Winter by Val McDermid - Review

I got this book with one of my Waterstones vouchers, I bought it not long after Christmas in my haul then, and I knew I wanted to read it before this winter was over. I kept meaning to pick it up and finally got round to it at the beginning of March. I don't know about you, but winter returned with a vengeance at the beginning of March - we had sleet, hail, and tons of wind! So it was perfect to read this book then. 

This is only a short book and apparently it's one of a series on each of the seasons, by different authors. I would really like to read the other ones so maybe I'll seek them out. My review won't be very long because it really is a short book, but I really enjoyed it, and recommend it. 

Apparently Val settles down each winter to write a new novel, so it's a time of creativity for her, a time to hunker down and work. I really liked knowing that about her writing structure, it was interesting as I've read a lot of her novels. She also writes a lot about her Scottish childhood and the brutality and beauty of a Scottish winter. I found her writing really evocative of the time and space and learnt a lot about Scotland in the 1950s and 60s. Did you know for example that the puritanical church didn't celebrate Christmas so it wasn't a bank holiday in Scotland until the mid 1960s, which explains why they celebrated New Year/Hogmanay so much more! So interesting. 

I lent the book to my friend Morag, who I go to craft club with, and who is only a couple of years old than Val. She is Scottish herself - obviously, with a name like Morag - and I thought she would find it really interesting and evocative of her own childhood too. 

I'm giving it five out of five and will definitely read it again!

Murder Before Evensong by Richard Coles - Review

I of course have heard of Richard Coles' books and I even caught one episode of the TV show and quite liked it, but I wouldn't have picked up the book ever I don't think. But someone chose it for our book club choice in March, so I got it to read. And I didn't rate it at all and definitely won't bother reading any more of his books! Hey, at least I know that now. By the time you read this I will have been to book club and I am interested to see what other people thought of it, because I just didn't like it much.

I know Richard is a Church of England vicar of course and some of the stuff about the inner workings of the church was both interesting and funny, but I felt there was too much of it that it bogged down the book. The main character is Canon Daniel Clement. His parish is semi rural and has a typical parish church. There are the flower ladies and the local archivist and the local teachers etc, and there's also the Lord of the manor up at the big house, who is the patron of the church. Daniel is considering putting a toilet into the church - which was a whole thing in the C of E like thirty five years ago - and the flower ladies are outraged because they want a bigger room and because the pews - oh god, the pews - are historic, blah blah blah. Daniel thinks this will be his biggest problem but then Anthony, cousin to his lordship, is found murdered in the pews (oh god, the pews!!!). 

Daniel lives with his mother, Audrey, who is a gossipy woman who worries about his far too much, and they're also joined by his brother Theo, who is an actor. He's about to be a vicar in a TV show so he's keen to shadow Daniel but he's kind of just in the way. There is a lot about the gossipy old women of the village which I did enjoy; they're very true to life and I loved how they tried to get one up on each other. The manor house was a convalescence home during World War Two, so there's a lot of history there which becomes pertinent to the plot. 

I was confused by the sheer number of characters, some of whom have very similar names, so I think there could have been some cut out there. I was confused about the time period too, I found it very hard to decide when the book was set. I decided on around 1990, but I'm really not sure. I would have liked something concrete about that. 

I'm giving this three out of five ish in general. I didn't hate it but it needed a better edit and the story got bogged down in places. 

The Sleepwalkers by Scarlett Thomas - Review

 

I bought this recently when I was browsing in Waterstones with a voucher. The blurb appealed to me so I thought I'd give it a go. I've never heard of Scarlett Thomas and was intrigued; I love to discover new authors so it was worth a shot. 

However, I didn't like the book very much. I thought it was confusing and trying too hard to be better than it was, to have like a twist in the tale to make the reader rethink the whole book. But this didn't happen, so it didn't work. 

The book is told in a few different media, which adds to the confusion. The first, longest part, is a letter from Evelyn to her new husband, Richard. They are on their honeymoon on a Greek island and have arrived at a villa owned by Isabella. Something happened at their wedding that neither of them want to talk about. They spent the first week of their honeymoon with Richard's best friend Paul, and his latest girlfriend, Becky. The four of them had fun together in their cheap hotel, sunbathing all day and then eating at the local taverna all night. But Paul and Becky have left and Evelyn and Richard have gone to the villa. The stay was a wedding present from Richard's parents and Evelyn is not thrilled. 

Isabella is odd, and the honeymoon suite is odd too. Evelyn would like another room but is told only that one is available. One day she leaves a not for Richard which then disappears; things like this keep happening. Isabella gives her the cold shoulder while showering affection on Richard. He gets a full English breakfast and when Evelyn asks for fruit she gets just unripe melon. She's uncomfortable and wants to leave but Richard makes out like she's just overreacting. 

Then there is the story of the sleepwalkers. The year previously, at the end of the summer season, just before the annual storm rolled in, an older couple were staying in the villa. James, the husband, who was experiencing some kind of religious delusion, went for a walk and ended up in the sea, and Claire (I think that was her name) followed him, and they both ended up drowned. Evelyn is disturbed by the story. She's also obsessed with some young people who she keeps seeing around the place; she thinks they're some kind of Turkish pop band. This part of the story just seemed totally irrelevant and although it was resolved at the end I don't think it was done to justice.

The second part of the book is Richard's letter to Evelyn, which reveals what happened at the wedding, which is a massive secret; I liked this part of the book a lot. Richard is unlikeable but his part reveals that Evelyn isn't the innocent she pays herself as either. She used to be the housekeeper for his parents, which adds a different spin on their relationship.

The next bits of the book are some transcripts and some half scribbled notes. I didn't feel like this worked a lot, it just left me a bit cold. The last part is another letter, but how it ended just really annoyed me. I'm giving this two and a half out of five. 

A Spot of Folly by Ruth Rendell - Review

After I enjoyed the Ruth Rendell book Shake Hands For Ever back in October, I thought I would like to read something else by her so I reserved three books by her from the library. I then renewed those loans a bunch of times, but never mind, that's what libraries are for! I did however pick this book up eventually at the end of February. 

I really enjoyed it. It's a book of short stories and they all kept my interest and were amusing. They all seemed typical of the type of people that she would write novels about - posh middle Englanders in somewhat boring marriages in a lot of cases. A lot of the stories had a twist in the tale with unexpected endings, or endings that make the reader go Ohhhh. I love short stories like that. 

