He Loves Me (Not) by Maire Zeph - #bookreview #blogtour

I am Daisy.

I'd like to be brave brash bonkers.

I'd love to be feisty fierce free.

Or blonde bold bad.

But I'm not.

I am fifteen years old and as ordinary as daisies.

***

I am required to make it clear at the beginning of my reviews that I received this book for free from The Write Reads. I have not been paid for doing this and all opinions are my own. I am Bookshop.org affiliated, which means I earn a very small amount of money if you buy from there using my direct link. Although I include purchase links to Amazon, I am not affiliated with them. I include them to make it easy for you to navigate to them if you so wish.

***

The Blurb

A chilling YA thriller told in verse about online romance, obsession and the dangers hiding behind a screen.

'He made her feel seen. Then she vanished without a trace.'

Daisy has always been quiet – the kind of girl who fades into the background. So when she meets a boy online who really sees her, she falls fast. He listens. He understands. He makes her feel special in a way no one at school ever has. Soon, Daisy’s world shrinks to a glowing screen. Her mum worries. Her best friend Erin is pushed aside. But Daisy doesn’t notice – she’s in love.

Then Daisy goes to meet him in real life. And she never comes back.

Left behind with guilt and unanswered questions, Erin is forced to confront the truth Daisy never saw. In a world where screens can lie and love can be faked, how can anyone know who to trust?

My Review

This is a beautiful book with a dark undertone and I absolutely adored it.

Daisy is fifteen and feels overlooked by her peers. She feels her name reflects her personality. Daisies are so commonplace as to be unnoticed. Until she meets Shay online. Shay sees her for the person she really is and they strike up a relationship very quickly. As a reader, I could see the potential danger she was in and I wanted to grab hold of her and hug her until she realised her self-worth without this unknown online presence in her life. It's not often I get so moved by a book I want to jump into its pages.

Written in verse, it was quick to read, which is just as well as I could not have put this book down before I had finished it. The language flows perfectly and made me want to keep reading, but coupled with its subject matter this short book for young adults became a gripping read.

The book highlights the dangers lurking online and the book does a great job of warning its readers of its menace, particularly to the young and vulnerable.

Without hesitation, this is a five-star read for me and I wholeheartedly recommend it. If you have a teenager in your life, buy them this book. Not only for its cautionary message but because it is a fabulous read too.

Book Details

ISBN: 978 1918353082

Publisher: Little Island

Formats: e-book and paperback

No. of Pages: 224 (paperback)

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Amazon CA

About the Author

Máire Zepf has written over 16 books for children, from picture books to a YA verse novel. Winner of the Children's Books Ireland children’s Book of the Year, 5 Literature Association of Ireland Children’s Book Awards and 2 international White Ravens among many others, her books appear in 10 languages worldwide. Her Rita series of picture books with illustrator Mr. Ando has recently been adapted for television. She is screen-writer and co-creator of the celtic anime series ‘Lí Ban.’ The Co. Down author was the first Children’s Writing Fellow for Northern Ireland, based at the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry at Queen's University Belfast. Máire loves sea-swimming and crisps.

You can also find Maire at:

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My Other Blog Posts Featuring Books for Young Adults

Shorelines by Ruth Ennis

Last Seen Online by Lauren James

My Heart is Hurting by S. E. Reed

The Time Trials by Jon and Dayna McConnell

Shadow by Michael Morpurgo

(ARC and media courtesy of The Write Reads)

(all opinions are my own)

Sisters... No Way! by Siobhan Parkinson - #bookreview #blogtour

A happy relief, someone said. Can you believe it? A happy relief! Dad said... that's the sort of thing people say, they don't mean it unkindly...

***

I am required to make it clear at the beginning of my reviews that I received this book for free from The Write Reads. I have not been paid for doing this and all opinions are my own. I am Bookshop.org affiliated, which means I earn a very small amount of money if you buy from there using my direct link. Although I include purchase links to Amazon, I am not affiliated with them. I include them to make it easy for you to navigate to them if you so wish.

***

The Blurb

A funny, feisty and heartfelt take on the classic Cinderella story, this 30-year anniversary edition of Sisters ... No Way! invites readers old and new to discover the charming story that defined a generation. With two stories in one – told from different perspectives and flipped to read from either side – this unique book lets readers step into both sisters’ shoes, revealing that there’s always more than one side to every story.

