☀️My Reads of Summer 2026 📚

At the start of June I decided to include a few books which were perfect for summer reading.  Most were light and easy, with a holiday destination as part of the narrative, but with an occasion dip into a couple of darker stories. 

So without further ado, here are my ten summer choices for 2026. 

In no particular order, click on the link, it’ll take you to my review…📚☀️📚

A Nantucket Fling by Kathryn Freeman

The Glass Key by Amanda Geard

Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune

One Scottish Summer by Kate Frost

Secrets of the Italian Guesthouse by Sue Moorcroft 

The Outsider by Valerie Keogh

When You Looked Away by SM Govett

The Greek Guesthouse by Michelle Vernal

A Proposal in Provence by Alison Roberts 

Blue Skies Ahead by Jessica Redland 

🎧📖 Listen Up with Bookshop.org 🎧📖

Design by Craig Oldham. Photo by Carl Gosling for Bookshop.org

Bookshop.org’s audiobooks launch allows indie bookshops to earn full profit on audiobook sales for the first time

From, Wednesday 8 July 2026: Bookshop.org, the ethical alternative to Amazon that supports independent bookshops, is launching its new audiobook offer. For the first time, readers can buy books in all formats from indie bookshops. LISTEN UP. Audiobook listening station at Real Magic Books

Customers will be able to buy and listen to audiobooks on one easy-to-use platform, while financially supporting indie bookshops in their fight against Amazon (who owns Audible). Audiobooks will be available to buy on a subscription model priced at £12.99 per credit/month, which has been designed to generate the most revenue for indie bookshops. 

To mark the launch, Bookshop.org will offer exclusive audiobook content to listeners, which will be available exclusively when buying an audiobook from their platform. These “indie exclusives” include:

• A speech by Meta whistleblower and Careless People author Sarah Wynn-Williams, about the “analogue tenacity of books” in the face of powerful people trying to silence important stories.

• A conversation between best-selling thriller writer Adele Parks and her narrator, Kristin Atherton, answering questions collected from her readers & listeners.

• An exclusive new lecture from journalist and historian Max Hastings about bravery and valour across wars.

• A message directly from Cody Dahler, author of The State of This! 

• An exclusive conversation between Ellery Lloyd, thriller author of Time to Burn, and narrator Louise Brealey.

The audiobook market in the UK is growing rapidly, with no signs of slowing down. The most recent data provided by the Publishers Association revealed that in 2025, audiobooks were worth £255 million, up 10% on the previous year – significant in comparison to the overall publishing industry which only grew by 3%. A 2025 study by YouGov has shown that 30% of readers listened to audiobooks in the previous year.

While the number of independent bookshops in the UK and Ireland has risen from 1,025 to 1,086 in the last year, reaching its highest level since 2012, bookshops are still struggling with surging operational costs. 

With audiobooks, Bookshop.org offers booksellers a meaningful, regular revenue stream, and a tool to advance their growth. Readers will now be able to support their local booksellers through audiobook subscriptions, while benefiting from human recommendations and the valued community that independent bookshops are uniquely positioned to deliver.

In our National Year of Reading, celebrating and encouraging all forms of storytelling – including audiobooks – is key to aiding access and development of a genuine passion for reading. Research by the National Literacy Trust revealed that 37.5% of children and young people said listening to audiobooks 'sparked their interest' in reading. There is also evidence that audiobooks support wellbeing, help close gender gaps in enjoyment, inspire interest in reading and widen access to stories. Bookshop.org’s new offering marks a crucial step towards diversifying sources for readers to find their reading fix.

Carl Gosling and Sophie Green, from Real Magic Books: “It is fantastic that our customers will be able to use Bookshop.org for audiobooks, we’re asked about it all the time. Audiobook-loving Real Magic regulars want to be able to come in the shop, browse and use our enthusiasm and recommendations to inform their next audiobook choice. We want all audiobook users to feel fully part of our community and to be able to shop ethically on the high street. It is a huge win for independent bookshops.”

Andy Rossiter, from Rossiter Books: “We are delighted the audiobook option has been added to the offering on Bookshop.org. The ‘anytime, anywhere’ nature of listening to audiobooks is really appealing and the market is growing rapidly. Having them added to Bookshop.org is a great way to get more people into more books and to give indie booksellers access to this expanding market.”

Rosamund de la Hey, from The Main Street Trading Company: “As an indie bookseller and huge fan of listening as well as reading, it’s wonderful news that our online partner, Bookshop.org, are launching audiobooks.”

