On Bee's Bookshelf

  Genre: Non-Fiction Released: 19th September 2021 Publisher: HQ ‘I invite you to be courageous and get comfortable with being uncomfortable, because any discomfort you feel is temporary and pales in comparison to what black and brown people often have to experience on a daily basis. Are you ready? Let’s get started, we have work to do.’ The Good Ally is more than a book, it's a guided journey for anyone and everyone into the complex subject of fighting social injustice. It isn't a book about how to simply not be racist, but about being actively anti-racist, which is something we all need to learn how to do.  The writing style was easy, straightforward and structured in a helpful way, Nova Reid has nailed a perfect conversational style to her writing that makes even difficult subjects like this easy to follow and understand on a personal level.  Encouraging readers not to only fight against the blatant systemic racism that we can all see, but to reflect inwards and assess...

The Break-Up - Charlotte Barnes ⭐⭐ Genre: Romance | Released: 25/03/2022 The Kiss - Santa Montefiore  ⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Short Story | Released: 14/04/2022 The Black Mountain - Kate Mosse  ⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Short Story | Released: 14/04/2022 Hope: A History of the Future - G.G. Kellner  ⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Speculative Fiction | Released: 19/04/2022 Mixed Feelings - Abraham Rodriguez  ⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Poetry | Released: 03/05/2022 The Mothers Secret - Kathryn Croft  ⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Thriller | Released: 12/05/2022 Little Drummer - Kjell Ola Dahl  ⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Crime | Released: 26/03/2022 Breathe and Count Back From Ten - Natalia Sylvester  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Genre: YA | Released: 10/05/2022 Second First Impressions - Sally Thorne  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Romance | Released: 13/04/2022 Afterwards - Charlotte Leonard  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Fiction | Released:14/04/2022 Renaissance - Amy Clennell  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Poetry | Released: 16/05/2022 Sofia Khan and The Baby Blues - Ayisha Malik ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Short Story | Relea...

Genre: Romantic Comedy | Romance | Contemporary  Release Date: Expected 3rd May (Ebook) & 12th May (Paperback) Publisher: Penguin UK Nora and Charlie aren't the heroes of any stories - but they have one thing in common and that's their love of books. Nora is a literary agent known as 'The Shark', Charlie is an editor that terrifies everyone, a superpower for best-sellers and Nora's least favourite person in the world.  So Nora is very happy to get away from him and spend the month in Sunshine Falls with her very pregnant sister. The entire is something from the pages of a romance novel (quite literally, actually) - so the sisters know how this goes, they've read enough of them. Maybe she'll meet a cute local boy, who will see past her hard exterior and finally be the one to get the Happy Ever After. But instead, Charlie turns up, clouding up her sunshine.  He wasn't meant to be part of this story, so she'll have to take a page out of another book...

  Henri knows he calculate any answer ne needs to achieve perfection. As an insurance mathematician, his life is is clear and simple, in black and white.  Until suddenly he finds himself lost in the grey. After inheriting YouMeFun, his brothers failing adventure park, he soon realises even his meticulous methods can't solve how much money the park owes to a criminal underworld didn't even know existed and aren't too friendly towards him. But then there's Laura, another pleasant problem. An eccentric artist who lives in the now, who is everything Henri isn't but he can't seem to stay away from.  So now, he has to not only figure out a solution for the biggest problem of his life, but accept that there isn't always a simple formula for falling in love.  This darkly absurd thriller is definitely something special. Full of sinister criminal plots juxtaposed against a background of flashing lights and giant bunnies. Full of quirk and ridiculousness, Tuomainen has...

Genre: Young Adult Fiction | OwnVoices Release Date: Expected 10th May 2022 Publisher: Clarion Books Verónica has always been told what she can't do.  By her overbearingly protective parents, by society, even by her own body.  She spends her time strictly supervised, and spends too much time in hospitals recovering from surgeries to help her hip dysplasia.  But not this time -  Verónica has decided enough is enough, and it's time for her to take a deep breath and try a leap of faith. She decides to go against her parents and audition to be a professional mermaid at Mermaid Cove, something she's dreamed about for years, and maybe even explore her newly blossoming relationship with the boy next door.  It's time for  Verónica to find out who she is when nobody is telling her who to be, and she's willing to risk it all to get there.  " Maybe I was just used to it by then, this idea that pain is meant to be endured quietly." Breathe and Count Back From Ten ...

Genre: Contemporary Fiction Release Date: Expected 14th April 2022 Publisher: Simon and Schuster UK "This is not what I imagined would come afterwards." Emma came home that day to find flowers. The groceries were packaged away neatly, the kitchen was clean, the peppercorns she'd asked him to buy refilled on the counter. And her husband Jay, dead in the bedroom.  He'd remembered the peppercorns, but forgotten to stay alive. Now  in a blur of police questions, empty platitudes and funeral planning, she wants to kill him for killing himself. For leaving her there without explanation. She's lost, angry and confused. But then she finds the photographs on his camera - Jay was a beautiful photographer, and this was definitely his work but there's something weird about his final photographs. And Emma knows she'll never be able to move on until she shines a light on the hidden parts of Jay he'd kept in the dark for so long.  "I wonder if I cry enough my he...

  Jenna and Luke are at the start of their story. Together, they could find the love and happiness they've been searching for so long. They're no strangers to heartbreak. Luke has been through prison, running a failing business, losing his best friend and most recently trying to build a life for his partners young son after she died. And Jenna has been trying to pick up the pieces from the aftermath of another devastating relationship left behind - but that all changes when she walks into that small therapists office and finds Luke.  This new chapter should be a happy one, but a happily ever after isn't looking likely. There's someone lurking around the corner, seeking revenge for the things others have forgotten. And while Jenna and Luke try to create a new life together, someone is just waiting to tear it apart.  I don't know where Orenda Books keep finding their authors … but wow. As soon as I see that little bird logo I know I'm in for something special, and...

