Because You're Mine

 Because You're Mine

Pamela Cook

Reviewed by Helen

Cate Williams left her dominating husband two years ago and moved back to her happy place, her grandmother’s hose by the sea she has her two beautiful children, Logan and Ava with her the kids spend the weekends with their father and Cate is working hard to make sure everything is perfect for them, she has Logan and Ava and is determined to find herself again after years of being put down and losing herself, but everything changes one night on her way home from work when in the pouring rain Cate has a terrible accident and ends up in hospital when she wakes she is pleased that their father, Nick has picked the kids up but it is not long before that all changes again when Nick refuses to bring them home.

Cate is devastated she wants her kids back but when she receives a letter from Logan and Ava saying they want to stay with their father and all efforts to talk to Logan and Ava are blocked, Cate’s world is falling apart and she has no one to talk too thanks to the years she was married to Nick, she wants to see them and prove to them that she is OK and that she loves them and wants them home. She discovers that they have moved and that Nick has a new partner a very similar version of her younger self and Cate takes a trip to their new hometown, things don’t go the way Cate was hoping and she finds herself back home and alone again, will she ever get to see Logan and Ava again?

Oh what a story, a story that takes in issues that are so strong in this day and age and Pamela Cook has written this story with heart and empathy but it still broke me in so many ways I cried with tears of frustration on Cate’s behalf and I cheered her on with the way she coped and stayed true to doing what she could to get Logan and Ava back in her life and the choice she made for her children and how she finally let friends and family into her life and put Nick as far behind her as she could. The ending was the best for this story and again there were bucket loads of tears, thank you MS. Cook for a story that will stay with me for a long time.

I do highly recommend this one, I loved it so much. It is a story about Coercive control and parental alienation and what a mother will do for her children. Heart-wrenching but so good.

5 stars

October 14, 2026 by Vinci Books

Wish You Were Here

 Wish You Were Here

Bernadette Eden

Reviewed by Helen

This is a fabulous debut, a beautifully written story about life and secrets, love and family and what can happen when you lose your husband and years later secrets are unveiled.

Sally Jenkins is widowed with two young children, Ned and Clem she is still living and running the caravan park that they bought not long after they married in Mark’s small home of Mount Mirabella, Mark had downhill bike tracks built and they became very popular and the town grew as well but when Mark died on one of the tracks Sally closed them down and this has caused a decline in the people arriving at the caravan park and the town, it appears that the town is slowly dying and Sally is struggling to make ends meet.

Things get worse when a resort is opening fairly close by and her talented eleven year son Ned is offered a position at an elite private school and Sally needs to find money to get him there, her daughter Clem is always on the go and never stops and Sally is struggling and wondering where it will all end.

Then Mark’s best friend Jagger arrives back in town and he is pushing her buttons but does she really understand why he does that and then there are secrets old family secrets that are coming out, will these secrets break things more or will they ensure a happy future for all?

I loved this one Sally has been through so much and is finding it hard to keep her head above water and her children need so much and the author has taken on issues that play a big part in today’s world depression, suicide and how the people who are left behind cope with life after and done a fabulous job with it, there are so many fabulous characters in this story, all who add to the story, this is one that I would highly recommend, it is moving and emotional, witty at times it made me smile and cry, congratulations MS Eden on a wonderful debut, I look forward to more stories.

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

4 stars

December 1, 2026 by HQ Fiction AU

Johno

 Johno

Kathleen O'Reilly Johnston

Reviewed by Helen

This is a heart-wrenching and heart-breaking story, the story of Norman Johnston who comes to be known as Johno, during World War two as a baby he is sent to an orphanage in Aberdeen Scotland and then after the war at seven years of age he is sent to Australia to live in homes run by the Catholic church, the brothers who run these home are not the type of people you would think would run a home for children.

Johno is expecting a lot more than he discovered when he arrived after his long trip on a ship with many other young boys, the land of sunshine, fruit trees and kangaroos that he was expecting never eventuated and what he found was a life of cruelty and abuse, not just physical but mental abuse as well, not much food and they are worked to the bone, but throughout these years Johno did his best to keep his head down until the day he was sent to a farm to work as a farmhand and although not quite as bad as the boys home it was not much better, until eventually he found his way to a home in Perth and lived with a couple and their children and he learnt what life should be about but the damage over the years had left its mark on his mind.

As Johno got older he joined the Australian army was sent to Vietnam married and became a father himself but his life was never what it should have been, but over the years he did a lot to help fight for justice for the children who were sent to Australia after WW2 the ones who were supposedly orphaned but many were not.

This is not the easiest of stories to read but it is well written with empathy and heart as we get to know Johno and see him grow into an adult, it will open the reader’s eyes to events that happened and yes I did know about these things happening but they still shock as you read and if true stories are for you then this is one that I would recommend.

5 stars

September 9, 2026 by Hawkeye Publishing

The Paradise Hotel

 The Paradise Hotel

Tricia Stringer

Reviewed by Helen

Tricia Stringer has again taken me on a fabulous journey this time to a resort in the Kimberly’s and we meet up with Kathleen and Omar and meet some new characters, woman who are strong and caring come along and take a break with Kathleen, Beatrice and Nelda and the other fabulous characters.
Nelda is the manager of a luxury Kimberly resort and things have been a bit hard for a while now and she is a bit stressed and it can show in her mannerisms with the staff, she does have a lot on her plate and then when wealthy philanthropist, Beatrice Foreston arrives and her boss the owner Gerrard impresses upon her to ensure Beatrice is very well looked after this adds to her problems then Gerrard hires a new temporary assistant manager Kathleen and her partner Omar as a maintenance worker who Nelda is convinced will not work out and Gerrard has also dropped the bombshell that he is selling the resort and that a spy will be there checking the resort out for a potential buyer, that is the worse thought because Nelda’s secret could be uncovered and destroy the resort that she has worked at since it opened, can things get any worse for her?
As the days go by Kathleen is working out better than Nelda thought but she has big doubts about Omar when medical assistance is needed, and could Beatrice be the spy and when she thinks Kathleen is uncovering things Nelda must open up and Beatrice is there to hear all, this gives Beatrice a chance to help and get her mojo back after all she has been through and Kathleen as well is putting her past behind her and the three woman soon are making things right and bring this group of workers who really become family back together is such a lovely way.
I loved this one from start to finish, the setting, the characters and the story all come together with emotion and lots of ups and downs, I loved Kathleen and Omar in The Road Trip and I am so glad to have caught up with them again, Beatrice and Nelda both are woman who go out there and do what is needed, I do highly recommend this one another one for the keeper shelf.
My thanks to HQ Fiction and Netgalley for my copy to read and review.

5 stars

September 29, 2026 by HQ Fiction

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