Review: Boudicca’s Daughter by Elodie Harper
23 February 2026
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Book Reviews, Books, Boudicca's Daughter, Elodie Harper, fiction, historical-fiction, Review
My Five Word TL:DR Review: Great main character and setting
I absolutely loved the Wolf Den series by Elodie Harper and so I’m always excited to see anything new pop up, in fact I’m surprised at myself that I managed to wait so long before getting to this – but then deadlines sometimes dictate these things.
Boudicca’s Daughter was a very interesting read. As the story begins we meet Catia, famous warrior, married to a druid and mother to two daughters, otherwise known as Boudicca. I really liked the initial set up, the rivalry between the two sisters and the different dynamic between them and their parents. The author really pulls you into their story and you can feel the tension rising. The Briton’s and their Roman oppressors have a very tentative peace that seems balanced on a knife edge. The death of the Iceni king is about to tip the balance and insight rebellion.
I’m not going to dwell too much on the story. We focus on one of Boudicca’s daughters – called Solina. She’s an interesting and easy to like character. She’s intelligent and uses her brain as much as her strength. After the rebellion fails, Solina is taken captive and taken to Rome. Of course, this is a very short version of events.
What I really liked about this.
Well, Harper excels at setting a scene. I find it so easy to sink into her stories. I will say that if I was to be pushed, I preferred the time we actually spent in Rome because the author seems to really love these elements herself, or at least that’s how it feels to me. The Briton’s, the rebellion and even Boudicca, paled a little by comparison. Once Solina was taken to Rome with her captor Paulinus, the tension and constant fear really took hold. Which isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy the earlier parts of the story, just that they weren’t quite as gripping.
Paulinus is another fascinating character and this imagined partnership really served to highlight the differences between the two races. The strange thing is, even though the Briton’s suffered at the hands of their oppressors I think the Romans were actually meaner to each other – if that’s possible. Their constant scheming and manipulations, not to mention that Nero was an absolute horror of a ruler. Oh yes, things definitely became interesting once Paulinus was called home.
The relationship between Solina and Paulinus was really well written. As I mentioned Solina has strong survival instincts but is also a sympathetic character often stepping in to help others and ultimately putting herself at risk. I expected to find their relationship unbelievable but the way this is written is just so easy and enjoyable that you find yourself being easily caught up in their dilemmas. In fact, as the story progresses, and the madness and hysteria in Rome escalates, the two really need to stay strong together just to survive – funny that I felt Solina was more under threat at this point than during the battles in her own country.
I would mention that there are some incidents here that may be triggering for some readers although I would say that the events that take place are off page and are not sensationalised at all, they serve more to highlight how Solina is affected.
I don’t really have any criticisms for this, it was a really good read, the only thing that perhaps brought this down a little was the haste with which the rebellion was brushed over, I don’t know why, especially given the title, but I think I was expecting a little more from that side.
Overall, I really enjoyed this. If you loved the Wolf Den then I have no hesitation in recommending, they’re distinctly different stories but the author’s great story telling really shines through, and if you haven’t read the Wolf Den series I strongly recommend it. I also thought the audio version was really good. I can’t wait to see what Harper comes up with next.
I bought the audio version.
My rating 4 of 5 stars
Review: Green and Deadly Things by Jenn Lyons
19 February 2026
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Book Reviews, Books, Fantasy, Green and Deadly Things, Jenn Lyons, Review, Romance
My Five Word TL:DR Review: Fantasy Standalone with some Romance
Green and Deadly Things is a fantasy story that manages to include romance without overtaking the plot and is a standalone – almost a mythical beast in this world where fantasy books usually come in threes.
I wouldn’t say I loved this but at the same time I was never tempted to set it aside. In a nutshell this felt a little YA to me, which isn’t a bad thing at all, but I was expecting a little more depth. As it is I think this would work really well for readers who are new to fantasy. It has action and adventure and concludes perfectly.
The story revolves around a character known as Math. Math is a novitiate in a knight-style order but unfortunately, and in spite of years of training, he has not yet been able to manifest a weapon – which means he will ultimately not become a knight. In spite of this Math loves the Order, he is kind and also clever, but he has secrets that, if known to the other knights, would certainly result in his expulsion, if not worse.
