Author: Rach

⭐⭐⭐⭐  (Goodreads: 3.95) GENRE: Drama PART OF A SERIES?  No WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: The God of Small Things tells the story of twins, Rahel and Esthappen, in 1969 India. The children patch together a childhood in the wreck that is their family. When their English cousin, Sophie Mol, and her mother arrive for…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ½ (Goodreads: 4.29) GENRE: Historical Fiction PART OF A SERIES? Yes {The Kitchen House #2} WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: It is the year 1830 and Jamie Pyke – who we first encountered in ‘The Kitchen House’ – is keeping a potentially lethal secret. For years, Jamie has been successfully living as a white, aristocratic silversmith…

Abi Daré has created such a strong voice in the main character, Adunni. And oh my gosh, she is so funny!

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Goodreads average: 3.89) GENRE: Thriller PART OF A SERIES? Yes {The Family Upstairs, no. 2} WORTH READING? Yes SUMMARY DCI Owusu is investigating the discovery of a bag of human bones. They turn out to belong to a young woman killed by a blow to the head many years ago. The bag also contains clues…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/4 (Goodreads: 4.32) GENRE: Contemporary Fiction PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: Ifemelu and Obinze are two young lovers who depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, confident Ifemelu goes to America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be black for…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ½ (Goodreads: 4.37) GENRE: Mystery/Drama PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes SUMMARY: Two children are trapped in the same attic, almost a century apart, bound by a terrible secret. Early 1900’s: Young Dikembe is taken from his homeland, to the UK, where he is given a new name (Celestine) and spends most of…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ½ (Goodreads: 4.35) GENRE: Drama PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: Stewie Little never knew his parents. He and his brother Theo have been raised by their older sister. When Stewie’s grandmother passed away, Stewie committed to looking after her chickens. Every day he goes door to door selling eggs. One…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/4 (Goodreads: 4.43)   GENRE: Thriller PART OF A SERIES? Yes {Amos Decker, #7} WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: Amos Decker, known as the Memory Man, is called in to investigate the brutal death of a federal judge and her bodyguard in a gated Florida community. Her distraught son and ex-husband both have solid…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/4 (Goodreads: 4.13) GENRE: Historical Fiction PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: 25 years after the end of WWII, Noah is still haunted by memories of his time as a fearless Allied operative in France. He has frustrating memory gaps due to a head injury and is desperate to thank…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ½ (Goodreads: 3.89) GENRE: Drama PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: In a tiny village in Greece, a young girl called Chara lives with her parents, Irini and Tasso. Chara, whose name means ‘joy’, is a very caring and insightful child. On one fateful day, an unthinking man ignites a fire.…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/4(Goodreads: 3.98) GENRE: Speculative Fiction/Fantasy PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: Lewis and Wren have only been married for a few weeks when Lewis receives an unusual diagnosis. Although he will retain most of his consciousness, memories, and intellect, Lewis’s body will gradually transform into a great white shark. As…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ½ (Goodreads:4.23) GENRE: Drama/Mystery PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: Sally Diamond cannot work out why everyone thinks what she did is strange. She only did what her father told her to do… put him out with the rubbish when he died. Now suddenly Sally is in the limelight… a…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ¼ (Goodreads: 4.24) GENRE: Thriller PART OF A SERIES? Yes {Will Trent #10} WORTH READING? Yes SUMMARY: When investigating the killing of a prisoner inside a jail, GBI investigator Will Trent receives some interesting information. An inmate claims to be innocent of a brutal attack for which he has always been the prime suspect.…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ¼ (Goodreads: 4.23) GENRE: Drama PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: Jackie and Paula move to a small town with their adopted son and two teenaged foster children, including the troubled Star. It isn’t long before their family clashes with Clementine, the cantankerous lady across the road. Clementine makes her disapproval…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Goodreads average: 4.11) GENRE: Fantasy PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes SUMMARY – What Fairy Tale is About: This story from Stephen King tells the story of an ordinary teenager, Charlie Reade, who meets an elderly recluse, Howard Bowditch. The more Charlie gets to know Howard, the more he thinks there is…

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Goodreads: 4.36) GENRE: Drama PART OF A SERIES? Yes {Beartown, #2} WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: Can a damaged town survive another tragedy? Us Against You is the story of two towns, two teams, and what it means to believe in something bigger than yourself. The citizens of Beartown bleed hockey, so are devasted to…

