Book After Book

Publication – 26th March 2024 – Quercus Books

Frances always said she’d be murdered.
She was right.

In 1965, seventeen-year-old Frances Adams was told by a fortune teller that one day she’d be murdered. Frances spent the next sixty years trying to prevent the crime that would be her eventual demise. Of course, no one took her seriously – until she was dead.

For Frances, being the village busybody was a form of insurance. She’d spent a lifetime compiling dirt on every person she met, just in case they might turn out to be her killer. In the heart of her sprawling country estate lies an eccentric library of detective work, where the right person could step in and use her findings to solve her murder.

When her great-niece Annie arrives from London and discovers that Frances’ worst fear has come true, Annie is thrust into her great-aunt’s last act of revenge against her sceptical friends and family. Frances’ will stipulates that the person who solves her murder will inherit her millions.

Can Annie unravel the mystery and find justice for Frances, or will digging up the past lead her into the path of the killer?

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I can’t express how much I loved and enjoyed this novel. It’s a gripping and smart debut that kept me completely captivated and that deserves five stars and more.

The protagonist is Annie Adams. Recently made redundant, she’s dedicating her time writing her first novel while living with her mother in her great-aunt’s house in Chelsea. Annie has never met her great-aunt Frances, but she’s heard all about her and the fortune she was told when she was 17 years old predicting her own murder. Frances then spent the next sixty years trying to figure out who her murderer could be, living in a constant state of fear and paranoia. 

Annie is taken by surprise when she is summoned to Castle Knoll, Frances’ estate, to discuss a change in her will. And things become more intriguing after Frances is found murdered in her own home and her will states that the entire estate will be left to the person who will solve her murder within a week. Her competition is Saxon, Frances’ nephew on her husband’s side, who believes that the estate should be rightfully his, and detective Crane, who partners with her to share information about the case.

Annie is convinced that Frances’ murder could be linked to the disappearance of her friend Emily sixty years earlier and never solved. As Annie reads Frances’ diary, she gets to know her great-aunt and she is determined to seek justice for her. A big estate, a long list of suspects, a toxic friendship, and a village full of secrets keep Annie busy as she receives death threats and the clock is ticking to solve the murder.

How to Solve Your Own Murder is a fast-paced and unputdownable debut and I can’t wait for its sequel and more adventures and murder-solving for Annie!!!

A huge thank you to Quercus Books and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of this fantastic novel.

Kristen Perrin is originally from Seattle, Washington, where she spent several years working as a bookseller before immigrating to the UK to do a Masters and PhD. She’s passionate about books and loves working on projects that have a mystery at their heart. Her debut murder mystery for adults, HOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER, is released in March 2024 and will be translated into over 18 languages. Her middle grade series, ATTIE AND THE WORLDBREAKERS is available in German, Polish, and Dutch. She lives with her family in Surrey, where she can be found poking around vintage bookstores, stomping in the mud with her two kids, and collecting too many plants.

Publication: 28th March 2024 – HQ

It’s Chinese New Year, a time to celebrate…

Fresh from their honeymoon, Meddy and Nathan meet the Aunties in Jakarta for a family celebration. Amid the festivities, an old flame of Second Aunt’s arrives with extravagant gifts. Unfortunately, not all the presents were meant for them.

NOT the time to start an all-out war.

The most important gift goes missing, putting Meddy and the Aunties in the middle of a feud between Jakarta’s most powerful business moguls – and in great danger. To save her loved ones, Meddy must organise a search party, a break-in and a kidnapping. It might sound like an impossible mission– but with the Aunties by her side, nothing is impossible… just complicated.

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Meddy and her loud and feisty mother and aunties are back for a new adventure full of trouble, misunderstandings, and lots of fun that never fails to keep me engrossed in the story. 

