10 Ten Exciting New Release Books Coming in September 2026

The sweet little doggie in the photo above resonates with how excited I am about some of the new release books coming this month. Honestly, if it wasn't so hot I might well be leaping around excitedly myself!!

As always, I've limited myself to just ten. I hope you find something in this list that excites you too.

 In This Life or Another by Melissa Payne

On the brink of death, a man comes to terms with the life he lived versus the one he never pursued in an emotionally rich novel of parallel lives, redemption, and finding purpose.

On the eve of his sixtieth birthday, mechanic Rusty Wilson takes a bullet to save the patrons of a small-town Colorado diner—and awakens to a strange realm between life and death.

However, he finds that this limbo is not the end. There are still choices to be made and a lifetime to review. Paths open for a man who believes the life he did live was one of disappointments, grief, and devastating family estrangements. Given a chance to experience an alternate reality, Rusty is visited by figures from his past and present, sees what could have been if he had pursued a woman he loved from afar, and confronts a family secret that shaped everything. Now it’s Rusty’s choice: accept the imperfect existence he knew, or the what-if that could still be his.

At the heart of this poignant exploration of mortality, memory, and second chances is the profoundly simple question: What makes a life truly meaningful?

Preorder Link - Bookshop.org

The English Bookstore in Bologna by Boo Walker

Against the sunlit backdrop of Italy, five expats discover each other—and rediscover themselves—in a charmingly funny and poignant novel by the author of An Unfinished Story and A Spanish Sunrise.

Tucked away on a cobblestone street in enchanting Bologna, Italy, is the only English bookstore in the city. It’s owned by prickly Sandy Cooke, who keeps love, and even romantic fiction, at a distance. Her employee, timid and hopelessly optimistic Moira, dreams of transforming the struggling shop into a vibrant community hub. Against the odds, one Bolognese summer, it becomes a haven for fellow expats at their own crossroads.

Bianca is a psychotherapist escaping both a breakdown and withering reviews of her new self-help book. On her heels is her father, George, wrestling with retirement—and regrets. He’s had a few, but the light of his life has always been his daughter. Then there’s Harold, a young and awkward barista from Denver recovering from his first belly-flopping high dive into love. Maybe it’s time for reinvention.

At the only English bookstore in Bologna, paths converge for five damaged souls who discover that healing doesn’t require much—just honest connection and an open heart.

Preorder Link - Bookshop.org

Under Story by Chloe Benjamin

At an isolated research station in Antarctica, biologist Laurel Salter washes dishes for a living ten hours a day, six days a week. She tells no one why she left her career, or why her marriage ended.

But even in this remote outpost, Laurel can't outrun her past. When a strange light appears across the ice and draws a group of physicists to McMurdo, her former husband, Eli, won't be far behind.

Laurel is captivated by the Arc: its surreal glow; the way it seems almost alive. And though Eli is reluctant to test her wildest theory, Laurel is convinced that the Arc leads down a rabbit hole and into a world they can barely imagine. Can she persuade him to risk everything to fix the burden that hangs between them - to turn back the clock and live their story a second time?

And this time, live it differently.

Once read, never forgotten, Under Story is a genre-defying exploration of the promise of this life, what might lie beyond it, and how far we would go for more time with the people we love.

Preorder Link - Bookshop.org

The Day Our Lives Collided by Laura Pearson

How do you know when you’ve met your soulmate?

It’s the first day of term, and the lives of three new university students are about to collide. They’re going to introduce each other to more friends too. People who will be in their lives forever.

They’re young when the weddings start. Tash and Adam seem destined for each other, only 22 but with a baby already on the way. Even when a chance remark from Adam’s best man about their other friend, Hayden, puts everything at risk.

By the time the second wedding comes around, everything’s changed. And even more by the third…

Because it turns out, our soulmates aren’t always who we think they’ll be. And life has a funny way of switching things around. Just when you least expect it.

Preorder Link - Bookshop.org

Tell Two Friends by Ann Garvin

A wickedly funny and empowering thriller about women, the manipulators who underestimate them, and keeping your dignity while saving the day by the author of I Thought You Said This Would Work.

Jane Baye is a regular person, good at a lot of things, but identifying the serial killer right in front of her isn’t one of them.

In 1990, college senior Jane wrote to an incarcerated woman because it seemed like a nice thing to do. Thirty-six years later, that felon, actually a man, has moved in next door. He’s watching her every move, with a decades-long plan for Jane that a nice person like her would never see coming.

Especially because Jane is wrapped up in her own problems: a small-town golden boy with talk of forever and a diabolical history of cheating. When she exposes her ex, the entire town of Wonder Lake turns against her.

It’s no wonder she doesn’t see what’s coming on the night of the Norwegian heritage festival.

But woe to those who mistake Jane for a pushover. When celebration becomes a fight for survival, the very qualities that make her ordinary become the weapons she’ll bet everything on.

Preorder Link - Bookshop.org

The Library of Lost Stories by Eloise Williams

It’s Christmas 1976, Noni and her dad have no money left and the bailiffs are getting ready to take away their home. Noni thinks that fixing the mobile library might be the thing to bring a spark back to her dad’s eyes and get him back to work. But the library van is stuck on Mrs Williams’ driveway and, according to the stories, she’s probably a witch.

Noni needs the help of Becca, Gareth, Clare and stray dog Jones to get the job done. But can Noni learn to trust her new friends and get the van started before she loses her home?

An unforgettable, heartwarming novel and the perfect Christmas gift.

Preorder Link - Bookshop.org

Heartbreak for the Irish Midwife by Seana Tinley

Belfast, 1939.

When World War Two is declared, Maisie Canavan is working as a newly-qualified midwife in Belfast's Royal Maternity Hospital, helping women and babies across the community - no matter what their families' background is. She's just moved back home from London after having her heart broken, but focusing on helping new life enter the world is enough to distract her thoughts, and she's determined not to let herself fall for someone again.

