Making dinner from scratch can feel like a chore – often half the battle is trying to find something that’s quick, nutritious and, most importantly, delicious. But delicious doesn’t have to mean demanding.

After their debut book, Sunday Times bestseller It’s All About Dinner, Kitchen Sanctuary is back – this time focusing on quick and easy meals, all made in 30 minutes or less!

With chapters such as Champion Chicken; Moreish Meat; Fantastic Fish; Vitally Veggie; Perfect Pasta; Rice, Noodles, Grains and Bread; Snack Suppers; Super Sauces – as well as a section dedicated to Smart Shortcuts containing Nicky’s top tips for speeding up dinner – you’ll be able to whip up a range of fabulous meals for the whole family, every day of the week, no matter how little time you have.

My Thoughts:

I could not wait to receive this book, this is my first Kitchen Sanctuary cookbook and I cannot wait to get stuck in. It is divided into sections including chicken dishes, meat and fish but there is also different sauces and snacky suppers. What I really liked too is how simple the dishes are and also Nicky’s tips to help you achieve great success. All the recipes look easy to make but also how quick they are too. I cannot wait to make a variety from this book and this will be my kitchen staple from now on.

I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

Get your copy here:

In The Wild Remedy, Emma Mitchell’s deeply personal account of her interactions with nature and its healing properties, she recorded, month by month, a year of her nature finds and wildlife discoveries and the science behind how nature affects our neurochemistry to provide relief from anxiety and depression. Now, in this stunning journal, she invites you to accompany her on that road, to experience nature for yourself, record your own interactions and find healing in the natural world.

Full of Emma’s exquisite artworks and photographs, this journal contains many of her own observations and reflections, along with prompts and ideas that will help to unlock your own experience of nature. It shows how reconnecting with the natural world around us can be a powerful tool – as medicinal as any talking therapy or pharmaceutical.

This unique nature journal includes activities, drawing prompts, contemplative quotes and lots of space for you to write about your inner thoughts, feelings and experiences.

My Thoughts:

I really found this book helpful with my moods in the different months of the year. It is a book designed to help people with how to cope each month and I have found it has improved my mood immensely. There is something so comforting about the front cover and all the pictures inside the book really do help to lift the mood. I love getting out in nature anyway and this book makes it even more possible with the activities that you can do through out this book and different tasks you can do each day. A truly wonderful book that I will cherish forever.

I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

Get your copy here:

Leeds, 1977. A chill lies over the city: sex workers are being murdered by a serial killer they are calling the ‘Ripper’, the streets creeping with fear.

Tough, sharp, but tender, Maureen runs Rio’s, a clean, discreet brothel in the city. She’s a good boss who takes great care of her workers – especially her best girls, Bev and Anette. The Ripper may be terrifying girls who work the street, but at Rio’s the girls seem safer.

But when Bev’s sweet-natured son is found beaten to death, a figure from Maureen’s past, DS Mick Hunniford, shows up at her door. Does his arrival herald danger or salvation? And who can Maureen really trust?

My Thoughts:

The story is set in 1977 when there was a serial killer on the loose murdering sex workers, no women was safe to go out on the streets especially at night. Maureen owns Rio’s which is a brothel in the heart of the city. She looks after her girls and would do anything for them but when one of them goes missing and someone from her past shows up is everything as plain sailing as it once was. It was a interesting story that is written by Katy who was inspired to write about her own experiences in this great crime story. I felt it was a great read and there are some interesting parts to this story. I had the chills reading parts of this book.

I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

Get your copy here:

Three months after Kyo Maclear’s father dies in December 2018, she gets the results of a DNA test showing that she and the father who raised her are not biologically related. Suddenly Maclear becomes a detective in her own life, unraveling a family mystery piece by piece, and assembling the story of her biological father. Along the way, larger questions arise: What exactly is kinship? What does it mean to be a family? And how do we belong to larger ecosystems?

My Thoughts:

This is Kyo Maclear’s story about her life and how it all changed when she had some results of a DNA test done. Kyo finds out something that she never would of expected. And this is the story about how she overcame these obstacles. It is a thought provoking read and I really felt for Kyo at times. It was a very moving and powerful read that I would recommend reading. It was great.

I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

Get your copy here:

Grief is universal, but it’s also as unique to each of us as the person we’ve lost. It can be overwhelming, exhausting, lonely, unreasonable, there when we least expect it and seemingly never-ending. Wherever you are with your grief and whoever you’re grieving for, I Promise It Won’t Always Hurt Like This is here to support you. To tell you, until you believe it, that things will get easier.

When bestselling writer Clare Mackintosh lost her five-week-old son, she searched for help in books. All of them wanted to tell her what she should be feeling and when she should be feeling it, but the truth – as she soon found out – is that there are no neat, labelled stages for grief, or crash grief-diets to relieve us of our pain. What we need when we’re grieving is time and understanding. With 18 short assurances that are full of compassion – drawn from Clare’s experiences of losing her son and her father – I Promise it Won’t Always Hurt Like This is the book she needed then.

My Thoughts:

This is different to Clare’s other books but I am so glad she has written it. Everyone deals with grief in different ways and I have seen it first hand. But when the author writing this book has been through grief then you know what you are reading is straight from the heart, Clare’s way of helping others with how to deal with grief. There are 18 different assurances in this book to console and help the reader, and even though I have never read anything like this before I am glad I have because I have lost people in the past and I feel as though I never had any help with the grieving process. I am so glad Clare has written this book, and I really hope it helps lots of people in the world. I am glad she has written it but I am very sorry for her loss, her words have really touched me.

I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

Get your copy here:

Born during the Second World War, Lesley’s innocence came to an abrupt end when a neighbour found her, aged 3, coatless in the snow. The mother she’d been unable to wake had been dead for days. Sent to an orphanage, Lesley soon learned adults couldn’t always be trusted.

