Category: reviews

Book of the Week, new releases, reviews

Book of the Week: Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter

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I may not have read much last week (Winter Olympics!!!) but at least one of the books I did read – and also really enjoyed – is out today so once again I’m managing to be timely. Even if it is a sort of accident.

In 1920s Montreal, Agnes is looking for a new home for her cat shelter. The previous one is collateral damage in a fight between two magicians so they can’t stay there, but no one is keen to rent a shop to a charity dedicated to rescuing street cats. And that is how the shelter ends up being a front for a mysterious magic shop. As the cats make themselves at home upstairs, downstairs Havelock Renard, the world’s most famous magician and possible Dark Lord is selling magic from the basement. Agnes isn’t happy about being connected with magic – she’s dedicated to the cats – but when one of Havelock’s enemies starts threatening him, she’s drawn into the world of the magicians and may end up having to help Havelock in order to save the world.

The first thing to say about this, is that this is incredibly Howl’s Moving Castle coded – but with more romance. And given that the thing I wanted from the movie of Howl was more romance, that was exactly my jam. Yes, it’s also looking at loss and grief, but it’s got a grumpy, misunderstood magician and an efficient non-magical person who isn’t taking any of his nonsense. I really loved the world building and the way that it was woven into the story and revealed as the plot unfolded rather than info-dumped on the reader, and the denouement at the end was so moving that I ended up crying on a train, which hasn’t happened in a very long time! I could absolutely have spent another 100 pages in the world at the end – and if there’s a sequel I will be first in line!

I’ve used the UK cover for the image at the top, because that’s what you’ll see in the shops, although I have to say that I’m not sure I would have picked it up in a shop if I’d seen it although I can’t quite put my finger on why. The version that I got from Netgalley had the US cover – which I’ve included a screenshot of below – because it’s so pretty but it’s also so 1920s and such a different vibe. Anyway. I have learned my lesson and I will be off to have a look at Heather Fawcett’s Emily Wilde series which I’ve seen around but haven’t really picked up.

My copy came from NetGalley as I mentioned, but this is out today in hardback, Kindle and Kobo. I’ll be checking the shops for it so I will report back if/when I see it about how likely it is for you to be able to find this one in the wild. Also, while I have your attention. Hattie Brings the House Down, which is the first book featuring Hattie from Hattie Steals the Show (one of my favourite new books last year) is in Kindle Unlimited at the moment – so if you haven’t managed to read any either of those yet, this may be your chance!

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, new releases, reviews

Book of the Week: The Future Saints

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We’re into February and for the third time in four Books of the Week so far in 2026, I’ve picked a new release. OK, so this came out the week before last not last week, but it was still a late January release and so I’m claiming my prize.

Anyway, The Future Saints is about Theo, a music executive and the latest band he’s been sent to try and rescue: The Future Saints. The three-piece band has been struggling (unsurprisingly) since the death of their manager and when Theo first sees them they’re bombing at a dive bar in their home town. But they owe their label one more album and Theo’s job is to try and get that done and complete their contract. Hannah, the group’s lead singer, has taken them in a new direction with tortured rock about grief and loss replacing their earlier California-pop-surfer sound. But when one of Hannah’s performances goes viral it looks like the band is on an upward trajectory even as Hannah appears to be spiraling out of control. Can Hannah – and her sister Ginny – survive the effects of fame and overcome the tragedy that the band has suffered? And can Theo help them through it and keep his career?

I read one of Ashley Winstead’s previous novels, The Boyfriend Candidate, nearly three years ago. That was a romance, but since then she’s written thrillers – until this. The Future Saints is comped with Daisy Jones and the Six in the blurb and although that’s not quite right (for me at least) it’s definitely different to both of those prior genres Winstead has written in. There isn’t a thriller plot here but there is a romance strand, but it’s not the main point to the plot – which is how does a band deal with a tragedy and how can you save someone who doesn’t want to be saved.

It’s also hard to explain all of what is going on here without giving a major element of the plot away, which the blurb and the early stages of the novel are very careful not to do, so I’ve respected that, but I also need to say that it was quite unexpected and kept me guessing about what was going on and how it was all going to work out for a long time. I also thought that the resolution of the novel was really well done in a way that I hadn’t thought possible at times. It has a few overblown or over drawn moments, mostly when it came to Theo, who for a smart person is remarkable dense at times when it comes to his career, but I enjoyed it and I think it would make a really good book club book.

