Book Review: The Marriage Habit

Title: The Marriage Habit

Author: Casey Caston & Meygan Caston

Publisher: Convergent Books

Publication Date: February 3, 2026

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Drawing on fifteen years of data from their Marriage365 app, Casey and Meygan Caston have created a refreshingly practical guide to improve any marriage. Their central premise is simple but powerful: most couples don't need more therapy—they just need better habits.

The book's true strength lies in its actionability. The Castons present ten non-negotiable habits that successful couples use to maintain and repair their relationships, with each chapter concluding with probing questions for discussion and self-awareness:

The 10 Habits:

1. The KNOWN Position - Daily physical connection and eye contact
2. The Weekly Marriage Business Meeting - Aligning on schedules, responsibilities, and priorities
3. Love Lists - Showing love in the specific ways your partner wants
4. The 60-Second Blessing - Daily affirmations and compliments
5. Connection Time - Scheduled weekly fun and laughter together
6. Leverage Your Differences - Appreciating each other's strengths and rhythms
7. The Codeword - Using conflict as an opportunity to grow
8. Unsolicited Apologies - Keeping short accounts and admitting wrongs quickly
9. Head. Hands. Heart. Habit. - The power of forgiveness and repair
10. The sex talk - Great sex starts with great conversations

The chapters on unsolicited apologies and forgiveness particularly stand out for me, with the Castons noting that "an apology is the closest thing marriage has to a magic wand." Their emphasis on curiosity as "the ultimate relationship hack" and their reminder that "progress matters more than polish" create a safe space for couples at any stage to begin improving their relationship.

"The Marriage Habit" offers hope that with intentionality and the right habits, any couple can create the relationship of their dreams.

A big thank you to Convergent Books and NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. 

Book Review: When I Kill You

Title: When I Kill You

Author: B.A. Paris

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Publication Date: February 17, 2026

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

B.A. Paris knows how to mess with your head, and this book had me second-guessing everything. The creeping paranoia of being watched, the silent phone calls, the unexplained flowers—it all gets under your skin fast.

The novel's initial structure alternates between Nell's current life and her past identity as Elle Nugent. Fourteen years ago, Elle witnessed student Bryony Sanders getting into a stranger's car—a seemingly innocent moment that became the catalyst for murder and obsession. Paris skillfully uses this dual timeline to reveal how one traumatic event can fragment a person's entire life, forcing them to reinvent themselves while never truly escaping the past.

Where the novel stumbles slightly is in Elle's all-consuming fixation on Brett Parker, the man she believes murdered Bryony. While obsession is central to the story's psychological depth, watching Elle's life completely disintegrate—her relationships crumbling, her future collapsing—sometimes felt like it pushed past believability into melodrama. The intensity of her fixation, while compelling, occasionally made me question whether any person would truly sacrifice everything so completely for a case where she had no personal connection to the victim.

Yet this same obsession creates the novel's most fascinating element: how past trauma shapes Nell's inability to form genuine connections in the present. Her relationship with Alex becomes a study in two damaged people trying to build something real while drowning in secrets. Paris excels at showing how the lies we tell ourselves are often more dangerous than the lies we tell others.

The second half shifts entirely to the present, focusing on the central mystery: who wants Nell dead? Here, Paris hits her stride. Just when I thought I'd pieced together the puzzle, she pulled the rug out from under me. The climax arrives with shocking force, revealing connections I never saw coming and transforming everything I thought I understood about the story.

What elevates this beyond a standard thriller is Paris's exploration of identity and reinvention. Can we ever truly escape our past? Does changing our name change who we are? Nell/Elle's dual existence raises questions about whether we're defined by our worst moments or whether redemption is possible when we're haunted by unfinished business.

A big thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley.  I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Book Review: Witness Protection

Title: Witness Protection

Author: Robert Whitlow

Publisher: Thomas Nelson Fiction

Publication Date: April 7, 2026

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I wanted to love this one more than I did. The setup pulled me in—a man in witness protection, a sketchy drug case, the constant threat of his old life catching up to him. It should've been nail-biting. Instead, I found myself checking how many pages were left.

Jon Tremaine's new life in Brunswick gets complicated when he tries to help an employee accused of drug smuggling, and attorney Kelli Quinn takes the case while rebuilding her own life after divorce. The bones of a good thriller are here, but the story never quite finds its rhythm. Things move slowly, and the suspense I kept waiting for never really materialized.

What bogged things down most were the subplots involving Kelli's kids, which felt like they existed mainly to showcase Aunt Carly's faith and prayer life. As a believer myself, I appreciate Christian themes in fiction, but this one laid it on thick—so thick that the legal thriller got lost underneath. Prayer scenes and spiritual conversations kept interrupting when I just wanted the story to build some momentum.

It's not a bad book, just not the tense ride I was hoping for. If you're looking for inspirational fiction with some legal drama mixed in, you might enjoy it more than I did.

A big thank you to Thomas Nelson Fiction and NetGalley. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Book Review: Anatomy of an Alibi

Title: Anatomy of an Alibi

Author: Ashley Elston

Publisher: Viking Penguin

Publication Date: January 20, 2026

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This is Ashley Elston at her absolute best—a tense, layered, and utterly consuming thriller that plays with perception, trust, and the lies we tell to protect ourselves and those we love. The story unfolds in clever, time-jumping fragments that built toward an explosive conclusion.

Elston weaves the alternating perspectives of Aubrey and Camille with precision, drawing readers deep into a dangerous game where truth and deception blur. The shifting timeline adds to the tension, revealing just enough at a time to keep you guessing who’s really in control—and who’s in danger. Each twist hits harder than the last: first the nature of their connection, then the truth behind a long-ago killing, and fina
lly, the reveal of who’s behind the present-day murder. It’s fast, tense, and deeply satisfying.

What I loved most was the psychology running under the surface—the way Elston digs into why we lie and who we protect. Lines like “It’s not just the anatomy of an alibi... it’s the psychology of it” stay with you because they hint that sometimes the biggest cover-ups aren’t about crimes at all—they’re about love and survival.

The pacing is pitch-perfect, the dual timeline is seamless, and the interplay between past and present builds a rich emotional and narrative tension. By the time I reached the final twist, I realized this wasn’t just a story about murder—it was about guilt, loyalty, and the fragile boundaries of morality.

A big thank you to Viking Pengiun and NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.