I cannot believe I’ve never got round to reading Catherine Steadman before, even though all of her books are sitting on my shelves. Consequently,  I’m delighted that Look in the Mirror is my latest My Weekly magazine online review. My enormous thanks to Hannah Robinson and Myrto Kalavrezou at Quercus for sending me a copy of the book.

Published by Quercus on 30th July 2024, Look in the Mirror is available for purchase through the publisher links here.

Look in the Mirror

In this paradise you won’t like what you see . . .

When Nina’s father dies, she inherits a gleaming dream vacation home in a balmy tropical paradise – one she had no idea existed. The house is extraordinary: state-of-the-art, all glass and marble. How did her sensible father ever have enough money for this? And why not tell her about it? Desperate to uncover why he hid such a big secret, she decides to visit.

Maria, once an ambitious medical student, is now a nanny for the super-rich. The money’s better, and so are the destinations – like this new assignment in the British Virgin Islands. But when her wards never show, Maria begins to make herself at home, spending her days luxuriating by the pool. There’s just one rule: Don’t go in the basement. But her curiosity might just get the better of her. And soon, she’ll wish her only worry was not getting paid.

As both women’s timelines intertwine, dark secrets start to unravel and one thing quickly becomes clear – nothing could have prepared them for what they are about to encounter.

My Review of Look in the Mirror

My full review of Look in the Mirror can be found on the My Weekly website here.

However, here I can say that Look in the Mirror is a cleverly plotted, plausibly terrifying story that takes the locked room thriller on an innovative and compelling, twisty ride. I found it made my pulse race and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Do visit My Weekly to read my full review here.

About Catherine Steadman

Catherine Steadman is a New York Times bestselling author, screenwriter and actress based in London and is perhaps best known for playing Mabel Lane Fox in the series Downton Abbey. As well as on screen she has also appeared on stage in the West End where she has been nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award.

Her first novel, Something in the Water, was a New York Times bestseller, a Reese’s Book Club pick and a Richard & Judy Book Club pick with rights sold in more than thirty territories. She is also the author of Mr Nobody, The Disappearing Act and The Family Game.

For more information about Catherine, visit her website, or follow her on Twitter/X @CatSteadman and Instagram.

My enormous thanks to Niamh Wallace at Boldwood for sending me a copy of The Orphan Songbird by Chrissie Walsh in return for an honest review. It’s my pleasure to share that review today.

Published by Boldwood on 22nd August 2024, The Orphan Songbird is available for pre-order through the links here.

The Orphan Songbird

With no parents to protect her, Darcy Earnshaw must make her own way in the world.

After the death of her beloved mill-owner father, thirteen-year-old Darcy Earnshaw is left in the care of her lascivious uncle Abe. Not only is he determined to steal her inheritance, but as she blossoms into a captivating young woman, he longs to steal her innocence too. Desperate to avoid his advances, Darcy decides to flee.

Alone and homeless, she is soon taken under the wing of John Carver, a kind-hearted beloved street performer and his family who is captivated by Darcy’s beautiful voice. But it’s Danny, an Italian singer, who captures Darcy’s heart and finally seems to offer the promise of a happy future.

But, when war breaks out, and the pressure on Danny and John to enlist mounts, all Darcy’s dreams start to crumble. And with her evil uncle Abe still determined to wreak his terrible revenge on her, surely now there can be no happy ending for the orphan songbird?

My Review of The Orphan Songbird

Darcy Earnshaw is suffering at the hands of her uncle.

The Orphan Songbird was not what I was expecting. I had anticipated a rather gentle saga with a happy ever after ending. I hadn’t reckoned on a gritty, feminist and occasionally quite sexually explicit #metoo style narrative that not only fitted the early 1900s era brilliantly, but which had complete relevance to today’s society too. I think The Orphan Songbird would somewhat surprise readers who eschew the genre as too twee for their tastes! 