But as she works more and more with Dr Alex Lowe, Maisie is pulled in by his kind grey eyes and gentle heart. Maisie and Alex find themselves drawn together - but they come from opposite sides of the Irish political divide, and the world around them isn't ready to accept love between a Catholic and a Protestant. They have no choice but to keep their feelings a secret . . .

As bombs begin to rain on Belfast, and she sees Alex risking his life to care for the whole community, Maisie can't help but wonder why two people in love should be kept apart.

Can she find the strength to go against her own community for love - or will the dangers of war mean her heart is broken for a second time . . .

Preorder Link - Bookshop.org

Until the Last Day by Cynthia Ellingsen

The fate of two strangers becomes part of the heartbreaking history of a celebrated painting in a novel of suspense and forbidden love by the bestselling author of The Lost Letters of Aisling.

The historic art gallery Hatterfield House symbolizes hope for cancer survivor Hannah Caddell. Like the art she painstakingly restores, Hannah needs to be brought back to life herself. Everything is upended when she and a new client, Lucas Henry, are held hostage by gunmen in search of a world-renowned painting from the Cuban Missile Crisis that, decades ago, captured both dread and beauty in a time of cataclysmic fears.

In 1961, Maryann Linnegan can’t see beyond her narrow future as a traditional wife and Florida socialite. Then she falls unexpectedly, deeply in love with Elio, a construction worker and Cuban immigrant. Their forbidden love couldn’t possibly survive beneath the weight of expectations. But when the Cuban Missile Crisis threatens to end the world as they know it, will they choose each other in spite of it all?

Past and present converge as Hannah and Lucas find a startling connection between the painting and the long-ago love story. As the mystery reveals itself, Hannah wonders who she can trust and what she must risk to protect a profound work of art—and to make it out alive.

Preorder Link - Bookshop.org

The Golden Hours by Louisa Young

Continuing the story of one of the most beloved families in British literature, The Golden Hours is the brilliant new novel in Elizabeth Jane Howard’s iconic Cazalet Chronicles written by her niece, the bestselling author Louisa Young.

Our lives have changed so much . . .

It’s December 1962, and the Cazalet family are gathering to celebrate Christmas. With the family’s beloved Home Place long sold, Polly and Gerald have offered up their rambling stately pile, Fakenham Hall in Norfolk, to parents, siblings, cousins and children.

The old guard – brothers Hugh, Edward, Rupert and their sister Rachel – look on as the England they knew and understood fades from view. Cousins Polly, Louise and Clary, all now on the brink of turning forty, are struggling to balance the demands of midlife with their personal desires – however secret. And then there are the young – a new generation growing up in a society on the cusp of real change.

In this spellbinding novel, familiar faces reappear, newcomers are introduced, and the legacy of the Cazalets carries on into the Swinging Sixties.

Preorder Link - Bookshop.org

Beneath David's Throne: Michal's Story by Melissa Alfredson

THEY CALL JERUSALEM DAVID'S TRIUMPH.

Michal calls it her cage.

Once a princess of Israel and the woman who helped secure King David's crown, Michal now lives as a discarded queen in the palace her husband built upon the ruins of her father's dynasty. Childless and increasingly sidelined as new wives and their sons rise around her, she clings to the fragile power her name still commands.

But when the house of David fractures under rival claims and hidden betrayals, Michal is drawn into the deadly politics of succession as she fights to protect the young princess Tamar, the one soul in the palace she cannot abandon.

As prophecy closes in around David's throne and old wounds refuse to stay buried, Michal must confront the legacy of her father, the silence of the husband she once loved, and the God whose purposes she cannot escape.

Darkly lyrical and psychologically charged, Beneath David's Throne is a work of literary historical fiction steeped in the court intrigue and dynastic politics of ancient Israel. For readers of The Red Tent and The Marriage Portrait, this first novel in the Beneath David's Throne saga reclaims Michal, daughter of Saul—the forgotten woman who stood closest to David's throne.

History remembered her as barren. This is the story it left out.

Preorder Link - Bookshop.org

(Header photo courtesy of Joe Caonie/Unsplash)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

(all opinions are my own)

The Miller's Bride by Liz Harris - #bookextract #bookexcerpt #blogtour

I am thrilled to be bringing you an excerpt from this book today. The Miller's Bride by Liz Harris is set in Scotland during the 1880's and looks like a great read for historical fiction fans.

The Blurb

When independence comes at a price...

Scotland, 1885

Gracie McLeod’s life changes overnight when her father sells the family grocer’s shop and moves the family from their Highland village to a distant fishing town. But Gracie refuses to follow.

Desperate to maintain her independence, she reluctantly agrees to an arranged marriage to Angus MacKenzie – a stranger who makes it clear he doesn’t want her, and who is in love with another woman. When Gracie arrives at the mill she now must call home, she finds herself entangled in a web of deceit and ambition. Unknown to her, Angus’s cousin is plotting to take over the mill and destroy her marriage from within, and he’s enlisted Angus’s former lover to help him.

As secrets and sabotage threaten to ruin everything Gracie has tried to build, she must decide whether to fight for a life she never wanted – or walk away with nothing.

A sweeping, emotionally rich saga about betrayal, resilience, and a woman brave enough to demand more.

The Extract

Chapter One

Callentoon, Scotland, April 1885

‘Absolutely not!’ Grace McLeod stood in the parlour facing her parents, her grey eyes blazing. ‘You can’t make me.’

Hamish McLeod, upright in his favourite high-backed chair at the side of the small black grate, took the pipe from his mouth and shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, hen, but that’s the way it has to be. Fergus McCulloch has offered what’s a fair price for the grocery shop in the circumstances, and I’ve accepted it.’

