My Week in Books – 15th February 2026

Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was a freebie on the theme of romance/love. My list featured ten Books With Heart in the Title.

Wednesday – As always WWW Wednesday is a weekly opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next… and to take a peek at what others are reading.

Friday – I published an excerpt from A Billion Sharp Pieces, the debut novel by David Looby.

Saturday – I took part in the #SixonSaturday meme sharing six things happening in my garden this week.

Where the Shadows End by Louisa Bello (eARC, époque press)

Sam, a 45-year-old Londoner of dual heritage, has lived his life accompanied by voices no one else can hear. Chief among them is the taunting echo of a childhood bully who refuses to let Sam forget the guilt he carries over his mother’s death.

When his elusive, dream-like girlfriend, known only as Boat Woman, disappears without warning, Sam’s fragile world begins to unravel, and he becomes convinced that only his death can protect those he loves.

As the past and present collide in Sam’s fractured mind, he is drawn into a labyrinth of memory and revelation that challenges everything he thought he knew. But the voices that haunt him may yet become his guides, if he can only find the courage to listen.

Luminous, unsettling and tender, Where the Shadows End is a powerful meditation on self-acceptance, the nature of guilt and the need to belong.

I’m reading Time of the Child, one of the books on the shortlist for the Winston Graham Historical Prize 2026, and The Cut Line from my NetGalley shelf.


  • Book Review: The Shock of the Light by Lori Inglis Hall

My Week in Books – 8th February 2026

Monday – I shared my sign-up post for the What’s In A Name? Challenge 2026.

Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Books Covers With Striking Typography. I also published my review of historical novel Julia Sleeps by Zoe Caryl

Wednesday – As always WWW Wednesday is a weekly opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next… and to take a peek at what others are reading.

Thursday – I shared my list for the latest Classics Club Spin.

Friday – I shared details of the twelve books on the longlist for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2026. I also published an excerpt from Baked Tapes, the debut novel by Bob Christenson.

Saturday – I took part in the #6Degrees of Separation meme forging a book chain from Flashlight by Susan Choi to The Huntingfield Paintress by Pamela Holmes.

The River Days of Rosie Crow by Rebecca Stonehill (ARC, Stairwell Books)

Modern day: following a breakdown, Rose Crawford retreats to a quiet village. Discovering an old family tree and intrigued by their similar name, she is drawn to a woman named Rosie Crow who died young. As curiosity pervades her, Rose feels herself settling into a new skin, reconnecting with a latent love of storytelling.

19th Century Norfolk: Rosie Crow is spirited, illiterate and deeply connected to the land. She longs to communicate the stories she believes the river tells her but when worsening rural poverty stirs up disquiet, her differences – combined with entrenched witchcraft superstition – become the catalyst for devastating consequences.

Paper Sisters by Rachel Canwell (Northodox Press)

May 1914, and as the First World War approaches, three women are living, trapped between marsh, river, and fen. Their lives held fast by grief, the past, and the looming presence of a hospital. A hospital which has never admitted a single patient.   

Eleanor longs to escape. To make a life with the man she loves, leaving her sister and all her ghosts behind. 

Clara’s marriage is crumbling and violent, although she yearns for peace and security for both herself and her children.   

Meanwhile, Lily, determined that nothing should change, will do anything to prevent life and her family from moving on. No matter the cost.

I’m reading Time of the Child, one of the books on the shortlist for the Winston Graham Historical Prize 2026, The Shock of the Light from my NetGalley shelf and listening to the audiobook of Room 706.


  • Book Review: Room 706 by Ellie Levenson
  • Book Review: The Shock of the Light by Lori Inglis Hall