Sunday, April 12, 2026

My Review for The Lily Garden by Barbara Josselsohn

April 12, 2026  , , ,  No comments



“Inside was a message in her dad's handwriting.” 💌

The Lily Garden was April's read for #kindlecrushchallenge 📚 and a book that had been sitting on my Kindle for almost five years! This was the first Barbara Josselsohn novel I’ve read, and I loved it from beginning to end. ❤️

We spend the majority of the book in the small town of Lake Summers—a place where, almost thirty years ago, Caroline lost her parents. 💔 She left a few years later and never returned… until now. ✨ The story had everything I adore in a book: a close-knit community, 🏡 cosy spots to grab a coffee, ☕ a great food place serving delicious, mouthwatering dishes, 🍽️ and of course, a cute love interest. 💕 Throw a garden into the mix 🌸 and I’m all in!

I really liked how Caroline’s daughter, Lee, consistently knew what she wanted throughout the book and stuck to her guns. 💪 Yes, other people tried to force their opinions on her, but in the end, her dreams shone through. ✨ Maxine and Gull are great characters too—full of wit and warmth. 🫶 They seemingly hold the town together, and I’d love to visit their grill and try their chicken riggies. 🍝 I have no idea what they are, but they sound amazing! 😄

I’ve added the other books in this series to my TBR, 📖 and although this is the third one, I don’t think it matters. I’ll definitely be checking out the others at some point. 👀

A very belated thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review The Lily Garden by Barbara Josselsohn. 🙏

About the Book

She held the letter that she had found in the garden, and noticed the distinctive curls of her father’s handwriting etched on the worn paper. Her life had already been turned upside down by one family secret, would his last words force her to leave her childhood home forever?

When Caroline left Lake Summers thirty years ago, she thought she’d never go back to the place where she lost her parents. But when she finds out that the town’s lily garden lovingly built by her mother is going to be destroyed, she knows fate is calling. Dropping everything at her office in Chicago, she knows she is the only person who can save the garden.

Caroline and her daughter Lee are welcomed home by the warm smile of her mother’s best friend Maxine, and piles of pancakes at her cozy little restaurant in town. And Caroline soon learns that she isn’t the only person invested in saving her mother’s legacy, when she meets handsome historian Aaron . As she gets to know him, strolling along the sparkling lakeshore, she can’t imagine anywhere else she’d rather be.

But then Caroline learns a terrible secret about the day her mother died. And soon the real reason Aaron is in Lake Summers comes to light. Will the truth about the people she loves force her to give up a future with Aaron, and the beautiful town that has always been in her heart?



About Barbara

Barbara Josselsohn is a best-selling author known for her captivating contemporary and historical novels, including her latest, The Forgotten Italian Island. This sweeping, multigenerational story delves into the lives of two women bound by a fateful mistake made one night during the Nazi occupation of northern and central Italy. It is a follow-up to her two previous World War II novels, Secrets of the Italian Island and The Lost Gift to the Italian Island. Barbara’s work is marked by richly developed characters, intricate emotional landscapes, and immersive settings that transport readers to the heart of each story.


With a talent for blending history and human drama, Barbara’s novels explore complex themes of love, loss, resilience, and the enduring power of secrets. Her storytelling often spans generations, drawing readers into a tapestry of personal and historical struggles. Known for her lush descriptions and evocative prose, Barbara has garnered praise for her ability to bring history to life while crafting deeply emotional, character-driven narratives.

Her books resonate with readers who appreciate stories that combine rich details with powerful personal journeys. Currently, Barbara is working on a new World War II novel set in the mountains of southern France.

In addition to her writing career, Barbara teaches novel writing at Sarah Lawrence College and other prestigious venues. When not writing, Barbara enjoys ballet, yoga, reading, and relaxing on the beach. She loves spending time with her family, which includes her beloved rescue pup, Albie.



