Left on the Shelf

About the Author

In the authors words:

I’m a man. And a pretty old man as well. I studied languages at Nottingham University a long time ago and then lived and worked in France and Switzerland before going to work in Italy for seven years. My Italian wife and I then came back to the UK with our little daughter (now long-since grown up) where I ran a big English language school for many years. We now live in a sleepy little village in Devonshire. I’ve been writing almost all my life but it was only 13 years ago that I finally managed to find a publisher who liked my work enough to offer me my first contract.

I started off writing romances but after 28 of them, I knew I wanted to try something different, and so the first of the Armstrong and Oscar cozy mysteries, Murder in Tuscany, was born three years ago. I’ve been having a lot of fun ever since getting to know the dynamic duo (and introducing them to people all over the world). These books are cosy crime [a genre I didn't even know existed when I started writing them). They are murder mysteries, but not gory, over-violent stuff, but stories designed to exercise the brain of the reader and to put a smile on their face. Maybe it’s because there are so many horrible things happening in the world today that I feel I need to do my best to provide something to cheer my readers up. My books provide escapism to some gorgeous locations all over my beloved Italy.

You can also find the author at:

Murder at Christmas by T. A. Williams

Bluesky

My Other Blog Posts Featuring This Author

(ARC and media courtesy of Rachel's Random Resources)

(all opinions are my own)

Thursday, 5 November 2026

Leap of the Dog by Antonio J. Hopson - #bookreview

The story says a dog crossed first.

A chieftain, hunted and outnumbered, approached a flooding river with no bridge and no time.

His dog ran and hurdled the gap, landed clean, and turned back...

***

I am required to make it clear at the beginning of my reviews that I received this book for free from the author. 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

Race isn't always black and white.

Based on a true story, a travelogue of two old friends who go to Ireland looking for a good story. Ireland has other plans. Tony and Paradise arrive expecting Guinness, music, women, stories and the freedom that comes from being somewhere nobody knows you.

Then they head north.

Dublin becomes Doolin. Doolin becomes Belfast. Belfast becomes Limavad, and the story becomes something more complicated.

Race. Friendship. Sectarianism. Masculinity. Belonging. The identities we choose and the ones other people choose for us.

Paradise believes life belongs to people willing to leap before they know where they'll land.

Tony isn't so sure.

Waiting for them is an old Irish legend about a hunted man, a flooding river, and the dog that crossed first.

Funny, fast-moving, and deliberately compact, Leap of the Dog is a literary journey through Ireland and Northern Ireland about two men discovering that traveling somewhere isn't the same as understanding it.

My Review

A sparsely written narrative of two friends making their way from the South of Ireland to the North.

American Tony and his friend Paradise are great characters. Both intent on a journey of wine, women and song, what they find is a legend of a man and his dog that crossed a river.

They are rather taken with Ireland: the beautiful landscapes, the stories people tell so willingly over a pint of Guinness and the anonymity of nobody knowing who they are. However, when they cross the border into the North, they find the reception much less warm.

This novella has much to recommend it. The language of this literary novella is beautiful and every word has been carefully placed. It is sparsely written and all the better for it, as it lends a certain immediacy to the novel. It has a depth to it that the author has expertly crafted in this short piece of literary fiction.

It is appropriately paced and enables the reader to feel as though they were on the journey alongside Tony and Paradise. It is worth reading in one sitting if you have the time.

I highly recommend this unusual and lyrical novel. I would love to hear your thoughts on this book.

Book Details

ISBN: 979 8191032580

Publisher: Independently published

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

No. of Pages: 147 (paperback)

Purchase Links

About the Author

Antonio J. “AJ” Hopson is a Seattle-based novelist, poet, educator, and creative entrepreneur. He earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences from the University of Washington and has written across literary fiction, speculative fiction, poetry, short stories, and nonfiction.

His books include Global Warming: A Love Story, Nefarious: Sailboat Racing in the Salish Sea, Ogden Messiah, The Vernal Equinox of Death and Kisses and Other Short Stories, and the poetry collection Seven.

