Review - On the Book Train to Paris by Norie Clarke

On the Book Train to Paris by Norie Clarke

Publisher: Headline Review

Release date: 28 May 2026

Back cover blurb: Carly longs to make-over the family's Edinburgh bookshop, but her father is resisting change. Upstairs, Fran is stumped by her next novel - and with how to fix her marriage. In the flat below, Elsa cares for her husband, in need of a short breather to gather her strength. So when a customer drops in and asks for help at his book festival on a train to Paris, it's the chance of a petit escape. And when a book mysteriously appears in the shop that Fran inscribed to a lover in Paris years ago, it seems too serendipitous to ignore. Boarding the train with Carly and Elsa, Fran wonders if revisiting her past will help her move forward. But there are plot twists ahead. Could the book train to Paris be a passport to joie de vivre?

Carly doesn't realise just how unhappy she is until she comes across an ex, now happily married with children. 

I'm sure we have all been there to some extent. Meeting someone from a past life, whether it be lover or childhood friend who has made us feel inadequate about ourselves, whether it be career choice, lack of partner...

Carly has recently moved home to live with her parents and is looking for a new job, whilst she decides exactly what it is that she wants to do with her life. 

Her Mother Fran is feeling unloved and unfufilled in her marraige, and as a successful author is finding it is hampering her ability to write.

Carly's Father is keeping a huge secret from her Mother which doesn't help the situation at all. Their family bookshop is failing, and there doens't seem to be a way out.

That is until a young man arrives at the bookshop one day, in desperate need of some help and an author to fill a slot at his book festival, on a train to Paris. 

It seems unlikely, but timely and is just the thing that both Fran and Carly need.

I finished this book really quickly; it was enjoyable and full of bookish delights. A perfect summer read for book lovers. 

On the Book Train to Paris is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review - Liar Liar by Luca Veste

Liar Liar by Luca Veste
Publisher: Avon 
Release date: 4 June 2026

Back cover blurb: Even good people do bad things… Once hailed as Liverpool’s finest detective, Mark Fletcher brought a serial killer to justice and earned the city’s admiration. But when he's accused of working with Liverpool's most notorious crime family, his legacy is shattered – and so is his life. Now disgraced and spiralling, Fletcher wakes up in a hotel room with no memory of the last 24 hours… and a dead body beside him. The evidence says he did it. His instincts say otherwise. Hunted by the force he once served, Fletcher must uncover the truth – not just to clear his name, but to survive. Because someone wants him silenced, and they’ll stop at nothing to finish what they started…

Mark Fletcher, once one of Liverpool's finest detectives, is now mingling with the people he enjoyed putting behind bars. Liverpool's finest... criminals.

Following a triumphant case in which he was due to be promoted, Mark finds himself helping a woman in need, without following protocol. When things go drastically wrong, he has nowhere to turn, and he is suspended from his role. His friend and colleague Jack Kirkham is promoted in his place.

With nothing to do and nowhere to go he begins drinking heavily. 

Months later, he is thinking that he should at least try to get his life back on track and try to get himself out of the pit of despair he has found himself in, when once again things go drastically wrong for him. 

He wakes up next to a dead body with no recollection of how he got there, but certain he had nothing to do with the presumed murder.

Now very much on the wrong side of the law, Mark knows that he should call it in, or at the very least ask one of his former colleagues for help. But Mark doesn't really know who is still on his side, and believing things possibly can't get any worse, he engages the help of a lifelong friend instead.

The trouble is that Sean, Mark's lifelong friend, has been on the wrong side of the law for as long as Mark can remember. They have agreed to disagree over the years, and since Mark joined the Police force and got promoted, their paths haven't really crossed 'professionally'. 

Until now, they have kept a respectful distance from each other. 

Mark knows that in this situation, Sean is the only person who can really help him.

The trouble is that Mark doesn't know just how involved Sean is with the wrong people, and that he may just have made his most costly decision to date…

Liar Liar is available from 4 June 2026. You can pre-order it now via Amazon online and all good bookshops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review - The Lowe Job by Grace Alexander

The Lowe Job by Grace Alexander

Publisher: Orion

Release date: 21 May 2026

Back cover blurb: When Lili Lowe is caught in a compromising position with her boss, married politician Teddy Landen, she suddenly finds herself thrust into the centre of a media frenzy. She turns, as most daughters would, to her mother. Yet Lydia Lowe is a former talent agent, and it's not long before the whole world knows the name Lili Lowe. As the spotlight brightens on Lili, and her three sisters Stevie, Iris and Katie, the women's lives are changed in ways they could never have predicted. And it's soon clear that fame, and fortune, comes with a price...

