Review: Forever Defiant - Book #2 Fourth and Forever Series - Eve L. Mitchell - July 2026 There's something wonderfully fitting about a book landing in my hands on my own birthday. Forever Defiant published on the 7th of July, and reading it felt like unwrapping a gift made just for me  the kind of serendipity that makes this whole reviewing hobby of mine feel a little bit magical. From the first chapter, I was hooked, but it wasn't Dustin Slater's wicked smile that pulled me in hardest , it was Hadley. I don't think I've resonated with a heroine quite this much in a long time. Watching her chase the truth, notebook in hand, utterly unwilling to back down even when powerful men wanted her silenced, stirred something very personal in me. Journalism has always been my own quiet dream one I chased extramurally through years of study, and one I've kept alive for two decades now, writing for online magazines and review sites in whatever spare hours I could find.  ...

Review: Home Truths - Charity Norman - August 2024 I picked this one up on my Kindle while scrolling the other day and landed on Home Truths by Charity Norman. I'd heard her name before she's based here in New Zealand now but I honestly had no idea what I was walking into. The first chapter drops you straight into a courtroom, with Livia (who I quickly clocked as the mum of the family) on trial for torturing a man, waiting on the jury's decision. Then the book pulls back to the beginning, to show exactly how this ordinary family fell apart, domino by domino. It starts with her husband's brother dying, and from there Scott spirals into health-conspiracy territory , the rabbit-hole kind, the kind that turns extremist, especially once he starts watching videos and corresponding with a man called Dr. Jack. Meanwhile their daughter Heidi starts shoplifting, using the guilt and pain of it as a strange outlet for everything she's been bottling up. This is a proper slow-b...

Review: Slice - Angie Caedis - September 2023 There's something so satisfying about judging a book by its cover and having it actually pay off, and that's exactly what happened with Slice. I had absolutely no idea what this story was about when I picked it up , I just knew I loved the cover and had to click in. Sometimes that's all it takes, isn't it? What I got was one of my all-time favourite tropes: a group of people stranded on a secluded island, being picked off one by one. There's just something so deliciously tense about that setup, and Caedis leans right into it. The story follows Bec, celebrating her thirtieth birthday (which, funnily enough, feels extra fitting to be reading about on my own birthday today) with a trip her boyfriend Tyler has organised a private mansion, a secluded island, and their whole friend group along for the week. It starts off exactly how these trips always do in books like this: sun, drinks, laughter... and then the cracks start ...

Review: The Secrets Next Door - Sally Royer-Derr - March 2024 Happy birthday to me  and what better way to celebrate than curled up with a twisty thriller and a cup of tea? Today feels like the perfect day to share my thoughts on The Secrets Next Door by Sally Royer-Derr, because honestly, this book gave me the kind of gift only a great story can: the thrill of not seeing it coming (well, almost). There's something so unsettling and delicious about a thriller that asks, "How well do we really know the people closest to us?" That question sits at the heart of this story, and Sally Royer-Derr uses it like a scalpel. Talia thinks she knows her life inside and out , her marriage to Zach, her bond with her identical twin Tabitha, even the sprawling generosity of Tabitha and her husband, who bought Talia and Zach the house right next door. Sounds cozy, right? Like something out of a dream where family stays close and life is sweet. But then Anne moves in. Anne, a thriller wr...

Review: The Unmaking of  June Farrow - Adrienne Young - October 2023 Well, hello lovely readers, and happy birthday to me! There's something rather fitting about curling up with tea, cake crumbs on the blanket, and writing this review on my birthday, because this book felt like the kind of cosy, curl-into-the-sofa read that deserves a special occasion. Consider this my little gift to you. I first spotted The Unmaking of June Farrow floating around bookstagram, and I'll admit, the cover and buzz had me expecting a witchy fantasy romp. What I got instead was something far more tender and layered,  a time-slip story wrapped in small-town Southern warmth, family secrets, and just a touch of magic. The story opens in 1986, when a baby named June Farrow mysteriously appears and is taken in by her grandmother. Fast forward to the early 2000s, and June is now grieving her Nana's death, left with only her Nana's old friend Birdie and sweet local boy Mason for company. She...

Review: The Stolen Twin - Jade Lee Wright - July 2026 A split second is all it can take to change a life forever, and that truth sits heavily at the heart of The Stolen Twin by Jade Lee Wright. This is one of those stories that quietly settles into your bones as you read, wrapping itself around the idea that family, trust, and truth are far more fragile than we ever like to believe. Bella’s world is already full when the story begins. She and her husband have just adopted twin girls, and life is a blur of nappies, exhaustion, and love. So when she finally steps out for a Christmas party, it feels like a small moment of normality , something light after months of giving everything to motherhood. But that fragile balance is shattered in an instant when her husband calls to say one of the twins is missing. From there, the novel stretches across fourteen years of grief, unanswered questions, and a family living in the shadow of absence. Robyn is gone, and Bella and her husband are left rai...