Review: Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

 

Publication Date: March 2022

Publisher: Penguin Books

Source: Borrowed from library   [ Goodreads ]

Blurb: 

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing.

But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Forced to resign, she reluctantly signs on as the host of a cooking show, Supper at Six. But her revolutionary approach to cooking, fueled by scientific and rational commentary, grabs the attention of a nation. And soon a legion of overlooked housewives find themselves daring to change the status quo. One molecule at a time.

This is potentially a controversial post but I just don't think this book lived up to the hype at all for me. 

Review: Liccle Bit by Alex Wheatle

 

Publication Date: March 2015

Publisher: Atom Books

Source: Borrowed from library    [Goodreads]

Blurb: 

What's worse than hiding a secret? Liccle Bit's about to find out...

Venetia King is the hottest girl at school. Too bad Lemar is the second shortest guy in his year. Everyone calls him Liccle Bit, and his two best friends, McKay and Jonah, never tire of telling him he has no chance with girls. Things aren't much better at home. His mum is permanently hassled, his sister a frustrated single mum and his dad moved out years ago. Liccle Bit wishes he could do something - anything! - to make life better. A new phone would be a start...

As a new gang war breaks out on his estate, Lemar discovers that South Crongton's notorious gang leader has taken an interest in him. Before he knows what's happening, he's running errands. When he puts his own family in danger, Liccle Bit will be forced to question his choices. How can he possibly put things right?

I picked this book up on a whim, having heard nothing about it apart from that the CBBC was adapting it into a tv show. After my order arrived from my local library I dove in and was so pleasantly surprised to find that this was a phenomenally entertaining read. 

Set in "Crongton", an alias for Croydon I assume, the story follows Lemar (Liccle Bit to everyone else) as he navigates friendship, family problems, school, a crush and some seriously dangerous people. 

What I absolutely loved about this book was how genuinely "teenage" the teenage characters felt. A lot of the time you read a book written by an adult with teen characters and think "no teenager would say that / act like that / do that". Alex Wheatle has captured exactly the mannerisms and thought processes of teenagers, and teenage boys to be more exact, in this novel. From the friendship interactions, the talking about and to girls and the slight feeling of awkwardness everyone feels as a teenager - it was perfectly done.

Review: Toffee by Sarah Crossan

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Publication Date: February 2020

Source: Purchased

[Goodreads]       

Blurb: I am not who I say I am,
And Marla isn't who she thinks she is.

I am a girl trying to forget.
She is a woman trying to remember.

Allison has run away from home, and with nowhere to live, finds herself hiding out in the shed of what she thinks is an abandoned house. But the house isn't empty. An elderly woman named Marla, with dementia, lives there – and she mistakes Allison for an old friend from her past called Toffee.

Allison is used to hiding who she really is and trying to be what other people want her to be. And so, Toffee is who she becomes. After all, it means she has a place to stay. There are worse places she could be.

But as their bond grows, and Allison discovers how much Marla needs a real friend, she begins to ask herself - where is home? What is a family? And most importantly, who am I, really?

 If you know me, you know that Sarah Crossan's One is a book that I absolutely adored with my whole heart. So when I happened across her new novel in the bookshop, I immediately snatched it up. 

Review: The Intruder by Freida McFadden

Publication Date: 7 October 2025

Source: Library

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press 

[ Goodreads ]

Blurb: Who knows what the storm will blow in…

Casey's cabin in the wilderness is not built for a hurricane. Her roof shakes, the lights flicker, and the tree outside her front door sways ominously in the wind. But she's a lot more worried about the girl she discovers lurking outside her kitchen window.

She’s young. She’s alone. And she’s covered in blood.

The girl won't explain where she came from or loosen her grip on the knife in her right hand. And when Casey makes a disturbing discovery in the middle of the night, things take a turn for the worse.

The girl has a dark secret. One she’ll kill to keep. And if Casey gets too close to the truth, she may not live to see the morning.

  

So, in the last year or two, I have become a big Freida McFadden fan. I have read quite a lot of her work - enjoyed some, loved some and did not like some! She is an author whom I will always pick up as I know I will be getting a quick, fast-paced, twisty, insane in the best way book that will be glued to my hands until I finish. The Intruder was no exception. 

I have to start my review by saying that this concept, of someone being in your house (or in this case, your shed) while you are home alone, is one of my biggest fears. Anything about home invasion, break in's etc really freaks me out. I suppose because I view your home as your safe space, and having an Intruder there really pops your little safety bubble. 

Bridgerton Series 4 Book Recommendations

 

An Offer From A Gentleman by Julia Quinn, was my favourite Bridgerton book of the series so I was hugely excited in the run up to series 4 being released. 

I loved the season, although slightly different than the book, the relationship between Sophie and Benedict was still beautiful to watch grow. 

I thought I would share some recommendations for books to read to help your Bridgerton induced hangover and include some, in my opinion, underhyped novels too. 

A Little In Love by Susan Fletcher

Blurb: As a young child Eponine never knew kindness, except once from her family's kitchen slave, Cosette. When at sixteen the girls' paths cross again and their circumstances are reversed, Eponine must decide what that friendship is worth, even though they've both fallen for the same boy. In the end, Eponine will sacrifice everything to keep true love alive.

Inspiration taken from the Victor Hugo classic, this novel grips the reader and takes them on a journey from the first page - much like the sweeping Bridgerton story.

Spring TBR 2026

 

Spring is finally here - new growth, new beginnings, new books! 

I have so many fantastic books on my to be read list that I have been saving for this time of year so let's get it into it.. 

Show Me Where It Hurts by Claire Gleeson

Blurb: How do you survive the unsurvivable?

Rachel lives with her husband Tom and their two children: it's the ordinary family life she always thought she'd have. All of that changes in an instant - when Tom runs the family car off the road, seeking to end his own life, and take his wife and children with him. Rachel is left to pore over the wreckage to try and understand what happened - to find a way to go on living afterwards.

What emerges is a snapshot of what it's like to live alongside someone who is suffering, how you keep yourself afloat when the person you love is drowning, and how you survive irreparable loss.

3 Celebrity Memoirs I Recommend

I have read some fantastic non-fiction in the time I have been away from my blog. 

An area I have fallen in love with is the celebrity biography memoir genre. I love reading the history of someone's life, the ups and downs and the inside information that can be gleaned from the pages. 

I thought I would share some of my favourites from the last couple of years with you in the hopes that it encourages you to pick them up too. 

Mrs Hinch: This Is Me by Mrs Hinch (Sophie Hinchcliffe)

Mrs Hinch is an Instagram icon. If you have never heard of Mrs Hinch, she is an Instagrammer who rose to fame simply by sharing her love of cleaning her home. Her Instagram page has amassed millions of followers who love not only her posts but her. 

I loved this memoir as it gave the reader an insight into Sophie, without the Mrs Hinch persona. 

Reading about Sophie's childhood, her insecurities with her body which led to her having gastric band surgery and almost dying from complications and how she started her Instagram page and changed her life forever. 

I think the reason this book resonates with me is the same for a lot of her followers - it is Sophie's honest voice, her ability to be vulnerable and her incredible positive outlook on life. 

Mrs Hinch drives home the message of happiness in the everyday things in her book Mrs Hinch: This Is Me.