Cindy is a sharp-tongued, no-nonsense teen struggling with her mum’s recent death – and she is not impressed when her dad falls for one of her teachers. A teacher for a stepmother? Seriously? And her two perfect, prissy daughters? There’s no way Cindy is calling them sisters… no way!

But the feeling is mutual. Cindy’s would-be stepsisters think she’s a total nightmare: rude, bossy, and completely unfair to their mum. They don’t want her as a sister any more than she wants them... no way! The trouble is, the wedding is happening whether they like it or not. Soon they’ll all be one family… so something has to give.

But who will it be?

My Review

This is a modern retelling of Cinderella that is aimed at a young adult readership.

At the beginning, the author invites us to "choose where to start." The book contains two diaries: Cindy's, whose mother has recently passed away, and Ashling's, whose parents have split up, leaving her and her sister to cope with the fallout. It is up to the reader to decide which one to read first.

When Cindy's dad and Ashling's mum get together, neither of them are ready to become stepsisters. Through reading the diaries, the reader is able to consider the book from the perspectives of both girls. This leaves the reader to understand the situation from the individual points of view and to understand the two girls better. I enjoyed the epistolary format as it gave me the opportunity to really understand the two characters in a way that a normal narrative may not have.

I love the way the author took a classic story and set it in the modern world of blended families. This was originally published in the 1990s and this is the book's 30th anniversary. It has been given a nice new cover which will appeal to a new generation of young people.

I enjoyed this book very much and highly recommend it.

Book Details

ISBN: 978 1918353952

Publisher: Little Island Books

Formats: e-book and paperback

No. of Pages: 256 (paperback)

Purchase Links

Boookshop.org

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Amazon CA

About the Author

Siobhán Parkinson is one of Ireland's best-known writers for children. She has written almost thirty books, most of them for children and teenagers, for which she has won a bagful of awards and nominations, and her books have been translated into about twenty languages. She was Ireland's first Children's Laureate. She is visually impaired, which means she has to  rely mainly on audiobooks for reading, and she works by using magnification software and a voice on her computer. She lives in Dublin with her husband, who is a woodturner and without her grown-up son, who is a book editor.

You can also find Siobhan at:

Author Website

Instagram

My Other Blog Posts Featuring Books for Young Adults

Shorelines by Ruth Ennis

Last Seen Online by Lauren James

My Heart is Hurting by S.E. Reed

The Time Trials by John and Dayna McConnell

Shadow by Michael Morpurgo

(ARC and media courtesy of The Write Reads)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

The Connection in Everything by Rich Marcello - #blogtour #bookspotlight

I am very happy to be shining the book spotlight on this book today. The Connection in Everything by Rich Marcello is a coming-of-age story aimed at young adults.

The Blurb

A lonely teenage genius who believes there’s a connection in everything finds his theory put to the test when a mysterious mentor and an enchanting artist enter his life, launching a summer-long search for the true meaning of connection.

Sixteen-year-old Amaro Marzano sees connections everywhere—in the quantum world, in the patterns of nature, in the verses of Rumi. Yet, in his own life in working-class Worcester, Massachusetts, he feels profoundly disconnected. Trapped by the volatility of his strict father and the weight of family expectations, Am finds solace in the quiet orbit of school, the library, and his two best friends.

But his world fractures and reforms when two new connections emerge: David Butler, a recluse with a library holding ten thousand books, who becomes an unlikely mentor; and Ginnevra Poppoli, a captivating mime artist who offers the breathtaking possibility of first love.

As Am navigates escalating family crises, intellectual awakenings, and the bittersweet intensity of young love, he must rely on his “found family” and his own novel ideas to forge and maintain relationships in a world where true connection has become a radical act.

The Connection in Everything is a luminous, heartbreaking, and intellectually dazzling coming-of-age story about finding your place in a universe that is both terrifyingly chaotic and astonishingly interconnected.

About the Author

Rich is the author of seven acclaimed novels—including Cenotaphs, The Latecomers, The Means of Keeping, and his most recent work, The Connection in Everything—as well as the poetry collection The Long Body That Connects Us All. 

