On Bee's Bookshelf

  Yellowface - R.F. Kuang ⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Literary Fiction | Released: 25/05/2023  Evergreens - Liam Brown  ⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Sci-fi | Released: 15/06/2023 The Lazarus Solution - Kjell Ola Dahl  ⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Historical Fiction | Released: 27/04/2023 One False Move - Dreda Say Mitchell  ⭐⭐⭐  Genre: Short Story | Released: 13/04/2023 The Last Word - Katy Birchall  ⭐⭐ ⭐⭐ Genre: Romcom | Released: 25/05/2023 The Girls of Summer - Katie Bishop  ⭐⭐ ⭐⭐ Genre: Fiction | Released: 25/05/2023 The Last Act of Adam Campbell - Andy Jones  ⭐⭐ ⭐⭐ Genre: Fiction | Released: 12/03/2020  Dead Man Talking - Roddy Doyle ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Short Story | Released: 13/04/2023 Paris for One - Jojo Moyes  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Short Story | Released: 13/04/2023 Hello Mum - Bernardine Evaristo  ⭐⭐⭐⭐  Genre: Short Story | Released: 13/04/2023 The Double Clue - Agatha Christie  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Short Story | Released: 13/04/2023 The Last Passenger - Will Dean  ⭐⭐⭐ ⭐⭐ Genre: T...

Genre: Contemporary Fiction | Womens Fiction  Release Date: Expected 4th May 2023 Publisher: Hachette Books Ireland Lexi is shooting into stardom — her Podcast Your Hot Friends with her bestie is a hit, and her life is champagne and cocaine. But now she’s not sure if people actually like her, or who she presents as. Claire is struggling with life since the incident last year left her in a psychiatric ward — and even more so now that she’s realised her messages to her friends group chat are going unanswered. Joanne didn’t want everything to change once she’d had a baby, but they have. She doesn’t want to be the party girl she was, but now she’s just a mum and girlfriend and completely alone. Three women, three very different lives, three people who just want friendship and love — but when they come together they’ll find that maybe they’ve got more in common than they think. "Why are all the sad songs and sad movies about couples breaking up? Friendship breakups were far more pai...

Genre: Fiction | Contemporary Release Date: 12th March 2020 Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Adam has been dying for eight weeks now, and he isn't getting any better at it. When Adam Campbell is given a terminal cancer diagnosis, all he wants to do is break every clock he can find in hopes to defy time. But now he realises life really is short, especially for him, he promises to live it while he still can. He moves in with his ex who kicked him out due to his own mistakes so he can spend more time with his daughter, he quits his job that has already taken so much of his time. And he tries to make amends - he's going to get better at this dying thing. But the last thing he ever expected was to walk into a support group with a teenager who just wants to have sex before she dies, a free-range nun, a call centre agent in recovery, a grumpy old train driver and mysterious scotsman and walk about with some new friends and an amateur drama group.  "My life's an open book. Ev...

  Summer, 1943. When a courier for Sweden's Press and Military Office is killed on his final mission, the Norwegian government-in-exile appoints a writer to find the missing documents in this breath-taking WW2 thriller. Daniel BerkÅk works as a courier for the Press and Military Office in Stockholm. On his last cross-border mission to Norway, he carries a rucksack full of coded documents and newspapers, but before he has a chance to deliver anything he is shot and killed and the contents of his rucksack are missing. The Norwegian government, currently exiled in London, wants to know what happened, and the job goes to writer Jomar Kraby, whose first suspect is a Norwegian refugee living in Sweden, whose past that is as horrifying as the events still to come... Kjell Ola Dahl has been called Royalty in the Nordic Noir circles and it's always clear why. The Lazarus Solution is a hard-hitting historical thriller that throws the reader right into the middle of fraught warzones, tens...

Genre: LGBTQ+ Fiction | Romance | Literary Fiction Release Date: Expected 25th May 2023 Publisher: John Murray Press Eluneds life is grey - her family and the community are suffering through the miners strikes and police brutality that follows. She's trying to support her family with her wages from the shoe shop and her sister seems to have abandoned them in favour for one of the coppers trying to beat them into submission. Even her seemingly perfect boyfriend doesn't bring joy into her life. But then she meets June, with her leather jacket and wonky teeth - she's the most beautiful woman Lun has ever seen. When she arrives in town as part of a Gay and Lesbian fundraising group supporting the strike, the grey fades and life suddenly seems neon and bright. Soon, she finds herself venturing away from her hometown to a fundraising gig in Camden hoping to see her again. She can't deny she's inexplicably drawn to this woman, and her liberal activist lifestyle in ways she...