Grace gave an audible gasp.

‘Ever since your mother wrote to your uncle that times were getting harder,’ her father continued, ‘your uncle’s been pestering us to move to Portweem. And when he told your mother in his last letter that their local grocery store was up for sale, I knew the time had come.’

‘Your father’s no choice, hen,’ her mother said. She took a letter from the table next to her and put it on her lap. Then she settled back in the chair on the opposite side of the grate from her husband. ‘You know the shop’s been struggling for years.’

‘That doesn’t mean we have to go and live next door to Uncle Malcolm! You know how much he hates me. That time we stayed with him, he was always complaining about me, criticising everything I did. Criticising everything everyone in his family did. I know he’s your brother, Da, but he’s a bully. We’d have to answer to him for everything, and you know it.’

‘That won’t happen,’ her mother said firmly. ‘But I admit he didn’t seem to take to you, hen. You must agree, though, you can be outspoken at times. Even as a little girl that was true. Da and I have encouraged you to think for yourself, and to say what you think, but I’m not sure your uncle takes the same approach.’

‘You know he doesn’t, Mam. Cousin Sarah is scared of him. You can tell that from her letters. So in addition to living next door to a tyrant, we’d be stuck in a small fishing village miles from anywhere,’ Grace snapped. ‘Everyone there will smell of fish. It’s a smell I loathe, and it lingers. There’d be gutted fish everywhere and piles of nets wherever you turned. I can’t think of a place I want to be less than that. I’m not going, and you can’t make me.’

Her sister looked up from her seat in front of the sewing table under the window. ‘Uncle will have probably changed since then. He could have mellowed over the years.’

‘There’s no sign of that in Sarah’s letters. But anyway, what you say doesn’t count, Eliza,’ Grace said sharply. ‘All you care about is sewing. You’ve no intention of staying in Portweem for long, and you know it. As soon as you can, you’ll move to a large town and start your own business. So where we go isn’t as important to you as it is to me.’

Eliza shrugged. ‘You can never be sure of what the future holds.’

‘Well, like most people, I hope it holds a wedding for me, but not with a fisherman! All a fisherman would be able to talk about is the latest herring catch.’ She shuddered. ‘I can’t think of anything worse. It’s just not for me.’

‘Well, it is for your mother and me,’ her father said with a note of finality. ‘You’ve helped in the shop for long enough to know that we’re not getting the number of customers we used to, not since the price of cattle started falling some years ago, and large sheep farms needing fewer workers began to replace them. People are leaving the area every day.’

‘I know that,’ she said sullenly.

‘And you also know that the potato blight hit the crofting communities so hard that a lot of crofters have been leaving, too,’ her father went on. ‘People just aren’t as attached to their land in the way their forefathers were and they’re going further south to the new towns and villages nearer the borders, where there’re lots of new industries. They know they’ll find work there. We’re doing the same. The herring industry is booming, so we’re going to Portweem.’

Grace folded her arms and glared mutinously at her parents. ‘I’m not. I’m staying in Callentoon.’

‘You can’t stay here without us,’ her mother said firmly. She picked up the letter in her lap and cleared her throat. ‘But luckily you’ve an alternative.’

Grace frowned at her. ‘What alternative? What’re you talking about?’

Martha McLeod shifted her position to face her daughter. ‘You know I’ve always kept in touch with my school friend Ellen ever since she moved away to marry the miller in Alltburn. It’s too far for us to visit each other, so we’ve had to make do with writing. Well, in the last letter I wrote to Ellen, I told her that when we’d sold the shop, we’d be moving to the fishing village where your uncle lived, and I said that whenever the subject had come up, you’d been very against going there.’

‘Aye, and I still am.’

Martha held up the letter. ‘This is from Douglas MacKenzie, Ellen’s husband. It contains the very upsetting news that Ellen has died. My letter arrived after her death, and he read it. When he learnt that you were reluctant to live in a fishing village, it gave him an idea.’

Grace’s brow creased. ‘An idea about what?’

‘About what you could do, hen. From everything he’d heard about you over the years, he’s certain he’d like you, and he suggested you marry his son, Angus. Ellen and Douglas were married for several years before I wed your father, and Angus is a few years older than you.’

‘What!’ Grace exclaimed. Laughing dismissively, she looked from her mother to her father and back again to her mother. At the sight of her mother’s expression, her laughter died away.

‘Think about Douglas’s proposal,’ Martha said quietly. ‘Moving to Alltburn Mill would solve the problem of you not wanting to come with us to Portweem.’

‘It’s a rather extreme way of doing that, don’t you think?’ Grace retorted.

‘That may be,’ her mother said. ‘But think carefully about what you really want. You say you want to stay here, but do you? Callentoon is getting smaller all the time. A lot of the men you might have married have moved away, and the ones pursuing you don’t interest you. But you do want to marry. You’re not like Eliza who’s always wanted to have her own dress shop. While you’ve helped your father enough to know how to run a shop, you’ve never indicated any desire to do so. Isn’t it going to Portweem that’s the problem, not leaving Callentoon?’

For a long moment, Grace stared at her mother without speaking. ‘What’s wrong with this Angus that he can’t find someone for himself?’ she asked at last.

Her mother gave a slight cough. ‘Actually, he thinks he has done. He’s been seeing a totally unsuitable girl, a Jessie Wilson, and he’s told Douglas that he wants to marry her. 

Douglas dislikes the girl intensely, and won’t have her near the mill. So if you marry Angus, it would help Douglas as well as you.’

‘That’s hardly the most important consideration for me,’ she said, close to tears of despair.

‘I know, hen,’ her mother said quietly. ‘But isn’t having a house of your own an important consideration? Douglas and Angus live in one of the cottages by the mill. He’s got a housekeeper who’s been with him and Ellen for years. He wrote that Angus will move into the cottage next to his when he marries.’

