Review: The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal

March 18, 2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

Opening sentence: “When the streets are at their darkest and quietest, a girl settles at a small desk in the cellar of a dollmaker’s shop.” First, let’s talk about the exquisite cover. I saw on Twitter that to create this the publishers actually got a real bell jar, had the book title painted onto it […]

Review: The Mystery of Three-Quarters by Sophie Hannah

August 12, 2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

Published 23rd August 2018 by HarperCollins / 400 pages Opening sentence: “Hercule Poirot smiled to himself as his driver brought the motorcar to a stop with satisfying symmetry.” Sophie Hannah is a successful crime writer who, since 2014 (with permission from the Christie estate), has been writing new Hercule Poirot stories in the voice of […]

Review: Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout

March 4, 2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout Opening sentence: ‘Tommy Guptill had once owned a dairy farm, which he’d inherited from his father, and which was about two miles from the town of Amgash, Illinois.’ I only discovered author Elizabeth Strout last summer, but this is my third book of hers (of a possible six she’s […]

Review: Trying by Emily Phillips

February 5, 2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

Trying by Emily Phillips Opening sentence: “‘Maybe we should try some porn?’ I say lightly into my husband’s exasperated face.” This is the debut novel by Grazia magazine’s Features Director, Emily Phillips. She has been open about her struggle to conceive a baby and, as she put it: “to channel my emotions, I wrote a book, […]

Review: The Black Painting by Neil Olsen

January 6, 2018.Reading time 5 minutes.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. Published 11th January 2018. The Black Painting by Neil Olsen Opening sentence: “Last night she dreamed of the house on Owl’s Point.” Alfred Arthur Morse is an art dealer and was the owner of a mysterious and frightening Francisco Goya self-portrait, so frightening that many people believed the […]

Review: The Flats by Kate Birdsall

November 28, 2017.Reading time 5 minutes.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. The Flats (A Liz Boyle Mystery) by Kate Birdsall Opening sentence: “‘Are you ready to talk about the shooting?’ Dr. Shue gazes at me from behind her chic rimless glasses and rebalances her notepad on her lap.” Detective Liz Boyle and her (professional) partner Tom Goran are investigating […]

Review: The Betrayals by Fiona Neill

November 17, 2017.Reading time 3 minutes.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. The Betrayals by Fiona Neill Opening sentence: “Three is a good and safe number.” Narrated by Daisy Rankin, her brother Max, father Nick and mother Rosie, this book is about the consequences of Nick’s affair with Rosie’s best friend, Lisa and how it affects each member of both […]