The story is very much about Darcy Earnshaw, but it is set against an authentic historical backdrop that feels real and interesting. As many men head off to war, the author makes such a large global event feel personal and affecting which makes for high impact. Other elements such as the fight for Women’s suffrage give depth and colour. So too do the themes of the story. Family and belonging are very much at the heart and Chrissie Walsh illustrates perfectly that family does not necessarily mean blood relatives. Reading The Orphan Songbird brings home powerfully what is important in life. I loved the title too because it suggests both Darcy’s actual status in life with both her parents dead, and her singing skill, as well as the metaphorical concept of a bird in a cage which very much fits some of the things that happen to her. 

The characters are vividly drawn with Darcy at the heart of the action, but her interplay with others from her odious uncle Abe, her relationship with Danny and her various friendships, give her a special depth and appeal. I thought her the way she developed beyond the trauma of her childhood to realise that her past may have shaped her present, but does not need to constrain her future was a gloriously uplifting message.

Darker and more profound than I had imagined it to be, The Orphan Songbird packs a punch that I thoroughly enjoyed. And as for my expectation of a happy ever after ending, well, you’ll just have to read it for yourself to see if I got one!  

About Chrissie Walsh

Chrissie Walsh was born and raised in West Yorkshire and is a retired schoolteacher with a passion for history. She has written several successful sagas documenting feisty women in challenging times for Aria. Welcome to Weaver Street, was the first title in her WW1 saga series for Boldwood.

My huge thanks to Sabah Khan at Simon and Schuster for sending me a copy of Everything You Have by Kate Ruby in return for an honest review. It’s my pleasure to share that review today.

Everything You Have will be published in paperback by Simon and Schuster on 1st August 2024 and is available for pre-order here.

Everything You Have

The perfect assistant is not all she seems in this gripping suspense thriller from the author of the Richard & Judy pick Tell Me Your Lies. 

Sasha Fulton looks like she has it all – the glittering media career, the happy marriage, the perfect kids. But the truth behind the shining façade is very different. The job is nothing but pressure, and the stroppy teens aren’t even hers. She’s fast reaching breaking point.

When Sasha’s new twenty-something assistant Jenna walks through the door, she seems like the answer to her prayers. Dazzlingly efficient, with a whip-smart wit, Sasha’s soon wondering how she ever lived without her.

But with trouble mounting at home and at work, Sasha is starting to lose control. As the lines between professional and personal become dangerously blurred, she feels like there’s only one person she can rely on.

Sasha is heading for a fall. But is Jenna there to catch her, or to push her over the edge?

My Review of Everything You Have

Sasha needs a new assistant. 

Everything You Have is a pressure cooker of a book. It shimmers with poisonous menace that builds throughout. It’s filled with manipulative, self-serving characters who get right under your skin and keep you turning the pages. This is a dark and nasty book and I thought it was excellent.

There’s an intense and claustrophobic atmosphere because of the alternate viewpoints of Sasha and Jenna. I found it interesting that Sasha’s narrative is first person as if she’s more trustworthy and important than Jenna and yet I found her equally manipulative and devious. The pendulum swing of viewpoint is mirrored by that of the reader’s feelings. Kate Ruby made me keep changing my mind about who was most at fault.

Indeed, I thought the characterisation was really well drawn. Sasha’s step-daughter Georgie is so empathetic and I had huge sympathy for her. Vulnerable and hurting, she becomes the lynchpin of action taken by Sasha and Jenna who both manipulate her for their own gains. She made me want to climb into the pages of Everything You Have and comfort her. 

It’s obvious from Sasha’s end of chapter asides to the reader that Jenna is a threat, but why that is the case and what she truly plans only gradually becomes uncovered. Sasha is intelligent, scheming and Machiavellian. But so too is Sasha and the very company they both work for, Bright, is predicated on steering people, on making them believe in fabricated concepts so that there’s a real sense of justice as the story unfolds. 

I was completely fascinated by the insight into corporate big business through Bright. Kate Ruby depicts the cut-throat attitudes, the internal politics, the pressures and the tenuous successes that all place pressure on individuals so that there’s an added layer of toxicity in the story.

It’s hard to review Everything You Have without spoilers. There are themes of family and identity, of abandonment and mental health, of belonging and revenge. I think the greatest success of Everything You Have, however, is the concept of manipulation. It’s at the heart of the story and Kate Ruby manipulates the reader incredibly successfully so that they finish the book wondering just what might happen next. I really, really enjoyed it.