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Tuesday, April 7, 2026

My Review for Just Watch Me by Lior Torenberg

April 07, 2026  ,  No comments



"Having a desk job doesn't mean you have your shit together," I say. "It just means you have a flat ass from sitting all day." 😅💺

Let me begin by saying I was born in the seventies, when a stream was something at the bottom of my road that I paddled in 🌿💦, and the internet hadn’t even been thought of. This book is completely outside my comfort zone, so I was surprised I enjoyed it even as much as I did 🤔📖

The idea of someone watching and listening to my every move 24/7 is unsettling 😬👀 Dell’s world felt strange and uncomfortable at times—her life is about as far from what I’d consider normal as you can get. Some of the things she does for money really made me wonder… are there actually people out there like this? I suppose there must be 😳💸

That said, I didn’t like Dell. I found her underhanded and manipulative, with little respect for herself or anyone else. She’s not someone I’d ever want to meet 🙅‍♀️🚫

Thank you to Scribner UK for the gifted copy of Just Watch Me by Lior Torenberg 📚✨

About the Book

Dell Danvers is barely keeping it together. She’s behind on rent for her bathroom-less studio apartment (formerly a walk-in closet), she’s being plagued by perpetual, spiking stomach pain, and her younger sister, Daisy, is in a coma at a hospital that wants to pull the plug. Freshly unemployed and subsisting on selling plant propagations to trust fund kids, Dell impulsively starts a 24-hour livestream under the username mademoiselle_dell to fundraise $14,000 for a week of private life support for Daisy.

In the dungeon of her stream, Dell is in control, banishing those who don’t abide by her terms of engagement and steadily rising up the platform’s ranks with her sympathetic story and angry-funny screen presence. On a dare, she discovers that she has a talent for eating spicy food, and her streaming fame explodes as her pepper consumption graduates from jalapeño to habanero to ghost. Finally, Dell is good at something—but as her behavior becomes riskier and riskier and a troll-turned-incel threatens to expose her dark past, Dell must reckon with what her digital life ignores, and what real redemption means.

Narrated in seven taut chapters, one for each day of Dell’s livestream, Just Watch Me careens us through a nonstop week in the life of this charismatic misfit with a heart of gold. Voyeuristic and visceral, audacious and outrageous, Lior Torenberg’s debut is both an incisive, zippy tragicomedy about the internet economy as well as a moving meditation on love, loss, and forgiveness.


About Lior

Lior Torenberg is a contemporary fiction writer whose work is shaped by a keen interest in human behavior, particularly in the way people present themselves in everyday life and online spaces. She has lived between London and New York, an experience that informs the observational tone of her writing. During the pandemic, she became fascinated by livestream culture—sparked in part by watching her roommate follow gaming streams—which later influenced her debut novel, Just Watch Me (2026). Known to have a wry sense of humor, she has described herself as a casual “hot sauce hobbyist,” a small detail that reflects her understated, personal approach to creativity. Though generally private, her work reveals a thoughtful, curious perspective on connection, identity, and modern life.



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Monday, April 6, 2026

My Review for Falling for Polkerran Point by Cass Grafton

April 06, 2026  , , ,  No comments



“...this place has a way of encircling your heart, cocooning you in its warm embrace so that you never want to let go. Of it, or the way it makes you feel.”

Falling for Polkerran Point was published in October 2025, and I’ve been putting off reading it. Why? Because it’s the final book in the series. I wasn’t (and I’m still not) ready to say goodbye to Cleggie and old Mrs Lovelace. I adore Mrs Lovelace’s mispronunciations—they’re hilarious, and I always enjoy the chuckles she brings as the story goes on.

This book follows Ellie and Will in a second-chance romance, full of friendship, community spirit, and oodles of love. The lovely Anna is still there too, making everyone feel welcome around her kitchen table every single morning with coffee and homemade cakes—far too sociable for me, though maybe I could manage it occasionally!

I’ve loved all the books in this series, and it’s definitely one I’d read again—high praise indeed. Please, Cass, I hope you have another equally unforgettable series waiting in the wings, because I’ll be right here ready to read it!

About the Book

Will she get a new start with an old love?
Ellie Arbon thought she left Polkerran Point behind her, for good. But when her cousin Nicki needs her help, Ellie has no choice but to return.