Rich’s creative voice is uniquely shaped by a dual history of high-stakes leadership and artistic immersion. Before dedicating himself to fiction, he enjoyed a distinguished career as a technology executive, managing multibillion-dollar businesses for Fortune 500 companies. This background provides his storytelling with a unique intellectual rigor and a keen understanding of the systems, both corporate and social, that shape modern life. Yet, it is his “eye and ear of a poet” and his experience as a songwriter that infuse his prose with its characteristic lyrical beauty and emotional intimacy. 

Beyond the page, Rich is an advocate for the literary arts and his local community. He served as the president of the Seven Bridges Writers’ Collaborative for four years, mentoring emerging voices and teaching fiction. Today, he remains a voice in Harvard, Massachusetts, where he serves on the Harvard Climate Initiative Committee and writes a regular column for The Harvard Press on the climate crisis.

For Rich, art is ultimately an act of service. Whether through a song, a poem, or a 400-page novel, his goal is to make a meaningful difference to at least one other person in the world, a goal he’s achieved many times over.       

Rich lives in Harvard with his wife, Maribeth, and their Newfoundland, Iaia. He is currently at work on his eighth novel, Threshold, continuing his journey toward creating a ten-book cycle of interconnected human stories.

You can also find Rich at:

Author Website

Facebook

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(media courtesy of The Write Reads)

(all opinions are my own)

Books I Read in August 2026

As August draws to a close our streets and lanes already look like autumn. Of course, it isn't yet but this overly hot, dry summer have sent our plants and trees into distress and leaves have just shrivelled up and shed themselves.

I will be away next week so the blog will be quiet but rest assured I will soon be back with lots of great booky stuff to share with you.

Enjoy the rest of summer and happy reading!

Murder at Christmas by T.A. Williams

It seemed somewhat ironic to be reading a Christmas book during a heatwave, but I so enjoyed reading about Private Investigator Dan Armstrong and his faithful canine friend, Oscar. You can find my full review here.

The Secret Dressmaker by Jenny O'Brien

I enjoyed this book set around the French Resistance in World War II. You can find my full review here.

The One Where They Fall in Love by Cristina Wolf

I absolutely loved the slow burn of friendship, later followed by desire between the two main characters in this book. You can find my full review here.

Lost and Never Found by Simon Mason

This is currently my favourite crime series. The characters are just wonderful.

A Dangerous Crossing by Jane Mitchell

This is probably the best book I have read so far this year. You can find my full review here.

A Hymn to Life: Shame Has To Change Sides by Gisele Pelicot

What can I say? This memoir from Gisele Pelicot is something everyone should read. Her bravery and resilience is second to none.

Currently Reading

A History of the Novel in Britain by Philip Hensher

The Alchemist's Secret by Clare Marchant

Invitation from a Dictator by Rory Clements

The Wine of Angels by Phil Rickman

A Dangerous Crossing by Jane Mitchell - #bookreview #blogtour

I sprint around the perimeter of Freedom Square in the centre of Kobani. I hardly recognise this place any more, it is such a wreck now...

***

I am required to make it clear at the beginning of my reviews that I received this book for free from The Write Reads. I have not been paid for doing this and all opinions are my own. I am Bookshop.org affiliated, which means I earn a very small amount of money if you buy from there using my direct link. Although I include purchase links to Amazon, I am not affiliated with them. I include them to make it easy for you to navigate to them if you so wish.

***

The Blurb

Ghalib doesn't want to leave his home in Syria. But the city has become too dangerous, and his family has no choice but to flee. Together they make their way through Syria to the Turkish border, where Ghalib gets separated from his family. Stricken with grief and fear, fighting cold, pain and hunger, he manages to make it to a refugee camp in Turkey. Ghalib is safe for now, but life in a refugee camp is wretched and hopeless, and this boy's journey in search of safety is far from over. Based on true accounts and real Syrian children, A Dangerous Crossing is the story of one boy's search for refuge.

My Review

This is probably one of the best books I have read this year. Quite the accolade when considering that I have currently read 83 books so far.

The main character in the book is thirteen-year-old Ghalib. He was a contented child, living with his parents, older sister and younger brother until the war began in Syria. From then, every day was a fight for survival.

The story has been beautifully told and the writer has demonstrated real skill in the telling. The entire book came alive on the pages. It is well-written, compelling and highly engaging. This is one of the few books where I could have cried simply because the book had ended. I wanted to scoop Ghalib up into my arms and to somehow make the world a better place for him. It isn't often that I become this invested in a book.

The book is aimed at a young adult readership. I would encourage every secondary school library to have a copy of this on their shelves. That said, it is highly suitable for adults too.

