Shorelines by Ruth Ennis - #bookspotlight #blogtour

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

The Blurb

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

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

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

Book Details

ISBN:  978 1915071989

 Publisher:  Little Island

Formats:  (e-book for preorder) and paperback

No. of Pages:  280 (paperback)

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Amazon CA

About the Author

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You can also find Ruth at:

Author Website

Instagram

Bluesky

Tik Tok

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(media courtesy of The Write Reads)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Silent Riders of the Sea by John Gerard Fagan - bookreview

 

the dead of night on an Arctic ship

as close to hell as his imagination could construct

groaning metal and the lip vibrations of exhausted men

pale and unwashed figures...

***

The Blurb

In 1930, Jack the miner is grieving the loss of his young son.

In a desperate attempt to escape his misery, he makes the choice to leave.

With a motley crew of Scots, he embarks on Arctic fishing with the promise of a better life.

John Gerard Fagan, the author of the memoir Fish Town, takes us on a ride to the Arctic Sea through Jack's battle for survival on a crammed and gruesome ship and inescapable submission to the cruelty of nature and humankind alike.

In the background, memories of his life as a miner, while a permanent excruciating pain from mourning his own child lingers.

Be ready for a tale of human suffering, violence, and sadness with this story of the hard side of human life.

My Review

This book is my first five star read of 2025 and is well deserving of each and every one of those shiny stars.

That said, it is not an easy read. Written throughout in verse, it is beautiful but bleak, harsh and harrowing, and powerful and poetic. It is a complete juxtaposition of a novel in that it is perfectly composed against a background of despair and longing.

As this is written in verse it is testament to the author's skill in that he can convey so much in so few words. Reading this was an immersive experience. I could feel the cold of the Arctic upon the deck of the ship. The grief and despair of the main character Jack were tangible. He had been a miner and he thought nothing could be worse that being underground in such hazardous conditions. However, he found life on the ship to be much worse. Not just the freezing conditions and the constant working but the 'gaffer' would frequently beat them and treated the men extremely cruelly and violently.

The author has also included a series of illustrations throughout the book. They have been drawn using a combination of monotone ink, pen and water and they have a haunting quality which suits the text perfectly.

If you are looking for something a little different to read then this book would be perfect.

Book Details

ISBN:  978 1068678295

Publisher:  Cybirdy Publishing

Formats:  e-book and paperback

No. of Pages:  240 (paperback)

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org

Amazon UK

Cybirdy

The Portobello Bookshop

About the Author

John Gerard Fagan is a writer from Glasgow / Scotland who writes in Scots, Scottish Gaelic, and English.

His debut memoir Fish Town about leaving Scotland to live in Japan was published by Guts Publishing.

His second book Silent Riders of the Sea about a miner in 1930 who leaves for the Arctic after the death of his son was published by Cybirdy Publishing.

You can also find John at:

Twitter/X

Website

(book and media courtesy of the publisher)

(all opinions are my own)

(bookshop.org affiliated)

The Stories Grandma Forgot (and How I Found Them) by Nadine Aisha Jassat - #bookreview #NetGalley

 

Today in English,

the teacher asked us to write about who we are.

I could see my friend Jess

scribbling next to me,

her pen moving fast across the page.

I looked up at the prompt on the board, the words 'I Am' standing out like a challenge,

like they're asking for something more than I really understand...

***

Twelve-year-old Nyla's dad died when she was four, or that's what she's been told. So when Grandma Farida insists she saw him in the supermarket, Nyla wonders if she is 'time-travelling' again - the phrase she uses when Grandma forgets.

But when Grandma asks Nyla to find her dad and bring him home, Nyla promises that she will.

As Nyla sets out on her journey, she hopes that uncovering the past will help her to understand the mystery at the heart of her family ... and to work out who she is.

A page-turning verse novel about memory and identity, and a bond that soars above all else.

***

This book for children has been beautifully written in verse and was a joy to read.

The main character, Nyla, is portrayed extremely well. She assists in caring for her grandmother who has Altzheimers and is a loving and dependable girl.

When asked to write a school project about her favourite family member, Nyla sees this as the perfect opportunity to write about her father who passed away a few years before, and find out more about him. However, when Nyla's grandmother, claims to have recently seen her son, Nyla questions whether he really has died or whether he just left them.

The book was very moving and there were several times when I wanted to give Nyla a hug and tell her it was all going to be okay. Thankfully, the author provides some strong role models in whom Nyla can ultimately find emotional safety.

Written with compassion and sensitivity, the author deals with themes of racism, bullying and how we can understand our place in the world.

It is a perfect addition to children's book shelves, and I highly recommend it.

ISBN: 978 1510111578

Publisher:  Orion Children's Books

Formats:  e-book and paperback

No. of Pages:  240 (paperback)

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Age: Middle Grade (8 - 12)

About the Author:

Nadine Aisha Jassat is the author of acclaimed poetry collection Let Me Tell You This, and her work has been published widely in popular anthologies such as Picador’s It’s Not About the Burqa (Shortlisted for Foyles Non-Fiction Book of the Year), and Bloodaxe's Staying Human. Her work has drawn significant acclaim, including being shortlisted for the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award, a Herald Scottish Culture Award for Outstanding Literature, and winning a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award.  

​Nadine has taught and performed internationally and across media, from taking part in Edinburgh International Book Festival’s Outriders Africa to appearing in BBC’s The Big Scottish Book Club, and has completed writers’ residencies taking her from the bright stage of Lagos International Poetry Festival to the quiet corners of Scottish school libraries. She regularly delivers engaging and powerful creative practice, and is a seasoned events chair. 

​Nadine's debut verse novel The Stories Grandma Forgot (And How I Found Them) is a gripping middle-grade mystery that shines a light on Alzheimer’s and identity, released in May 2023 with Hachette Children’s Group.

(ARC courtesy of NetGalley)

(photo and author bio courtesy of the author's webiste) - https://www.nadineaishaj.com/about

 

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*Disclosure: I only recommend books I would buy myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post contains an affiliate link from which I may earn a small commission.