My Review for La Dolce Veto by Caitlin Alice Gilbert

“Maybe it's not possible to let go of who you used to be and escape old patterns.” 💭

I was lucky enough to receive La Dolce Veto as both a digital and audio ARC, and I chose to read it first. Although I enjoyed it so much, I’ll probably go back and listen at some point too. I always find things I missed the first time around on a second visit. 🎧✨

Pick me up and put me back down in a traditional European village with sunshine, good food, good wine and nosey locals, and I’m in heaven. ☀️🍷 This is exactly what Caitlin’s book did for me. Izzy needs to run away, and so she does — to La Musa in Italy, a place filled with fond memories for her. It’s not quite the same as she remembered, but it’s good enough to hide away from the world for a while. 🇮🇹✨

I don’t usually go for a political romance, but the politics quietly simmered away in the background, which I really enjoyed. The Italian people and countryside are the things that will stay with me most though. The descriptions are so vivid that I felt like I was in La Musa too, drinking coffee, eating all the good food and soaking up the sunshine. ☕🍝🌞

La Dolce Veto is Caitlin’s debut novel, and she’s absolutely smashed it. I can’t wait to see what’s next from her. 📚✨

Thank you to Keeperton/Arndell and NetGalley for the opportunity to read (and listen to) La Dolce Veto by Caitlin Alice Gilbert. 💕

About the Book

When steamy text messages between tenacious US Congresswoman Isabella Rhodes and her opposing candidate, Levi Cross, go public just before the election, Izzy’s reputation takes a nose dive and her political career comes to a crashing end.

Desperate to have some time out she returns to the gorgeous Italian village of La Musa, which she last visited when she was nineteen, to lick her wounds and recover. Welcomed with open arms at the Villa Farentino by matriarch Anita, she doesn’t get the same reception from her grumpy son Benito who’s just returned from England to take over as mayor after his father, Rafaello, left town...and his wife.

But Izzy can’t escape politics or matters of the heart and she quickly becomes embroiled in the village’s mission to stop Rafaello’s greedy development company from building a 5-star hotel, and along the way discovers that there’s a lot more to Benito than she thought.

When Izzy unwittingly becomes the face of the proposed development her cover is blown and she has to decide - can she save the town, mend her broken heart, and have the life she’s worked so hard for or does she want to stay out of the limelight and risk it all?

About Caitlin

Caitlin Alice Gilbert is an author and screenwriter based in Los Angeles. Born in Michigan, she grew up between the Midwest and Fountain Hills, Arizona, home of the third-tallest year-round fountain. 

She is a graduate of the University of Arizona where she studied Film and Television and Creative Writing. She has spent over ten years working in the streaming industry at companies such as Netflix, HBO Max, Disney, and the now defunct Watchable and Quibi, the downfalls of which were not her fault.
When she’s not writing, Caitlin is taking in theatre or live music, playing tennis, cheering for Angel City Football Club, going on a long walk, or watching way too much TV.

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My Review for Alchemised by SenLinYu, read by Saskia Maarleveld

“She couldn’t fix herself anymore, and no one else seemed inclined to even notice she was breaking.”

I had to listen to the book that everyone has been raving about for months. 📚✨ I knew it was a long one, and I had way more listening time than reading time, so I requested it on Libby, waited my turn, and jumped in a couple of weeks ago. 🎧

It’s written in three parts — present, past, and present again, ⏳ — and while I didn’t enjoy the past bit as much, it did explain why everything was happening, and it made things make sense.

The story is pretty dark in a lot of places 🌑⚡ and more than once I had to stop and think, “wtf did I just listen to?!!!”😳 I got confused about the different “mancers” — necromancer, vivimancer, etc. — and what their abilities were. In the end, I gave up and just went with the story. I still couldn’t tell you which characters were alive or dead. 💀🫠

That being said, I enjoyed it, 👍 I just didn’t delve too deeply into the reasoning behind the war, the murders, and the secrets. I listened, I gasped, 😱 I was shocked and fascinated.

If you read this, you’ll fit into one of three camps: you’ll obsess over it, 🤯📖 you’ll think it was a good read, or you’ll hate it. 🚫 Let me know what you thought. 💬

Would I read anything else by this author? Yes, probably — but I wouldn’t be at the front of the queue at the bookstore. 🏃‍♀️📚

About the Book

In this riveting dark fantasy debut, a woman with missing memories fights to survive a war-torn world of necromancy and alchemy—and the man tasked with unearthing the deepest secrets of her past.

“What is it you think you’re protecting in that brain of yours? The war is over. Holdfast is dead. The Eternal Flame extinguished. There’s no one left for you to save.”

Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner—of war and of her own mind. Her Resistance friends and allies have been brutally murdered, her abilities suppressed, and the world she knew destroyed.

