Showing posts with label dual timeline. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dual timeline. Show all posts

Monday, 14 September 2026

10 Ten Exciting New Releases for October 2026

 

Sometimes it is so difficult to restrict myself to just ten books due to be released in the following month. There are so many great looking books to choose from. I finally settled on the following ten, and I am sure you will agree, they do look exciting.

Happy Reading!


Flickers of Light in a Nazi Darkness by Lisa Waller Rogers

Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933, marking the end of the Weimar Republic and the beginning of the Nazi dictatorship. As the tide of Nazism grew, so did anti-Jewish decrees which stripped away the rights of German Jews.

In May 1940, the Germans invaded and occupied the neutral country of the Netherlands. Little by little the Nazis took away the rights of the Dutch Jews and the only place they were safe was in their homes, until they weren’t. In 1942, Nazis conducted raids to deport them to labor and concentration camps. But not every Jew was caught. Thanks to the heroic action of Dutch resistance workers, at great risk to themselves, Dutch resistance workers hid Jews from the Nazis, and sought to keep them safe and fed through the long years of WWII. Not all of these efforts bore success, many Dutch workers were imprisoned and executed by the Nazis. Flickers of Light in a Nazi Darkness brings the story of some of these “Flickers of Light” resistance workers to life.

Preorder Link


 The Secret Keeper by Anstey Harris


Olivia has spent thirty years tending the cemetery next to her home, gently caring for the graves. Since her daughter Lizzie stopped speaking to her after a devastating accident, talking to the dead has been easier than the living.

Olivia thought there would be years ahead—time to persuade Lizzie to come home. But when she discovers her husband is dying, everything changes. Suddenly, time is very short.

For Lizzie to reunite with her parents, Olivia will have to face the truth of her choices, of the secrets she’s been hiding for years. She knows it is time. Time to bring the two halves of herself back together. But if she does, will those she loves forgive her? Or is it already too late?

An incredibly moving story that will stay in your heart, about the secrets we keep to protect those we love and how to find peace when time is running out.

Preorder Link


The Storyteller of Krakow by Carly Schabowski

It takes courage to tell your story…

Kraków, 1994. When an elderly woman named Lena meets a young girl, the child is carrying a toy bear, who she has named Wojtek. She quietly tells Lena it’s named after a bear who was famous in the second world war. This is a name Lena hasn’t heard in many years. And so she begins her story…

Kraków, 1940. When Lena was young, she loved to tell stories – about the places she would go, the battles she would fight, the great loves she might have – imagining herself the heroine in every tale. But when the Soviet forces invade her town, and take her to a Siberian gulag, leaving her with no family, no home, no strength to fight… her dreams feel further away than ever.

Until the Soviets change sides in the war, and Lena finds herself being rescued, and on an unexpected journey – one that runs in parallel with a tame bear named Wojtek. As their journey takes them across the Middle East, to Africa, and finally to war-torn Italy, she realized there might be a chance for her to live the life she always told stories about – fighting the hated Nazis.

But there is one thing missing… a great love. Lena knows she doesn’t need saving by a man. But when Wojtek the bear leads her to an injured stranger, she realises perhaps it’s not her who needs rescue. The only problem is that the man she’s led to is a German soldier, on the other side of the war from her…

Can love conquer all in wartime? Don’t miss this unforgettable story!

Preorder Link


All Yours by Pippa Nixon


A spicy second chance romance between a single dad and an old flame.

The last time games designer Fox saw Robyn was the morning after their amazing night together. He didn't even get her last name. But as a single dad to two boys, he's never had time for anything but his work and his family.

So when flame-haired Robyn shows up on his doorstep as his new live-in nanny, Fox is stunned. The connection burns just as bright, but they agree to keep it professional.

The longer they live under one roof, the harder it is to keep their promise. And where Robyn's concerned, Fox is playing for keeps . . .

Preorder Link


Loyalty and Lies on Dressmakers' Alley by Rosie Clarke


Times are changing. Is there a glimmer of hope on the horizon for the women of Dressmaker Alley?

London’s East End 1927

Yvonne White is content as head seamstress at Miss Susie, raising her beloved son alone and determined to keep the past behind her. So when John’s father suddenly reappears after years of silence, demanding a place in his son’s life, Yvonne’s hard-won peace is shattered.

Polly Blake spends her days exhausted by endless work and family responsibilities, caring for her invalid father and three younger brothers while her carefree twin, Patsy, falls in with dangerous company. Polly longs for happiness of her own, but trouble is never far away.

Meanwhile, Lady Diane’s dazzling fashion designs have made Miss Susie the toast of London. Yet as she accompanies the ailing Lord Henry to Italy, jealousy and uncertainty threaten everything she holds dear.

With fear spreading through London’s East End as a killer stalks the shadows, the women of Dressmaker’s Alley must face secrets, heartbreak, and unexpected surprises before their lives change forever.

Things are looking brighter on Dressmaker’s Alley, but there are always those who want to cause trouble…

Preorder Link


The Pilgrimage of Primrose Honeychurch by Laura Jensen Walker


Primrose Honeychurch doesn’t really “get” people. Books, though, make perfect sense.

At seventy, the sharp-tongued recluse prefers to keep company with her own routines. But when a life-altering diagnosis leaves her worried she’ll never be missed, she decides it’s finally time to do something to leave her mark: something no one will ever forget.

