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 Good Ones - Polly Stewart - June 2023 I'll be upfront: I picked this one up on a quiet Sunday with the intention of just reading a chapter or two. A few hours later I surfaced, bleary-eyed and thoroughly unsettled. That should tell you everything you need to know about Polly Stewart's The Good Ones. Twenty years ago, Nicola shared what sounds like a perfect, golden day at the lake with her closest friend Lauren,  a rare, child-free afternoon that felt like a gift. When Nicola declined to stay overnight and drove home to her mum, she had no idea it would be the last time she'd ever see her. The next morning she returned to find blood and no Lauren  and a town that eventually decided she'd simply walked away from her life. I found that part particularly chilling: that a woman can disappear and the community's answer is just to shrug and move on. Nicola never bought the official story, but she also couldn't stay. The weight of sm...

Review: The Other Killer - Book #3 The Peasedale Woods Killer Series - Heidi Field - April 2026 There’s something quietly powerful about a story of second chances, and The Other Killer by Heidi Field delivers exactly that with a strong emotional core that lingers long after the final page. Set twenty years after the events of Book #2, we meet Mason as he is released from prison for crimes he was involved in as a teenager alongside Gunner. Having only read the previous book, I can honestly say this one still stands strong on its own. Heidi Field does a great job of grounding the reader, allowing you to slip into Mason’s world without feeling lost or overwhelmed by backstory. What unfolds is a deeply human story. Mason is trying , really trying to rebuild his life. He forms connections with Gunner’s daughter and grandson, Pip, and even takes young Kenny, the kid across the road, under his wing. Watching him attempt to carve out something meaningful for himself, including securing a stabl...

Review: Photograph - Brian Freeman - October 2025 There’s something quietly haunting about Photograph, the kind of story that settles into your bones and lingers long after you’ve turned the final page. As I curled up with this one, I felt like I was stepping into a storm - one that begins softly but builds into something deeply emotional and utterly consuming. At the heart of the novel is Shannon Wells, a private investigator with a compassionate streak for helping women who feel like they’ve run out of options. I instantly warmed to Shannon. She’s not just solving cases ,she’s carrying people’s burdens, and that gives her character a grounded, human quality that makes you root for her from the very beginning. The mystery surrounding Faith Selby pulled me in straight away. A woman asking, “Find out who I really am” is such a simple yet loaded request, and it sets the tone for everything that follows. When Faith turns up dead, leaving behind nothing but a photograph of a little girl s...

Review: Shocking Crimes - Book #14 Detective Sophie Allen Series - Michael Hambling - November 2025 There's something uniquely unsettling about discovering a child's body in a suitcase which made me think of the New Zealand case, a couple of years ago when the two asian children were found dead in suitcases and left in a storage shed, and Michael Hambling doesn't pull any punches in this latest Detective Sophie Allen mystery. From the moment I opened Shocking Crimes, I knew I was in for a dark, compelling ride. The premise grabbed me immediately: a mummified child's body hidden in a loft, accompanied only by a heartbreaking, badly-spelled note – "Im Jan. im only 10. plees help me." Those simple words haunted me throughout the entire read. Hambling has a gift for making you feel the weight of every tragedy his characters uncover. What could have been a straightforward cold case investigation takes on layers of complexity when a young student, Holly Evans, ends...

Review: Forget Me Not - Book #1 Summit Lake Series - Kristen Middleton - March 2018 Amanda and her young son Kevin’s move to Summit Falls is meant to bring closure, but instead, it opens Pandora’s box of secrets and danger. Inheriting the estate of her ex-husband Brad—a man she hasn’t seen or heard from in nearly two decades—Amanda anticipates awkward adjustments, not the chilling discoveries that await her. As whispers of Brad’s mysterious death evolve into shouts of foul play, Amanda finds herself in the crosshairs of a relentless stalker who seems hell-bent on revenge. The story begins with a gripping prologue featuring a man seeking vengeance against a shadowy figure from his past, setting a dark, tension-filled tone that permeates the novel. When Amanda arrives in Summit Falls, she is plunged into an atmospheric world where every friendly face hides potential betrayal, and each shadow seems to harbor deadly intent. The plot masterfully intertwines Amanda’s current plight with Br...

Forever Bound Jessica Dall Published by: Entangled: Amara Publication date: October 17th 2022 Genres: Adult, Romance, Time-Travel From the minute Bridget Marshall began renovating the old Irish Castle she bought outside the Village of Shansally, Ireland (pop. 119) she’d been on the verge of being labeled another “Silly American.” But after years of managing other people’s hotels, she’s ready to run one herself. And nothing will get in her way, not even her grumpy next-door neighbor, Liam O’Flannagain. Soon, though, the dream Bridget’s been waiting for is becoming a living nightmare. The renovations, not to mention the budget, are out of control, and someone—or something—is determined to get her out of the castle. And if that wasn’t enough, whenever she’s with Liam, the castle’s ancient past seems to come roaring to life, sweeping them along in a story they’re apparently destined to relive. If she is to uncover the castle’s secrets, Bridget will need Liam’s help to figure out...

VBT# Review: The Overnight Guest - Heather Gudenkauf - January 2022 Lately, I have been reading more thrillers than romances as at the beginning of January I felt that every romance book I tried was just blah and ended up being a DNF. I have seemed to have more luck with thrillers and this particular author, I have read 5 of her prior books - one I didn't enjoy which was Missing Pieces but the other 4 were amazing and ranged from 1 - 3 star, 1 - 4 star and 2 - 5 stars. The Overnight Guest will be added to the 4-star pile. The book starts with a murder that rocked the small town of Burden and remained unsolved - a murder that left one girl alive Josie and the other Becky missing. Now twenty years later, a true-crime writer who has a dark secret Wylie Lark is back in Burden and writing a book about the crime. What she doesn't expect is that by the end of the book she will have discovered the "real truth" about what happened that fateful night twenty years ago and unco...

Review: Forever Layla - Melissa Turner Lee - May 2014 Clearing my kindle of its older titles as currently participating in a YearAThon ReadAThon on Instagram and one of the prompts is clearing your TBR pile and with a massive kindle library, I am aiming this year to get rid of some of my older books. I wasn't sure what this book was about as I have had it since 2014 and now, we are in 2022.  Forever Layla was an interesting read as it was more than a romance if you had to choose two books to describe this - I would say Forever Layla is The Notebook meets The Time Travellers Wife. The year is early 1994 and Kurt Cobain is still alive and David is 17- 18 next week and working on the soundboard for a garage band. Normally girls come for the band members, not geeky him. This girl here is for David though. For years the girl who we later meet in the book has grown up hearing stories about him and the woman Layla who he fell for and their eternal love story. You see this girl is from t...