The cove stirs up memories Ellie would rather forget. Will Farmer left her years ago to pursue an acting career, and now he's back.

Handsome and famous, Ellie is sure he's all but forgotten her. Every encounter they have suggests otherwise there's an undeniable spark between them and old feelings return once more.

Ellie must decide whether she wants to fight for a future together, or whether Will is - and will always be - the one who got away.


About Cass - by Cass

I began my writing life in Regency England, enlisted Jane Austen's help to timetravel between then and the present day and am now happily ensconced in 21st century Cornwall.

Well, in my imagination and soul; my heart and physical presence reside in northern England with my ever-patient husband and Tig and Tag, our cute but exceptionally demanding moggies.

A bit of a nomad, I’ve called three countries home, as well as six different English counties, but my aspiration is to one day reunite with my beloved West Country.

In the meantime, I write feel-good contemporary romances set in Cornwall and, in doing so, manage to live there vicariously through my characters and settings.




























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Wednesday, April 1, 2026

My Review for The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

April 01, 2026  , ,  No comments



"Out on the pond the water is absolutely still. A fish jumps and, in its wake, leaves a trail of concentric circles. I watch them bleed out and around the edges until they are reabsorbed, as if nothing ever happened." 🌊🐟

March's read for #kindlecrushchallenge was The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller, another book that's been missing in the depths of my Kindle for a few years! 📚 I enjoyed this book the more I read it. It's definitely a slow-burner, flicking between twenty-four hours in the present day and back in Elle's childhood. ⏳

It's a great work of literary fiction where Miranda leaves the reader wondering what on earth it is that they've just digested. 🤔 It wasn't until I was probably a quarter of the way in that I settled into the rhythm of the story and began to enjoy it, if indeed you can enjoy a book with so many disturbing triggers! 😬

The ending has been left to the reader's imagination - I think - at least that's the way I understood it. Personally I'd have liked it wrapped up a little better, but it was still a good book and another one ticked off my Kindle backlist. ✔️📖

A very belated thank you to NetGalley and Penguin UK for the opportunity to read and review The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller. 🙏

About the Book

It is a perfect July morning, and Elle, a fifty-year-old happily married mother of three, awakens at "The Paper Palace"—the family summer place which she has visited every summer of her life. But this morning is different: last night Elle and her oldest friend Jonas crept out the back door into the darkness and had sex with each other for the first time, all while their spouses chatted away inside. 

Now, over the next twenty-four hours, Elle will have to decide between the life she has made with her genuinely beloved husband, Peter, and the life she always imagined she would have had with her childhood love, Jonas, if a tragic event hadn't forever changed the course of their lives. 

As Heller colors in the experiences that have led Elle to this day, we arrive at her ultimate decision with all its complexity. Tender yet devastating, The Paper Palace considers the tensions between desire and dignity, the legacies of abuse, and the crimes and misdemeanors of families.


About Miranda

Miranda Cowley Heller was raised in New York. After graduating from Harvard she became a book editor, before working for a decade at HBO where she was head of drama series. She divides her time between Los Angeles, London and Cape Cod. The Paper Palace is her first novel. It was longlisted for the Women's Prize, was a Sunday Times and #1 New York Times bestseller.




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Tuesday, March 31, 2026

My Review for To Bleed a Crystal Bloom by Sarah A. Parker, read by Chelsea Stephens and Troy Duran

March 31, 2026  , , ,  No comments

 


"The sky is a velvet blanket littered with stars that wink at me for the first time in a week."

To Bleed a Crystal Bloom was the March read for #thatbonkersbookclub and… I was disappointed. 😕 It’s a Rapunzel retelling, which I honestly found a little strange and quite dark. 🕯️ Our protagonist has been locked in a tower since she was two, but now has this odd fascination with the man who put her there, as well as a weird creature living in the sea. 🌊

I just found the story boring. 😴 Nothing grabbed me, nothing made me want to keep reading—but I did, because I kept hoping it would get better. It didn’t… at least not for me. 🤷‍♀️ When we discussed it, the majority of us felt the same way, and at least two of us got the ick from the relationships, 😖 never mind the nauseating references to other things I never want to think about ever again. 🤢

A lot of it felt random and unexplained, and maybe that comes in the next book—but I won’t be sticking around to find out. 🚫 Sorry, Sarah, you didn’t hook me with this first instalment, and I won’t be coming back for more.