As a teenager in the swinging sixties, she took herself to London. Here, the second great tragedy of her life occurred. Falling pregnant, she was sent to a mother and baby home, and watched helplessly as her newborn was taken from her.

But like so many of her generation, Lesley had to carry on. She was, after all, a true survivor. Marriage and children followed – and all the while she nurtured a dream: to be a writer. Yet it wasn’t until at the age of 48 that her stories – of women struggling in a difficult world – found a publisher, and the bestseller lists beckoned.

As heartbreaking as it is heartwarming, Lesley’s story really is A Long and Winding Road with surprises and uplifting hope around every corner . . 

My Thoughts:

I have read a few of Lesley’s books now and always enjoyed them so when I saw she had an memoir I knew I needed to read it. It is a wonderful insight into the life of Lesley Pearse, it explores all aspects of her life and I couldn’t believe some of the things she had to go through in her life. I went through many emotions reading this book and I really felt for Lesley at times but she does show that you can get through anything. What a wonderful memoir and I have great inspiration from reading this book. I loved reading this book.

I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

Get your copy here:

London, 1915: Tarot reader Katerina is trying to hold her life together amid the wartime chaos. When she opens a bakery that offers divination alongside sweet treats, she is hailed as a beacon of hope. But Katerina is hiding a dark truth that could cost her everything.

Germany, 1918: A mute British soldier is taken to a prisoner of war camp where he meets Miriam, a researcher. She is drawn to his gentle manner and secretly vows to help him. But soon she will have to make an impossible choice: will she save the one she loves, or herself?

Cornwall, Present Day: Recently widowed Edie is astonished to discover a mysterious box hidden in the wall of her newly renovated cottage. As Edie starts to investigate, she uncovers a secret that has lain hidden for over a century…

My Thoughts:

I loved the sound of this book, set in three different times and three different places. London in 1915 we see Katerina living through the War, she wants to help people so sets up a bakery but there is more to her than meets the eye. In Germany in 1918 we are sent to a prisoner of war camp and meet Miriam who is a researcher there, but when a soldier comes in with a request can she help him or will she be caught doing the wrong thing. In the present day we are in Cornwall where Edie finds a box hidden in the walls of her new home, but what secrets will she uncover. I loved how the stories intertwined and I felt hope for all of these women. Parts are sad but parts are also happy, I was willing for better lives for Katerina and Miriam. Iris the author has done some brilliant research into this book and I really enjoyed it. I would recommend.

I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

Get your copy here:

Donegal, Ireland, 1939

As the world teeters on the brink of WWII, Eliza Lavery is alone in the world after her fiancé, Davey, was lost following the Irish War of Independence. But a fateful meeting on the wild beauty of Ballymastocker Bay could change everything.

Hamilton, Bermuda, 2022

Eight decades later, troubled by her future, Saoirse O’Donnell walks on the pink sands of Bermuda’s Horseshoe Bay. When she uncovers a connection to Eliza, all those years before, she hears a story that promises to influence her own heart and her own choice – but that also reveals a long-buried secret.

My Thoughts:

The story alternates between 1939 and 2022, I loved reading about Eliza who lived in Ireland in 1939 just before WWII happened. I found her story incredibly interesting and heartfelt. A love story at it’s best. In 2022 Saoirse finds out she has a connection with Eliza and then we see the stories intertwine. There is a lot of historic detail through out this book which made it even more interesting to me to read, you can see Carmel has researched well into this novel. I loved it from the start to the very end. A must read.

I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

Get your copy here:

Twenty years.
One secret.
A promise never to tell…

Nikki finally owns the coastguard cottage of her dreams – and it’s just a few steps away from the hidden beach that means so much to her . . .

But when a handwritten note lands on her doorstep, she realises it’s only a matter of time before the heartbreaking truth about her past is uncovered.

Twenty years ago, her world was turned upside-down when a terrible storm rolled into the tiny Cornish town of Speedwell.

Ever since that night, Nikki has been keeping a secret. One she knows has the power to destroy the lives of those she loves most.

Because as sure as the tide turns, there are no secrets in a small town. . . .

My Thoughts:

Nikki is returning to her town that she left many years ago, she has found the most perfect cottage that has been in her dreams for a long time, but whilst she is getting settled in to her new life, mysterious notes are left on her doorstep and it is from someone who knows about her past and the secrets she tried to leave behind many years ago, but who is it and what do they want from her? I always feel with Veronica’s books that you can just melt away with them, you can get lost in between the pages of someone else’s life. It is a gentle pace with sensitive issues that Veronica does well to be sympathetic. I was sad when I finished this wonderful read but I look forward to Veronica’s next book.

I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

Get your copy here:

Someone is killing the world’s leading experts on robotics and computers. A desperate Russian scientist approaches Court Gentry and Zoya Zakharova to ask for their protection, but before they can help, they are attacked by a team of professional assassins.

They escape, but wherever they turn, it’s clear that whoever’s tracking them is always going to be one step ahead. With a danger of this level, there’s no choice but to attack into the threat.

There is one man who may hold the answers to all their questions. But he’s gone to ground in a fortress surrounded by a veritable army. If that’s bad enough, he has a new chief of security - Court’s old comrade, Zack Hightower.

My Thoughts:

This is book thirteen in the Gray Man Series and this is my first book by Mark. It can be read as a standalone, right from the first page, you get a sense of this is going to be a great read and it really was. The story line held my attention, the characters really made the story into something great. It was intense, gripping and full of action. I likes the way the story unfolds throughout. It was a great read and now I want to go back and read the previous books. This would be great as a film.

I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

Get your copy here: