📖 Publication Day ~ The Girl with the Suitcase by Lesley Pearse

Penguin
Paperback 26 February 2026

My thanks to the publisher and EDPR for the copy of this book

 

London, 1941

When Mary meets a glamorous stranger named Elizabeth she realises their lives couldn’t be more different. 

Elizabeth is beautiful and charming, about to set off on a dazzling adventure to Ireland where she’s inherited a grand house. 

Mary, shy and meek, has nothing to look forward to but the dreary life of a maid in Hampstead.

But when an air raid forces them to take shelter underground Mary’s life is suddenly changed forever. 

After waking up in hospital, injured but alive, the nurse mistakes her for Elizabeth and hands over her suitcase with Elizabeth’s money and tickets to Ireland inside.

This is Mary’s chance to escape the hardship of her life and start afresh.

Will she take it and what could go wrong?

📖My Review..

A chance meeting with a total stranger alters the course of Mary’s life forever and with the unexpected chance of a completely fresh start, Mary grabs the opportunity to move away from her life of drudgery and hardship. Set against the backdrop of WW2 we travel between war torn London, rural Ireland and affluent Bristol in a story which tugs away at the heartstrings with a remarkable young woman who takes whatever life throws at her and does so with that innate steadfastness of all those who’s survived wartime.

Beautifully written as only this author can, it is very easy to be drawn into the world which she recreates so sensitively. I loved Mary’s character, she’s such a strong person and yet it’s also the other characters who bring the story to life, especially Kathleen in Ireland and Rose in Bristol. A story of strong women  who support Mary in everything she does. At its heart are a couple of empathic love interests, good and kind men who take away Mary’s doubts about the shadows of her past with an indifferent mother and an abusive stepfather.

The Girl with the Suitcase is the author’s 33rd novel and is another lovely story from this sensitive and considerate writer. 

☕️ Best Read with…a pot of tea and poached eggs on toast

About the Author

Lesley Pearse is a global No.1 bestseller with fans across the world and sales of over 10 million copies of her books to date. One of the nation’s best-loved storytellers – a Lesley Pearse book is sold every 4 minutes in the UK – Lesley is a master of the gripping story line, always introducing her readers to characters that are impossible to forget. Although there is no set formula or easily defined genre for a Lesley Pearse novel, strong heroines and jeopardy are pervasive, and she always engages the reader completely. 

Told with Lesley's trademark warmth, wit and poignancy The Long and Winding Road is the extraordinary story of a remarkable woman fighting against the odds to achieve her dreams and finally winning.

Lesley lives in Torquay where she enjoys walking on the beach with her grandchildren. A fantastic speaker and committed and passionate fundraiser for the NSPCC, Lesley is a much sought after guest at literary lunches, library events and festivals up and down the country.

Twitter @LesleyPearse #LoveLesley #TheGirlWithTheSuitcase

X @michaeljbooks @ed_pr @PenguinUKBooks

📖 Publication Day Book Review ~ I’ll Be Watching You by Deborah Masson

Random House
Transworld
26 February 2026

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

He sees everything.

As a CCTV operator, Casey can monitor the streets of Aberdeen and keep people safe, all from the comfort of his chair.

He knows your secrets.

You are one of his favourite people to follow. He keeps an eye on you even in your most private moments, when you think you’re alone.

But now he wants more.

There's a reason he’s learnt your routine like the back of his hand. Casey wants revenge. And when you know as much as he does, it’s easy to take advantage…

📖My Review..

Casey works as a CCTV operator, hidden away behind the scenes in Aberdeen city centre, keeping people safe and watching their movements as they go about their business. After a troubled childhood, Casey needs to be in control, he is good at watching, and waiting, and underneath the general facade of his troubled personality is a person with dangerous scores to settle. 

Deeply unsettling at times, I followed the story with interest, not always sure of the direction of where the story was going but so compelling was the writing that I was determined to stay with it and my goodness what an exciting ride it became as the story really started to bite. I was left completely engrossed in the plot, the writing and the way in which this fascinating story of revenge and retribution unfolded.

Packed with tension, jeopardy and real sense of horror I’ll Be Watching You is a really cleverly put together thriller. It kept me so much on the edge of my seat that I read the book in one sitting. It’s definitely a story which will stay with me for a quite a while.

☕️Best Read with..A strong coffee and a plate of shortbread biscuits.

