Judy Leigh is a firm favourite of mine, whether she’s writing under her own name or as her mystical alter ego, Elena Collins. I always try to take part in her blog tours. Alas, I’m not always able to fit her in, but I will always go back as soon as I can and catch up on what I’ve missed. If you’d like to read a couple of my previous reviews, you can follow these links: …

I'm welcoming The Falconer's Lost Baron by Susanne Dunlap to the blog #blogtour #RegencyRomance #bookreview

YA, fiction, Diasodz, author, paranormal, fantasy, books, reading, writer, indie,

              The Love Over Duty series  continues with more action as now Mac jumps in to save his high school sweetheart when she gets in trouble. The chivalry Mac showed with patience for Delaney was beyond belief. He seemed a bit too whipped. It’s one thing to be certain and […]

Very happy to be a part of the book tour for my friend, Kim Nash, and her newest release, Life Begins At The Cornish Cottage. The Blurb When life gives you heartbreak , sometimes it also gives you a second chance… When Tom Sullivan returns to the quiet village of Sandpiper Shore, Emma can hardly believe her eyes. She hasn’t seen him since they played Romeo and Juliet in their school play – a lifetime ago, before real heartbreak, and long before she ever imagined life as a widow.

Here’s the blurb A respectable septuagenarian steals a valuable painting and later tries to return it, with a little help from her friends. Bored National Trust volunteer, Maureen, steals an obscure still life as a giant up-yours to all those who’ve discounted her. The novice fine art thief is rumbled by some fellow room guides, but snitches get stitches, camaraderie wins out and instead of grassing her up, they decide to help. Often written off as an insipid old fart, Maureen has a darker side, challenging ingrained ideas of how senior citizens should behave. Her new set of friends make her feel alive again. No longer quite so invisible, can this unlikely pensioner gang return the now infamous painting without being caught by the Feds? I wrote this after hearing a radio interview in which an art detective revealed how a stolen Titian was dumped at a bus stop outside Richmond station. In a red, white and blue plastic bag! I just couldn’t shake such a compelling image. I volunteered at Ham House for many years, and my passion for this Jacobean gem, together with the volunteers’ indomitable spirit, gave birth to my unlikely anti-hero. With over five million members, the National Trust is a huge British institution. Yet, next to nothing has been written about it in terms of contemporary fiction. Until now. While No Oil Painting explores themes of insignificance and loneliness in older age, particularly for women, it is mainly intended to entertain and offer a small haven in dark, uncertain times. Purchase Links UK Kindle: https://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Oil-Painting-Genevieve-Marenghi-ebook/dp/B0FNLWTCBS/ UK Paperback: https://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Oil-Painting-Genevieve-Marenghi/dp/1917224125/ US Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/No-Oil-Painting-Genevieve-Marenghi-ebook/dp/B0FNLWTCBS/ US Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/No-Oil-Painting-Genevieve-Marenghi/dp/1917224125/ My Review No Oil Painting follows Maureen, a National Trust volunteer, who decides to combat her boredom by plotting the theft of her favourite painting from Ham House, rather than see it go to Scotland on loan to another stately home. Only, once the painting is in her possession does Maureen then realise it must be returned by fair means or foul to prevent her crime being discovered, or someone she knows, being implicated for the theft. I did find the story a little slow to get going, and there is a lot of backstory for Maureen, which I found a little too in-depth. I was keen to get on with her predicament of first stealing the painting and then returning it. I did enjoy the elements of bickering and general discord between the group of very different individuals, all volunteering at Ham House, and their interactions with the paid staff members. This wasn’t quite the fun, light-hearted read I expected, as there are darker elements in Maureen’s backstory and the theft of the painting and it’s return, while driving the narrative, are simply the means by which the found friendships are created. An engaging read, all the same. It’s sure to appeal to readers of deeper narratives, with a slower pace. Meet the author With a BA in English and Philosophy, Genevieve worked for eleven years at the Weekend FT, where she helped create and launch How To Spend It magazine. She volunteered for years as a National Trust guide at Ham House. This became the setting for her debut art heist novel, No Oil Painting, which was listed for the inaugural Women’s Prize Trust and Curtis Brown Discoveries, and was published by Burton Mayers Books on 10th October 2025. Her writing uses dark humour to probe the difference between our perception of people and their true selves. The gulf between what is said and what is meant. She considers people watching an essential skill for any writer; overheard snippets of conversation or a bonkers exchange at a bus stop are like gold nuggets. She’s been known to follow people to catch the end of a juicy conversation or argument. Women aged over fifty are essentially invisible anyhow and she views this as a kind of superpower. Unlike her protagonist Maureen, she hasn’t used this to commit art theft. Yet. Instagram Threads Giveaway to Win National Trust chocolate, and a Ham House towel and fridge magnet (Open to UK Only) Win National Trust chocolate, and a Ham House towel and fridge magnet (Open to UK Only) https://gleam.io/8q3jO/win-national-trust-chocolate-and-a-ham-house-towel-and-fridge-magnet-open-to-uk-only *Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome.  Please enter using the Gleam box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Gleam from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize. Posts Welcome to the blog I’m sharing my review for No Oil Painting by Genevieve Marenghi #blogtour #bookreview #newrelease #giveaway December 6, 2025 I’m sharing my review for No Oil Painting by Genevieve Marenghi #blogtour #bookreview #newrelease #giveaway I’m delighted to welcome Apple Gidley and her new book, Annie’s Day, to the blog #WomensFiction #HistoricalFiction #LiteraryFiction #ArmyNurses #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub December 5, 2025 I’m delighted to welcome Apple Gidley and her new book, Annie’s Day, to the blog with a guest post. Guest Post Keeping Out of the Rabbit Warrens If, like me, you are fascinated by the minutia of past times and lives, then you too are in danger of getting lost in the gar hole of…… I’m sharing my review for Death of a Billionaire by Tucker May #mystery #blogtour #bookreview December 4, 2025 I’m sharing my review for Death of a Billionaire by Tucker May #mystery #blogtour #bookreview @tuckermaymysteries @rararesources @rachelsrandomresources