‘Angus should be allowed to marry whoever he wants, not who Douglas wants,’ Grace said sulkily.

‘With Angus and his wife living so close to Douglas, what Douglas wants does matter, hence him making the suggestion he did. And it’s not such an unusual thing to suggest – parents often find the husband or wife for their child. If you marry Angus, you’ll not only have your own home, but also the security of the mill. Angus is the only son. It’s the ideal solution.’

‘For Douglas, maybe, but not for me. I’d be a housekeeper to someone who’s in love with someone else. I want more for myself than that.’

‘Angus might be very good-looking,’ Eliza said with a sly smile.

‘And he might resemble a short fat bulldog,’ Grace sharply countered. ‘I’m not going to take that chance.’

‘Then you must go into domestic service,’ her father said firmly. ‘If you’re determined to stay in Callentoon, it’s the only way you can do so.’

‘Never!’ Grace exclaimed. ‘If I was someone’s servant, I’d lose all my freedom. I could be living anywhere as I’d seldom be allowed outside the house. Even a housekeeper has more freedom than that.’

Hamish McLeod stood up. ‘You’ve a choice, lassie. Go into domestic service with one of the local families, move with us to Portweem, or marry Angus. Think about it overnight and tell your mother and me your decision tomorrow.’

‘There’s no point in waiting,’ Grace said sullenly. ‘I haven’t really got a choice, have I? I’ll have to marry the man, no matter how ghastly he is.’

Turning, she burst into tears and ran out of the room.

Book Details

ISBN:  978 1807031183

Publisher:  Boldwood Books  

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

No. of Pages:  312 (paperback)

Series:  Book 1 in the House of McLeod series

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org

Amazon UK

Amazon US

About the Author

Liz Harris is an award-winning author of 28 novels, including emotional and heartwarming sagas that are perfect for fans of Dilly Court, Rosie Goodwin, Rachel Brimble and AnneMarie Brear. 

Her latest series of sagas, The House of McLeod, is set in Scotland in the 1880s, and was a joy to research for someone who loves to travel, as Liz does, as it involved Liz going up to beautiful Scotland for several weeks and staying in Central Scotland, Fife and Edinburgh, where the three books are set. 

After graduating in Law in the UK, Liz moved to California where she led a varied life - from cocktail waitressing on Sunset Strip to secretary to the CEO of a large Japanese trading company. Upon returning to England, she completed a degree in English and then taught in a secondary school for a number of years before developing her writing career. 

Liz now lives in Windsor, Berkshire. Her two sons have fled the nest, and now have families of their own. In what free time she has, which isn't much, she loves to travel, go to the theatre and cinema, do cryptic crosswords, and above all, to lose herself in a novel!

You can also find Liz at:

Author Website

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Other Blog Posts Featuring Sagas

Dark Secrets on Dressmakers' Alley by Rosie Clarke

Stormy Skies at the Beach Hotel by Francesca Capaldi

Troubled Times for Tilly by Kay Seeley

The Market Girls of Petticoat Lane by Patricia McBride

Heartache on West India Dock Road by Renita D'Silva

(media courtesy of Rachel's Random Resources)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

The Queen's Maid: Anne Boleyn in France by Rozsa Gaston - #blogtour #bookspotlight

 

I am thrilled to be shining the spotlight on this historical fiction title today. The Queen's Maid: Anne Boleyn in France is the second part of the Anne Boleyn Chronicles and looks like a fabulous read. I will include some details of the first book at the end of the post.

It will appeal to fans of Philippa Gregory, Elizabeth Chadwick, Carol McGrath and Anne O’Brien.

The Blurb

France, 1514

After an enlightening period of training as a lady’s maid at Margaret of Austria’s court, Anne Boleyn has been sent to France.She arrives at the Palace of Tournelles, home of ageing King Louis and his new English wife, Mary Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII. As Anne speaks French, her main role is to serve as translator for Queen Mary.Anne’s sister Mary is also at the French court, and Anne soon learns that not everyone is pleased about the union between the French king and his young queen.

The king’s cousin-in-law, Louise of Savoy, is desperate for Queen Mary not to fall pregnant, so that her son Francis will ascend the throne.And with Louise and the English queen pulling Anne in two different directions, it will not be possible to appease everyone.Can Anne successfully navigate the familial politics at the French royal court? Will she make her mark as one of the queen’s maids?Or could her divided loyalties prove to be her undoing…?

The Queen's Maid is a thoroughly researched, fascinating historical novel set during the 16th century in Europe. It is the second book in the Anne Boleyn Chronicles series.

Book Details

ISBN:  978 0854958016

Publisher:  Sapere Books

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

No. of Pages: 244 (paperback)

Series: Book 2 in the Anne Boleyn Chronicles

Purchase Links

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Purchase Link for Book One in the series: Maid of Honour: Anne Boleyn at Margaret of Austria's Court

About the Author

Rozsa Gaston is a historical fiction author who writes books on women who reach for what they want out of life. 

She is the author of Maid of Honour: Anne Boleyn at Margaret of Austria's Court, 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 of the 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗨𝗖𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 for Early Historical Fiction, The Queen's Maid: Anne Boleyn in France, Queen of Diamonds: The French Royal Court, Margaret of Austria, 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 of the 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗨𝗖𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 for Early Historical Fiction, the four-book Anne of Brittany Series: Anne and Charles; Anne and Louis, 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 of the 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟴 𝗣𝗨𝗕𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗪𝗘𝗘𝗞𝗟𝗬 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗲; Anne and Louis: Rulers and Lovers; and Anne and Louis Forever Bound, 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 of the 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗨𝗖𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 for Early Historical Fiction.