His latest novel, Leap of the Dog, follows two American friends across Ireland and Northern Ireland, exploring friendship, ancestry, race, religion, identity, and belonging. Inspired in part by Limavady and the legend behind its Irish name, Léim an Mhadaidh, the novel reflects AJ’s enduring interest in the unexpected connections among people, places, and histories.

AJ’s work blends humor, emotional honesty, cultural observation, and a commitment to telling deeply human stories without sanding away their complexity. He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his sons.

You can also find AJ at:

(ARC and media courtesy of the author)

(all opinions are my own)

Wednesday, 28 October 2026

The Queen's Tears by Elizabeth St. John - #bookreview #blogtour

Barbara - 1619 - Hampton Court Palace

I prepare Queen Anna to stand before God as thunder crashes upon the roof tiles and lightning flashes across her bedchamber's vigilant Diana tapestries, huntress and hunted illuminated in death...

Julia - A rainy Monday morning in the present - The Cotswolds

Julia opened the front door to a rainstorm transforming Burford's narrow street into the Cotswold equivalent of a Ritz-Carlton spa shower...

***

I am required to make it clear at the beginning of my reviews that I received this book for free from The Coffee Pot Book Club. 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 stolen crown jewel and an enigmatic portrait force two women to confront the devastating choices they made for love—and summon the courage to live with the truth.

1619: Barbara, Lady Villiers, at the bidding of her brother-in-law, the Duke of Buckingham, has stolen the dying Queen Anna’s jewels—and kept the greatest prize for herself. The Queen’s Tears, a brooch of extraordinary value, torments her: too dangerous to sell, too priceless to discard, and possibly her only means of securing her children’s future. When the family fortunes are shattered, Barbara faces an impossible choice: remain loyal to Buckingham—or betray him by confessing the theft to King Charles.

Present Day: Julia Darke opens her Cotswolds bookshop to start life over peacefully. Instead, a Van Dyck portrait of Barbara’s daughter, with tantalising signs of the missing Queen’s Tears hidden in plain sight, brings her face-to-face with Oliver Villiers, the Oxford art conservator she once loved and walked away from.

Reluctantly drawn together to uncover Barbara’s secret, Julia and Oliver follow the trail of the Queen’s Tears—and the closer Julia comes to Barbara’s truth, the harder it becomes to hide from her own.

Inspired by the true stories of Queen Anna of Denmark’s stolen jewels and a missing Van Dyck painting, The Queen’s Tears weaves history, fiction, and family research across the centuries.

Readers of The Lydiard Chronicles will find old favourites—and a new heroine following in their footsteps.

My Review

This isn't the first book that I have read by the talented Elizabeth St. John, so when I was offered the opportunity to read this one for the blog tour I jumped at the chance. This was every bit as good as the other book I read (link below) and I enjoyed it very much indeed.

I adore a dual timeline in my reading. It shows great depth of skill in the author. To move back and forth in time this seamlessly demonstrates expertise in her writing.

The book is set in England, Ireland and France during both time periods and, as we read, we can anticipate how the two timelines will amalgamate at the end.

Barbara Villiers was a confidante of Queen Anna of Denmark. Upon her death, Barbara and two other trusted servants, the Hugsons, remove the Queen's jewels at her request. What follows is a hunt for the jewels in both the 17th century and the present-day narrative.

It is clear that the author knows her characters and the past time period in which she has set her book extremely well. Life in the royal court is expertly portrayed and the vulnerability of women is demonstrated very well in this book, alongside the wider political, religious and social history of the time.

The present day element of the book is also expertly depicted. Julia comes alive on the page as she researches a Van Dyck painting believed to be of Barbara. There are layers of revelation as we follow Julia's journey of discovery. She learns much about the painting but she equally learns much about herself and her feelings towards her ex-boyfriend Oliver, whom she comes across in her dealings with the auction house who are handling the painting.