Clutching her mother’s ashes and the book of her heart, Primrose hops on a plane, bound for Hay-on-Wye, the legendary Welsh “Town of Books.” Unfortunately, her literary pilgrimage just won’t follow the plot. After an accident derails her trip, she finds herself staying awhile with estranged family. But she senses a kindred spirit in the niece she’s getting to know, who uncannily understands the world much the same as Primrose herself does.

As rolling green hills and book-lined streets frame an unexpected season of discovery, what began as an unwelcome detour becomes something more profound. For the first time in her life, Primrose begins to glimpse the beauty―and courage―of true human connection.

Preorder Link


A Gala Ball at Tillingford Hall by Flora Dunn


Sahara Seaton-Smyth’s life is in disarray. Her modelling career has stalled; her ex, James, is never coming home; her beloved brother Seb is moving out; and the local vet has persuaded her to adopt a demanding orphaned piglet called Muffin.

To top it all, Sahara’s closest friend, Guy Tillingford, is losing his calm. In the run-up to the opening gala ball, Tin Tub Productions are filming a documentary about his crumbling country mansion, Tillingford Hall. Although he’s thrilled to be a first-time dad, his fiancée Alice’s due date is worryingly close to the big night.When Tin Tub ask Sahara to be a presenter, she’s reluctant to step back into the spotlight – until she learns she’ll be working with her old friend, popular TV historian Dr Tom Pemberton. With Tom’s reassurance, she takes a chance on a new career.

Since his wife Vittoria died, Tom has been juggling single parenthood with TV stardom. His eleven-year-old son Cory has retreated into video games, while his fifteen-year-old daughter Xanthe, an exceptional violinist, struggles with sudden fame.

Who better to help Tom navigate these challenges than Sahara?

But when she receives unexpected news about her health, will it bring them closer – or push them apart?

And with Alice’s due date so close to the ball, who will have the first dance?

Preorder Link


Dreadnought by Robin Bennett

On a remote Yorkshire headland known as Dreadnought, seven-year-old Cass Delaval begins to glimpse figures and fragments tied to a past that refuses to stay buried.

As the world edges toward conflict, Cass is drawn into a family mystery stretching back to the Second World War: a missing boy, a hidden weapon, and a family secret.

Because whatever has lain dormant on Dreadnought goes deep into our past … and it isn’t finished with us yet.

Dreadnought is a story of loyalty and hope, where the courage of one small girl may be our last defence.

Preorder Link


The Translator by Annabelle Marx


Detective novels, she said, were for simpletons and spinsters. But she translated them anyway – because someone she loved couldn’t live without them.

1936, London. Edie Adler slips into the back pew of a memorial service for her dearest friend, Vee Saunders – presumed dead, her body never found. As politicians murmur condolences to Vee’s powerful husband, Edie sits with a fury she can barely contain. She knows things about this marriage no one in the room would dare speak aloud. And she refuses to believe that Vee is gone. She closes her eyes and she’s back in the warm Mediterranean water – the salt on her skin, Vee’s hands keeping her afloat, that voice in her ear: don’t worry, I won’t let you sink…

1918, Malta. Edie, an officer in the newly formed Wrens, arrives on the sun-drenched island expecting cyphers, duty and discipline. What she doesn’t expect is Vee – a whip-smart nurse singing in the bathtub with a cigarette in one hand and a gin in the other. Vee teaches her to swim in secret coves, leads her astray in the basement bars of Valletta, and the two women forge a bond that will shape the rest of their lives.

As they take different paths – Edie to a small flat in Hampstead, swimming in the Ladies’ Pond each morning, long days as a social worker in the London slums – they stay bound by letters. Vee’s are vivid, full of mischief, then slowly, they darken. And then they stop. Two years of silence. Until a parcel arrives from Paris – three detective novels, all in French, no sender, no note – and Edie’s world shifts on its axis.

Preorder Link


The Secret Garden Murders by J.R. Ellis


A murder in a locked garden. A village full of secrets. Can DCI Oldroyd find a killer who has vanished into thin air?

When a woman is found strangled in the locked garden of historic Bishop Hewick Hall in Yorkshire, DCI Jim Oldroyd needs to solve a seemingly impossible murder. The only door was bolted from the inside and the kitchen garden walls are too high to climb. If no one could enter or leave, how did the killer commit the crime and escape?

As Oldroyd and his team investigate the victim’s past, they discover Clarissa Morden wasn’t the kind elderly woman she appeared. Instead, she was a ruthless blackmailer who kept coded records of her neighbours’ darkest secrets. Her list included a local cabinet maker, the Bishop Hewick Hall manager and even her next-door neighbour―suddenly it seems as if half the village has a motive for murder.

When a second body is discovered in the local river, it seems this quiet corner of Yorkshire may never be the same again. Can Oldroyd unlock the secret of the impossible locked garden murder and find the culprit? Or will the killer strike again in this tranquil village to keep their secrets hidden…

Preorder Link

Monday, 3 August 2026

The Novel Detective by Teresa Dovalpage - #authorQ&A #blogtour

 In her metafictional mystery The Novel Detective (Soho Crime, July 2026), author Teresa Dovalpage steps directly into the pages of her own story. In this candid Q&A, she discusses ghosts, the underground secrets of 1980s Havana, and what happens when a mystery writer becomes her own protagonist.