The story got off to a really good start and made a great first impression, setting the scene with ease and throwing us into an immediate situation of conflict. Math manages to solve a riddle and at the same time open a long hidden maze awakening what is believed to be a grimlord in the process. From there Math finds himself magically linked to the woman he has awoken and everything he believes is about to be upturned, not to mention he will find himself on the run from the Order he loves and wants to spend his life serving.
So, what I enjoyed about this. Well, there is a romance brewing between Math and the woman he has awoken, but it’s not the central part of the plot and doesn’t monopolise the story. I really enjoyed the story of the Three Queens and in fact would have liked more from that element. I also particularly love that this is a standalone, it just feels so rare these days. The writing is easy to get along with, it felt a little over descriptive in places but as I mentioned earlier I had no issues completing this.
What I didn’t get along so well with. I think, perhaps because this is a standalone, it doesn’t have the time to really expand, to let you grow to know the characters, the world or the magic. There’s almost a hyper type of feel, we rush from one situation to the next, run away, hide, fight, repeat. But, it lost tension because of this. The characters were a little flat and although there seemed to be betrayals and revelations they didn’t quite deliver the shock or impact that you would expect. And there was also some signalling, or perhaps I just anticipated certain things before they happened. Some of the revelations felt a little obvious.
Overall, this has some really good ideas, it gets off to a great start and also concludes really well. I felt the middle lost me a little in it’s repetitiveness and, it felt a little younger to me than I was expecting or hoping for. That being said I have no doubt this will find its audience and I think it would be good starting point for readers new to fantasy.
I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
My rating 3.5 of 5 stars
Review: Temple Fall by RL Boyle
16 February 2026
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Book Review, Books, Fantasy, fiction, Horror, Review, RL Boyle, Temple Fall
My Five Word TL:DR Review: Didn’t Quite Work It’s Magic
Temple Fall sounded like just my thing. A group of friends go to spend the night at an old abandoned house, in the process they manage to become cursed and one of them dies from a tragic accident. To all intents and purposes the rest of the friends also go missing and don’t reappear for months, even though to them it feels like only one evening has occurred. And, from there, things just go downhill.
It’s Jackson’s 18th birthday and his small group of close knit friends decide to camp out at a haunted, and rather creepy house. Upon arrival, the place doesn’t look nearly as bad as the group had expected, given how long it’s been abandoned. They even imagine that someone is still living there. They start to make camp but before long the sky darkens and a storm rolls in, it turns out they don’t have all the right camping gear and eventually they make the decision to enter the house for shelter. Again, the inside looks almost lived in, they find a decent sitting room and crack open the bottles of bubbly and other alcohol. Things get off to a good start but soon the tension starts to rise. The house seems to have it’s hooks in them, creating mistrust and suspicion and before you know it they’re starting to bicker. Then, someone has the great idea to have a seance which results in a scary entity taking over what started out as a bit of fun.
On the face of it I expected to enjoy this a lot more than I did. I loved the whole gothic vibe, the creepy, haunted house and the backstory. It’s well written in terms of the atmosphere and descriptions. I had no problem in envisioning the house and found the history to the place interesting.
However, I had issues. I think the plot suffers from uneven pacing. The first 20-25% in particular was really slow. On top of this there’s then a busyness to the story that just feels too much or too distracting. Flynn has her own past demons. Her mother was abusive and she was eventually taken into care, it’s taken a while for her to find her feet but she loves her new found family. That being said, she has her own ulterior motives for wanting to come to Temple Fall.
Temple Fall itself has a long and dark history that eventually unfolds as the group start investigating. The house is not as it first appears. And there’s a menacing presence lurking in the dark corners.
Personally, I felt like there was too much going on and the different stories were in a competition with each other for attention. I feel like it needed to be more focused. As it was we have the friction between the group, the curse, the house and it’s past, Flynn and her past and also the mystery of what happened to them all when they seemingly disappeared for a few months (as though time in Temple Falls is different from the outside world). All set against a ticking clock as the survivors try to find out more about their curse.
As well as the busy feel and, what was probably more of a deal breaker for me, was this has a YA feel. I didn’t really become attached to any of the characters. They were supposed to be really good friends and yet I didn’t get a feel for that at all and in turn this lack of investment stopped me from feeling worried or scared for any of them.
