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

Winds of Change

 Winds of Change

The Belleville Family Series #5

J Mary Masters

Reviewed by Helen

It is 1976 and the winds are changing in the Belleville family the Bellville grandchildren Paul, Anthony, Marianne and now John are starting to make their mark on the family with Julia building her new home on Prior Park a replica of the original, life is changing but is it for the better there seems to be a storm brewing with this younger generation how will things work out?

Paul and Amanda are having problems that stem back a few years with two children now, will their marriage survive?

Marianne and Alex also now have two children but again their marriage is on very rocky grown.
Anthony is doing well as an architect and has designed his Aunt Julia’s new home but will he find love?

When the building starts on the new home secrets are uncovered about the first Belleville, Louis and they learn their true origins.

This is a well written story that digs deep into a family with many scandals throughout the year’s lots of ups and downs but still the Belleville family is strong there are a lot of family members and I thoroughly enjoyed it, I am not sure that I am a big fan of all the characters but they are what makes this family and family need different personalities and opinions in them, I have still to read the first three books in this series and am looking forward to them, but this one was easily read with lots of background information and a summary of the family in the front of the book. I would highly recommend this one and the series to any lover of big family sagas that tell a story of a strong family in the times.

My thanks to the author for my digital copy to read and review.

4 stars

November 15, 2025 by PMA Books

A Haunting at Venus Bay

 A Haunting at Venus Bay

Julie Brooks

Reviewed by Helen

2025 Cass Shaw has decided that it is time to leave London and her heartbreak of a broken relationship behind and move to Australia, her brother Liam and his family live in Melbourne and she has purchased a house sight unseen on the coast of Victoria, a place that she spent many a holiday in her teenage years, as an interior designer Cass has plans to make this old house into a beautiful beachside home, but when she arrives and spends her first night there Cass is already having second thoughts there are so many strange things happening, but Cass is determined to make this place her home.

1953 Minna Topp and her mother had arrived in Australia from Germany after the war and have been travelling the East Coast of Australia from one fairground to another, when Minna meets wood-chopper Albert Adams she is soon whisked away from her mother and the life she knows to become Albert’s wife on a dairy farm near Venus Bay, it is not long before Minna realises that Albert just wanted a worker for the farm not a true wife and her life is nothing like she expected it to be.

Cass meets the local police officer Josh and they are becoming friends and soon she learns that both Albert and Minna disappeared twenty years apart never to be found and with a strange mirror in the house that seems to have shadows following her and a kewpie doll that moves by itself Cass wants to know more and while clearing the house she finds an exercise book that seems to have Minna’s story in it and the story unfolds.

This is a fabulous duel time story, the characters are fabulous and the setting just right for the atmospheric story, MS. Brooks pulled me into the story from the start and I felt like I was on the coast with all of the characters, no fault of the author but the formatting was terrible, but I loved the story and I do highly recommend this one.

My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my copy to read and review.

5 stars

January 8, 2026 by Review

The Funeral Crashers

 The Funeral Crashers

Joanna Nell

Reviewed by Helen

WOW another totally awesome read from Joanna Nell, I fell into this one from page one and did not want to put it down, come along for a funny, emotional and moving story about an older couple who meet at a funeral that will change their lives.

Martin Pottinger is a retired academic, he has never married although it is something that he had planned in his younger days at Oxford but those days are long gone and he is back in Australia and now his mother Edwina and her cat Shirley Temple are living with him and she can be demanding, he does however have romantic hope for his former head of the Archeology department Mary Blake.

Grace Cavendish is a retired primary school teacher, she is still grieving the loss of her dear daughter a few years ago and spends her days not only weeding the local walkway but loves to help out at her church All Souls, sadly the minister, Hot Rod as he is known has the worst singing voice and Grace does what she can to drown him out, she meets a young local boy Hudson and soon his mother as well physic Rhondda does she really believe that Rhondda can speak to her beloved daughter?

When Martin and Grace meet at a funeral at All Souls after Martin takes Edwina along to, their singing brings them together and before long they are meeting at funerals of strangers becoming funeral crashers and using their voices to bring joy not only to themselves but everyone else, this ends up being life changing for them both, with many fabulous characters to meet along the way, their lives are changing fast there are a few ups and downs along the way that will make you laugh and cry.

This is a brilliant story so very well written with awesome characters, who would have thought that becoming funeral crashers would open up a whole new world for Martin and Grace, truly I laughed, I cried and I smiled throughout this one, I loved the cat, Shirley Temple, I loved Edwina and Hudson they are the best. I do highly recommend this one, it was not put downable a must read, heartwarming and fabulous.

5 stars

October 28, 2025 by Hachette Australia & New Zealand

Where the Birds Call Her Name

 Where the Birds Call Her Name

Claire van Ryn

Reviewed by Helen

Broome 2023 we meet Saskia she is married with a nine year old daughter Anouk, she is a teacher she has two younger siblings Violet and Lennon, she has just lost her mother Kiki free spirited and loved but when the will is read Kiki leaves Saskia her beloved caravan no one understands why, but while cleaning the van out Saskia finds a ticket for the ferry that crosses Bass Strait to Tasmania and her journal, soon Saskia and Anouk are taking a road trip towards Tasmania to uncover her mother’s mysterious past, not knowing what she will uncover.

Stanley, Tasmania 1968 Greta De Winter is sixteen years old her mother is a taxidermist and her father a local councillor Greta is drawn to what she and locals call the swamp but is the wetlands that creates the perfect environment for the animal life particularly the birds and Greta holds a passion for them. Her mother works on a diorama for the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, but inside the home of the De Winter family things are not what is seems. Things change dramatically when Greta does her best to save the wetlands.

When Saskia and Anouk arrive in Stanley they search for anything that will uncover her mother’s past and what they find makes Saskia think more about not only her parents but also herself is this the trip that she needed to find herself?

What a gorgeous story this one was the beautiful setting the wonderful characters and the wildlife that is bought to life on the pages, long held secrets are uncovered as the author takes her readers on this beautiful journey told in two timelines, it is a story that is evocative and haunting and one that I would highly recommend.

My thanks to Penguin Random House and Netgalley for my copy to read and review.

5 stars

March 4, 2025 by Penguin Random House Australia