The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties picks up a month after Nathan and Meddy’s chaotic wedding. At the end of their month-long honeymoon, Meddy and Nathan arrive in Jakarta to celebrate the Chinese New Year with her very large family. Nathan fits right in with all her aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, and nieces and celebrations are in full swing when Second Aunt’s childhood boyfriend, Abraham Lincoln (yes, that’s his name!), turns up full of gifts and determined to win Second Aunt over. However, one of the gifts given away was actually for a business partner, Julia Child (the craziness of those names had me chuckling every time I read them) and he needs it back right away. Except, it’s not easy to get the packet back and Meddy and her family get involved in a years-long war between business rivals with ridiculous names who insist they are no gangsters, but law-abiding citizens (even though they go around with fully-armed guards).

I love this series. It makes me laugh, it keeps on edge with all its twists and turns, and it makes me wish for more adventures for Meddy and her family. Meddy thought that after all the trouble at her wedding she could finally enjoy time with her family and she would have loved to avoid getting involved in yet another complicated and dangerous situation, that now involves gangsters, kidnapping, and disguises. The ending was adorable and perfect and, hopefully, not the end of this highly entertaining series. I can’t wait for more adventures and laughs!

A huge thank you to HQ and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of this fantastic novel.

Jesse Q. Sutanto is the author of adult, YA, and children’s middle grade books. She has an MSt in Creative Writing from Oxford University and a BA in English Lit from Berkeley, though she hasn’t found a way of saying that without sounding obnoxious. The film rights to her women’s fiction, Dial A for Aunties, was bought by Netflix in a competitive bidding war. Her adult books include Dial A for Aunties, its sequel, Four Aunties and a Wedding, and Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. Her YA books include The Obsession, The New Girl, and Well, That Was Unexpected. Her MG books include Theo Tan and the Fox Spirit and its sequel, Theo Tan and the Iron Fan. Find her on Twitter @thewritinghippo and on Instagram @jesseqsutanto.

Publication: 10th November 2011 – Vintage

Heavy rain falls on Lafferton. As the rain water slowly drains away, a shallow grave – and a skeleton – are revealed.

It doesn’t take long to identify the remains as those of missing teenager, Harriet Lowther, who was last seen sixteen years ago.

But a cold case isn’t a priority: if Detective Inspector Simon Serrailler is to solve the case, he will have to do it alone.

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I am thrilled today to take part in the blog tour to celebrate 20 years of Susan Hill’s Simon Serrailler detective series and share my review of The Betrayal of Trust.

The Betrayal of Trust is the sixth book in the Simon Serrailler series and, since this is my debut reading this series, I can confirm that it can easily read as a stand-alone. Sixteen years ago, the town of Lafferton was shocked by the sudden disappearance of fifteen-years-old Harriet Lowther, the daughter of a prominent local businessman. After spending the day playing tennis with a friend, Harriet had gone to the bus stop, where she was seen by various witnesses, but no one saw her get on the bus and she was never seen again. Now, the town is flooded with heavy rain that reveals a shallow grave where the remains of Harriet are found. The body of another young woman is also found and Chief Superintendent Simon Serrailler is determined to find out what happened to the two girls and if their murders are connected.

As my first Susan Hill’s novel, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The investigation was intense and full of surprises. It is not easy to conduct an investigation when some of the witnesses are either away or dead. Also, it is not easy to find a motive as Harriet Lowther is described as a happy and likable teenager: who would have wanted to harm her? More complicated is the other victim, as she needs to be identified first: who was she and why no one reported her missing? And, as much as the investigation kept me engrossed, I was easily distracted by Serrailler’s personal life, which becomes much more intriguing after meeting a woman during a gala.

Another interesting plotline is the one about a retired woman who, after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease, decides on assisted suicide, against her daughter’s wishes. This created some emotional and thought-provoking moments as the author presents both the perspective of the mother who doesn’t want to suffer and the heartbreak of the daughter (a lawyer who is also conscious that what her mother is doing is illegal) who doesn’t want to lose her mother.