There's also a ghost story which I really liked. There's a long story about a woman who steals things from people who have annoyed her. That comes back to bite her in the bum in a really unusual way; I thought it was well done. One of the stories was written under Rendell's pen name, Barbara Vine, which was interesting to read too. 

In general this was a good read, just the kind of thing I needed. I'm giving it four out of five. 

Girls to the Front by Lucy Nichol - Review

I got this book from my Secret Santa at Christmas, but I know who that was! For the past couple of years, Lee's family has done a secret Santa where each adult just buys presents for one other adult, up to the value of £60. It makes things a lot cheaper, and it means each adult can choose things they'd really like. in 2025 Lee and I chose a new toaster and kettle that we wanted for our kitchen, but they were only £30 so we could choose other things we wanted too. I said I would  like champagne because I love champagne. My Santa was Libby, one of my sisters in law, who knows I love books. She got me the kettle, a bottle of champagne that I have not yet drunk, and this book. It's set in the north east where Lee's family is from, and where Libby lives, and I really appreciated that! 

The beginning of the book sees a woman called Roma in police custody. She is lying about what happened with the body she has been found with, but is obviously covering for someone. We then go back to a few weeks ago in Roma's story. She works at a place called Electric Dreams which sells old video games and DVDs and stuff. Roma had some kind of breakdown previously and had to leave her graduate job, so she works there instead of something more stressful. She enjoys the work and her colleagues though. She lives with her two best friends, Jonny and Leila, and they definitely care for each other and all of that. 

At work they often get given boxes of house clearance stuff. In one such box, Roma discovers a home video accompanied by a menacing note. She is intrigued and goes to some trouble to watch the video (which is like thirty years old by the time she finds it). On it, there is a video of a young woman passed out on a sofa in a hotel room, and some men talking about how they're going to assault her. The accompanying note identifies these men as members of the band The Razor Heads, who often played in a local venue. Roma is disturbed by what she has seen and is determined to take the video to the police. She begins to get a bit obsessed with discovering what happened to the woman on the video, and her flatmates are concerned about her. 

In a parallel narrative, Kat is a mature student in 1995. She is friends with a younger student called Alison. They go to see the Razor Heads and while there, Alison decides to crowd surf. As she is doing it, she is assaulted by random hands in the crowd, including sexually assaulted. She is obviously upset and shaken up. Kat realises that there is a problem with the band and with the venue. She starts to investigate, as she's a writer on the student newspaper, and discovers loads of girls with similar complaints. She is a bit of a loner and is a bit witchy and fierce too. 

I liked both narratives and loved how they came together. This book is described as feminist and thrilling with a 90s nostalgia thing, and it definitely did all that for me. I liked it a lot and am giving it four out of five. 

Bog Queen by Anna North - Review

I can't remember where I heard of this book but I think someone I follow on Instagram was reading it. I asked Lee for it for Christmas, and picked it up in February. It's a really lovely novel, it felt like good literature and really interesting to read. 

There are two strands to the narrative. Firstly, in 2018, there is a post graduate student called Agnes who is called to help identify a body that has been found in a peat bog in Ludlow. She is American, and she's kind of a loner, and a bit strange? I liked her a lot, but she is odd. She has left behind her dad and her (ex?) fiance in America; her dad really wants her to go home but she's enjoying her life in Britain, even if she finds the English a bit baffling. She's very clever. 

The body is supposedly that of a woman who was murdered by her husband in the 1960s. He has confessed to the murder and says he buried her in the bog. Her relative (niece I think?) travels from Spain for her, etc. Only when Agnes starts her examination, she realised the body is much older than the 1960s. She is a perfectly preserved bog woman. Agnes realises that she has several injuries to her body, but that she survived most of them - she died from just one of them. Someone cared for her while she was ill.

Some environmentalists are interested in the bog and want to stop the police and archaeologists from digging there, because of the moss (which is kind of a strand in the book too, but I found that bit quite weird so didn't altogether read those little excerpts). Agnes tries to get them on side while also trying to work out who the bog woman is, and what her story is. 

The second narrative strand is of course of the bog woman herself, who remains unnamed which I liked, because she is unnamed in 2018 too. She is an Iron Age woman who is only around seventeen or eighteen. She is the local druid in her village and has been for a couple of years since she took over from her mother. She has a fight going on with her brother and his clan. At the very beginning of the book she leaves her village to travel to one of the Roman settlements in the south east of Britain - I think it's supposed to be Chelmsford - with her brother and a friend, Aesu and Crab. They run into trouble and I really liked their story. 

I loved the book and am giving it five out of five. It was just a really good read. I would definitely read something else by Anna North! 

We Fell Apart by E Lockhart - Review

We're back in the same universe as Family of Liars and We Were Liars! I didn't even know this was a thing! Then I spotted this book in The Works in Ripon just before Christmas, and got Lee to buy me it as a Christmas gift. I picked it up in mid February, still on my mission to read all my Christmas gifts before too long! I loved this, it was so nice to be back in that universe. As a reminder, in We Were Liars we meet the Sinclair family, who are super rich and own an island - of course! - and there has been a devastating fire. I won't spoil We Were Liars but read it, oh my god. I wanted to throw my tablet out of the window when I read it. I can remember so specifically where I was, too, away for the weekend in North Yorkshire and I was lying in bed one morning reading the end of the book. I love it when books stay with you so much. 

This book starts just a week after the fire on Beechwood Island. Matilda is eighteen years old and about to go to college. She is living in LA with her kind of stepdad, Saar, who is an actor. Her mother, Isabela, is living in Mexico with her new boyfriend, having basically abandoned Matilda. Matilda has never known who her father is, but then she gets an email from him. 

He is Kingsley Cello, the reclusive artist. His paintings sell for millions, and in her research Matilda learns very little about him. He changes his back story a lot and is never truthful, so Matilda is just basically confused. Still, he sends her the money for a plane ticket, so Matilda heads out to Massachussetts (I'm not sure I've spelt that right, hey ho). In the airport she meets Holland and Winnie, who come back into the story later, which I won't spoil. She meets a rude taxi driver and follows confusing instructions, but eventually she's at Kingsley's property in Hidden Beach. 