This was a deeply moving and heart-wrenching book and I would challenge anyone to read this and not be deeply moved. Each of the characters in the book is the name of a real Syrian child who was killed during the war. What a wonderful tribute to so many young lives so needlessly lost.

Book Details

ISBN: 978 1910411582

Publisher: Little Island

Formats: e-book and paperback

No. of Pages: 224 (paperback)

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org

Amazon UK

Amazon US

About the Author

Jane Mitchell lives in Dublin and works with children with physical disabilities. Her Amnesty International- endorsed novel A Dangerous Crossing (Little Island), about a Syrian family fleeing the war, has sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide. Jane spent time volunteering at the refugee camp in Calais to research the book. Chalkline (Walker), about child soldiers in Kashmir, won the Children's Choice Award at the 2010 CBI Awards.

You can also find Jane at:

Author Website

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(ARC and media courtesy of The Write Reads)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Shorelines by Ruth Ennis - #bookspotlight #blogtour

I am very pleased to be shining the spotlight on this book today. Shorelines by Ruth Ennis is a fantasy adventure written in verse and is aimed at a young adult audience.

The Blurb

When proud mermaid Muireann flees her climate-ravaged ocean in search of hope on land, she confronts human cruelty and body-shaming as she struggles to find her true home and voice. Caught between a dying ocean and a divided world, she must grapple between the sea that made her and the surface that might break her – in this stunning verse novel that reimagines The Little Mermaid.

Muireann is a mermaid – fierce, curious and proud of the body that keeps her warm beneath the waves. But life in the ocean is becoming impossible. The merfolk are at war with the human ramifications of climate change: food is scarce, and her twin sister has been killed in a mass-fishing net. With her mother lost in grief and her world falling apart, Muireann longs to escape to the surface to find some answers. But the human world isn’t the haven she hoped for. It’s colder, crueller – and here, her large body is seen not as strength, but as something to be ashamed of.

In this beautiful novel-in-verse, Muireann must find her voice and fight for where she belongs – whether that be beneath the waves, or above them.

Book Details

ISBN:  978 1915071989

 Publisher:  Little Island

Formats:  (e-book for preorder) and paperback

No. of Pages:  280 (paperback)

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Amazon CA

About the Author

Ruth Ennis (she/they) is a writer from Kildare, Ireland. She has a B.A. in English with Drama from University College Dublin and an M.Phil. in Children’s Literature from Trinity College Dublin. She has written poetry, short stories, and essays for several publications. Her work has been published in The Irish Writer’s Handbook (Books Ireland) and I Am The Wind (Little Island). She usually is working with books in some capacity.

Ruth’s debut novel Shorelines (Little Island, Feb 2026) is a young adult verse novel retelling of The Little Mermaid, told through the lens of a fat protagonist.

Ruth is represented by Alice Williams Literary: Children’s Books Agency.

Ruth is the Emerging Writer in Residence in dlr LexIcon from September 2025 to June 2026. They are working alongside Eve McDonnell as the Established Writer in Residence.

Ruth was a Young Writer Delegate with The Irish Writers Centre for the International Literature Festival Dublin in 2019 and was selected for the Words Ireland Mentorship Programme in 2020. She was awarded two grants from the Arts Council Ireland; a Literature Bursary in 2021 and an Agility Award in 2022. Ruth was selected to take part in the Stinging Fly Summer School Poetry Programme in 2025.

Ruth regularly reviews children’s and young adult books on various platforms. Her main reviews can be found on the Books Ireland Magazine website. She occasionally reviews titles for Children’s Books Ireland and is a Book Doctor for CBI. She also posts informal reviews on her social media accounts (@rurooie).

In collaboration with the Discover Irish Kids Books campaign, Ruth runs the Discover Irish Children’s Books Challenge every October since 2023. This is a social media challenge where participants are encouraged to share a book by Irish / Ireland-based authors and illustrators in response to a daily prompt.

You can also find Ruth at:

Author Website

Instagram

Bluesky

Tik Tok

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(media courtesy of The Write Reads)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Milksop by John Van Rys - #bookreview

***

It has come to my attention that I must make it clear at the beginning of my reviews that I received this book for free from the publisher. I have not been paid for doing this and all opinions are my own. I am Bookshop.org affiliated, which means I earn a very small amount of money if you buy from there using my direct link. Although I include purchase links to Amazon, I am not affiliated with them. I include them to make it easy for you to navigate to them if you so wish.

