Two books about books – Jessica George – “Love by the Book” and Annabel French – “The Floating Venice Bookshop”

February 8, 2026

Liz Dexter Book reviews , 31 Comments

Two books today that I won from NetGalley at almost the same time, are published on the same day, and are both about books! I was offered Jessica George’s “Love by the Book” because I’d previously read and reviewed (and loved) her “Maame” in 2023, and I couldn’t resist a book about a book barge when I saw it!

Jessica George – “Love by the Book”

(11 November 2025, NetGalley)

Simone sighs. ‘I can sympathise,’ she says. ‘You clearly have a naturally chaotic energy, and I don’t imagine this news has done anything to calm it. But you’ll have to figure out what to do without me. My advice is to sleep on it and then talk to someone.’

‘But not to you.’

‘Precisely,’ Simone says, somehow not unkindly. ‘Like your friends and family,’ she adds, returning my glass to the kitchen. ‘And if after that you are still craving the unwarranted opinions of strangers, well, that’s what the internet is for. ‘ll drive you home.’

This is quite a “meta” book – a difficult second novel after a first novel about family and mental health, about Remy, who is having trouble writing her second novel after her first bestseller about a friendship group, in which Remy loses her own friendship group and falls in friend with Simone, a loner with a double life who doesn’t think she needs any friends at all, thank you; parts of the book are Remy workshopping her new novel with details of her and Simone’s invented lives. There’s no romance; it’s just about friendship, what makes a good friend, and how we should hold on to those we’ve got but also open ourselves to new platonic relationships: Remy has decided she would rather devote her time and energy to her friendships than to a romantic partner, and she certainly doesn’t want to have children, but it becomes clear that not everyone has her priorities (to be fair, one of the four friends prioritises her career, not a partner).

It was a bit confusing at times with the fiction-within-fiction and outer narratives from the viewpoints of Simone and Remy, and a brave thing to do with a second novel, but I was pulled into it, I liked Simone’s straightforward nature (see the quotation above), and I did particularly love Remy’s spectacular mum, who was random and alarming to Simone, but loving and wise.

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for offering me a copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review. “Love by the Book” is published on 12 February 2026.

Annabel French – “The Floating Venice Bookshop”

(14 November 2025, NetGalley)

Looking up, Beth’s eyes landed on the book barge and a spark of excitement pushed through the lingering anxiety.

Beth is working in her dream job in an art gallery in Venice, settled into the city (though she hasn’t had a chance to explore it much because she’s working so hard). Her life’s journey has been aimed at this point, so it’s a shock when she loses her job, through no fault of her own. But what’s this? The proprietor of her favourite cafe has a friend who wants to sell his book barge? Beth does the unthinkable and throws herself into buying it AND looking for a new home – oh, and she also inherits the barge cat, Polo, who has to go home to her flat at night (Polo is fine throughout the book; he doesn’t experience even any mild peril – phew).

Fortunately her newish friend Cesca from the rowing club is on hand with her carpentry skills and support, and she draws comfort from her older best female friends, who are now a couple and having IVF to add a longed-for baby to their family. Then Cesca’s brother, moody rower and art PR Marco joins the cast, ready to help Beth and smouldering with Italian handsomeness, but also in a conflicted relationship with his family.

Will Beth put up with Marco’s on-off behaviour? Will she get over her fear that her desire not to have children will put her relationship with him and with her best friends at risk? I loved all the practical detail about renovating and renewing the book barge and the descriptions of Italian life, food and houses. And perhaps the strongest love affair is with Venice!

Thank you to Avon Books for accepting my request to read this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review. “The Floating Venice Bookshop” is also published on 12 February 2026.

Interestingly in terms of Bookish Beck Serendipity Moments, both these books mused on the desire or not of young women to have children, which doesn’t always come up with such clarity in novels about young women!