I always enjoy learning about a historical figure who I do not know much about, and Barbara Villiers is one such person. I love it when a fictional account of someone's life leaves me wanting to find out more about them via reading some non-fiction about them. For me, this is a sign of a very well-written fiction book. If it leaves me wanting more, that says much about the quality of the book. I believe there will be a second book to add to this fictional account and I can't wait.

I highly recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction that has a contemporary narrative running alongside. Enjoy!

Book Details

ISBN: 979 8998165016

Publisher: Falcon Historical Press

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

No. of Pages: 426 (paperback)

Purchase Links

About the Author

Elizabeth St.John's acclaimed historical fiction brings to life her ancestors—remarkable women linked to England's royalty—offering unique insights into Medieval, Tudor, and Stuart times. Her novels unfold not just as traditional series, but as an interlocking web of lives: The Lydiard Chronicles—including the celebrated The Lady of the Tower—The Godmother's Secret, and The King's Intelligencer explore everything from the English Civil War to the mystery of the Princes in the Tower. Her newest novel, The Queen’s Tears, a dual timeline pursuing a stolen crown jewel, reunites favourite characters from the seventeenth-century with a present-day bookstore owner heroine.

At the heart of her writing is the transformation of real ancestral histories into narratives of historical continuity. She follows threads of legacy through generations, guided as much by wills, letters, portraits, country churches, ruined castles, manor houses, and lost gardens as by imagination. Locations become constant companions through time, while characters whisper across centuries—their decisions resonating in the lives of their descendants to reveal how choices shape legacies. Grounded in historic sites like Lydiard Park and the Tower of London, her work creates a living archival flow that continues to flourish as the past yields its secrets.

Elizabeth divides her time between California, England, and the past, surrounded by books, gardens, and animals, with a slightly bewildered, ever-supportive husband beside her.

You can also find Elizabeth at:

My Other Blog Posts Featuring This Author

The Lady of the Tower

(ARC and media courtesy of The Coffee Pot Book Club)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Tuesday, 27 October 2026

Holly Dates at the Christmas Cottage by Margaret Amatt - #bookreview #blogtour

September

"But what about the singles who want to... mingle?" The words escaped Tiffany Barlow's lips before she's considered the implications. She of all people knew only too well what it was like to be single and feel left on the shelf...

***

The Blurb

An unexpected bid for something special this Christmas

Perpetually single events manager Tiffany Barlow is used to being in control. So when she agrees to take part in the Holly Dates Auction at Thistle Lodge, it’s with a very specific goal in mind: to catch a respectable date for a high-profile event at a nearby castle. What she doesn’t expect is a last-minute twist…

Reserved English teacher Isaac Emery is looking forward to a peaceful, cosy winter at his grandpa’s Christmas Cottage, pretending he’s perfectly content with his books for company. When he accidentally wins a Holly Date experience at a festive fundraiser, he finds himself committed to a date with Tiffany – someone way out of his league.

As the glittering winter ball at the castle approaches, Tiffany is torn between what she’s been brought up to desire and an unexpected attraction to Isaac.

With a little seasonal nudge from his grandpa, Isaac might risk stepping away from the safety of his solitary world, giving both himself and Tiffany a chance to unwrap true love this Christmas.

My Review

This is the perfect book to read in the run-up to Christmas and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I have previously read a couple of books in this series. Not in any particular order as they all work as stand-alones. In fact, I believe that this is the last book in the series but there is no issue with picking up this one even if you haven't read any of the prior novels.

The characters are wonderful. The main characters are Tiffany and Isaac and I loved the way that the individual chapters are narrated from both perspectives. Tiffany is a very self-controlled events organiser from a well-to-do family. Isaac is a shy and awkward English teacher who lives with his grandfather. It is absolutely not an obvious pairing but it is delightful.

When they do meet via an auction it was wonderful to see not just their relationship blossom, but their individual development also. I thought the author did a fantastic job of portraying her characters, and even the secondary characters came alive on the page. I particularly liked Isaac's grandfather and his neighbour Mabel.