Genre: Romance | Romantic Comedy | Humour Release Date: Expected 25th May 2023 Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Harper Jenkins loves her friends, her career as a celebrity journalist, her busy city life - but she doesn't have time for hopeless romance. She's learned it's not worth the risk, the distraction.  Besides, she's busy enough - especially with the comeback of a major star to cover. But then, Ryan turns up in the office. Ryan, who she was an intern with over a decade ago before he stabbed her in the back and is probably ready to do it again if he gets the chance. But Harper isn't about to let this go - she'll have the last word in their rivalry. But the more that life keeps pushing them together, Harper can't deny it's getting harder and harder to keep fighting with him, to keep hating him especially when he isn't even fighting back anymore.  "You light up every room you walk into. You somehow turn everything that's grey and orderly...

Dead Man Talking - Roddy Doyle ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pat had been best friends with Joe Murphy since they were kids. But years ago they had a fight. A big one, and they haven’t spoken since - till the day before Joes funeral. What? On the day before his funeral Joe would be dead, wouldn’t he? Yes, he would … A bit silly, a bit serious, a bit spooky but a lot of fun — this might be a small book but it’s got big characters, big laughs and a big heart. An absurd story about questionable people doing questionable things and utterly delightful. One False Move - Dreda Say Mitchell  ⭐⭐⭐  Hayley swore life would be different when she left prison, she’d build a life for her and her daughter but it’s not that easy. She got robbed, and if she doesn’t get the stolen cash back to her boss today she and her daughter are done for. The only person that might be able to help is her criminal ex — but she has to choose between saving herself, or saving her soul. One false move and she’ll lose them both. Intense,...

  Genre: Literary Fiction | Mystery/Thriller | General Fiction Release Date: Expected 25th May 2023 Publisher: Harper Collins UK June and Athena have been friends they were both dreaming of being writers at College. But now, Athena is a highly acclaimed darling of the literary world and June is left trailing behind in her shadow.  She can't help but wonder why - Is it because Athena is more beautiful? Because she's cooler? Because her ambiguous queerness and Asian heritage make her more diverse and interesting? Does she make her readers feel clever and cultured? It can't be because she's a better writer than her. And then one night, it doesn't matter anymore. When Athena dies suddenly after a night celebrating her latest success, June finds herself along with Athena's newest secret manuscript … but now, it's hers. And suddenly, she's a success. Okay, she might rebrand herself with a new name and ambiguous identity, but her dream is finally real until a g...

  Genre: Non-Fiction | Essays | Memoir Release Date: Expected 11th May 2023 Publisher: Harper Collins UK | Borough Press This collection of essays and memoirs is an open and honest discussion about the serious impacts that mental health, and the subsequent lack of understanding can have on people. Each story is dictated by someone who has lived through a mental health crisis and then written by a UK author.  Each essay merits a discussion and raises timely, critical points about modern health; whether it's the expectation to 'bounce back' while fighting post-partum depression the pressure of unspoken assumptions of emotional labour, societal guilt about sexuality and identity, or the terrifying truth that there is not always a reason for a mental health issue - mental health does not need reasons or explanation to infect someone's life and it does so without apology. As someone with OCD amongst other issues, I felt this book was immensely valuable as it shows the world ...

  A serial killer is on the loose in Hamburg, targeting dancers from The Acapulco, a club in the city’s red-light district, removing their scalp as a gruesome trophy and replacing their hair with plastic wigs.  Chastity Riley is the state prosecutor responsible for crimes in the district, and she’s working alongside the police as they investigate. Can she get inside the mind of the killer?  Her strength is thinking like a criminal; her weaknesses are pubs, bars, younger men and dingy light, but as Chastity searches for love and a flamboyant killer–battling her demons and the dark, foggy Hamburg weather–she hits dead end after dead end, and it may be too late. For everyone... "I think about her skin and get scared for my own." Chastity Riley is back and as bold as ever. If you haven't read the other books in the Chastity Reloaded series, don't worry - they all pack a powerful punch as a stand-alone but I'd still recommend checking out the others to read more about...

Genre: Thriller | Mystery | Crime Release Date: Expected 27th April 2023 Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Brogan is quite happy to spend her time scuttling around in the dark, working as a bookseller and avoiding the sun - much like her moniker, Roach. And until now, Roach hasn't wanted anything more than her life in the shadows with her pet snail and murder stories but now Laura has changed everything. When she arrives in Roaches failing bookstore, tasked with bringing life into the dying business, she brings a sense of light with her that's unfamiliar but intriguing. But in that light, Roach sees a little glimmer of dark - something she can connect with and soon she is obsessed with finding the broken parts of Laura, making her realise they'd be best friends ... If only Laura would look at her. "There's a lot to fear in this world, but when something goes bump in the night, it isn't ghosts that haunt me." Sickeningly dark and twisted, this is a thrillin...