The theme of degenerative diseases is central to the story: one of the characters is married to an older man with Parkinson’s, another has motor neurone disease, and another one takes care of a woman with dementia. Also, Simon’s sister, Dr. Cat Deerbon, is specialized in palliative care and she is head-hunted as the full-time director of a hospice.

I am delighted that I was invited to take part in this blog tour as it allowed me to be introduced to this thrilling police procedural series and I am already planning to read all the other books!

A huge thank you to Carmella and Vintage for inviting me to take part in the blog tour and providing me with a proof of the novel. 

Susan Hill has been a professional writer for over fifty years. Her books have won awards and prizes including the Whitbread, the John Llewellyn Rhys and a Somerset Maugham, and have been shortlisted for the Booker. Her novels include Strange Meeting, I’m the King of the Castle, In the Springtime of the Year and The Mist in the Mirror. She has also published autobiographical works and collections of short stories as well as the Simon Serrailler series of crime novels. The play of her ghost story The Woman in Black is one of the longest running in the history of London’s West End. In 2020 she was awarded a damehood (DBE) for services to literature. She has two adult daughters and lives in North Norfolk.

Publication: 5th March 2024 – Headline

Finlay and Vero need a girls’ weekend away…

Some peace and quiet to negotiate with a dangerous loan shark, save Vero’s childhood crush Javi, and find a stolen car. But Finlay’s mother and ex-husband Steven are dead set on catching a ride to Atlantic City.

At their casino hotel, the trip takes a nosedive. Javi’s kidnapper, Marco, won’t negotiate, demanding to know the whereabouts of his missing nephew, Ike. Then Marco turns up dead – leaving Finlay and Vero as main suspects in his murder.

To get out of Atlantic City in one piece, they’ll need to stay on top of one jealous ex-husband, one hot cop, two precocious kids, and yet another decomposing body.

All bets are off.
This time, Finlay can’t leave anything to chance.

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Another incredible, entertaining (for me), and challenging (for them) adventure for suspense author Finlay Donovan and her accountant-nanny-housemate-friend Vero as they travel to Atlantic City to save Vero’s childhood crush Javi from a loan shark to whom Vero owes lots of money. Once again, Finn and Vero find themselves hiding bodies, while also escaping a corrupt former detective and the Russian mob, protecting a teenager wanted by the police, and tracking down a stolen sports car, while also hiding the truth from Finn’s new adorable detective boyfriend, her ex-husband, her two young children, her mother, her cop sister and her girlfriend (also a detective), and an FBI agent.

I am always looking forward to a new Finlay Donovan novel and they never disappoint. They are the right dose of fun and suspense, twisty and entertaining, with a cast of irresistible characters. Finlay Donovan is brilliant. Resourceful, determined and smart, she has kept me glued to the pages since the first novel, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, when she was mistaken for a killer for hire and she got mixed up in all kinds of misunderstandings and illegal activities. Now, three books later, she has to juggle not only the mafia, but also a corrupted detective who won’t leave her alone, a loan shark who will release Vero’s friend in exchange for money they don’t have, a techie teenager in hiding, and a dog named Kevin Bacon.

Hilarious and fast-paced, Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice is romance and suspense perfectly blended together with an ending that promises much more fun and suspense that I can’t wait for!

A huge thank you to Headline and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of this irresistable novel!

Elle Cosimano is an award-winning author. Her YA debut, Nearly Gone, was an Edgar Award finalist and winner of the International Thriller Award. Her novel Holding Smoke was a finalist for the International Thriller Award and the Bram Stoker Award. Her essays have appeared in The Huffington Post and Time. Elle lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia with her husband, two sons, and her dog. 

Publication: 15th February 2024 – Penguin Books

In a last ditch attempt to rescue her brand from the brink of irrelevance, fashion influencer Melanie Karlsen finds herself in a rural fishing village on the east coast of Canada. The only thing scarier than nature itself? Burly fisherman Evan Whaler – who single-handedly disproves the theory that canadians are ‘nice’.

