Review: The Day She Disappeared - Caleb Crowe - November 2026 Some books grab your attention from the very first page, and The Day She Disappeared by Caleb Crowe certainly had me hooked. It's one of those stories that makes you want to keep reading just one more chapter, even when you know you should probably put the book down! Imagine waiting in a café to celebrate your younger sister's birthday, only to receive a text saying, "Don't worry about me. I'm fine. I just needed to get away." And then she never arrives. No explanation, no goodbye and no trace of where she's gone. That's exactly what happens to Mary Harper when her sister Lucy disappears. The police believe Lucy has chosen to walk away from her life, her husband and even her children. Her husband eventually moves on, and everyone seems prepared to accept that Lucy simply wanted a fresh start. Everyone, that is, except Mary. Seven years later, with Lucy's husband preparing to have her l...

Review: Great Big Beautiful Life - Emily Henry - April 2025 I have what you might call a hit-or-miss, all-or-nothing relationship with Emily Henry. When she gets me, she really gets me, and I’m all in, heart and soul. When she doesn’t, the book ends up on my DNF pile. I’m split right down the middle, so I’ll admit I was a little nervous to pick up Great Big Beautiful Life. I’m so glad I finally found my courage, because I loved it. Alice Scott is a sunshine optimist still waiting on her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-winning grumpy realist . Both have landed on the sunny shores of Little Crescent Island with the same goal: to win the right to write the biography of Margaret Ives, the tragic heiress and former tabloid princess who hasn’t been seen in years. Margaret offers them a one-month trial, then she’ll choose. There’s just one catch. She’s only giving each of them pieces of her story, and an ironclad NDA means they can’t compare notes. Add in the not-so-small ma...

  Review: Real Haunted Hospitals and Mental Asylums - Zachery Knowles - October 2015 Real Haunted Hospitals and Mental Asylums by Zachery Knowles arrived as a paperback birthday gift from one of the Bookstagram birthday groups I belong to. What a treat of a present! As a lover of true crime, hauntings and anything supernatural, I knew this one was right up my alley, and I settled in with high hopes. The book gathers thirteen tales from some of the world’s most infamous medical institutions, and the geography alone is impressive. We travel from Waverly Hills Sanatorium in the United States, where the ghost of a young girl named Mary is said to wander the halls, to Old Changi Hospital in Singapore, where the horrors of war supposedly echo in screams and spectral soldiers. Then it’s on to Germany’s Beelitz-Heilstätten Hospital, with its apparitions and its heartbreaking history, and even the Czech Republic and some closer to home across the ditch in Australia. What I really enjoyed...

VBT# The Dream Family - Lisa Hall - November 2026 What would you do if you turned up to collect your daughter and she simply wasn't there? Now, that is a storyline guaranteed to grab my attention! I absolutely love a good psychological thriller, especially one involving revenge, secrets, and the kind of twists that leave you questioning everything you thought you knew. And The Dream Family by Lisa Hall certainly delivered on all three. Imagine moving back to the town where you grew up, settling into a gorgeous cottage and starting afresh with your daughter Cora. You have the perfect home, new friends, lovely school mums, coffee dates after drop-off and drinks at the local pub. To the outside world, you are living the dream. After all, you're the dream family, or so your 100,000 followers believe. But behind those picture-perfect social media posts, something much darker is happening. It starts with an anonymous message. Then someone gets into the house. Private moments become ...

Review: The Class Assignment is Murder - Carolyn Kleinman - October 2023 What would you do if an innocent-looking classroom project led you into a chilling murder investigation, buried secrets and memories you had spent a lifetime trying to forget? That is exactly the situation Hannah Stein finds herself in in The Class Assignment is Murder by Carolyn Kleinman. Set in the seemingly peaceful town of Parkerville, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the story introduces us to Hannah, a Jewish English professor and widow in her forties. Back in 2005, the town was rocked by a horrific crime when teenage Matthew Baker murdered his family and raped his cousin. Fourteen years later, Baker suddenly claims he is innocent, leaving Hannah with more questions than answers. Looking for an unusual topic to capture the interest of three students, Hannah suggests they investigate the old Baker case. What begins as an academic exercise soon becomes something far more personal and dangerous. As the students...

Review: The Family Tree - Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry - June 2021 Sometimes the biggest surprise in your family tree is the one you were never expecting to find! Imagine deciding to do a DNA test for your birthday, perhaps as a bit of fun, only to discover that you were adopted. Now imagine that the family you never knew you had comes with an even darker secret: somewhere in your newly discovered family tree is a serial killer who has been evading the police for more than 40 years! Talk about a birthday surprise you won't forget in a hurry! That's the intriguing premise behind The Family Tree by Steph Mullins and Nicole Mabry, and I have to say, it certainly grabbed my attention. Meet Liz Catalano, who takes an ancestry DNA test as a bit of a joke, never imagining that the results will turn her entire world upside down. Not only does she discover that she was adopted, but her newfound biological connections place her right in the middle of an FBI investigation. Her DNA has p...