The Blurb

A metafictional mystery set in Cuba past and present about a writer returning to her long-lost hometown, seeking the truth about two suspicious deaths.

2020: Teresa, a Cuban-born mystery writer now living in America, gets an unexpected call from her childhood best friend, Estrella, inviting her to Havana. Estrella is determined to get answers about a case that has haunted them both for decades: the purported murder-suicide of a teacher and a student at their high school. Though Teresa doesn’t quite understand why Estrella is taking the story so personally, she’s along for the ride—as she always wanted to write a novel about this case.

1980: Fourteen-year-old Teresita, bespectacled, awkward and mystery novel–obsessed, is “nosy, but not a tattletale.” She knows who’s been skimming off the top of the amphetamine stash in her mother’s pharmacy, which teacher keeps cyanide in his cabinet at school and that their classmate Yoyi is sleeping with their English teacher. Over the course of one fateful day, Teresita gets closer than ever to learning the “Truth of Life”—her catchall term for the intricacies of adult existence—even if it means coming face to face with death.

Directly inspired by the author’s own childhood in Cuba and adult life in the United States, drawing upon the tradition of Latin American magical realism, this is a resonant tale at once personal and universal, full of nostalgia, candor and danger. 



Welcome to the blog Teresa.

Q  In the 1980 timeline, Teresita is obsessed with finding the “Truth of Life.” What does that phrase mean to a fourteen-year-old in Havana?

A Teresita is at that awkward age where she’s no longer a child, but not yet an adult. For her, the “Truth of Life” is the secret code that adults use to navigate a world that she finds full of contradictions. It’s about understanding why a classmate meets with a teacher in a “tunnel of love” and discovering how enjoyable (or icky, as it turns out to be) it is to kiss a boy for the first time. Plus living in 1980 Cuba, she needs to understand how the world actually works once the revolutionary anthems stop playing.

Q  The book is described as metafictional. How does your perspective as a real-life mystery writer influence the way the fictional Teresa approaches the investigation?

A  It adds a layer of creative self-consciousness. The adult Teresa is investigating a crime while thinking about how the case would work as a literary plot. She’s analyzing clues like a mystery writer, looking for hidden reasons and character arcs, even as real-world Havana throws her curveballs that don’t fit into a neat three-act structure. It’s a story about a writer investigating a detective story, which allowed me to play with all the tropes of the genre.

Q We meet Teresita’s childhood best friend, Estrella, in both timelines. What role does she play in pushing the story forward?

A  Estrella is the ultimate catalyst. While teenage Teresita is the observer, Estrella is the one who takes things personally, gets into fights and acts out. In 1980, she’s the rebellious girl joking about the school’s “mustard and ketchup” uniforms and doing Santería ceremonies to attract a boy she likes. In the modern timeline, she’s the one who pulls Teresa back to the crime scene and asks her to find out what really happened. Every detective needs a partner who provides the emotional stakes, and for Teresa, that’s always been Estrella.

Q  Teresita knows some dangerous secrets, like who is stealing amphetamines in the pharmacy where her mother works and the affair between a teacher and a student. How much of this was a reality for students in Cuba back then?

A  When a society is highly monitored, the underground thrives. Growing up, things like black-market jeans, diverted pharmacy supplies, inflated grades, and banned Beatles songs were just part of daily life. We had a saying back then: “Whatever is not prohibited is compulsory.” I wanted The Novel Detective to capture that exact tension. Behind the facade of perfect socialist behavior demanded by teachers like Irma, absolutely everyone had a secret they were desperate to protect.

Q  What do you hope readers take away from your specific blend of Cuban nostalgia and atmospheric mystery?

A   I hope readers see that nostalgia isn’t always sunny. You can miss the place you grew up while still acknowledging the shadows that lurked there. I wanted to portray a Havana that is still beautiful, but one that is also crumbling and facing immense shortages and hardships. Ultimately, I want readers to walk away feeling like they’ve spent time in the Manzana de Gómez, both as tourists in a luxury hotel, and as students who know exactly where the “tunnels of love” lead.

Thank you so much for being on the blog today, Teresa.


Book Details

ISBN: 978 1641298285

Publisher: Soho Crime

Formats: e-book and hardback

No. of Pages: 333 (hardback)


Purchase Links

Bookshop.org

Amazon UK

Amazon US


About the Author

Teresa Dovalpage is the author of fourteen novels, four collections of short stories in English and Spanish, and four theatre plays. Her Havana Mystery series, published by Soho Crime, began with Death Comes in through the Kitchen (2018). Subsequent novels include Queen of Bones (2019) named by NBC News as one of the ten best books by and about Latinos of the year; Death of a Telenovela Star (2020); Death under the Perseids (2021), and Last Seen in Havana (2024) which Sarah Weinman praised in The New York Times for exploring “how familial bonds can fray, yet manage to hold steady, across the decades.” Last Seen in Havana was also an Amazon Editor’s Pick for Best Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense. The Novel Detective is a metafictional mystery inspired by the author’s own childhood in Cuba and adult life in the United States.