Book review – Susan R. Barry – “Dear Oliver”

February 6, 2026

Liz Dexter Book reviews, Get the hardbacks off the shelves, Read The Darn Hardback, Reading challenges , , 13 Comments

Another book read for my “Read the Darn Hardback” challenge, forming the last of the ones acquired up to the end of 2025 where I acquired the hardback after the paperback had come out (I have one more from January which I’ll read in March). I was given this for my BookCrossing Not So Secret Santa in December, and funnily enough, out of the 14 books that arrived then, I’ve only read and reviewed two so far!

Susan R. Barry – Dear Oliver: An Unexpected Friendship with Oliver Sacks”

(13 December 2025, Christmas gift from Sam)

Forgive this outrageously long letter – the pain makes me verbose – but also you are my favorite correspondent now. (p. 158)

Anyone who enjoys Sacks’ work will enjoy this book, rooted as it is in a late-life scientific friendship centring on studying vision and later other aspects of sensing and life experience. Barry had lived a life in one dimension having had vision problems from childhood, but she meets an optical therapist who thinks she can help her and slowly, and with much hard work, she develops stereoscopic vision. Loving Sacks’ work and knowing her case is unusual and, indeed, claimed by many not to be possible, she risks sending him a long letter. This leads to a return letter, a visit with colleagues to meet and assess her, and a friendship by letter but also in person, which obviously illuminated both lives.

It’s a touching read, though also a detailed and scientific one; they also exchange other stories, book recommendations and, from Barry to Saks, stuffed toys of various animals she knows he loves.

I did come into this knowing it was about the end of Sacks’ long life, and his ocular melanoma occurs shortly after their meeting, leading through to his long bouts of ill-health and eventual death. I actually read the end while I was still in the middle of the book, to brace myself, but had missed the fact there was a parallel narrative of Barry’s father’s decline, as he was a musician so she had much to discuss on him with Sacks, too. It was affecting, of course, but I coped.

I loved that the typed and handwritten letters from Sacks were reproduced in the book, anything handwritten transcribed into print, although some of the typed ones were ironically a little hard to read. It’s a lovely, warm book, essential for the Sacks fan. I saw about it originally on Simon Stuck-in-A-Book’s blog (and indeed commented that I’d added it to my wishlist) and if he hasn’t read it already, he will like it, too.

State of the TBR – February 2026

February 2, 2026

Liz Dexter Book confessions, Book reviews, Read The Darn Hardback, ReadIndies, Reading challenges, State of the TBR, TBR challenge 2024 , , , , 48 Comments

I’m very pleased that after the double Books Incoming months (Christmas and Birthday), I’ve still not overfilled the TBR shelves (you can compare them to last month). I only took four print books off the main shelf in January. I didn’t take any of the oldest books off the shelf and read NONE from the 2024 TBR project (8 to go now at my stretch goal finish so I STILL didn’t do it but I’ll keep recording to the bitter end!).

I had six NetGalley review books to read and I read those plus four of my February reads (I part-read “Muscles and Monsters” but it was too spicy and also unbelievable for me (how does a wolf with paws work out with weights in a gym?). I didn’t do any challenges.

The Liz and Emma Read Together books are in a separate pile (middle shelf, to the left) because they don’t form part of the TBR project. The pile on the top right is review books and a loaned one that mustn’t get subsumed by the general TBR.

I completed just 15 books in January (all reviewed). I’m a bit sad about that as it’s a big dip, especially in a “long” month, and I was disappointed not to finish the one I’m reading or get my Iris Murdoch read. I am part-way through two more plus my Reading with Emma book and the ongoing big one. I acquired 10 NetGalley books this month (one already dealt with), and my NetGalley review percentage is steady at 94%, and three Kindle books.

Incomings

I acquired quite a lot of print books in January, mainly because of my birthday (discussed here and running from “Murder While You Work” at the end of row 2 below through “Here Comes the Sun” plus late entry “Epic Runs of the World”). As for the others …

So for the non-birthday books and one other: I spottedNicki Chapman’s “So Tell Me What You Want” on Annabookbel’s blog and she kindly sent it on to me. I received an early review copy of Davina Quinlivan’s “Possessions” to review for Shiny New Books (my review here) and the publisher kindly sent me a completed copy. [edited to add:] I saw my friend Claire Margaret Shapiro mention Kay Whalley’s “A Smart Suit and White Gloves”, a history of career books for girls on LibraryThing and [edit ends] I ordered it immediately as it’s by Girls Gone By who tend to go out of stock quite quickly. My dear friend Cari sent me Josie Dew’s “Slow Coast Home” about cycling around the UK with the aim of us reading it together in March, after she saw my review of “A Ride in the Neon Sun“.