Sarah Sultoon – Blackwater (blog tour) Published by Orenda Books, paperback £9.99, also available in ebook. I received a proof copy of the novel from the publisher for review purposes. M…

This is the book I didn’t know I needed to read I’ve been trying to think about what it was that made me even click on the email from Zooloo’s Book Tours regarding Freed by Dr Kat…

Synopsis Mairead and Constance, two powerful witches, meet in the early days of the 1745 Jacobite uprising. While the men of the village are away fighting, the villagers face threats from both the …

Welcome to my stop on the HTP Books Fall Blog Tour for No One Aboard by Emy McGuire. Scroll down for my thoughts on this mystery/thriller, that I definitely recommend.

Its a double whammy of posts today, but this is completely different to my earlier post! Yes I’m shining a spotlight on Evelyn Hood’s Scottish saga An Heiress’s Courage.

Happy Friday! Today I’m joining the blog tour celebrating Joy Wood’s latest thriller A Family Affair with an enticing extract to whet your literary appetite.

I’m delighted to welcome Apple Gidley and her new book, Annie’s Day, to the blog with a guest post. Guest Post Keeping Out of the Rabbit Warrens If, like me, you are fascinated by the minutia of past times and lives, then you too are in danger of getting lost in the gar hole of research. It is that interest that draws me to historical fiction as both a reader and a writer. To make a historical novel come alive even the smallest details are important. Or that’s what I tell myself after I have spent the better part of an afternoon tracing a snippet that might not even make it into the first draft. The internet has without doubt made the writer’s life easier, but with ease come potholes filled with blind faith. AI can be a starting point, but it is up to the novelist to always dig deeper and wider. After the publication of my first book way back in 2012, my husband gave me the coolest desk imaginable. Styled after a huge old steamer trunk, it is covered in studded leather and, even more appealing, has lots of drawers. Some are filled with maps, some with files full of random bits of information, such as yellowed and curling bus and train timetables from obscure places that might one day be useful—as are site visits. The downside of writing historical fiction is that sometimes it is difficult to justify those site visits, as places do tend to change! It was fortunate that for Annie’s Day, I already knew the countries about which I would write, having been educated in Australia, lived in Singapore as a child and an adult, then in Papua New Guinea, and had visited Berlin before the wall came down. Towns might have grown and changed, but a visit still provides a sense of place—the smells, the sounds of the voices in the market, if not the sights. Gleaned from my mother’s Australian Army Nursing Service records, courtesy of the Australian War Memorial Archives, Annie’s Day follows the timeline but not the story of Mum’s war years. I know she also spent time as a nanny in Berlin during the Blockade, but apart from the odd comment she did not speak about those years and I, to my regret, never pushed. With some of the writing barely legible on Mum’s army records, I began Annie’s roadmap around those basic facts, and made up the rest, with the addition of actual people—Matron Drummond of the AANS; Captain Selwyn Capon of the Empire Star; Lieutenant Gail Halvorsen of the US Air Force, aka ‘the candy bomber’, who brought moments of joy to the starving children in Berlin by dropping chocolates from his plane window as he flew in to deliver desperately needed supplies. Real people who added depth to the fiction. Even before becoming a writer, I loved maps, and maps underpin any book written about the war, particularly when the area in question might be off the usual travel path. In a pub quiz, with a little head scratching, most can come up with the five Normandy beaches in Operation Overlord, but names like Lae, or Scarlet Beach, where the Australians landed in the fight to retake the Huon Peninsula in New Guinea, are not so easy to place. And maps are vital in not just locating a