Check Me Out - Haven March 2026

THE GUEST

By Emma Cline

When a young woman is cast out of her wealthy boyfriend’s summer home, she drifts through the privileged enclaves of Long Island, surviving on charm and instinct. “The Guest” is emotionally uncomfortable on purpose. It’s not dramatic in a loud way; it unsettles you through anxiety, frustration, and moral discomfort.

GARDEN SPELLS

By Sarah Addison Allen

In a small North Carolina town, two sisters reunite in their family home, where an enchanted garden and old wounds both demand tending. There are elements of magical realism - including a cantankerous apple tree - but it is really a story rooted in love and second chances.

COME & GET IT

By Kiley Reid

Set on a Southern college campus in 2017, this novel follows a resident assistant and a visiting professor who enter into an arrangement that feels harmless—until it isn’t. As boundaries blur, Reid explores desire, money, power, and what we’re willing to trade for a better life.

EVERYTHING INSIDE

By Edwidge Danticat

This remarkable collection of eight stories moves between Little Haiti in Florida and Haiti itself, centering primarily on Haitian lives shaped by migration, separation, and survival. Danticat explores the intricate nature of family ties, friendships, love, and grief with restraint and depth. It’s the kind of book that doesn’t overwhelm you while you’re reading it, but deepens once you’ve set it down.

BANGKOK WAKES TO RAIN

By Pitchaya Sudbanthad

This debut novel reads as a love letter to a city and its inhabitants. Through a series of interconnected characters, it captures the restless spirit of Bangkok itself. Be warned, the narrative is non-linear, but though the individual lives unfold in separate threads at first, they gradually intersect and converge as the novel deepens.

BRITT-MARIE WAS HERE

By Fredrik Backman

A fussy, socially awkward woman leaves her unfaithful husband and lands in a struggling small town where she’s unexpectedly tasked with coaching a children’s soccer team. What starts out gently funny slowly becomes something much more tender. Watching these unlikely friendships form is what gives the story its heart. In fact, you may miss them a little once the book is over.

LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE

By Celeste Ng

Everything looks orderly at first - the planned neighborhoods, the structured lives and the unwritten rules that everyone seems to follow. But soon the carefully curated surface begins to unravel. A custody battle ignites long-buried tensions about motherhood, privilege, race, and identity. There’s also a quiet but pointed look at the pressures of white suburbia — how order and conformity can begin to feel suffocating

THE HIDDEN CITY

By Charles Finch

This classic mystery follows sleuth Charles Lenox as he investigates a cold case tied to cryptic architectural symbols scattered across the city. Finch brings Victorian London to life through rich detail, crafting a puzzle that layers political intrigue and personal tension. Although this book is a part of a larger series, it works well as a stand alone. Simply allow yourself to be drawn in by the likable characters and the well-researched history