The excellent Seren Books had a New Year sale and I took the opportunity to pick up two wishlist books and one more: Julie Brominicks’ “The Edge of Cymru” (where she walks around the border of Wales), Peter Finch’s “Edging the City” (in which he does the same with Cardiff) and “Cymru and I” (in which “nine new writers look at what Wales means to them as people from backgrounds previously largely underrepresented”). Then the last of the pre-birthday incomings came in at the same time as the birthday Dean Street Press books was Stella Gibbons’ “The Snow Woman”, which came too late for Emma to send to me for Christmas!

Three final Nice Things now: my last birthday book was the thoughtful “Epic Runs of the World”, a lovely hardback, from my friend Meg at our BookCrossing meetup just after my birthday. The lovely people at Vertebrate Publishing have sent me Allie Bailey’s “31 Days” to review (it’s out on 5 February so I will be prioritising it!) which is a no bullsh*t approach to mental aspects of running (read more about it here including a competition). And last but certainly not least, on Saturday I met up with the wonderful Lisa Jackson, who I’ve known for a decade, and she kindly gave me a copy of her powerful new book, “Still Running After All These Tears” (see more in this post).

Moving on to ebooks, I won ten NetGalley books in January and I acquired three more books in the Kindle sale.

In the naughty Kindle sale I picked up Mike Gayle’s novel, “Half a World Away”, wish-list book Alan Cleaver’s “The Postal Paths” about the forgotten trails forged by postal workers, and “This is for Everyone” by Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the World Wide Web.

On to NetGalley and “Street, Palace, Square” by Jan-Werner Muller (published May) is about the architecture of public spaces, Sally Coulthard’s “The Secret World of Twilight” (July) looks at the natural history and folklore of dawn and dusk. Ashley Bennett’s “Muscles and Monsters” (Feb) I’ve already mentioned as Not For Me and we’ll leave it there. Debbie Macomber has a new novel out in April, “Chasing the Clouds Away” and I was glad to win it. Melody Carlson’s “All Booked Up” (Mar) is a found family novel where an older woman rents out rooms in her house rather than having to sell up and downsize.

Moving on to some more non-fiction, Helene Landemore’s “Politics Without Politicians” (Feb) looks at the case for citizen rule just as Birmingham faces local council elections in May so should be interesting. Tom Fort’s “Lido Land” (May) looks at the history and development of lidos, now seeing a resurgence. “Healing the Land Teaches Us Who We Are” by Maceo Carrillo Martinet (June) looks at Indigenous cultural resistance and how it can help create a sustainable future, and Layla McCay’s “The Queer Bookshelf” (June) is a reader’s guide to queer books; I’m not sure of its geographical focus at the moment.

Finally, the publisher’s PR kindly offered me the third in Fay Keenan’s Brambleton series, “Home Sweet Home in Brambleton” (Mar) and I accepted gladly. I’m not feeling bad or pressured about all these as I know I’m keeping up / slightly ahead with my NetGalley books at the moment; I am still trying to choose what I request and offers I accept more carefully.

Outgoings

I gave one book to my friend Meg at our BookCrossing meetup and took 20 print books to our local Oxfam Books this month.

So that’s 15 books read and 31 books in (but 1 of those already read, so really 30!) for January, and 18 print books in and 21 out (win!).