My copy of The Future Saints came from NetGalley, but it’s out now in Kindle and Kobo – where it’s only £3.99 at time of writing, as well as in paperback. I haven’t spotted it in the shops yet, but I will keep looking

Happy Reading

Book of the Week, new releases

Book of the Week: Beattie Cavendish and the Highland Hideaway

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Happy Tuesday everyone, and I’m back with a Book of the Week pick after last week’s skip, although I have a slight issue, because although NetGalley says it was out last week, none of the sites seem to have it as out until the middle of February. But as it was the best thing I read last week, I’m still writing about it. Sorry, not sorry. I’ll try and remember to remind you when it comes out.

It’s 1949 and Beattie Cavendish works for GCHQ. Officially she works in admin and training secretaries, but actually she’s a covert operative. When her bosses send her to Scotland to investigate a disappearance at a a listening station. The staff there are suspicious of her, and she has a job on her hands to find out what is going on. Her uncle lives near the station but when she goes to visit, she discovers that his cottage is empty and looks like it was left in a hurry. Beattie becomes convinced that the two things are related and starts to dig in to what is going on in the Highlands with the help of private investigator Patrick Corrigan, who is all to happy to leave London for a bit after having caught the attention of some Russian gangsters.

This is actually the second book featuring Beattie, and although I haven’t read the first it didn’t really cause me too many problems with the plot. There are some throwbacks to that previous novel but enough is explained that you can follow along – although it did make me interested in reading that earlier book. This is the first book by Mary-Jane Riley that I’ve read but also the first Cold War set historical mystery that I’ve read in quite a long while. And this is specifically Cold War (rather than generic 1950s) because of Beattie’s work and all the circumstances of the mystery. And I enjoyed it a lot.

There are some commonalities in Beattie’s back story with other characters that I have liked in inter-war-set mysteries – I can’t really tell you what because it’s spoilers – and it makes for an interesting character. I’m also interested in the friendship with Corrigan and the context around that – this is where I did feel that I was missing some context – he has a fiancée and without having read the first novel I wasn’t sure if I was meant to be rooting for him to break it off with her for Beattie or not – because from the information given his fiancée had helped in that previous mystery even if her actions in this one seemed to be slightly against what Patrick wants in terms of his future. So definitely up for reading a third book to see what happens there.

My copy came from NetGalley, as I said at the top it’s not out until February 19th. You can however pre-order in Kindle or Kobo. There is also apparently a paperback edition coming in the autumn.

Happy Reading!

Book previews, cozy crime, detective, first in series, new releases, reviews

Bonus Review: A Very Novel Murder

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Cover of A Very Novel Murder

I have an extra review this week because A Very Novel Murder came out on Tuesday and I have already read it – back in December in fact. This is Elllie Alexander’s new series which is itself a spin-off of her Secret Bookcase series. So if you’ve read that you’ll already be familiar with our heroine Annie, who is now opening her own private dectective agency with her friend Fletcher, as well as continuing to run the Secret Bookcase bookshop. I can’t really say any more about the backstory than that, because if I do, I’m spoiling the previous series for those who haven’t read it – but you can find my post about the series here.

Anyway in this first in the new series, Annie and Fletch take on their first case when an elderly woman asks them to investigate the death of her neighbour, a promising surfer whose death the police think was either accidental or suicide. There is also a new running story for the series, in the same way that the thread that ran through the Secret Bookcase was Annie’s quest to find out who had murdered her best friend.

I enjoyed this – it’s got some set up going on for the series, but because it’s an established group of characters from the previous series Alexander hasn’t felt the need to go overboard there (also it would have been spoilery!). I had the culprit for the murder pegged relatively early, but there were enough side twists that I didn’t mind too much when I did turn out to be right. My issue with the final Secret Bookcase was that the running plot meant that the mystery of the week (so to speak) got less complex to allow time for that, this was better than the last couple there, so hopefully we won’t see the same thing again in this series. I’m looking forward to reading the next one.

I got my copy via NetGalley, but it’s out now and in Kindle Unlimited, which of course means it’s not on Kobo at the moment except for as an audiobook. I’ve never seen these in the shops, but Amazon claims it’s available in Paperback (and that that came out in November) so who knows.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, Christmas books, reviews

Book of the Week: Season of Love

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It’s the last Tuesday of 2025 and that strange period between Christmas and New Year where no one is quite sure what day it is, where we’re all still eating meals at strange times and there’s a box of chocolates just open on the counter. So before the Christmas mood is completely over, I’ve got a festive BotW pick for you.