⭐⭐⭐⭐(Goodreads: 4.42) GENRE: Historical Fiction PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes SUMMARY: In the spring of 1939, three generations of the Kurc family are attempting to carry on with their ordinary lives. But soon there are increasing hardships in their hometown of Radom, Poland, and the horrors facing Jewish people become inescapable. The…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ¼ (Goodreads: 3.95) GENRE: Fiction PART OF A SERIES? Yes (Harold Fry #3) WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: Maureen is the third and final instalment in Rachel Joyce’s Harold Fry trilogy, following The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy. This novella shifts the focus to Maureen Fry, Harold’s wife, offering a deeply…

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Goodreads: 4.45) GENRE: Drama PART OF A SERIES? Yes {Beartown, #3} WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO STAND TOGETHER?   It all begins with a storm—and a death. But how does it end? Two years have passed since those haunting events everyone wishes they could forget. As the people of…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ¼ (Goodreads: 4.07) GENRE: Historical and Contemporary Fiction PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: 2019: Kate escapes a difficult situation in London to move into a house left to her by her great aunt she scarcely recalls. Weyward Cottage and its surrounds provide Kate with a sanctuary and an escape,…

⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4 (Goodreads average: 4.31) GENRE: Drama PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes SUMMARY – What A Terrible Kindness is About: In October 1966, William Lavery is at his first black-tie event when tragedy strikes in the mining town of Aberfan, where a school is buried under a mudslide. William decides he must volunteer.…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ½ (Goodreads average: 4.31) GENRE: Crime Drama PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY – What Small Mercies is About: The setting is Boston, 1974. A heatwave smothers everyone and Mary Pat Fennessey is living hand to mouth. She and her daughter, Jules, have spent their entire lives in the housing projects…

⭐⭐⭐ 1/2 (Goodreads: 3.93) GENRE: Domestic Thriller PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes (and no) SUMMARY: Eve’s life seems perfect. Every morning, she wakes up, kisses her husband Nate, and leaves for her job as a high school maths teacher. Everything appears normal. But… Last year, a student named Addie was at the…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Goodreads: 4.33)   GENRE: Historical Fiction/Mystery PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: Set in Washington in the 1950’s, The Briar Club tells the story of an eclectic group of women at an all-female boarding-house. The group is drawn together by the enigmatic Grace March, who takes a room in the…

⭐⭐⭐ ½ (Goodreads: 4.22) GENRE: Drama PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? No   SUMMARY: Six years after she retires from being the greatest-of-all-time tennis player, Carrie Soto watches in horror as her record is snatched from her by an incredible player, Nicki Chan. Despite being 37 years old, Carrie makes a huge decision to…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Goodreads: 4.12) GENRE: Historical Fiction PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes SUMMARY: In 1982, Lica confesses to his daughter that she has a half-sister, Judith, with whom he’d lost all contact, after escaping from the Nazis. Lica extracts a promise that Jacobina will search for her half-sister. The search stalls over the years,…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ¼ (Goodreads: 4.23) GENRE: Historical and Contemporary Fiction PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: In 1969, sisters Trang and Quỳnh, desperate to help their parents pay off debts, leave their country village to become ‘bar girls’ in Saigon, where they are paid to drink, flirt (and more) with American GIs.…

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Goodreads: 4.29) GENRE: Drama PART OF A SERIES? Yes {Beartown, #1} WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: Beartown is a tale of a small town with big dreams… to be ‘the best’ at ice hockey. Written by Swedish author Fredrik Backman, the novel centres on a community whose hopes and aspirations of the entire town rest…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ¼ (Goodreads: 4.09) GENRE: Historical Fiction PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes  SUMMARY: Two women are connected by a splendid scarf that has been passed down through the generations… September 1911 — Nurse Clara cannot bear returning to Manhattan from Ellis Island, which holds too many painful memories for her, specifically of…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ¼ (Goodreads: 4.31) GENRE: Fiction PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: Eudora Honeysett feels that she has lived a full life. She has sent enquiries off to a clinic in Switzerland, so that she may end her life exactly how she wants to. Into Eudora’s life, comes a friendly neighbour,…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/4 (Goodreads: 4.15) GENRE: Fiction PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: Artifice is based on two heroes of WWII history: Han Van Meegeren, an art forger who sold fakes to Nazis, and Johann van Hulst, credited with saving hundreds of Jewish children from death in Amsterdam. In Artifice, Isa de…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ¼ (Goodreads: 4.14) GENRE: Contemporary African Fiction PART OF A SERIES? Yes (sequel to The Girl with the Louding Voice) WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: Tia’s mother is dying and Tia overhears a conversation between her mother and aunt that makes her question all that she believes about her life. Adunni, the gorgeous teenager…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Goodreads: 4.15) GENRE: Fantasy PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes  SUMMARY: Under the Whispering Door is a contemporary fantasy novel about Wallace Price, a cantankerous corporate lawyer who dies suddenly and finds himself at his own sparsely attended funeral. A reaper named Mei collects him, but instead of taking him straight to the…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ¼ (Goodreads: 4.25)  GENRE: Historical Fiction PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes SUMMARY: Based on the true story of a remarkable Indigenous woman, this story follows Goes First, a sixteen-year-old Crow girl who agrees to marry Abe Farwell, a white fur trader, in 1872. Renamed Mary by her new husband, she journeys…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ¼ (Goodreads: 4.36) GENRE: Contemporary Fiction PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes  SUMMARY: Lola in the Mirror follows a nameless teenage girl living on the run in Brisbane with her mother. The girl dreams of becoming an artist while navigating a gritty underworld of drugs, crime, and hidden identities. Throughout the story, she…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/2 (Goodreads:4.24)  GENRE: Literary Fiction PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes  SUMMARY: A Prayer for Owen Meany follows John Wheelwright, who, as an adult, reflects on his childhood in a small New Hampshire town and his lifelong bond with his closest friend, Owen Meany. Owen is an unforgettable figure — physically small,…