Currently reading

I’m currently reading Susan R. Barry’s “Dear Oliver: An Unexpected Friendship with Oliver Sacks”: I have a mini-challenge on the go, “Read the Darn Hardbacks”, which involves me making sure I read hardback books before they come out in paperback and this was my penultimate one which had already come out in paperback by the time I acquired it. On Kindle I have Jessica George’s second novel, “Love by the Book”. Emma and I are reading and enjoying Guy Shrubsole’s “The Lost Rainforests of Britain” (another recommendation from Halfman Halfbook, I think). And I’m continuing with (not seen) Henry Eliot’s “The Penguin Modern Classics Book” which I WILL finish.

Coming up

My print TBR includes the two most pressing review books. Handily, I want to do Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings’ Readindies challenge: the Tom Chesshyre and Allie Bailey fall into this. I have “So Tell Me What You Want” for Read The Darn Hardbacks which came out in paperback before I acquired the hardback, then “Love in Exile”, “Proto” and “Of Thorn and Briar” are published in paperback in February / March. For more Readindies, I’m not going to make a list or picture as I don’t want to push myself too hard, but anything else I pick off the print TBR will be by an independent publisher.

I also plan to read my next Iris Murdoch, “The Flight from the Enchanter”. If I get all of these read I will do another Chesshyre and something from the start of my TBR that’s from an independent publisher.

I’ve started February’s NetGalley books so have these left to go and then will get on with my March ones:

So, “The Floating Venice Bookshop” and “The Island Retreat” should be fairly light fiction, then I have “A Four-Eyed World” which is a history of glasses, “Super Nintendo” which is a history of the Japanese games company, and “Politics Without Politicians” which I’ve mentioned above.

With the ones I’m currently reading, I have three books to finish and one to continue, and twelve other books to read, which is doable, I feel.

How was your January reading? What are you reading this month? Are you doing any book challenges for the month?

A very special book launch – Lisa Jackson – “Still Running After All These Tears”

January 31, 2026

Liz Dexter Running , 16 Comments

I first encountered Lisa Jackson in 2016 when I read her amazing book, “Your Pace or Mine” which I know has single-handedly (pagedly?) encouraged so many beginner runners, especially those of us of the slower persuasion. I wrote her an email to say thank you as it helped me prepare for my first marathon, and Lisa very kindly sent me a good luck email on the morning of that marathon – how lovely.

We stayed in touch and I met Lisa at a couple of National Running Show events and have even been quoted in a couple of her Runners’ World columns.

Now Lisa has a very special book out. Let’s quote from the blurb:

Lisa didn’t think anything could be more devastating than the death of her beloved husband Graham. But then she lost her sister and father too – all in the space of 17 months. Feeling utterly broken, Lisa turned to an old friend that had already helped her through many tough times: running. But before long, a debilitating injury meant she lost her running mojo, too. Lisa sets out to rekindle her love affair with running, aiming to complete her 109th marathon in Graham’s honour. Can running take her from heartache to hope as she builds her new life by the sea? Still Running After All These Tears is a meditation on the redemptive power of running, what makes a good death and, most importantly, how to lead a joyous, meaningful life.

Today, I attended the National Running Show mainly in order to meet up with Lisa and attend her book launch. She was on the Flanci stand because they’ve done a link-up with Lisa to produce a range of skirts and leggings to match her flamingo theme (I get nothing for you clicking on that link, it’s just for your information and delight). It was wonderful to see her and we had a lovely chat and some pictures. Lisa gave me a signed copy of the book, which I will of course treasure.

It was lovely to see Lisa again (photo credit: Rachel Simmonite) and I hope her new book does very well and helps lots of people. You can order it from all the usual places (including your local independent bookshop).

Review catch-up – Lillian Li – “Bad Asians”, Steven Blush – “When Rock Met Hip-Hop” and Kallie Emblidge – “Two Left Feet”

January 30, 2026

Liz Dexter Book reviews, Social justice - gender sex sexuality, social justice - race , 7 Comments

I’ve almost caught up with blog reading so now I’ve fallen behind with reviewing – here are reviews of three NetGalley books published in February (so I’m ahead with reading, sort of!) that I have recently enjoyed.

