Review: From Scotland With Love

From Scotland With Love by Katie Fforde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Inept PR girl Daisy tries to rectify her mistakes by travelling to Scotland to persuade her firm's most prestigious but also grumpy writer Rory McAllan to sign some bookplates she doesn't realise that there's a snowstorm incoming and she gets trapped with him in his tiny cottage in the middle of nowhere in the days leading up to New Year's Eve.

While Daisy might not be the greatest PR girl, she has lots of other skills which impress Rory, especially because she is nothing like his high-maintenance ex-wife.

This is a sweet holiday, forced proximity, grumpy meets sunshine romance novella - just the thing you need in the dead time between Christmas and New Year when I have the attention span of a gnat.

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Review: From Scotland With Love

From Scotland With Love by Katie Fforde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Inept PR girl Daisy tries to rectify her mistakes by travelling to Scotland to persuade her firm's most prestigious but also grumpy writer Rory McAllan to sign some bookplates she doesn't realise that there's a snowstorm incoming and she gets trapped with him in his tiny cottage in the middle of nowhere in the days leading up to New Year's Eve.

While Daisy might not be the greatest PR girl, she has lots of other skills which impress Rory, especially because she is nothing like his high-maintenance ex-wife.

This is a sweet holiday, forced proximity, grumpy meets sunshine romance novella - just the thing you need in the dead time between Christmas and New Year when I have the attention span of a gnat.

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Review: The Affair of the Christmas Card Killer

The Affair of the Christmas Card Killer by Jack Murray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lord Arthur Cavendish has invited his grandson (and heir) Henry and Henry's mother Mrs Emily Cavendish to Cavendish Hall for Christmas. Henry's father, Robert (Lord Cavendish's second son) is dead. Mrs Cavendish and Lord Cavendish do not get on well together but he is determined to make more of an effort to be pleasant to her and to get to know his grandson better. For his part, Henry hates Cavendish Hall and feels like he is both bullied by his mother and made to feel unworthy by his grandfather because he is not sporty or interested in joining the army like the other men in his family.

Lord Cavendish's eldest son John and daughter-in-law Katherine are also both dead and his two nieces Esther and Mary now live with him at Cavendish Hall. Esther is a more classical beauty, but Mary is more lively, and they are the greatest of friends.

Lord Cavendish has also invited two single, eligible bachelors to the party in the hope that one or both of them might fall in love with his nieces and provide for their future. The two single gentlemen are Lord Kit Aston and an explorer called Eric Strangerson, who was in Robert's battalion in WW1.

Lord Kit Aston was an officer in WW1, he is rumoured to have done some intelligence work, and has had some success in solving the murder of a French diplomat - very Lord Peter Wimsey. Kit is assisted by his manservant Harry Miller, a former thief, who rescued him from No Man's Land during the war. Besides his suitability as a potential spouse for one of his nieces, Lord Cavendish also wants to consult Kit about a number of cards he has received over the years saying 'Happy Christmas, I've killed you', Lord Cavendish is worried that the card sender might succeed and he wants to reconcile with his grandson and see his granddaughters settled before he does (succeed).

The party gets snowed in, and a locum doctor appears at the door. He'd been visiting a patient nearby and was unable to get back to the village in the snow. Trapped in a remote country house with secrets swirling and no access to the outside world it's a surprise to no-one when Lord Cavendish is found dead in his room. While there is no evidence of foul play, Kit is concerned because of the threatening cards, and the girls ask him to investigate until the police can take over.

Overall I enjoyed this. However, it wasn't without its faults, others have commented that the author has almost consistently mis-titled all the characters, some even said he clearly hasn't even watched Downton Abbey to know that Emily should be called Mrs Cavendish, Kit's father is alive so he can't be Lord Kit etc, etc. Also, Lord Cavendish's death literally comes 50% into the book which is way too late in the book. (view spoiler)[Furthermore, making the suspect the most unlikable character is a huuuge clue. (hide spoiler)]Generally there were way too many coincidences, which would only have worked if the characters had been deliberately invited because they were all connected by The Thing.

However, I have a weakness for Golden Age mysteries and aristocratic sleuths so I will definitely continue reading the series.

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

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Review: Murder at Martingale Manor

Murder at Martingale Manor by Jodi Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Leon takes Max to recuperate after her injuries, and what could be nicer than a trip back to the 1920s and a country house hotel, all very Agatha Christie - who just happens to be the author of the paperback book Max is reading in hospital.