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Goodreads: 4.42)  GENRE: Contemporary Fiction PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes SUMMARY: Fredrik Backman’s My Friends tells the story of friendship, art, and the connections that shape our lives. The narrative follows two timelines. In the present day, we meet Louisa, a young woman on the verge of adulthood who suddenly has…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ¼ (Goodreads: 4.31) GENRE: Historical Fiction PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes SUMMARY: 1957: The Spanish city of Madrid gleams with promise for foreign visitors seeking sunshine and adventure, but beneath the glossy surface lies a darker reality under General Francisco Franco’s dictatorship. Sepetys explores the lingering trauma, repression and systemic injustices…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ¼ (Goodreads average: 3.78) GENRE: Psychological Thriller PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes  SUMMARY: This high-concept thriller poses a nightmare scenario: your child is kidnapped, but the only way to get them back safely is to become a kidnapper yourself. Rachel Klein, a divorced mother, gets pulled into an elaborate criminal scheme…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ½ (Goodreads: 4.27)  GENRE: Fiction (Drama and Mystery) PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: When Joseph ‘Patch’ Macauley (AKA ‘the pirate’) witnesses a masked man assaulting a girl in the woods, he intervenes to save her, but, in doing so, becomes kidnapped himself. All the Colors of the Dark (All the…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ¼ (Goodreads: 4.15) GENRE: Psychological Thriller PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes SUMMARY: The Ledge is a psychological thriller that weaves together two timelines to explore the lasting impact of childhood friendships and buried secrets. The story begins when human remains are discovered in a forest. The locals are shocked; none more so…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ¼ (Goodreads: 4.47) GENRE: Historical Fiction PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi is a powerful, multi-generational novel that traces the legacy of slavery and colonialism through two branches of a Ghanaian family. Beginning in the 18th century, the story follows the divergent paths of two half-sisters—one remains…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Goodreads: 4.23) GENRE: Psychological Thriller PART OF A SERIES? Yes (Will Trent #12) WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: Detective Will Trent and medical examiner Sara Linton are on their long-awaited honeymoon, staying at an exclusive, off-the-grid retreat. The idyllic setting masks simmering tensions, hidden histories, and a trail of deception that leads deeper than…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ½ (Goodreads: 4.48) GENRE: Legal Thriller PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: A Calamity of Souls is a historical legal thriller set in 1968 in Freeman County, southern Virginia, during the height of the Civil Rights movement. The story centres on a racially charged murder case that captures national attention. Jack…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ¼ (Goodreads: 4.34) GENRE: Historical Fiction (YA – Young Adult) PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes  SUMMARY: Ground Zero is a powerful historical fiction novel that weaves together two compelling narratives separated by nearly two decades. The first storyline follows Brandon Chavez, a nine-year-old boy who becomes trapped in the World Trade…

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ¼ (Goodreads: 4.07)   GENRE: Psychological Thriller PART OF A SERIES? No WORTH READING? Yes   SUMMARY: Nina Fraser and Simon Jordan seem like the perfect couple — until Nina vanishes during a weekend trip to Simon’s wealthy family’s cabin. Simon returns alone, offering vague and conflicting explanations, and soon, suspicion falls on him.…