After a boating incident lands Evan in the hospital, Mel is mistaken for his fiancee by his welcoming yet quirky family. And, in exchange for Evan’s help with her social media content, Mel agrees to fake their engagement for just. one. week.

But reeling in their budding feelings for each other proves more difficult than expected.

Is Mel willing to sacrifice her picture-perfect life in the city for a chance at true love in the wild?

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The Catch is definitely my favourite of novels by Amy Lea. Her previous novels, Set On You and Exes and O’s are fantastic and I truly enjoyed them, but The Catch, with its wonderful characters, the beautiful small town setting, and the fake engagement kept me completely engrossed and I couldn’t put it down.

If you’ve read the author’s previous novels, you have already met Melanie. Fashion influencer in need to boost her brand and increase her followers, she accepts a partnership with a spa resort in Nova Scotia. However, things start going wrong from the beginning. First there is a mix-up with reservations at the spa, then she arrives in a dilapidated inn in a small fishing town where she clashes with the grumpy and handsome owner, Evan Whaler, and then she finds spiders in her bathroom and she is not a nature-loving person. But, following a boat accident and a small lie told in a moment of desperation, Melanie becomes Evan’s fake fiancée, accepting to keep up the farce to help his family solve a years-long feud and save the inn. Melanie is happy to help, after all they must pretend just for one week, right? What Melanie didn’t expect is to be welcomed into the Whaler family like one of their own. Her only family is her younger brother Julian, who she’s been taking care of all her life, and she is not used to having close relationships and unconditional love, especially when her feelings for Evan start to become more real than she would like to.

The Catch has everything I love in romance novels: fake engagement, enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, and grumpy vs sunshine. Also, it reminds me of one of my favourite movies, The Proposal, so I kept picturing Evan as Ryan Reynolds (with a beard). Witty, steamy, and heart-warming, this is a story I didn’t want to end. Highly recommended!

A huge thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of the novel.

Amy Lea is a Canadian bureaucrat by day and romance and YA author by night (and weekends). She writes laugh out loud romantic comedies featuring strong heroines, witty banter, mid-2000s pop culture references, and happily ever afters. When Amy is not writing, she can be found fan-girling over other romance books on Instagram (@amyleabooks), eating potato chips with reckless abandon, and snuggling with her husband and goldendoodle. 

Publication: 22nd February 2024 – Storm Publishing

A series of threatening letters, a forgotten figure from the past, and a killer out to settle scores…

England 1928. Mystery writer Marius Quin receives alarming news from his sleuthing partner Lady Bella Montague that their childhood friends are in danger. Back in their charming village of Hurtwood, the three Heaton cousins have all been sent identical death threats. When the local constable refuses to help, it’s up to Marius and Bella to stop the would-be killer. But they arrive too late, and Marius finds his former best friend dead in his kitchen with a knife through the heart…

Who in this tightly knit community wants to eliminate the Heaton family? Between shady business practices, fierce competition over the village’s best garden award, and the tragic tale of a soldier who never returned from the war, it’s more a case of who doesn’t? With the clock ticking, can Bella and Marius figure out the mystery before the two remaining cousins meet their fate?

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Everyone in the village of Hurtwood loves Lucinda Heaton, despite her family’s reprehensible past, so who is sending her poison-pen letters threatening her life? After their success in solving the murder of an actor on New Year’s Eve, that’s what crime author Marius Quin and his childhood sweetheart and now friend and partner-in-crime Lady Isabella “Bella” Montague intend to figure out. However, Marius hasn’t been back in Hurtwood in ten years, since he left to fight the war in Europe and his father’s disappearance. Most of his childhood friends welcome him back warmly, some less than others, including his former best friend, James Heaton, who, as his cousin Lucinda and his sister Tilly, has received the threatening letters and who is then found stabbed in his own kitchen. With Lucinda and Tilly’s lives in danger, Marius and Bella need to find the killer quickly. Is the killer someone in the village, someone who they’ve known their whole life, or is an outsider?