Lillian Li – “Bad Asians”

(5 November 2025, NetGalley)

Maybe they’d been cruel, lobbying for front row seats to their childhood star’s fall from grace. Yet when the moment came, they had shown themselves as better than the children they’d been. How sweet and easy they were, how quickly they could take in a stray and turn her into a long-lost friend.

We follow five young Asian Americans from their hopes of college and careers through the 2008 financial crash and onwards, as Grace, film-maker then viral YouTuber videos her friends twice and splices together a film that affects them all deeply. I enjoyed this one at the start but it felt a bit long and ended up rotating through the characters, plus another, more famous, film-maker who messes up their lives just that little bit more. I’d have liked more of the parent group and it’s from them, in the end, that the truth is made clear. There were some good scenes near the end that undercut expectations and meant it continued to be an entertaining if slightly messy read. Would I have read it if it were not for the minoritised cast? Maybe not, as they were Disaster Millennials (or Gen Zs?).

Thank you to Pushkin Press for approving me to read this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review. “Bad Asians” is published on 12 February 2026.

Steven Blush – “When Rock Met Hip-Hop”

(4 November 2025, NetGalley)

A headlong rush through seminal groups, collaborations and albums that links first punk and hardcore, then rock itself, to the nascent then dominant genre of hip-hop. Blush has been a a writer on music for years and involved in these scenes and his deep knowledge is on display here. There is even a long appendix of the bands and records that never made it into the main text. It was a bit of a blur as it’s so packed full of quickly changing information, but lively and full of love for its subject, and if you like either genre you will get a lot out of this book. The NetGalley listing specifically asks for the text not to be quoted, so I’m abiding by that. I did love the story that the “band” appearing in the critical Aerosmith/RunDMC “Walk This Way” video is only 2/5 Actual Aerosmith and 3/5 another band entirely, hiding behind their hair, who were cheaper to hire than it was to ship in the rest of the band.

Thank you to Bloomsbury Books for approving me to read this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review. “When Rock Met Hip-Hop” is published on 5 February 2026.

Kallie Emblidge – “Two Left Feet”

(1 December 2025, NetGalley)

All of these rituals make him who he is: competitive, superstitious, a lonely only child awed by the luck of spending his life with two dozen brothers.

Set in the invented football club of Camden FC in 2017, we meet Oliver, who has known he’s gay since his teens and told his girlfriend, now best friend, Maggie when he turned 18 but has hidden it beneath his love of football ever since, and Leo, half-Columbian, Spanish-raised, but originally in the academy as well, who’s assigned to Ollie as his mentee when Ollie busts a hamstring. There’s tension at first but of course it turns to something else, as love, admiration and football all meld together to create a winning team in the midfield. Wish fulfilment – and why not have some positive stuff in this? – means that there’s a happy ending waiting in the wings, and the author notes at the end of the book that she wanted to show that in the hopes that members of the men’s teams can be as open as the women’s are about their sexuality. Fair play to Emblidge for being an American football fan writing about the English game, although this does lead to some slightly clumsy juxtapositions between American English spellings and phrases and British English banter and terms.

Thank you to Bedford Square Publishing for approving me to read this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review. “Two Left Feet” is published on 12 February 2026.

Two men’s memoirs – Richard Negus – “Words from the Hedge” and Dean Atta – “Person Unlimited”

January 28, 2026

Liz Dexter Book reviews, Get the hardbacks off the shelves, Read The Darn Hardback, Reading challenges, Social justice - class, Social justice - gender sex sexuality , , 19 Comments

Two more memoirs read which fall under my “Read the Darn Hardback” challenge, with no paperback available for “Words from the Hedge” and Dean Atta’s book being discounted at the Heath Bookshop when the paperback came out. “Words from the Hedge” was part of a bumper crop of 23 books acquired in May 2025 – out of those, I have now read and reviewed five and passed two along (one after using it to beef up a review I was writing). “Person Unlimited” was part of a six-book acquisition month in July 2025 and out of the five books I acquired to read then, this is the first one I’ve read and reviewed.

