Review: ‘The Strange Affair of Madeleine Smith’ Douglas MacGowan

It was a case that rocked Victorian society. Emile L'Angelier was a working-class immigrant from the Channel Islands who began a clandestine affair with prominent Glasgow socialite Madeleine Smith. Six weeks after Emile threatened to show Madeleine's father their passionate letters, on 23 March 1857, he was found dead from arsenic poisoning. The evidence against …

2021 in books

So, 2021 was a good year for me in terms of books. I haven't read 45 books in a year in, well, years. I probably haven't read 45 books in a year since I was a kid, when my grandparents and I used to go to our local library every Friday evening to select our …

Review: ‘Tales From the Cafe: Before the Coffee Gets Cold’ Toshikazu Kawaguchi

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time ...From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold comes Tales from the Cafe, a story of …

Review: ‘Rubble’ Skye McNeil

She's sworn off relationships. He has no desire to fall at all. They can only fight their attraction for so long. Jupiter Quinn is on the run from an abusive relationship. Finding shelter in Macha MC, her goal is to keep her head down until the divorce is finalized. What Jupiter doesn’t expect is to …

Review: ‘Archangel’s Light’ Nalini Singh

Illium and Aodhan. Aodhan and Illium. For centuries they've been inseparable: the best of friends, closer than brothers, companions of the heart. But that was before-before darkness befell Aodhan and shattered him, body, mind, and soul. Now, at long last, Aodhan is healing, but his new-found strength and independence may come at a devastating cost …

Review: ‘The Troop’ Nick Cutter

He felt something touch his hand. Which is when he looked down. For the scouts of Troop 52, three days of camping, hiking and survival lessons on Falstaff Island is as close as they'll get to a proper holiday.Which was when he saw it. But when an emaciated figure stumbles into their camp asking for …

Review: ‘My Sweet Girl’ Amanda Jayatissa

Ever since she was adopted from an orphanage in Sri Lanka, Paloma has led a privileged Californian life: the best schools, a generous allowance and parents so perfect that Paloma fears she'll never live up to them. Now at thirty, Paloma has managed to disappoint her parents so thoroughly that their relationship will never recover. …

Review: ‘The Deep’ Nick Cutter

A plague is destroying the world's population. The 'Gets makes people forget. First it's the small things, like where you left your keys...then the not-so-small things, like how to drive. And finally your body forgets how to live. But now an unknown substance with extraordinary power to heal has been discovered in the depths of …

Review: ‘Women Don’t Owe You Pretty’ Florence Given

I know, my duvet cover is adorable Women Don't Owe You Pretty is the ultimate book for anyone who wants to challenge the out-dated narratives supplied to us by the patriarchy. Through Florence's story you will learn how to protect your energy, discover that you are the love of your own life, and realise that today is a …

Review: ‘Veronika Decides To Die’ Paulo Coelho

Veronika has everything she could wish for. She is young and pretty, has plenty of boyfriends, a steady job, a loving family. Yet she is not happy; something is lacking in her life, and one morning she decides to die. She takes an overdose of sleeping pills, only to wake up some time later in …