Alice Feeney has done it again. Rock Paper Scissors is another compelling psychological thriller, packed with twists you won’t see coming. Told from multiple perspectives, the novel keeps readers guessing. Who is telling the truth? Who is unreliable? Or are they all a bit of both?
When a struggling couple takes a weekend trip to a remote, renovated chapel in the Scottish Highlands, in a last ditch attempt to save their marriage, they quickly realise they aren’t alone. Someone else is there with them. As tensions rise and secrets unravel, they must decide whether they can ... View Full Review
Beautiful Ugly is a gripping psychological thriller set on a remote Scottish island. The story follows Grady, a novelist struggling to write his second book after the mysterious disappearance of his wife a year earlier.
Haunted by her absence, he begins to see her everywhere, but are these visions real, or just fragments of his unravelling mind? As the lines between reality and hallucination blur, both Grady - and the reader - are drawn into a haunting, atmospheric mystery that keeps you questioning until the very last page. View Full Review
Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney is one of those rare thrillers that, the moment you finish, makes you want to shout “Nooo!” and immediately flip back to page one. You can’t quite believe you missed all the clues so cleverly planted along the way. What seemed like throwaway details suddenly reveal themselves as meticulously placed hints, each one building towards the brilliantly executed twist.
Throughout the story, I was convinced I’d cracked the case—only for my suspect to turn up dead a few pages later. Feeney keeps you constantly second-guessing, leading you ... View Full Review
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek paints a vivid and heartfelt portrait of 19-year-old Cussy Mary, a courageous young woman navigating life in 1930s Appalachian Kentucky. As if being a woman in a rugged, male-dominated world isn't challenging enough, Cussy also faces deep-seated prejudice due to her rare blue-tinged skin.
Determined to make a difference, she becomes a pack horse librarian, braving treacherous terrain and societal scorn to deliver books and promote literacy in her isolated community. While many come to appreciate her kindness and dedication, others—particularly certain men—resent her independence, putting her in constant danger.
... View Full Review
My Favourite Mistake is the latest eagerly awaited installment in Marian Keyes’ beloved Walsh family saga. This time, we’re reunited with Anna, the star of Anybody Out There as she navigates a fresh start in a small Irish town after leaving behind New York—and her partner, Angelo—post-lockdown. Reuniting with her old flatmate Brigit and her family, Anna finds herself caught up in two pressing dilemmas: uncovering who’s sabotaging Brigit’s new retreat business and tracking down some much-needed HRT.
Then there’s Narky Joey—the one that got ... View Full Review
Ashley Poston’s The Seven Year Slip is a heartfelt, whimsical tale of love, fate, and self-discovery. Clementine grew up enchanted by her late aunt’s stories about her magical apartment—one that occasionally transports its occupant seven years into the past. But there was one unbreakable rule: Don’t fall in love.
That rule proves easier said than done when Clementine unexpectedly finds herself sharing the space with a charming, passionate man who exists in a different time. As their lives intertwine across the years, she’s forced to confront her own ambitions, fears, ... View Full Review
Holly Miller’s debut novel blew me away. It’s a heart-wrenching love story with a major twist − Joel, the main character, is haunted by dreams about what will happen to the people he loves. It’s such a burden in his life that he chooses to keep everyone at a distance − he can’t bear knowing the future, good and bad. But when he meets Callie, he just can’t keep himself from beginning to care about her.
When I finished this novel, I had tears dripping down my chin − I ... View Full Review
It forges into territory where the romance genre rarely goes: its main character, Phoebe, is planning to die by suicide at the start of the novel. The author doesn’t shy away from discussing Phoebe’s depression, and the darkness in this novel is what makes it so original, and so brilliant; we feel real joy and connection as Phoebe manages to find her inner strength again.
The love story is very much there, and it is central enough that I would still call this a romance, but it’s perhaps equally a book about loving ... View Full Review
Dannie has always stuck perfectly to her five-year plan, but on the day she ticks off two of her biggest goals (nailing the interview for her dream job, getting engaged to the ideal man) she falls asleep and has the strangest dream. In it, she’s married to someone else, and living a very different life − and it feels so real.
She files the weird dream away and forgets all about it . . . until, five years later, she turns a corner and comes face to face from the man from the dream.
Dannie is the perfect character for ... View Full Review
When Sarah meets Eddie, the connection is instantaneous and powerful, and they have the most amazing seven days together. Then he heads home, as planned − and never contacts her again.
Her friends think she’s just been ghosted, but Sarah can’t believe Eddie would do that. As she tries to find him, and unravels the truth about why he doesn’t get in touch, you’ll find yourself totally blind-sided. I love a twist that only deepens the emotion of a story, and The Man Who Didn’t Call is a perfect ... View Full Review
We've all heard about the importance of gut health. Handfuls of brands talk about it all the time in their marketing and advertising. They promise their products are the answer to our problems. But do you know what, I was still unsure what gut health was all about. How I could really impact it, and why it's so important. But not any more.
This book takes you on a journey to really understand how the gut works, and how to extract every last morsel of nutrition from our food.
More than half of the cells in our body are non-human, ... View Full Review
Set in the fictional landscape of an English university, the story begins with the sudden disappearance of an enigmatic campus cat. This feline character has become an essential, if unofficial, part of the academic community, weaving its way into the routines and lives of staff and students alike. When the cat vanishes, it throws the campus into an amusing frenzy, prompting an investigation that unravels more than just the mystery of its whereabouts.
Woolf’s writing sparkles with humour, and you are swept along with her affectionate and authentic critique of academia. The vividly drawn characters each play their ... View Full Review