Kit de Waal, Author of The Best of Everything and My Name is Leon: “Listening to someone tell us a story is the most intimate and the oldest form of storytelling there is. That’s only one reason audiobooks are so appealing. If you add in a great narrator and the fact that you can multitask reading and commuting or housework or gardening and you have the most wonderful way of reading more books for pleasure, for work or for education. And your local independent bookshop is just the place to get started. Tell them your tastes and they will definitely know what to recommend.”

Nicole Vanderbilt, Managing Director of Bookshop.org UK, said: “We’re excited to be launching a whole new product that offers a significant, and importantly, regular revenue stream for independent bookshops. Audiobooks have become such an important part of the way we tell stories and a vital part of the book industry's growth. We are excited to give the 30% of readers who have listened to an audiobook in the last year a better way to buy their audiobooks: there's no reason for them to turn to Amazon now! With our new subscription service, indie bookshops benefit from every credit purchased.”

For the latest developments, subscribe to Bookshop.org’s newsletter and follow them on social media at @bookshop_org_uk.

About Bookshop.org

Bookshop.org is an online bookshop with a mission to financially support local, independent bookshops.

Bookshop.org first launched in the USA in January 2020 and has already raised over $46m for independent bookshops in the States. Bookshop.org launched in the UK in November 2020, and currently has over 650 independent bookshops and over 11,000 affiliates using the platform. The UK site has generated over £5m for independent bookshops since its launch, being named Retailer of the Year in the British Book Awards in 2022.

Independent bookshops receive full profit on the sales and subscriptions they generate from their shopfront on the platform. On all other sales, 10% of the cover price is added to a pool distributed to independent bookstores. Print books are offered to consumers at a small discount, with free shipping on orders over £25, and in stock books are delivered within 2-3 days. Ebooks can be read and audiobooks listened to on Bookshop.org’s own app

Bookshop.org is a Certified B Corporation and has received the prestigious status as a B Corp Best for the World 2022.

For more about Bookshop.org, please see www.bookshop.org or visit their social media channels on Instagram @bookshop_org_UK, X @bookshop_org_UK, Facebook @BookshopOrgUK, Threads @bookshop_org_UK, and Bluesky @bookshop-

📖 Book Feature ~ My Chronicle Book Box

 

I was really thrilled when Louise at My Chronicle Book Box contacted me on Twitter to say that I had won a beautiful book box in her recent competition.  This feel-good prize has really boosted my spirits during a difficult time. It was all was presented in such a wonderful way and I am delighted with the contents of the box.

My photograph

Based in Yorkshire My Chronicle Book Box was created in 2017 and since then this book subscription service has gone from strength to strength. There are various subscription options to choose from and all the books are especially chosen, with bookish goodies which compliment and enhance the experience.

My photograph

My Feel-Good book box contained a signed copy of The Notekeeper by Hannah Treave, which I am so looking forward to reading, along with a beautiful book mark and two really pretty note cards. Everything was wonderfully gift wrapped which made unboxing such a joy. 

You will discover lots more interesting stuff about My Chronicle Book Box by visiting their website  

Find them on Social media

Twitter @MyChronicleBB

Instagram 

Facebook

📖 Book Feature ~ You’ll Never Walk Alone by Rachel Kelly

Yellow Kite
3 November 2022

My thanks to the publishers and Midas for the opportunity 
to feature this book on the blog

You'll Never Walk Alone is a collection of the kind of inspirational texts - mainly poems - that can accompany us, whatever we are feeling, from sorrow to delight. The texts are not just about words which can console us or comfort us - though they often do this too. Rather these are poems that allow us to enjoy a full range of emotions. The poems are organised according to the season in which they 'belong': we all have seasons of our minds, be they wintery and dark, or more spring-like and hopeful. Comprising 52 poems, with analysis by Rachel, You'll Never Walk Alone introduces a poem for each week of the year plus tips on bringing poetry into your life.

This book will show you how to bring poetry into your everyday emotional reality, where it can be a new tool for well being. And one that means you'll never walk alone.

The texts are introduced by Sunday Times bestselling author Rachel Kelly, who cites the therapeutic power of poetry as one of the key factors in her own recovery from depression, as she shows how poetry can be a tool for well being – one that means you'll never walk alone.With this book by your side, you will feel comforted when times are tough and cheered when they are joyful.