About Kate Ruby

Photo credit – Simon Annand

Kate Ruby is a pseudonym for an award-winning TV drama producer and screenwriter. Her previous novel, Tell Me Your Lies, was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick in 2022 and is now in development for TV with a major US network after a fierce bidding war for the rights. Everything You Have is already under option for the screen. Kate balances her writing career alongside her work as an executive producer, with recent credits including The Girl Before for the BBC and HBO and The Flatshare for Paramount Plus.

For further information, follow Kate on Twitter/X @katerubybooks or Instagram.

I so loved Skip to the End by Molly James (reviewed here) that I was thrilled when Elizabeth Masters and Ana McLaughlin at Quercus Books sent me a copy of Molly’s latest book, One Day to Fall in return for an honest review. I’m delighted to share that review today.

One Day to Fall in Love will be published in paperback by Quercus on 1st August 2024 and is available for purchase in all formats through the links here.

One Day to Fall in Love

The clock is ticking, don’t let love run out . . .

When the love of her life falls for someone else, Rena finds herself desperately scrolling for a solution. That’s when an ad for a new dating app pops up:

24 hours to fall in love ❤️ A guaranteed love match by the end of the day or your money back.

Fueled by heartbreak and tequila, Rena signs up and prepares for her life to change. What she doesn’t know is that she is bound to repeat this day over and over again, until she finds her perfect match. One day they said, but there was no mention of how many times that day would play out . . .

My Review of One Day to Fall in Love

Rena is in love with Dylan. 

One Day to Fall in Love is just lovely. I so enjoyed it. 

The plot is smashing. As Rena has signed up for a dating app, she has also inadvertently signed herself up to repeating the same 24 hours over and over again until she finds her perfect love. I had anticipated that this structure might make the story repetitive, but not a bit of it. Molly James makes it fresh, lively, humorous and hugely entertaining. The narrative romps along.

The characters are warm and realistic. There’s an intimacy because of the focus on Rena and Nat, but a wide enough cast to add fun, comedy and interest, so that the story is beguiling and uplifting. Although a super romance is at the heart of the action, it is other relationships that give the book true emotional depth. Rena’s self-preserving distance from her father and Nat’s blind acceptance of Mark’s behaviour are both explored. Through these two wonderfully depicted women we see how the first step in any true relationship is an acceptance of ourselves. If we can’t be honest with ourselves, appreciate our own positives and accept our own flaws, then we can’t really expect others to do so. Consequently, One Day to Fall in Love is a book about romantic, family, self, platonic and genuine love. I thought this aspect was simply wonderful. 

Other messages in this diverting story are equally significant. The importance of belonging, of the Arts, and of not being afraid to step outside our comfort zones and try new things are aspects that are so well depicted. It means the story is inspirational as well as entertaining –  and frequently laugh aloud funny!

I really loved One Day to Fall in Love. I realised I was reading it with a smile on my face throughout and I finished it with a huge sigh of satisfaction. Molly James has written the kind of book to keep on your shelf as a pick-me-up when life feels bleak. It’s witty, warm and incredible fun – a true tonic. Don’t miss it. 

About Molly James

Molly James is the pen name of Sunday Times Top Ten bestselling author Belinda Jones. While Belinda’s romcoms double as travel guides to dream destinations from Costa Rica to Capri, Molly’s love stories come with an exciting twist of magical realism. Belinda is dog-besotted, Molly favours felines. Both love a lavender latte!

For more information, find Molly on Instagram.

A little while ago, it was my privilege to review here the children’s book Storm Child by Ele Fountain ahead of publication and as I so loved the book, I’m delighted that Ele has agreed to ‘stay in’ with me to chat all about it.

Lets find out more:

Staying in with Ele Fountain

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Ele and thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.

I’m delighted to be joining you.

Tell me (as if I didn’t know!), which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

I’ve brought Storm Child, my sixth novel. I wrote this story while my favourite thalassophile was weathering a huge storm of their own, and so it’s particularly special to me.

Interesting. What can we expect from an evening in with Storm Child?