***

The Blurb

The summer of 1979 should have been simple: two months on a dairy farm in rural Ontario to make up for a disastrous winter term. But for seventeen-year-old Evan Mulder—awkward, angsty, and armed only with a gift for running and numbers—nothing about the Logan farm proves simple.

Dumped in a dark laneway by his disappointed parents, Evan finds himself among strangers: the reserved Niall, warm-hearted Connie, their two young children, and one very judgmental farm dog. Between early morning milkings and mucking out stalls, Evan discovers that the Logans are caught between a rock and a hard place—mounting debt, a predatory neighbour circling their land, and farm records buried in desk drawers like secrets no one wants to face.

As Evan learns to navigate life beyond his suburban comfort zone, he also confronts the truth he’s been running from all year. In a summer of chickens and calculations, flower gardens and financial ledgers, he’ll find unexpected ways to belong—and discover that being small in a world of big egos might not be weakness, but wisdom.

A tender coming-of-age story set against the rhythms of rural life, Milksop is about the quiet courage it takes to show up, the healing power of honest work, and learning that sometimes the smallest acts of care matter most.

My Review

This was a moving coming of age story about a boy called, Evan, who is nicknamed Milksop.

Evan is seventeen and has not been doing well at school. He is anxious and worried, and his parents have no understanding of how he feels. He is constantly teased by his older brother, whom Evan feels is the perfect son in the eyes of his parents. In fact, it is his brother who gave him the derogatory nickname of Milksop, due to Evan's perceived lack of vigour and lack of assertion. 

Evan takes comfort in running and mathematics. He likes the certainty of numbers in an erratic world. His parents decide to send him to a country farm for the summer to toughen him up a bit. His brother had been previously, and it quickly becomes apparent that his brother told of his nickname which, to Evan's horror, quickly gets adopted there too.

Evan is a city boy who has spent his life eating processed foods. When he finds himself on the farm, he is confronted with homemade and homegrown food. He is appalled and resists both the food and the work at every opportunity. 

This is the story of a desperately unhappy young person who is on the cusp of adulthood. As the novel progresses, we understand the causes of his anxiety. He is a wonderful character, and I was rooting for him all the way. I enjoyed reading of the lessons he learned, his development, and how he ultimately finds a way to steer himself in such a complicated world.

This was a truly excellent novel which I enjoyed very much. The author understands her characters and the world in which she has placed them very well. She tells her story with skill, and I highly recommend this book.

Book Details

Publisher:  Chicken House Press

Formats: e-book and paperback

No. of Pages:  386

Preorder Links

Chicken House Publishing

Amazon UK

Amazon CA

Amazon US

About the Author

John Van Rys is no longer young, he hasn’t been urban for about thirty years, and he’s never been hip. That makes him old, rural, and pretty square. That said, when he was 61, the Canada Council for the Arts designated him a New and Emerging Artist. Go figure!

John lives on a hobby farm outside Dunnville, Ontario, with his wife April, dogs, cats, horses, free-run egg-laying hens, and Cayuga ducks, as well as two of his adult children, their partners, his two granddaughters—and, just to keep things interesting, his mother-in-law. This life has supplied much of the inspiration for his fiction. People tell John that he has a thing about chickens, so he’s been given chicken mugs, chicken boots, chicken T-shirts, a stuffed chicken, and a chicken lunch bag. Chickens do appear all over the place in his fiction, but he’s convinced that doesn’t mean he has a weird obsession with them.

Until his retirement on July 1, 2025, his day job involved being a mild-mannered English professor, but his passion since late 2016 has been writing stories. He’s had short stories published in The New Quarterly, The Dalhousie Review, Agnes and True, Blank Spaces, and Solum Literary Journal. His story “Excavations” won the 2022 Prairie Fire MRB Short Fiction Contest. His first book-length collection, the story cycle Moonshine Promises, was published in 2021 by Wipf and Stock. He has drafted a second collection of stories, The Healing Arts, through the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and a mentorship at the Humber School for Writers Graduate Certificate. He completed his first novel, Milksop, through The Novelry.

 You can find out more about John’s writing by visiting his website.