Other works include Sense of Touch, Marguerite and Gaston, The Least Foolish Woman in France, Paris Adieu, and Budapest Romance.

Gaston studied European history at Yale and received her master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia. She worked at Institutional Investor, WR Capital, and as a columnist for The Westchester Guardian before becoming a novelist. 

She is currently working on Book Four of The Anne Boleyn Chronicles, covering Anne Boleyn's time at the 1520 Field of Cloth of Gold. She lives in Bronxville, New York with her family.

Her motto? History matters.

You can also find Rozsa at:

Author Website

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(media courtesy of The Coffee Pot Book Club)

(all opinions are my own)

10 Ten Exciting New Releases in August 2025

 

Hasn't the weather been glorious? A little too hot for some perhaps? However, there is nothing nicer than finding a shady spot, a long cool drink and settling back with a good book.

There are some exciting new releases coming out next month. Here are just ten that have caught my eye.

With Her Own Hands by Nicole Nehrig

A rich and intimate exploration of how women have used textile work to create meaningful lives, from ancient mythology to our current moment.

Knitting, sewing, embroidery, quilting—throughout history, these and other forms of textile work have often been dismissed as merely “women’s work” and attached to ideas of domesticity and obedience. Yet, as psychologist and avid knitter Nicole Nehrig wonderfully explores in this captivating book, textile work has often been a way for women to exercise power. When their voices were silenced and other avenues were closed off to them, women used the tools they had—often a needle and thread—to seek freedom within the restrictive societies they lived in.

Spanning continents and centuries, With Her Own Hands brings together remarkable stories of women who have used textiles as a means of liberation, from an eighteenth-century Quaker boarding school that used embroidered samplers to teach girls math and geography to the Quechua weavers working to preserve and revive Incan traditions today, and from the Miao women of southern China who, in the absence of a written language, pass down their histories in elaborate “story cloths” to a midcentury British women’s postal art exchange. Textiles have been a way for women to explore their intellectual capacities, seek economic independence, create community, process traumas, and convey powerful messages of self-expression and political protest.

Heartfelt and deeply moving, With Her Own Hands is a celebration of women who have woven their own stories—and a testament to their resilience.

Preorder Link - Bookshop.org

 Wedding Bells for the East End Library Girls by Patricia McBride

The library girls are determined to keep their community’s spirits high.

With their beloved library damaged by bombing, they’ve found a temporary home in the local school, but they long to return to the place they love.

Mavis’s wedding should be a time of joy, but beneath the celebrations, she carries a secret. Determined to stay strong, she refuses to dampen the happiness of those around her.

Jane is finally stepping into the life she deserves. After years of self-doubt, she is beginning to find her confidence and – with the support of her two best friends – perhaps even an opportunity she never thought possible.

And for Cordelia, hope is also on the horizon. As the war winds down, her partner Robert may finally return from Africa. For the first time in a long time she is looking forward to a future filled with love and joy. But dare she dream of more wedding bells?

Preorder Link - Amazon UK

 Cuckoo in the Nest by Diane Saxon

What secrets lie within?

I've moved into a shared house. My three new housemates aren't just reserved, there's a distinct chill in the air, an unspoken tension that makes me uneasy.

I'm not here to make friends, though.

I have my own secrets.

Nikki is like a sister to me and I'm here to find out what happened to her.

Where is she?

I'm convinced someone knows more than they're letting on. Is she simply missing? Or has something far more sinister occurred within these walls?

I'm not leaving until I find out if Nikki is alive or dead.

Preorder Link - Amazon

The Girl From the War Room by Catherine Law

Through the trees in St James's Park she spotted the white facades of the Whitehall offices, and her stomach contracted. But it wasn’t nerves. Fortitude, yes, and a kind of hell-bent willingness. An understanding of the importance of her work; to do something, however small, to help. A privilege.

1941: A world away from idyllic childhood summers spent in Devon, Cassie Marsh steps through the sandbagged entrance to the War Room, determined to do her part for the war effort.

The air crackling with tension, the urgency of whispered conversations, the weight of secrets – nothing in her quiet upbringing has prepared her for this. Here, women like her are expected to work tirelessly, remain composed, even as their homes – and lives – are devastated by the Blitz.

But Cassie’s heart is already divided between love and duty. She dreams of rich summers at Greenaways from a lifetime ago, before her world was torn apart. She dreams of one person… the one she cannot – but must – forget.

And as her family begs her to return to safety, to the soothing, reassuring walls of the country house, Cassie must decide where her heart really lies. In times of war, can you ever afford to question your loyalty?

Preorder Link - Amazon

 Snowflakes Over Starr's Fall by Kate Hewitt

As the stars twinkle and the snow drifts over the town… someone’s about to find the magic she didn’t even know she’d been missing…

Jenna has lived in Starr’s Fall for most of her life, and has run the general store for over ten years. Secretly she might dream of love and romance, but she’s happy as she is. Really.

That is, until Starr’s Fall’s newest resident—ex-New Yorker, millionaire investment banker—Jack Wexler breezes into Jenna’s store, seemingly furious they don’t stock smoked salmon. Jenna is as amused as she is annoyed. Who is this ridiculous guy, and doesn’t he realize he’s not in Manhattan anymore?

Jack meanwhile can’t believe he lost it in public. But ever since being forced to leave his high-flying career to focus on his health, he’s not been himself. What’s more, the last person he’d expected to be attracted to is the shrew of a storekeeper he’s just encountered… which he might have called Jenna, in a moment of temper…

Neither of Jenna or Jack’s ideal of romance includes these sorts of furious sparks flying. But when they’re both roped in to organizing the town’s Winter Wonderland parade, they’re forced to work together. And as Christmas approaches – will two opposites merely attract? Or, in magical Starr’s Fall, could they fall in love for keeps?