Some of my earliest memories are of being by the sea. In these memories I am always happy (and it’s always windy!). The ocean can be a source of joy, fear, adventure and longing. In Storm Child, I wanted to tether this power to the upheaval faced by Maya, the main character.

And you do it brilliantly! Tell us more about Maya.

She is fourteen and grew up by the sea. Her Dad is a fisherman and her family home is perched on top of windswept cliffs, above one of the finest surfing coves for miles around. Maya, a talented surfer, spends most of her spare time at the beach with her friends. She can spot the perfect wave and knows how to make the best beach bonfires. But when her father loses his fishing boat in a terrible storm, Maya’s life capsizes too. With no money and no fishing boat, her parents decide to make a new life – in paradise. They choose a tropical island that looks just like ones Maya has seen in films. But when she arrives, the beaches aren’t what she imagined. Nor is her new friend. Maya doesn’t realise it, but she’s drifting into the heart of a storm that threatens to tear her family apart.

I loved the way the physical and metaphorical storms are interwoven in the story.

Storm Child is an adventure story with themes of family, friendship, resilience and globalisation – and plenty of toasted marshmallows and gale-force winds too!

Brilliant summing up of Storm Child Ele! What else have you brought along and why have you brought it?

I’ve brought some of my favourite beach finds from the Devon and Cornish coast, items that reflect the oceans permanence, rhythms and abundance.

Firstly, a selection of sea glass. My favourites pieces are always turquoise or dark blue – which seem to be rarest.

Oh they do. It took me over 60 years to find my first piece – though I do live about as far from the sea as it is possible to be.

Next, is an ammonite. To me, fossils seem like an almost magical link to the past. I was so excited when I discovered this one. It sits on my windowsill so that I can look at it while I’m typing.

Again, I couldn’t agree more. We went fossil hunting last summer and my husband once bought me a fossilised trilobite for Christmas. 

Lastly, an old milk bottle covered in barnacles. I love that the ocean turned it into a home for sea creatures, then in time would have transformed it to sea glass, then sand. The transformative power of nature in three simple steps!

I am so jealous of that bottle Ele. What a find!

Thank you so much for chatting about Storm Child. I just loved the book and readers will find my review here. 

Storm Child

Maya’s life is about to be upended. After her dad’s fishing boat is ravaged by a relentless storm, Maya’s parents make the decision to start over-by moving to a tropical island. But making a change doesn’t always make a difference. Far from her friends and her quiet seaside home where she spent all her time surfing, Maya is swept away by a storm much larger than herself. As Maya begins to realise that paradise is not always what it seems, can she bring her family back home again?

Storm Child was published by Pushkin Press on 4th July 2024 and is available for purchase through the links here.

About Ele Fountain

Ele Fountain worked as an editor in children’s publishing where she helped launch and nurture the careers of many prize-winning and bestselling authors. Ele’s debut novel, Boy 87, won four awards and was nominated for nine more, including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. She lives in Hampshire with her husband and two daughters.

For further information, visit Ele’s website, or follow her on Twitter/X @EleFountain.

My enormous thanks to Karen Sullivan for sending me a surprise copy of One Grand Summer by Ewald Arenz, translated by Rachel Ward. Knowing how brilliant Orenda books are I was delighted to receive it and loved it so much I chose it as one of my July paperback column in The People’s Friend magazine. As a blog tour has subsequently been arranged, it’s my very great pleasure to share my full review as part of the blog tour today and I would like to thank Anne Cater for inviting me to participate. 

Previously I have featured Ewald’s Tasting Sunlight here too.

One Grand Summer is published by Orenda today, 18th July 2024 and is available for purchase here.

One Grand Summer

Sixteen-year-old Frieder’s plans for the summer are shattered when he fails two subjects. In order to move up to the next school year in the Autumn, he must resit his exams. So, instead of going on holiday with his family, he now faces the daunting and boring prospect of staying at his grandparents’ house, studying with his strict and formal step-grandfather.

On the bright side, he’ll spend time with his grandmother Nana, his sister Alma and his best friend Johann. And he meets Beate, the girl in the beautiful green swimsuit…

The next few weeks will bring friendship, fear and first love – one grand summer that will change and shape his entire life.