The Hurtwood Village Murders is the second book in the Marius Quin Mystery series and I had so much fun reading it that I am already looking forward to the next one. Bella and Marius are a brilliant duo of detectives. Coming from different backgrounds, she is the daughter of a duke, he is the son of the local lawyer, Marius and Bella were first childhood friends, then they fell in love, but they broke things off when he left for the war. Now they have found each other again, close friends and occasional detectives, solving crimes full of suspects and surprises.

Witty, engaging, immersive, and well-written and with a picturesque village as the setting of a murder, The Hurtwood Village Murders is the perfect cozy mystery to keep you quite entertained for a few hours. Highly recommended!

A huge thank you to Storm Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of the novel.

I’m a Welsh-Irish-Englishman originally from South London but now living in Burgos, a beautiful medieval city in the north of Spain, with my French-Spanish wife and two our ridiculously international children. Writing has always been my passion. It was my favourite half-an-hour a week at primary school, and I started on my first, truly abysmal book as a teenager. So it wasn’t a difficult decision to study literature at university which led to an MA in Creative Writing.I grew up in a crime-fiction-mad family and had made a few clumsy attempts at writing one over the years before coming up with the idea for my contemporary whodunits “The Izzy Palmer Mysteries”. My second series, the 1920s-set “Lord Edgington Investigates…”, has been a great success, with each of the books making a mark on the mystery charts, and I’m about to launch a second historical series.If you’d like to tell me what you think about my detectives, my writing or the world at large, feel free to get in touch at http://www.benedictbrown.net where you can also download my free mystery novellas.

Publication: 30th January 2024 – Quercus Books

A cosy, twisty standalone mystery from the bestselling author of the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries.

Natalka and Edwin are running a detective agency in Shoreham, Sussex. Despite a steady stream of minor cases, Natalka is frustrated, longing for a big juicy investigation to come the agency’s way.

Then a murder case turns up. Local writer, Melody Chambers, is found dead and her family are convinced it is murder. Edwin, a big fan of the obit pages, thinks there’s a link to the writer of Melody’s obituary who pre-deceased his subject.

The trail leads them to a slightly sinister writers’ retreat. When another writer is found dead, Edwin thinks that the clue lies in the words. Seeking professional help, the amateur investigators turn to their friend, detective Harbinder Kaur, to find that they have stumbled on a plot that is stranger than fiction.

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I am delighted for the return of the dynamic trio of amateur detectives, Benedict, Edwin, and Natalka. You may remember them from The Postscript Murders where Benedict, a monk-turned-coffee-shop-owner, Natalka, a carer with high math and economic skills, and Edwin, a retired TV and radio host, got together to help the police solve the murder of their friend Peggy. Now, a few years later, Edwin and Natalka have opened their own investigative company, mostly working on divorce cases, while Benedict helps them on the side, while still working at his coffee shop. Their new case, however, could be much more interesting as they are asked to investigate the death of a local writer. The police thinks she died of natural causes, but her daughter is convinced she was murdered. They discover that other writers have seemingly died of natural causes in the last few months and they all have in common having attended the same writing retreat. And when another writer turns up dead at that same writing retreat where Edwin and Benedict are undercover, they ask detective Harbinder, now working in London, for help.

I loved the characters of Edwin, Natalka, and Benedict in The Postscript Murders and I was excited to see them solving yet another murder, using their skills and their deep knowledge of crime novels. Edwin and Natalka own a successful investigative company, while Natalka still works as a carer, managing the business side of it. Benedict is still struggling with his life choices, but he and Natalka are living together, although their relationship is sometimes strained by the presence of her mother sleeping on their couch. Detective Harbinder Kaur takes a more secondary role in this book as she lives and works in London, but she is always there to help her friends.

