On Bee's Bookshelf

Genre: Psychological Thriller / Domestic Drama Release Date: 3rd October 2019  Lexie and Harriet live right next door to each other - they know each other very well, but they have never even met. Harriet is a sucessful musician, always singing, having sex, and partying with strangers to make her flat a little less lonely. Lexie has the perfect boyfriend, friends that come over in the middle of the day just to see her, and she listens. They both listen right through the wall, dreaming of the life that the other has.  All Lexie wants is a baby with Tom. All Harriet wants is everything Lexie has.  Right from the first chapter, set in an uncomfortably not-too-distant future, we know that something deeply disturbing is waiting for us on the other side but instead have to slowly put together the peices of just how these two lives will intertwine after all this time.  Corcoran excelled at creating a terribly tense cloud to hang over our heads as we move through this slow-bu...

Genre: Psychological Thriller  Release Date: 15th April 2021 Fern and Rose Castle are twins, but you wouldn't think that if you met them. Fern is fastdious, rigid and predictable, happy working at the library and staying in the quiet to deal with her sensory processing disorder. She has dinner with her sister the same three nights every single week without fail. Rose is desperate for a baby and always there for everyone, especially Fern.  Under the surface, you can see what really joined the two sisters together back when they were just children dealing with a narcissitic mother and harrowing secrets that forged their unbreakable bond.  Rose has always been there for Fern. Fixing her mistakes, reminding her right from wrong, making her better. Now Fern has finally seen her opportunity to do something for Rose - and make her the baby she so desperately needs. That's what any good sister would do, right? I was hooked right from the first chapter - constantly being held at a...

Genre: Romance / Romantic Comedy Release Date: 11th February 2020  Naomi and Nicholas are made for each other. They look like the perfect storybook couple. Nicholas Rose holds doors open, brings his mother flowers and comes from the kind of class and wealth anybody would be lucky to marry into.  Everyday is the same, everyday is like their anniversary. ... And he never remembers their anniversary. But regardless, Naomi is going to be Mrs Rose in a few months time. Partially because she still loves him but mostly because whoever backs out first is footing the bill. She is falling apart, and their relationship has turned into an escalating game of chicken that nobody is winning. They're close to tearing each other apart but sometimes tearing something down leaves room to rebuild ... or walk away with nothing.  Hilariously disastrous, heartbreaking and completely captivating, I honestly didn't know what to expect as Naomi and Nicholas' antics got even pettier and I was kep...

  Genre: Romantic Comedy Release Date: Expected  10th June 2021 (Avon Books) Annie is getting married today. After nine years of being with her university sweetheart Alexander, she's now finally a "Strong Independent Woman Who Just Happens To Be Committing Her Life To Someone". She's in her beautiful dress, and stepping out of the car to the chapel to meet her Wedding Planner ... who just recieved a text from the Groom who isn't coming.  Along with her best friend Azdo; a fellow theoretical scientist who's pretty handy with a countour stick, her wickedly clever little sister Freddie and her eternally supportive Dad, they all manage to escape the ceremony before the guests can even realise what's going on. Everything has changed. Her home, her plan, her future ... they're all so very different and she doesn't even know why. So when her feiry former-mother-in-law-to-be calls and insists she takes the all expenses paid honeymoon to try and relax, she...

Genre: Fiction Release Date: 9th February 2021 It's Christmas Eve, 2019.  Molly is dying.  She knows that, and as she lays in her hospital bed to every passer-by she looks like just another frail 94-year old woman. Ordinary. But she is far from that. From her bed, Marvelous Molly relives almost a century of sadness, war and secrets... and of love, excitement and laughter. Counting the days backwards, we explore all the true loves and losses that Molly has lived through and still holds in her heart to this day. All of this is jotted down in a letter intended for her son ... and I really hope he gets to read it one day. I fell in love with Molly from the moment I met her, first of all loving her like a kind grandmother and watching her form into a beautiful woman, a mother a law-breaker, a lover ... an entire person that society often forgets that can be hidden inside an elderly body. Beautifully breathtaking, this tale of a beautiful life kept me in a constant state of wanting ...

  Genre: Non-Fiction Release Date: Expected 4th March 2021 I'd like to preface this by saying - I don't read anything that remotely resembles a self-help book usually. But this book just called out to me - not yet another book telling me I shouldn't be sad, but one encouraging me to embrace my sadness and learn how to live alongside my emotions rather than hide them. Written in an easy-to-follow, jargon free style that felt more like a friend giving good advice than a faceless author telling us how to feel.  This book was refreshing, insightful and genuinely helpful - dealing with the real issue of sadness still being a taboo subject no matter how popular sad movies are.  RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thank you to NetGalley and Helen Russell for this ARC.