Having spoken all over the world from Delhi to Sydney, America and across the UK, former Times journalist Rachel runs Healing Words poetry workshops for mental health charities, at festivals and in prisons, and has been a judge for the Koestler Poetry Prize and the Rethink Mental Illness Poetry Awards, as well as being an official ambassador for Rethink Mental Illness, SANE, The Counselling Foundation and Head Talks. 

We all need a bit of help sometimes with our mental health and in those quiet moments when we sit and reflect on what’s going on in our lives it’s often very comforting to have a gentle books of words which helps to focus our minds.

You’ll Never Walk Alone is the perfect antidote for #BlueMonday. It’s available in hardback and ebook from wherever you buy your books.

Twitter @RachelKellyNet 

 #BlueMonday

@yellowkitebooks

@midascampaigns

📖 Book Feature ~ The Penguin Book of French Short Stories edited Patrick McGuiness

 

Penguin Classics
27 October 2022

The short story has a rich tradition in French literature where, since its genesis, the form has been playfully expanded and subverted. Here are decadent tales, 'bloody tales', detective stories, war stories, fables, puzzles, fairy tales, and family histories. They are stories about the self and the other, husbands, wives and lovers, country and city, rich and poor. Curated and introduced by Patrick McGuinness, Professor of French and Comparative literature at Oxford, this collection brilliantly balances famous names such as Proust, Colette, and Zola with lesser-known French writers ripe for rediscovery.

Volume One begins with a bawdy, innuendo-laden tale from Philippe de Laon's One Hundred New Tales, written between 1464 and 1467. The final story in Volume Two dates from the early 2000s, written by Virginie Despentes, one of the most thrilling and taboo-breaking contemporary French writers. In between, this anthology crosses both genres and borders with writing from the formidable Guadeloupian writer Maryse Conde, and the greatly overlooked Senegalese poet and member of the Négritude movement Birago Diop. Far from apolitical, the collection reckons with France's complicated political and colonial history in a way which only the short story is able, as McGuinness tells us: "The short story is a pragmatic, nimble genre, responsive and topical, reaching the parts of a culture other genres cannot, and reaching them fast. Where the novel stretches across our days and accompanies us through them, the short story thrives in the busy ecosystem of everyday narratives and everyday reading habits."

Penguin Classics
27 October 2022

The second volume takes the reader through the tumultuous twentieth century in the company of writers including Simone de Beauvoir and Maryse Condé, Patrick Modiano and Virginie Despentes, covering world wars, revolutions, and the horrors of the motorway service station. Along the way we meet electronic brains, she-wolves, a sadistic Cinderella, ancestors, infidels, dissatisfied housewives and lonely ambassadors, all clamouring to be heard. Funny, devastating and fresh at every turn, this is the place to start for lovers of French literature, new and old.

Edited and with an introduction by Patrick McGuinness, academic, writer and translator.

****

Thanks to the publisher, I've been lucky enough to read a sample section of the stories within these two volumes and from what I have seen, so far, I can heartily recommend both volumes. The stories vary in length from one page, to several pages, and each are perfectly written to entice and entertain. In my sample copy I enjoyed The Panther by Rachilde from Volume One and from Volume Two I enjoyed reading The Winter Journey by Georges Perec.

The Penguin Book of French Short Stories, edited by Patrick McGuiness, was published on the 27th October by Penguin Classics.

About the Editor

Patrick McGuiness is Professor of French and Comparative Literature at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of St Anne's Collge. Born in Tunisia and raised in Belgium, he is a poet, prize-winning novelist and translator.

Twitter @PenguinRandom

@padrigmcg

Half year round up ~ Six in Six

June 2022

Here's a round up of the books which have made an impact on my first six months of my reading year...

Six authors who were new to me:

1. Lisa Hobman - Wishing Under a Starlit Sky
2. Annabel Abs - The Language of Food
3. Fay Keenan - New Beginnings at Roseford Hall
4. Julie Shackman - A Scottish Highland Surprise
5. Jayne Cowie - After Dark
6. Eliza Knight - The Mayfair Bookshop

📖 Six authors I have read before:

1. Rachael English - The Letter Home 
2. Jane Lovering - A Cottage Full of Secrets
3. Jennifer Bohnet - Villa of Second Chances
4. Three Cheers for the Shipyard Girls - Nancy Revell
5. Eva Glyn - An Island of Secrets
6. Kathryn Freeman - The Italian Job