In the aftermath of a long war, Paladia’s new ruling class of corrupt guild families and depraved necromancers, whose vile undead creatures helped bring about their victory, holds Helena captive.

According to Resistance records, she was a healer of little importance within their ranks. But Helena has inexplicable memory loss of the months leading up to her capture, making her enemies wonder: Is she truly as insignificant as she appears, or are her lost memories hiding some vital piece of the Resistance’s final gambit?

To uncover the memories buried deep within her mind, Helena is sent to the High Reeve, one of the most powerful and ruthless necromancers in this new world. Trapped on his crumbling estate, Helena’s fight—to protect her lost history and to preserve the last remaining shreds of her former self—is just beginning. For her prison and captor have secrets of their own . . . secrets Helena must unearth, whatever the cost.

About SenLinYu

SenLinYu (she/they) grew up in the Pacific Northwest and studied classical liberal arts and culture. They started writing in the Notes app of their phone during their baby’s nap time. Their collected online works have garnered over twenty million individual downloads and have been translated into twenty-three languages. They live in Portland with their family. ALCHEMISED is their first novel.

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My Review for Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

“There’s no need to be afraid of the dead. 👻 It’s the living you have to watch out for. 😬”

I first listened to Daisy Darker back in 2022 when I was on holiday in Cyprus. 🌞 We had moved out of one house and our new one wasn’t ready, so we were nomads for about a month! 🧳 Because I had so much going on, I never got around to writing a review, so when #thatbonkersbookclub decided to read it in April, it was the ideal opportunity to pick the book up again and finally write my thoughts. ✍️

Now, considering I don’t remember what I had for dinner last night, it came as no surprise that I didn’t remember much of what happened. 😅 No spoilers for those of you who haven’t read it, but I did remember all there was to know about Daisy!

It was just as thrilling a read as last time around — characters I wanted to smack, others I felt like throwing in the sea 🌊, and one or two who definitely needed a huge hug. 🤗

I do enjoy a locked-room murder mystery; it often makes me think I’ll be able to work it out… I never do! 🙃 For as idyllic as it sounds, I’m not sure I’d want to live on an island you can only access by boat or foot at low tide. I mean, what do you do if you need a delivery?! 🚤

This is my first Alice Feeney, and I already have a couple more on my shelf that I’m looking forward to. 📚

About the Book

After years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in Nana’s crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. Finally back together one last time, when the tide comes in, they will be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours.

The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. Then at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows…

Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide comes in and all is revealed.

About Alice

Alice Feeney is the New York Times and Sunday Times multi-million-copy bestselling author of eight novels. Including Sometimes I Lie, His & Hers, Rock Paper Scissors, Daisy Darker and Beautiful Ugly. Her books have been translated into forty languages, and have been optioned for major screen adaptations, with His & Hers coming to Netflix in January 2026 starring Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal, and produced by Jessica Chastain's Freckle Films. 

Alice was a BBC journalist for fifteen years before becoming an author. 

My Husband’s Wife is her eighth novel, and will be published around the world in 2026.

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My Review for Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T.J. Klune

“There is magic in the ordinary, magic that has the power to change the world.” ✨💫

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T.J. Klune was our April pick for #thatbonkersbookclub Sequel Shelf, 📚💥 following The House in the Cerulean Sea, which we read at the beginning of the year. This sequel focuses on Arthur’s story and why he returned to Marsyas as an adult. 🏝️🧭

The book is full of magic, wonder, and love, 💙🌈 and picks up where the previous story left off, with the possibility of a new child joining the family. 👀✨ If he does, the question becomes whether he will fit in—and how that journey unfolds. 🧩💛

My heart was completely wrapped up in the idea of a family that can be so full of happiness despite the discrimination, difficulties, and disorder faced by those who are different, 😤💔 all while simply wanting what everyone deserves: love and safety. 🏡💞

Arthur and Linus are funny, 😂💀 the kids are downright hilarious, 🤣🔥 and I found myself giggling constantly while reading. There are characters I absolutely swore at (a lot, 😤🫠) others who irritated me to the point of disgust, 😒🔥but the children’s affection and joy completely won me over. 💛🥹

I really hope Klune is considering another book in this series, because I need to know what happens next for those kids. 📖💥😭✨

About the Book

A magical house. A secret past. A summons that could change everything.

Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one.

He’s the master of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six dangerous and magical children who live there.

Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. He is not alone: joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department In Charge of Magical Youth. And there’s the island’s sprite, Zoe Chapelwhite, and her girlfriend, Mayor Helen Webb. Together, they will do anything to protect the children.

But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve.

And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home—one who finds power in calling himself monster, a name that Arthur worked so hard to protect his children from—Arthur knows they’re at a breaking point: their family will either grow stronger than ever or fall apart.

Welcome back to Marsyas Island. This is Arthur’s story.

About T.J.

TJ Klune is the #1 New York Times and #1 USA Today bestselling, Lambda Literary Award–winning author of The House in the Cerulean Sea, Under the Whispering Door, In the Lives of Puppets, the Green Creek Series for adults, the Extraordinaries Series for teens, and more. Being queer himself, Klune believes it's important—now more than ever—to have accurate, positive queer representation in stories.

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My Review for We Burned So Bright by T.J. Klune

"Let's go hang out with the hippies and their wine and weed." 🍷🌿.

The thing with T. J. Klune’s books is that, no matter what, they make me laugh. I always struggle to narrow it down to just one quote to include in a review. 😅 We Burned So Bright was no different. Don and Rodney are so funny—even as they’re facing the end of the world, their little quips bring light to the inevitable and often leave a smile on other people’s faces. 😊

I loved the sense of community that builds along their journey to complete a task they promised themselves they’d finish before everything goes dark. 🌍✨ So many of the people they meet are just embracing those last days and weeks without a care. No need to pay for gas—who cares? Take my truck, I’m not going to need it! 🚗💨

This book is a little dark—what with the world ending and everything—but it’s also a lovely read, full of fun moments, with memories woven throughout. 🖤 I really enjoyed it.

I don’t pick up short stories all that often, but T. J. Klune has become a favourite author of mine this year, and I’m keen to read everything he’s written. 📚 So when this one appeared, I had to read it!

Thank you to Pan Macmillan, Tor Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review We Burned So Bright. 🙏

About the Book

The road stretched out before them. No other cars, just the headlights on the blacktop. Above, the cracked moon in a kaleidoscope sky….

Husbands Don and Rodney have lived a good long life. Together they’ve experienced the highest highs of love and family, and lows so low that they felt like the end of the world.

Now, the world is ending for real. A wandering black hole is coming for Earth and in a month everything and everyone they’ve ever known will be gone.

Suddenly, after 40 years together, Don and Rodney are out of time. They’re in a race against the clock to make it from Maine to Washington State to take care of some unfinished business before it’s all over.

On the road they meet those who refuse to believe death is coming and those who rush to meet it. But there are also people living their final days as best they know how—impromptu weddings, bright burning bonfires, shared meals, and new friends.

And as the black hole draws near, among ball lightning and under a cracked moon in a kaleidoscope sky, Don and Rodney will look back on their lives and ask if their best was good enough.

Is it enough to burn bright if nothing comes from the ashes?

About T.J.

TJ Klune is the #1 New York Times and #1 USA Today bestselling, Lambda Literary Award–winning author of The House in the Cerulean Sea, Under the Whispering Door, In the Lives of Puppets, the Green Creek Series for adults, the Extraordinaries Series for teens, and more. Being queer himself, Klune believes it's important—now more than ever—to have accurate, positive queer representation in stories.

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My Review for The Sunshine Teashop by Jaimie Admans

“You’ve got to be incredibly confident in your transport choices to drive a highlighter pen on wheels.” 🚗💛

I was worried about reading Jaimie’s new book because I loved her Ever After Street series so much, but I needn’t have worried—The Sunshine Teashop is every bit as good. It has a new vibe, new characters, and lots of huggy moments. 🤗

As the book starts, we’re in Kent. No offence to Kentish people, but I want my cute romance books to be set in the countryside or near the sea. 🌊🌿 So imagine my delight when Dolly ups and leaves for a gorgeous village in Yorkshire. 🏡 (Yes, I know the synopsis says this, but I don’t read them! 😆)

I was with Dolly every step of the way and loved how easily she immersed herself in village life. She had the little old ladies wrapped around her little finger—in a lovely, happy, friendly way—and, just as importantly, they had her back every step of the way. 💛 I did cringe a bit when she and her new-found builder friend, Reece, got out the paint rollers and brushes—that did not sit well with my OCD—but hey, needs must! 🎨😬

My favourite part was the nostalgic bakes Dolly loves making. 🧁 I’d forgotten half of them existed, and it’s such a lovely idea—to open a café serving all your childhood favourites. 🍰✨

Of course everything ends up lovely and cosy and utterly gorgeous and I know that this is supposed to be a standalone book but I really want to know what happens next please Jaimie. 📖💕

Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review The Sunshine Teashop by Jaimie Admans.  💕📚

About the Book

Welcome to Thimblenouth: where the kettle is always on and fresh starts and unexpected love are waiting. 🧁🫖

Dolly Lymford is having one of those days…The kind that starts with dreams of opening a café… and ends with discovering your boyfriend kissing your best friend!

Heartbroken and with nowhere else to go, Dolly accidentally-on-purpose borrows her now-ex-boyfriend’s campervan and drives until the road runs out. This leads her to Thimblenouth, a picture-perfect Yorkshire Dales village where life moves more slowly and the kettle is always on.

After literally bumping into gorgeous local builder Reece Sterling, Dolly begins to feel something she hasn’t in a long time: safe. She also rediscovers her love of baking, filling the campervan with the scent of warm scones and freshly brewed tea. And Reece is always around to share a lemon pie or two...

When Dolly has an idea to open her own pop-up café, Reece is all too happy to help. And as the summer sun begins to warm everything it touches, Dolly wonders if she's finally found a place to call home... maybe even with Reece.

But can she really build a future on borrowed wheels?

A warm, uplifting story of fresh starts, village kindness, and finding love where you least expect it — best enjoyed with tea and cake. 🍰

About Jaimie

Jaimie is a 38-year-old English-sounding Welsh girl with an awkward-to-spell name. She lives in South Wales and enjoys writing, gardening, watching horror movies, and drinking tea, although she’s seriously considering marrying her coffee machine. 

She loves autumn and winter, and singing songs from musicals despite the fact she’s got the voice of a dying hyena. She hates spiders, hot weather, and cheese & onion crisps. She spends far too much time on Twitter and owns too many pairs of boots. 

She will never have time to read all the books she wants to read.

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My Review for The Woman in the Cabin by Becca Day

“Have dinner ready… be happy to see your husband and greet him with a warm smile.”

The Woman in the Cabin was my April read for the @hook.me.a.book challenge – the #NeglectedFaithfulsReadingChallenge – and a book that’s been sitting on my shelf for way too long 📚✨ It was dark, full of all sorts of wrongness… and I loved it so much 😈 I had to keep reading. I needed to know if Mary was going to be okay 😰, whether the control-freak husband was going to hurt her 😡, and just what other madness he had up his sleeve 👀

I think this book will send readers one of two ways: you’ll either be completely intrigued (like I was) and desperate to keep turning the pages 📖🔥, or you’ll be hugely frustrated by our female main character — like, kill the b*****d already! 😤 And if you’re big on women’s rights, this might make you properly angry at how any man could treat a woman like this 💔

However you feel, if you enjoy a captive thriller, you’re going to love this one 🖤

If you’re thinking of picking it up, definitely check the trigger warnings first ⚠️ — there are quite a few. But if you’re good with those… dive in! 🏊‍♀️📚

This is my first Becca Day read, and it definitely won’t be my last 🙌

A (very belated) thank you to Bonnier Hive for the gifted copy of The Woman in the Cabin by Becca Day 💌📖

About the Book

Deep in the woods, you can hide more than secrets...

Every day, in a remote cabin hidden deep in the woods in the Scottish Highlands, Mary wakes up before dawn to make breakfast from scratch. She tends the garden and feeds the animals. Every night, Mary makes sure she has dinner on the table for when her husband Cal gets home from work.

She puts on his favorite lipstick and greets him with a smile. 'I've missed you.' It's not true and he knows it. But he likes to hear it all the same.

Mary is the perfect wife and like any good wife she knows her job is to keep her husband happy.

But lately as she notices her first wrinkles appear, she can sense Cal change. A scowl at dinner not being ready on time, a too tight grip as he leads her to the bedroom tells her he's noticed too. And old memories are coming back too, of her life before the cabin...

Then she finds a stack of letters hidden under the floorboards detailing a life eerily similar to her own. They're addressed to her: 'To the next woman.'

If she's not the first to play the role of Cal's perfect wife, what happened to the woman in the cabin before her? And how long does she have until she is next?

About Becca - by Becca

Hello friends! I’ve been a storyteller since I can remember. I even wrote a short story (which I distinctly remember being rather cringe-worthy) that ended up being ‘published’ in the school’s library. I was basically a celebrity! Growing up, I was a constant day-dreamer, and “get your head out of the clouds” was a common phrase I heard from my parents and teachers. But the truth is my mind just liked to wander (still does), and I spent my teenage years and early adulthood attempting (and failing) to get my wandering thoughts down onto paper.

I became a full-time writer working for a parenting website – as well as venturing into graphic and website design as another creative outlet – but my heart has always been drawn back to fiction. I wrote a few pieces of short fiction (one of which came runner up in a competition) and my first full length novel in 2019, which will sit in a drawer for the rest of eternity. I began querying my second novel in March 2021 and in May 2021 I signed with my wonderful agent Emily Glenister at DHH Literary Agency. I also helped to run Reading Parties with fellow author William Shaw – he’s far more successful and talented than me, but don’t tell him I said that! Reading Parties has given me the opportunity to work with some amazing writers such as Phoebe Morgan, Will Dean, C.L Taylor and TM Logan, as well as countless industry professionals.

Nowadays, when I’m not working on my novels, I’m Head of Membership & Marketing at leading literary consultancy Jericho Writers, which means I get to help others to write novels for a living! What a life! And, amidst writing and working, I’m looking after my two daughters and cocker spaniel in my little home in Surrey.

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