Good morning everyone . Today on Two For Tuesday I’m featuring two of the new fantasy books I’ve received recently. Fantasy is fast becoming my favourite genre and I always look forward to exploring the wonderful worlds the author has created.

The Book Of Witching is out on the 10th October & A Language Of Dragons on the 2nd October 2025.

Huge thanks to @indie_thinking for sending these to me.

Which fantasy world do you wish you could visit?

🧹The Book Of Witching by CJ Cooke 🧹

Four hundred years separate them.

One book binds them.

Glasgow 2024: Clem waits by her daughter’s hospital bed. Erin was found on an idyllic beach in Fynhallow Bay, Orkney with catastrophic burns and only one memory: her name is Nyx.

But how did she get these burns? And how did her boyfriend end up burned alive?

Orkney 1594: accused of witchcraft, Alison Balfour awaits trial. The punishment? To be burned alive.

Separated by four hundred years but bound by the Book of Witching, two women stand imperilled. Can they unlock a centuries-old mystery? And will Fynhallow Bay give up its secrets before someone else dies?

🐉A Language Of Dragons by SF Williamson 🐉

The most exciting debut of 2025 – an incredible fantasy Dark Academia, perfect for fans of Babel, Fourth Wing, and the Scholomance trilogy

EVERY ACT OF TRANSLATION REQUIRES SACRIFICE

Welcome to Bletchley Park… with dragons.

London, 1923. Dragons soar through the skies and protests erupt on the streets, but Vivien Featherswallow isn’t worried. She’s going to follow the rules, get an internship studying dragon languages, and make sure her little sister never has to risk growing up Third Class. By midnight, Viv has started a civil war.

With her parents arrested and her sister missing, all the safety Viv has worked for is collapsing around her. So when a lifeline is offered in the form of a mysterious ‘job’, she grabs it. Arriving at Bletchley Park, Viv discovers that she has been recruited as a codebreaker helping the war effort – if she succeeds, she and her family can all go home again. If she doesn’t, they’ll all die.

At first Viv believes that her challenge, of discovering the secrets of a hidden dragon language, is doable. But the more she learns, the more she realises that the bubble she’s grown up in isn’t as safe as she thought, and eventually Viv must decide: What war is she really fighting?

An epic, sweeping fantasy with an incredible Dark Academia setting, a clandestine, slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance, and an unputdownable story, filled with twists and turns, betrayals and secret identities, A Language of Dragons is the unmissable debut of 2025, from an extraordinary new voice.

Good morning everyone and happy Friday.  Today is going to be an emotional day for me as it’s my eldest son’s last day at primary school.  I honestly can’t believe it as it seems like yesterday it was his first day of school and a very nervous boy went on clutching his then best friend’s hand.

He’s a huge reader too so in tribute to him I wanted to share his summer reading list and some old favourites:

❤️The Letter With The Golden Stamp by Onjali Q Raúf
🧡The Boy Who Fell From The Sky by Benjamin Dean*
💛The Book Of Stolen Dreams by David Farr
💚The Houdini Inheritance by Emma Carroll
💙Flock Horror by Jennifer Killick *
🩵Starminster by Megan Hopkins
💜The Super Sunny Murder Club Edited by Serena Patel &
  Robin Stevens
💟The Good Thieves by Katherine Rundell
🩷 Warrior Cats 3: Forrest Of Secrets by Erin Hunter
💕The Last Life Of Lori Mills by Max Boucheraat *
🤍 Chronicles Of Whetherwhy by Anna Jones
🩶Dream Hunters by Nazima Pathan
🖤The Whisperwicks by Jordan Lees

Unlike his mum he has actually read some of these which I’ve marked by a star but the rest are tbr.  I’ve created another Instagram account called @theparkfamilyreaders and I’m hoping to persuade him to write some reviews for the books he’s read on that page soon.

I’m off today and my in-laws are down from Scotland.  We have my son’s leaving service this morning which is apparently really emotional as they share their favourite memories and songs from their time at primary. I’m then spending time with my in-laws as Stu has to work.

Huge thanks to all the publishers for sending me the proofs for him and to @acottageofbooks and @usborne_books for my giveaway prize of The Book Of Stolen Dreams by David Farr.

Any recommendations for an eleven year old greatly received!

Good morning everyone! Today on Two For Tuesday I’m featuring two romance books I’m hoping to read soon. These both sound amazing and I’m looking forward to them, especially as they are both new authors for me.

Huge thanks to the lovely @libraryofchlo for sending these to me.

Dishonestly Yours is out now and I’ll Look For You, Everywhere is out on the 1st August 2024.

You can find out more about the book below ⬇️

Q :Do you change your reading preferences with the season?