Cover of Season of Love

Artist Miriam Blum hasn’t been back to her aunt’s Christmas tree farm in a decade, but when she hears that Aunt Cass has died, she heads back to Carrigan’s to sit Shiva. Her plan is to be in and out as quickly as possible – avoiding her family and having to deal with the difficult emotions that being back there bring up. But that’s all thrown up in the air when she discovers that Cass has left her a share in the business – and it’s at risk of going under. Noelle is the farm’s manager and she really doesn’t want Miriam around – she’s spent years dealing with the fall out from Miriam’s flight and she thinks Miriam is nothing but trouble. But sparks fly as they’re forced to work together to try and save the Christmas tree farm.

There is a lot of trauma in both Miriam and Noelle’s backstories – Miriam’s father is absolutely terrible in ways that I can’t really go into because: Spoilers, and Noelle has severe abandonment issues, so although this is billed as a rom com, the plot and underlying conflict here are less frothy and fun that that might suggest. But don’t let that put you off, because there is a lovely found family in the Carrigan’s community, there are people who use their words to sort out conflicts (well mostly) rather than them being fixed by magic sex. In fact this is pretty closed door on the actual romance front as well as being pretty slow burn, reluctant attraction in trope terms.

I really enjoyed this and read it in less than 24 hours. And as you might expect from a book about a Jewish-owned Christmas tree farm, the actual Christmas content here is mostly decoration and baubles (rather than church and Jesus) because the characters are only really interested in Christmas as far as it is needed for their business to work – and part of the plot sees them looking at how they can become less dependent on Christmas as a money earner. There are now two more books in this series, and I really want to read them!

This is available on Kindle and Kobo and allegedly in paperback although I haven’t seen it in the bookshops (and believe me, I’ve looked).

Happy Reading

Book of the Week, new releases, reviews

Book of the Week: Heir Apparent

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Now considering that I finished the new Olivia Dade last week this may be a surprise to you, but you all know I like Olivia Dade and Second Chance Romance was indeed great fun, but Heir Apparent is a new release and I enjoyed it although I have some quibbles as you will see so I have things to say about it that you won’t have heard before!

Lexi Villiers is living in Tasmania and in the middle of training to be a doctor. She’s busy building an independent life for her herself. But on New Years Day a helicopter lands and her grandmother’s right-hand man steps out to tell her that her father and her twin brother are dead and she needs to come home. Lexi’s grandmother is the queen of England and Lexi is now next in line for the throne. She’s got to decide if she wants to return to the family fold – and if she does she’s got to figure out how to get the British public to warm up to her and how to deal with the scheming that surrounds the monarchy, particularly from her father’s younger brother Prince Richard who is next in line after Lexi.

So in case you’re wondering, in the world of Heir Apparent, Charles II’s wife died and he remarried to his mistress Barbara Villiers, who then acted as Regent when Charles died before their eldest son was of age. This means that Armitage has been able to invent her own cast of characters and a distinct history for the House of Villiers, but as a reader you can also spend time spotting where she’s taken inspiration from the real British royals. So Lexi’s mother died young after an acrimonious divorce from her father, who went on to marry his mistress. You get the idea.

This is a really fun and page turning read – partly because of how much fun it is looking at those parallels to the real royals. I really enjoyed it – right until the end where I don’t think it quite stuck the landing. I really can’t explain why without giving huge, huge spoilers, but I suspect that other people may feel the same as me. It’s a great sun-lounger read right up until that point though, and I don’t even think that the ending issue is because Armitage is leaving room for a sequel. So that’s frustrating. But your mileage may vary on that ending – and you won’t know until you’ve read it! If nothing else it will make for a debate at all the book club meetings – and it’s a Reese’s Book Club pick so it’ll be popular on that front.

I got my copy from NetGalley and as it only came out on Tuesday last week I haven’t had a chance to look for it in the bookshops yet, but I will report back in when I do but it should be really easy to get hold of in the US because of that Reese pick. It’s also available on Kindle and Kobo and as an audiobook.

Book previews, new releases

Out This Week: New Royal Spyness

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After talking about the new H M The Queen Investigates book a couple of weeks ago, today it’s the turn of another Royal-related historical mystery series – Rhys Bowen’s Royal Spyness books which has reached number 19 – with From Cradle to Grave – which came out on Tuesday. I remain surprised and delighted that Bowen continues to find more set ups for murders for Georgie to solve, but also that she’s continuing to put out multiple books a year despite being in her 80s. Anyway the blurb for this latest installment has nanny problems (more accurately sister in law problems) as well as a string of deaths which may threaten Georgie’s beloved husband Darcy. I am up to date with this series – and always wonder if the next book will be the last but surely Bowen wouldn’t finish on a strange number like 19 when 20 is right there? Right?