You can also find Teresa at:

Author Website

Facebook

Instagram





(media courtesy of Rachel's Random Resources)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Monday, 27 July 2026

10 Ten Exciting New Releases Coming in August 2026

 


I am looking ahead to August and some of the lovely new books due to be released. I've limited myself to just ten which have caught my eye. Do any of these look like something that you would like to read?


John Grebble is Gone by Peter James

John Grebble wakes up to discover he’s been declared dead. His bank account is frozen, his car repossessed, and his entire existence erased. Someone wants him gone—permanently.

Within hours, his world unravels. His debit card is declined. His car is towed away. His office locks him out. The police treat him like a criminal. According to every system, every database, every official record—John Grebble is no more.

But John is very much alive. And as he tries to uncover who could have pulled off such an elaborate erasure of his identity, he realises this isn’t just a mistake—it’s personal. Someone with intimate knowledge of his life has gone to extraordinary lengths to scrub him out completely. And this is just the start…

In this gripping short thriller laced with dark humour, Number One Sunday Times bestselling author Peter James asks: can John Grebble uncover who would go this far to destroy him before it’s too late?

Amazon UK


Invitation From a Dictator by Rory Clements

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.

Amazon UK   Bookshop.org


Radiant as the Stars by Elaine Elinson

In April 1911, Jews escaping pogroms are fleeing to America, but 20-year-old Anna Reader, full of fierce conviction, is headed in the opposite direction—back to the Ukrainian shtetl from which her family fled six years earlier. She has decided to join her radical cousin Chava in the Jewish Labor Bund on the eve of the Russian Revolution, leaving behind her work in a Chicago sweatshop and the lover who jilted her.

Her warm reunion with her cousin is tainted by political intrigue. Anna is not fully trusted by the Jewish radicals she grew up with in Ukraine. She is given minor tasks, while Chava’s assignments become more dangerous. The threat of betrayal is constantly lurking. When Chava is arrested and imprisoned, Anna’s efforts to rescue her cousin further alienate her from her Bund comrades. When she is threatened with arrest by the Tsarists, Anna is undone, fighting for survival in a strife-torn land.

Amazon UK   Bookshop.org


A Thousand Painted Hours by Barbara O'Neal

In the shadow of the London Blitz, artist Elsie Turner clings fiercely to her canvases, refusing to let war dim the colors that define her. The bombs test her nerve, but the struggle also stirs memories of her golden youth in India and of the long-lost love of her life.

The daughter of a British civil servant in the Himalayan station of Nainital, Elsie crosses cultural divides to forge an unlikely bond with Tanveer Singh, a Sikh prince with hopes, dreams, and far-reaching ideas. What begins as shared sketchbooks and stargazing becomes first love and a secret correspondence. When Elsie’s father is summoned to England, Elsie is severed from the world she knows―and is determined to preserve it through both her art and a connection with Tanveer that endures through the most tumultuous years of their lives.

Across four decades and two continents, Elsie navigates a journey from lush colonial India to war-torn London, amid landscapes of beauty, protest, and peril. As past and present collide, the most impossible choices and sacrifices are yet to be made in the name of love, war, and survival.

Amazon UK   Bookshop.org


Perfect Moments at Duck Pond Cottage by Della Galton

When two best friends decide to share their wedding day, what could possibly go wrong?

Jade is over the moon to be tying the knot alongside her best friend, Sarah, at the stunning Bluebell Cliff Hotel in Dorset—a venue where no detail is too small and no expense is spared in the pursuit of perfection.

But as the big day draws closer, so do the complications.

A long-lost relative, a troublesome brother, and some wildly unexpected animal antics all threaten to derail the brides’ dream celebrations.

With emotions running high and chaos around every corner, their perfect day begins to unravel.

Can love and friendship hold everything together when it matters most?

Amazon UK   Bookshop.org


The Stray Dogs by Ruth Hogan

They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but Desmond and Leona are about to find out that it's never too late to start living your dreams . . .

Since his marriage ended, Desmond Leaks has been stuck in rut. But living alone does have some upsides - for one, there's no one to tell him that he's 'not allowed' chocolate spread on his toast.

And for Leona Lennox, a fresh start might just mean she can finally open that rescue centre for abandoned dogs she's always dreamed of. That's if she can learn to let people in occasionally - and accept help.

Take this Desmond guy, he's so nice that he's offering to get his old band back together to play some fundraising gigs for the rescue centre. If only Leona could say yes, just this once . . . The Stray Dogs might actually be decent, right?

Amazon UK   Bookshop.org


The Paris Seamstress by Catherine Law

Torn between love and duty, and a fierce need to protect…

Paris, 1940

For young, lively Murielle, working in the heart of Paris as a seamstress is a dream come true. She loves the bustle of the city, but as the War progresses and new restrictions for Jewish people appear, she begins to realise how quickly her world is changing – and how, soon, she may lose those cherished freedoms.

Her best friend Zoé has always lived a smaller life. Still reeling from an incident from many years ago, she’s already used to being on her guard. But as the Occupation tightens controls on everyone, Zoé knows she must find the courage to stand up and protect the people she loves.

When the two women come across a fallen English pilot, they don’t hesitate. As they put their lives on the line to help the airman escape, their friendship bonds are truly tested. For a chance of happiness, Murielle and Zoé will have to make an impossible decision — one that will demand the greatest sacrifice of all…

Amazon UK   Bookshop.org


The Midwife by the Sea by Jo Bartlett

When midwife Hope Masterson arrives in Cornwall to start her dream job by the sea, she’s ready for a fresh start and a chance to make a real difference to the lives of the women and babies she cares for.

