Lovely Read

 

What is not to like with Kiley Dunbar - I loved her Borrow a Bookshop series and her Highland series is just as good. We meet again at book number 3 but as with all of her books this can be reads as a standalone. 

We meet Euan who has moved in with his grandfather and his wish is to have his own electrician business. Then there is Peaches a fashion student ready to present her project collections for her Masters. This appears to be quite an unlikely couple.

What I love of her stories is things neer go to plan there is a twist in the tale, with a community to die for, wonderful scenery and great characters 

Recommended and was published May 1st 2026. This will be a lovely summer read over the long holidays.

Modern

 

Loved this wow a really modern take on writing - well written book about love and the complexitity of realtionships. 

I really felt this was real and on a day to day basis getting all the info.

The author writes so well and her characters were real a really good story.

Due for publication in time for the long summer holidays on 16 July 2026.

Well Written

 

Having watched the dramatisation of the shocking Post Office one New Years Day during the long school Christmas break. and was so shocked by this.

When I had the oppertunity to read and review this story I was interested 

This is a beautifully written story of a Sikh gentleman who comes from India to the UK. Sadly he becomes involved in the shocking Post Office scandal. Like the dramatisation of this subject the author explores in detail the terrible problems and such injustices those sub post masters ultimatately suffered.

There is also the experience of imigrants who came to the UK, keeping their cultures but also the sadness of leaving loved ones back in the country they came from. What expectations first genreations and later would expect from living in the UK.

This is well written, well researched with extreme under standing of the plights sub post masters went through and sadly are still going through.

VIdidly set in Norway during the war

 

I was really pleased to be asked by NetGalley to review this book

What a beautifully written story, secrets, mystery and emotion. We are taken to Norway during war time. The author describes the landscapes evocatively and the reader is transported there. Great characters, with love and loss at this time. Emotional so have a box of tissues at hand there will be tears. 

Really recommended read which will be up there in the top ten this summer and due for publication June 18th 2026.

A different view on Miss Haversham

 

I love Great Expectations and work in a school so this is widely read. I was pleased when NetGalley asked me to review.

Miss Haversham is a character who I always thought it would be good to know this lady before the jiting at the alter, the bereavement of this by being surrounded by the decaying wedding breakfast in the wedding dress she was to be married in. 

Ellie Machray has interpreted this bitter and twisted lady as we know (and who could blame her at this time) into an ambious lady with desire but living in a mans world during the victorian era. The story highlights the deep betrayal of Compeyson. This is a woman who has to conform to society or she could end up on the streets. Yet she is jilted.

I was worried this story would seem false and out of kiter with Dickens classic but this is a trully atmospheric gothic story that could have been told by the man himself.

A really thought provoking story and on a different slant and good interpretation 

Really recommended and due for publication on May 7th 2026.

Emotional and well researched

 

I was asked by NetGalley to review this well researched and well written book. 

This is the story of two young girls growing up in rural Kenya living in a rural area their lives are perfect until the Mau Mau revolution .This is a remarkable friendship but this all changes and these two girls are forced apart.

The author writes about this time with honesty, brutality, emotion and above all friendship.

Beautifully written and recommended read 

Due for publication Jun 18th 2026 

A hard read

 

I was asked by NetGalley to review this book. This is not an easy read.

Controlling, father and subservient mother- ten years since the son has spoken to either of them. if you have ever been bullied this makes for a really uncomfrotable read, believe me. It shows the family dynamics of keeping a facade - do people belive others dont know?

The clever part of this writer writing this story they tell us the story of his parents and their behaviours in away that you would speak to a counsellor so may be we are the counsellors in this I am unsure.

A very controlling father where everyone complies, maybe this is cathartic and an autobigraphy I am unsure but it certainly makes the reader sit up and think.

A short read but powerful and I put myself in the author's shoes whilst I read this.

Readers have a bit of time to wait as publication date is July 2 2026.