The Lowe Job is such a great, fun book. 

Lili, Lilibet, Elizabeth Lowe is working in her dream job when she is caught in a compromising position with her boss in the back of a taxi.

Mortified and jobless, she suddenly finds herself thrust into the media spotlight

Lili's Mother, Lydia Lowe is a former talent agent (one of the best in the business), and knows that they should take this for what it is. An opportunity of the biggest kind. Certainly not one that Lili will ever get again.

Lili's sisters, Stevie, Iris and Katie aren't thrilled about being dragged along for the ride. But soon learn to embrace their new celebrity lifestyle, even if it does force them to make some interesting life choices. 

For Stevie, this means embracing the promotion of a lifetime while ignoring her blossoming love life.

For Iris, it means having to let go of the past and allow herself some happiness and the ability to try something new.

And for Kaite, the youngest of the sisters at 17, it is about trying to find out who she really is, whilst under the scrutiny of the public eye.

One thing is for certain, none of their lives will ever ve the same again. 

This is one of the funniest books I've read so far this year, but it also has a lot of heart. It is about so much more than its title and dysfunctional family, and I absolutely adored it. 

The Lowe Job is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review - Five by Ilona Bannister

Five by Ilona Bannister

Publisher: Juniper 

Release date: 5 May 2026

Back cover blurb: On a train platform, five strangers unknowingly face a chilling countdown: one of them will die in five minutes. In this gripping tale narrated with a sharp tongue, the five main characters – a child, a mother, a businessman, an old woman, and a gambler – will draw you in with their stories as the clock ticks down. As the train gets closer and closer, we fall in love with the beautiful Sonny who is on the verge of gambling his life away. We pity the furious old Mrs Worth who grew up in a macabre household and so failed at being a mother. We look away from the demonic child Gideon. We judge his mother Emma who must surely be to blame? And we are curiously compelled by the successful and damaged businessman Liam. Five stories. Five minutes until a life ends. In this tense, intriguing drama that explores fate, sacrifice, and the real meaning of life, you will frantically turn the page to see who will survive, and who will be lost …

If I'm honest, I enjoyed this novel more than I expected to. It's entirely my own fault that I seem to have read an awful lot of train (or indeed platform) based thrillers this year, and I wasn't sure I was ready for another.

This was by far my favourite. Although I will say that not all of the characters are particularly likeable, but then perhaps that is the point, as we know that one of them is going to receive an untimely demise. 

Here we have five main characters: a child, a mother, a businessman, an old woman and a gambler. One of them will die in the next five minutes.

Told in a mixture of real time and flash back, we learn more about these five individuals than they do about each other during their time on the platform. 

There is Mrs Worth, a furious old woman who had the most appalling upbringing, but has done very well for herself. 

Emma, who is unable to control her demon child, Gideon. 

Liam, on first glance, an honest businessman. At second glance, perhaps not so. 

And Sonny, beautiful, yet incredibly troubled. A gambling addict who is terrified of letting people down.

An unlikely group that ordinarily wouldn't cross paths with each other. But life doesn't often work in the way we expect it. As this novel makes very clear...

This is the first release by Harper Collins' new imprint Juniper, whose tagline is 'fiction to think about'. This is certainly true here, and I am very excited for their next release. 

Five is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Review - The Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson

The Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Release date: 12 March 2026

Back cover blurb: London, 1939. When war breaks out on librarian Joyce Kindred's doorstep and a call for help rings out across the libraries of London, she's determined to act. Joyce knows only the world of books can offer safety and comfort to her neighbourhood-and she will make sure no one is left behind. Joyce sets up a mobile library scheme, but soon her acts of resistance go beyond sharing books. She shelters a young Jewish refugee, Adela - and it's not long before she discovers Adela has a secret that could turn their world upside down again... Occupied Poland, 1942. Dorotha knows any chance of her escaping the barbed wire fences and cruelty of the Łódź ghetto dwindles by the day. Reading isn't just an act of defiance: it's the only thing left in her life over which she has any control. And so she shares books under the cover of darkness, creating a secret library away from her captors - that is, until even that last ray of hope is taken from her... Joyce and Dorotha were once librarians, ordinary women, and best friends. The war has forced them into acts of unimaginable bravery-but will they ever find each other again?

This is such a beautiful novel. Two of my favourite things combined, books (of course) and historical fiction. It also taps into a part of the war that I wasn't familiar with, the secret libraries that were run in the ghetto's by brave volunteers. 

In London, Joyce Kindred has wanted to launch a mobile library service for a number of years, but as a library assistant, has been stopped by her Library Manager, a no-nonsense woman who thinks the idea is ridiculous.