Indeed, the guests and staff at Martingale Manor in Devon could easily have come from one of Ms Christie's books: the mysterious older woman, the absent-minded clergyman, the doctor, the military man, the charming young couple, the chatty maid, the hotel manageress with a secret.

One night at dinner, one of the guests makes a quite innocuous comment, directed more at themselves than any other person in the room ... and yet the effect on the room was remarkable. The next day, the guest is dead, and it doesn't look like an accident or natural causes. Even worse, all the other guests and staff seemed to have congregated together in the lobby or gardens with other people ... except Leon. Can Max uncover the real culprit and save Leon?

This was a lovely mystery, I do love reading Jodi's annual Christmas novella, it's as much a part of my Christmas as turkey with all the trimmings or a tin of Quality Street. My only gripe is that I didn't understand what Max meant about Olly and Molly - I'll have to read a review/analysis from someone cleverer than me to find out I guess. Okay, on second thoughts I had two gripes, wasn't the murder method the same one (pretty much) as in the recent BBC adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel? Not naming it specifically but it was aired in March 2025.

Anyway, if you love an Agatha Christie, or Jodi Taylor, or time travel give this a go.

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Review: A Dangerous Train of Thought: A gripping crime, golden age murder mystery from multimillion bestseller author of A Fatal Obsession, Faith Martin, to read in 2026!

A Dangerous Train of Thought: A gripping crime, golden age murder mystery from multimillion bestseller author of A Fatal Obsession, Faith Martin, to read in 2026! by Faith Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sir Bayard Cherville and his (much younger and very beautiful) wife Lady Sybil have invited houseguests to their home in Yorkshire, Cleeves Lea Manor. But at the last minute, and with some malice, Sir Bayard has invited Bill Endicott, a charming Adonis-like single man, to the party, which consists of: Elizabeth and Bernadette Rowe (a mother and daughter, Elizabeth was at school with Sybil), Agnes Warren (a middle-aged nervy spinster to whom they owed a favour), Roger and Daphne Potts-Gibbon (he a wealthy self-made man, she the daughter of a former archbishop), and finally, Arbie (a young rather indolent man, the author of two rather successful books entitled the Gentleman’s Guide to Ghost Hunting) and Val, his childhood friend and self-appointed assistant. Arbie is the 'celebrity' that has been invited to the party, with the promise that there is a local legend of a ghostly railway signalman who can be seen waving his lamp. Frankly, Arbie's first book was a bit of a laugh, and mainly consisted of him staying in various hotels and country houses making half-hearted attempts to see the local ghosts, but now Val has got involved he is expected to a lot of actual leg-work.

When Arbie and Val arrive at the Manor it is clear that there is a fair bit of tension between the parties, Sir Bayard and his wife appear to have argued, and several of the guests appear to be ignoring Bill, who is flirting rather heavily with poor Agnes. However, Arbie does not expect to find Bill's body in the library the following morning next to an empty champagne glass, a bottle of champagne, and a rather odd-looking suicide note.

Meanwhile, Arbis discovers from his host that there is not one, but two, local ghost legends, the other involving a devil train!!

This was another cracking cosy murder mystery. Everyone has a motive and yet when the murderer is revealed (because of course it isn't suicide) it all falls cleverly into place. I am glad that Faith Martin has toned-down her portrayal of Val as being stupid. IF (and yes I did mean to capitalise it) Faith Martin's end game is for Val and Arbie to get together (and it may not be) then having him be extraordinarily bright under all the sloth while she always gets it wrong is a recipe for disaster.

Anyway, if you love a good country house murder mystery look no further.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Audrey Lane Stirs the Pot

Audrey Lane Stirs the Pot by Alexis Hall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Audrey Lane is a journalist. Five years ago Audrey was living in London with her girlfriend, living the dream as a hard-hitting investigative journalist, but it didn't sit well with her and when their relationship crashed and burned, she returned to Shropshire to live near her parents and took a job on Shropshire's second largest regional newspaper. Now her typical day involves 'investigating' increases in parking charges and supermarket trolleys being dumped in the river.

