My Book Reviews for September 2025
My Book Reviews for September 2025
My Book Reviews for September 2025 comprise literary fiction, suspense and folklore. I also have some writing news of my own.
Set in small-town America from the 1940s to the 1970s, Buckeye is gentle yet passionate, epic yet small scale, and brisk yet poignant.
After a moment of madness, two families become inextricably and secretly linked forever.
Rules tell writers to stick to one viewpoint character, but this novel jumps gleefully and masterfully in and out of the heads of:
Cal – who deeply regrets being invalided out of war service;
Becky – Cal’s wife with a gift for speaking to the dead;
Skip – their lively, happy-go-lucky son;
Everett – Cal’s drunken father, who saw service in World War One and now writes to
every US president to tell them (rudely) to focus on peace.
Margaret – adopted into a comfortably-off family and craving love from her husband;
Felix – traumatised by his World War Two service and unable to show wife Margaret
affection and love;
Tom – their small, red-haired son, who becomes the accepting victim of playground
bullying until Skip takes him under his wing.
The writing sweeps along with touches of wry humour and magical realism. Only at the sixty per cent point is the word ‘buckeye’ mentioned and then not dwelt on. Yet, this is a tender moment that lands perfectly.
I felt shades of Kurt Vonnegut, Isabel Allende and even Armistead Maupin. The name check in the novel for James A. Michener’s Centennial was also apt. However, Patrick Ryan is a writer who knows his own voice and is at the top of his game with this well-written novel that obliquely deals with the trauma and futility of war in the guise of an endearing family saga. I will seek out other stories by this author.
This is an independent review of an advance copy. I thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity.
Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite 25 Sep
This is the story of two pairs of star-crossed lovers:
Monife loves Kalu but her mother/grandmother/aunt/cousin are dead against the match because the women in their family have been cursed to lose their men. There’s also the more mundane problem of Kalu being betrothed to another.
Eniiyi loves Zubby but her mother/grandmother/aunt/cousin are dead against the match because the women in their family have been cursed to lose their men. And because Eniiyi is the spitting image of her dead aunt… Monife.
Across two timelines – modern day and twenty-five years earlier – we follow the lives, loves and fights for independence of these two women. The curse over them moves the book into folklore territory. However, this is more about familial expectation and secrets and how a life can be blighted when close family are obsessed with seeing traits of an ancestor in a child.
There were lots of relatives to keep track of – for example, a mother and a sister in one timeline became a grandmother and aunt in the other – but when I stopped worrying about who was who and concentrated on the engaging characters of Monife and Eniiyi, this well-written story came alive for me.
This is an independent review of an advance copy. I thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity.
The Vanishing Act by Jo Jakeman
When Eloise hears that human remains found in an abandoned mine are believed to be those of long-missing teenager Elizabeth King, she knows this can’t be true because she is Elizabeth King. As more about the case emerges, Eloise worries that someone knows exactly who she is and why she had to vanish thirty years ago. With the online 'Truth Seekers' group pursuing their own amateur enquiries, how far will Eloise go to keep her settled new life safe?
With its fresh premise, likeable protagonist and fluent, chatty style, this is ideal for readers of suspense / true-crime online sleuthing mysteries.
This is an independent review of an advance copy. With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity.
Soon Come by Kuba Shand-Baptiste 25 Sep
At fifty-four, Lisa was a good twenty-seven years younger than her.
Across the years, three people meet at in a small Caribbean restaurant in North West London:
Nurse Judith works hard, sends money home and behaves in a proper manner.
Mikey, former photographer and activist, is angry and restless.
Happy-go-lucky Frank is a proud East Londoner since the age of twelve. That’s until 2012, when he’s taken to Harmondsworth Detention Centre while the Jamaican and British Commissions establish his identity.
This well-written novel offers vivid character studies, social history and the exploration of gross injustice.
From the blurb: Soon Come is a rich, moving debut about migration, friendship and the spaces we create when the world gives us none. Inspired by true stories, this is a celebration of the everyday defiance and quiet dreams of London's Caribbean community - and what it means to belong.
This is an independent review of an advance copy. I thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity.
To Love a Liar by L.V. Matthews
Two decades ago, policeman Chris Fletcher's lover was found dead. Now, his wife has gone missing. But what crime is Chris guilty of?
This psychological thriller explores the questionable acts and morality of an undercover police officer. It’s a theme not often covered in this genre and ideal for readers who enjoy a straightforward and arms’ length/reportage style of narration.
This is an independent review of an advance copy. I thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity.
Hallows Hill by Olivia Isaac-Henry 11 Sep
It's Halloween and a group of teenagers attempt to raise a spirit at the Hags Ring stone circle on Hallows Hill, leading to the death of one of the group.
Fifteen years on, Mia is still haunted by what she saw that night. When the friends gather for Halloween again and someone else dies, Mia must look closely at each friend. Is one a killer or has a supernatural force attached itself to the group, or perhaps only to Mia?
Ideal for fans of folklore-infused suspense.
This is an independent review of an advance copy. I thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity.
When We Were Monsters by Jennifer Niven
Taken from the blurb: Eight students enter an exclusive writers’ retreat, but only one will leave with a life-changing opportunity to realize their creative dreams.
Effy is writing about the betrayal that led to her mother’s death. Arlo hopes to publish a novel – but he’s also trying to start a new chapter with Effy after he broke her heart three years earlier.
Their mentor is Meredith Graffam. But this celebrated teacher is not all she seems. As her unorthodox teaching methods push the students to breaking point, they reveal their darkest secrets, take unthinkable risks and start to turn on one another. But Graffam never expected they would turn on her . . .
The blurb describes this book as The Secret History meets One of Us is Lying. This is an apt description for this lively Dark Academia thriller that is teenage in tone but full of literary allusions. There is something here to engage fans of both.
This is an independent review of an advance copy. I thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity.
The Naked Light by Bridget Collins 25 Sept
From the blurb:
Watching over the village of Haltington is an ancient carving in the ground, known to locals as the Face. For centuries, the inhabitants of Bone Cottage have tended to it. But now that the Great War has decimated the population of even this most isolated of places, the Face stands neglected and overgrown.
When enigmatic outsider Kit moves into the cottage, the villagers are suspicious of her androgynous appearance and bohemian ways. In defiance of their disapproval, the vicar’s unmarried sister-in-law Florence finds herself inexplicably drawn to Kit, and the friendship that grows between them becomes a light in the dark for her.
But the Face calls things to it, and now Florence and Kit are in its path…
Ideal for literary fiction readers who enjoy historical stories of unconventional love and war trauma set against a backdrop of pagan rituals.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
I hope you enjoyed My Book Reviews for September 2025. Please pop back next month as I’ve already got some goodies lined up – romcom, police procedural, literary, cosy crime.
My News
I’m happy, scared, thrilled, excited and relieved this month as my new publisher, Hera Books, has announced that my thriller, AN ORDINARY HOUSE, will be published in September 2026, under my pseudonym, Rae Starling.
An Ordinary House tells the story of a teenage boy rescued from horrifying captivity with his family. Everyone tells him he is safe now, even though his memories of the House don’t match with what he is being told. But as he struggles to survive in the outside world, with Outside-people, he finds he cannot avoid the truth forever…
The announcement was carried by Book Brunch and The Bookseller, making me feel like a proper author alongside some big-name announcements.
I’m useless at keeping secrets but managed to hold this one all summer. I’m pleased the novel I spent four years writing as part of my PhD thesis will finally come into the world, under the expert guidance of the team at Hera.