On Bee's Bookshelf

So Thrilled For You - Holly Bourne (January 2025)  Four friends gather for a baby shower, but it ends in fire and disaster. During the investigation, more comes out than just who set the fire. A searing statement on modern womanhood and motherhood with the intensity of a thriller and the emotional devastation of a crime drama. A compulsive story about aging and friendships throughout the years with a compelling thriller edge. As usual, Holly Bourne nails it.  A Serial Killers Guide to Marriage - Asia Mackay (January 2025) Haze and Fox have a lovely, normal marriage in the suburbs with their child. But their love story started with killing evil men and revelling in the bloodshed. Now bored in suburbia, Haze accidentally kills a man and finds it's going to be harder to keep pretending. A delightful, dark love story like a bloodier Mr & Mrs Smith - balancing a relatable story about losing yourself with a murderous twist.  The Science of Racism - Keon West (January 2025) ...

Happy Holidays, bookworms! I hope you're all looking forward to a lovely festive season for whatever reason and have written out your lists to Santa. If not, here's my top five new releases for you to add to your wishlist for a bit of festive reading fun!  How to Slay at Christmas  by Sarah Bonner  Jessica loves Christmas and killing bad men. Fearne hates Christmas, her stupid husband and her stupid husbands Christmas Market, where Jessica just got a job as Mrs Claus because murderesses can have hobbies too, okay? A devilishly festive tale about women taking revenge on violent, misogynistic men full of dark humour, beautiful characters, feminine rage and a truly beautiful Christmas vibe.  The Christmas Party  by Kathryn Croft Six friends reunite after years for Christmas at a remote, snowed in manor - to discover the tragedy that broke them apart isn't over yet. A locked room mystery, years of lies, a cast of untrustworthy characters and a decade old murder myst...

  When librarian Kay bumps into her ex-boyfriend Nick at a Christmas market, she thinks fate is finally giving her a second chance with her first big love. But then she gets spectacularly tangled in a Christmas tree-netting machine and meets another Nick entirely. One who cuts her free, dresses her wounds, and makes her pulse race in ways that thoroughly confuse her. Finance Nick is successful, settled, and ready to talk five-year plans. Farmer Nick makes handcrafted furniture, supports local charities, and sees the creative spirit Kay has kept hidden behind her library desk. But how is a girl to choose? Soon she’s spending her days delivering books to children’s hospitals and care homes with farmer Nick, before dashing home to whip off her reindeer onesie and glam up for romantic dates at the ballet with finance Nick. But the countdown to Christmas is on, and Kay can’t keep this up forever. Somehow she must navigate London’s most complicated love triangle, avoid getting any more p...

Mia’s been ghosted.  Her festive spirits are at an all-time low, but at least her Christmas can’t get any worse. Or so she thought, until she discovered that her ex, Sam, is spending Christmas with her family. Now she’s looking at a whole week with the man who broke her heart and no chance of escape. John’s a ghost.  After 30 years in limbo without a soul to talk to, he’s bored to death but still can’t seem to reach the afterlife. So when Mia screams at the sight of him, he can't help but wonder why this lovelorn girl can see him. Could helping to ease her heartbreak be his ticket to passing on? As John and Mia become friends, he’s desperate to work out how he can cheer her up. But then John sees the way that Sam and Mia look at each other and he knows how to convince her that love isn’t dead after all.  She just needs a ghostly nudge in the right direction… "You can see me?"  "Well of course, I'm not blind!"  "No, I can see that, but … you can see me?...

As a self-confessed CPD nerd, I was very excited when this found its way to my desk. I don't get much time to brag while doing book reviews, but you're looking at the 2nd highest CPD point earner in the Chartered Institute of Public Relations right here.  And this book was an absolute delight, so easily readable, written without jargon or overly complex language; pulling in useful graphs, diagrams, relevant stats and case studies that all add real value and make information easily digestible.  It offers simple, explanations about the importance of continued learning after structured education finishes, highlighting how mindfully developing your skills and knowledge can be a key part of professional and personal growth.  And if you're not sure where to start, this covers a lot of ground, from showing how different organisations promote CPD, different learning styles to try, exploring how desirable skills have grown in recent years and types of reflective practice you can b...

Quinn Lee is a walking disaster with perfect hair, zero filter, and an alarming caffeine addiction who’s just ploughed her life savings into rescuing her family’s failing Christmas tree farm. She’s got one shot to pull off a Christmas miracle, so when an important promotional cookie order goes wrong, it understandably leads to a spectacular meltdown in front of cute-as-a-button bakery owner, Zoey. Zoey bakes like an angel, thinks “drat” is a swear word, and is wholly unprepared for the opinionated, red-headed hurricane who storms into her shop competing for “world’s worst customer”. But she’s equally unprepared to discover that you don’t have to like someone to find them irresistible. When both their businesses are threatened, a reluctant partnership becomes their only solution. But somewhere between Zoey’s killer dance moves and Quinn’s Chuck Norris puns, incompatible starts looking a lot like inevitable. As Christmas approaches, can these polar opposites navigate unexpected feelings,...

When Beth March is found dead in the woods on New Year’s Day, her sisters vow to uncover her murderer. Suspects abound. There’s the neighbor who has feelings for not one but two of the girls. Meg’s manipulative best friend. Amy’s flirtatious mentor. And Beth’s lionhearted first love. But it doesn’t take the surviving sisters much digging to uncover motives each one of the March girls had for doing the unthinkable. Jo, an aspiring author with a huge following on social media, would do anything to hook readers. Would she kill her sister for the story? Amy dreams of studying art in Europe, but she’ll need money from her aunt—money that’s always been earmarked for Beth. And Meg wouldn’t dream of hurting her sister…but her boyfriend might have, and she’ll protect him at all costs. Despite the growing suspicion within the family, it’s hard to know for sure if the crime was committed by someone close to home. After all, the March sisters were dragged into the spotlight months ago when their f...