Are you looking for your next great read? Why not try out the books from across the pond? Despite from what governments say, books are essential and are needed now, more than ever. So if you are need of a variety and want to read diverse stories, then I suggest you try out some British and Irish titles!
We may have left 2024 behind, but the pain and struggles of last year are still being faced, especially independent bookstores. Continue to support indie bookstores by shopping on Bookshop.org and Hive.co.uk.
Waterstones currently ships to the United States but there will be an international shipping fee. You can also try with the British bookstore, Blackwell’s, also with Wordery.com. Now on with the recommendations!
Featured Books of the Month
This Song Is About Us by Sara Barnard
Told over three summer festivals, this stunning novel from a bestselling author charts the emotional turmoil of young love and early fame.
The Kerbs are a four-piece pop rock band on the verge of breaking big the moment that frontman, Drew, turns 18. But Drew and his long-term girlfriend Ruby have a decision to make: go public right from the start or keep their relationship private, away from the intrusive lens of the tabloids and the scrutiny of the Kerbs’ fanbase. The choice seems easy. Ruby wants her life to remain her own – she’s seen how fame can devour the lives of those who stand in the periphery.
But staying secret comes with a price. As Drew’s star rises and rumours begin to stir, Ruby starts to wonder if love is strong enough to keep them together when Drew’s fame seems destined to drive them apart.(Credit: Walker Books)
Burn After Reading by Catherine Ryan Howard
Expected Publication Date: April 10
The night Jack Smyth ran into flames in a desperate attempt to save his wife from their burning home, he was, tragically, too late – but hailed a hero. Until it emerged that Kate was dead long before the fire began.
Suspicion has stalked him ever since. After all, there’s no smoke without fire.
A year on, he’s signed a book deal. He wants to tell his side of the story, to prove his own innocence in print. He just needs someone to help him write it.
Emily has never ghostwritten anything before, but she knows what it’s like to live with a guilty secret. And she’s about to learn that there are some stories that should never be told . . .(Credit: Transworld Publishers)
Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronika Dapunt
Expected Publication Date: April 10
Her job is to die for. Literally.
Most people think that when they meet Death, it’ll be a skeleton in a black potato sack. Maybe with a scythe. Truth is, she’s just a woman doing a job, and she’s very good at it.
But when Death takes a much-needed break to live on earth, things start to go terribly wrong.
Someone’s killing people not on her list (well, not yet anyway) and it’s down to her to find the culprit before it’s too late.
To make matters worse, her sanctimonious sister, Life – whom Death hasn’t got on with in millennia – won’t stop blaming her . . . And then there’s the slight problem of the charming (sexy) parasitologist she’s suspicious of.
But she’ll be fine, right?
After all, who better to investigate a murder than Death herself? (Credit: Transworld Publishing)
The Misadventures of Mina Mahmood by Farhana Islam
Expected Publication Date: April 10
Welcome to the joyous world of Mina and best friends Reema and Mobeen!
Mina, Reema and Mobeen can’t wait to go on their school trip, an overnight stay at Shiremoor Oaks Adventure Centre . . . until somebody spooks them with stories about Bertie Blackteeth: who haunts the woods, who sharpens her toenails with twigs, who is waiting to skewer her next unfortunate victim all over with cheese-and-onion crisps!
With Bertie Blackteeth lurking and the school bully seeming to have become the teacher’s pet – this trip will test their friendship, courage and love of potato chips to the limit. (Credit: HarperCollins Publishers)
Show Me Where It Hurts by Claire Gleeson
Expected Publication Date: April 10
How do you survive the unsurvivable?
Rachel lives with her husband Tom and their two children: it’s the ordinary family life she always thought she’d have. All of that changes in an instant – when Tom runs the family car off the road, seeking to end his own life, and take his wife and children with him. Rachel is left to pore over the wreckage to try and understand what happened – to find a way to go on living afterwards.
What emerges is a snapshot of what it’s like to live alongside someone who is suffering, how you keep yourself afloat when the person you love is drowning, and how you survive irreparable loss.(Credit: Hodder & Stoughton)
Matched Up by Jenny Ireland
Expected Publication Date: April 17
When Lexie sees Shane for the first time, she’s blown away. Not only by the way he plays football (although that is great), but by his looks, and how he’s not like the other boys. Best of all, he feels the same way about her. Electricity at first sight.
But there’s a problem.
New in town, Shane has taken the position in Westing FC’s starting 11 that Lexie’s brother, Niall, had set his sights on. Now, they must be each other’s biggest secret. Shane’s family situation is complicated, so there isn’t much space for a girlfriend… or is there?
At first, the sneaking around is exciting: after practice, meeting on the beach, hiding from Niall. But things are about to get complicated…(Credit: Penguin Random House Children’s UK)
Possibility by Sareeta Domingo
Expected Publication Date: April 24
What’s the thing you’d change about your life right now if you could just click your fingers?
When Anika Lapo wakes up in hospital on her thirtieth birthday, it’s not dying she’s afraid of: her real fear is how much of her life she has wasted. After a successful operation, she vows not to lose another second.
Every night she writes in her diary about the person she wants to be and, the next day, her words come true. How she’s going to land her dream job as a radio producer, DJ to a crowd instead of her bedroom – and that she’ll finally, blissfully connect with breakfast show host Cam Aseidu, the guy with the sexy smirk and jet-black eyes she’s lusted after from afar…
Thanks to her diary manifestations, Anika is finally living up to her potential. But what if she’s trying so hard to be in control that she loses herself along the way? What if, after everything, she was enough all along? (Credit: Dialogue)
The Mirror World by Femi Fadugba
Expected Publication Date: April 24
The electrifying sequel to the bestselling, critically acclaimed page-turning thriller, The Upper World.
