I am always in two minds about sequels for novels (and honestly, all sorts of storytelling but given this is a book review, let’s stick with books for now). When I love a story and the characters in it, and that’s happens a lot given the ridiculously empathetic soul that Continue Reading
Books
Christmas in July book review: A Country Christmas by Veronica Henry
(courtesy Hachette Australia) Christmas is, we are constantly assured, supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year. But sometimes that feeling of perfect wonder doesn’t arrive at all, or it’s so late in making an appearance that you can begin to wonder if it’s ever going to turn Continue Reading
Christmas in July movie review redux: A Boy Called Christmas
As origin stories go, the one that belongs to Santa Claus is a doozy. Drawn from a host of different European traditions, embellished by one Charles Dickens in the nineteenth century and prettied up with fetching red and a convivial air courtesy of a soda maker in the 20th, Santa Continue Reading
Get ready for the epic conclusion … Dune: Part Three full trailer drops
(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTAs Emperor of the known universe, Paul possesses more power than a single man was ever meant to wield. Worshipped as a religious icon by the fanatical Fremen, Paul faces the enmity of the political houses he displaced when he assumed the throne—and a conspiracy conducted within Continue Reading
Christmas in July book review: Christmas on the Isle of Skye by Kirsty Ferry
Zac Fallon and Ivy McFarlane have a problem. They haven’t declared their undying love for each other to each other, what with suppressing how they really feel and not wanting to risk looking like a fool or deciding that a onetime dream of a goal trumps present bliss and happiness, Continue Reading
Christmas in July book review: Home Again for Christmas by Emily Stone
(courtesy Hachette Australia) When you have been hurt deeply, traumatically so, it’s understandable, especially if you’re a child and your ability to process the level and type of hurt isn’t yet developed enough to think it all through, to recoil and withdraw from whatever hurt you. Distance, we think, is Continue Reading
Christmas 2026 book preview: Stay Another Christmas by Phillipa Ashley
(courtesy Phillipa Ashley email) SNAPSHOTThe perfect festive Lake District escape from bestselling author Phillipa Ashley. After a life-changing accident, Katie’s plan for Christmas is simple: rent a spectacular island house in the Lake District, gather the people she loves, and enjoy snowy walks, crackling fires and the promise of a Continue Reading
Deep TBR book review: Geraldine by Andrea Thompson (2025)
(courtesy Fremantle Press) As I discovered fairly early in life, much of the world has very fixed and fiercely defended ideas about a “normal” person should be. And if you don’t fit that mold, then woe betide you because you will finds yourself battling against terrifyingly intense forces that won’t Continue Reading
Deep TBR June book review: The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World by J. R. Dawson (2025)
(courtesy Pan Macmillan Australia) Ostensibly the magically real world of The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World by J. R. Dawson is about a man and his daughter Nera who play a vital role in shepherding the souls of the dead, those immediately passed and those who lingered for Continue Reading
Deep TBR June book review: The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue (2020)
(courtesy Pan Macmillan Australia) While we are all familiar with the slow and steady march of time, inexorably changing everything in small and big ways, it’s those dramatic, one-moment-in-time events which change everything in the blink of an eye which probably make more of an impact. One minute life is Continue Reading