Richard Negus – “Words from the Hedge: A Hedgelayer’s View of the Countryside”

(14 May 2025, subscribed to from Unbound)

Negus is one of the few hedgelayers left in England, and together with his working partner, uses a variety of methods, from tractors to hand-tools, to perform a variety of processes to hedgerows in mainly the East of England. He’s lyrical about East Anglia and careful in his descriptions so the reader really understands what he’s doing. He goes into the history of enclosure and hedges, and, so, farming, and makes it plain how nothing is permanent and everything comes and goes. He’s not keen on full rewilding and rewetting, saying it cuts productivity and is only doable by rich landowners and organisations with money behind them, but shares case studies of farmers who have shaped their fields to be squarer, so easier to work, while leaving large margins by the hedges to promote habitats for wildlife. He also brings out the hypocrisy of the use of “ecological surveys” by developers et al. who employ people to not look at things properly in order to get their plans passed.

One point I really enjoyed was where he celebrated the use of dictation software on his phone when doing his own nature surveys as part of his hedge work, then shared the rubbish it came out with when he looked at the results – good to hear as I struggle with the incursion of automated transcription into my own work!

A central argument which made me uncomfortable, I’m afraid, even though he’s probably right, being in at the thick of it, is that personal and commercial shooting industry is what keeps most of the hedges and indeed the hedgelayers in business. I suppose this would be fair enough, but then he shares his own enjoyment of shooting birds (all the while describing his love for and relationship with (other) birds and his respect for the intelligence of rooks, etc., and also acknowledging the oddity, to give the most positive term I can, of this practice) – bird species that I love. I couldn’t really get past this to enjoy the rest of the book.

A shame, as it is full of detail and interest and a desire to explain to non-countrypeople how the countryside and countrypeople operate.

Dean Atta – “Person Unlimited: An Ode to My Black Queer Body”

(10 July 2025, The Heath Bookshop)

This isn’t a coming-of-age story. This isn’t a coming-out story. This isn’t a chronological story. This is a story of coming to terms with what I remember. Shining a light on the memories that make me the Black queer man I am today. (p. 5)

A more traditional full memoir but fractured and fragmented and organised in an unorthodox way. Under headings such as crown, voice, heart, he picks up details and moments from his life, in the first section taking us all the way through via the vehicle of his hair and the people who work on it, from his childhood barber where he learned how to not act gay and never considered gay men might be present, through his mother and friends creating his cornrows then helping with his dreads.

He’s brutally honest and there is quite a lot of fairly graphic detail, although it never seemed gratuitous. The description of his rape part way through the book makes both Atta and the reader think back over other encounters and wonder whether they were sexual assaults before he had the language or confidence to describe them as such. We’re relieved when he meets his life partner and settles with kindness as well as being present in his body through yoga and having talking therapy.

Atta’s family, both the Jamaican and Greek Cypriot sides, are described movingly and with deep love, and it’s an intimate and loving book, even if he doesn’t love himself very much at times.

Atta’s technical ability is shown by the fact that although we hop all over the place through his life, whenever he mentions something it looks like we should already know about, we do – the ordering is done meticulously, as is necessary in a book like this, but not always quite there.

Book review – Caroline James – “The Arctic Cruise”

January 26, 2026

Liz Dexter Book reviews , 14 Comments

I enjoyed this author’s previous book, “The Cruise Club“, also read via Rachel’s Random Resources, and particularly liked the way she features older protagonists, who often aren’t given a look-in in romance novels (although this is changing, I think), so I was happy to pop onto the (mega, it turns out: see below) blog tour for this one, more so because it features northern waters and the Northern Lights!

Caroline James – “The Arctic Cruise”

(5 December 2025, NetGalley via Rachel’s Random Resources)

Beneath the sensible clothes and modest appearance, was there more to Joy than she let on? Leticia’s eyes narrowed and she wondered if more was to come. After all, the sea had a habit of revealing things, and while they were on the cruise, if it did, Leticia hoped that she’d be there to watch it all unfold.