I do have a pretty copy of When the Moon Hatched on my shelf (and the next one on preorder 👀). I’ve heard that one’s much better, so I am looking forward to it ✨—but yeah… no more Crystal Bloom for me ❌📚

About the Book

"What a pretty flower to keep locked in a big, rocky tower."

Nineteen years ago, I was plucked from the heart of a bloody massacre that spared nobody else.

Small. Fragile. An enigma.

Now ward to a powerful High Master who knows too much and says too little, I lead a simple life, never straying from the confines of an imaginary line I've drawn around the castle grounds.

Stay within. Never leave.

Out there, the monsters lurk. Inside, I'm safe...though at a cost far greater than the blood I drip into a goblet daily. Toxic, unreciprocated love for a man who's utterly unavailable.

My savior. My protector.

My almost executioner.

I can't help but be enamored with the arcane man who holds the power to pull my roots from the ground. When voracious beasts spill across the land and threaten to fray the fabric of my tailored existence, the petals of reality will peel back to reveal an ugly truth. But in a castle puddled with secrets, none are greater than the one I've kept from myself.

No tower is tall enough to protect me from the horror that tore my life to shreds.

To Bleed a Crystal Bloom is a dark Rapunzel reimagining full of immersive imagery and breathtaking angst.

About Sarah - by Sarah

Originally from New Zealand, I've been living in Australia for the past ten years! My husband and I have three children together, so when I'm not writing we're out and about having family adventures.

I love sushi, peppermint tea, and plants—our house is basically a jungle. My other great love is anything snow related. We try to get away as often as we can on family snowboarding trips, and our dream is to one day have a house somewhere it snows through the winter months!

There's just something about the snow that feels magical. 

I get back to New Zealand as much as I can to spend time with my family, so that's always a treat. Aside from that we live a pretty quiet life here on the Gold Coast.



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Monday, March 30, 2026

My Review for Fairytale by Stephen King, read by Seth Numrich

March 30, 2026  , , ,  No comments



“I think all worlds are magic. We just get used to it.” ✨🌍

#thatbonkersbookclub chose Fairy Tale as the read for The Chiller Shelf for March (it may even have been my suggestion—I can’t remember! 🤔📚). Either way, it’s definitely my favourite of the three Stephen King novels I’ve read so far. 🙌 In my mind, it leans far more toward fantasy than horror, which is probably why I enjoyed it so much. 🐉✨

I both read and listened to this one, but definitely leaned more towards the audiobook. 🎧📖

The first half of the book follows a normal kid who’s had a pretty tough childhood 💔 and has had to grow up fast. He then takes it one step further by agreeing to look after an older man who needs extra care after an accident. 🏡🩹

The second half is where the fantasy world kicks in—and wow, does it kick in. 😳⚡ We go from a normal world with a normal kid to a portal into another world where everything is very much not normal. 🌌🚪✨

Slight spoiler (but necessary!): Radar is one of the main characters—she’s a dog 🐶💛—and she doesn’t die. 🙌✨ Nothing bad happens to her, and she lives happily ever after. 🥹🌈 Honestly, that’s the most important thing in this book! If you’re an animal lover, you’re safe to fall in love with her—I promise. 🐾💛

If you’ve never read a Stephen King novel and you’re not sure how you’ll feel about his writing (that was me three books ago 😅), this is a great place to start. 👍📖 It’s long, yes, and there’s one section in the middle that could have been shorter, but it’s far from a scary read 😌 I really hope he writes more fantasy—he’s clearly good at it! ✍️✨📚

About the Book

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. Then, when Charlie is seventeen, he meets Howard Bowditch, a recluse with a big dog in a big house at the top of a big hill. In the backyard is a locked shed from which strange sounds emerge, as if some creature is trying to escape. When Mr. Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie the house, a massive amount of gold, a cassette tape telling a story that is impossible to believe, and a responsibility far too massive for a boy to shoulder.

