The Cairo Bridal Shop

 The Cairo Bridal Shop

Tess Woods

Reviewed by Helen

This one took me a bit to get into at first, but it wasn’t long before I was getting to know the three sisters of The Albi Bridal Boutique set at the base of the pyramids in Cairo, Sarah, Aya and Lola and how their lives would change so drastically, the story is told by Sohiela the woman who has been with firstly their grandmother then mother and then them, come along for a trip to Egypt.

Mariam Albi the mother of three beautiful girls has designed six wedding dresses named for the female pharaoh kings but when she is killed tragically the running of the shop is taken over by Sarah the eldest daughter with the help of seamstress Sohiela, life is not easy for Sarah with her husband and his mother but still the shop keeps going and does well.

Aya is a political journalist and that can be a very dangerous position in Egypt these days but she is writing a story that is sure to make a name for her in the world of journalism but when one of her co-workers the Egyptian born/Australian Gamal is arrested after piece he has written Aya will risk her life to save the man she loves.

Lola is an arts student at university the youngest of the girls who has been keeping a secret and she is trying to find herself and when she start to find that person she also now finds herself in grave danger, will she lose the people she loves the most?

This story is written from the heart of the author who is Egyptian born herself, I don’t understand a lot of the Egyptian ways or language but was pulled into the story and there are some awesome characters in this book that I really felt for that being the girls and Sohiela but there are some not to snice people in this book who show that the world needs to change, I did very much enjoy this story and the emotions that come from the story telling that is so very good. I would recommend this one to anyone who loves a book that digs deep into family and love and loves a bit of history about the pyramids and the pharaohs.

4 stars

September 1, 2026 by Penguin Books Australia

The Frock Shop

 The Frock Shop

Sophie Green

Reviewed by Helen

This is another brilliant story from Sophie Green who I think has such and awesome voice for bringing her characters to life on the pages, the women in this story are all linked in some way to the local charity frock shop in the harbourside suburb of Mosman and I loved it from start to finish, come along and meet Daphne, Adelaide, Christina, Margot and Lucy these woman are different ages and have different backgrounds but friendship will bring them together and help them all find who they are.

Daphne is seventy one and has worked at this shop since it began as a frock shop many years ago, she is married to Hector has two adult children Noel and Janet and has always had a flare for knowing what woman should and should not wear, she also keeps her a few secrets.

Adelaide is a close friend to Daphne she is also a cellist who has been overseas for many years and travelling with orchestras but is home now and volunteering in the charity frock shop, there was a reason that had Adelaide fleeing Australia many years ago will it come back to cause problems now?

Christina grew up around here but has been in Hollywood for a few years now and is a well known actor but when she is forced to flee Los Angeles to her childhood home she finds herself volunteering in the frock shop and making a strong friendship with Daphne.

Margot is in all sorts of bother living in her big childhood home with only her elderly aunt although she is thirty six she has never worked and now her life is very different from what she thought it would be, could things turn around for her?

Lucy is a young teenager in her last years of school she works in her parent’s dry-cleaning business after school but is pulled towards the materials and the way clothes are made and she visits the frock shop and makes friends with Daphne and is learning a lot from her and she feels a lot safer here than she does at home or the family shop, will her dreams come true?

This story brings these woman together and the clothes play a big part in this story, Sophie Green never disappoints and this one is just so very good, I loved all of the woman in this story as I got to know them and was sad when the book finished I could have stayed with them for longer, I do highly recommend this one it is a must read.

5 stars

July 28, 2026 by Hachette Australia

A Far-Flung Life

 A Far-Flung Life

M L Stedman

Reviewed by Helen

This story was WOW for me, beautifully written it tells the story of the McBride Family, a family who have lived for generations on a million acres of land in the red dirt of Western Australia raising sheep, it is 1958 and we meet Phil and Lorna and their three children Warren, Rose and Matt and what happens to them after a devastating accident shatters their lives

The McBride Station is close to the small town of Wanderrie Creek and while Phil is driving his two sons towards town firstly to drop young Matt of at a young pastoralists meeting a kangaroo will change their lives for evermore, those left behind will do all they can to ensure they continue on the McBride family way looking after the station the sheep and the other people who live there, but it is not easy for any of them.