He had built a castle, with four turrets and everything. There's a map in the book which I love, I always love to see things in pictures! There's a pool house and steps down to the beach, and the whole place is basically falling apart. At the house Matilda finds Meer, her half brother, and his mother, June, who is Kingsley's partner. She is thrilled to have a brother, but still wants to meet her dad, of course. June doesn't want her there and makes this very clear.

Also living in the castle is Brock. He is a former child star who went off the rails and who came to Hidden Beach to sober up, to recuperate and relax. He is barely older than Matilda and Meer, who are only a month apart. Then there is Tatum - who is the taxi driver from earlier! He wants rid of Matilda immediately, but as the weeks pass romance builds between them. I loved the romance actually and thought it was very sweetly done. 

Meer is nice to Matilda and wants them to bond, but everyone else wants rid of her and won't answer her questions about Kingsley. They keep fobibng her off and saying he's in Italy and that he'll be back any time, but as time goes on it's obvious that there are so many things going on that Matilda has no idea about. She doesn't know who she can trust or how to make things right in Hidden Beach.

I love the atmosphere of the book, it's hazy and dreamy and very reminiscent of We Were Liars. It feels like the heat of the summer is setting in and everyone is going a bit crazy in the place. I'm giving this five out of five, it's E Lockhart at her absolute best! 

Stockport Noir Crime Festival

On the 31st of January I headed over to Stockport to go to a crime fiction festival. I saw it advertised absolutely forever ago and bought myself a ticket. I would have been better if Lee had been there with me to carry books and so on, but I didn't want to spend the money on two tickets, so I sucked it up and went by myself. I took my things in a backpack, which did help. I took my lunch and drinks and snacks etc with me too so that I didn't have to leave the venue. I set off really early which meant I did get a space in the car park. Such is life with a disability! 

Even though I was there early I still had to queue a bit to get in. It was fun though, everyone was just really excited to be there. Once I got in I picked up a lanyard and a goodie bag. Inside was a proof copy of a book that I haven't even heard of, so I'll look forward to reading that! 

There was tea and coffee and then everyone went in to the main hall for the first panel. The first panel was debut authors and I think they all did brilliantly. Immediately after each panel were signing lines. I have to say that these could have been better organised. Plus when I've been to other lit festivals, I - as someone who uses a walking stick - have been pressed to go to the front of the lines so that I didn't have to queue. That didn't happen here so I ended up in some pain, which was a shame. After the second panel I even asked one of the organisers if I could go to the front of the queue, and while he did help me he did it with some bad grace which made me feel even worse. If I could give feedback on this to the authors I absolutely would, but I haven't seen how to do that (yet?). It left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. 

The panels were all great though. The moderators asked some really amazing questions and everything was funny and insightful. I really liked the sound of a LOT of the books, so I bought four from the bookstall that was in the venue. I do think their prices were very high, but I had some Christmas money to use so that's okay. 

I ate my lunch in the break out room, which was also where the signings were, so it made space a bit squeezed. I would prefer if they could do that differently next year too! I got talking to a woman I was sitting next to in the main hall, so that was nice. 

The final panel of the afternoon had Elly Griffiths on it. I have read most of her books and have met her twice before, but I hadn't bought any of her new series which features time travel, mostly because it sounds a bit weird. But it sounded interesting so I did buy it so that I could get her to sign it. I wore my Bruce Sprinsteen t shirt especially for her as she's a big fan (which is why Ruth Galloway is also a fan!) so we talked about him and how much we love him, haha. 

I didn't stick around too long after the last panel, and managed to get home in good time so that I could rest for a bit. I had ended up carrying a lot of books and other stuff, by myself, which I'm proud of, but I was tired! 

My freebie tote bag

All the panels, these are backwards in time but not to worry! 

Proof I was with Elly! 

And here's what I came home with! Bad Deeds was the book I got for free. The top right is a chapter sampler but Rebecca was really interesting and her book sounds really good so I got her to sign this sampler for me and will probably buy it when it's out. Everything else just sounded really interesting so I bought them and got them signed!

What You Are Looking For Is In the Library by Michiko Aoyama - Review

This was one of the books that I got in the swap I did at Christmas, where the person I was swapping with was actually my friend Sarah Beth, which was really nice because it meant we knew each other and it was nice to choose books for Sarah Beth and really lovely to receive books that they really rate. I wasn't sure about this one at all, but was obviously willing to give it a go. My friend Stacey had also read this one and said I should get to it, so I did. As a reminder, I was trying to read all the books I got as gifts for Xmas in February, and I managed it! I'm thrilled that I did this, but it's not even the end of February and I have finished all five books! 

Anyway, this book. It is a book in translation which I always really like to read, although I don't get to many. This one is translated really beautifully which I think added to my enjoyment of the book. 

The book has five different protagonists, all of whom are struggling with something in their lives. They each end up in this one community library, either accidentally or because they're encouraged to go. There, this mysterious librarian called Ms Komachi, who sits needle felting in a little cubby by herself, will find for them several books. Among them will be a curve ball, something they weren't expecting, but which gives them exactly what they need in life. 

The first person is a young woman who works as a sales assistant who needs a push to educate herself a little better. She also makes some kind of rice ball things and maybe ends up starting a relationship with someone she works with. The second person is an accountant - a boring, safe life, but he really wishes to open an antiques store. He has his reasons for that, from his past. Some of his story ends up being reflected in someone else's story further on, too. I liked how all five people's lives were interwoven in this way for the reader to know even if the protagonists themselves don't realise it. 

The third person in the book had my favourite story. She used to be a magazine editor but then got pregnant, and was replaced while she was on maternity leave. She is struggling with life now - it's busy, she has to think about her daughter and deal with all the admin, etc. Her husband is trying, but she feels very alone. She's forty, and I just really liked her story arc. I like how her little section ended up, too. It felt very real for a lot of forty year olds. 

The fourth person is a manga artist, a young man who needs the library to help him learn new things. He's not in education or employment and he's flailing a bit. I liked him, and the fifth person, who is newly retired and isn't sure what to do with himself. 

As I say, all the stories do interweave a bit, in a really clever way. I did mostly like this book, but found it drifted a little bit. I'm giving it three and a half out of five - it didn't quite get to four stars but it was close. 

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston - Review

This was the last book in my LGBTQ+ January reading, and it also segued well into February's theme - I decided to try to read all the books I was given for Christmas. It's past halfway through February now and I am not doing that great at this as I've just not been reading much/ February has been busy so far. But all the books I've read were gifts, so that's one thing! 