📖 Six books from authors I know will never let me down:

1. The Key in the Lock - Beth Underdown
2. Nicola Pryce - The Cornish Captive
3. Anna Mazola - The Clockwork Girl
4. Susanna Kearsley - The Winter Sea
5. Alison Weir - Elizabeth of York
6. Louise Beech - Nothing Else

📖 Six books that led me into a life of crime:

1. I know What You've Done - Dorothy Koomson
2. Sapphire - Heather Burnside
3. The Patient - Tim Sullivan
4. Breakneck Point - T Orr Munro
5. Dog Leap Stairs - Barbara Scott Emmett
6. Fiona Barton - Local Gone Missing

📖 Six books that took me by the hand and led me into the past:

1. The Lost Apothecary - Sarah Penner
2. The Queen's Lady - Joanna Hickson
3. Conversos - V E H Masters
4. Traitor in the Ice - K J Maitland
5. Treason - Michael E Wills
6. The Missing Girls of Alardyce House - Heather Atkinson

📖 Six debut authors:

1. Carole Johnstone - Mirrorland
2. Susan Stokes- Chapman - Pandora 
3. Tricia Cresswell - The Midwife
4. Sally Page - The Keeper of Stories
5. Mel Giedroyc - The Best Things
6. Sophie Irwin - A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting 

Huge thanks to these fabulous authors for sharing the gift of your imagination with Jaffareadstoo

 

Gold Box Deal ~ Georgette Heyer

Step into the Regency World of Georgette Heyer

Today on a special Gold Box Deal ~  Nine Kindle titles are just 99p each

Check out the trailer

Click on the link to Amazon UK

Some of my first Regency Romances were the wonderful novels of Georgette Heyer which are still as fresh as the day they were written. Think Bridgerton ...without the steam !

About the Author

Georgette Heyer was a prolific historical romance and detective fiction novelist. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story for her younger brother into the novel The Black Moth.

In 1925 she married George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer. Rougier later became a barrister and he often provided basic plot outlines for her thrillers. Beginning in 1932, Heyer released one romance novel and one thriller each year.

Heyer was an intensely private person who remained a best selling author all her life without the aid of publicity. She made no appearances, never gave an interview and only answered fan letters herself if they made an interesting historical point. She wrote one novel using the pseudonym Stella Martin.

Her Georgian and Regencies romances were inspired by Jane Austen. While some critics thought her novels were too detailed, others considered the level of detail to be Heyer's greatest asset.

Heyer remains a popular and much-loved author, known for essentially establishing the historical romance genre and its sub-genre Regency romance.

Twitter @PenguinUKBooks #GeorgetteHeyer

#RegencyRomance

 

📖 Half Year Round Up ~ Six in Six

It's that time of year when I take a look at the first six months of my reading year

📖 Six authors who were new to me:

1. Julienne Brouwers - Double Deceit
2. Linda Tyler - The Laird's Secret 
3. Beth Morrey - Saving Missy
4. Tracey Bloom - The Wife Who Got A Life
5. Paula Greenlees - Journey to Paradise
6. Kate Hewitt - The Edelweiss Sisters

📖 Six authors I have read before:

1. Dorothy Koomson - All My Lies are True 
2. Helen Fields - Shadow Man
3. Patricia Scanlon - A Family Reunion 
4. Carol Cooper - The Girls from Alexandria
5. Sue Moorcroft - Under the Italian Sun
6. The Lost Hours - Susan Lewis

📖 Six books from authors I know will never let me down:

1. The Burning Girls - C J Tudor
2. The Scarlet Dress - Louise Douglas
3. Mr Right Across the Street - Kathryn Freeman
4. The Sewing Room Girl - Susanna Bavin
5. Dead Ground - M W Craven
6. How to be Human - Louise Beech

📖 Six books that led me into a life of crime:

1. Night Swim - Megan Goldin
2. Exit - Belinda Bauer
3. The Whole Truth - Cara Hunter
4. Unsettled Ground - Claire Fuller
5. Condemned - R C Bridgestock
6. The Happy Family - Jackie Kabler

📖 Six books that took me by the hand and led me into the past:

1. A Net for Small Fishes - Lucy Jago
2. The Heart Stone - Judith Barrow
3. The Drowned City - Karen Maitland
4. The Prophet - Martine Bailey
5. The Damask Rose - Carol McGrath
6. Mrs England - Stacey Hall

📖 Six debut authors:

1. Sarah Pearse - The Sanatorium
2. Tina Baker - Call Me Mummy
3. V L Valentine - The Plague Letters
4. Anna Bailey - Tall Bones
5. Jennifer Saint - Ariadne
6. In the Mirror, a Peacock Danced - Justine Bothwick

To these talented authors for sharing the gift of your imagination with me. 

