📖 BookReview ~ Ten Poems about Owls from Candlestick Press

Candlestick Press
February 2026

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this poetry pamphlet 

Owls are birds that fascinate us, seeming to exist at the shadowy margins of our human lives. More often heard than seen, their nocturnal cries can be both haunting and exhilarating.

These ten poems celebrate the elusiveness of owls, as well as the thrill of a rare sighting; when a little owl is spotted on the branch of an olive tree in Greece, it looks more like a “small clay jar” than a bird. In another poem, the near-silent flight of a barn owl offers a moment of spellbound intimacy:

“If breath was any animal, it’s this.
Glide and hush-sweep
across the close-by fields of grain.”

from ‘Barn Owl on Newburgh Road’ by Niall Campbell

The poems remind us that an encounter with any wild creature is a gift – and that meeting an owl in a poem can be every bit as magical as meeting one in the woods.

Selected and introduced by Niki Bowers

Poems by Nial Campbell, Daniel Webster Davis, Emily Dickinson, Victoria Gatehouse, Ian Humphreys, Gregory Leadbetter, Rob Miles, Angela Readman, AE Stallings and Edward Thomas.

Donation to The Owls Trust

📖 My Review..

Always just on the edge of shadow, owls move silently through the dusk of evening, mysterious creatures who have featured strongly in our culture for centuries. The collective name for a group of owls is a wisdom and these ancient creatures form a backdrop to myths and legends and are strongly associated with the otherworld. Seen as spiritual messengers, the owl’s eerie cry is often interpreted as a portent of ill luck or even a harbinger of death however, there is no doubt that each sighting in the wild should be regarded as a special moment. 

“Then at the inn I had food, fire, and rest,

Knowing how hungry, cold and tired was I.

All,of the night quite barred out except

An owl’s cry, a most melancholy cry”

From The Owl by Edward Thomas 

Years ago I spent a glorious time on the Greek island of Spetses and even though I wasn’t lucky enough to spot a little owl this lovely poem brought back happy memories of a beautiful island and the rough beauty of its olive trees :

‘We strolled along the sea road

And spied a little owl

Less a bird

Than a small clay jar

Balanced implausibly on an olive branch “

From Little Owl by AE Stallings

 

It’s been a real pleasure to read this beautiful mini-anthology which shines a much needed spotlight on this most ethereal of creatures. Each one of the ten sensitively selected poems allows us a glimpse into the life of this special bird, it would make the perfect gift instead of a card for anyone who has a special interest in nature or for those who simply love the natural word and more especially these enigmatic creatures who glide like shadows through the night.

About the Publisher 

Candlestick Press is a small, independent press publishing sumptuously produced poetry pamphlets that serve as a wonderful alternative to a greetings card, with matching envelopes and bookmarks left blank for your message. Their subjects include Mountains, Clouds, Walking, Birds, Wine and Happiness. Candlestick Press pamphlets are stocked by chain and independent bookshops, galleries and garden centres nationwide and available to order online.

Twitter/X @poetrycandle 

Blue Sky @candlestickpress.bsky.social

Website

📖 Book Review ~ A Mother Always Knows by Diane Jeffrey

HQ Digital
12 March 2026
My thanks to the publisher for the copy of the book

When a young man is found murdered in a quiet rural village, it sends shock waves through the close-knit local community.

But Carla is more concerned for her teenage daughter, Iris. When Joshua was alive, he humiliated Iris in the worst possible way, and now she’ll be the main suspect in his murder.

As the police investigate every lead, Carla must navigate the murky waters of guilt and betrayal as well as her growing suspicions of what her own daughter might be capable of.

When a shocking revelation threatens to tear her family apart, Carla is forced to ask herself how far she’ll go to protect her loved ones. In a world of secrets and deception, can a mother truly know what lies beneath the surface.

📖 MyReview..

When the body of a young man is discovered in a local woodland the tight knit rural community is shocked that such a violent crime has taken place and none more so than Carla and her family who are well acquainted with the young man and who, it seems, have valid reasons to wish him harm. With the finger of suspicion pointing at Carla’s daughter, Iris, who was once in a toxic relationship with the young man, it opens up a whole set of circumstances which threatens to change Carla’s family dynamic forever.

What then follows is a cleverly controlled thriller which gives varying viewpoints not just from Iris and Carla’s perspective but also the point of view of the SIO in charge of the murder investigation who also happens to be a family friend. There is much to consider within the narrative especially about the problems young people face navigating the dangerous online world, the effects of toxic and coercive control and the increasing problem of revenge porn. It’s quite an emotional read as it uncovers family secrets with Carla doing all she can to protect her family from what seems like an inevitable fallout. It opens up the question of how far will a mother go to protect her children. 

A Mother Always Knows is a well written and complex thriller which kept my attention from start to finish. 

 About the Author

Diane Jeffrey is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning author. She grew up in North Devon and Northern Ireland. She now lives in Lyon, France, with her husband and their three children, Labrador and cat. Diane has written six psychological thrillers, all published by HQ / HarperCollins.

Diane is an English teacher. When she's not working or writing, she likes swimming, running and reading. She loves chocolate, beer and holidays.

Author website: www.dianejeffrey.com

Readers can also follow Diane on Instagram and

Twitter @dianefjeffrey

or on Facebook.com/dianejeffreyauthor

📖 Book review ~ The Shark by Emma Styles

Sphere
12 March 2026

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

Every monster has a weakness.

At the height of Australian summer, a serial killer known as The Shark stalks a coastal suburb, hunting young female swimmers.

Afraid and furious at the failure of the police to protect them, two women fight back. Raych is grieving someone she'd have died to save, while Carmen hides her own disturbing connection to the murders.

In desperation, they form an uneasy alliance. And when another girl vanishes, they take matters into their own hands - by kidnapping the prime suspect. But as their interrogation spirals, horrifying truths surface on both sides of the table.

The clock is ticking to save the missing girl. And in their quest for justice, Raych and Carmen must face the darkest question of all: have they caught a monster - or become one?

📖 My Review..

On the western coast of Australia, in the Cottesloe area of Perth, young female swimmers are being targeted by a serial killer who becomes known as The Shark. With the murders made to appear like a shark attack it soon becomes apparent that there is someone out there who is prepared to do harm. Raych is a woman on a mission and is determined to find the perpetrator and seek revenge. In doing so she meets Carmen another damaged young woman who has her own reasons for wanting to catch the killer.

The story is slow in places, especially at the beginning, which I think is quite deliberate, however, because of this it took me a while to gel with the characters especially as both the female leads weren’t always particularly likeable but I sort of understood why this had to be as both are extremely damaged and vulnerable. Their complicated and flawed relationship is explored in detail and as we start to understand them so the story becomes clearer. The author controls the plot with good attention to detail, bringing the place and the people alive in the imagination.

Overall this an interesting crime thriller which looks at revenge and retribution and does so in a complex story which kept my interest until the whole thing came together.

About the Author

Emma Styles writes contemporary Australian noir about young women taking on the patriarchy. She grew up on Whadjuk Noongar country in Perth,Western Australia and now lives in London. Emma has an MA in crime fictionfrom the University of East Anglia. Her debut novel, No Country for Girls, won the Little, Brown UEA Crime Fiction Award pre-publication and the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize post publication. It was also shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger Award, the Davitt Award for Best Adult Crime Novel and the ACWA Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut Crime Fiction.

📖 Book Review ~ Ten Poems about Daffodils from Candlestick Press

Candlestick Press
February 2026

My thanks to the publisher for the copy of this pamphlet 

  

The most famous flowers in poetry must surely be William Wordsworth’s Daffodils , expressing the surprise and delight of stumbling upon unexpected beauty.

And being beautiful is something that daffodils just can’t help… In this mini anthology we encounter a whole host of varieties, from “dainty white dancers” to “saffron flouncers”. Over and again the poems celebrate the flower’s gloriously jaunty yellow-ness, which seems to spell hope at a time when spring has barely got going – sometimes even in mid-winter 

“They wait for me

holding out the sun like a gold watch

against the shortest day…”

from ‘Winter Daffodils’ by Phoebe Hesketh

The poems are guaranteed to gladden the heart, encouraging us to pay attention to the everyday splendour of this much-loved herald of spring.

Selected and introduced by Di Slaney

Poems by Jason Allen-Paisant, Moyà Cannon, Gillian Clarke, Isobel Dixon, UA Fanthorpe, Phoebe Hesketh, Clinton Scollard, Favid Scott, Dorothy Wordsworth and William Wordsworth.

Cover Illustration by Jane Burn

📖 My Review

My heart gladdens in late winter/early spring when the daffodils start to appear. It is my favourite flower and whilst the season is in full bloom, I fill my house with vases of them. This delightful collection of ten daffodil inspired poems brings with it a hint of promise and a glimpse into the magical world of this most beautiful of flowers.

©️Jaffareadstoo

No anthology about daffodils would be complete without the most famous of poems ‘Daffodils’ by William Wordsworth and yet it was also rather special to see his sister Dorothy featured in her lovely poem

I Never Saw Daffodils so Beautiful 

“ I never saw daffodils so beautiful

They grew among the mossy stones -

About and about them..”