Working between St Piran’s hospital and the community midwifery unit of Port Agnes, Hope quickly finds herself drawn into the lives of her patients and colleagues. From dramatic deliveries and joyous newborns to heartbreaking struggles with infertility, she is on hand to share in all the hopes, worries and incredible love that motherhood can bring.

But Hope is carrying a secret that could change everything – and she faces an impossible dilemma.

Should she reveal the truth and shatter the lives of those around her, or protect the fragile happiness of the family she’s only just found?

As friendships deepen, romance blooms and emotions run high, Hope must decide whether some secrets are better left untold… and what it truly means to belong.

A gorgeously heartfelt, uplifting and unputdownable story of love, family and the many different paths to motherhood, by Top Ten bestselling author Jo Bartlett.

Amazon UK   Bookshop.org


The Curse of the Saltmarsh Girl by Clare Marchant


The dark marsh stretches around Margery. She can hear the sound of her mother’s voice, crying. Or is it the wind…? Will she get out of here alive?

1665: When Margery arrives in Saltmarsh looking for her mother, she finds silence, secrets, and backs turned.

But she is not the only thing that has arrived. As the Plague falls on the village, leaving almost no man, woman or child alive, rumours circulate – about a demon dog, about lights floating above the waters, about voices in the dark… And about a girl, one who has brought a curse.

With Margery’s mother missing, it becomes clear that these remote, desolate marshes are about to become the most dangerous ground she’s ever stepped on…

Now: A beautiful young opera singer named Angel Bailey has arrived in Saltmarsh. She’s there to visit her adoptive brother, but she’s also running away. Because, after years of longing to know where she came from, she’s received word from a woman claiming to be her sister, saying their birth mother’s dying wish is to meet the child she abandoned.

But when Angel becomes fascinated with the story of another mother and daughter, and a centuries old curse on the marsh, the land beneath her feet is about to shift forever…



A Fatal Love by Louise Tregar


Following Ruth Ellis' long-awaited posthumous conditional pardon in July 2026, never has there been a more compelling moment to revisit the woman behind one of Britain's most enduring legal cases.

It is Easter Sunday in 1955 and a young man lies face-down on the ground covered in blood. A woman, blonde and petite, stands over him with a gun in her hand. This is the story of Ruth Ellis as never told before...

As Ruth awaits her trial in Holloway Prison, she recollects growing up in England during the Second World War and the events that led to the death of her lover, David Blakely.

Meanwhile, Kitty Carrington - the assistant to Ruth's trial lawyer - tries to forge her own path through the male-dominated legal world of the 1950s and ensure that Ruth receives a fair trial.

Navigating secrets, betrayal and a broken justice system, Ruth and Kitty try to take control of their own lives and narratives. But do we ever really know the full story?


(header photo courtesy of Florencia Viadana/Unsplash)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

(all opinions are my own)

Friday, 5 June 2026

Daughter of Mercia by Julia Ibbotson - #bookspotlight #bookpromo #blogtour #bookbirthday

I am so pleased to be taking part in the book birthday blitz for this book, Daughter of Mercia by author, Julia Ibbotson


The Blurb

Echoes of the past resonate across the centuries as Dr Anna Petersen, a medievalist and runologist, is struggling with past trauma and allowing herself to trust again. When archaeologist (and Anna's old adversary) Professor Matt Beacham unearths a 6th century seax with a mysterious runic inscription, and reluctantly approaches Anna for help, a chain of events brings the past firmly back into her present. And why does the burial site also contain two sets of bones, one 6th century and the other modern? 

As the past and present intermingle alarmingly, Anna and Matt need to work together to solve the mystery of the seax runes and the seemingly impossible burial, and to discover the truth about the past. Tensions rise and sparks fly between Anna and Matt. But how is 6th century Lady Mildryth of Mercia connected to Anna? Can they both be the Daughter of Mercia?

For fans of Barbara Erskine, Elena Collins, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley and Christina Courtenay.


Book Details

ISBN:  9781739887780

Publisher:  Archbury Books

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

No. of Pages:  301 (paperback)

Series:  Book 1 in the Dr Anna Petersen Mysteries


Purchase Links

Amazon UK

Amazon US


About the Author

Julia Ibbotson is fascinated by the medieval world and the concept of time. She is the author of historical mysteries with a frisson of romance. Her books are evocative of time and place, well-researched and uplifting page-turners. Her current series focuses on early medieval time-slip/dual-time mysteries.

Julia read English at Keele University, England, specialising in medieval language / literature / history, and has a PhD in socio-linguistics. After a turbulent time in Ghana, West Africa, she became a school teacher, then a university academic and researcher. Her break as an author came soon after she joined the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme in 2015, with a three-book deal from Lume Books for a trilogy (Drumbeats) set in Ghana in the 1960s.

She has published five other books, including A Shape on the Air, an Anglo-Saxon timeslip mystery, and its two sequels The Dragon Tree and The Rune Stone. Her latest novel is the first of a new series of Anglo-Saxon dual-time mysteries, Daughter of Mercia, where echoes of the past resonate across the centuries.