Because within the shed is a portal to another world—one whose denizens are in peril and whose monstrous leaders may destroy their own world, and ours. In this parallel universe, where two moons race across the sky, and the grand towers of a sprawling palace pierce the clouds, there are exiled princesses and princes who suffer horrific punishments; there are dungeons; there are games in which men and women must fight each other to the death for the amusement of the “Fair One.” And there is a magic sundial that can turn back time.

A story as old as myth, and as startling and iconic as the rest of King’s work, Fairy Tale is about an ordinary guy forced into the hero’s role by circumstance, and it is both spectacularly suspenseful and satisfying.


About Stephen

Stephen King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. He made his first professional short story sale in 1967 to Startling Mystery Stories. In the fall of 1971, he began teaching high school English classes at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels. In the spring of 1973, Doubleday & Co., accepted the novel Carrie for publication, providing him the means to leave teaching and write full-time. He has since published over 50 books and has become one of the world's most successful writers. King is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to the American Letters and the 2014 National Medal of Arts.

Stephen lives in Maine and Florida with his wife, novelist Tabitha King. They are regular contributors to a number of charities including many libraries and have been honored locally for their philanthropic activities.


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Wednesday, March 25, 2026

My Review for My Name is Leon by Kit de Waal, read by Lenny Henry

March 25, 2026  , , ,  No comments


“It’s strange to think that this little black bean will grow up to be a big plant and that plant will have its own seeds to make another plant and another seed and this will go on, over and over again, for years...”

My Name is Leon was recommended to me by my cousin, and it’s set in and around Birmingham — my hometown — which immediately drew me in 🏙️. I listened to the audiobook via Libby, narrated by a true Black Country lad, Lenny Henry, while pottering about 🎧.

For those who don’t know, Lenny Henry is a comedian, so I went in expecting something light-hearted… but it’s far from that! While there are moments of humour, the story is often upsetting and deeply moving 💔 — powerful and eye-opening, set against the backdrop of the Birmingham riots in the early 1980s.

I loved Leon’s story ❤️. I adored Tufty, his allotment friend 🌱 (who I’m guessing Lenny Henry plays in the TV adaptation), and I really admired Maureen as his foster carer through much of the book. It’s the kind of story that should be required reading for anyone considering a career in social work — if only as a guide on what not to do 👀.

The narration is fantastic — Lenny Henry really brings it to life 🙌. I could listen to his voice forever.

My Name is Leon is a bostin’ book, and I’d recommend it to anyone ⭐. (If you don’t know what “bostin’” means, give “Black Country sayings” a quick Google!)

About the Book

It's 1981, a year of riots and royal weddings. The Dukes of Hazzard is on TV. Curly Wurlys are in the shops. And trying to find a place in it all is nine-year-old Leon. He and his little brother Jake have gone to live with Maureen. They've lost one home, but have they found another?

Maureen feeds and looks after them. She has wild red hair and mutters swearwords under her breath when she thinks they can't hear. She claims everything will be okay. But will they ever see their mother again? Who are the couple who secretly visit Jake? Between the street violence and the street parties, Leon must find a way to reunite his family . . .

About Kit

Kit de Waal was born in Birmingham to an Irish mother, who was a childminder and foster carer and a Caribbean father. 

She worked for fifteen years in criminal and family law, was a magistrate for several years and sat on adoption panels. She used to advise Social Services on the care of foster children, and has written training manuals on adoption, foster care and judgecraft for members of the judiciary. 

Her writing has received numerous awards including the Bridport Flash Fiction Prize 2014 and 2015 and the SI Leeds Literary Reader's Choice Prize 2014 and the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year. 

MY NAME IS LEON, her first novel was published in 2016 and shortlisted for the Costa Book Award. She has two children and lives in the West Midlands.





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