Preorder Link - Amazon

 Daughter of the Tarot by Clare Marchant

Two women, linked by the cards, unravel a secret spanning the decades...

1644: Portia is living in London, having escaped an abusive man in Italy, with just baby Vittoria and the clothes on their backs. Making her living reading tarot cards, she starts to realise there are other women like her – who need help. As she delivers the Devil card to their door, each has the chance to escape… But to what future? Because Portia is a woman with secrets. And they are about to come back to haunt her.

Now: After her mother’s death and father’s hasty plans to remarry, Beatrice has left home to open a tarot shop in London. But when she’s unpacking, she finds a set of cards she’s never seen before, one that’s evidently been handed down through generations of her family. It’s a set that is missing a card though… the Devil’s Card. She begins to search for the lost card, but she also starts to hear rumours of that very card being linked to a series of murders of women in 17th century London… 

Will she find the truth… or will she only see the illusions the cards are suggesting?

Preorder Link - Amazon

If Not for My Baby by Kate Golden

Clementine Clark isn't looking for love. She's a talented singer, but she's set her dreams of stardom - and romance - aside to care for her ailing mother.

And then her best friend calls her with a life-changing opportunity: join Irish megastar Halloran on his first US tour as a backing vocalist. Clementine wants to reject the offer, but the pay would change her and her mom's life. Overnight, Clementine goes from serving enchiladas at the Happy Tortilla to belting high notes before a cheering crowd.

But the whiplash of trading small-town Texas for sold-out stadiums is nothing compared to the rush of performing with the enigmatic Thomas Patrick Halloran. Poet, introvert, and lyrical genius, Halloran quickly gets under Clementine's skin. The two couldn't see the world more differently. And yet, over the course of the next eight weeks on tour, the romantic rockstar might just strike an unforgettable chord in Clementine. But will it be enough for an encore?

Preorder Link - Bookshop.org

 The Secret Librarian by Soraya M. Lane

New York, 1942: Avery is engaged to be married. Longing for adventure instead, she jumps at an unexpected offer to trade her library job for undercover intelligence-gathering in Portugal. But her new life in Lisbon, known as the Capital of Espionage, challenges everything she thought she knew about herself.

Local bookshop owner Camille, a French widow with access to the enemy newspapers and magazines Avery needs, befriends her. But are the rumours that swirl around Camille true—does she really have a Nazi boyfriend? And what secrets did she bring with her when she fled France? Avery must decide—fast—if she can fully trust Camille. Millions of lives depend on it.

As Avery discovers more about Camille’s world, she realises that living in a city of spies will take all her courage. With suspicions growing, they are both playing a terrifyingly dangerous game. And not everyone will live to tell their story. Can Avery and Camille stay far enough ahead of their enemies to survive?

Threaded through with daring, sacrifice and love, this is the inspirational story of two women prepared to risk everything to help others survive the horrors of World War II.

Preorder Link - Bookshop.org

 Rooms for Vanishing by Stuart Nadler

For the Alterman family, Fania and Arnold, and their children Sonja and Moses, the universe has been fractured.

In 1938 Sonja is lifted onto a Kindertransport train that will take her from Nazi-occupied Austria to London. She is the only member of her family to survive.

In 1966 Fania works as a massage therapist in Montreal, a place that has provided her safe haven after she lost her entire family in the war.

In 2016 Arnold lives out the last of his days and the last memories he has of his family in the city he has always called home.

And in 2000, Moses awaits the birth of his grandson, unaware that the strings that tie him to his past are being drawn tighter and tighter.

Surely none of these realities co-exist, and yet they seem to be drawing closer . . .

Moving between Vienna and Prague, London and Montreal, New York and Miami, Stuart Nadler's Rooms for Vanishing is a spellbinding exploration of what might happen when grief and hope collide.

Preorder Link - Bookshop.org

 In Berlin by Eric Silberstein

Software engineer Anna Werner lives at a rapid clip, relishing her work and adopted city as much as her early morning runs. All comes undone on a sweaty August evening when, in the course of a 20-minute commute, Anna goes from worrying vaguely over a sore shoulder to staggering her way into an ambulance. She has suffered a spinal stroke. Over the coming months, her parents join the insurance man in telling her to get ready for life in a group home.

The only person who recognizes what Anna is still capable of is Batul al-Jaberi, a recent Syrian immigrant who meets Anna while doing her rounds as a janitor at the hospital. Batul is applying to medical school, where she hopes to regain control of a life hijacked by her family's flight from persecution in the early days of the Arab Spring.

At first the friendship is what Anna and Batul each need to regain mobility. But as their relationship deepens, Batul finds she must choose between her family and Anna-a choice that will force both women to rewrite their notions of loyalty.

In Berlin is a work of empathetic precision, exploring both the unpredictable nature by which geopolitics and scientific breakthroughs touch our lives, and the brave, bold, and sometimes quiet ways in which people reassert agency in the face of loss. Most of all, it taps a throughline of emotion that binds characters and readers alike across geographies, cultures, and ambitions.

Preorder Link - Amazon

(all opinions are my own)

(bookshop.org affiliated)

Victory for the Foyles Bookshop Girls by Elaine Roberts - #bookreview #blogtour

 

Alice stifled a yawn as she stood huddled with her friends Victoria and Molly near the counter in Foyles Bookshop, their voices low as they snatched a moment between customers to catch up...

The Blurb

London, 1918: the war in Europe may be drawing to an end, but there are new challenges for the Foyles bookshop girls.

As their dreams of the war ending look like they might finally come true, the girls of London’s Foyles bookshop allow themselves to look forward to a brighter future.