Her books will appeal to fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, and Christina Courtenay. Her readers say: ‘Julia’s books captured my imagination’, ‘beautiful story-telling’, ‘evocative and well-paced storylines’, ‘brilliant and fascinating’ and ‘I just couldn’t put it down’.

You can also find Julia at:

Author Website

X

Facebook

Instagram

Bluesky

Pinterest


Other Blog Posts Featuring This Author

The Rune Stone





(media courtesy of The Coffee Pot Book Club)

(all opinions are my own)


Thursday, 9 April 2026

No More Tomorrows by Olivia Lockhart & Hal Lambert - #bookreview #blogtour


The door creaked as it begrudgingly opened. A flurry of dust, mingled in history, flew up from the unacknowledged mail gathered around its base, and I cringed at the sound. It had taken quite a shove from both me and Linda to get it moving, but then, I guess it hadn't been in regular use for some time...


***

It has recently come to my attention that I must make it clear at the beginning of my reviews that I received this book for free from Rachel's Random Resources. 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

Two eras. One aching heart.

1917 – At Cambridge University, American scholar Harry Turchin never expects to lose himself to desire. But Annie Mackenzie—soft-spoken, grieving, and luminous—claims his heart from their very first kiss. Their love is swift, fierce, and intoxicating. Married just days before Harry is sent to war, their passion is ripped apart when the trenches claim everything he knows, and Harry is thrown into a future that should not exist.

1967 – The free-spirited sixties are alive with rhythm, rebellion, and possibility. Harry awakens to a world he doesn’t recognise—and to Annalise Taylor, as bold and captivating as the era itself. Brilliant, independent, and achingly alive, she rouses a desire he thought belonged solely to the past. 

Caught between the love he was ripped away from and the passion he cannot resist, Harry is torn between two women, two lives, and two versions of forever. Because time will not bend twice … Or will it?

Sweeping from the blood-soaked battlefields of World War One to the fevered nights of the swinging sixties, No More Tomorrows is a sensual time-slip romance about desire, devotion, and the devastating power of love that refuses to be bound by time.


My Review

This book has a dual timeline and moves between the past and the present seamlessly.

The main character, Harry Turchin, has time-travelled from the battlefields of World War One in 1917 to the swinging 1960s. In the earlier part of the novel we meet American student Harry as he marries Annie just days before he leaves to fight on the front.

Believed to be missing in action by Annie, Harry actually finds himself transported to 1967. Disorientated, Harry is taken in by a French farmer and his wife who nurse him back to health. Eventually, he returns to England to search for Annie. There, he is befriended by Annalise, who had previously found and read Harry's letters to Annie in the attic, so already knows something of his past.

This was a lovely book to read and I could empathise with Harry's dilemma. Stuck in the future with the passionate and feisty Annalise, who is helping him to find Annie, it isn't too long before the chemistry between him and Annalise becomes apparent. He asks himself whether he is betraying Annie by loving Annalise.

The chapters are narrated by both Harry and Annalise in turn. Both were strong and distinct voices, and I adored them both as characters. They were each a product of their times and the authors did a great job of contrasting the roles of men and women in the two time periods. They were both easy to engage with as characters and I was rooting for them all the way.

The question of whether Harry would somehow return to the past and thus to his wife, Annie, was in the air throughout. I couldn't predict which way this book would go until the final pages. Neither could I decide if I wanted Harry to stay and love Annalise or whether I wanted him to return to his past to be with his wife and baby.

This was a lovely historical romance with a time-travel element and I enjoyed reading it very much. I highly recommend it.


Book Details

ISBN: 979 8272427007

Publisher:  Independently published

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

No. of Pages:  410 (paperback)


Purchase Links

Amazon UK

Amazon US


About the Author

Olivia Lockhart (Livvie to her friends) is an English author who can’t quite decide if she wants to write contemporary romance, historical romance, or paranormal romance. So she writes them all, because it HAS to be romance!

She loves to write about the underdog, the one who got away, the bits of love stories we can all relate to.

When not writing she can be found drinking wine, cuddling with her beloved pooch, or with her head in a book.

You can also find Olivia at:

Instagram

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

(all opinions are my own)


Friday, 27 February 2026

Books I Have Read This Month - February 2026

 


As we near the end of winter, the only thing keeping me going is the thought that spring isn't too far away.  When I see the crocuses popping up their glorious little mauve coloured heads, it fills my heart with joy as they promise that spring is just around the corner.

Of course, the other thing that has kept me going through this grey, wet February is the books that I have read.


The Heart-Shaped Box by Lucy Kaufman


This novella was a quick and excellent read.  If you would like to read my review you can find it here.

Fireflies in Winter by Eleanor Shearer

I felt very privileged to have had the opportunity to read this book ahead of publication.  If you would like to read my review you can find it here.


The Resistance Knitting Club by Jenny O'Brien

I have read that the author of this book wrote it as it combined two of her greatest pleasures – reading and knitting.  If you would like to read my review you can find it here.


The Man Who Wore All His Clothes and Other Stories by Allan Ahlberg


This is a collection of very funny stories. The humour contained in both text and illustration are very well done and it made these stories come alive.  If you would like to read my review you can find it here.


The Other Mother by Heidi Field

This book made for fabulous reading.  If you would like to read my review you can find it here.