During the years that follow that accident many things will happen and change will come to the station in the form of mining and this brings new people to the station, relationships are made, more friendships but will they ever come to anything and change the direction that they are moving in?

This story is told in three parts and starts in 1958 and continues on till 2000 and brings more sadness to the family, it is a story of secrets and how people react when things have been done that shouldn’t have been do they find reasons for this, open up about them or do they bury secrets deep never to be told? The characters are wonderful and so real and I felt for them all, the author has dug deep into these characters and bought them all to life.

This is a story of resilience, love, and family and one that I loved very much and do highly recommend to any reader who loves a family saga that digs deep into emotions and what makes families who they are, a must read.

My thanks to Penguin AU for my ARC to read and review.

5 stars

March 3, 2026 by Penguin

The Drowning

 The Drowning

Fiona Lowe

Reviewed by Helen

What a fabulous one this is, wow I could barely put it down MS Lowe knows how to bring families to a head and she does this so well with her newest, come along and meet this family get to know the beach front house known as The Shack.

CC Cilento is a doctor, still single, she is an only child with Italian heritage she was privileged to have spent the summer and Easter holidays with her cousins James, Ollie, Lily and Felix Friend those days were some of the happiest of her life she loved the family and felt so close to them like siblings there was so much fun surfing, swimming running through the dunes, the older Friend family have since passed but still they normally spend the summer together when they can and now some with children of their own.

When CC is invited by Ollie for a special weekend at the Shack and the wills of Bert and Leo Friend are bought up and The Shack has been left to the four siblings but there is now a fifth share as CC has been included, CC is thrilled about this it makes her feel even closer to her cousins but maybe they are all not so happy about this will. James is a lawyer and executor of the wills and puts strict rules in place with how they can use The Shack and with a couple of them wanting to change things totally and some wanting to keep it as Bert Friend had built it originally for his wife Rosa and their family this of course leads to disharmony and CC is starting to wonder who she can trust.

Then a secret is revealed and this just hypes up the tension in the family tempers are flaring things are being said and CC really doesn’t know who to turn to and when a body washes up on the shore and this is going to change everything.

This is a story of family dynamics, trust, and power and is a page turner in my opinion how on earth will it all work out, what will happen to The Shack and how will CC go forward?
I do highly recommend this mystery, it had me on the edge of my seat so many twists and turns, don’t miss this one, thank you MS Lowe for another brilliant story.

My thanks to HQ Fiction for my ARC to read and review.

5 stars

February 24, 2026 by HQ Fiction

The Duke's Secret

 The Duke's Secret

Sue Williams

Reviewed by Helen

I loved this story, it is a story about the authors own family legend that has been passed down for seven generations and Sue Williams has put together a fabulous historical fiction with modern side to it set in two timelines starting in 1793 in Knightsbridge England and then in 2025 in Sydney Australia, a page turner.

1793 thirteen year old Mary Ann Marshall in working as a maid at Kingston House, here she meets one of the sons of the house Arthur Wesley, their first meeting was memorable and something that sparked a friendship of sorts all of those years ago, over the years Arthur became a British soldier and eventually became The Duke of Wellington, but their friendship remained strong, even after Arthur married Irish girl Catherine (Kitty) Pakenham and had two sons.

2025 Ash Washington is a young journalist for a Sydney newspaper and she is good at her job and has ambitions, she grew up with her Mum and stepdad always believing that her father died when she was two but when helping her mother clear her house to move she comes across a box of mail, unopened and addressed to her, it appears that her father is still alive and Ash is determined to meet him and when she does he tells her a family legend that they are descendants of the great Duke of Wellington, this starts Ash on the journey of a life-time to prove one way or the other if they really are.