Heartbreaking, poignant and warmly funny, One Grand Summer is an unforgettable, tender novel that captures those exquisite and painful moments that make us who we are.

My Review of One Grand Summer

Frieder has to resit two exams.

Goodness me. One Grand Summer is glorious. Intense and achingly beautifully written and translated, this is a story of the fragility and resilience of youth, of first love and longing, and of hope and despair in a heady cocktail of exquisite storytelling and I absolutely adored it.

Whilst this is a book in translation, there isn’t a discordant note in it. In the same way Frieder’s grandmother creates images with just a few brush strokes, so Ewald Arenz creates setting character and theme with perfection. 

The attention to detail, the scent of the summer for example, is just wonderful. The reader can envisage the scene effortlessly and yet is completely affected by each word. I found One Grand Summer the kind of book that seeps into the soul. 

The unity of one summer, of the four friends Frider, Johann, Alma and Beate, and of Frieder’s grandparents’s home lends an intensity to the story that feels somehow densely solid and yet has an almost dreamlike ephemeral quality. The novel is so well constructed. The plot is prosaic at times – a group of teenagers misbehave on occasion – and at other times it it startlingly shocking so that rather like Frieder’s journey of self awareness, the reader never quite knows what might happen. 

Events aside, it is character that makes One Grand Summer so captivating. The swirling family relationships, Frieder’s coup de foudre falling in love with Beate, Johann’s mental health and the brilliantly contrasting touchstone of Frieder’s grandfather all combine into a rich and varied exploration of identity and growth. I found every single person in One Grand Summer completely fascinating, intriguing and interesting.  

The nuances of theme are gorgeously wrought too. Ewald Arenz explores growing up, burgeoning sexuality and friendship through Frieder, but he also considers, marriage, love, mental health and family, looking at reputation, responsibility and honour too so that there is a maturity and depth to even the most casual seeming aspects. I found myself deeply, emotionally affected by reading this book. 

One Grand Summer is coming of age writing of the most profound, most illuminating kind, written with a breath-taking luminosity and humanity. I couldn’t have loved it more.

About Ewald Arenz

Ewald Arenz was born in Nuremberg in 1965, studied English, American literature and history, and now works as a teacher at a grammar school. His novels and plays have received numerous awards. Tasting Sunlight was longlisted for the Waterstones Debut
Fiction Prize, shortlisted for the German Booksellers Best Novel Award, and featured on the Spiegel bestseller lists in both hardback and paperback for months. One Grand Summer won the German Booksellers Prize in 2021, and was a number-one bestseller in
Germany. Ewald lives with his family near Fürth.

For further information, follow Ewald on Twitter/X @EwaldArenz or visit his website. You’ll also find him on Instagram and there’s more with these other bloggers too:

Regular readers of Linda’s Book Bag will know how privileged I feel to be able to review online for My Weekly magazine and when the book is the first of a new series, D is for Death, from a much loved author Harriet Evans under a new penname, Harriet F. Townson, then it’s all the more exciting.

You’ll find my posts relating to Harriet Evans here.

D is for Death was published by Hodder and Stoughton on 6th June 2024 and is available for purchase through the links here.

D is for Death

Meet Dora Wildwood: runaway bride, book lover, and aspiring detective.
Likes: solving crimes, peppermint creams, trousers and her own independence.
Dislikes: cracked book spines, tyrannical behaviour, beetroot.

1935. Dora’s on the first train to London, having smuggled herself out of the house in the middle of the night to escape her impending marriage. But unluckily for her, Dora’s fiancé is more persistent than most and follows.

As Dora alights at Paddington station, she is immediately forced to run from the loathsome Charles Silk-Butters. She ducks into the London Library to hide and it is there, surrounded by books, where she should feel most safe, that Dora Wildwood stumbles across her first dead body.

Having been thrown into the middle of a murder scene, it’s now impossible to walk away. Indeed, Dora’s certain she will prove an invaluable help to the gruff Detective Inspector Fox who swiftly arrives on the scene. For as everyone knows, it’s the woman in the room who always sees more than anyone else: and no one more so than Dora herself…

D is for Death heralds the launch of a brilliant historical crime series that marries the quality of Dorothy L. Sayers with the ingenuity of Janice Hallett – and in Dora Wildwood introduces a character with the spark and gusto of Enola Holmes and the detective skill of Miss Marple. It is the debut crime novel from bestselling author Harriet Evans, writing as Harriet F. Townson.