In The Mirror World, we return to Esso and Rhia’s epic story as they learn more about The Upper World. Soon they discover they are not the only ones who can wield its power, and that danger is brewing.
With her mentor, Dr. Esso, by her side, eighteen-year-old Rhia is determined to make her mark on the hallowed halls of Oxford University – and put the Upper World behind her. But that’s all easier said than done when in her first week she overhears talk of the world ending.
And when an invite drops under her door to a secret and exclusive society called the Ravens, Rhia must decide whether she’ll join the cult-like group to gain answers. Can the Ravens provide the answers to get to the bottom of what’s really going on? Or will joining the group open Pandora’s box with earth’s future at stake? Rhia is about to find out. (Credit: Penguin Random House Children’s UK)
What Happens Online by Nathanael Lessore
Expected Publication Date: April 24
Existor is the most popular guy in school. Fred is the loser with no friends. And nobody knows they’re the same person.
Online, Fred goes by Existor@stmarks. His alter ego is the best gamer around – constantly on a winning streak, with tonnes of followers, and the confidence to go with it.
But offline, Fred’s life is miserable. His dad’s always working, his mum’s struggling, and at school, everyone looks straight through him. Until Existor’s notoriety spreads to his school, and Fred sees an opportunity: everyone listens to what Existor has to say, so why not use that?
Soon, Fred is coming up with outlandish rumours about his classmates, and everyone’s lapping it up. His bullies are shunned, and people are finally taking notice of him. But it’s a slippery slope and Fred struggles to keep track of all the stuff he’s posted as his lies start to wreak unexpected havoc.
Fred will have to answer for his crimes against reality, but will he ever find someone to like him for who he really is? (Credit: Hot Key Books)
Table For One by Emma Gannon
Expected Publication Date: April 24
Willow has everything worked out.
*The steady partner
*The successful career
*The grown-up house
Until she doesn’t – and she’s cast adrift on the sea of heartbreak, grieving a future with no clear path.
With her life transformed beyond recognition, and her friends busy ‘moving forwards’, Willow has never felt more alone.
But she’s in good company.
And when inspiration arrives from an unlikely source, she rekindles the relationship she longs for – but has long neglected… The one with herself… (Credit: HarperCollins Publishers)
The Marriage Vendetta by Caroline Madden
Expected Publication Date: April 24
Eliza’s playwright husband Richard Sheridan has accepted the career opportunity of a lifetime: running a prestigious theatre in Dublin. Eliza plays the role of the supportive wife – uprooting their daughter Mara, relocating from England to Dublin, running the household and managing Richard’s paperwork – but inside, she’s burning with resentment.
Eliza was once a globe-trotting classical pianist; now, her time is consumed by the dramas of the judgmental ‘momfluencers’ at the café across from Mara’s school, where she spends hours anxiously watching her lonely daughter during playtimes.
When she’s sent a suggestive photo of Richard with another woman, it’s the last straw. She turns to mysterious marriage therapist Ellen Early for help. But Eliza has no idea just how far Ms. Early is willing to go to get results … (Credit: Bonnier Books)
The Secret Room by Jane Casey
Expected Publication Date: April 24
A closed door. An impossible murder.
2:32 p.m. Wealthy, privileged Ilaria Cavendish checks into a luxury London hotel and orders a bottle of champagne. Within the hour, her lover discovers her submerged in a bath of scalding water, dead.
At first glance it looks like an accident. No one went in with her. No one came out. But all the signs point to murder.
For DS Maeve Kerrigan, the case is a welcome distraction. But when shock news hits close to home, affecting her partner, DI Josh Derwent, she faces the toughest challenge of her career. And if she fails her world will never be the same again…(Credit: HaperCollins)
Fun and Games by John Patrick McHugh
Expected Publication Date: April 24
Seventeen-year-old John Masterson has no idea what he wants. It’s his last summer on the small island where he has grown up and he should be enjoying the weeks until his exam results come through. Instead, he’s working mind-numbing shifts at the local hotel and trying to keep his head down after his mother’s nude sext to another man was leaked to the whole island.
As John joins the local senior football team, gets caught up in fights and parties, and embarks on a tentative relationship with his slightly older co-worker Amber that he feels both proud and ashamed of, he can almost pretend that this summer will last forever. But soon John must face up to the choices before him: to stay or leave, to stand out or fit in, and whether to love and let himself be loved, despite or perhaps because of, the flaws that make us all human. (Credit: HarperCollins)
Captain Fates by Katherine Weber
Expected Publication Date: April 24
Bursting with epic adventure, romance and humour on the high seas. Someone is making waves …
Captain Marino Pegasi.
Wedded to the sea.
Immune to love.
Until now …
Captain Marino Pegasi is never happier than when he’s exploring the oceans. But when his beloved sister, Celeste, falls gravely ill, he is forced to go on a desperate search for a cure. Little does he know that in his search he will find so much more lying beyond the horizon. Does Marino’s fate truly lie in the hands of a bewitching, mysterious mermaid …? (Credit: HarperCollins)
Emily Knight: I Am…Power by A. Bello
Expected Publication Date: April 28
As the chosen one to battle the powerful Neci, the stake of the warrior world is on Emily’s shoulders but with family betrayals and superpowers being stolen, everything is falling apart. Can Emily rise above it all and defeat her toughest opponent? Will she live up to the expectations of being number one? Win or lose – this is the final battle. (Credit: Hashtag Press)
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