New Book Releases 2024

One of the perks of my job is that I am often offered pre-release access to new book releases. It is a chance to read the pre-publication copies of new book releases before publication or to read copies of very recently released books. As an avid reader, I almost always snap up the opportunity.

The review copies of these books, both electronic and hard cover, were gifted to me without obligation to review.

While I have been doing this for some time, and sharing the reviews on the blog and in other online publications, it has only just occurred to me to start sharing these new book releases with you in a separate post. I will be adding to this post as I receive new review copies.

I hope you will enjoy my reviews and perhaps even find your next great read!

New Book Releases April 2024

The Household by Stacey Halls

Thank you to NetGalley and Manilla Press for sending me an advance electronic copy of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

The Household by Stacey Halls (affiliate link) is one of the new book releases for April 2024. It is based on real historical figures and some real life events, although it is historical fiction. The book had me hooked from the start.

The story explores how women were treated during the Victorian era, as well as how easy its was for ordinary women to fall into the seamier side of society. Plus there is a twist in the tale that I did not see coming, one that made the book almost impossible to put down.

Angela Burdett-Coutts, heiress to the Coutts fortune, funded the establishment of a halfway house, Urania Cottage, for a few young women near the end of their jail terms in the mid 1800’s. Following their stay at the cottage, the idea was that the women would emigrate to Australia.

While Urania Cottage was not exactly freedom, there were clean linens, hot food and the promise of an education, a paradise compared to the prisons and the lifestyle the young women had left.

The Household explores how powerless women were in the Victorian era, and how many were forced into lives of crimes simply to survive. Despite her wealth and position, even Angela Burdett-Coutts had to rely on the help of more powerful men. Angela also had issues of her own, including a stalker and extortionist, Richard Dunn, who plagued her for years.

As the story evolves, Angela’s life becomes terrifyingly entwined with the lives of the young women at Urania Cottage in ways she and they cannot possibly have imagined.

From Martha, the first inhabitant of Urania Cottage to Mrs Holdsworth and Angela Burdett-Coutts herself, Stacey Halls has built on historic events to create rich, complex characters I felt real empathy for. Her portrayal of Richard Dunn shows him as the villain he was, and in the story, he threatens not only Angela, but also the whole future of the household. I was on tenterhooks as the story evolved.

The Household is fascinating, a real page turner and I highly recommend it.

New Book Releases June 2024

Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK and Cornerstone for sending me an advance copy of the E book of Lies and Weddings for review consideration. All opinions are my own. 

Just in time for the season, the perfect juicy summer read has arrived! Lies and Weddings is a delight. (affiliate link) Kevin Kwans has created a fabulous collection of well-rounded characters in this wonderful, fast-paced, glamorous novel. 

The story begins with a shocking event back in the nineties, but then immediately jumps to the present day. There we meet Rufus Leung Gresham, heir to the Greshambury fortune (or perhaps more accurately, lack thereof) who finds himself unwillingly forced into the search for a wife by his fortune hunting mother. This is further complicated by the fact that he is struggling with his feelings for the girl next door. 

Lies and Weddings has a strong plot with lots of twists and turns, moving between 1995, the present day and the years in between en route to a surprising and satisfying conclusion. Highly recommended. 

New Book Releases September 2024

The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for sending me an advance digital copy of The Glassmaker for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Tracy Chevalier has woven a wonderful story with The Glassmaker (affiliate link), taking the reader on a journey through 500 years of Venetian glassmaking.

Her protagonist, Orsola, is a strong female character. I really admired her resilience as well as her persistence in not only learning to become a glassmaker in a time when women were discouraged from becoming involved in the craft but also in becoming an astute businesswoman in the process. She has a rich and colourful life.

For the purposes of this story, time in Murano and the other Venetian islands moves more slowly, thus allowing Chevalier to take us on a journey through time whilst still keeping the protagonist Orsola, and many of her contemporaries alive. That said, time still moves on where Orsola lives in terms of world events and the changes in technology. Orsola and the other characters are aware of this, and realise they age at a different rate. By the end of the 500 years of the story, Orsola is only in her late sixties.

I found myself unsettled by the idea that time still moved in the sense of world events but Orsola and the main characters aged at a different rate. Imagine coping first hand with 500 years of change in a single lifetime. This was distracting to me and meant I found it hard to really immerse myself in the story. I wish I had been able to suspend disbelief more easily and wrap my head around this. Other reviewers have said that Chevalier’s method of constructing time in The Glassmaker was brilliant and that it made the story for them, so I think it will depend on the reader as to whether it sits well with them.

While I did not enjoy The Glassmaker (affiliate link) as much as many of Tracy Chevalier’s previous novels, it is very well written. I would definitely recommend this book with the proviso that you need to have an more open mind in terms of the way that time is handled in the story than I was able to bring to my reading journey.