So far in 2021 your books have taken me on the most wonderful adventures 

🌠

Book Feature ~ When We Fall by Carolyn Kirby

No Exit Press
E-Book edition 10 April
Promotion £1.99

The eBook is available through noexit.co.uk/whenwefall and online bookshops.

England, 1943 Lost in fog, pilot Vee Katchatourian is forced to make an emergency landing where she meets enigmatic RAF airman Stefan Bergel, and then can’t get him out of her mind.

In occupied Poland, Ewa Hartman hosts German officers in her father’s guest house, while secretly gathering intelligence for the Polish resistance. Mourning her lover, Stefan, who was captured by the Soviets at the start of the war, Ewa is shocked to see him on the street one day.

Haunted by a terrible choice he made in captivity, Stefan asks Vee and Ewa to help him expose one of the darkest secrets of the war. But it is not clear where everyone’s loyalties lie until they are tested.

***

At the heart of the novel is the tragedy of the Katyn Massacre of 1940, in which over 22,000 Polish military officers were murdered under orders of the Soviet Union.

April 2020 marks the 80th anniversary of this horrific WWII crime and Friday 10th April is also the 10th anniversary of the Smolensk Air Disaster, where Polish dignitaries were on their way to commemorate the massacre.

Carolyn has recorded a video about the true story behind the novel and the only female victim of the massacre – Polish pilot Janina Lewandowska – whom one of the characters in When We Fall is based.

Twitter @novelcarolyn #WhenWeFall

@noexitpress

When We Fall is currently £1.99 and is available from No Exit Press  Amazon UK

and other online book stores

***

📚 My Twelve in Twelve 2019 📚

As the end of my reading year approaches these are my much anticipated 12 in 12

📖 Twelve authors who were new to me:

1. Jacqueline Mahoney ~ A River in the Trees 
2. Joanna Nell ~ The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Village
3. Lynn Brittney ~ A Death in Chelsea
4. Elizabeth Letts ~ Finding Dorothy
5. Iain Maitland ~ Mr Todd's Reckoning
6. Eleanor O'Reilly ~ M for Mammy
7. Margery Blake ~ The Thunder Girls
8. Cole Moreton ~ The Light Keeper
9. Caryl Lewis ~ The Jeweller
10. Fiona Valpy ~ The Dressmaker's Gift
11. Nicola Moriarty ~ The Ex-Girlfriend
12. Maggie James ~ Silent Winter

📖 Twelve authors I have read before:

1. G D Harper ~ A Friend in Deed
2. Nicola Pryce ~ A Cornish Lady
3. Tom Cox ~ 21st Century Yokel
4. Michelle Paver ~ Wakenhyrst 
5. Nicola Ford ~ The Lost Shrine
6. Giles Kristian ~ Lancelot
7. J P Carter ~ At Your Door
8. Susan Lewis ~ One Minute Later
9. Lucienne Boyce ~ Death Makes No Distinction
10. Amanda Prowse ~ The Light in the Hallway
11. Debbie Macomber ~ Mrs Miracle's Christmas
12. Lorna Gray ~ Mrs P's Book of Secrets

📖 Twelve books from authors I know will never let me down:

1. Home Truths ~ Susan Lewis
2. The Newcomer ~ Fern Britton 
3. Call Me Star Girl ~ Louise Beech
4. My Mother's Daughter ~ Ann O'Loughlin
5. The Highborn Housekeeper ~ Sarah Mallory
6. The Strawberry Thief ~ Joanne Harris
7. You'll Never See Me Again ~ Lesley Pearse
8. The Family Upstairs ~ Lisa Jewell 
9. The Love Child ~ Rachel Hore
10. A Ration Book Childhood ~ Jean Fullerton 
11. The Guardian of Lies ~ Kate Furnivall
12. The Light in the Hallway ~ Amanda Prowse

📖 Twelve Audio books I have enjoyed listening to:

1. An Echo in the Bone ~ Diana Gabaldon
2. Tombland ~ C J Sansom
3. The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock ~ Imogen Hermes Gowar
4. Written in my Own Heart's Blood ~ Diana Gabaldon
5. Fingersmith ~ Sarah Waters
6. The Handmaid's Tale ~ Margaret Atwood
7. Bring Up the Bodies ~ Hilary Mantel
8. The Butterfly Room ~ Lucinda Riley
9. Northern Lights ~ Philip Pullman
10. The Owl Killers ~ Karen Maitland
11. David Copperfield ~ Charles Dickens
12. The Christmas Hirelings ~ Elizabeth Braddon

📖 Twelve books that took me by the hand and led me into the past:

1. Blood Queen ~ Joanna Courtney
2. The Familiars ~ Stacey Halls 
3. The Garden of Lost and Found ~ Harriet Evans
4. The Almanack ~ Martine Bailey
5. The Daughters of Ironbridge ~ Molly Walton
6. Anna of Kleve ~ Alison Weir
7. Tapestry of Treason ~ Anne O'Brien 
8. The Crown Agent ~ Stephen O'Rourke
9. The Photographer of the Lost ~ Caroline Scott
10. The Glittering Hour ~ Iona Grey
11. Heir Apparent ~ Susan Grossey
12. A Cornish Inheritance ~ Terri Nixon

📖 Twelve books that took me into a world of crime and psychological suspense:

1. In Safe Hands ~ J P Carter
2. Apple of My Eye ~ Claire Allan
3. Poetic Justice ~ R C Bridgestock
4. My Sister's Lies ~ S D Robertson
5. The Lonely Heart's Crime Club ~ Tanya Bullock
6. Tick Tock ~ Mel Sherratt
7. #Taken ~ Tony Parsons
8. At Your Door ~ J P Carter
9. Nothing Else Remains ~ Robert Scragg
10. Murder by the Minster ~ Helen Cox
11. Black Summer ~ M W Craven
12. I Dare You ~ Sam Carrington

📖 Twelve books that took me on extraordinary journeys around the world:

1. Single Ladies of Jacaranda Village ~ Joanna Nell ( Australia)
2. Dreaming of Tuscany ~ T W Williams (Italy)
3. Beautiful Bad ~ Annie Ward ( Balkans)
4. The Stars in the Night ~ Clare Roden ( France/Australia)
5. Passage to Nuala ~ Harriet Steel (India)
6. A Cornish Summer ~ Catherine Alliot ( Cornwall)
7. The Spanish Promise ~ Karen Swan ( Spain)
8. The Nail House ~ Gregory Baines (China)
9. Breakfast in Bogota ~ Helen Young ( Colombia)
10. The Museum of Lost Loves ~ Gary Barker ( Zagreb)
11. The Land of Trees ~ L A Naylor ( Guatemala)
12. Rough Time in Nuala ~ Harriet Steel (India)

📖 Twelve Books From Debut Authors :

1. The Conviction of Cora Burns ~ Carolyn Kirby
2. The Confession of Franny Langton ~ Sara Collins
3. The Wayward Girls ~ Amanda Mason
4. The Colour of Things Unseen ~ Annee Lawrence
5. A Matter of Interpretation ~ Elizabeth Mac Donald
6. Sister of Mine ~ Laurie Petrou
7. The Forgotten Village ~ Lorna Cook
8. The Thunder Girls ~ Melanie Blake
9. A Version of the Truth ~ B P Walter
10. Through the Wall ~ Caroline Corcoran
11. Blood Orange ~ Harriet Tyce
12. The Silent Patient ~ Alex Michaelides

📖 Twelve Books I bought for myself :

1. A Farewell to France ~ Noel Barber
2. Hidden ~ Lisa Sell
3. Sweet Sorrow ~ David Nicolls
4. Shakespeare's Witch ~ Samantha Grosser
5. The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter ~ Hazel Gaynor
6. An American Marriage ~ Tayari Jones
7. Holy Island ~ L J Ross
8. Only the Dead ~ Malcolm Hollingdrake
9. The Irish Princes ~ Elizabeth Chadwick
10. Pleasing Mr. Pepys ~ Deborah Swift
11. Violet ~ S J Holliday
12. The Secret Commonwealth ~ Philip Pullman

📖 Twelve books that surprised me.....in a good way:

1. Village of Lost Girls ~ Agustin Martinez
2. The Silent Patient ~ Alex Michaelides
3. Under the Rock ~ Benjamin Myers
4. The Wolves of Leninsky Project ~ Sarah Armstrong
5. When Winter Comes ~ Vivienne Shannon
6. 10 minutes and 38 seconds in this Strange World ~ Elif Shafak
7. Ask again, Yes ~ Mary Beth Keane
8. Foxfire, Wolfskin and Other Stories of Shape Shifting Women ~ Sharon Blackie
9. The Thunder Girls ~ Melanie Blake
10. #Sonnets ~ Lucien Young
11. The Deathless Girls ~ Kiran Millwood Hargreave
12. Letters to the Earth ~ Anthology

📖 Twelve Feel-Good Novels :

1. Maybe this Time ~ Jill Mansell
2. Rose Petal Summer ~ Katie Fforde
3. Amazing Grace ~ Kim Nash
4. A Perfect Cornish Summer ~ Phillipa Ashley
5. Crikey A Bodyguard ~ Kathryn Freeman
6. A Cornish Affair ~ Jo Lambert
7. The Magnificent Mrs Mayhew ~ Milly Johnson
8. A Walk in Wildflower Park ~ Bella Osborne
9. Butterfly in Frost ~ Sylvia Day
10. The Perfect Dress ~ Louisa Leaman
11. Christmas at Ladywell ~ Nicola Slade
12. Return to Winter Island ~ Jo Thomas

📖 Twelve books to be published in 2020 that I can't wait to talk about and which are heading to my to be read pile:

1. The Lady of the Ravens ~ Joanna Hickson
2. The Missing American ~ Kwei Quartey
3.  Six Wicked Reasons ~ Jo Spain
4. His Countess for a Week ~ Sarah Mallory
5. Stay Up With Hugo Best ~ Erin Summers
6. Blood Will Be Born ~ Gary Donnelly
7. Beyond the Moon ~ Catherine Taylor
8. Payback ~ R C Bridgestock
9. A Good Neighbourhood ~ Therese Ann Fowler
10. Escape Routes ~ Naomi Ishiguro
11. The Home ~ Sarah Stovell
12. All the Rage ~ Cara Hunter

A MASSIVE THANK YOU


 to all of  these talented authors for sharing the gift of their imagination with me. 


Your books have taken me on the most wonderful adventures in 2019


Come back tomorrow to see which are my Reads of the Year ....

Thanks to Jo at The Book Jotter who  inspired this meme...

Canons ~ #TheMyths

 I am delighted to be able to feature this collection of lovely novellas in a bold retelling of legendary tales by the world's best contemporary writers

Published in August 2018

The six most popular myths have been beautifully packaged in a stunning series redesign.

In A Short History of Myth, Karen Armstrong holds up the mirror of mythology to show us the history of ourselves, and embarks on a journey that begins at a Neanderthal graveside and ends buried in the heart of the modern novel.

My thoughts:

This is a good introduction to the concept of myth and how the history of our people has evolved through the myths and legends of our past. The author writes well and explains how myths carry us forward into our future whilst recognising the power of the past. 

Condemned to shoulder the world forever by the gods he dared defy, freedom seems unattainable to Atlas. But then he receives an unexpected visit from Heracles, the one man strong enough to share the burden.

My thoughts:

The story of Atlas and Heracles is re-told in this imaginative interpretation by Jeanette Winterson. Interesting and thought-provoking, Weight is a new slant on an old, old story. 

Penelope. Immortalised in legend and myth as the devoted wife of the glorious Odysseus, silently weaving and unpicking and weaving again as she waits for her husband’s return. Now Penelope wanders the underworld, spinning a different kind of thread: her own side of the story - a tale of lust, greed and murder.

My thoughts:

The deft hand of Margaret Attwood is very much in evidence in this version of the story of Penelope and Odysseus. It is not a story I was very familiar with, and so to have this very readable version was a very good introduction to this ancient story of lust, greed and murder.

This is the story of two brothers. One is impassioned and one reserved. One is destined to go down in history and the other to be forgotten.

In Pullman’s hands, this sacred tale is reborn as one of the most enchanting, thrilling and visionary stories of recent years.

My Thoughts:

In this modern retelling of the life of Jesus, Philip Pullman adds a new twist to the old story. Cleverly constructed, and with a style of writing that has universal appeal, this book has a resonance that remains long after the last page is turned.

In exhilarating and lucid prose, Grossman gives us a provocative new take on the story of Samson: his battle with the lion, the three hundred burning foxes, the women he bedded, the one he loved and who betrayed him and the destruction of the temple. It reveals the journey of a lonely and tortured soul, whose search for a true home echoes our own private struggles.