Less by Patrick Grant


This is a fabulous book written by The Sewing Bee's Patrick Grant. It discusses over consumerism and is quite the wake up call. My review will be following.

Love Struck by Ally Bloom

This was a tense story line. Review to follow.


The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

This is one I'd been wanting to read for ages. It's set in a Jewish/Black neighbourhood. It made for excellent reading.


Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur


My review of this book about Iranian women will follow.

The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer

Written with a dual timeline, this book kept me hooked throughout.  If you would like to read my review you can find it here.

Tuesday, 17 February 2026

10 Ten Exciting New Release Books in March 2026

 


The month of March always brings the image of frolicking hares to my mind. So this photo seemed like the perfect header for this month.

March also suggests the beginning of spring which always makes me feel a little more optimistic about life. I love the changing of the seasons but I feel very ready for the spring weather now.

Here are ten fabulous looking books which are being published next month.


 Singing Bones by S. G. Ullman

Nearly 8,300 years ago, a sudden climate collapse reshaped the earth. Winters grew longer and colder, harvests failed, coastlines flooded, and the ground itself became unstable. For the Téuta, a settled Neolithic village that had endured for generations, survival became uncertain.

Eini is born with troubling visions of disaster—warnings her people dismiss as superstition. As the climate worsens and violence spreads among desperate neighbors, Eini spends her lifetime trying to protect her family and preserve the fragile traditions that hold her community together. When catastrophe finally strikes, the Téuta must face the unthinkable: abandoning their ancestral home and redefining who they are in a transformed world.

Told across generations, Singing Bones follows the lives of women whose strength, memory, and resilience shape the fate of their people—from prophecy, to survival, to leadership forged in loss. Song, story, and shared history become tools of endurance in a world where nothing can be taken for granted.

Amazon UK


 Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser

Everyone said she was wicked.

Now Cinderella's stepmother tells her own story...

After the death of her second husband, Lady Etheldreda Verity Isolde Tremaine Bramley is solely responsible for her two daughters, Rosamund and Mathilde, her simpering stepdaughter Elin, a razor-taloned peregrine falcon, and a crumbling manor buried in the woods.

When a royal ball offers the chance to change their fortunes, Ethel risks her pride in pursuit of an invitation for all three of girls - only for her hopes to be fulfilled by the wrong one: Elin.

Yet as her stepdaughter's engagement to the future king unfolds, Ethel discovers a sordid secret hidden in the depths of the royal family, forcing her to choose between the security she craves and the feckless stepdaughter who has rebuffed her at every turn...

Bookshop.org    Amazon UK


 A Time to Hide by Marion Seidemann Fredman

When Grete and Julius fell in love, they planned to build a new life together in Germany, near their families. They never thought they’d be forced to wear yellow stars for everyone to identify them as Jews, use forged papers with fake names, or hide in a stranger’s attic in Holland—with their newborn baby just downstairs, in plain sight of the Nazis.

Author Marion Seidemann Fredman chronicles the story of her parents’ experience through the horrors of World War II and how they survived by taking life into their own hands. Each page weaves a story of its own through historical papers, photographs, documents, and other pieces saved and passed down from one generation to the next. Combined with gorgeously painted artwork by nationally acclaimed author and illustrator Elisa Kleven, the effect renders a uniquely poignant depiction of Jewish life during the Holocaust. Also included at the back is a glossary and an author’s note.

Bookshop.org   Amazon UK


 The House of Hidden Letters by Izzy Broom

For sale: Greek cottage. Price: One Euro.

Skye doesn’t make impulsive decisions. But when she sees a derelict Greek cottage for sale by lottery, she enters with dreams of a fresh start.

However, her heart sinks as she pushes open the tattered blue door weeks later. Can this wreck ever be her home?

Then Skye finds a bundle of letters hidden in the fireplace, their faded pages drawing her in with a story of long-forgotten love, tragedy, and unbelievable bravery.

But all the while, Skye’s own past is circling. No matter how far she goes, fate is never far behind…

Bookshop.org  Amazon UK


 Good Good Loving by Yvette Edwards


Ellen's beloved, beautiful, complicated family are gathered around her hospital bed as she prepares to slip away, and boy, is she ready. You'd think she could finally get some peace and quiet, but instead her children have chosen now of all times to have a never-ending discussion about her failings. Every single tiny thing they think she's done wrong over the years - and the one big thing too. After all the sacrifices Ellen has made for every last ungrateful one of them, they still take their father's side. If only they knew the whole story.

Full of big personalities, big mistakes, burning love and quiet heartbreak, Good Good Loving moves backwards in time through some of the most dramatic turning points in the life of Ellen and her family. Their story is as heartrending as it is joyous.

Bookshop.org  Amazon UK


Spoiled Milk by Avery Curran

In 1928, Emily Locke's final year at the isolated Briarley School for Girls is derailed when Violet, the school's brightest star (and a cunning beauty for whom Emily would do anything), falls to her death on her eighteenth birthday. Emily and her buttoned-up rival Evelyn are, for once, in agreement: Violet's death was no accident. There's an obvious culprit, the French schoolmistress with whom Violet was getting a little too close - they just need to prove it.

Desperate for answers, Emily and her classmates turn to spiritualism, hoping for a glimpse of wisdom from the great beyond. To their shock, Violet's spirit appears, choosing pious Evelyn as her unlikely medium. And Violet has a warning for them: the danger has just begun.