I’ll Look For You, Everywhere by Cameron Capello

I’ll Look for You, Everywhereis an intoxicating love story for the ages following Theo and Magdalen, childhood neighbours, as they are reunited for the first time in seven years to celebrate a family wedding in the sleepy Italian village they grew up in. Confronted with the ghosts of their pasts, Theo and Magdalen must face both the burning tension between them and the long-buried secrets that threaten to tear their worlds apart – and could possibly separate them forever. . .

Dishonestly Yours by Krista And Becca Ritchie

Dishonestly Yours is the hotly-anticipated new gritty romance from TikTok sensations and authors of the Addicted series Krista and Becca Ritchie.

Living honestly isn’t in his DNA. Just like it’s never been in mine . . .The Graves and Tinrock families live life from one con to the next. Phoebe Graves has grown up in a world where stealing and seducing are as natural as breathing.

When a job goes horribly wrong, though, she and her best friend, Hailey Tinrock, decide to leave their life of crime behind. They head to a small college town in Connecticut to start anew.

But Hailey’s older brother, Rocky, catches wind of their plans and refuses to let them do this alone.

Phoebe’s past with Rocky is downright messy: he’s everything she wants, but nothing she can have. And the longer she stays in town, the more Phoebe has to lose . . . can love survive a web of lies?

Good evening everyone I hope you’ve had a good day. I was very excited when a copy of this came into the bookshop this week. By Any Other Name by Jodie Picoult is one of my most anticipated books of this year and I honestly can’t believe I’ve got a proof copy of it. (Yes there was squealing involved much to the amusement of my colleague).

Huge thanks to @parker.clare and @michaeljbooks for sending.

Out 10th October 2024.

Find out more about the book below ⬇️

Do you have a favourite Shakespeare play?

Book Synopsis:

What if the greatest writer of all time isn’t who we think he is?
What if he isn’t even a he?
Step back four hundred years and discover the female author who hid behind the mask of the man we know as William Shakespeare . . .

In Elizabethan London, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her education has endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but still she is allowed no voice of her own.

Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees the theatre, Emilia discovers the power of stories to beguile audiences. Secretly, she forms a plan to bring a play of her own to the stage – by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.

In modern-day Manhattan, playwright Melina Green finds a woman’s voice is still worth less than a man’s. But, inspired by the life of her ancestor Emilia Bassano, Melina takes a lesson from history and submits a play under a male pseudonym . . .

Moving between Elizabethan England and modern day Manhattan, By Any Other Name is a beautifully written, compelling novel that explores the theme of identity and the ways in which two women, centuries apart―one of whom might just be the real author of Shakespeare’s plays―are both forced to hide behind another name to make their voices heard.

About The Author:

Jodi Picoult is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-eight novels, including Wish You Were Here, The Book of Two Ways, A Spark of Light, Small Great Things, Leaving Time, and My Sister’s Keeper, and, with daughter Samantha van Leer, two young adult novels, Between the Lines and Off the Page. Picoult lives in New Hampshire.

Her next novel, Mad Honey, co-written with Jennifer Finney Boylan, is available on October 11th.

Follow Jodi Picoult on Intagram, Twitter, and Facebook: @jodipicoult

Good morning everyone and happy Sunday. Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ll know it’s an exciting day for sport today. Not only is it the Wimbledon’s Men Final but England are in the final of Euro 2024!

I’m working today but I’m hoping to watch the tennis on catch up when I get home – hopefully no one will tell me the score before then. We’re then planning on watching the football as a family with my youngest kids being allowed to stay up to watch it. I don’t think they’ll manage the whole match but we’ve promised they can try. My husband is Scottish and while he won’t be supporting England, he’s promised not to actively support Spain.

Are you planning on watching the tennis/ football today? What are your predictions?

Good morning everyone and happy Friday! At the beginning of this year I started a few challenges including a neglected faithfuls challenge. The idea of this challenge was to finally read those books that had been on your bookshelf for ages.

❤️A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles
🧡 Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
💛The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle
💚The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

I’ve not been doing very well in this challenge as I keep getting distracted by other books but I’m determined to read these four books finally as I’ve heard lots of great things about them. I actually started Lessons In Chemistry a while ago but didn’t finish but I keep hearing it’s brilliant so I want to give it another try.

I’m off again today and it’s the kids sports day which should be fun. None of my kids are particularly sporty but they seem to enjoy it so I’m looking forward to cheering them on from the sidelines. I’m then hoping to come home and read some more of The Spell Shop which I’m really enjoying! I’m feeling a little blurry eyed this morning as I stayed up far too late reading it.

What neglected faithfuls are you hoping to read soon?

Good afternoon everyone I hope you are having a great day. I’m starting a read-along for one of my most anticipated reads for this year today. I’ve been hearing lots about The Spell Shop so I’m very excited to start this finally. I’m going to be reading and listening along this week so do check my story for updates.

The Spell Shop is out today and you can find out a little bit more about the book below.