Joy has been compelled by her somewhat unfeeling daughter to join the Artic cruise she and her late husband had booked for a big anniversary. He’s passed away, she’s spent time mourning and she’s not sure if she’s ready for this. Meanwhile, Henry has been encouraged by his friend and neighbour to take the cruise of his dreams, where he might just see and photograph the Northern Lights, a long-held ambition.

As the lovely Leticia and her husband Jim, with troubles of their own in the health area, watch on and gently encourage, and with the mutual enemies of the rather dreadful Barbara and Kenneth to keep them on their toes, Joy starts to blossom and Henry finds himself drawn to her. But Henry has his own worries around how to deal with his rather over-friendly cabin attendant (this is a lovely aspect to the story in the end), and we also watch some of the cruise ship staff with a bit of yearning and wish-fulfilment going on.

There’s no big mystery like last time, so it’s sufficiently different, and we hope for something lovely for Henry and Joy. A book full of kindness (even Kenneth and Barbara have their moment), but also funny, and again with great descriptions of the places the protagonists visit.

The HUGE blog tour has been going on and will continue: see below for all the info!

Thank you to Avon Books and Rachel’s Random Resources for making this book available to me via NetGalley in return for an honest review. “The Arctic Cruise” was published on 15 January 2026.

About the author

When she’s not writing in her cosy writing retreat, Caroline enjoys tranquil walks with Fred, her Westie, and refreshing swims in a local lake. As a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, the SoA, ARRA, and the Society of Women’s Writers & Journalists, Caroline is a champion of lifelong creativity.

www.carolinejamesauthor.co.uk

Facebook: Caroline James Author

Instagram: carolinejamesauthor

Bluesky: @carolinejames1.bsky.social

Book review – Christie Barlow – “No. 17 Curiosity Lane”

January 23, 2026

Liz Dexter Book reviews , 9 Comments

This one isn’t out until the end of February, but I couldn’t resist picking up the new Christie Barlow, of course (I did finish my January NetGalley books first, I hasten to add!). Coming hot on the heels of the last instalment of her new(ish) Puffin Island series, it’s an excellent read I can, as usual, gladly recommend.

Christie Barlow – “No. 17 Curiosity Lane”

(18 December 2025, NetGalley)

How had this happened? This morning she was in her stylish London flat, surrounded by sleek furniture and pristine everything. Now she was in a building surrounded by antique horrors and a moose that looked like it was plotting something sinister.

In the intriguing Prologue, we have an older woman looking at a vinyl record and a music box, and her thoughts about how “She had lost everything that day. Her family. Her reputation. Her name”.

Then we’re in the present, where Fern, London-living hard-living music journalist, has had an odd letter from a solicitor telling her she’s inherited a second-hand shop from a great-aunt she never knew she had. When she meets a handsome stranger, Daniel, on the train up to Puffin Island, you know he’s going to crop up again, and so he does, as the only employee of No. 17 Curiosity Lane, and the sitting tenant of the charmingly ramshackle flat above the shop.

At first, she can only think about how to sell the shop and in the process winkle Daniel out, but the charms of both start to play on her, and when she realises there’s a mystery involved – and that island life and with Daniel might be a happier existence than her rather hollow one in London – she ends up considering staying.

No need to invent a royal family for this one, thank goodness, and it’s fun to have the island-dweller in the romantic pairing the guy for the first time. Our friends from the previous books of course pop up as they weave Fern into the life of the island.

Will she abandon her journalistic ambitions and nasty rock star hook-up for the fresh air and kindness of Puffin Island?

Thank you to One More Chapter for offering me a copy of this book to read via NetGalley in return for an honest review. “No. 17 Curiosity Lane” is published on 27 February 2026.

Birthday book incomings 2026

January 21, 2026

Liz Dexter Book confessions , 31 Comments

As I’m lagging a bit in reviews (but not books read!) I thought I’d take the opportunity to share with you my birthday book (and other!) incomings today.

