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Women's Fiction & Chick Lit February 2026 |
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A Better Life
by Lionel Shriver
Gloria Bonaventura, a divorced mother of three living with her 26-year-old son Nico in a sprawling house in Brooklyn, decides to participate in a new city program that would pay her to take in a migrant as a boarder. Gloria is thrilled when sweet, kind, helpful Martine arrives. But Nico is skeptical. A classic live-at-home Gen Zer with no interest in adulthood, Nico resents any interruption of his "hovercraft repose." As the months go by, Martine endears herself to both Nico's sisters, while finding her way into Gloria's heart and even, briefly, Nico's. But as Martine's disturbingly dodgy compatriots begin to show up, Nico conceives a dark twin hostile to both his mother's altruism and the "migrant crisis" in general-and turns out to be anything but a reliable narrator himself. Based loosely on a program a New York City mayor floated but did not initiate, A Better Life is Lionel Shriver at her best: smart, funny, and sensitive to the moral nuances of perhaps the most divisive issue of our times.
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The Better Mother
by Jennifer Van Der Kleut
Still recovering from a devastating breakup, 34-year-old Savannah Mitchell has finally managed to put her life back together when she gets the shock of her life—after a brief fling with a man named Max, she is pregnant. When she gets in touch to tell him, he reveals that he’s just gotten back together with his ex, Madison, and he will need time to break it to her. Surprisingly, Madison isn’t upset—in fact, she’s excited, and wants to help. Max insists Madison has the best of intentions, but Savannah finds her efforts—popping by uninvited, demanding lifestyle changes, and pretty much trying to take over the pregnancy—anything but helpful. When Savannah finally stands up for herself, Madison’s treatment of her goes from casually cruel to downright dangerous. All Savannah wanted to do was form a friendly co-parenting relationship with the father of her child—but his new girlfriend obviously has much more sinister plans in mind. She has no plans to co-parent at all.
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Every Happiness
by Reena Shah
Every Happiness is a dazzling debut that explores the ties that bind two women across decades and continents despite rivalry, class difference, and the conflicting needs of family and self.
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Evil Genius
by Claire Oshetsky
In this sly, darkly funny novel, a young woman becomes increasingly obsessed with tales of love and death, and begins subconsciously plotting to murder her abusive husband.
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Family Drama
by Rebecca Fallon
In 1997, two children watch their mother, soap star Susan Bliss, given a Viking funeral off a snowy New England beach. Fifteen years earlier, Susan lived a double life—wife and mother in New England, beloved actress in Los Angeles—while Alcott, a steady professor, loved her hopelessly. Now grown, Sebastian clings to her memory; Viola resents it—until she falls for Orson Grey, Susan’s former costar, and begins to uncover the mother she never truly knew.
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Good Intentions
by Marisa Walz
In the aftermath of a tragic accident, a luxury party planner becomes obsessed with a woman she encounters in the hospital waiting room.
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Good People
by Patmeena Sabit
A provocative novel about an immigrant family living the American dream-and the daughter whose death raises questions about just how American they really want to become.
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Hot Chocolate on Thursday
by Michiko Aoyama
Across a bridge in a quiet neighborhood in Tokyo, a seasonal cherry blossom sits on the river. Nearby is the Marble Cafe, where a woman writes in a notebook and a young waiter prepares her favorite hot drink. Both wonder about each other and about the other lives of the clientele who frequent this charming little cafe behind the trees...
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Little One
by Olivia Muenter
From the outside, Catharine West’s childhood sounds idyllic. Her parents built a life that was simple and community-focused, an ethos that soon attracted others. For a time, Catharine’s magnetic father kept the farm thriving, and temptation outside its gates. But as she grew older, the farm and family she was raised to love faded into something darker, forcing Catharine to evolve with it. A decade after Catharine abandoned the farm for good, an email from a charismatic journalist interrupts her peace. When she realizes he knows far more than he’s letting on, she decides stay one step ahead of him, determined to find the one thing she never wanted to leave behind—her sister.
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Messenger Cat Café
by Nagi Shimeno
After a long and happy life with a loving human family, tabby cat Fuuta has passed into the afterlife. But he is not as far from his owner Michiru as it seems. Sometimes the divide between the lands of the living and the dead can be traversed. Eager to see Michiru again, Fuuta interviews for a position at Café Pont, which sits in the liminal space between the two worlds. The café is known for its unique service: its living customers can request meetings with the person they'd most like to see again, through the specially selected spirits of messenger cats. It is a weighty task for a tabby cat, but Fuuta rises to the challenge—he'll do anything to reunite with his family.