Something deadly is infecting Briarley. It starts with rotten food and curdled milk, but quickly grows more threatening. As the body count rises and students race to save themselves, Emily must confront the fatal forces poisoning the school. Emily's fight for survival forces her to reevaluate everything she knows: about Violet, Evelyn, Briarley, and, ultimately, herself.

Bookshop.org   Amazon UK


  A Wedding at the Little Bookshop by the Sea by Eliza J. Scott


Booksellers Florrie Appleton and her fiancé, Ed, are just three weeks away from their dream wedding. Between hand-selling beloved classics, unveiling Ed’s enchanting window displays and hosting lively book readings with local authors, they’ve managed to plan an intimate ceremony that promises to be everything they’ve ever hoped for – filled with literary delights, lots of laughter and the love of those closest to them.

But when Ed's mother, Dawn, arrives unannounced on their doorstep, Florrie's world is thrown into chaos like confetti. Dawn claims she's come to help with the wedding preparations, yet she's never shown the slightest interest in her son before. As she starts dismissing their carefully curated shelves and snooping around their cosy cottage, Florrie can't shake the feeling that Dawn’s plans stretch far beyond simply choosing flowers and cake.

With her close-knit group of friends rallying around her and the bookshop's loyal customers offering support, can Florrie protect her relationship and the bookshop that means everything to her and Ed? Or will their happily ever after slip through their fingers like pages torn from one of her treasured books?

Amazon UK


  Paradisio 17 by Hannah Lillith Assadi


All his life, exile has been the shadow stitched to the sole of Sufien’s shoe.

Born in Palestine on the precipice of 1948’s Nakba, Sufien is forced to leave the only home he’s ever known, the one on the hill with a beautiful blue door. This is the precise moment when time stops making sense. He spends the rest of his life propelled forward, always on the way – although in search of what, he is never quite sure. In the dusty, oil-rich desert of Kuwait, he meets his first love and decides he must leave his family. In a small Italian university town, he spends his youth wrapped up in the sweet promise of the West and the forgetful assurance of wine. When life takes him to a gritty New York, he discovers his true vocation and falls for a Jewish woman born into a wholly different world. Finally, he finds himself recalled to the wild, vast open skies of the desert, in Arizona.

The lyrical pages of Paradiso 17 are haunted with grief and yet they are also struck through with light – not just the light that Sufien sees as he approaches his own end, but the brilliant light of a life lived.

Like all of our dead, Sufien still speaks, the book begins. Listen, this is his story.

Bookshop.org   Amazon UK


 The Lacemaker's Fortune by Andrea Catalano


In the 1870s, the fate of an immigrant desperate to escape the factories of New York City collides with the ambitions and passion of two men in an enthralling and darkly sensual novel by the author of The First Witch of Boston.

New York City, 1879. Eileen Maguire is a factory lacemaker limited by her humble circumstances and dreaming of a better life. Lawrence Barnard is the sole heir of one of Manhattan’s wealthiest families, but his means keep him confined by the expectations of society. When their paths cross one fateful winter night, Eileen and Lawrence become caught under the spell of the charismatic and enterprising Stanley Jones, who extolls the boundless opportunities awaiting in the West. The millinery shop Eileen dreams of owning with her sister is possible, as is the freedom to make his own choices that Lawrence so craves.

What begins as an idealistic journey westward quickly becomes something unexpected and sinister once the group lands in Leadville, Colorado, a wild silver mining boomtown high in the Rocky Mountains. A love triangle emerges, pitting promises and passion against betrayals and lies. With their starry-eyed intentions gone terribly awry and forbidden desires threatening to undo them, it will take heartbreak and a shocking secret to shake Eileen and Lawrence out of their blinded stupors and remind them that their fortunes are entirely in their own hands. Set against the backdrop of the Gilded Age, this is a dark tale of dangerous, suspenseful seduction.

Bookshop.org    Amazon UK


 The Three Witches by Elena Collins


Now: When Ruthie gets the part of one of Macbeth’s famous three witches she can’t wait to get started. Inspired by the beauty of the film’s Scottish locations and the camaraderie of the cast and crew, she can leave behind the expectations of her family and her lacklustre love life, at least for now. But as echoes from the past begin whispering in Ruthie’s ear and a restless spirit draws her further into its centuries-old secrets, it soon becomes clear that only she can uncover the truth of a terrible injustice.

1050 Scotland: Isobel and her two sisters have learnt about healing from their loving mother Sidheag, and she in turn has kept them safe. But without the protection of their late father, Sidheag knows that her daughters must find husbands or their futures are at risk.

Isobel believes in love over duty and when she catches sight of King Macbeth’s stepson Lulach she can picture a happiness she had hardly dare imagine. But as heir to a Scottish throne that is drenched in blood, Lulach’s destiny is to be a warrior. When Isobel’s actions leave her and her sisters vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft there may be nothing that can keep the three women safe, not even the great Macbeth himself.

As the calls from the past grow ever louder, Ruthie has no choice. Macbeth’s witches have a story that needs to be told and the truth can no longer stay hidden…

Bookshop.org   Amazon UK



(Bookshop.org affiliated)

(header photo courtesy of Unsplashed)