush hills of Appalachia and the bright lights of Nashville as it reveals the legacy of Elle Harlow, the bold voice that defined her, the intimate betrayal that undid her, and the unexpected faith of another young woman determined to resurrect her.

Format 336 pages, Hardcover
Published March 3, 2026 by Celadon Books
ISBN 9781250399304 (ISBN10: 1250399300)

About the Author

Amy Jo’s new novel, Wait for Me, is the Today Show Read With Jenna pick for March 2026. She is the author of three other books, including Cinderland, Shiner, and Mercury, which was a Barnes & Noble Book Club Pick, a People Magazine Book of the Week, and an Editor’s Choice selection in The New York Times. A western Pennsylvania native, she lives in New Jersey with her family.

You can find her on Instagram at @burnsamyjo.

Find her website at Amy Jo Burns

My Thoughts

Wait for Me by Amy Jo Burns is a little dreamy and strange, but mostly enjoyable. 

"People passed through her like water through a sieve"

Elle Harlow is a woman forged by hardship. Raised by a father who grieved the healthy son he never had, she became the next best thing — hunting, providing, holding the family together when he left for war, and tending to a sickly brother with the hands of a healer. 

But Elle's truest language was music, and it was through bluegrass and the music of her small mountain community where she said what she couldn't otherwise.

Wait for Me winds through the decades, tracing the arc of a woman who briefly captured the attention of the music industry before vanishing just as suddenly as she appeared. Decades later, her story becomes entangled with that of Mary John — an aspiring musician and songwriter living motherless in the world.

Burns offers up a unique storyline that has an almost magical quality to it — moments that feel suspended just slightly outside of ordinary reality, as if the characters exist in a world where the rules are just a bit more elastic than our own. This dreamlike atmosphere is one of the book's strongest assets, and it carries you through the slower stretches with a kind of gentle momentum.

That said, the plot does occasionally veer into territory that strains credibility. There are a handful of moments that require a fairly generous suspension of disbelief — situations that felt too convenient or too far-fetched, even by the novel's own internal logic. It doesn't derail the experience entirely, but it does make it difficult to fully lose yourself in the story at times.

If you're listening to the audiobook — and honestly, that might be the best way to experience this one — you're in for a treat on the production front. The narrators do a commendable job bringing the characters to life, finding distinct voices that make it easy to track who's who. What really sets this audiobook apart, though, is the inclusion of actual musical snippets: songs written and performed by the characters are woven right into the listening experience. It's a really nice touch that adds texture to the story and makes the music feel real rather than imagined. It's the kind of detail that elevates the format beyond simply "someone reading a book aloud."

Five words: dreamlike, wistful, unique, incredulous, gentle

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My final word: Overall, Wait for Me is a pleasant and mostly satisfying read — or listen. It won't necessarily blow your mind, but it's a worthwhile journey if you're in the mood for something with a bit of magic, a unique premise, and the willingness to go along for the ride even when things get a little hard to believe.

My Rating:

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The Cerebral Girl is a middle-aged blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.

World Book Day 2026

 
As far as I'm concerned, every day should be World Book Day. I love books. I love the feel of them, the weight of them, the look of them on a shelf. Their fonts, their edges, their colorful covers. The worlds they permit you to visit, the other lives for you to live. I've said before that there are so many people that I hear speak and think that they just need to read a book. Their minds are so small; their thinking so limited. Read a book, any book. It doesn't have to be a history book or science book or the biography of an important figure. You can learn something from just about any book. They open doors to other worlds, to other cultures. No matter what you read, it's inevitable that you will learn something. Maybe it's just a new word, maybe it's geography, a skill you didn't know existed before. You'll learn something, expand your mind, learn that there's a whole world outside of that little corner that you live in. 

Read a book. Read a book to yourself, read a book to a child. Share a book with a friend or neighbor. Join a book club. Just do it. Just read.

Happy World Book Day