Joyce knows that books bring people comfort, and in wartime, that is something that is needed more than ever. Her Librarian friends, scattered across the country (and abroad) feel Joyce's pain. They each have a variation of Joyce's manager, who isn't necessarily prepared for the changes that war must bring.

In occupied Poland, Dorotha longs to escape the ghetto, but knows that it is almost impossible. She has had to leave her love of books behind and focus on staying alive. But she longs to be back in a world that revolves around books.

One day, her boss proposes something to her - a secret library. She thinks that she cannot do it. But knows that she must. It will help to keep her focus on something other than the depths of her despair (and others).

It is a huge risk, but she knows it will be worth it. 

The Secret Society of Librarians is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank you to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review - Caller Unknown by Gillian McAllister

Caller Unknown by Gillian McAllister

Publisher: Michael Joseph
Release date: 9 April 2026

Back cover blurb: A road trip across America with her teenage daughter was meant to be much-needed bonding time for Simone before Lucy leaves home for university. But on the first night of their stay, in a cabin deep in the Texan desert, Simone wakes to find Lucy missing and a mobile phone in her place. The phone rings and the voice on the other end issues instructions: Don’t tell the police. Come to this location. Be prepared to do a deal… There is nothing Simone wouldn’t do to save her daughter. Hide the truth. Commit a terrible crime. Become a wanted woman. But this is no ordinary kidnap and ransom. Getting Lucy back is just the beginning.

What would you do if your daughter was kidnapped, held at ransom, with her life in danger. 

Would you do as the kidnapper asks, even if that could be deadly or illegal?

It sounds like the plot of a movie, right? Some far fetched Hollywood blockbuster designed to thrill and entertain.

Most of us never believe that it could ever happen to us, and yet that is exactly what happens to Simone.

Simone flys out to meet her daughter in the state of Texas before they both return home and Lucy goes off to University. As an only child, Simone has missed Lucy terribly, and is determined to make the most of their time together.

When Simone wakes the following morning after meeting Lucy, she is faced with her worst nightmare. 

Lucy is missing. 

Then Simone recieves a call from an unknown number, issuing instructions.

They have Lucy, but she must not tell the police. If she follows their instructions, Lucy will be returned to her alive. 

Fail to cooperate, and Lucy dies.

Simone knows that she should ignore the instructions and call her husband, and then the police. They cam do the right thing, the proper thing, follow the appropriate channels and get her daughter back safely.

But Simone is too frightened to do anything other than what she is being asked, and so begins a terrifying journney into a murkey illegal underworld to get her daughter back.

Lots of twists, and I certainly didn't see the ending coming. Another great read from this author. 

Caller Unknown is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review - the Enemy's Wife by Deborah Swift

The Enemy's Wife by Deborah Swift

Publisher: HQ Digital

Release date: 9 April 2026

Back cover blurb: 1941. When Zofia’s beloved husband Haru is conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army, she is left to navigate Japanese-occupied Shanghai alone. Far from home and surrounded by a country at war, Zofia finds unexpected comfort in a bond with Hilly, a spirited young refugee escaping Nazi-occupied Austria. As violence tightens its grip on the city, they seek shelter with Theo, Zofia’s American employer. But with every passing day, the horrors of war and Haru’s absence begin to reshape Zofia’s world – and her heart. Can she still love someone who has become the enemy?

This book is the second in Deborah Swift's 'Survivors of War' series. Whilst I enjoyed the first one in the series, I don't think you necessarily need to have read it to be able to read this installment. It could definitely be read as a standalone.

Personally, I think I enjoyed this novel more, as it explores a side of the war that isn't written about that often in historical fiction. The brutality of the Japanese and the uncertainties that foreign nationals faced in what they thought was a safe haven.

Zofia has been left to navigate Shanghai alone after her Japanese husband is conscripted in to the Japanese imperial army. She only has her friend Hilly, and her employer to help her. And sometimes trying to help Hilly feels impossible.

But they are both strangers in a foreign land, and it is the only reason that they are safe.

When things become volatile, her employer Theo’s wife and young family must leave to ensure their safety. Zofia worries that this will mean the end of her employment, but Theo decides he must keep Zofia on to help him learn the basics of Japanese, for he will need to engage with the enemy.

As time passes it is clear that there is an attraction between them, but they are both married, both moral, so nothing can possibly happen between them. Or can it?

We all know that war makes different people of us, and this novel demonstrates just how far we will go to protect and keep safe the ones that we love. Another brilliantly written novel from Deborah Swift and as always I look forward to reading her next.

The Enemy's Wife is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the publisher who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.