Review: Tragedy Girl - Christine Hurley Deriso - April 2016  There are some books that feel like they would be right at home on a quiet afternoon, curled up on the sofa with a cuppa and a blanket, and Tragedy Girl was one of those reads for me. What makes this one particularly interesting is that it was originally published a decade ago, back in 2016 . Picking it up in 2026, I found myself enjoying this little trip back to a style of YA mystery that feels both familiar and refreshingly uncomplicated. Anne has already been through more heartbreak than anyone her age should have to endure. Her parents have died in a car accident, leaving her trying to find her way through life while carrying that enormous loss with her. Then she meets Blake. He’s good looking, friendly and, perhaps most importantly, he understands grief. His girlfriend, Cara, drowned, although her body was never recovered. It seems almost inevitable that Anne would be drawn to him. After all, they have something in ...

Review: Connected - Rori K. Pierce - March 2021 There’s something wonderfully familiar about Connected . It feels like the kind of story that could be happening quietly in the house next door,  behind a bedroom door, in late-night messages, and in the complicated world of a teenager trying to figure out who she really is. Bethany  is a high school wallflower who has found herself caught in a relationship that has slowly become anything but healthy. Trevor started out as someone she fell for hard and fast, but his controlling behaviour gradually strips away pieces of the girl she used to be. He encourages her to distance herself from friends, experiment with drugs and make choices that leave her increasingly isolated. With Homecoming approaching, Bethany knows something has to change before she loses herself completely. What I particularly loved about Bethany is that her journey doesn’t feel magically easy. Breaking away from someone who has manipulated and cont...

Review: Queen of Cambridge - Book #6 Queens of the Castle - Shakir Rashaan - February 2022 There are some books that feel like slipping into a favourite chair at home with a cup of tea beside you , familiar, comfortable, and filled with characters you’re always happy to catch up with. Queen of Cambridge by Shakir Rashaan gave me some of that feeling, particularly because of its connection to The Castle universe. Caressa is certainly a woman who knows what she wants. As a billionaire chocolatier and one of the biggest names in the confectionery world, she has built an impressive empire, but she isn’t content to sit back and admire what she has already achieved. She’s looking towards new ventures, new opportunities and, as we soon discover, new complications. Caressa is shrewd, determined and very much a woman who can hold her own. Of course, when business and pleasure become rather too closely intertwined, things start getting messy. Enter Ishmael , an international weapons dealer wit...

Review: My Twin Sister - Alesha Dykema - August 2026 There are some thriller tropes that I just can’t resist, and long-lost family members, missing people and someone coming back from the dead are definitely high on my list. So when I picked up My Twin Sister by Alesha Dykema, I was immediately intrigued. Because how would you react if the twin sister you believed had died eighteen years ago suddenly walked into your father’s funeral? That is exactly what happens to Gen. Grace was supposed to have drowned when the sisters were just nineteen. Gen has spent nearly two decades believing that her twin is gone, so seeing Grace standing there, alive and well, is understandably a huge shock. But the surprises don’t stop there. Grace reveals that she suffered from amnesia and has only just remembered who she really is. Except Gen doesn’t believe her. And there’s a very good reason for that. Grace was once in love with Gen’s husband, Wyatt. Suddenly, Gen is living the life that Grace once dream...

VBT# Review - Where There's Smoke - Book #2 Haunted Paint Store Mystery - E.J Copperman - August 2026 There's something about picking up a new Laura Meehan mystery that feels like coming home , kettle on, cardigan on, the promise of trouble that's cozy rather than terrifying. Where There's Smoke delivers exactly that, and then quietly sneaks in something with real teeth. The premise pulled me in before I'd even cracked the spine: someone's setting fire to the Sea Breeze Public Library, and the suspects all seem to circle back to the same simmering fight so many small towns are having right now  who gets to decide what belongs on the shelves. EJ Copperman doesn't hammer you over the head with the banned-books angle, but it's there, woven into every conversation Laura has as a library volunteer, every side-eye between neighbors who used to just wave at each other over the mailbox. It gives the book a warmth of a different kind , the ache of watching a com...

#VBT - Review: You'll Be Sorry - Liz Alterman - August 2026 Pour yourself something cold, pull up a chair, because I need to talk to you about this one. I picked up You'll Be Sorry the way I pick up most revenge stories with a little thrill in my stomach and a promise to myself that I'd only read "just one chapter" before bed. We all know how that promise usually goes. Amelia Montgomery is turning forty, and instead of candles and cake on her mind, she's flipping through a magazine when Ethan Blackmore 's face stops her cold. Ethan:  the man who broke her, humiliated her, and then had the audacity to build a whole shiny new life while she picked up the pieces of the old one. You know the type. Maybe you've even had your own Ethan. I loved the idea of Amelia. A woman who clawed her way back from heartbreak and built something real,  a business, a self, a whole second life is exactly the kind of protagonist I want to root for at my kitchen tabl...