After getting drunk and applying online, Audrey is a contestant on Bake Expectations, a thinly veiled homage to the Great British Bake Off. AS a journalist she is always interested in meeting new people and her personal quirk is wanting to know 'what happened next' so she quickly pigeon-holes her fellow contestants into the stock characters from previous seasons eg the hipster, the tradesman, the mother figure, the overly-precise one etc and realises that they have both the oldest and the youngest ever contestants in this cohort. Doris, the oldest contestant is familiar with the stately home in which the current season is being filmed, she was evacuated there during the war, and Audrey can't help but be fascinated by her story. Unfortunately, the show's producer, Jennifer Hallet is unimpressed by journalists generally and by Audrey specifically and she is very vocal about her mistrust. In fact, Jennifer may well be the most sweary character I have ever read. When Jennifer learns that Audrey has been 'interviewing' Doris she becomes incandescent with rage - is it wrong that Audrey finds that kind of hot?

There is so much here and I don't want to spoil it. But there are (obviously) lots of cheesy innuendos as befits a reality tv show about baking, there's romance, there's heartbreak, there's a lot of swearing, I repeat a lot of swearing, and a wonderful story that just carries you along.

Loved it.

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Review: Love and Other Brain Experiments

Love and Other Brain Experiments by Hannah Brohm
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Dr Frances Silberstein is a neuroscientist, her interest was sparked when her sister was injured on a skiing holiday and developed amnesia, from which she luckily subsequently recovered.

After breaking up with a former boyfriend who assumed Frances would be willing to support his research and just be named as a collaborator forevermore, Frances has led a peripatetic life, moving every few years from lab to lab, always seeking funding which would allow her stay in one place and perform her own experiments, putting everything else in her life on hold, including her sister Karo, in the pursuit of academic recognition.

A perpetual thorn in Frances' side is Dr Lewis North, years ago they corresponded on a piece of research but when it came to publication Lewis didn't mention Frances at all, when she should have been listed as one of the authors. The research paper has been cited numerous times by other scientists and it has bolstered Dr North's career, whilst not being named has been to Frances' detriment. Ever since then, for which she never received an apology, Dr North has always been one of the first to comment on anything Frances publishes, often critically. Frances is sure that he is one of her two peer reviewers - the mean one.

Frances is terrified of flying, so when a series of Murphy's Law coincidences means that she is without her sleeping pills on a turbulent flight to New York from her lab in the Netherlands, she is comforted by the cute guy seated beside her, until she realises that it is none other than Dr Lewis North, also flying to New York for the same conference, the Sawyer's Summer Seminars, which just happens to be hosted by Frances' very successful ex-boyfriend Jacob.

When Jacob's fiancée accidentally assumes that Frances and Lewis are a couple when they turn up together for a welcome dinner, Frances leans into the misconception - before realising that being outed as a liar could destroy her professional career, so she begs Lewis to fake date for the two weeks of the conference.

I was enjoying this until about halfway. But like so many books which on the surface feature clever women, it felt like Lewis was given a free ride for what he did/does whereas Frances has to grovel to absolutely everyone. Similarly, and maybe its a real-life facet of the misogyny of academia, why is it always the men who get the grants and the success in these books and it is only because they are gracious and step aside that the women get recognised?

So, I struggled with the second half of the book, the inevitable big drama/misunderstanding in which once again (in my opinion) Lewis was in the wrong but gets to act like the injured party was just irritating and what had started out as a four star read got knocked down to three stars.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Love and Other Brain Experiments

Love and Other Brain Experiments by Hannah Brohm
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Dr Frances Silberstein is a neuroscientist, her interest was sparked when her sister was injured on a skiing holiday and developed amnesia, from which she luckily subsequently recovered.

After breaking up with a former boyfriend who assumed Frances would be willing to support his research and just be named as a collaborator forevermore, Frances has led a peripatetic life, moving every few years from lab to lab, always seeking funding which would allow her stay in one place and perform her own experiments, putting everything else in her life on hold, including her sister Karo, in the pursuit of academic recognition.

A perpetual thorn in Frances' side is Dr Lewis North, years ago they corresponded on a piece of research but when it came to publication Lewis didn't mention Frances at all, when she should have been listed as one of the authors. The research paper has been cited numerous times by other scientists and it has bolstered Dr North's career, whilst not being named has been to Frances' detriment. Ever since then, for which she never received an apology, Dr North has always been one of the first to comment on anything Frances publishes, often critically. Frances is sure that he is one of her two peer reviewers - the mean one.

