The Chancellor is reviewing all public spending from scratch. The arts make our lives happier and our communities stronger. Now is the moment to invest in them.

This is UNBELIEVABLE. Keir Starmer has just handed Donald Trump a letter from King Charles, inviting him for a second state visit to the UK. It’s totally unprecedented, and I was so outraged when I he...

The Matchmaker’s Mare When Megan Johnson inherits an old cottage in the Welsh countryside, she seizes the opportunity to cut ties with her past life, after a broken romance. Her nearest neighbour, a horse trainer, is also something of an enigma. Single dad Glyn Phillips does his best to balance his love of horses and hard work, with his devotion to his son.

BLURB The Shadow on the Bridge ‘You must forever watch your back,’ I spoke the words clearly, though he could not hear me. ‘Come what may, I shall avenge my brother’s death.’’ Now: When Sarah’s summoned by her godmother to remote Norfolk, she doesn’t want to go. Crossing the bridges where the two rivers meet, said to be haunted by the ghost of a little boy, a large Tudor house looms in front of her.

When I heard about this book, I was really keen to read it. I have a daughter in her late twenties who has Aspergers and I’m waiting for an autism assessment for my teenage son, so this is a subject that interests me on several levels. Girl Unmasked is a memoir written by Emily Katy who is now 22 years old and was diagnosed as being autistic at 16.

The story begins in Liverpool, in March 1936. Nurse Lara Flynn completed her nurse training at the Liverpool Royal Infirmary. As she hasn’t really got any relatives, the nurses became her family. On her 28th birthday, she goes out to a posh hotel with her boyfriend Patrick, but the next day, two upsetting things happen and she decides she needs to move out of the city and do something completely different.

I have enjoyed Linda Green’s books in the past and was looking forward to this one, especially as the main character is of a similar age to me and I could relate to her in several ways. Michelle Banks is fifty-two years old and a district nurse. She is a wife to Marc and mum to teenagers Liv and Callum. She also helps to look after her elderly parents – her dad is 82, and she also helps to look after her mother-in-law Carole.

I was excited to hear about this novel, because I really enjoy reading these kinds of books and this is the first one in a new series. It begins in September 1939 and the start of World War II. Set in Swindon, we meet the main women characters over the first few chapters. Lily Franklin lives with her father, stepmother and brother and their younger half-siblings.

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I’m a big fan of Milly Johnson. I have a whole bookshelf of her novels and have loved each one I’ve read. So I was thrilled to receive a proof copy of her 2025 release Same Time Next Week. I started reading and was immediately caught up with the characters and the story. Nothing huge happens in the first chapter, no big explosions or disasters, but it hooks you in and you become invested in the characters straight away.

MY REVIEW I have read and enjoyed Suzanne Snow’s novels before and would definitely recommend them. Her latest novel Finding Home in Hartfell is the first book of the new Hartfell Village series. The main character here is Pippa Douglas, who is nearly 40 and a Fine Arts lecturer at a London college. She is the eldest of five siblings. After her mum died 25 years before, it has been up to her to organise the family.

The Home Front Nurses was one of the best books I read in 2024 and I have been looking forward to the second book since then. Dangerous Days for the Home Front Nurses begins in April 1942 in Bath. It can be read as a standalone but is much better if you read the first book before, so you know all the characters.

I really loved reading Susan Buchanan’s Just One Day series featuring Louisa, who is one of my favourite fictional characters of all time, I could really relate to her. So I was looking forward to reading Susan’s latest – The Leap Year Proposal. The story begins in December. We meet the three main female characters. Anouska is 34 and a businesswoman.

A Perfect Devon Farmhouse Escape to the coastal village of Brambleton with this heartwarming love story filled with intrigue and rural charm ‘Heartwarming, emotional and full of community spirit. I couldn't put it down’ Amanda Prowse Clare’s life has just been turned upside down. Yesterday she was a successful London lawyer, about to travel the world on a well-deserved sabbatical. Now she’s back in her childhood home in rural north Devon, after the sudden death of her mother.

A Forever Home at Honey Bee Croft is Book 3 in the Bumblebee Barn series. I have read and loved both the earlier ones and I always look forward to the next book, especially as Jessica Redland is my favourite author. It’s always great to catch up with some of the characters from the previous books too and the much-loved Hedgehog Hollow Wildlife Rescue Centre.

I am a big fan of Jill Mansell and have been reading her books since the 1990s. I loved those, but the books she writes these days have a real maturity that I especially enjoy. In her latest release – An Almost Perfect Summer - Nella Hughes meets Nick Callaghan in a farm shop in the Cotswolds, then she crashes her car and he finds her.

I’ve been a big fan of M J Arlidge for years and try to read everything he writes, so I was excited about the release of Your Child Next, co-written with Andy Maslen. The story begins with a woman called Annie. Her daughter Isla, 15, suffered from anxiety in lockdown and after Annie separated from her husband Grant, Isla got worse.

(Sorry, this review is late, due to family health problems.) Last year, I read my first book by this author – Courage for the Clarks Factory Girls, which ended up being one of the best books I read in 2024. I was planning to read Book 1 in the series soon, but when Book 3 came out, I knew I had to catch up on what was happening and was eager to read Dark Times for the Clarks Factory Girls.

The Cream Tea Killer is Book 3 in the Morwenna Mutton Mysteries Book 3. I read Bloodshed on the Boards (Book 2) last year (and gave it a score of 9/10) and Foul Play at Seal Bay (Book 1) in 2023 (another 9/10). The books are set in Seal Bay in Cornwall. This one begins in June where the Sea Shanty Festival is attracting plenty of visitors.