BOOKSIMO

  Description Resolutions are made Marriages are broken… A gripping domestic thriller set in The Cotswolds and perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Adele Parks! It started with the party… Frankie, Verity and Alice live in the idyllic Cotswolds community of White Fir Lake, but behind closed doors everyone has a secret they’re desperately trying to keep… And ended with a bang! Now, as midnight on New Year’s Eve approaches, the three women will face the consequences of a long-ago holiday, one which changed their lives forever … and threatens to shatter their perfect worlds into perfect pieces. Review A different seasonal read. Despite the title of the book it's obviously only one night, so the main story begins early in the month but also stretches back to events many years ago too. Three characters Frankie, Verity and Alice take turns telling us the tale.  I did not like the exact same dialogue being repeated as the story was told from the different point of view. I also got a...

Description 'A howl of feminist rage, but also one that is pure fun'  Stylist The wives here are different. They are living proof that women can have it all: successful careers, loving families, beautiful homes. Their husbands are different too. They are living proof that men can do just as much as women. They can remember the kids' schedules, use an iron and notice when the house needs dusting. Nora thinks she's found the perfect new home for her family. But when she agrees to get involved in a wrongful death case in the neighbourhood, Nora becomes convinced that there's a dark secret at the heart of this perfect world. For these women, it seems the secret to having it all is worth killing for . . . 'This gender-swapping  Stepford Wives  story is as creepy as it is delicious'  Good Housekeeping Review Some of what Nora has to say will probably resonate with you. Nora has to do it all, even the things her husband says he will do and all while taking care of ...

  Description The perfect murder mystery for fans of Richard Osman and Robert Thorogood. 'Spotswood understands that [...] spending time with unforgettable characters is paramount.' -  New York Times New York, 1946: The last time Will Parker let a case get personal, she walked away with a broken face, a bruised ego, and the solemn promise never again to let her heart get in the way of her job. But she called Hart and Halloway's Travelling Circus and Sideshow home for five years, and Ruby Donner, the circus's tattooed ingenue, was her friend. To make matters worse the prime suspect is Valentin Kalishenko, the man who taught Will everything she knows about putting a knife where it needs to go. To uncover the real killer and keep Kalishenko from a date with the electric chair, Will and Ms. Pentecost join the circus in sleepy Stoppard, Virginia, where the locals like their cocktails mild, the past buried, and big-city detectives not at all. The two swiftly find themselves l...

  Description How well do you know your neighbour? Would you trust them with your life? I heard  Emily  before I saw her. The harsh smack of heels against cheap wooden floorboards. The loud phone calls. The incessant music. I knew  Emily  before I met her. Discarded receipts in our communal hallway. Sticky leftovers in the shared food waste bin. Wine shop vouchers in the letterbox. Now she’s gone  missing , and I’m the only one who can find her. The only one who can save her. Because I know her best, and I heard  everything . Review Suzie lives in a flat in London with only one other flat upstairs, which is occupied by Emily. There is a lot of unwanted noise from upstairs and Suzie is getting very fed up of it all, and the way Emily treats the communal hall.  So when upstairs suddenly goes quiet you'd think Suzie would be pleased, and to begin with she is. Until she gets the feeling that is all is not as it should be, and maybe Emily is missing. S...

  Description People  like  Emmy Jackson. They always have. Especially online, where she is Instagram sensation Mamabare, famous for telling the unvarnished truth about modern parenthood. But Emmy isn’t as honest as she’d like the fans to believe. She may think she has her followers fooled, but someone out there knows the truth and plans to make her pay . . . Review I'm not sure I've ever read a book quite like this before. Emmy is IG influencer Mamabare connecting with her fans, telling it like it is with no filters. Her followers hang on her every word, IG photo, and buy her branded merchandise. The book begins with Emmy letting us into her world. Then in the next chapter, her writer husband Dan tells us just how the world of Emmy really is. Straightaway we are given a backstage pass to the real life Emmy and just how she goes about curating that wonderful IG feed of hers. At this point I was thinking this was going to be a look behind the scenes of an IG influencer. Bu...

  Description In one of the most talked about and hilarious debuts of the year, Afi Tekple, a bright young seamstress from a small town in Ghana, is convinced by her family to marry a man she has never met. Elikem Ganyo is a wealthy businessman whose family has chosen Afi in the hope that she will distract him from a relationship with another woman they think is inappropriate. The fact that she doesn't know Elikem seems a small price to pay for a marriage that offers her family financial security and provides the key to a lifestyle she has always wanted. But when Afi arrives in Accra, Ghana's gleaming capital, she realises her fairy-tale ending might not be all she had hoped for... His Only Wife  is a life-affirming, must-read novel about a young woman's search for independence in a man's world, and the rules she just might have to break along the way. Review A very different and interesting read.  One of the great things about this book for me was learning about the cu...

  Description Requiring minimal equipment--just scissors, glue, paper, and pens--collage is an accessible craft that offers limitless creative possibilities. Like meditation or journaling, making collage can be an avenue for self-reflection and artistic exploration. In  Collage Your Life , artist and teacher Melanie Mowinski teaches a variety of core techniques including lettering, stamping, stenciling, transfers, and adhesive methods, and provides dozens of prompts to jumpstart the creative process and encourage crafters to explore the versatility of collage, such as: make a self-portrait; disrupt your routine instincts; incorporate text; assemble mementos from a trip; process anger or anxiety; collage with others; or try creating block-out poetry with pages from a magazine. Inspiring examples of the author's work along with that of other collage artists are featured throughout. Crafters, journaling fans, scrapbookers, and artists alike will find guidance and support for deve...