The setting of this book was lovely too and I would have loved to join the characters and curl up in front of the fire at Isaac's grandfather's house, appropriately called Christmas Cottage. I also enjoyed the description of the winter ball which was held at the castle where Tiffany's best friend grew up. Tiffany's parents were there and her mother sees it as the sort of event where Tiffany will meet an appropriate man.

This is a wonderful heartfelt book and I enjoyed every word. If you need a book to make you feel Christmassy then you won't be disappointed with this. I thought it was an adorable novel and I highly recommend it.

Book Details

ISBN: 978 1914575112

Publisher: Leannan Press

Formats: e-book and paperback

No. of Pages: 402 (paperback)

Series: Book 20 in the Glenbriar series

Purchase Links

About the Author

Margaret Amatt is a bestselling Scottish author, professional daydreamer, and certified chocolate addict. She’s been making up stories for as long as she can remember – some of them even made it onto paper (and, tragically, onto floppy disks that no computer can read anymore). After two decades of writing in secret, she finally unleashed her first novel on the world in 2021, kicking off a ten-book series set on the stunning Isle of Mull.

But why stop there? She’s also the creator of The Glenbriar Series, where romance, small-town drama, and a pinch of spice keep readers coming back for more. This series is still going strong, with more books planned, including a spin-off series in 2027 – The Glenbriar Castle Series.

Margaret also has two books out in the Love on the Edge – Barra series, set in the Outer Hebrides.

Margaret has spent her whole life in Scotland’s breath-taking Highland Perthshire, despite her entire extended family coming from the Glasgow area. Her books are romantic and emotional, sweet and funny, and each one can be read as a standalone, but long-time readers know the joy of familiar faces popping up, adding to the chaos.

So, if you love relatable characters, sizzling chemistry, and plenty of banter, you’re in the right place – just don’t blame Margaret when you stay up way too late reading just one more chapter.

You can also find Margaret at:

Summer Nights at Hillview Farm

My Other Blog Posts Featuring This Author

Christmas Wishes at the Station Book Shop

(ARC and media courtesy of Rachel's Random Resources)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Friday, 23 October 2026

Queen Anna by Tony Riches - #bookreview

Copenhagen Castle 1589

Anna could sense something was going on. She saw it in the way they looked at her...

***

The Blurb

A crown won in the eye of a storm. A queen who refuses to be broken...

Princess Anna of Denmark sails for Scotland to marry King James VI, but storms ravage her fleet, igniting a deadly obsession with witchcraft in her new home. Arriving in a strange and paranoid court, Anna finds her new husband’s bed is a treacherous place.

Surrounded by whispering courtiers and shifting alliances, Anna refuses to remain a passive pawn. When the court takes her children to raise them away from her, the young queen draws her line in the sand. From the windswept castles of Scotland to the glittering, dangerous English court, Anna is restored to her rightful place in history.

My Review

Tony Riches is an author who has been on my radar for a while. I've been meaning to try one of his books for ages as I am always intrigued when they pop up on my social media. Consequently, here I am having finished one of his books and I couldn't be more pleased that I finally got around to it.

Queen Anna is the first in the Stuart Queens trilogy. Anna, also known as Queen Anne, was queen to James I/VI of England and Scotland and is perhaps lesser known than some of our queens of the past. I have a particular liking for books which look at our lesser known figures from history and I think the author did a great job in bringing her to the fore.

Forced from her beloved Denmark aged just fourteen, Anna is shipped to England to marry King James. It was a lonely life for a young woman who is foisted into an unfamiliar society and language, and who will soon discover that she also has to take second place to James's 'favourites'.

The author has clearly researched Anna and the time period well and has done well in giving her a voice. He has taken the facts of the period and spun them into this fictional account of her life in court, and often in the seclusion of her birthing chamber.

