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Book Spotlight - Keep Her Close - Brian R. O'Rourke

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Book Spotlight: Keep Her Close - Brian O'Rourke - May 2026 This little town seems perfect. Until you start digging… When twelve-year-old Sienna Voss vanishes without trace, three women are pulled into the desperate search for the missing girl. Sienna's mother, Roxanne, will tear up this quiet creek-side town to find her daughter. She felt at home here, trusted her neighbors but has one of them done something unspeakable? Chief of Police Tamsin Drake needs to find Sienna quickly. And not just because she’s a good cop. She’s beginning to suspect the girl’s disappearance is connected to a dark secret she thought she’d buried years ago. Cam-girl Cleo Monroe has a hunch she knows who took Sienna and why. If she’s right, that information could buy her a ticket to a better life. As the search parties fan out and the clock runs down, the three women inexorably close in on the horrifying truth. A truth that only one of them will survive. Keep Her Close,  the chilling psychol...
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Review: The Striker - Ana Huang

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Review: The Striker - Book #1 Gods of the Game Series - Ana Huang - October 2024 I'll be honest with you Ana Huang and I have had quite the complicated relationship. Her books have been a bit of a mixed bag for me over the years, landing anywhere from absolute favourites to DNFs (did-not-finishes, for those not deep in the bookish rabbit hole). So when I packed my bags for our Readers Retreat in Taupō last week, I finally decided it was time to give The Striker a proper chance. It had been sitting on my shelf since release, quietly judging me every time I walked past. You know that feeling. We've all been there. And oh my goodness  how did it take me this long? I'm so glad I finally cracked the spine on this one, because The Striker completely won me over. At its heart, it's a football romance and when I say football, I do mean soccer, just so we're all on the same page! Our hero, Asher Donovan, is an absolute dreamboat of a soccer champion who has just switched ...
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Review: Games Untold - Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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Review: Games Untold - Short Stories - An Inheritance Games Collection - Jennifer Lynn Barnes - November 2024 I've been a Jennifer Lynn Barnes fan for longer than I care to admit it all started back in the early 2000s when I picked up Tattoo and was completely swept away. Since then I've devoured everything she's written, but it's The Inheritance Games universe that truly has my heart. And honestly? Choosing a favourite Hawthorne brother is impossible. Xander's humour has me snorting with laughter, Nash's old-fashioned gentlemanly ways make me swoon, Grayson's fierce loyalty makes me feel so safe, and Jameson oh, Jameson with those romantic gestures and that deliciously mysterious streak. They each hold a little piece of my reader's heart. So when I took  Games Untold off my bookshelf  for the Readers Retreat I attended in Taupo last weekend, I knew exactly how I'd be spending my downtime. Curled up, cup of tea in hand, utterly lost in the Hawthorne...
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Review: After I Fell - Anna Todd

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      Review: After We Fell -  Book #3 After Series - Anna Todd - July 2014 You know that feeling when you pull a book off the shelf that's been sitting there so long it's practically become part of the furniture? That was me with After We Fell by Anna Todd. It had been gathering dust since 2015 ,yes, 2015  and it finally got its moment in the sun last weekend when I packed it for my reader's retreat, determined to tackle one of my chunkiest reads. Reader, I devoured all 848 pages across a Friday afternoon and Saturday. No shame, only pride. Opening this book was like stepping into a time machine. Within a few pages I was right back in Hardin and Tessa's world, and it genuinely felt like no time had passed since I finished the second book all those years ago. There's something wonderfully nostalgic about returning to a series you loved in an earlier chapter of your life, but what made this reread particularly fascinating was how much I had changed in the decad...
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Review: Who I Am - ML Rice

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Review: Who I Am - ML Rice - March 2014 You know those evenings when you're curled up with your Kindle, scrolling aimlessly because nothing quite calls to you? That was exactly where I found myself when I stumbled upon Who I Am by ML Rice. It had that quiet, unassuming quality of a book that isn't shouting for your attention and those, in my experience, are often the ones that end up meaning the most. The story centres on Devin, a military kid and a bookworm,  honestly, already my kind of character. After losing her father, Devin and her mum pick up and move to the city, the kind of upheaval that would knock anyone sideways. It's there that she meets Melanie Parker, and the two of them click instantly in that lovely, easy way that feels completely real. Best friends from the off. There's just one complication: Mel's twin brother Jason, who makes it his mission from day one to make Devin's school life miserable. What unfolds over the course of the novel is a co...
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Review: Murder Interrupted - James Patterson

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Review: Murder Interrupted - Book #1 Discovery's Murder is Forever Series -  James Patterson - January 2018 You know how sometimes a book finds you twice? That's exactly what happened with Murder Interrupted by James Patterson and I'm so glad it did. One of my reading goals for 2026 is to tackle at least one non-fiction book a month, which sounds straightforward enough until you're standing in front of your shelves (or your TBR list) completely paralysed by choice. In the end, I handed the decision over to my partner, and honestly? Best thing I could have done. He pointed me straight to this one a copy I'd nabbed at the Rotary secondhand book sale here in Tauranga back in March and off I went. Here's the funny thing though. A quick peek at Goodreads reminded me I'd actually attempted this very book back in February 2018 when it first came out. Apparently past-me wasn't feeling it, because I gave it 2 Ps which, for those who know my rating system, is a ...
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VBT# The Landlady - Jane E. James

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Review: The Landlady - Jane E. James - May  2026 I'm curled up here with my favourite mug and a biscuit, writing this from the comfort of my own home  and goodness, never have I felt more grateful for that simple fact. One of the quiet little joys of being a bookworm is that a brilliant thriller can make you count your blessings. The Landlady by Jane E. James did exactly that. I have never had to deal with renting, unpredictable landlords, or difficult neighbours, and after reading this one I am sending the universe a heartfelt thank you. Our narrator arrives at Rose Cottage, a pretty little place on a quiet country farm, with her five-year-old daughter Lily tucked close. After time spent in a women's refuge, the pair desperately need a haven, and Mrs Skinner seems to offer just that bone-crushing hugs, homemade cakes, freshly baked bread, and cheese on the doorstep. Warm, motherly, reassuring. My own heart melted a little at that image. It felt like the ki...
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