 If you wish to stay up-to-date with his writing shenanigans, you can follow him at his Facebook page and at his Substack newsletter, Old Dog Dumps (ODD): Dispatches from a Journeyman Writer.

(ARC and media courtesy of the publisher)

(all opinions are my own)

One Fine Voice by Rebecca Langston-George - #blogtour #excerpt #extract.

Today I have an extract from this gorgeous looking book. It has to be one of the loveliest covers I have seen in a while. 

The Blurb

All her life, Esther Hopkins has been told she has a mighty fine voice. 

Still, she can't believe her luck when just days after moving to town she's invited to sing a solo at the 1923 Independence Day picnic.

But the group sponsoring the picnic is not the benevolent fraternal order they claim to be. Worse, they've recruited her father, the town's freshly ordained Baptist minister, to become their chaplain. 

When they target the immigrant family of her new best friend, Esther must risk her father's anger, the KKK's revenge, and her family's safety to follow her conscience, salvage her friendship, and find the strength to speak truth to power even if it costs all she holds dear.

The Excerpt

Chapter 2

The pianist hit a wrong note in the chorus, causing Mama to wince, just as the church’s back doors wheezed open. A girl with a big blue hair bow in the next pew turned to look at me. Our eyes locked. Then she turned toward the doors behind us. I followed her gaze. That’s when I first saw them.

White robed men wearing pointed hoods paraded up the center aisle. They marched together in pairs until they reached the altar where my daddy had just kneeled; then half went left and half went right, forming a line across the front of the church. Their faces were masked save for the cut-out eye holes. Those sunken, shadowed holes all stared right at me, it seemed, pulling my eyes toward them, locking me in their dark gaze, paralyzing me with their murky eyes. 

I tried to sing. I knew every song in the hymnal by heart. But just like the white masks staring at me I didn’t have a working mouth. I tried to read the words in the hymnal, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from those blank stares. The one thing in my body that worked was my memory. It jabbed a stick in a deep muddy pool of my mind that usually only bubbled up in my nightmares. 

Four years ago, a winter’s day. A crust of ice crunched underfoot as I walked with my uncle to his barn. A lamb had gotten loose and had frozen to death near the fence. Its white wool stiff with sparkling ice crystals. A black crow was perched atop its head, a dark berry dangling from its beak. The crow flew away, and I saw that the lamb’s eyes had been picked out. Its cold, empty eye sockets stared through me, and I screamed.   

I felt that same urge to scream right then and run clear down the street away from our new church. I even turned my head toward the back door, but something stopped me. The girl—the one with the big blue bow—she was singing, --like she probably did every Sunday. I blinked. I turned my head the other way. Daddy sang along in his strong tenor. Blink. Reverend Dewhurst held his hymnal high and sang toward the ceiling. The pianist plunked on. Mama was the only other one that looked confused. Everyone around us was acting as if nothing unusual was happening, like masked robed men marching into church was perfectly normal. Was this normal for Grayson, Indiana?

Book Details

ISBN:  978 1964700595

Publisher:  Historium Press

Formats:  e-book, hardback and paperback

No. of Pages:  143 (paperback)

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org

Amazon UK

Amazon US

About the Author

Rebecca Langston-George is the author of nineteen books for young readers including the globally popular For the Right to Learn: Malala Yousafzai’s Story. Though she’s long been known for nonfiction, One Fine Voice is her first middle grade historical fiction. 

A retired teacher credentialed in both single subject language arts for upper grades and multiple subjects for younger grades, Rebecca is a popular school presenter for all ages, encouraging students to investigate and tap into their personal interests when writing. 

She serves on the board of The California Reading Association and is the Co-Regional Advisor for SCBWI Central-Coastal California, helping other writers achieve their dreams.

She splits her time between California’s scenic coast and its agricultural heartland, writing (and mostly rewriting) at one mile per hour on a treadmill desk. 

You can also find Rebecca at:

Author Website

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(media courtesy of The Coffee Pot Book Club)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

A Gift of Words by Rosalind Dando - #bookspotlight #blogtour

A Gift of Words was the 14th place BBNYA 2025 finalist! I am delighted to be shining the spotlight on it today.

The Blurb

A magical gift is more trouble than it's worth...