Her strength of character shines through in this book. She suffers the loss of her children, either through death or from the living ones being taken away from her to be raised in other noble households as was the Scottish custom. Whilst immensely saddened, she faces these things with resilience and fortitude.

This book provides so much in an easy to read and engrossing novel. The author brings her, and Stuart life and customs together on the page and has produced a very authentic feeling novel.

This book will appeal to readers who enjoy historical fiction and particularly that set in the royal court. I highly recommend it.

Book Details

ISBN: 979 8186524854

Publisher: Preseli Press

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

No. of Pages: 364 (paperback)

Series: Book 1 in the Stuart Queens series

Purchase Links

About the Author

Tony Riches is a full-time UK author of historical fiction. He lives with his wife in Pembrokeshire, West Wales and is a specialist in the lives of the early Tudors.

As well as his Elizabethan series, Tony’s historical fiction novels include the best-selling Tudor trilogy and his Elizabethan series.

You can also find Tony at:

Author Website

Author's Writing Blog

Author Podcast

Bluesky

Anna of Kleve: Queen of Secrets by Alison Weir

Some of My Other Blog Posts Featuring Queens of England

The Tudor Queens' Midwife by Brigitte Barnard

Kings & Queens: Alfred the Great to King Charles III and Everyone In-Between by Marcia Williams

Charles II's Portuguese Queen: The Legacy of Catherine of Braganza by Susan Abernethy

(ARC and media courtesy of the author)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Thursday, 15 October 2026

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

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:

Last Seen Online by Lauren James

My Other Blog Posts Featuring Books for Young Adults

Shorelines by Ruth Ennis

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)

Wednesday, 14 October 2026

A Gala Ball at Tillingford Hall by Flora Dunn - #bookreview

I'm shivering: it's always freezing at Tillingford Hall in January.

My hand is poised to knock on Guy Tillingford's study door. Since when does my closest friend, my ex-fiancee, close his door to me, expect me to knock?"

***

I am required to 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

Sahara Seaton-Smyth's ex, James, is never coming back; her brother Seb is moving out; her modelling career has stalled; and she's just adopted an orphaned piglet.

Meanwhile, her friend Guy Tillingford is losing his calm. His fiancee Alice's due date is also looming while Tin Tub Productions are filming a documentary about Tillingford Hall in the run-up to the gala ball.

Sahara has the chance to return to the spotlight as a TV presenter, but she's reluctant until she learns she'll be working with her old friend, historian Dr Tom Pemberton.

Now widowed, Tom is juggling single parenthood with TV stardom. His son Cory has retreated into video games, while daughter Xanthe, a gifted violinist, is struggling with sudden fame.

Can Sahara help Tom? When she receives unexpected news about her health, will it bring them closer - or push them apart?

With Alice's due date so close to the ball, who will have that first dance?

My Review

Publishing tomorrow, this book makes for delightful reading.

Although this is the fourth book in the series, I haven't read the previous three and that did not impact my enjoyment of this lovely novel.

Set in the English countryside and revolving around a stately home in which a television series is being filmed, the author has created a wonderful backdrop into which she has placed her characters.

The main character is Sahara. She is an ex-model who has come through the other side of a life of alcohol, drugs and anorexia. She has now got her life back on track and I admired her for moving forward so positively with her life. The author portrayed her character very well and Sahara was a delight to get to know on the page.

In fact, all of the characters were well drawn and came to life on the page. I enjoyed observing the chemistry develop between her and her old friend and colleague Tom. His children, Xanthe and Cory, were wonderful creations and I really enjoyed the way they were portrayed. The author clearly understood her characters very well.

The character interactions with Muffin, the fast-growing piglet, were delightful. There was much amusement around him and I couldn't help but laugh.

Although the book refers to some difficult themes, they largely take place off the page. However, Tom and his children are grieving the loss of his wife, but it is handled sensitively.

This was a heartwarming, feel-good romance novel with a very satisfying ending. I was gripped throughout and enjoyed every page. I highly recommend this book if you like contemporary romance... with a naughty piglet thrown in.