What Ava discovers while traveling through different countries and researching brings to life the story of Mary Ann, their illegitimate daughter Elizabeth and Arthur and his family the betrayals the affairs that man had, it also brings to life his battles with Napoléon and what made him a hero to the people of England. This story is a history lesson and a moving family tale of legends carried down and the author has done it so well, I thoroughly enjoyed this one and recommend it t any lover of a good historical fiction with a lot of history.

My thanks to Allen & Unwin for my ARC to read and review.

4 stars

February 3, 2026 by Allen & Unwin AU

The Girl With Nowhere To Go

 The Girl With Nowhere To Go

Louise Guy

Reviewed by Helen

Another fabulous story from Louise Guy she brings life to the pages as you read her stories with characters who are real, the emotions and feelings are strong and this one is no exception I loved getting to know Rebecca (Bec) Sampson and her family, twins Hugo and Zara as well as Anna and Skye.

Bec has just lost her beloved husband Owen suddenly and she has made the move back to Melbourne with her twins to start over it has been over twenty years since she left Melbourne and her family after the death of her twin brother Chris, she has not been in contact with her parents since.

While at work she meets a young girl Skye and Bec knows in her heart that this girl needs help and she is determined to get to know her and help her. Having convinced Skye to attend a meeting with her, she starts to get to know her, Skye has just lost her mother and is now alone she has no family and foster care is something that Skye is not eager to be in, Bec takes her home and Skye meets Hugo and Zara a friendship starts.

Anna is a counselor who runs a meeting at Echoes and Bec and Anna are soon firm friends Anna having lost a brother to a car accident twenty two years ago they both still grieve for their brothers Anna is helping Skye and soon Anna takes Skye in for temporary foster care, could this be the best option for Skye after all she has been through?

Bec is now worried that her daughter is doing her best to get in contact with her parents and it is the last thing she wants and Anna is contacted by her old boyfriend her brother’s best mate the one who left after the death of her brother and Anna’s mother who has dementia keeps bring up the past and on investigation Anna finds out somethings about the night her brother died all those years ago. What will this information bring to everyone?

I loved this moving and emotional story that brings together the past and the emotions that go with grief, the characters are wonderful easy to get to know as I was turning the pages I felt their emotions strongly and there were tears from me, this is such a well written and beautiful story and one that I highly recommend, I loved Bec, Zara, Hugo, Anna and Skye as well as the other characters who made this story so good.

My thanks to Boldwood Books and Netgalley for my copy to read and review.

5 stars

January 28, 2026 by Boldwood Books

Iluka

 Iluka

Cassie Stroud

Reviewed by Helen

What happens when siblings Helen, Sylvie and Brendan arrive at their grandparent’s house on the south coast of New South Wales after the death of their last grandparent Paddy, Iris had passed away five years previously a house built by their grandfather called Iluka.

The siblings arrive to clean the house and decide what to do with it Helen has her daughter Tegan with her and Tegan is going to film it all for an assignment for her university course, Sylvie arrives without her partner Lea and then Brendan arrives with his wife and stepdaughters the house is full and the cleaning starts what they discover is a box of letters from the mother they had been told had died when they were young and had been living with their grandparents.

The letters to not only them three but to their grandmother, Iris came after they had been told of her death, what was Iris hiding from them and as they read them their lives seem to implode in many ways, could their mother Marguerite still be alive and if she is do any of them want to meet her?

I am not sure how I feel about this story, the premise of the story is wonderful and I loved the setting but I did not connect with any of the characters in the story sadly. I do recommend this one to any reader who enjoys a family saga filled with many emotions.

My thanks to Harlequin Au for my copy to read and review.

3 stars

January 28, 2026 by Harlequin Enterprises (Australia) Pty Ltd