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More Than Enough
by Anna Quindlen
High school English teacher Polly Goodman can talk about anything with the women in her book club, which is why they've become her closest friends and, along with the support of her husband, the bedrock of her life. Her students, her fraught relationship with mother, her struggles with IVF--Polly's book club friends have heard it all. But when they give Polly an ancestry test kit as a joke, the results match her with a stranger. Despite it seeming like a mistake, Polly cannot help combing through her family history for answers. Then, when it seems that the book club of four will become three, Polly learns how friendships can change your life profoundly.
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One of Us
by Elizabeth Day
When Fliss, the eccentric grown daughter of the powerful Fitzmaurice clan, is found dead on beach in Bali, what seems like a tragic accident stirs more suspicion than closure for those who've traded favors with--and within--her family for decades. There is Ben, Fliss's brother, eager to minimize his sister's passing, since it's suddenly clear he's next in line to be Prime Minister. And Martin--Ben's erstwhile best friend--who is just happy that Fliss's memorial gives him the chance to re-enter the Fitzmaurice orbit, seeking revenge and acceptance. He can't help but notice that Ben's wife, Serena, seems to have discovered in middle age that her privileged existence is more like a gilded cage. Or that Ben and Serena's daughter Cosima has become an environmental activist fighting against everything her parents seem to stand for--a pivot her late aunt would've applauded. Where does Richard Take--Ben's disgraced colleague, determined to make his big comeback, fit in? And circling them all is Andrew Jarvis and his money: Has he been their loyal hero, or the one who has thrown his weight around just to keep them all in check?
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The Pohaku
by Jasmin Iolani Hakes
A dazzling saga that moves from Hawaii to California and back, about the generations of women tasked with protecting the history and place that made them.
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The Secret of Snow
by Tina Harnesk
Meet Máriddja: eccentric, eighty-five years old, and facing a cancer diagnosis. She's determined to keep the truth about her illness from her husband Biera, while also finding someone who can take care of him once she's gone. Kaj is a new transplant to the village, recently engaged to Mimmi, and mourning the death of his mother. One day, when Kaj unexpectedly finds a box of Indigenous Sámi handicrafts belonging to his mother, he unlocks something he never anticipated, something that will change his life for years to come.
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A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage
by Mk Oliver
Meet Lalla Rook. Lalla has a lot on her plate: She needs to guarantee her husband makes partner, secure her dream house in Hampstead, and get her daughter into a prestigious prep school. And on the afternoon she stabs a stranger seven times after he breaks into her living room, she has a four-year-old's birthday party to host. As a wife and mother, she's already an expert multi-tasker. So, disposing of a body, framing a friend, and being the world's best mother can easily be managed alongside the usual domestic minutiae.
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This Book Made Me Think of You
by Libby Page
Tilly Nightingale is stunned to learn her late husband left her a birthday gift: twelve books, one for each month, to help her through her first year without him. With help from Alfie, the kind bookshop owner, Tilly begins a reading-inspired journey of healing. As she vlogs her adventures and connects with others, her story becomes bigger than she imagined. Can a year of books help her turn the page and learn to love again?
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This Is Not about Us
by Allegra Goodman
Was it just a brief skirmish—or the start of a thirty-year feud? In the Rubenstein family, either is possible. When their beloved older sister dies, Sylvia and Helen are left adrift. A misunderstanding over apple cake spirals into decades of silence. Meanwhile, their children—busy with divorces, careers, college apps, bat mitzvahs, and ballet recitals—avoid taking sides. And the grandchildren? Forget it.
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Trad Wife
by Saratoga Schaefer
A "traditional wife" influencer allows a demonic creature to impregnate her in this unnerving horror novel, perfect for fans of Nightbitch and Mary, from the author of Serial Killer Support Group.
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Where the Wildflowers Grow
by Terah Shelton Harris
While searching for a place to hide, Leigh stumbles upon an unexpected sanctuary: a flower farm in rural Alabama tucked away from the world. What Leigh doesn't expect is the found family there who have built something from the wreckage of their own lives. Especially Jackson, the farm's owner, who sees through Leigh's defenses, offers her small moments of tenderness, encourages her to face her own tragedies. Slowly, Leigh finds peace with the hard pace and soft nature of the farm, taking comfort in the life blooming around her. Maybe she's not beyond redemption, not too broken for something good. And maybe, just maybe, Leigh starts to heal.
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