Genre: New Adult | YA | Mystery | Thriller  Release Date: Expected 4th May 2022 Publisher: Bonnier Books Welcome back to the Sinclair Family - they were always liars.  It's another beautiful summer on Beechwood Island and Caroline Taft Sinclair is drinking whiskey alone, trying to explain to her son Johnny why he died. But it's complicated, and to tell that story she'll have to unravel an endless web of lies and deceit, uncover all the skeletons buried on Beechwood and shine a light on the lies she told. Starting with that first lie she told herself about a boy all those years ago …  " I've been a liar all my life, you see. It's not uncommon in our family." I read We We Liars almost as soon it came out back in 2014, and it's the one and only time I've ever thrown a book at a wall in rage. I've reread it countless times over the last 8 years, so it's safe to say I had very high expectations going into this - and that obviously, this book wil...

Genre: Romance | Contemporary Release Date: 7th April 2022 Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group UK Ruthie knows there's more to life than love. But as the residents of the luxury retirement village she works at constantly tell her, she's pretty enough to have three boyfriends if she wanted to (she doesn't, though.) Her life is quiet, peaceful and it's just fine. Besides, the one time she actually tried talking to a cute stranger recently he was a total jerk, so it's for the best. But that Jerk has just appeared in her office with his Dad … the owner of her company. And as her newest and most reluctant colleague, he's nothing but a spoiled little rich boy who wouldn't know work if it hit him. Her first impression of him was … underwhelming to say the least. But then something changes - while it's true that Teddy could do with learning about the real world, about how important their work is, Ruthie might benefit from learning about the fun side of life too....

Genre: Psychological Thriller | Mystery  Release Date: Expected 14th April 2022 Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton " I am half a person. The darkest half." Molly and KT are inseparable … even when they are separated by entire continents.  They always say having a twin sister is like having a pre-made best friend, and that's always been the case for them, despite them not being identical in any way but their DNA. Even when Katie decided to to move to New York to chase excitement and fun while Molly stayed behind in London with her quiet, meticulously structured life. But even then, they spoke every day and Molly looked forward to the day Katie would come home. But she's not coming home.  When Katie dies suddenly in New York, Molly feels half of herself get ripped away and as her and her parents journey to her final resting place, she knows she has to start looking. As terrifying as it is to leave to chase ghosts, it's not as terrifying as never knowing. As sh...

Genre: Thriller | Psychological  Release Date: Expected 11th April 2022 Publisher: Bookouture Jayne arrives on the quiet island through the fog and mist to meet the family she's Au Pairing for this summer. She doesn't know much about the Wainwrights and their three children, but she could do with the work and the kids seem lovely. But after a while, she realises something isn't quite right with the few residents of the sleepy island.  Celeste Wainwright doesn't remember before the accident. They said she had a breakdown, crashed the car. And right now, she feels mad so maybe she did. But everything is a blur - her marriage, her summer house, her sister-in-law and her new Doctor who are always around, even giving birth to Violet just weeks ago - it's all murky.  She knows she should feel safe here with the family - but something isn't adding up. Somebody is keeping secrets. And if she's right, those secrets could be fatal not just for her but everyone she lov...

Genre: Romance | Contemporary  Release Date: Expected 7th April 2022 Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group Dylan and Flo don't have the most glamourous life, but they're happy. He's almost an actor, and she's almost a musician, and they've got a cosy flat in the city together. Her private school friends might not get their life, but it's theirs and it's forever. Until it wasn't. It all fell apart, and in a moment it was over. Their entire relationship had been relegated to a line in a song, an anecdote. But that promise of forever is still lingering and they soon realise they don't want to be apart. But so much has happened, and they just need some time to themselves to work it out without prying eyes and vicious tongues … so they pretend. They pretend to be apart, while they can work towards their wildest dreams and maybe back to each other. " We are like Romeo and Juliet. Except we don't die at the end." This is not the story I expected...

  When Samira is finally given her big break in the cut-throat world of TV journalism, she leaps at the chance to get out there, make a name for herself, make a difference somewhere.  Sam and recently injured star photographer Kris set off to report on the war ravaging the Middle East, but despite everything they see together, she starts to realise that no matter how hard they work nothing seems to make people wake up and pay attention to the disaster all around them. Until that one photograph.  One single image - a young Mother, brutally injured in a devastating raid. And now, everyone is listening, and all eyes are on Sami and Kris. But as they dig deeper and try to uncover the dark truths for all to hear, they realise there's plenty that could be hidden when nobody was looking. Only now, they're shining a spotlight through the darkness of a genocidal war that might just be the end of them if they look for too long.  "Here, there is nothing left to live for. Only n...

  Genre: Romance | Science Fiction  Release Date: Expected 17th March 2022 Publisher: HarperCollins UK This isn't a love story. This is Impossible. When Bee receives a very expletive angry email sent to her by mistake, the last thing she expects is to end up talking to the mystery sender every day. She doesn't expect him to be so funny, to trust him, and she definitely didn't expect to fall for someone over gmail. When Nick sends a threatening email to the wrong person, he doesn't know he's about to fall in love. But despite how perfect his new penpal seems, something doesn't quite add up. She doesn't know there's 22 platforms at Euston station, despite living nearby. She keeps saying pounds instead of euros. She has no idea who his favourite actors are. And when it's finally time to meet up … they realise their relationship isn't just complicated - it's impossible. Impossible is a love story unlike any other you'll ever read - gripping, ...