spot, but showing the terrain—the rivers to be forded, the mountains climbed, the beaches waded onto. So, maps surround me not just in the research phase but when I’m writing. One lovely surprise when Annie’s Day began to really bubble was an idle online search for Mum. Writing had been a slow churn—some days are like that—and so I typed in Ida Arundel Morse and up she popped. A number of times. Photos that were not in her papers or albums but that were, again, in the Australian War Memorial Archives. It sent me into a spin, and the rest of the day was lost in tears as I mulled over the mother whose early life I had known so little about. (Mum is #2). The Imperial War Museum at RAF Duxford is just down the road from where I live and I spent many happy hours wandering around, and sometimes clambering into Lancasters, Dakotas, York Avros, all planes used during the Berlin Airlift. And books. Lots of books. A few included Giles Milton’s Checkmate in Berlin which tells history in a wonderfully relatable way. Singapore Burning by Colin Smith put me on the island in 1942. For the Pacific theatre, Philip Bradley’s D-Day in New Guinea was invaluable. Patsy Adam-Smith, and Rupert Goodman have both written fascinating books about Australian women at war, the latter focusing on nurses. Peter Ryan’s Fear Drive My Feet is the classic memoir of an Australian operative behind enemy lines in the New Guinea mountains. Unless you are fortunate enough to find letters in your research, it is impossible to get first-hand data for earlier historical fiction, but for background and general information, I have found that people are incredibly willing to answer questions. One of the characters in Annie’s Day is a former RAF padre. After asking our local vicar interminable theological questions, she put me onto a memoir, Life and Death in the Battle of Britain, written by Guy Mayfield who had been a padre at RAF Duxford during the war. It was a goldmine, and I shamelessly stole one of his anecdotes and gave it to my fictional character, naturally with an acknowledgement in the book. Another character, Samira, is a Hindu woman destined for an arranged marriage. My friend, Pooja Vacchani, endured countless questions about Hindu culture—she too is thanked! It truly takes a global village to research, write, then get the final draft into the publisher’s hands, where another village takes over. The author? Well, she moves onto to the next deep dive into research! Here’s the Blurb War took everything. Love never had a chance. Until now. As an Australian Army nurse, Annie endures the brutalities of World War II in Singapore and New Guinea. Later, seeking a change, she accepts a job with a British diplomatic family in Berlin, only to find herself caught up in the upheaval of the Blockade. Through it all, and despite the support of friends, the death of a man she barely knew leaves a wound that refuses to heal, threatening her to a life without love. Years later, Annie is still haunted by what she’d lost—and what might have been. Her days are quiet, but her memories are loud. When a dying man’s fear forces her to confront her own doubts, she forms an unexpected friendship that rekindles something she thought she’d lost: hope.Annie’s Day is a powerful story of love, war, and the quiet courage to start again—even when it seems far too late. Buy Link Universal Link: Vine Leaves Press Paperback Buy Link: Meet the Author Anglo-Australian, Apple Gidley’s nomadic life has helped imbue her writing with rich, diverse cultures and experiences. Annie’s Day is her seventh book. Gidley currently lives in Cambridgeshire, England with her husband, and rescue cat, Bella, aka assistant editor. Connect with the Author Link X Facebook Instagram Bluesky Amazon Goodreads Follow Annie’s Day blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club

Happy Friday! Today I’m joining the blog tour celebrating Joy Wood’s latest thriller A Family Affair with an enticing extract to whet your literary appetite.

Its a double whammy of posts today, but this is completely different to my earlier post! Yes I’m shining a spotlight on Evelyn Hood’s Scottish saga An Heiress’s Courage.