My Review of D is for Death

My full review of D is for Death can be found on the My Weekly website here.

However, here I can say that D is for Death is a real triumph, being witty, pacy, totally absorbing and a brilliantly constructed whodunnit and well as an intelligent whydunnit. I thought it was excellent.

Do visit My Weekly to read my full review here.

About Harriet F. Townson

Harriet F. Townson is the pen name of Harriet Evans who has sold over a million copies of her books. She is the author of thirteen bestselling novels, including the Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller The Garden of Lost and Found, which won Good Housekeeping’s Book of the Year, and The Wildflowers, which was a Richard & Judy Book Club selection. She used to work in publishing and now writes full time, when she is not being distracted by her children, other books, crafting projects, puzzles, gardening, and her much-loved collection of jumpsuits. She lives in Bath, Somerset.

For further information, visit Harriet’s website, follow Harriet on Twitter/X @HarrietEvans, or find her on Facebook and Instagram.

Now here’s the thing. I very, very, rarely reblog a book review, but with Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life by Helen Fisher one of my books of the year, I simply had to participate in the paperback blog tour to celebrate this wonderful story. My huge thanks to Sara-Jade Virtue of Simon and Schuster’s Books and the City for inviting me to take part.

Published in paperback by Simon and Schuster on 18th July 2024, Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life is available for purchase through the links here.

Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life

Joe loves predictability. But his life is about to become a surprising adventure.

Joe-Nathan likes the two parts of his name separate, just like his dinner and dessert. Mean Charlie at work sometimes calls him Joe-Nuthin. But Joe is far from nothing. Joe is a good friend, he’s good at his job, good at making things and good at following the rules, and he’s learning how to do lots of things by himself.

Joe’s mother knows there are a million things in life he isn’t prepared for. While she helps guide him every day, she’s also writing notebooks full of advice about the things she hasn’t told Joe yet, things he might forget and answers to questions he hasn’t yet asked.

Following her wisdom – applying it in his own unique way – this next part of Joe’s life is more of a surprise than he expects. Because he’s about to learn that remarkable things can happen when you leave your comfort zone, and that you can do even the hardest things with a little help from your friends.

My Review of Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life

Joe likes his routines.

Oh my word. Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life is utterly beautiful. I absolutely adored it. I’d heard nothing but positive things about Helen Fisher’s latest book, but that didn’t prepare me for the total joy in reading Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life. It completely filled my heart with happiness.

The plot is relatively gentle as Joe learns that change can be good, but it also embodies powerful and dramatic themes that illustrate to perfection how judging others and making assumptions can make us blind to the truth of their lives – and of our own. It’s no exaggeration to say that I wish every world leader, every person in a position of power and influence, could read Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life so that they come a little bit closer to the human compassion and understanding displayed by Joe and Janet.

Joe is a wonderful creation. He is quirky, funny, and absolutely the most engaging character in fiction a reader might wish to meet. I loved all the characters – even the noxious Owen who adds balance to the kindness of others. The fact that there’s a limited number of characters, most of whom work at The Compass Store, gives an intimacy that enables the reader to know them thoroughly. Chloe is a complete triumph. Her sweary and abrasive nature ensures there’s no cloying sentimentality in Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life, but rather a finely tuned balance of imperfection that makes the book so affecting, so beautiful and so unforgettable.

With themes of friendship and love, bullying of various kinds and loyalty and compassion, Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life can be read on many levels. At its simplest it’s an entirely entertaining story about a person slightly different to other people. However, that is to do a disservice to this gorgeous story. Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life is a story about humanity. As Helen Fisher peels back the layers of Joe’s personality, so she illustrates profound kindness and understanding, making the reader laugh aloud and shed a tear on the way so that this is a book not to be forgotten. It’s a stunner.

I could not have loved this book more. I finished it with a smile on my face, an almost physical ache in my heart and a moistness in my eye. Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life is just fabulous. Read it.