This was one of the books I got in the Book Flood swap that Gwen and Janet organise. My partner was Sarah Beth, who is already a friend of mine, so that was nice as we know each other fairly well and could choose books accordingly. I was intrigued by this one and am glad I picked it up, but it was a bit too long for me. 

I generally liked it and think there are flashes of brilliance in it, but overall it just didn't do it for me. My friend Chloe has it on her Goodreads wishlist so I'm going to pass it on to her and see what she thinks about it. I would try something else by the same author but this one just didn't quite do it for me. 

So the story is this: August is twenty- three and she moves to New York. She's from New Orleans (I think) originally and her life has been tainted by her mother. Her mother's brother, Augie, went missing as a teenager, way before August was born, and her mother has spent her life trying to find him. August has spent her life trailing round after her mum in records offices and so on. She's fed up of it, so she's moved. 

She gets a room in a flat with three roommates - Niko, who is psychic, Myla, an artist, and Wes, who is a trust fund kid who doesn't talk to his family. August is a lesbian and all her roommates are queer - I really liked how this came out bit by bit. She gets a job at Billy's Pancake House and she meets a drag queen who lives across the hall. I loved his side story too, I could have read more about that. 

Anyway August is riding the subway a lot to get to her classes. She's on the Q line and keeps seeing a girl who catches her eyes. This girl is a butch lesbian type, with  ripped jeans, red Converse, and a leather jacket. She is usually listening to a Walkman. August invites her to meet her for drinks, but Jane - because that's her name - doesn't turn up. But August keeps seeing her on the train. As it turns out, Jane is stuck there. She's actually from the mid 1970s and she's been stuck for years. Her memory is hazy and she's obviously confused when August tells her that it's actually the late 2010s, but August seems to have revived something in her. 

August and Jane do start a relationship and August then forgets her entire life for like a month by getting on the train all the time as she and Jane try to figure out how to free Jane. I found this bit annoying because there's no way August would have been able to call in sick so much and keep her job, or not be earning anything, and be able to keep her room in the apartment. I didn't entirely buy the relationship between the two, either. I guess I'm just not used to romance novels that much, and the instant love that abounds in them. I found Jane a bit passive in general - she does freak out at one point about her situation but it felt to me like it came way too late in the book. August is cute and I liked her mostly, but she makes some stupid decisions at times. 

I liked the queer community around August - this felt very natural and real. I loved how they came together at the end - no spoilers - and thought this worked well. But the book was just a bit too long for me, too. Cutting even fifty pages out could have made it way better for me. 

In all I'm giving it three out of five. I felt it dragged in parts and I didn't love the main relationship, so I can't score it higher. 

Trans Like Me by C N Lester - Review

I've had this book absolutely forever and I think I followed the author on Twitter at one point way back in time and probably ordered this then. I picked this book up as part of my LGBTQ+ reading month in January. I am really glad I got round to it. I don't tend to read a lot of non fiction but enjoyed this. 

C N Lester is non binary and talks in this book about that and their experiences as a trans person, but alongside that are parts where they talk about sex and gender, break down myths about trans people, cite up to date research and so on about trans people. It is at once both personal and clinical, in a was that I really liked. There's no sugar coating reality for trans people, but equally there is a message of hope for the community. 

One thing I did think was, well this book was written a decade ago (it was published in 2017) and really I feel like we've gone back politically for trans people. With pressure groups barring trans women from using the loo in public and people like J K Rowling using their vast wealth to push their backward thinking viewpoints, it feels like we've gone backwards in that decade. I find that upsetting and as always I stand behind my trans siblings in the community. 

I don't have a lot to say about this - I just really liked reading it and am grateful that C N Lester laid their soul bare in such a way. I'm giving this five out of five. 

Boy Friends by Kai Spellmeier - Review

I got this book on Netgalley so thank you very much to Bloomsbury Publishing for granting me access to it. This book will be published in May 2026. I was given an electronic copy of this book for review purposes, but was not otherwise compensated for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Okay so first of all I was really excited to read this book. I understand that it is the first book that Kai Spellmeier has written in English. Maybe that's why I just couldn't gel with it. My main issue with it is that I do not understand where it is set. It's set in a small town called Lombard which seems to be on an island... but where? I thought at first it was American, but no, Luca and Simo use a lot of British phrases. It's a cute seaside town, but I cannot get to grips with where in the world it's supposed to be located. It comes off to me like a Channel Island or something. I also felt like the town just wasn't rooted enough in reality. It wasn't described well enough. I found this issue was enough to stop me from loving the book. 

However, it does have its high points. Luca lives with his dad, who owns a bakery slash cafe, where Luca sometimes works. Luca is gay and so is his dad. Luca's mum is off doing some kind of scientific research like in a volcano or in Antartica or something, I'm not sure. She's not around, anyway. Luca has a huge crush on his best friend, Simo, and has done for years. 

The two boys are really close. They have sleepovers and trust each other implicitly. Simo lives with his parents. His older brother died a long time ago and Simo misses him, but no one in the family will really talk about him. Simo kind of has a crush on Luca, but not really? It's complicated. His parents are pretty homophobic so that puts him off talking about how he feels. 

Anyway there's this noticeboard in Lombard where every week something gets put up. Luca always rushes to see what it says so he can share the news with an elderly neighbour, but one week the noticeboard says "LUCA AND SIMO ARE IN LOVE". Both boys are absolutely shocked by this. Simo especially is just cringing - because it might be true but he doesn't want the whole world to know! Besides how would someone else know when they don't?!

But they do both want to be boyfriend not boy friends. I do think there are very sweet elements of the book - the way they fall in love is good. But I found it a bit ethereal and not really grounded enough for me. It ended on a cliffhanger so I kind of would be interested in the next part of the story - but the writing just didn't do it for me. I'm giving it three out of five. 

The Passing Playbook by Isaac Fitzsimons - Review

 

I have absolutely no idea where I got this book. I don't remember buying it, but that doesn't mean I didn't. I don't remember someone giving me it, either. But it was on my shelves and I picked it up as part of my LGBTQ+ books only in January thing. I wanted to really like it, but unfortunately I just didn't. 