Huge thanks to @bookbreakuk for inviting me onto the read-along and @panmacmillan for sending me a copy of this book.

Which spell do you wish you could cast?

Book Synopsis:

Every home needs a little magic . . .

Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people, and as librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she hasn’t had to.

She and her assistant, Caz, a sentient spider plant, have spent most of the last eleven years sequestered among the empire’s precious spellbooks, protecting the magic for the city’s elite. But a revolution is brewing and when the library goes up in flames, Kiela and Caz steal whatever books they can and flee to the faraway island where she grew up. But to her dismay, in addition to a nosy – and very handsome – neighbour, she finds the town in disarray.

The empire has slowly been draining power from the island, and now Kiela is determined to make things right. But opening up her own spellshop comes with its own risks – the consequence of sharing magic with commoners is death. And as Kiela starts to make a place for herself among the townspeople, she realizes she must break down the walls she has kept so high . . .

From award-winning author Sarah Beth Durst, The Spellshop is a cottagecore cosy fantasy following a woman’s unexpected journey through the low-stakes market of illegal spell-selling and the high-risk business of starting over.

About The Author:

Sarah Beth Durst is the award-winning author of over twenty books for adults, teens, and kids, including THE BONE MAKER, DRINK SLAY LOVE, and SPARK. She won an American Library Association Alex Award and a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award and has been a finalist for SFWA’s Andre Norton Nebula Award three times. She is a graduate of Princeton University and lives in Stony Brook, New York, with her husband, her children, and her ill-mannered cat. For more information, visit her at sarahbethdurst.com.

Book Synopsis:

Everybody needs saving sometimes…

For Kate, having a newborn baby means she is almost never alone. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t lonely. The move from London to Somerset with her husband Jay was supposed be the start of an exciting new chapter. But sometimes she can’t help but wonder if she turned the pages too soon . . .

Phoebe needs help. As a mental health nurse serving her community, the wellbeing of her patients has always come before her own. Yet there’s only so long she can pour from an empty cup.

Looking for a lifeline, Kate and Phoebe find a sense of community – and each other – through their local river swimming group. But when things get tough, they realise that good friends can both raise us up and stop us sinking.

For fans of THE LIDO, THE LIFELINE is the big-hearted and life-affirming follow-up novel by Sunday Times bestselling author Libby Page.

My Review:

The Lifeline is an absorbing, heart warming read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The story is told from the point of view of two characters, Kate a new mother who’s struggling with early motherhood and Phoebe a mental health nurse who’s struggling to find that illusive work home balance. I really liked both character’s and enjoyed following them throughout the book. Kate’s journey in particular really resonated with me as I remember the emotions of life with a baby very well. I liked that Libby was brave enough to describe the reality of early motherhood rather than the sugar coated version we are normally presented with. I also really liked Phoebe and found it very interesting to learn more about community health nursing which seemed very stressful at times. I admired Phoebe’s drive and how much she obviously cared for her patients but found myself wishing she would give herself a break sometimes as I think she was often very hard on herself.

I loved the wonderfully vivid descriptions of wild swimming that almost made me want to try it. I’ve always been a little afraid of finding out what lurks beneath the water so I’m not sure I’d be brave enough to actually try it. The authors descriptions however made me smile as I read and I loved the peace it seemed to give the characters. The friendship group that develops between the swimming party members was lovely to read about, especially how much they support each other.

Overall, as you can probably tell, I absolutely loved this book and highly recommend it to everyone. I thought the book had a great pace to it and it made me feel all cosy with its wonderfully heartwarming vibes. The author tackles some quite serious topics in this book like mental health and post natal depression but does it in a way that helps the reader understand the issue more. As a mum of there I loved the way this book normalised the struggles of mother hood and the importance of self care for everyone. This book is a follow on from The Lido as it features Kate again but it can easily be read as a standalone. I’m hoping there may be another book featuring Kate and the wonderful swimming ladies again soon as I’d love to spend more time with them.

Huge thanks to Ellen Turner from Orion for sending me a bookseller proof of this book.

About The Author:

Libby Page graduated from The London College of Fashion with a BA in fashion journalism before going on to work as a journalist at The Guardian. After writing, her second passion is outdoor swimming. Libby lives in London, where she enjoys finding new swimming spots and pockets of community within the city. The Lido is her first novel. Follow her on Twitter @LibbyPageWrites and Instagram @TheSwimmingSisters.

Good morning everyone and happy Tuesday.  Today on Two For Tuesday I’m featuring two books from the fantastic Lindsey Kelk.

I first discovered Lindsey by accident when I was visiting our local library and her book Love Me Do was on the returns trolley. I loved the sound of the blurb so checked it out and really enjoyed it!

These both sound amazing and I’m excited to read them soon.  I’m especially intrigued to read The Bell Witches as I’m intrigued to read something different from this author.