About Helen Fisher

Helen Fisher spent her early life in America, but grew up mainly in Suffolk where she now lives with her two children. She studied Psychology at Westminster University and Ergonomics at UCL and worked as a senior evaluator in research at the RNIB. She is now a full-time author. Space Hopper was her first novel.

You can follow Helen on Twitter/X @HFisherAuthor and find her on Instagram.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

Had it not been for the brilliant My Weekly, I wouldn’t have discovered Jane Corry’s fabulous books. I reviewed Jane’s Coming to Find You for My Weekly here, and We All Have Our Secrets here. Now, My Weekly have given me the opportunity to review Jane’s latest book I Died on a Tuesday and I couldn’t be happier!

Published by Penguin on 20th June 2024, I Died on a Tuesday is available for purchase through the links here.

I Died on a Tuesday

THERE’S THE STORY EVERYONE BELIEVES . . .

The victim: Eighteen-year-old Janie leaving home for a new life.
The criminal: World-famous rockstar, Robbie, who harbours a shocking secret.
The protector: Witness support officer, Vanessa, desperate to right the wrongs of her past.

They tried to bury that fateful day. Now it’s back to haunt them.

. . . AND THEN THERE’S THE TRUTH.

My Review of I Died on a Tuesday

My full review of I Died on a Tuesday can be found on the My Weekly website here.

However, here I can say that I Died on a Tuesday is an absolutely cracking read with something for everyone in an enthralling and twisty plot that feels mature, engaging and thoroughly entertaining.

Do visit My Weekly to read my full review here.

About Jane Corry

Jane Corry is a former magazine journalist who spent three years working as the writer-in-residence at a high security men’s prison. This often hair-raising experience helped inspire her Sunday Times-bestselling psychological dramas, of which she has now sold over a million copies worldwide. Jane is a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and My Weekly magazine.

For further information, follow Jane on Twitter/X @JaneCorryAuthor or visit her website. You’ll also find Jane on Facebook and Instagram.

My very great thanks to Drew Jerrison at Viper books for sending me a copy of The Dead Friend Project by Joanna Wallace. I’m delighted that The Dead Friend Project is my latest My Weekly magazine online review.

Published by Serpent’s Tail imprint Viper on 11th July 2024, The Dead Friend Project is available for purchase through the links here.

The Dead Friend Project

Everyone needs a hobby…

Things haven’t been going well for Beth. Her husband has left her for one of her friends. Her fellow school mums judge her for swearing too much and not shifting the baby weight. And now she’s stuck in A&E after her son fell off the climbing wall on the first day of school.

In fact, things haven’t been going well for Beth since Charlotte died – her best friend, a favourite at the school pick-ups and the only person to ever run an interesting PTA meeting. But after being hit by a car while on an ill-timed evening jog, Charlotte is no longer there to help Beth pick up the pieces of her increasingly difficult life.

That is, until Beth discovers that Charlotte left her toddler alone in the house during that fatal run. The Charlotte she knew would never do something so irresponsible, and suddenly Beth is questioning whether Charlotte’s death was really an accident. With a newfound purpose and a glass of wine in hand, it’s time for Beth to uncover what really happened to her best friend. And what better place to start than the circle of chatty school mums, who can’t be as perfect as they pretend. But which of them is hiding something? Beth’s determined to find out. Once she’s put the kids to bed, of course…

My Review of The Dead Friend Project

My full review of The Dead Friend Project can be found on the My Weekly website here.

However, here I can say that The Dead Friend Project is brilliant. It’s packed with mystery, humour and toxic relationships in a hugely entertaining blend that keeps the reader gripped. Not to be missed!

Do visit My Weekly to read my full review here.

About Joanna Wallace

Joanna Wallace studied Law at Birmingham University before working as a commercial litigation solicitor in London. She now runs a family business and lives in Buckinghamshire with her husband, four children and dog. She was partly inspired to write You’d Look Better as a Ghost, her debut, following her father’s diagnosis of early onset dementia. Joanna’s second novel, The Dead Friend Project, is published in July 2024.

For further information about Joanna, follow here on Twitter/X @JoWallaceAuthor, or find her on Instagram.