But their hopes may be shattered when news of a terrible flu that is gripping the world reaches London, and the girls realise they are not out of danger yet. Meanwhile, they have their own challenges to face when Alice discovers her father has been living a double life; Victoria’s beloved husband Ted struggles to adjust to life after the trenches; and the secret Molly has been keeping finally comes to light.

But, working side-by-side in London’s Foyles bookshop, Alice, Victoria and Molly have become more like sisters than friends. And together, they can brave any storm.

As London faces its toughest year yet, will the Foyles bookshop girls make it through to victory together?

My Review

I so enjoyed being able to revisit the staff of Foyle's Bookshop in this book. I have previously read The Foyles Bookshop Girls' Promise which I really enjoyed, and this one was every bit as good.

There are rumours that the end of World War One is approaching, and people are being cautiously optimistic, and looking forward to a time of peace. Friends Victoria, Molly and Alice who all work at the bookshop are busy with work and supporting their menfolk who have already returned from the war. Each are mentally battle scarred in their own way.

Just as everyone is feeling hopeful of the war coming to an end, they are hit by an unseen enemy in the shape of the Spanish flu epidemic. Much of this will resonate with the reader as it was not dissimilar to the covid pandemic of recent years. People were required to take similar safety measures. The bookshop was forced to close for a short while but the staff rallied around its customers and provided a delivery service.

There were also hidden secrets in the lives of the three main characters, which we, as readers, were aware of. However, it made for interesting reading to observe how this would play out upon revelation to other characters within the book.  Although the girls had so much to contend with throughout the book, they remained optimistic and they were a joy to read about. The author has done a great job in her creation of these characters. The secondary characters are equally well portrayed, and each had an important role to play within the plot.

Ms. Roberts also depicts the time period with an authenticity which helps the reader to become immersed in the story. It was a compelling read which I enjoyed very much.

This was a quick, easy and delightful book to read. It is a heartwarming and uplifting novel which left me smiling and feeling satisfied.

Book Details

ISBN:  978 1805497226

Publisher:  Boldwood Books

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

No. of Pages:  280 (paperback)

Series: Book 6 of the Foyles Bookshop Girls series

Purchase Links

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Waterstones

About the Author

Elaine Roberts is the bestselling author of historical sagas set in London during the First World War. She joined a creative writing class in 2012 and shortly afterwards had her first short story published. She was thrilled when many more followed. Her home is in Dartford, Kent and she is always busy with children, grandchildren, grand dogs and cats.

You can also find Elaine at:

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

(all opinions are my own)

10 Ten Books I Want to Read in July 2025

 

July is here, and in my part of the world, the weather is glorious. I am very much hoping to carve out time to sit outside with a book, plastered in factor 50 and preferably in the shade. 

I hope you find lots of time to sit and read this month. It is so important that we take a little time out for ourselves, take a deep breath, and live in the moment. I hope you all have a wonderful month.

Here are ten books that I would like to read this month.

The Bewitching by Silvia Morens-Garcia

'Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches': that was how Nana Alba always began the stories she told her great-granddaughter Minerva - stories that have stayed with Minerva all her life. Perhaps that's why Minerva has become a graduate student focused on the history of horror literature and is researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure author of macabre tales.

In the course of assembling her thesis, Minerva uncovers information that reveals that Tremblay's most famous novel, The Vanishing, was inspired by a true story: decades earlier, during the Great Depression, Tremblay attended the same university where Minerva is now studying and became obsessed with her beautiful and otherworldly roommate, who then disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

As Minerva descends ever deeper into Tremblay's manuscript, she begins to sense that the malign force that stalked Tremblay and the missing girl might still walk the halls of the campus. These disturbing events also echo the stories Nana Alba told about her girlhood in 1900s Mexico, where she had a terrifying encounter with a witch.

Minerva suspects that the same shadow that darkened the lives of her great-grandmother and Beatrice Tremblay is now threatening her own in 1990s Massachusetts. An academic career can be a punishing pursuit, but it might turn outright deadly when witchcraft is involved.

Preorder Link

 The Many Faces of Ann Boleyn by Helene Harrison

Mistress. Queen. Reformer. Traitor. Icon.

This book is not like any others you might have read on Anne Boleyn. It is not a biography of the life of Henry VIII’s second wife and queen. What this book does is to examine Anne Boleyn through images and perceptions of her. Through documents, letters, images, propaganda, films, novels and historical biographies, this book explores Anne Boleyn through more than 500 years of history. Explore how perceptions of her have changed and developed over time. Whether she is seen as a mistress, a queen, a mother, a reformer, a traitor, or a tragic heroine, Anne Boleyn continues to inspire so much exploration and even new discoveries today. See Anne through the eyes of people who knew her, loved her, hated her, and studied her. In the present day, Anne Boleyn has quite a devoted scholarship, honed through perceptions built over the last half a millennium. Her life, reign, and tragic death at the hands of the man who tore England apart to be with her have made Anne Boleyn one of the most divisive and exciting figures in English history.

Order Link

 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

The Nolan family are first-generation immigrants to the United States. Originating in Ireland and Austria, their life in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn is poor and deprived, but their sacrifices make it possible for their children to grow up in a land of boundless opportunity.

Francie Nolan is the eldest daughter of the family. Alert, imaginative and resourceful, her journey through the first years of a century of profound change is difficult - and transformative. But amid the poverty and suffering among the poor of Brooklyn, there is hope, and the prospect of a brighter future.

Purchase Link

The Lady in the Tower by Elizabeth St. John

London, 1609. Lucy St.John, a highborn orphan at the glittering court of King James, is drawn into a dangerous affair with the Earl of Suffolk—a fateful choice that creates powerful enemies. Betrayed by her sister, Barbara and cast out in disgrace by the formidable Countess of Rochester, the Earl's vengeful sister, Lucy’s life at court is shattered.