Book of the Week, cozy crime, detective, reviews

Book of the Week: Buffalo West Wing

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As I said yesterday, most of my reading last week was to contribute to this year’s fifty states challenge and this was one of them. It’s slightly rule breaking but I’m going with it.

Buffalo West Wing is the fourth in Julie Hyzy’s White House Chef mystery series featuring Olivia Paras, who (as the title suggests) is the executive chef at the White House. In this, a new president has just been elected and that means big changes for the staff at the Residence. It also means Olivia needs to impress the new President and his family, but when some mystery chicken wings turn up in her kitchen, she gets off on the wrong foot with them because refuses to serve them to the First Kids. But when the people who do eat them fall ill, she’s caught up in a plot to threaten the First Family.

This is the first in this series that I’ve read (or even come across) and it had slightly more peril than I was expecting and also a lot of pre existing relationships to get my head around. But there was info there (and not in info dumps) that it made sense and I really enjoyed it. I would happily read more of the series.

I read this one in paperback as you can seem but as it’s nearly 15 years old (and the series has been dormant since 2016) they may not be that easy to find in physical copies. In fact I’m amazed I found this one in Waterstones a couple of months ago. But they are all available on Kindle and Kobo.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, historical, mystery, new releases

Book of the Week: The Murder at World’s End

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It’s Tuesday and I’m back with this week’s Book of the Week – which is actually a book that came out last week. I’m even topical. Go me!

The year is 1910 and Haley’s Comet is passing over the earth. On a tidal island of Cornwall, a Viscount is preparing for the apocalypse. But when the staff of Tithe Hall unseal their rooms the next morning, Lord Conrad Stockingham Welt is dead in his office and a murder investigation gets underway. Straight into the police’s crosshairs is Stephen Pike, who arrived at the house fresh from Borstal the day before the murder. But Stephen knows he didn’t do it – he was looking after the elderly aunt of the victim Miss Decima Stockingham, who is foul mouthed, but very, very smart. Soon the two of them are trying to work out who did commit the murder as the policeman in charge of the case makes wild claims to try and pin it onto one of the servants.

This has got such a great premise – I love a cantankerous older woman heroine and the pairing of Miss Decima and Stephen is really entertaining and makes a great use of the above stairs-below stairs nature of the plot. And it’s really quite humorous at times too. I will admit I had the solution worked out well before they did though – but forgive them because there is world building and setting up going on here for a sequel and I am very much here for that when it happens.

My copy came from NetGalley, but it’s out now in Kindle and Kobo as well as in hardback. I’ll be watching out for it in the shops.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, mystery, new releases, reviews

Book of the Week: A Ghost Hunter’s Guide to Solving Murder

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It’s Halloween week, and so today’s Book of the Week has ghost in the title, even if it’s not so much spooky or scary as mysterious. You’re welcome.

It’s the end of 1914 and Alma Timperley has just found out that she had an aunt that she didn’t know about, but also that her aunt has died and left her a hotel in her will. The Timperley Spiritualist Hotel is in Cornwall, and caters to a very specific clientele – those who wish to communicate with the dead. And as the first Christmas of the war approaches, there are more people than ever looking for comfort in hearing from their recently departed loved ones. As if that wasn’t enough, soon after Alma’s arrival at the hotel, one of the maids is found dead and there are suggestions that there is a German spy in town. And then there is the fact that Alma can talk to the dead, just like her aunt could.

The spiritualist craze that happened during and after the Great War pops up in a few books – notably (in my reading life anyway) in Dorothy L Sayers’ Strong Poison, where Miss Climpson uses her experience of fraudulent mediums to help Peter Wimsey – but in this case, the mediums (or some of them at least) really can talk to the other side. And in terms of the mystery that needs solving, as a newcomer Alma is able to ask plenty of questions about the hotel and it’s inhabitants without arousing too much suspicion. I have a somewhat mixed relationship with books with supernatural elements as you all probably know by now, but I really, really enjoyed this – it’s a great idea and an interesting twist on a wartime spy mystery and not too heavy on the actual ghosts – I wouldn’t even really say it was haunted. This is F H Petford’s first novel (at least as far as I can find) and the end of the book suggests that there is the possibility of a sequel – which I would read with great pleasure.

My copy of A Ghost Hunter’s Guide to Murder came via NetGalley, but it is out now in Kindle and Kobo, where it is £1.99 at time of writing, as well as in paperback.

Happy Reading!