Book Details

ISBN: 978 1068749484

Publisher: Lumina Publications

Formats: e-book, audio and paperback

No. of Pages: 311 (paperback)

Series: Book 3 in the Tillingham series

Purchase Links

About the Author

In her own words:

I wrote my first book when I was five. It was about a cow and a bed because those were words I knew how to spell. Then I wrote ‘The Crazy Book’ about some kids who went back in time and lots of stories about bunnies.

I fell in love with romance when I read MM Kaye’s The Ordinary Princess, a touching children’s book about a sassy runaway princess called Amy, which was one of the first books to turn traditional fairy stories on their head. And later, Jane Austen and all the classics, until I finally picked up a Mills and Boon in my twenties and my fate was sealed.

Love stories, whether about romance, friendship or camaraderie, how we feel about other people, how we treat them, how we make mistakes and are forgiven and learn to forgive in our turn, are at the very heart of our human existence. You can tell those stories in a light-hearted way but that doesn’t change the depth of the message that true love is the greatest of all the virtues. Even The Bible is a love story between God and his people (and that ending when you think it’s all over, but it isn’t, is just the best plot twist ever).

My stories are set in and around the modern-day fictional village of Tillingham in Jane Austen Country in leafy mid-Hampshire.

The first book in the Tillingford Hall series is Summer at Tillingford Hall (published August 2024). A Little Treat on Honey Street, about Laura and her quest to save the Tillingham community shop and Christmas at Tillingford Hall are both scheduled for publication in 2025.

I write from a posh shed set in a beautiful garden in South-West London. I live with two cats, three grown-up children and my husband, a hunky gardener with a growing collection of tractors. When I’m not writing, working as a charity fundraiser or looking after my family, I’m to be found in the kitchen, baking cakes (which I try not to eat) and cooking home-grown veg (which I do).

You can also find Flora at:

(ARC and media courtesy of the publisher)

(all opinions are my own)

Tuesday, 29 September 2026

A Dash of Christmas Spirit by Susan Buchanan - #bookreview #blogtour

Florence gazed around her at Winstanton's bustling Christmas market, full of shoppers passing each other with studied determination, whilst people who knew each other occasionally stopped to chat...

***

The Blurb

CAN LARA ADD A SPRINKLING OF MAGIC THIS CHRISTMAS?

Jacob introduces ever tastier treats to the Sugar and Spice cafe’s menu as the Christmas Spirit knits her magic into the lives of those finding this Christmas tough.

Florence is struggling to make ends meet and afford the present she knows her son wants for Christmas. Her ex-husband flaunting his new girlfriend and their baby isn’t helping her mood.

Widower Jude feels a failure as a father to his two young children after the tragic death of his wife. The move to Winstanton was meant to make life easier. Can he learn to carve out time to build new friendships and give himself the chance to grieve?

Rachel’s boss has given the promotion he promised her to the man twenty years her junior, whom she trained. She’s fed up with being taken for granted, and the lack of sympathy from her husband and teenage children.

Retired David feels Grinch-like as his son expects him to look after his grandchildren all the time, without taking his life into consideration. He used to love Christmas, but this year it has lost its sparkle.

Can the warm welcome at the Sugar and Spice café help them find their Christmas spirit?

A feel-good festive romance with a heartwarming community and a generous helping of Christmas spirit!

My Review

A trip to the Sugar and Spice Cafe is an annual must for me. This is probably my favourite Christmas series and I always look forward to a new one being published immensely.

Set in the picturesque and homely fictional village of Winstanton, the warm and welcoming Sugar and Spice Cafe attracts many customers. Each of the books features just a few of the regulars and I got caught up in their stories completely. Jacob, who runs the cafe, is in each of the books that I have read, along with his niece Lara, who is pivotal to the plot.