Genre: Non-Fiction Release Date: 27th February 2020  When you hear the word 'fight' what do you see? Men, probably. Well this book is here to change your outlook. The fight for feminism was paved with women who weren't afraid to be everything they've been told not to be - vulgar, loud, outspoken, difficult and completely inspiring.  But what does difficult mean? The dictionary would say "A person not easy to please or satisfy; awkward." But here, difficult means proud, it means independent, it means a woman who is willing to fight for her rights and won't be defined by the roles given to her by men. In this book you'll meet eleven such women, from lesbian politicians, riot starters, the women who finally started to demand good sex, and one who was obviously not sleeping with the prime minister... depending on who you ask.  Helen Lewis gives a fresh and unconventional history of feminism in it's raw, uncensored and unequivocally unfinished glory. ...

Genre: Sci-Fi Release Date: 7th March 2019 The world is ending as we know it . After a virus sweeps through the world causing mass infertility, Shen and Lowrie are now the youngest people left on the planet. Surrounded by their ageing community who protects them from the small pocket of London they've called home, they spend most of their days treasure-hunting around the formet bustling city, learning and collecting. It's not ideal, but they're happy. But of course, a secret that was keeping their life calm suddenly comes crashing to the surface and it's not just their family that's in danger now - it's the entire future way of life for humanity. Now, in the quiet right at the end of the world, they find that they need to make some impossible choices - who deserves to stay? Who deserves to live? and what makes somebody truly human? This was a perfectly unique take on a dystopian society, and while I hold Lauren James to very high standards I was not disappointed...

Genre: Romance / Comedy Release Date: Expected 22nd January 2021 Mia has just started a new life in Manchester, miles away from her loving family but more importantly miles away from Pete - the ex who seemed so nice, until he wasn't. You know the one.  Alone and trying to figure things out, her main source of entertainment is people watching. Through her window, there's the immaculate woman who always looked lke she'd just stepped out of a salon even at 9 in the morning, and the extremely hot guy right across who's a fan of exercising with the curtains wide open. Enter Luke, who feels like he's very old for 34. Keeping himself busy trying to save his Bar from becoming obselete, there isn't much time for love. Not as though he'd want it after what happened last time. But when a Green-Haired woman in a tracksuit enters the bar one night, she catches his attention. She wasn't vying for his attention like the other reguars, she definitely appreciated classic...

  Genre: Romantic Comedy Release Date:  Expected 4th February 2021 Hannah is perpetually unlucky in love. Which is ironic, considering she's the manager for her BFF Jess' dating company, 'Save The Date.'  Hannah and Jess have done everything together since they were awkward kids, but now Jess has grown up with a husband and children and left Hannah racing to catch up. She's explored the world, had adventures, fallen in and out of love, but now she's ready for something real, something like Jess and her husband have. But she just doesn't know what to do. But surely they're the experts, after all? The two friends embark on a hilariously ludicrous mission to find Hannah the perfect husband and maybe give Save The Date the push it needs to finally be sucessful - Jess is going to use the App to set Hannah up on the blind date of the century - a blind wedding.  It's perfect - at least, that's what they both think. But the grass isn't always greener...

  Genre: Romance Release Date: Expected 4th February 2021 It started as a rather embarassing mix up during a comic-con after party ... but then four years later Ellie has the man she'd been dreaming about since she was a teenager and a beautiful growing family. Ever since she'd been awkwardly crushing on her best friends brother in school, she'd thought about him and somehow her dreams really have come true.  Until one day, she's just that awkward teenager again because her husband has no idea who she or their children are. Suddenly he's lost all his memories of the last five years - how can he comprehend how much he'd changed in that time? With her sister in law and friends in tow, they start on a mission to get their Max back - but after a disasterous attempt at recreating their first dates and important milestones they're slowly running out of ideas and hope. Can you fall in love with the same person twice? And whaty exactly was Max doing on the other sid...

  Genre: Romance Release Date: Expected 21st January 2021 Andi Osho's first attempt at jumping from the comedy world to the literary world is exactly as you'd expect - witty and utterly hilarious.  Following the story of three friends and their escapades while they try to navigate life.  First of is Jemimia, a sucessful writer dealing with a career-destroying writers block and a serious case of the ex-boyfriend who won't go away. Simi, the aspiring actress and hopeless romantic and Meagan, Simi's agent and complete commitment-phobe with a long-term plan that nobody can derail. Ever since they were mismatched teens these women have been unseperable - despite the heartbreaks and roadbumps they've encountered on the way.  After Simi is going through yet another breakup, the girls devise a plan. It's time to play 'The Game' -  they will all pick each others dates for each other to try and figure out where they're going wrong and now they're in it tog...