My thoughts:

The Myth of Samson and Delilah so much the subject of books and films, is such an iconic story that it is to the author's credit that he has brought something new to the table. I thoroughly enjoyed this interpretation of the struggles of Samson.

Girl meets boy. It’s a story as old as time. But what happens when an old story meets a brand new set of circumstances? Ali Smith’s remix of Ovid’s most joyful metamorphosis is a story about the kind of fluidity that can’t be bottled and sold. It is about girls and boys, girls and girls, love and transformation, a story of puns and doubles, reversals and revelations.

My thoughts:

I think of this set of Myths, this one has to be my favourite. The retelling of Ovid's story of Iphis and Ianthe seemed to have a very modern feel to it and the variability of gender, of girls who are like boys, and boys who are like girls, seems particularly apt for a modern readership.

Find out more at Canongate The Myths

Twitter @CanongateBooks #TheMyths

My thanks to Canongate for my review copies of the Myths

Book Feature ~ The Trip of a Lifetime by Monica McInerney

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to feature the latest novel by Monica McInerney

The Trip of a Lifetime

Michael Joseph
Penguin Random House
8 February 2018

A heart-warming multi-generational drama about homecomings from the Number One

bestselling author, Monica McInerney

‘I always thought memories were unchangeable. Set in stone, shaped by the years. But there are always others too, ones you haven’t let yourself remember . . . ’ 

The wilful and eccentric Lola Quinlan is off on the trip of a lifetime, taking her beloved granddaughter and great-granddaughter with her. More than sixty years after emigrating to Australia, she’s keeping a secret promise to return to her Irish homeland. 

But as she embarks on her journey, the flamboyant Lola is still hiding the hurtful reasons she left Ireland in the first place. What – and who – will be waiting for her on the other side of the world?

Publishing in February The Trip of a Lifetime is the perfect book to look ahead to spring with and beat the winter blues.  For fans of women’s fiction that packs an emotional punch, readers who enjoy Jojo Moyes,  Marian Keyes and Cathy Kelly will fall in love with Monica’s writing. 

The Trip of a Lifetime shot straight to No. 1 in the Australian bestseller chart and the Top 10 in Ireland.

Those who have followed the fortunes of the Quinlan family which began with The Alphabet Sisters will be pleased to know that A Trip of  a Lifetime which sees Lola returns to her native Ireland, follows, Lola's Secret .

About the Author

Monica is a superstar in her native Australia - she's the #5 bestselling author across all adult fiction 

Her books have combined worldwide sales of over 1.3 million.

You can find out more about the author on her website 

Find on Facebook

Follow on Twitter @MonicaMcInerney

Amazon UK

Close to Home ~ Thank you

In October 2016, I started my Close to Home feature in order to highlight authors who are based in the north of England, literally close to home. Since then I've been privileged to work with 44 amazing authors who have embraced the idea of sharing what's so special about the north of England and have shown this love in an array of eloquent guest posts and enlightening interviews.

I am immensely grateful to them all for their enthusiasm and for sharing their love of the north and for explaining just how this marvellous northern landscape shapes their writing.


Click on the author to discover what makes the north such a special place for them...


Karl Drinkwater
Liz Bower
Jo Hollywood
Deborah Swift
Marie Laval

A D Garrett and Helen Pepper
John R McKay
Kate Field
Lyn G Farrell

Cath Cole
J Carmen Smith
Ian Skillicorn

Paula Martin 
Martin Edwards
Paula Daly
Cath Staincliffe

Sarah Jasmon
Caroline James
Debbie Johnson
June Taylor

Nicci Rae
Kate Rigby
Pauline Barclay
Claire Brown

Barbara Copperthwaite
Gina Kirkham
Claire Coombes
Carys Bray
Sue Featherstone

Amanda Brooke
Caroline Wallace
Beth Underdown
Kirsty Ferry

Jan Ruth
Helena Fairfax
Melinda Hammond
June Francis

Rebecca Mascull
Sharon Booth
Elizabeth Ashworth
Susan Pape
Susanna Bavin

Helen Steadman
Alyson Rhodes

 A whopping big  to everyone who has taken part in Close to Home 

Jaffareadstoo couldn't have done this without you all.

Close to Home will be back sometime in the future bringing you lots more fabulous Northern Writers

~***~