I love Lara's warm-heartedness and the way she cares about others. Every Christmas she weaves her magic to ensure people get people get the Christmas that they deserve. She is a wonderful character to get to know and, like all the characters in the book, comes alive on the page.

This is a genre of book that you begin reading knowing that everything will be okay in the end. It is lovely to spend time with these characters in the cafe. Descriptions of the cakes on offer made my mouth water. I almost felt as if I were there.

Such pure escapism makes for joyful reading. It is heartwarming to read and I finished the book feeling very satisfied with the ending. If there is one festive book you are going to read this year, make it this one. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Book Details

ISBN: 978 1915589071

Publisher: Susan Buchanan

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

No. of Pages: 300 (paperback)

Series: Book 5 of the Christmas Spirit series

Purchase Links

A Little Christmas Spirit

About the Author

Susan Buchanan writes contemporary romance, women’s fiction and romantic comedies, usually featuring travel, food, family, friendship, community – also Christmas!

Her books are Sign of the Times, The Dating Game, The Christmas Spirit, Return of the Christmas Spirit, A Little Christmas Spirit, A Taste of Christmas Spirit and Just One Day – Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn, The Leap Year Proposal, You Can’t Hurry Love and The Boulangerie on the Corner.

As a freelance developmental editor, copyeditor and proofreader, if she’s not reading, editing or writing, she’s thinking about it.

She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, the Society of Authors and the Alliance of Independent Authors.

She lives near Glasgow with her husband, two children and a crazy Labrador.

When she’s not editing, writing, reading or caring for her two delightful cherubs, she likes going to the theatre, playing board games, watching quiz shows and eating out.

You can also find Susan at:

My Other Blog Posts Featuring This Author

A Taste of Christmas Spirit

The Leap Year Proposal

(ARC and media courtesy of Rachel's Random Resources)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Wednesday, 23 September 2026

Invitation From a Dictator by Rory Clements - #bookreview

***

The Blurb

ON THE EVE OF WAR, A ROYAL GUEST IS LURED INTO HITLER'S DEADLY WEB . . .

Munich, 1937. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor have arrived in Germany for a historic meeting at Hitler's mountain retreat.

But recent attacks by ruthless Communist band, Red Freedom, has brought fear and bloodshed to the area. As brutal as the Nazis, their next targets are Edward, Wallis and the Fuhrer himself.

Detective Sebastian Wolff is charged with their protection, but the conflict between his job and his politics becomes even more complicated when Wolff realises who is behind Red Freedom: Ulrike, his first love and the mother of his son.

My Review

Although this is the third book in a series, I have not read the earlier books. It works very well as a standalone novel.

The book is set in Munich in 1937, just as Hitler's power is in the ascendant and prior to the beginning of the Second World War.

The main character, Detective Sebastian Wolff, is investigating a terrorist gang called Red Freedom. However, he is transferred to guard the visit to Hitler's mountain retreat in the Austrian Alps, the Berghof, as the controversial Duke and Duchess of Windsor are going to visit.

Meanwhile, Wolff's fiancée Hexie has also been invited to stay at the Berghof by her old friend, Eva Braun. These three subplots running through the book lead to some exciting twists and turns for Wolff as he continues to investigate Red Freedom whilst also carrying out his protection duties of the abdicated King Edward VIII and his wife, Wallis Simpson.

I really liked the way the author wove the three aspects of the plot together. It demonstrated real skill in the writing. Mr Clements is a great storyteller and for I was completely gripped by the book

The book is fairly slow-paced, but I think this was entirely necessary for the slow burn of the plot to develop. It also provides the reader with a more in-depth understanding of the characters.

The book has definitely made me want to go back to the beginning of the series and read the books prior to this one. Fans of pre-war thrillers will love this book and I highly recommend it.

Book Details

ISBN: 978 0241728215

Publisher: Viking

Formats: e-book, audio and hardback

No. of Pages: 400 (hardback)

Series: Book 3 in the Detective Sebastion Wolff series

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org

About the Author

Rory has a passion for thrillers. He loves reading about men and women facing the ultimate test under fire - and he loves writing about them. It must be in his blood.