There is so much to enjoy in the simple beauty of a vase of golden yellow daffodils and this delightful poem by Isobel Dixon captured the essence so beautifully:

March

“ is the month of

daffodils

in jam jars 

on windowsills

slim shafts 

of home-sap

greening

our sight lines”

This mini anthology of Ten Poems about Daffodils is the perfect choice as we come out of the dark days of winter and inch our way towards spring. It would be a perfect gift instead of a card to anyone who has a spring birthday or just for the simple pleasure of reading some beautiful poems about daffodils in all their golden glory.

About the Publisher 

Candlestick Press is a small, independent press publishing sumptuously produced poetry pamphlets that serve as a wonderful alternative to a greetings card, with matching envelopes and bookmarks left blank for your message. Their subjects include Mountains, Clouds, Walking, Birds, Wine and Happiness. Candlestick Press pamphlets are stocked by chain and independent bookshops, galleries and garden centres nationwide and available to order online.

Twitter/X @poetrycandle 

Blue Sky @candlestickpress.bsky.social

Website

📖 Book Review ~ The Boleyn Curse by Alexandra Walsh

Boldwood Books
15 March 2026

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

The court of young King Henry VIII seethes with secrets and scandals, but every ambition has its price. Elizabeth Boleyn, loyal wife to Thomas Boleyn  and devoted mother to Anne, Mary and George, believes she can navigate the shifting tides of court life. But when she catches the eye of the lascivious king, Elizabeth is drawn into a perilous game and the cost of her defiance will echo through the generations.

In present day Hampshire, Tabitha Mundy has found a haven in Cerensthorpe Abbey. Since the death of her husband, her work as archivist for the abbey’s owner, Edith Swanne, has been her refuge. When her research uncovers hidden clues rumoured to lead to a lost manuscript of The Canterbury Tales and a connection to the Boleyn family, Edith is eager to investigate. With the help of Gulliver, Edith’s enigmatic nephew, Tabitha begins to decipher the riddles and before long a mystical thread binds Elizabeth and Tabitha across the ages – two women destined to protect the truth.

As Henry’s vengeance consumes Elizabeth, she sets his treachery down in writing, determined her voice will not be silenced. But another man’s secrets mean that Elizabeth’s tale has been hidden. Can Tabitha finally unlock the mysteries of the past or will the Boleyn Curse haunt Cerensthorpe Abbey.

📖 My Review..

In the present day, Tabitha Mundy takes up the role of archivist at the beautiful Cerensthorpe Abbey where together with members of the family she attempts to piece together intricate, and at times macabre, clues which will hopefully lead to the discovery of a long lost manuscript. However, the search is complicated and throws up more questions than it does answers. 

Back in Tudor Times the Abbey once belonged to Elizabeth Boleyn, wife to Henry VIII’s trusted ambassador, Thomas Boleyn, and mother of Mary, Anne and George. It details Elizabeth’s complicated relationship with King Henry VIII and poses the question whether Elizabeth and Henry were ever intimately acquainted. The Tudor element is particularly well done and offers an imagined glimpse into what life could have been like with an irascible King, who hated being thwarted, and of a beautiful woman who wanted her family’s story to be told.

It has been a real pleasure to read this rather unusual slant on the usual Boleyn story. The clever time slip element allows a strong sense of history and combining it with a modern day mystery about the search for a lost copy of The Canterbury Tales gives the author room to manoeuvre through time with seamless effect.

🍷Best read with..a glass of good red wine

About the Author

Alexandra Walsh is the bestselling author of dual timeline historical mysteries, previously published by Sapere. Her books range from the fifteenth century to the Victorian era and are inspired by the hidden voices of women that have been lost over the centuries. Formerly a journalist, writing for national newspapers, magazines and TV, her first book for Boldwood will be published in Spring 2023.

Twitter: @purplemermaid25 #TheBoleynCurse

Instagram: @purplemermaid25

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/AlexandraWalshNews

📖 Publication Day Book Review ~ The Truth about Ruby Cooper by Liz Nugent

Penguin
12 March 2026

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

 

If my sister hadn’t been beautiful, none of it would have happened.

Ruby Cooper and her sister, Erin, live an idyllic life in their close-knit church community in Boston. But when Ruby is sixteen, she is involved in an incident that causes her family’s world to implode.

Across decades, the fallout leaves a wake of destruction behind Ruby in Dublin and Erin in Boston.

Not that Ruby wants to think about the past.

But it can’t stay a secret forever.

📖 My Review.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave comes to mind when reading this complex story of toxic jealousy and the hopeless ruination of multiple lives. 

Ruby Cooper is just sixteen when an incident ruins her life and that of her family. What then follows are years of recrimination with Ruby at the centre of everything that goes wrong for the Cooper family. Moving seamlessly between life in Boston and Ireland and with vignettes from Ruby and her older sister Erin we start to get drawn into a tragic family drama which has so many twists, turns and elements of self destructive behaviour that it soon becomes difficult to reconcile just how toxic life can become when you lose hope and sanity. Cleverly written, as all this author’s novels undoubtedly are, this story has something of a different approach which is no less powerful than her previous stories.

The Truth about Ruby Cooper is an emotional, multilayered story with a depth of feeling which kept my attention throughout. There were times when I couldn’t believe that someone could act in such a destructive manner so as to cause immense psychological pain but such is the strength of the writing that I even started to feel moments of empathy with a character I came to loathe. Beautifully written from start to finish, I hung onto every word and closed the book with the satisfaction that comes from reading a good story, well told.

🫖 Best read with…a restorative cup of tea 

About the Author

Before becoming a full-time writer, Liz Nugent worked in film, theatre and television. Her four novels - Unravelling Oliver, Lying in Wait, Skin Deep and Our Little Cruelties have each been Number One bestsellers and she has won four Irish Book Awards, as well as the James Joyce Medal for Literature. She lives in Dublin.

Twitter #LizNugent #TheTruthAboutRubyCooper

Website

@PenguinUKBooks

📖 Book Review ~ The Wives of Henry VIII by Jessica Carey - Bunning

Pen and Sword
30 January 2026
My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

The Wives of Henry VIII:Rethinking the Stories behind the Symbols examines some of the small details about the six wives of Henry VIII that are often overlooked. This book is a revisionist close study that moves beyond the traditional narratives to present fresh, more nuanced perspectives. Focusing on significant moments and aspects that inform and showcase who these women were. Throughout these chapters, new research, fresh analysis, and remarkable discoveries come together to offer a deeper understanding of the women we know as the Six Wives of Henry VIII.

We begin with a re-evaluation of Catherine of Aragon’s name through the lens of her family history and how it shaped her life, followed by an analysis of Catherine’s financial situation after the annulment. 

Anne Boleyn is considered in relation to her role in the Chateau Vert pageant, followed by an analysis of her use of French and English gable hoods, which includes a discussion of an incredible, newly discovered contemporary image of Anne. 

Jane Seymour’s religion and unpopularity are each examined in turn to uncover fresh perspectives on Henry’s third queen. 

Anna of Cleves adaption to life in England is discussed, followed by her life and status under Edward VI and Mary I.

Katherine Howard’s performance of queenship is re-evaluated, as well as the connections between herself and her cousin, Anne Boleyn. 

Finally, apocryphal tales of Kateryn Parr’s rise to the throne are reassessed, followed by an examination of how close she came to arrest and execution.

📖 My Review..

The Six Wives of Henry VIII continue to be endlessly fascinating and even though we sometimes look at these marriages through the rosy glow of five hundred years we occasionally need to stop and consider the women behind the marriages and the legacy they each left behind. Whilst each of their turbulent marriages to this infamous King are well documented, this new accounts offers a different look at each of the wives and what defined them and highlights how they fit into history.

The wives are mentioned in chronological order with Catherine of Aragon coming first and finishing with that of Kateryn Parr’s story at the end of Henry’s lifetime. Each of the Queens are written about with a fine eye for detail and there is a strong sense the book has been well written and researched. The author writes well, describing the Tudor court and customs in enough detail to make the book readable without being too complicated. I love the colour of the book’s cover, the Tudor green, so associated with Henry’s court, along with the red and white roses, gives an authentic feel. The vibrancy of the cover would certainly make me pick the book up in a bookshop to have a closer look. Overall,  I found this to be an informative read with snippets of information I had forgotten or not known.

I am sure that The Wives of Henry VIII will appeal to anyone who enjoys Tudor history and who is interested in a different view on the lives of these six extraordinary women who played such an important role in Henry’s life and of the tragic consequences of their relationships with this irascible King of England.

🍷 Best read with…a goblet of strong red wine

About the Author 

Jessica Carey-Bunning is a Tudor historian and PhD candidate at the University of Adelaide. She fell in love with history after seeing a copy of the Magna Carta on a trip with her parents when she was five years old. Jessica began the Tudor Treasures website and Facebook page in 2022. She lives in Sydney with her husband, son, and cat. This book is the culmination of decades of passion and research.