It's a book about Spencer, who is a trans boy. He is fifteen and he's just moved schools, for complex reasons that get forgotten later. His younger brother is autistic and struggles with school, which I felt was portrayed in quite a stereotypical way which I didn't like. Their parents are incredibly involved in their lives. Their dad is Black and their mum is white, I think, which is not entirely relevant to the plot but it is a nice little side plot. 

Spencer came out as trans as a kid as went on puberty blockers aged thirteen, and now uses testosterone gel. This isn't a huge part of the book either but it is relevant to Spencer's history. His parents are really supportive but due to what happened at his old school they don't want him to play soccer at his new school. But Spencer is a brilliant footballer and really wants to play, so he ends up going behind their back and tries out for the team anyway. He ends up getting selected, of course, and his team is happy to have him on board. But they don't know he's trans, and Spencer doesn't want to come out. His coach eventually - seriously, it takes forever to get to this point in the book - needs some ID for his permission stuff, and of course this means Spencer will be outed. He does eventually tells his parents but that takes forever too. A lot of the book goes really slow. 

Meanwhile, Spencer does join the Queer Straight Alliance. There's a non binary kid there called Riley, who fears using the boys toilets at another point in the book, and Spencer helps them. I did like this bit. Riley wants to push for gender neutral bathrooms but the leader of the QSA isn't too keen on this. Spencer knows he needs to step up for himself and others, but it's a whole thing that he can't.

Then there's Justice. He's also on the soccer team and he rides a motorbike and Spencer immediately has a crush. He and Justice have Music Appreciation class together and end up playing soccer together too, so they get really close. Justice's family is Christian evangelists and they won't accept Justice's sexuality, and Spencer knows they won't accept him either. A lot of the romance between the two is really cute, but again, it drags. 

I also feel like the book skews a lot younger than if it was written for fifteen year olds. Spencer and Justice often come off more like twelve or thirteen and a lot of the whole thing comes off like Middle  Grade. A lot of how the teens talk to each other just doesn't ring true at all. There are no girls in the book, which annoyed me, and the ones who briefly appear are portrayed as silly and too 'girly'. There are flashes of loveliness - like the Homecoming Dance - but in general it just didn't ring true for me. The whole thing was a bit like an After School Special. I'm giving it two out of five. 

Boy Queen by George Lester - Review

I bought this book at Northern YA Lit Fest a few years ago. George was there talking about the book, so I bought it and got him to sign it. I was so glad to get to read it. George himself is a drag queen and from what I gather an editor or someone else in publishing suggested he wrote a book about it, and this is what he came up with. That's an interesting way for it to happen, but I don't think it's to the book's detriment!

Robin Cooper is in his last year of sixth form and he's really into performing arts. He really wants to go to a performing arts school in London, that he has auditioned for. The dream is that he will go there and his best friend, Natalie, will go to university nearby, and they will live together and have a fabulous time. Robin spends a lot of his time rehearsing and dancing. He has a secret boyfriend, Connor, who doesn't want anyone to know they're together, and who does not deserve Robin in any way. He and Natalie hang out with a lad called Greg who is their token straight friend; Greg is incredibly sweet and would do anything for his friends. Robin is also friends with a girl called Priya who goes to dancing with him. I love a set of supportive friends and these are fab! He also lives with just his mum and I loved her too - she's funny and sassy and loves him deeply. After Robin got beaten up and bullied for being gay the previous summer, his mum worries about him and doesn't want him to put himself out there too much. This is relevant later. 

Anyway, the future looks set - but then Robin doesn't get into the school of his dreams. He is crushed. His friends are of course crushed for him. He literally has no idea what he wants to do next. I loved the depiction of that - when you're eighteen and about to leave school or sixth form and you're all on that precipice and you're not going to be together anymore. It's scary! George put it across so well. 

To cheer Robin up his friends take him to a drag show in a queer pub in the next town over. They have a great time and little by little, Robin gets involved in drag. He has a drag mother whose name I forget but who is a great character. At college, there's a new boy called Seth who has a dangerous reputation, and he starts driving Robin back and forward to the queer pub. He and Robin get close - I liked Seth and I loved his back story when it came out. Robin's drag coming out is done in such a fantastic way, but I also really liked everything going on under that.

Robin and Natalie's relationship starts to fall apart, and there's just a lot of rubbish going through the friendship group which I thought was dealt with really well. I feel like I could read books and books of George writing about friendship groups and what being seventeen/eighteen is really like. I'm giving this four out of five, and I'll definitely read something else by George in the future. 

All Boys Aren't Blue by George M Johnson - Review

I bought this last year I think, when I visited a children's bookshop in Retford. It's a memoir and seemed my kind of thing, so I picked it up. I read it as part of my reading only queer books in January plan, and I'm really glad I got to it. I don't really have tons to say about it because it's a memoir, so it's the true story of someone's life, so it's not like I'm going to criticise it, is it!

George M Johnson is queer and non binary and Black, and grew up in a loving household in New Jersey. This book is mostly linear, ranging from their early years being looked after by their grandmother, with a ton of cousins running around, to their experiences as a teenager. The book is aimed towards young adults and does feature some resources for others who feel similar. It tells the stories of other queer people in their family, which I really liked. 

I found George's writing engaging. There are a couple of incidences of sexual assault, and I felt like they wrote about them in really powerful ways. I would heartily recommend the book but take care of yourself, of course. I'm giving it four stars. 

West Yorkshire Queer Stories - Review

First of all let me share a couple of photos of books! Doesn't everyone love a book haul? Then I'll get into this review.  

First of all these are the books I got for Christmas. The top three were from a swap I did run by Gwen and Janet, I've joined in with this swap a zillion times and always enjoy it. This year my swapper turned out to by my friend Sarah Beth, so I had fun choosing some books that I thought they would like and vice versa. Shy Radicals is totally me, I'm looking forward to this. My friend Stacey says What you are looking for is in the library is great, so I'm looking forward to that, too. The third one is a queer romance which isn't always my thing, but I'm willing to take Sarah Beth's word that it is good!  

Lee bought me We Fell Apart and Bog Queen because I asked for both of them. We Fell Apart is the third in this series and I can't wait to read it. I can't remember why I chose Bog Queen but it sounds great. Girls to the Front was from my Secret Santa in Lee's family, which turns out to be my sister in law Libby. She's also really into books and this sounds really up my street. 

Next is this pile of books which I got at the beginning of January from Waterstones. My friend Jac gave me a gift voucher so when my mum and I went to Meadowhall I went and browsed. I love Lucy Foley so picked that one up as I've been seeing reviews of it. I had seen someone rave about All Fours so I thought I would give that a go. This Val McDermid is non fiction so that'll be interesting, and the other two just looked interesting (and were on the buy one get one half price which is always good). 

I DO have a lot of books, yep. I love them. 

And now to my review. I've had this book absolutely forever. I'm from West Yorkshire so I was obviously intrigued by this. I think I backed it or something, like the crowdfunding? I really can't remember, but I've had it a while. And I finally got round to it! It's joyful to read. There was a whole project to capture the stories of tons of queer people living in the region. This book is colourful and pretty but also has some really deep stories in it, from elders who have lived through decades of queer history, to people newly out. I loved it, I'm giving it five out of five and I would recommend it if you need a bit of queer joy. 

Cuddy by Benjamin Myers - Review

This was the book club choice for January and I got a Readers Group copy from the library in like November or something, I dunno, a long time ago. The book was a bit intimidating as it seemed long, and I was concentrating on queer books in January, so I decided to listen to the audiobook instead. Generally in a week I might have a couple of hours where I'm driving and can listen to an audiobook, so I knew I could finish it before the 21st when our meeting was. But then I ended up finishing it in only a couple of weeks as I really liked it and ending up listening to it while I was working too. Listening to it was a joy too because three of the four main parts were narrated by friendly Geordies which was nice. My experience with this made me decide to listen to February's choice for book club, too! More on that later... 

So, Cuddy is the nickname of St Cuthbert, who is the patron saint of Durham Cathedral. This was about the sum total of my knowledge about Cuthbert before I read this book (audiobooks count as reading and it's ableist to suggest otherwise as some people CAN'T read paper or electronic books!) and I expected it to be a novel about him and his life, not dissimilar to Haven by Emma Donoghue which I read back in 2023. Margaret at book club thought the same thing, but no. This is not really a book about St Cuthbert. 

There's a lot of scene setting with quotes about Cuthbert's life and the settling of Durham and the start of the building of the cathedral. I found this a bit dull but I made my way through it to Book 1.

Book 1 is about Ediva, a young woman who is with the band of monks that are taking care of Cuthbert's coffin. When Cuthbert died his body was put inot a stone coffin and removed from Lindisfarne, where he had lived, to the mainland, because of the Viking invaders. Ediva is cook, healer, general dogsbody for the monks. She is somewhat friendly with a young boy, who is also an outsider from the monks, and who has large owl eyes. He is a recurring character through the book, in an odd way. Ediva has visions of where they will set Cuthbert's body down and build a chapel for him - there will be a clearing with a cow. Indeed, this comes to pass, at the bend in the river Wear where Durham Cathedral now sits. 

I liked Ediva; it was interesting to hear her back story and her place within the bank of monks. I liked the faith that they all had that they would find a place worthy of Cuthbert's shrine. I love religious stories like this because I just don't have  that type of faith. This book is set in the tenth century. 

Book 2 was my favourite of the four and lots of people at book club felt the same. It could have been a book in its own right! It's about Eda, a woman who is married to Fletcher Bullard, an archer for the king. This book is set in the 1300s. Fletcher is great at his job, a great archer, well respected etc, but he's also abusive towards Eda. He kicked her so hard once that she has been unable to bear children. She likes it when Fletcher is away from home fighting. She makes beer and takes it to the stonemasons working on the walls of the cathedral. There she meets Francis Rolfe, a mason, who woos her and charms her. I thought that the story would end really badly but loved how it worked out. This part was written in the second person which really gave it immediacy and drew us towards it. 

Book 3 was maybe my least favourite but I still liked it a lot. It's a ghost story set in the 1850s or something like that. A professor at Oxford is invited to Durham to be there when some clerics open Cuthbert's tomb. There's a myth that Cuthbert's body has never decayed and that in the stone coffin it is still whole. The professor is disdainful of the north but arrives in Durham and is greeted by a boy with eyes like an owl's who leads him to his lodgings. But his host, one of the vicars involved, doesn't know this boy. The professor is haunted at night by strange singing in his room. This part owes a lot to writing like The Woman in Black and so on. I didn't love it but it is compelling. 

Book 4 is about Michael. It's set in 2019. Michael is around nineteen years old and is caring for his dying mother. He works as a casual labourer doing back breaking work and he budgets every penny - eating nothing but Pot Noodles - while also kind of wishing for something outside of himself. He gets a job working in the cathedral where talented masons and so on are working on repairs to the ancient building. His life is very much a portrait of Tory Britain at the time which I thought was very effective. I felt really sorry for Michael. At book club, we liked the ending too, and we liked the through motif of Cuthbert spraking to the protagonist of each book. 

In all I'm giving this five out of five, I absolutely loved it and it was a joy to keep me company on my drives! 

Weird Girl and What's His Name by Meagan Brothers - Review

Hello! Welcome to a new year of blogging for me! I'm finally on to books I've read in 2026. You may notice that I usually write a round up of the books I read in the previous year. Well, the journal that I was using for the beginning of 2025 has been packed away into the loft, and I can't be bothered finding it in order to do the survey. So that post won't exist in 2026 unless I end up in the loft for something else and find my journal! Oh well. 

I have started using Storygraph in 2026, as well as Goodreads, so that will be interesting to see at the end of 2026 as they have lots of different graphs about format of books read, and so on. 

I also decided that in January 2026 I would only read books under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella. This idea partly came about because I have a new desk at home for doing actual work on (as opposed to this desk, which is in my craft room) and it's right in front of the LGBTQIA+ books. I kept looking at them while working and thinking, ooh I'd like to read X, I'd like to read Y. So I thought for the month I would only read queer books. It is nearly the end of January now and it's been an absolute joy to read queer books all month. 

However, I didn't love this book. But I am glad I read it because I've been looking at it for ages! The book is about two best friends, Lula and Rory. Lula lives with her grandparents, who are pretty strict with her, because her mum walked out when Lula was only little. She was a teen mum and couldn't cope. Lula's grandad has never forgiven his daughter for leaving, so the family never mentions her. Lula still has some of her mother's posessions though, including a bunch of her books. 

Rory lives with his mum, who is an alcoholic, and who is chaotic. Rory doesn't have a very happy home life. Lula kind of does - her grandparents adore her - but she's stuck too. They're kind of outcasts at school. They spend every Friday night watching old episodes of The X Files and uploading to their blog about the TV show. The book is set in 2008 so it was a bit past the prime of the series, so their classmates just think they're weird. 

