Review: Nightshade - Vanessa Edwards - July 2026 Nightshade by Vanessa Edwards begins with a heartbreak. Years ago, Mary fell head over heels for a man who treated her like she was the whole world. Then, just like that, he broke her heart by choosing someone else. That someone was Alice, who is now his wife. Fast forward to the present and Ed has Mary back in his life. She makes him feel wanted, and he's planning to divorce Alice and marry the woman he should have picked all those years ago. Alice, however, has other ideas. A divorce would leave her penniless, and that simply won't do for the lifestyle she's grown so fond of. So she gathers up a little "nightshade" (of course she does!) and poisons her husband. Alice is quite certain she's got away with it. But she's forgotten someone. Enter Lina, the nanny, who has seen more than Alice ever realised. When Alice tries to fire her, Lina has her ammunition ready, and things get deliciously tense from ther...

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: 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: My Friend's Husband - Rupa Mahadevan - June 2026 Pour yourself something warm, settle into your favourite reading nook, and let me tell you about the book that kept me up far too late this week. I'm thrilled to be part of the virtual book tour for My Friend's Husband by Rupa Mahadevan, organised by the lovely folks at Zooloos Book Tours. This one had me curled up on the sofa, blanket forgotten, completely unable to put my phone down between chapters. At its heart, this is the story of a woman trying to rebuild her life after years of bad choices and bad luck, finally given a fresh start by her best friend-  a job, a place to live, a reason to believe things could be different. Then her friend disappears, leaving behind only a frantic, unfinished phone call for help. The police think our narrator knows more than she's letting on. But she's certain the answers lie much closer to home, with the husband everyone assumes is simply a grieving, devoted partner. ...

Review: Spend the Night - Episode #1 - The Hotel Collection -  Elizabeth Lee - March 2015 Oh, friends can I be honest with you for a moment? This past month has been an absolute whirlwind. Work has been chaotic with a capital C, and my beloved reading time has taken the hit in a big way. You know that feeling when you sit down with a book and your brain just… won't? Everything felt flat. Nothing was clicking. I'd pick something up, read a few pages, and put it right back down again. It was that kind of month. So I did what any self-respecting bookworm does in times of reading drought ,I went rummaging through my Kindle. And tucked away in there, gathering digital dust, was a little stash of serial novels from way back when they were absolutely the thing. You remember that era, right? Those delicious bite-sized instalments that kept you coming back for more? I had a handful saved precisely for moments like this, and Spend the Night by Elizabeth Lee was exactly what I needed to ...

Review: Golden Hills - Jennifer Weiner - June 2023 I'll be honest – I've been in one of those reading slumps that every book lover dreads. You know the feeling: picking up book after book, only to set them down after a few pages, nothing quite clicking. So when I spotted Jennifer Weiner's "Golden Hills" as an Amazon Original Short Story, it felt like exactly what I needed: something quick, digestible, and from an author I trust to deliver emotional depth without requiring a massive time commitment. What I got was so much more than a slump-buster. "Golden Hills" centers on Ida Berkowitz, a senatorial candidate whose seemingly assured victory gets complicated when her past resurfaces in the form of Marissa Schuyler – her former camp bunkmate and the keeper of a decades-old secret. Weiner masterfully captures that stomach-dropping moment when your carefully constructed adult life collides with the messy realities of who you used to be. Ida and Marissa...

Review: The Dream Wedding - Renita D'Silva - May 2025 What should have been the happiest day of Sam’s life turns into a nightmare — and sets her on an unexpected, dangerous path. In The Dream Wedding, Sam is about to marry a wealthy Indian man at a luxurious seven-star resort in Cornwall, a far cry from the life she ever imagined for herself. But Sam is hiding a dark secret: her real name is Maisy, and she once served time in prison for the murder of her parents — or so she has been led to believe. Renita D’Silva delivers a slow-burning psychological thriller packed with gaslighting, deception, and class tension. Sam has been doing her best to live quietly, until her world is upended by falling in love with a wealthy playboy who seems to worship her. Yet as their wedding approaches, anonymous threats about her hidden past begin to surface. Should she tell her fiancé the truth? Would he still love her — or would he walk away, shattering her world once again? Meeting her soon-to-be m...

Review: Heart of the Sun - A Love Story - Mia Sheridan - May 2025 I went into Heart of the Sun blindly, expecting an edgy, angst-filled new adult romance. Instead, what I got was a gripping dystopian love story reminiscent of Zombieland or The Walking Dead—but without the zombies. Mia Sheridan’s masterful storytelling delivers a heart-wrenching yet hopeful tale about love, survival, and second chances when the world as we know it is thrust into chaos. The story takes us to the sun-drenched orange groves of California, where childhood best friends Emily Swanson and Tuck Mattice shared an unshakable bond—until life tore them apart. Fast forward thirteen years, and Emily, now a famous pop sensation, is in need of security. Enter Tuck, an ex-con trying to rebuild his life. As Emily hires Tuck as her bodyguard, their personalities create tension that’s laced with nostalgia and undeniable chemistry. What starts as a slow burn quickly ignites, reminding both characters and readers of their ...

    Synopsis: Just Another Meet Cute - Jenn P. Nguyen - May 2025 Boy saves girl stuck on a disastrous hike. What could go wrong? So. Much. Just Another Meet Cute is the joyful and funny story about what happens when you realize you're dating the wrong twin.  When seventeen-year old Nina Riley gets saved by a super cute Knight-in-Faded-Khakis just as she lands in an embarrassingly 'ahem' sticky situation during the most disastrous hike known to man, she wasn't exactly looking for that meet cute. She really just needed some peace and quiet from her complicated family. Unfortunately, he disappears before she can properly thank him or get his number. All she has is his name (Ian Nguyen) and a navy jacket with a dog keychain, a gym card, and laundromat receipt. But a meet cute is a meet cute. And armed with years of watching Veronica Mars and a techy cousin, it should be simple enough for Nina to find the boy of her dreams, right? But when she finally tracks him...