Love Story is out now and The Bell Witches is published on the 26th September 2024.

Find out more about the books below.

The Bell Witches by Lindsey Kelk

YOU’LL WANT TO BE ONE. UNTIL YOU KNOW THEIR SECRETS.

After Emily’s father tragically dies, she is forced to live with the only family she has left, an aunt and grandmother in the heart of Savannah, Georgia in a house as beautiful as it is mysterious.

But all is not what it seems with the Bell family; they’re hiding a magical secret.

When Emily meets the alluring Wyn, she forms a connection that feels like it was always meant to be. As the spark between them grows more powerful, her life takes an exhilarating and terrifying turn; but every step closer to him, takes her a step further away from her family.

Emily will find out that blood is always thicker than water…

THERE’S NO BOND GREATER THAN MAGIC

Love Story by Lindsey Kelk

She’s a small-town schoolteacher, he’s a hotshot creative director. Together, it’s hate at first sight.

Sophie Taylor has a secret and Joe Walsh is the last person she’d tell. He’s devilishly handsome, incredibly hot – and far too sure of himself.

But Sophie desperately needs his help.

Because she’s not just hiding something small. She is Este Cox, the mysterious romance author the entire world is desperate to unmask.

When a trip to the countryside means sharing a cottage with only one bed, it’s a short step to sharing a whole lot more besides… Can Sophie trust Joe with the truth – and be herself?

About The Author:

Lindsey Kelk is the internationally bestselling author of books including I Heart New York, On A Night Like This, The Christmas Wish, and Love Me Do.

As well as writing books, Lindsey co-hosts Tights and Fights, a pro-wrestling podcast on the Maximum Fun network. She also hosts and produces the award-winning beauty podcast, Full Coverage.

Born and raised in South Yorkshire, Lindsey lived in Nottingham, London and New York before settling in Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband and three very rude cats.

Book Synopsis:

The only sin is betrayal…
 
It is the year 1715, and Thomas True has arrived on old London Bridge with a dangerous secret. One night, lost amongst the squalor of London’s hidden back streets, he finds himself drawn into the outrageous underworld of the molly houses.
 
Meanwhile, carpenter Gabriel Griffin struggles to hide his double life as Lotty, the molly’s stoic guard. When a young man is found murdered, he realises there is a rat amongst them, betraying their secrets to a pair of murderous Justices.
 
Can Gabriel unmask the traitor before they hang? Can he save hapless Thomas from peril, and their own forbidden love?
 
Set amidst the buried streets of Georgian London, The Betrayal of Thomas True is a brutal and devastating thriller, where love must overcome evil, and the only true sin is betrayal…

My Review:

The Betrayal Of Thomas True is a intriguing and emotional read which I found incredibly gripping.

Firstly, I hadn’t read much about Molly Houses, so I enjoyed learning finding out more about them.  The joyful atmosphere inside Mother Claps and the shows that happen there were wonderful to read about.  I often felt like I was actually there, watching all the action unfold and enjoying it all alongside the characters.  It really brought a smile to my face seeing them all free and able to just be themselves there.  The general attitude toward homosexuality was difficult to read about and it made me very sad for past Mollies from that period.  The gangs that hunted them made me shiver as did the corporal punishment that was doled out for anything that could be deemed homosexual behaviour.

My favourite character was Thomas who I felt very sympathetic towards as I felt he had a hard, lonely life trying to hide his sexuality.  He seemed very naive and lost at times as he negotiates his new life in London which made me feel very protective of him.  His growing friendship with the other Mollies was lovely to witness and I loved watching it develop.  Their crude banter often made me laugh out loud as I read and the scenes of the book where they are all together at Mother Claps were my favourite in the book.

Overall, as you can probably tell I loved this book and I will definitely be recommending it to others.  I quickly found myself drawn into the book and into the lives of the characters. There were some characters I loved to hate, like the horrible justices who I hoped would come to a sticky end, and some that I felt very attached so wanted to keep reading to find out what happened to them.  I thought the book was quite hard hitting in places as the reader describes the treatment of the Mollies and the hardships poor Londoner’s faced during that period.

The ending was lovely though very emotional and while I did hope for a different ending I thought it was a fitting way to end the book.  It’s a book that has stayed with me long after reading and I think would make a good book club read as I think there would be lots to discuss.  

About The Author:

A.J. West’s bestselling debut novel The Spirit Engineer won the Historical Writers’ Association Debut Crown Award, gaining international praise for its telling of a long-forgotten true story. His second novel, The Betrayal of Thomas True, is published July 2024.

An award winning BBC newsreader and reporter, he has written for national newspapers and regularly appears on network television discussing his writing and the historical context of contemporary events.

A passionate historical researcher, he writes at The London Library and museum archives around the world.