Armed with her intelligence, education, and skill in healing, she refuses to accept defeat. In a world where women’s fates are often sealed by the ambitions of men, Lucy fights her way back into society. An unexpected marriage elevates her to the position of mistress of the Tower of London, where she faces the harsh realities of plague, political upheaval, and tragic executions of both enemies---and friends. Inside the walls of the Tower, she tends to aristocratic prisoners and criminals alike, confronting the stark brutality of the world around her.

As Barbara's fortunes rise through a marriage into the powerful Villiers family, Lucy is drawn into a dangerous game of power and survival. Her sister’s alliance with the king’s favourite, the Duke of Buckingham, promises wealth and influence but brings treachery and peril that could destroy Lucy and everything she holds dear.

In a court rife with deceit, ambition, and shifting loyalties, Lucy must navigate a perilous path, fighting to protect her honour, her family, and her very survival.

Based on the true story of Elizabeth St.John’s ancestor, Lucy St.John, this critically acclaimed novel offers a vivid portrayal of one woman’s resilience in the face of betrayal, and her courageous journey through the turbulent politics of seventeenth-century England.

Purchase Link (currently available on Kindle Unlimited)

Murder on the Train by John J. Eddleston

In the spring of 1910, a shocking murder rocked Edwardian England. John Innes Nisbet, a quiet, unassuming man, was found brutally shot five times in the head aboard the 10.27 Newcastle Central train, and the colliery wages he had been carrying were stolen. Days later, John Alexander Dickman, a gambler by trade, was arrested and convicted of the crime, despite the conviction resting solely on circumstantial evidence.

Sent to the gallows, Dickman maintained his innocence until the end. Over a century later, this gripping investigation reopens the case, re-examining the evidence and exposing the flaws in Dickman’s conviction. Could the real killer have escaped justice? With new insights and a compelling alternative theory, Murder on the Train unveils what might truly have happened that fateful day.

Purchase Link

 The Last Laugh Club by Kate Galley

In life, Norman George – passionate knitter, excellent friend and secret youtube sensation – liked nothing better than a good laugh. And, it seems, he gets the last laugh even in death, because at his funeral, he invites his three closest friends to scatter his ashes in a place close to his heart, the Shetland Islands. The only issue is, while Bridget, Gloria and Derek might have loved Norman, they can’t stand each other.

So it’s with trepidation that the eclectic trio set off in their minivan on the ferry to Lerwick, each harbouring their own reason for wanting to grant Norman this last request. But as storm clouds roll in over the Shetland Islands, all of them are about to discover that some secrets are best shared, and that even after death, good friendship can change everything…

Purchase Link

 Bleak Times at the Orchard Cottage Hospital by Lizzie Lane

Somerset, 1932

In the dead of night, a young woman is abandoned on the steps of Orchard Cottage Hospital and a man is seen fleeing. Nobody knows their identities.

When the young woman dies, Doctor Frances Brakespeare is keen to solve the mystery of her identity and find those responsible for her fatal injuries.

With her mother’s failing health and a very patient admirer, the last thing Frances needs is a dream job offer from a top London hospital. Torn, Frances must decide what matters more to her; her career or remaining in a small town she’s become attached to surrounded by those who need and love her…

With the society wedding of the year fast approaching will Nurse Lucy Daniels be able to unburden her shattering news and will Devlin Compton-Dixon be honest with his feelings and anxieties?

As Christmas blossoms into Spring there are huge decisions to be made, honest truths to be told and long kept secrets to be revealed – let’s hope happiness doth prevail.

Purchase Link

 Stormy Times for the Dockyard Girls by Tracy Baines

The Great War is over, and few families have been left untouched. Those who remain face a tough and uncertain future.

Letty Hardy has managed to keep her family afloat by running a café and chandlers on Grimsby Docks. She’s grateful for the safe return of her husband Alec from minesweeping duties, when many women were not so fortunate.

War has left deep scars buried beneath the surface and one explosive secret is set to blow the family apart.

Trawler owner Richard Evans worked hard to leave a legacy. Something to hand down through the generations. With his sons lost to war, Ruth, his only daughter, stands to inherit the Excel Trawler Company, so it's important that she marries well. But is her current suitor the right husband for Ruth?

Can the folk of Great Grimsby rebuild their lives and find the peace they so desperately seek?

Purchase Link

  There's Something About Mira by Sonali Deve

Mira Salvi has the perfect life—a job she loves, a fiancé everyone adores, and the secure future she’s always imagined for herself. Really, she hasn’t a thing to complain about, not even when she has to go on her engagement trip to New York alone.

While playing tourist in the city, Mira chances upon a lost ring, and her social media post to locate its owner goes viral. With everyone trying to claim the ring, only one person seems to want to find its owner as badly as Mira does: journalist Krish Hale. Brooding and arrogant, he will do anything to get to write this story.

As Krish and Mira reluctantly join forces and jump into the adventure of tracing the ring back to where it belongs, Mira begins to wonder if she is in the right place in her own life. She had to have found this ring for a reason…right? Maybe, like the owner of the lost ring, her happy ending hasn’t been written yet either.

Purchase Link

 The Girl on the Balcony by Diana Wilkinson

Jade’s new life in Spain is quickly unravelling. Homeless, broke, and out of options, she’s struggling to make it as a real estate agent.

But Jade isn’t just hiding from the truth of her situation. She’s hiding from her past. And maybe, from a particular person. Someone who knows exactly what she did that fateful day in Marbella...

When journalist Hayley stumbles across a story that could make or break her career – a suspicious death, a murderous widow and a personal invite to the scene of the crime – she jumps on the first plane to Marbella.

However, soon paradise feels like a prison, and Hayley may have made the worst mistake of her life coming to the mansion of a self-confessed killer. Will she get out alive?

Purchase Link

(I am Bookshop.org affiliated)