Rory came out as gay to Lula ages ago, but he hasn't told her that he is having an affair with his boss, who is like nearly three times his age, and who is divorced and has two daughters who are not that much younger than Rory. Rory seems to think that the two of them will be out and proud together eventually, and that they have a future together. It is obvious as an adult reading that they do not, but I liked the way it was portrayed. Rory also tries out for the high school football team, but doesn't tell Lula that either because he knows she'll scoff about it. I did think the book was quite fatphobic in the way that it talked about Rory's body, which I didn't like at all. He's big and tall and therefore an asset to a football team, sure, but it was quite shame-y in the way it talked about his body. 

Anyway, Lula then goes missing. She has been reading her mother's books and goes off to New York to try to find her mum. The first part of the book is from Rory's point of view and the second part is from Lula's. I don't think either part really worked for me. I can't decide what I just didn't like about the book but I didn't. I am giving it three out of five; I liked the stories mostly, but the writing, not overly. 

One of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon - Review

I got this book in the library in December. It caught my eye because I've read other books by Nicola Yoon and enjoyed them, so I picked this up. It's her first book for adults so I was really intrigued and checked it out. I started reading it just after Christmas but didn't get it finished because of how busy I was, so it just sneaked into 2026 and was my first finish on New Year's Day! I really liked it, I hope Nicola writes more books for adults!

The book is about a Black woman called Jasmyn and her family. She is married to King and they have a son and another one on the way. They've made quite a lot of money and have been living in Los Angeles, but then King wants the family to move to Liberty. That's a town in California where only Black people live. It's a gated community type of place and pretty exclusive. Jasmyn isn't sold on it, but King is pretty insistent on the move.

Once they get there, Jasmyn struggles to fit in. She quickly manages to annoy some of her neighbours, who are like the elders of the community and who ostracise her. King, though, fits in immediately, and begins spending too much time at the wellness centre which is a focal point of the town. He encourages Jasmyn to join too, but she's busy with work and her child. She also hoped that she would find like minded people in Liberty - people who are interested in social justice and rights for Black people and all of that stuff. But she can't find anyone else who thinks like she does, and she's disappointed. 

She goes to the wellness centre for a pregnancy massage and she hears screaming and tries to run towards it, but she's stopped by the overly polite and extremely firm staff. She does meet two friends who are politically minded like she is, but they end up changing too and Jasmyn is trying to find out what on earth is going on in Liberty. 

I loved the book. It did slow a bit in parts but it kept me reading. I liked Jasmyn and desperately wanted her to succeed. There were a bunch of twists and turns and the twist at the end really shocked me. I loved the set up and all the supporting characters. I'm giving this five out of five. 

The Mystery Club 3: The Forbidden Island by Fiona Kelly - Review

I pulled this book off the shelves just before Christmas. It is a book I've had ever since I was a small child, and I read it again and gain. As you can see, it's pretty battered. It's funny because it still has my homemade library ticket glued into the front, and my name written very carefully just above that. I read this over and over, but I don't think I ever read anything else in the Mystery Club series. Maybe by the time I read this I wasn't visiting libraries any more so couldn't request any? I don't know. But I might have to get some more of these, for nostalgia's sake. 

So the Mystery Club is three girls, aged fifteen. Now, I will say, this book was written thirty years ago and Young Adult as a thing didn't really exist back then, so it skews younger, they skew as younger than fifteen and the audience for this book is definitely younger than that. It's weird, really, but it works. Anyway the girls are Holly, Tracy and Belinda. Reading this now I found these names odd given that these books were published in the mid 90s and those names seem older than that - there are few Tracys and Belindas my age. Never mind! It just struck me. 

As this is Book 3 they have previously solved some mysteries, they're not new to it. They go off to visit Holly's aunt for a week's relaxation. Tracy is sporty and regularly goes running. Belinda is more bookish and quiet. Holly is spunky, irrepressible, and nosy - I remembered why I liked her so much when I was little. I think all three of them skew queer, by the way, there's a lot of queer coding that I picked up on. Holly can't just sit on the beach and relax, no. Instead she becomes obsessed with the little island that lies just off the coast of where her aunt lives. It's known locally as Anthrax Island because it was used during the war to test anthrax or something, and it's forbidden to go there. 

But Holly and the girls have seen lights there, and then returning lights from the mainland. What is going on, and who is involved? The trio start to ask questions and get themselves in danger. Of course they do! 

I actually really loved my reread of this book. It was sweet and nostalgic and I really liked the girls as much as I used to. I'm giving this four out of five. 

The Holiday Trap by Roan Parrish - Review

I bought this book some time in 2025, I don't remember exactly when. I thought it looked like a cute romance book to read around Christmas, so that's exactly what I did. But it took me ages to read and while that always happens in December just because I get busy, it's also because I just didn't get on with the book too much. I can't fully explain why, but maybe it'll be clearer as I write this review. 

So Greta is one of the protagonists. She is from a tiny island in Maine, I guess a bit like Martha's Vineyard, where everyone knows each other. She is one of five sisters and they're are a close knit Jewish family. She is a lesbian. She went to university in Portland, Maine, which did give her some freedom, but she's now back on the island. She's at a festival type thing when her eldest sister Sadie - who is mean and rude throughout the book - puts her up for a dating auction thing, meaning she would be auctioned off for a date with a man. Greta is obviously upset about this because she is gay - and she's mad with her sister and with the rest of the family (her mum is a bit of a nightmare too). She desperately wants to escape Maine for a few weeks over Hannukah and the winter, and ends up looking for a house swap thing. 

Meanwhile, Truman lives in New Orleans. He is gay and he's in a relationship with a man whose name I forget but it doesn't matter as he's not relevant. But it turns out he is married and has a small child, meaning Truman has been the bit on the side all along. Truman is obviously heartbroken and wants to escape New Orleans. 

Enter their mutual friend, Ramona, who suggests they swap homes for a bit. Greta has a zillion houseplants that need babying, so she can't just leave them, and Truman has a dog that he can't leave by himself either. So they swap. Greta meets Carys, who leads ghost walks in New Orleans, on like her first day in New Orleans and they begin a relationship. I found Carys a bit of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl - she's just TOO perfect, including her lovely found family which Greta gets involved with too, and including the way she calls Greta out over one thing in a way that really irritated me - and I didn't love their relationship. Their sex scenese were hot, though, so that's one thing. I actually thought that Greta's relationship with an older lady who introduces her to a bunch of gardeners was more interesting and which brought Greta out of herself in a better way than Carys did I think. 