Born in Dover, Kent, and raised in various outposts of the world while mhis father served in the Royal Navy. He grew up hungry to become a writer.

He worked for many years as a national newspaper journalist but always dreamed of switching to novel-writing. On moving to Norfolk in 2007 he found the perfect spot to achieve his ambition.

So why thrillers? Well, it might have something to do with his family history.

His generation of the Clements clan is the first since the Crimean War not to have seen active service in a branch of the military, and he feels extremely fortunate that this is so. While his father, grandfather and great-grandfather survived fierce and deadly fighting in three major wars, he fears he would not have measured up.

He believes his history has given him a keen understanding of valour and the stoicism of those in peril - whether from enemy agents, at sea, in the air, or on the battlefield.

These are the essential qualities of the protagonists in his three series - Tom Wilde, a Cambridge history professor; Seb Wolff, a Munich cop in the 1930s; and John Shakespeare, a spy in Elizabethan England. They're very different characters but they share one quality - courage.

You can also find Rory at:

(ARC and media courtesy of Viking Press)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Monday, 21 September 2026

Ancestral Virgins by Fiona J. Mackintosh - #bookreview #blogtour

***

The Blurb

In early 20th century Britain, society was changing rapidly, but not much was changing for women. From different ends of the social spectrum, Celia Mapperley and May Hallam wrestle with rules and circumstances beyond their control and must navigate love, sex, war, and the thin line between conformity and scandal. As they each bear the shame of a devastating family secret, their stories come together in ways that neither could have imagined.

My Review

This review is of all three of the books in this series, as they do not really work as standalone novels.

The first book begins in 1911 before the outbreak of World War One. Set in the grand house of Mapperley, we follow the main character, Celia, who was born into a world of standing and privilege. As a young woman of the aristocracy, we read of her innocence and naivety. This isn't a spoiler as we are made aware on the first page that Celia and her brother, Makepeace, have an unhealthily close relationship.

In the second book, we meet May and her brother Davey. May's family work on the Mapperley estate until the outbreak of the war when the family are scattered. Two of her brothers are away at the front and her sister Lily is in service at a different aristocratic house. May's brother Davey has Down's syndrome, and a close bond has formed between them.

In the third of this trilogy, the worlds of both Celia and May are brought together. Two women who have had to navigate their ways through life in very different ways left me feeling very hopeful and optimistic for them both.

What we see in this book is two main characters who have formed very close brother-and-sister bonds, but in very different ways. Not only are the characters separated by class, but it also highlights the change that happened following the war, where the class boundaries changed significantly.

I enjoyed the writing in these books. The author has constructed her stories extremely well and each of the books had me gripped. It is a glimpse into the life both upstairs and downstairs of the time period, which the author portrayed very well.

The books made for excellent reading and I wholeheartedly recommend them. However, I must add that these books are not for the faint of heart. We witness on the page both incest and sexual violence, so please be aware.

Book Details

ISBN: 979 8993482309 (part 1)

979 8993482316 (part 2)

979 8993482323 (part 3)

Publisher: Midatlantic Press

Formats: e-book and paperback

No. of Pages: 128 (part 1)

126 (part 2)

174 (part 3)

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org

About the Author

Fiona J. Mackintosh is a Scottish-American author living in Washington D.C. whose fiction draws from both sides of the Atlantic. Her flash fiction collection, The Yet Unknowing World (Ad Hoc Fiction, 2021), was a runner-up for the 2021 Saboteur Award for best short story collection, and her debut novel Ancestral Virgins will be published on June 26, 2026. Her flashes were selected for Best Small Fictions in 2023 and 2019, and her short stories have been finalists in the Cairde Word, Colm Toíbín, Bristol, Galley Beggar, Exeter, and Fish Short Story Prizes. She is a proud recipient of an Individual Artist’s Award from the Maryland State Arts Council.

You can also find Fiona at: