Book Spotlight : The Earth Weighs Heavy - Book #9 The Sister Agnes Series - Alison Joseph - October 2025 There's something deeply unsettling about secrets that refuse to stay buried—and in this intricate mystery, they quite literally surface when floodwaters lift ancient flagstones to reveal a fifty-year-old skeleton. Sister Agnes returns to her London convent bruised and angry. Her abrupt dismissal by charity CEO Paula Gerrard still stings, but it's the memory of a drowning in the Calais refugee camps that truly haunts her. A failed dinghy crossing. A grieving sister named Medodzi swearing revenge. Agnes senses something unresolved following her home like a shadow. Back in the convent's quiet rhythm, she's assigned to document Russian icon paintings —methodical work for troubled thoughts. Then nature intervenes. A catastrophic East London flash flood tears through the convent cellar, and beneath those lifted stones lies a woman who's been waiting half a c...

VBT# The Snake Handler's Wife - Book #6 A Vega and Middleton Novel - Sue Hinkin - October 2025 When Books Forward sent me The Snake Handler's Wife by Sue Hinkin, I went in completely blind and honestly, that's exactly how this book wants you. The opening scene had me convinced I was diving into a classic affair thriller: someone's planting venomous snakes in the stables, clearly gunning for the lady of the house. My brain immediately jumped to "If I can't have her, no one can" territory. Spoiler alert: I was delightfully wrong. The story quickly pivots to Lucy and her son Henry, who've just been abandoned (again) by Michael, Lucy's perpetually absent partner who's buggered off to the Middle East for yet another news assignment. Just when Lucy's adjusting to single life, Michael's daughter Jane rocks up unannounced. At first, she seems like she might be extending an olive branch, but nope—Jane's husband is the titular Snake Handler,...

Review: God of Pain - Book #2 Legacy of Gods - Rina Kent - September 2022 After absolutely devouring God of Malice and falling head over heels for Rina Kent's Legacy of Gods series, I practically launched myself at Book #2. Let me tell you, diving into God of Pain with my expectations sky-high was both thrilling and slightly dangerous territory. God of Pain centres on Annika Volkov and Creighton King, serving up another delicious opposites-attract romance between the rival USA and UK universities. What I loved is how Rina Kent plays with expectations here. Annika lives on the UK side but her roots are firmly planted in American Mafia soil, while Creighton—adopted into the British King dynasty—is American-born. It's this beautiful tangle of identities and loyalties that made my brain very happy. Annika is everything: purple-obsessed, sunshine personified, radiating happiness whilst desperately trying to distance herself from her brother's dangerous world. When her father a...

          Review: Wild Place - Christian White - October 2021 After devouring The Ledge with Tandem Collective 's readalong, I was absolutely hooked on Christian White's ability to craft those delicious Australian suburban settings with unexpected twists that leave you reeling. So when a gorgeous fellow bookstagrammer gifted me Wild Place for my birthday, I was excited to get stuck into it. Set in 1989, Wild Place follows Tom Witter, a high school teacher living what appears to be an idyllic suburban life in Camp Hill with his wife and teenage sons, Marty and Kieran. His summer break routine involves DIY projects, neighbourhood watch meetings, and the usual parental vigilance. But when local teen Tracie Reed vanishes, everything shifts. The community forest known as Wild Place once a backdrop to everyday life suddenly transforms into something menacing. Tom becomes convinced that Tracie's disappearance is somehow linked to this dense woodland, and his deter...

Review: Someone Knows - Vi Keeland - June 2025 When I spotted this Vi Keeland paperback at BookHero NZ, I didn't hesitate. It's part of my ongoing mission to Clear my Physical Bookshelf (yes, it deserves capitals—it's that serious), and honestly, I was buzzing with excitement. I've devoured Vi Keeland's romance novels before, so when I heard she'd ventured into thriller territory, I was over the moon. A favorite author trying something new? Sign me up immediately. Someone Knows ticks several of my boxes right from the start. It's set in a university with a Creative Writing course—a setting I'm absolutely here for—and follows a storyline structure that always hooks me. Twenty years ago, Elizabeth and her friends helped kill their English teacher after catching him hurting and abusing their friend Jocelyn. The secret stayed buried. Until now. Elizabeth is living her life when she begins reading a manuscript submitted by one of her students. What she find...

A New Chapter: Children's Fiction Gets Its Booker Moment The literary world just delivered news that made my bookish heart skip a beat—starting in 2027, there will be a Children's Fiction Booker Prize Award. As someone who haunts the shelves of thrillers by night and devours stories across every genre, this announcement feels like long-overdue validation for a category that's shaped who I am as a reader. Why This Matters For too long, children's literature has been the unsung hero of publishing. We celebrate adult fiction with prestigious awards, glowing reviews, and serious literary criticism. But children's books? They're often dismissed as "just for kids," as if crafting a story that resonates with young minds is somehow less challenging or less worthy of acclaim. The truth is, children's fiction does something remarkable: it tackles complex themes—loss, identity, belonging, injustice—with clarity, creativity, and courage. These books don...

VBT# Review: The Twin Sister - Yvette Davies - October 2025 Have you ever looked at someone's life from the outside and thought they had it all together? Yvette Davies's psychological thriller The Twin Sister explores this dangerous assumption through a twisted tale of identity, envy, and the lies we tell ourselves about what we truly want. Beth has spent her entire life living in her identical twin Cate's shadow. While Cate enjoys the picture-perfect existence—sprawling house, doting husband, three beautiful children—Beth struggles with failed IVF treatments and a crumbling marriage to a cheating husband. The contrast between their lives couldn't be starker, and the resentment festers. Then tragedy strikes during what should have been a simple family outing. When the family splits into two cars—Cate with her husband and two children in one, Beth with the baby in another—a devastating crash changes everything. Cate's vehicle becomes a tomb for everyone inside, whi...

VBT# The Girl Next Door - Matt McGregor - October 2025 There's something uniquely thrilling about discovering a page-turner penned by a fellow Kiwi , and Matt McGregor's The Girl Next Door delivers that hometown pride alongside genuine suspense that kept me reading well past my bedtime. Helen Martin's story begins with a relatable pang of empty nest syndrome—her son Noah has left for college, and the house feels too quiet. It's a moment many of us dread, that shift into a new life phase. But Helen's quiet existence is about to become anything but peaceful when Dakota arrives next door. Dakota is everything that disrupts suburban tranquility : young, beautiful, brash, and seemingly unconcerned with the homeowners association 's pearl-clutching disapproval. She's the kind of neighbor who draws attention—including from Helen's husband, Sam —and  Matt McGregor skillfully plants those early seeds of unease without tipping his hand too quickly. What I a...

Review: Worst Nanny Ever - Book #2 Babes of Brewing Series - Angela Casella - September 2025 I’ll be honest—this cover had me at hello. Paired with the cheeky title Worst Nanny Ever, I knew I was diving into a rom-com that would tick all my boxes. I’ve always had a soft spot for nanny stories, probably because I nearly became one myself after leaving school. My dad, ever the realist, hired a career counsellor to steer me elsewhere—and here I am today, blogging instead of babysitting. Still, that “what if” lingers, and books like this let me live out the alternate path. Angela Casella delivers a delightful single dad romance that’s equal parts heartwarming and hilarious. Travis, our broody hero, suddenly finds himself with a seven-year-old genius named Ollie—who, by the way, completely stole my heart. Ollie is precocious, opinionated, and knows exactly what he wants: Hannah as his nanny. Not just any nanny, mind you—Hannah is loud, messy, and unapologetically herself. She’s everythi...

Review: Don't Open Your Eyes - Liv Constantine - June 2025 October has been a whirlwind—work deadlines, blog updates, and not nearly enough reading time. But when I found myself craving a thriller to shake off the stress, I stumbled across Don’t Open Your Eyes by Liv Constantine . I hadn’t read anything by her before, but the premise hooked me instantly: dreams that bleed into reality and a race against fate. We meet Annabelle, a woman whose life takes a surreal turn after she has a dream that feels eerily real. At first, she brushes it off as coincidence—who hasn’t had a vivid dream that lingers into the morning? But when the dreams keep coming, and the details start to manifest in her waking life, it’s clear something deeper is at play. Is she losing her grip on reality, or is this the same “gift” her Nana once had? The tension ratchets up when Annabelle dreams of a man—handsome, mysterious—and then he walks into her workplace. The dreams aren’t just symbolic—they’re premoniti...