Let’s not beat around the bush; it’s entirely too late, really, to post this so I’m going to keep it focused on the books. I read 28 books last year.

Aliya Ali-Afzal: The Big Day – A woman finds herself at loggerheads with her mother over the plans for her, the woman’s, wedding. This was a difficult read for me though it’s an alright book, that said, I thought the ending was still too swayed towards what the mother wanted.

Amy Jordan: The Dark Hours – It’s 2024 and retired DI Julia Hart is called back to the Irish police force because a current murder case has echoes of one Hart solved in 1994. We also get that narrative from 1994 wherein Julia became traumatised, lost her marriage or her husband (we don’t yet know) and dealt with sexism. This is an excellent thriller.

Beth O’Leary: Swept Away – A couple on a one night stand decide to have their night on a boat and wake up in the middle of the sea. Good use of limited location, I just didn’t like the ending much (everyone was a bit too related).

Carmel Harrington: The Stolen Child – A boy goes missing on a cruise and while the search begins his mother thinks back to her childhood in an orphanage. Very well paced and plotted; this is not your usual thriller.

Clémence Michallon: Our Last Resort – A sibling pair go for a holiday in order to reconnect but whilst there someone is murdered; the sister is anxious to find out who did it due to a bad event in their lives, and we get a good look at their childhood in a cult. Extremely good and whilst Michallon lets you guess the details a bit earlier than you strictly need, it’s to very good effect.

Elizabeth Eulberg: Take A Chance On Me – An American teen gets humiliated by a viral video so she goes to stay with her dad in London to get away from it all; there’s a boy on the cover, etc. Very fun.

Elodie Harper: Boudicca’s Daughter – A fiction story of what might have been the lives of Boudicca’s two daughters, women who have been left out of history except for brief mentions. Brilliant – hard-hitting and dark but incredibly well done.

Emily Slapper: Everyone I Know Is Dying – Iris struggles with life despite doing well in her job (though she is sleeping with a married man). The author deals with a familiar subject in a nicely new way and puts a more positive spin on a book that could have been a lot darker – it’s great.

Emma Cowell: Under The Lemon Tree – A woman whose twin dies in the car accident they’re both in goes home to Greece to grieve and write about her journey (she’s a columnist); when she meets an annoying man on the plane she is glad to leave him behind but, well, he might turn up later. Cowell’s on her usual excellent form writing about issues in the way only she does.

Gabrielle Zevin: Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow – Sam and Sadie met as children when Sam was in hospital after an accident and Sadie was there because her sister has cancer. They bonded over video games but a conflict separated them for many years. We join them in adulthood as they decide to start a game development company. It lacks emotion, but the last quarter of the book was exceptional.

Gill Paul: Another Woman’s Husband – In the 1940s, Mary watches her childhood friend Wallis burn one marriage, not appreciate another, and start a relationship with the Prince of Wales. In the 1990s, Rachel and Alex are witnesses to Princess Diana’s death and while Rachel has her boutique to get back to, Alex is determined to create a documentary on what really happened that fateful night. A very good read.

Jim C Hines: Kitemaster – A young woman whose husband has just died makes his spirit kite ready to let his soul leave the world; following this she is recruited as a kitemaster to use the winds to help a kiteship sail in a battle with the queen. Super look at grief and an interesting world.

Juhea Kim: A Love Story From The End Of The World – A series of short stories the author has published over the last 10 years, all with a theme of environmentalism. Exceptional.

Julie Kagawa: Fateless – In an Assassin’s Creed-esque world, a thief is given an underworld-like task but upon finding out the people she’s been working for are not actually the good guys, she escapes with a fatechaser she meets and starts a journey to places it’s recommended not to go. The first in a trilogy; very good.

Kate Packman: You Can See the End Of The World From Here – A woman whose son said he would die at the time this story takes place becomes extremely paranoid and anxious about him and we see her mental state deteriorating. Fantastic.

Linda Corbett: Love You From A To Z – A woman finds a letter in the collection of items her boyfriend has bought for resale and attempts to give the letter back to its writer; in so doing she meets someone far more suited to her. The best disability representation I have ever seen in fiction – the main character’s disability is mostly noted in the way that people on the street respond to her.

Liz Fenwick: The Secrets Of Harbour House – Taking over her father’s role at his co-owned auction house, a young woman looks into the history of the home of two women artists whilst trying to avoid the constant phone calls from her boyfriend back in London; we get a second narrative from the most famous of these, her life on holiday just before the war where she met a woman she felt incredibly strongly for. Fantastic; Fenwick’s best yet.

Maggie Stiefvater: The Listeners – An American luxury hotel hosts Axis diplomats; tensions are high, the staff are trying their best to be polite in the face of the enemy, and all the while the waters surrounding the hotel are stirring. Super.

Michael Stewart: Black Wood Women – In the 1600s, an Irish girl living in England runs away from the men who killed her parents because they were Irish and seeks out a secret community where she will be safe; meanwhile we read a narrative fictionalising the story of the last wolf in England. I’m going to use the same word I’ve just used – super. Because it is.

Neil Ansell: The Circling Sky – An account of Ansell’s monthly journeys to the New Forest which he does to enjoy the place he frequented in his childhood and to look at the Forest in depth. There’s a lot of great history here as well as nature and Ansell’s own stories of his life are compelling. I wished there was more about the forest itself in terms of more general information but the personalisation of the book is undeniably fab.

Nikki May: This Motherless Land – In a loose retelling of Mansfield Park, Funke goes to England to live with her extended family after the death of her mother and brother in Nigeria and has to deal with the often-times significant trouble of fitting in where she’s not quite considered family (we also hear of her childhood). I didn’t enjoy Austen’s novel; I loved May’s.

Paul McVeigh: I Hear You – A collection of stories including a series of stories written for Radio 4. This is a great collection; my favourite of the lot is probably the one in which a man has an operation and finds himself very changed, mentally.

Phoenicia Rogerson: Aphrodite – A theatrical and comedic retelling of Aphrodite’s story including narratives from a vast number of characters. Extremely unique and very fun.

Ronali Collings: Anyone But Him – A woman takes a holiday recommended by her sister but, on falling due to bad footwear (her sister booked the wrong holiday) she finds herself looked after by a much younger man and despite her reticence, sparks fly. A massive change in genre from Colling’s first book but she has done it with aplomb.

Rose Diell: Fledging – A woman who isn’t sure she wants children lays an egg. An extremely good magical realistic story about the decision over whether or not to have children.

Samantha Sotto Yambao: Water Moon – Hana, the new owner of a shop that trades people’s choices so that those choices do not hurt any more finds herself in a bad situation when she finds her shop in ruins but the appearance of a stranger who stumbles into her shop thinking it’s a restaurant leads to a journey through an alternative Japan and to find the choice that has been stolen. A very good pivot towards fantasy for one of my most favourite authors.

Sophie Jo: Red Flags – Cam’s friends tell him enough, he can’t dump his next date until she dumps him while Poppy’s friends say she has to date someone for two months; they meet on the bus and don’t seem to be a match but they’re going to have to try to make it work. Very good YA fiction with a good few messages.

Tasneem Abdur-Rashid: Odd Girl Out – Following her parent’s divorce which she doesn’t know much about, Maariya has to move from Dubai to London and it’s not a nice move as people can’t and won’t pronounce her name correctly and she’s singled out for wearing a hijab, but she’s resilient; she also needs to find out what happened to her family. Brilliant YA debut from one of my favourite writers.

There may not have been many books, but it was a good reading year.