The suspense, the twists, and the cast of incredible characters make The Last Word a superb and gripping read and I enjoyed every single page of it!

A huge thank you to Quercus Books and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of the novel.

Publication: 6th February 2024 – Headline Eternal

They have the best of intentions…and the worst luck in love.

West, the Marquess of Weston, and Sophie, Lady Fitzwilliam Bridewell, have lately been spending a considerable amount of time together. But West and Sophie are not new acquaintances.

In fact, years ago, they were almost engaged, until West’s almost fatal curricle accident and his meddling father threw them off course.

Now, having recently lost her husband, Sophie has put aside all thoughts of romance. But when her widowed sister, Alexandra, mentions a fondness for an earl, Sophie realises she may be holding her sister back. Alexandra won’t move forward until Sophie, too, settles down again, and so Sophie approaches West with a plan. They will announce their engagement and break things off once Alexandra is happily married.

It’ll be simple. After all, it’s not like she is going to fall for West a second time, not when Sophie has sworn not to risk her heart again.

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To Woo and to Wed is the fifth book in The Regency Vows series by Martha Waters. Even though each novel can easily be read as a stand alone, I highly recommend reading all of them because they are fun, entertaining, and full of romance.

The protagonists of To Woo and to Wed are West and Sophie and, having already got a few glimpses of their story in the previous books, I was really looking forward to it and I wasn’t disappointed.

Their story began seven years earlier when they first met, fell in love, and planned to marry. However, an interfering father and an awful accident left him with a limp and guilt over the death of his best friend and her married to someone else. Now, Sophie has been widowed for four years – and enjoying the freedom that comes with it – while he is under pressure from his father to marry and produce an heir. When Sophie needs to convince her sister that she is happy and ready for love again, she turns to West with a proposal for a fake engagement. As they spend more and more time together, old feelings resurface, risking turning their fake relationship very real.

I have been a huge fan of this series since the first book, To Have and to Hoax, came out and, up until now, To Marry and to Meddle, has been my favourite book and Emily and Julian my favourite couple, but, after reading To Woo and to Wed in a day, West and Sophie have become my new favourite couple. I was completely immersed in their story full of love, but also regrets and guilt. With a fake engagement that includes vegetable nicknames and a ridiculous double wedding, they have a second chance to love.

I am sorry to have reached the end of this series because I fell in love with all its protagonists and I enjoyed how each story developed, but I am really looking forward to reading whatever the author is writing next!

A huge thank you to Headline Eternal and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of this fantastic novel.

Martha Waters was born and raised in sunny South Florida, where she spent her childhood reading lots of British children’s books and scribbling away in notebooks. She studied history and international studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she also earned a master’s degree in library science.

She is the author of the Regency Vows series, which includes To Have and to Hoax, To Love and to Loathe, To Marry and to Meddle, To Swoon and to Spar, and To Woo and to Wed (coming in February 2024); her books have received multiple starred reviews, and have been featured in Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, Woman’s World, Buzzfeed, PopSugar, The TODAY Show, and more.

She recently moved from snowy Maine to rainy England, and loves sundresses, gin cocktails, and traveling.

Publication: 18th January 2024 – Orbit

An intrepid professor must uncover faerie secrets in the delightful and heart-warming second instalment of the Sunday Times bestselling Emily Wilde series.

Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore, and has catalogued many secrets of the Hidden Folk in her encyclopaedia with her infuriatingly charming fellow scholar, Wendell Bambleby, by her side.

But Bambleby is more than just a brilliant and unbearably handsome scholar. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother, in search of a door back to his realm.

By lucky happenstance, Emily’s new project, a map of the realms of faerie, will take them on an adventure to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambleby’s realm, and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans.

But with new friendships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors, and of her own heart.

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I am so excited to return to the world of Fairies and see in what troubles and adventures Professor Emily Wilde and the exiled faerie king Wendell Bambleby get into.