Frances is terrified of flying, so when a series of Murphy's Law coincidences means that she is without her sleeping pills on a turbulent flight to New York from her lab in the Netherlands, she is comforted by the cute guy seated beside her, until she realises that it is none other than Dr Lewis North, also flying to New York for the same conference, the Sawyer's Summer Seminars, which just happens to be hosted by Frances' very successful ex-boyfriend Jacob.

When Jacob's fiancée accidentally assumes that Frances and Lewis are a couple when they turn up together for a welcome dinner, Frances leans into the misconception - before realising that being outed as a liar could destroy her professional career, so she begs Lewis to fake date for the two weeks of the conference.

I was enjoying this until about halfway. But like so many books which on the surface feature clever women, it felt like Lewis was given a free ride for what he did/does whereas Frances has to grovel to absolutely everyone. Similarly, and maybe its a real-life facet of the misogyny of academia, why is it always the men who get the grants and the success in these books and it is only because they are gracious and step aside that the women get recognised?

So, I struggled with the second half of the book, the inevitable big drama/misunderstanding in which once again (in my opinion) Lewis was in the wrong but gets to act like the injured party was just irritating and what had started out as a four star read got knocked down to three stars.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: How to Fake It in Society

How to Fake It in Society by K.J. Charles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Titus Pilcrow makes a precarious living as a shopkeeper, mixing colours to sell to artists. His former lover, and landlord, Henry is expressing his displeasure at their break-up by raising his rent - something Titus cannot afford. When visiting Miss Whitecross, a wealthy elderly very crotchety customer with a large order, Titus is sad to discover that she is very ill, unlikely to last the night. However, Miss Whitecross' butler invites Titus in with a proposition. Miss Whitecross had an understanding with Nicolas-Marc, Comte de Valois de La Motte, she would marry him and leave him her considerable fortune in order to ensure her nephew Mr Laxton did not inherit. But the Comte is out of town and in order to thwart her nephew, who deliberately tripped her at the top of the stairs which has led to her current situation, Miss Whitecross needs to marry someone that night.

Suddenly a poor shopkeeper has inherited a house, possessions and a fortune of £8,000 a year. But along with the wealth comes the burden of society and people desperate to relieve poor Titus of his money, including Henry and Titus' estranged older brother Augustus. When the Comte (Nico) returns to London he is devastated to learn he has missed out on Miss Whitecross' fortune, especially since he and his cousin Eve were depending on the money to extract them from the clutches of a vicious moneylender after a dodgy scheme Eve cooked up went spectacularly wrong.

At first Nico just wants to try to shame Titus into sharing some of his fortune, but then he decides befriending Titus might bear more fruit in the short-term. Titus obviously needs help getting rid of the chancers and conmen that are coming out of the woodwork, just as much as he needs help in getting clothes to match his new status; Nico can do both these things. For his part, Titus might not know his way around society but as a tradesman he knows when people are using you for their own ends, and he doesn't mind that Nico is probably extending his credit with the tradespeople he takes Titus to visit.

I love me a historical romance, throw in a fortune-hunter, a long con, a fake accent, Marie-Antoinette, cross-dressers, some fascinating historical details, wonderful characters, and a wicked brother and I'm in heaven. I love, love, love KJ Charles' books and I only wish she would/could write them faster because I gobble them down too fast. Nico was such a lovely character, and Titus was a charming mixture of astute and naïve, loved it.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Heaven Forbid

Heaven Forbid by Rosalind James
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Four and a half stars.

The blurb

So: I was a German princess sailing across the Atlantic to join my American-GI husband in 1947. My Jewish GI husband. And I was Catholic. And eighteen years old. And an independent woman.

In the previous book Marguerite (the princess) met Joe (the GI) in Nazi Germany. Now she has come to America to be with him like so many other GI brides, although I don't suppose many of them had a fortune in emeralds in their luggage. Joe's parents are aghast, a poor Catholic (probably Nazi) German wife for their only son? Inconceivable.

Whilst Marguerite was a wonderful baker and could scrub floors, her previously privileged upbringing meant that she had no idea how to boil an egg, or cook potatoes, or clean a house. While Joe returns to college under the GI Bill of Rights, Marguerite tries to get a job to help supplement his GI stipend. Turns out there aren't many jobs for former princesses. Also her lack of skills meant that she had one disaster after another trying to demonstrate domestic appliances (often to appreciative husbands). And once her colleagues/customers/boss found out she was German, then often she was let go. But her strength of mind, intelligence, and sheer determination meant that she was never down for long.