About the Author

Deborah Masson was born and bred in Aberdeen, Scotland. Always restless and fighting against being a responsible adult, she worked in several jobs including secretarial, marketing, reporting for the city's freebie newspaper and a stint as a postie – to name but a few. 

Through it all, she always read crime fiction and, when motherhood finally settled her into being an adult (maybe even a responsible one) she turned her hand to writing what she loved. Deborah started with short stories and flash fiction whilst her daughter napped and, when she later welcomed her son into the world, she decided to challenge her writing further through online courses with Professional Writing Academy and Faber Academy, where she wrote her award-winning debut novel Hold Your Tongue, the first in the DI Eve Hunter series. I’ll be Watching You is her first standalone thriller.

X@deborah_masson #IllBeWatchingYou

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📖 Book Review ~ A Most Unsuitable Suitor by Emma Orchard

Boldwood Books
28 February 2026

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

 

She must marry for her family’s future. He must never marry at all.

Spring, 1805. Nineteen-year-old Allegra Constantine is under pressure to choose a husband, but none of her suitors inspire her. Lord Milton is respectable but passionless, Sir Harry is charming but witless, and the dangerously handsome Mr Englishby has designs she cannot trust. The only man who truly interests her is Max Severin – cynical, scandal-shadowed, and not at all a suitable prospect.

But when a stolen kiss ignites a fire between them, Allegra realises she is in more danger from her heart than from society’s gossip. Because Max carries a secret so perilous, it could ruin them both. And when long-buried truths about Allegra’s family and Max’s past come to light, the consequences threaten more than her reputation. Torn between duty and desire, Allegra must choose: a safe, sensible marriage… or risking scandal, ruin, and her very future for the only man she has ever truly loved.

📖 My Review..

Allegra Constantine realises, for the sake of her family, that she must marry however, her current suitors do not inspire her to romantic thoughts of love but ever pragmatic, Allegra realises that love has nothing do do with her need to find an eligible marriage partner. And yet when she encounters the enigmatic Max Severin at the various social soirees Allegra is intrigued by his dark good looks, his air of detachment and his apparent cynicism of the social niceties. 

There is much to enjoy in this deliciously passionate Regency romance, both Allegra and Max have their secrets and watching these unfold, together with their burgeoning, and at times, illicit relationship made me smile. The story is beautifully written in the style which this talented author has made her own and there's enough intrigue, innuendo and passion to ignite the pages and a real revelation I didn't see coming but which seemed entirely plausible.

A Most Unsuitable Suitor is another hugely entertaining and enjoyable Regency romance from one of my favourite writers of this genre.

It is published by Boldwood on the 28th February.

Best read with..a glass of sweet lemonade

About the Author

Emma Orchard grew up in Salford and was given tickets to the grown-up library at the age of 11 because she’d read all the children’s books and the librarians were sick of the sight of her. She became obsessed with Georgette Heyer and hasn’t stopped reading her novels since. She studied English Literature at university and went on to work at Mills & Boon and behind the scenes in television and in publishing.

Facebook: @EmmaOrchardBooks

Twitter: @EmmaOrchardB #AMostUnsuitableSuitor

Instagram: @emmaorchardbooks

Newsletter Sign Up: bit.ly/EmmaOrchardNews

Bookbub profile @EmmaOrchardBook

📖 Book Review ~ Fireflies in Winter by Eleanor Shearer

 

Headline 
10 February 2026

Thanks to the publisher for the copy of this book 

Nova Scotia 1796. Cora, an orphan newly arrived from Jamaica has never felt cold like this. In the depths of winter, everyone in her community huddles together in their homes to keep warm. So when she sees a shadow slipping through the trees, Cora thinks her eyes are deceiving her. Until she creeps out into the moonlight and finds the tracks in the snow.

Agnes is in hiding. On the run from her former life, she has learned what it takes to survive alone in the wilderness. But she can afford no mistakes. When she first spies the young woman in the woods, she is afraid. Yet Cora is fearless, and their paths are destined to cross.

Deep amongst the cedars, Cora and Agnes find a fragile place of safety. But when Agnes’s past closes in, they are confronted with the dangerous price of freedom—and of love…

📖 My Review..

Travelling from Jamaica in 1796 Cora is newly arrived in the Maroon community in Nova Scotia where she takes time to settle into this new way of life. It’s a place where the change of customs, the biting cold and the ever present fear of danger never really goes away. When Cora discovers another young black woman called Agnes living in the heart of the surrounding woodland a tentative friendship develops between them and which, over the course of the story, becomes something much more meaningful.