Since returning to Cambridge University, Emily and Wendell have been searching for the door that will take Wendell back to his kingdom to reclaim his throne, but his evil stepmother has sent assassins after him, turning a lecture into chaos. Expecting more assassinations attempts, Emily and Wendell travel to Austria to follow the steps of a famous scholar who disappeared many years before, in the hope to find the door to Wendell’s kingdom, and they are accompanied by Emily’s loyal dog Shadow, Ariadne, Emily’s nineteen-year-old niece and an enthusiastic student of Dryadology (the study of faeries and fae), and Dr. Farris Rose, the pompous Department Head at the university. As they embark on an intrepid journey full of adventure, magic, and danger, Emily and Wendell’s relationship deepens as she also learns to navigate new friendships. 

I enjoyed Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands as much as the first one, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Fairies. I adore the characters of Emily and Wendell and I loved how their romance developed. Slow-burn, but so cute and adorable: Emily is still her serious, awkward, and reserved self, while Wendell is still charming, witty, over-dramatic. I was also delighted for the return of Poe, the adorable Little Folk who is always happy to help Emily, and I enjoyed the addition of new characters for a more entertaining and intriguing narrative.

Enchanting and well-written and perfect for fans of fantasy and historical novels, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands left me eagerly waiting for book 3!

A huge thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of this fantastic novel.

Publication: 25th January 2024 – Hodderscape

Filled with magic, stardust, and a shockingly dark heart, this is a stunning standalone fantasy perfect for fans of The Ten Thousand Doors of January, The Starless Sea and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

For centuries, Everlys have seen their brightest and best disappear, taken as punishment for a crime no one remembers, for a purpose no one understands. Their tormentor is a woman named Penelope, who never ages, never grows sick – and never forgives a debt.

Ten years ago, Violet Everly’s mother left to break the curse, and never returned. Now Violet must find her mother, or she will be taken in her place.

Her hunt leads her into a seductive magical underworld of power-hungry scholars, fickle gods, and monsters bent on revenge. And into the path of Penelope’s quiet assistant, Aleksander, who she knows cannot be trusted – and yet to whom she finds herself undeniably drawn.

Tied to a very literal deadline, Violet will travel to the edges of the world to find her mother and the key to the city of stardust, where the Everly story began…

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City of Stardust is a beautifully-written spellbinding debut novel about a young woman’s search for the truth between magical worlds and curses.

Violet Everly’s mother has been missing for ten years and her uncles have kept her hidden from the world, keeping secrets to protect her. But Violet yearns for adventure and when she discovers the truth about the family curse that dooms one Everly of every generation to be taken into another world, she also discovers a world of scholars, magical keys, and astrals. As time is running out, Violet embarks on a search for her mother, hoping to break the curse once and for all, but who can she trust?

I really enjoyed this novel, completely immersed in the beautiful descriptions and the enthralling and dark plot full of curses, magic worlds, gods and immortal creatures, and stories of monsters and survival. The story is told in third person from different perspectives, Violet’s point of view prevailing over the others as she navigates a world unknown to her, often accompanied by a young man who’s spent all his life trying to prove his worth, but knowing only loss, loneliness, and no love. Violet can seem a bit naive at times, but I liked her determination and inquisitiveness.

City of Stardust is a compelling and fascinating debut and I am already looking forward to reading the author’s next work!

A huge thank you to Hodderscape and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of the novel.

Georgia Summers is a half-British, half-Trinidadian writer. She spent most of her life living across the world, including Russia, Colombia, the USA, Scotland, and briefly Switzerland. She is still bad at languages.

She has previously worked as an editor, a bookseller and rare books student librarian, so you could say she’s seen the entire lifecycle of a book.

When she’s not doing bookish things, she enjoys embroidery, playing piano, and painting, among various other crafts. She currently lives in London, but she dreams of one day living in a haunted château with cats and a ghost that cleans.

She can be found at georgiasummers.co.uk or on Twitter @ge_summers