Just like with the previous book, I was sceptical about this - I mean we have already seen when Joe and Marguerite met and fell in love, we know what happens in the present day - what could this book bring to the table? Well I was wrong, different again from the two preceding books, this was both revealing about life in the 1940s, laugh-out-loud as Marguerite makes some truly awful clangers, infuriating as she encounters misogyny and racism (both against being German and also her husband being Jewish), and uplifting as the couple create a new life together.

This book had the feel of one of those big family sagas that were so popular back in the day (not saying it felt old-school), indeed I was sad that it ended where it did, I could have read on and on about Marguerite, Joe, their burgeoning business, and their family for hundreds more pages. In what has been a period of fairly dismal cookie-cutter novels (for me), this shone like a beacon of good writing, a great plot, and something that stands out from the crowd.

I received an ARC from the author, but the opinions are my own.

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Review: Dolly All the Time

Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monaghan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dolly Brick is a hard-working single mother. She's a teacher, an Uber driver, and the telephone answer service for a sporting goods company. Called back to her hometown of Whitfield, Rhode Island to help her father after their family home was damaged by fire, Dolly is horrified to discover that their roof is unsafe and will cost thousands of dollars to repair - money that neither she nor her father have.

Then providence shines on her. After delivering a vast quantity of shrimp to the Whitfield estate (for cocktail hour), Dolly is cycling back home when she encounters Stewart Whitfield, handsome oldest son of the family that founded the town, beside a car with a flat tyre and no phone battery. Laughing at the uselessness of the wealthy who have no idea how to change a tyre, Dolly kindly helps him out.

Later it turns out that Stewart's girlfriend has been caught publicly cheating on him with a baseball player. A paparazzi photographer has snapped a picture of Dolly changing Stewart's tyre and the Whitfield publicist has spun it as him teaching his new girlfriend to change a tyre. Stewart desperately wants to be appointed head of the family business but his family are concerned that he's a workaholic and so he suggests that he and Dolly fake-date. It will stop all the bad publicity about not being able to keep a girlfriend and appease his family.

This is like a jam-up between Mystic Pizza and Pretty Woman (and probably lots more). Its very familiar, fake dating, small-town, rich guy/poor girl, billionaire and the single mom territory. Yachts, black-tie dinners, fancy apartments, money-no-object romance with cute kids, and home renovation.

I really enjoyed it and would have given it a higher rating if it wasn't for the fact that it felt just a little bit too familiar. Not sure if it was the storyline , or Stewart's character, but I just felt like I'd read something very similar before.

Nevertheless, great summer romance reading.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: A Yorkshire Affair: The BRAND NEW feel-good Yorkshire romance about taking chances and following your heart

A Yorkshire Affair: The BRAND NEW feel-good Yorkshire romance about taking chances and following your heart by Julie Houston
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The third book in the series features (more on that later) Jess Allen, who gave up a place at university and a potential career as a chef to marry her high school sweetheart Dean after she got pregnant. Always afraid of change, Jess has stuck by her philandering husband, lives next door to her mother Alice and younger sister Sorrel, and is content working at the local care home.

However, recently things have started to change. Jess won a local bakery contest and has been given the opportunity to go into partnership with her soon-to-be brother-in-law Fabian and Kamran Sattar a local businessman (who also happens to be her mum's new boyfriend) in Beddingfield's stylish new restaurant, The White House. Alice is moving in with Kamran, Sorrel is moving to London for school, and Jess is giving up her job at the care home.

Things are taking a turn on the romantic front as well, Jess kicks out Dean, and meets the handsome, wealthy father of her daughter's new BFF.

I've noted this before in these interlinked series, at some point continuing the strains of multiple couples and storylines becomes horrifically confused and all the stories become superficial - that is what happened here. We have updates to Jess's sister Sorrel's career and romance with Joel, the local bad boy, updates to Jess' sister Robyn's struggles to keep the local school open, updates to Robyn's partner Fabian's career as a barrister, updates to Joel's court case, updates to Alice's love life. The story also adds a further level of confusion by introducing

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