Cam has plenty of things to worry about. His best friend might have broken someone’s fingers, the class bully won’t leave him alone, and staying under the radar of his teachers is much harder than it ought to be. He definitely doesn’t need magic to make his life any more complicated. Which is good, because when he does write his name in Libris Sapientia—the book of wisdom—a whole lot of nothing happens. He is a failure, and even a book agrees. Then, Loman Lykill joins their class, bringing a whole new brand of chaos to Highgrove Secondary. Cam has his magical gift, whether he wants it or not.

Book Details

ISBN:  978 1919235219

Publisher:  D&O Publishing

Formats:  e-book and paperback (currently available on Kindle Unlimited)

No. of Pages:  284 (paperback) 

Series:  Book 1 in The Gifts trilogy

Purchase Links

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Amazon CA

About the Author

Rosalind Dando is an author, artist, and primary school teacher living in the north of England. She has written several novels, and her debut, A Gift of Words, is published in April 2024 by Shadow Spark Publishing. 

You can also find Rosalind at: 

Bluesky

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 Facebook

Contact her through any of the above sites, or email: rosalinddando@gmail.com 

BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 (17 in 2025) finalists and one overall winner.

If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official. 

(media courtesy of The Write Reads)

(all opinions are my own)

Books I Have Read in July 2025

 

I can hardly believe that we are at the end of July already.

This month I have had my son visiting from overseas which was wonderful. I also spent some time with my two eldest grandchildren drinking bubble tea. Well, they had the bubble sort and I had a lovely jasmine green tea. They are both doing the summer reading challenge that the libraries are running so we had a good chat about books. In fact, my ten year old granddaughter, who is a very keen reader had finished the challenge by the end of the first week. That's my girl...

I hope July has been a good month for you. Have you read anything exciting?

Wartime Comes to the West India Dock Road by Renita D'Silva

This book is the second in the West India Dock Road series. Having enjoyed the first in the series I was keen to read this and enjoyed it very much. If you would like to read my review you can find my full review by clicking here.

Enchanted Beach by Esther Freud and Emma Chinnery

This is such a lovely picture book which portrays the beauty of the beach in all seasons and weathers. If you would like to read my review you can find my full review by clicking  here.

This is Me Trying by Jenna Adams

This was a five-star read for me, and I enjoyed every page.  If you would like to read my review you can find my full review by clicking here.

Victory for the Foyle's Bookshop Girls by Elaine Roberts

I so enjoyed being able to revisit the staff of Foyle's Bookshop in this book. It worked well as a standalone novel so not reading the previous book was not necessary to enjoy this book.  If you would like to read my review you can find my full review by clicking here.

The Standing Stone on the Moor by Allie Cresswell

This was an excellent historical fiction read, and I enjoyed every minute that I invested in reading it.  If you would like to read my review you can find my full review by clicking here.

Alliance with Her Renegade Knight by Lissa Morgan

I was delighted when the author of this book, Lissa Morgan asked me if I would consider reading her latest novel.  I enjoyed it very much.  If you would like to read my review you can find my full review by clicking here.

Butter by Asako Yuzuki

This is a unique book, and I cannot recall anything similar in my reading experience. It is a genre-defying novel based on fact.  If you would like to read my review you can find my full review by clicking here.

The Lady of the Tower by Elizabeth St. John

The Lady of the Tower is the first book in the Lydiard Chronicles series. Based on the true story of the author's ancestors, The Lady of the Tower tells us of Lucy St. John and covers the period 1603 - 1630.  If you would like to read my review you can find my full review by clicking here.

A Murder for Miss Hortense by Mel Pennant

The titular Miss Hortense may not be popular in the town where she lives, but people come knocking on her door seeking advice nonetheless. An enjoyable book.  If you would like to read my review you can find my full review by clicking here.

The Girl from Normandy by Rachel Sweasey

This was a lovely dual-timeline novel, which I enjoyed very much.   If you would like to read my review you can find my full review by clicking here.

The Last Laugh Club by Kate Galley

There are few books which could be so instantly appealing to me: a trio of older characters and knitting.  If you would like to read my review you can find my full review by clicking here.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

This was my book club read this month. It made for interesting reading although some liked it more and less than I did. 

There's Something About Mira by Sonali Dev

Although I haven't written a review of this one I enjoyed it very much. Set in an Indian community in Birmingham, it's the story of Mira who is engaged to be married very soon.

A Little Trickerie by Roseanna Pike

I literally only finished this last night. It's a fabulous book and unlike anything I have read before. My review will be up next week so watch this space.