I’ve been very lucky! I have had a lovely day in general: I went for a 5.4km run this morning (OK, in the rain), then went to my dear friend Ali’s apartment complex for lunch (some of you might remember her as blogger Heaven-Ali, also now on Bluesky; she is happy and well), opened my presents when back home and we’re about to have a takeaway (in fact it’s imminent so I might break off in a moment …) (yes … now I’m back).

So, so far, I have been lucky enough to receive (in addition to chocolate bars and another book token online, and the pictured book token, library card keyring, Hotel Chocolat gift box, Birmingham colouring book and Birmingham map jigsaw):

Susan Scarlett – “Murder While You Work”

Susan Scarlett – “Pirouette”

D. E. Stevenson – “The Blue Sapphire”

D. E. Stevenson – “The Musgraves”

(these are all from the wonderful Furrowed Middlebrow imprint from Dean Street Press; Susan Scarlett was the pen-name of Noel Streatfeild)

Tim Moore – “I Believe in Yesterday” (adventures in re-enactment from the humorous quester

Jane Cholmeley – “A Bookshop of One’s Own” (about the late lamented Silver Moon bookshop on Charing Cross Road)

Nicole Dennis-Benn – “Here Comes the Sun” (a novel of women in Jamaica amid changes to their village) How fortunate I am! Plus Matthew always gives me money on a spreadsheet to spend through the year, and that usually includes the odd book splurge. I will update this as anything more comes my way …

Book review – Eva Glyn – “The Croatian Island Library”

January 19, 2026

Liz Dexter Book reviews , 4 Comments

When I signed up to do a cover reveal post for this book, after loving my first read by this author, “The Santorini Writing Retreat“, I said to Rachel of Rachel’s Random Resources, who has run all these events, that I hoped to bag a space on the eventual book tour. So I was very pleased to have the opportunity to read this new book, and I wasn’t disappointed.

Eva Glyn – “The Croatian Island Library”

(1 November 2025, Rachel’s Random Resources / NetGalley)

Ana has a new venture for her catamaran which she hopes will save her from the terrible customers of the boating holidays she’s been offering and the looming pressure of contributing her beloved boat to her parents’ oyster-harvesting business: she will be hosting a roving library which will take books around the children of the islands off Croatia. Joining her for the summer are librarian Lloyd, a widower with something slightly murky in his past, and troubled, almost-silent Natali, a brilliant young mechanic and cook with a precarious life off-boat thanks to her chaotic mother and a beloved dog, Obi. As well as these main characters we meet Ana’s best friend and ex-boyfriend, threatening to call in an arrangement they made years ago, and Baka, an elderly woman on one of the islands who takes a liking to Natali and Obi.

Will Ana learn to manage her crew? Will the people of the islands embrace the travelling library and borrow enough books to prove the library’s value? Will Lloyd face his troubled history with someone on one of the islands? Will Baka’s son ever arrive off the ferry?

Although there is some blooming romance and decisions on love and life to be made by the protagonists, this book, like the previous one by this author, is mainly about the bonds and friendships forged between them. The islands also star, and the sense of place is palpable: I have been to different Croatian islands but these ones really came to life for me. The structure of the book meant we circulated around the islands, so there was always something new happening and lots of detail about how the library developed. The war in the former Yugoslavia does feature in the book in a very natural way, as Lloyd reflects on his time there just as war broke out, but there’s not too much detail to make it upsetting to read. Oh, and I’m not breaking a rule to say that Obi remains fine throughout.

A lovely story about learning to trust and love again, about the love of books, and about following what you need to do in life. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t wait to read some of Eva Glyn’s back-list next.

Thank you to One More Chapter and Rachel’s Random Resources for making a copy of this book available to me via NetGalley. “The Croatian Island Library” was published on 16 January 2026, and the rest of the book tour stops can be found here:

You can find Eva Glyn on social media here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EvaGlynAuthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evaglynauthor/

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/eva-glyn

Note: there is a competition to win a paperback copy of this lovely book, for readers in the UK and Ireland only. Click on the link to enter!

*Terms and Conditions –UK & Ireland entries welcome.  Please enter using the “Competition” link above. The winner will be selected at random via Gleam from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

Older Entries Newer Entries