Running alongside the burgeoning relationship between Cora and Agnes is that of a trial which is taking place and as the story progresses, we get to know more about, and the reason why, one of the women is facing such a terrible ordeal. It becomes obvious that both young women are trying to escape from a traumatic past but it is not until all the jigsaw pieces of the puzzle come together that we realise just what is at stake for both Cora and Agnes.

So beautifully and imaginatively written, I felt the story coming alive, not just learning about a period of history of which I knew nothing but also experiencing new way of life alongside Cora and Agnes as they both strive to survive in a world which doesn’t understand either of them nor does it offer any sort of respite from old prejudices. Whilst Fireflies in Winter is an emotional and poignant love story, it also offers an insight into this difficult moment in black history.

🥣 Best Read with..Bone broth over a smoky fire..

About the Author

Eleanor Shearor is a mixed-race writer and the granddaughter of Windrush generation immigrants. She splits her time between London and Ramsgate. Her debut novel River Sing Me Home sold in 20 territories. It was named as one of Time magazine’s 100 Must-Read Books of 2023, was a finalist for the 2024 Dayton Literary Peace Prize Fiction Award, shortlisted for the Grand Prix des Lectrices ELLE 2025 in France and also shortlisted for the Prix Fragonard 2025 in France. It was a Good Morning America Book Club pick, and has been optioned for film by AL Films and BBC Films.

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#EleanorShearer #FirefliesInWinter

📖 Blog Tour ~ The Resistance Knitting Club by Jenny O’Brien

Storm
6 February 2026
Threads of Resistence #1

My thanks for the copy of the book
and invitation to the blog tour

Inspired by the true story of a woman who used knitting patterns to encode intelligence during World War Two.

Guernsey, 2010. After a stroke, an elderly woman shocks her family by speaking perfect French – a language they never knew she possessed. As her granddaughter unravels seventy years of silence, a hidden wartime story emerges...

Paris, 1941. After her brother is declared missing in action at Dunkirk, eighteen-year-old Lenny Gallienne vanishes into Churchill’s secret army. In a bookshop on Rue de la Pompe, she poses as a simple shop girl while encoding intelligence from Nazi headquarters into knitting patterns. Each sweater smuggled to prisoners contains flight paths. Each scarf holds radio frequencies. Each mistake means execution.

Fellow agent, Harry Dennison, is the only person who knows her real name. But when the Gestapo close in, Lenny faces an impossible choice in the Metro tunnels beneath Paris – one that will haunt her family for generations. Because in the resistance, the most dangerous secrets are the ones you keep from those you love most.

📖 My Review..

Seventy years of silence means that Leonora (Lenny) Galliene’s wartime secrets have never been revealed especially to her family who, after Lenny’s sudden illness, are surprised to realise that she can speak fluent French. During the momentous years of WW2 Lenny led a dangerous clandestine life as a special agent and over the course of the novel we discover just what happened to her during her time in occupied Paris. A skilled knitter, Lenny discovers an ingenuous way to incorporate pieces of code into her knitted garments which allows vital pieces of information to be passed in a seemingly innocent way. 

Based on a true story this is an interesting slant on the wartime resistance theme and as a knitter I was fascinated by the use of knitting to pass on messages as I hadn’t heard of this before but could well imagine how it was accomplished. I think the author has tackled this difficult subject well and successfully combines wartime history alongside an emotional romance story. The characters throughout were well described and there was enough tension and jeopardy in the plot to give the story its momentum. 

The first book in a new series, The Resistance Knitting Club  certainly gets the series off to a good start. 

☕️ Best read with : A cup of tea and a plate of treacle scones 

About the Author

Jenny O’Brien writes complex thrillers and heartbreaking historical fiction, as well as intriguing romances. Silent Cry, initially self published, topped the Amazon kindle chart in both the UK and the USA. Most of her books have followed suit. Jenny has over 40 years experience as a qualified nurse. She turned to creative writing as a hobby when her children were born. Born in Ireland, she now lives in Guernsey with her husband and children.

BOOK NEWS

The Resistance Knitting Club comes out in February, 2026. A blend of Jenny’s two hobbies - knitting and reading. For more check out The Resistance Knitting Club Facebook Page. Join the conversation as well as share your crafting projects.

​Follow on social media 

Twitter and Instagram @scribblerjb

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JennyOBrienWriter/

📖 Book Review ~ Ten Poems about Birds from Candlestick Press

Candlestick Press
First published 2017
Revised November 2025

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this pamphlet 

Our smallest creatures seem to demand the most rapt attention. The poems in this revised edition of our much-loved title suggest that there’s something in the nature of a bird that makes it particularly suited to the small and intense space that is a poem.

The ten selections are little miracles in themselves, capturing the quirks of habit or appearance that distinguish one species from another. For Jean Atkin a chough is an embodiment of King Arthur, while for Katrina Porteous a skylark offers:

“…all the music the heart needs,

Full of its sudden fall, silent fields.”

from ‘Skylark’ by Katrina Porteous

The poems beautifully imagine the brief and joyful lives of birds, while teasing out what thrills and moves us when we encounter them. A poem, it transpires, can reveal just as much as a pair of binoculars.

Poems by Jean Atkin, Alison Brackenbury, John Clare, Emily Dickinson, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Rebecca Goss, Thomas Hardy, Caleb Parkin, Katrina Porteous and Lynne Wycherley.

Donation to The Owls Trust 

📖 My Review..

I’m extremely fortunate to have an interesting collection of birds visit our garden bird feeder. Nothing fancy, just chattering sparrows, chirpy robins, excitable starlings and mellifluous blackbirds, but they’re all a delightful addition to the garden and such fun to observe. This anthology of ten beautifully written poems about birds all capture the distinct personality of these tiny creatures. 

To hear their hopeful song as they herald spring is something special to treasure and captured beautifully in this lovely poem:

From “Hope” is a thing with feathers by Emily Dickinson 

“Hope” is a thing with feathers-

That perches in the soul

And sings a tune without the words-

And never stops -at-all..’

I will always remember the pure joy of observing a murmuration of starlings and feeling the beat of thousands of tiny wings or of regularly seeing those long  ‘V’ formations of birds as they fly overhead in spring and autumn :

I sense an agitation in the sky,

long Vs trailing like pennants

Altocirrus, swans white

As the tundra they come from

From Berwick Swans at Ouse Washes by Lynne Wycherley

Originally published in 2017 this anthology of Ten Poems about Birds has been reissued with a striking new cover. Each of the poems are a delightful addition and bring something special to treasure. It would be a delightful gift instead of a card for any ornithologist or simply a reminder that we should all enjoy the special kind of magic birds bring into our lives.

 

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

📖 Favourite Read of the Month ~ The Hill in the Dark Grove by Liam Higginson

 

Pan MacMillan
6 January 2026

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

Carwyn and Rhian – the last in a long line of sheep farmers – are living out a brutal year on their hillside farm, deep in the mountains of North Wales.

When Carwyn discovers a buried prehistoric ruin in one of the fields on their land, his curiosity quickly descends into obsession. His wife, Rhian, meanwhile, is confronted with the growing realization that the man with whom she shares her life and home is becoming a frightening stranger.

As the harsh winter closes in, Rhian finds herself alone with her increasingly unrecognizable husband, and the mountains, and the looming megalithic stones.

📖My Review..

Carwyn and Rhian Gwynnant eke out a meagre existence on their hill farm in the mountains of North Wales. The dark and brooding hillside around them lends an air of melancholy to the place and gives a sense of their isolation and dependence on each other for physical and emotional support. When Carwyn discovers a carved stone head, in what appears to be a prehistoric mound, he seems to become obsessed with the past and subtle changes in his personality start to make Rhian concerned for his state of mind. 

Rich in both local history and ancient Welsh folklore this is a quietly observant story, filled with the prickle of unease and a realistic sense of doom not just from the landscape which has shaped and moulded Carwyn and Rhian into the people they are but also gives off a real sense of the passage of time, both ancient and modern, and how our presence in the structure of the landscape is merely transitory. Imaginatively written and with more than a hint of menace the story unfolds almost mesmerically so that, as a reader, I became part of the very fabric of the place, the gloom of the hillside, the sense of ancient ancestors being disturbed, and a sense of horror which was so beautifully described it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

The Hill in the Dark Grove is a commendable debut novel, imaginative, brooding and deeply memorable, the story will stay with me for a long time and for that reason I am making this my Favourite Read of the Month for January.

☕️ Best read with : Strong tea from an old teapot and a slice of bread, thickly spread with homemade damson jam.

About the Author

Liam Higginson was born and raised in rural North Wales and lives in Llandudno with his wife. The Hill in the Dark Grove is his debut novel.

X#LiamHigginson #TheHillInTheDarkGrove

X@PanMacmillan