I did really like the depiction of Greta's family and of New Orleans (a place I would love to go!) but her story arc overall left me a bit cold. 

Truman ends up meeting Greta's friend Ash, who owns the local flower shop (so many tropes). Ash is depressed and struggling to care for his mother, who has dementia. Truman turns up with a bit of colour and a whole load of ideas to improve the flower shop and while it's obviously really sweet, it puts Ash off. I thought this was a much more realistic relationship and they ebb and flow towards each other. Truman learns how to trust himself I think, he's a lot more introspective by the end of the book. Ash is really lovely and I liked how he was brought out of himself too.

But the book dragged a lot for me; I felt it was at least fifty pages too long. I am giving it three out of five and I wouldn't rush to read this author again.  

A Murder in York by J R Ellis - Review

 

Another J R Ellis book! My mum likes these which keeps me reading them, but I feel like Ellis is just churning them out and they're just not as good as they used to be. I feel also like he is trying to write about some 'issues' re austerity Britain and he's just not doing it very well. It comes across like he's trying too hard which annoys me. I may give up at the next one, but I probably said that about the last one, too.

So, Oldroyd is at a conference in York and one evening he decides to go on one of the famous ghost walks around the city. I really liked the description here because I know York well (I went to York St John University) and the ghost walks are famous. (I should go on one one of these days!). Oldroyd is enjoying himself when up one of the snickleways there is a body. He obviously gets involved in the case because he can't resist. The dead man turns out to be a local slum landlord who has no end of enemies - an ex wife, plenty of angry tennants, and even the people involved in running the ghost walk. Oldroyd keeps investigating which no other officers ever seems to mind because of course he is just so brilliant.  

Part of the book is told from the point of view of a family who lives in one of his terrible properties, and it was this that I felt was a bit heavy handed. I get it, but in the context of a novel it just didn't feel right. I also felt like being angry at your landlord was a pretty rubbish motive for murder. In fact, although it's a month since I read this, I'm not sure anyone had that strong of a motive. 

Oh god, and the sub plot with Andy and Stephanie annoyed me too, but the least said about that the better. I wish one of them would just leave, the other would be way better without them. 

I'm only giving this three out of five. 

The Painter's Daughters by Emily Howes - Review

This was the book club book choice for December and I hadn't ever heard of it or the author, but I was happy to read it. It was a good choice for our book club, I think. We talked about it at our December meeting, which is also a meal and a bit of a social, so I'm not sure we actually talked about the book for very long. But I think we liked it.

It is about the daughters of the painter Thomas Gainsborough, Molly and Peg. The book is told from Peg's point of view and starts with her as quite a small child when the family lived in Ipswich. Gainsborough genuinely did paint his daughters and the author has used this as a springboard to imagine the lives of the family, and has maybe used a rumour as part of her work too? I like this blurring of fact and fiction. 

Molly has funny turns in the book and Peg tries to control her and corral her into behaving. She desperately wants her dad to love her more but he is distant and forgetful about her. The girls' mother rules the house and the finances. There is a rumour that her father was a royal prince, and part of the book is from Peg's grandmother's point of view showing what happened to her. We felt like these chapters were a little jarring and took us out of the main narrative, and it wasn't clear how the two parts were related until quite a way on into the book. 

The family moves to Bath where the girls, their mother hopes, will marry well and make enough money to keep themselves. The girls are kept inside, away from people, while their father paints all the society people who want him to, and perhaps has an affair or two. Peg falls in love but it's Molly who gets married, despite her illness and the episodes where she disassociates. 

I generally liked the book and found it compelling, it kept me reading. But the story just didn't quite gel for me, so I'm giving it three out of five. 

Frankie by Graham Norton - Review

You may know that I really like Graham Norton's books. I really rate him as a celebrity who is also an author, unlike some people we could mention. I always look forward to another of Graham's books, so when I realised I hadn't got to this one yet, I requested it at the library. 

The story is about a woman called Frankie. She is elderly now and her friend Norah has hired a carer for her after a fall, while she recuperates. The two live in London now, but they're from the same small town in Ireland and have known each other since they were little. Nor is worth a lot of money; Frankie lives in a flat crammed with things which are all a bit faded glamour. The carer is called Damian. He is gay, and also Irish. He is young but he and Frankie forge a friendship and she tells him about her life. 

After a tragic start, Frankie was brought up by her aunt and uncle, a conservative couple who kept her very sheltered. She was married off to a much older man who was a Church of Ireland vicar. He treated Frankie terribly and the marriage failed. Her relatives, outraged by this, disown her. She ends up in London where she meets Nor again. She ends up in New York where she becomes a chef eventually, and meets Joe, who is an artist. It's the 60s and 70s and they're in basically Warhol's world. Time goes on and other things come up. I loved Frankie and her life. She's a strong character and utterly likeable. I liked that the story concerned the Church of Ireland in the beginning because I feel like I haven't read books about that very often. Frankie thinks that she isn't the main character of her own life and I kind of get what she means, but the story IS about her and her backbone and strength throughout her life. 

I liked the device of telling Damian her story, it sort of brought together old Ireland and new Ireland. I liked the book a lot, can't wait for his next one! I'm giving this four out of five. 

The Amazing Edie Eckhart - The Friend Mission by Rosie Jones - Review

You know I love Rosie Jones' Edie Eckhart series. Edie is twelve years old and has cerebral palsy and is in the queer community. I love her so much. Ive enjoyed both books about her and am eagerly awaiting the next. I requested this at the library and they bought it for me. I love it when that happens! Libraries are so good! I hope the next person to find this book enjoys it too.

It is a World Book Day novella so it isn't very long, but I still enjoyed the story. Edie is starting Year 8 at school and there's a new girl in her class, Mia. Mia is American and she has a hearing impairment and wears hearing aids. Edie wants them to be immediate friends! And she wants to get to know Mia's twin, Benjamin! But she is a bit too enthusiastic so it takes a while to win Mia around.

There's not much else to say about this but I did really like it. I hope the next full book comes along soon! I'm giving this four out of five.