To be honest, part of this is definitely a case of ‘it’s me not you’ because I should have picked up on the 18th birthday party description. As it is I just became hooked with the whole gothic horror, haunted house description. To be fair, I think, even with the younger protagonists and their sometimes frustrating behaviour, if the story had remained at Temple Fall and focused on the scary elements I think this would probably have worked better for me.
I think Temple Fall will undoubtedly find it’s audience, it just didn’t quite work for me.
I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
My rating 3 of 5 stars
Review: Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward
My Five Word TL:DR Review: So Much Dark, and Hurt
I didn’t really know what to expect picking up Nowhere Burning. I mean, obviously, I wanted the book, and I’ve read and enjoyed Ward before, but these days I like to avoid reading too much about the book beforehand and even avoid reviews for the most part. So, I did go into this with very little knowledge of what to expect, other than I expected to be gripped – and I can confirm that I was gripped, which is definitely a consistent feeling across all the books I’ve read by this author.
I really don’t want to give too much away about the story as frankly I think it’s better to pick this up with little knowledge. That being said there are three predominant narrators here (with other little individual storylines appearing as and when required). We first make the acquaintance of Riley. Riley and her younger brother Oliver Olive are in the custody of a person they call ‘cousin’. Not to beat about the bush ‘cousin’ is not a very nice person and Riley eventually takes matters into her own hands, taking drastic measures and running away with her brother in the dead of night. She seeks a place called ‘Nowhere’, perhaps a haven where only children are allowed – or maybe they’ve run straight from the frying pan into the fire.
Anyway, I’m not talking about the plot.
What I really enjoyed about this.
It kept me hooked. I could barely put this down. It’s a dark nightmare, it’s harrowing, who are some of these people! It’s like watching a disaster, feeling how terrible it is and yet unable to tear your eyes away.
There are three main storylines but there are also short interjections by other storytellers that are relevant to the story and help you to make sense of certain aspects but without the need for tedious info dumping.
I liked Riley. Okay, she tells lies and lets just be honest, she doesn’t shy away from taking certain measures in order to escape, okay, I can’t deny that she has taken some very drastic measures for which she decides she must atone. But, she loves her brother. They’re really in a pretty awful situation and frankly drastic measures were the best she could come up with, plus, she’s a child herself. Oliver, he’s a small boy, he loves his sister but he also has this childlike way of blurting out the truth and this can definitely lead to trouble.
The setting. Well, there’s a wealth of history to the place known as ‘Nowhere’ and most of it is bad. It’s like all the bad deeds have seeped into the earth and created the darkest and most tempestous place. And, along the way we have individual stories that all feed into the overall sinister feel of the place.
What I really didn’t expect was to find some dark and brutal Peter Pan/Lost Boy’s style story. In place of the Lost Boys we have runaway children, forming a strange cult like existence in a ranch (called Nowhere) where a serial killer once lived. There’s a crocodile that squeaks (rather than ticks, because it’s been fed squeaky toys as oppose to a ticking clock). Is Riley really Wendy by another name, she certainly has a desire to look after some of the lost children even though she’s still a child herself. There’s a magical realism to the whole thing, is the place haunted by children from it’s past or are the magic mushrooms and sometimes near starvation causing hallucinations? On top of that there’s the mixed up timelines which are difficult to pin down, like the story has a timelessness to it.
One thing I will say, this is a very dark read – well, I thought so but I can admittedly be a bit of a wimp. It’s like Ward has brought all the baddies together in one boiling pot of horror. I distinctly remember thinking ‘where the hell is this place and who are all these horrible people’. Again, this feeds into the lost boys narrative, running from trauma to hopefully find something better, even though the reality can often be traumatic itself.
In terms of the characters. Like I said, I liked the central characters. I wanted things to be better for them. I’m not entirely certain I got my wish but ultimately I do think, in spite of the harrowing nature of parts of this, it’s a coming of age story that has hope and light at the end of the tunnel.
I liked the busy feel, maybe my reading experience was greatly improved by the fact that I was so gripped by the narrative because I think I picked up on so many little nuances that maybe I would not have been as aware of if I’d taken more time to dwell.
The setting really plays into the weird and dark feel. Nowhere is set high in the mountains. The ranch was creepy enough whilst it was still standing but is now little more than a blackened ruin following a huge fire. It’s difficult to get to, the children, for example, don’t use fairy dust but a zip line on which to fly home. It’s basically a creepy place but to these runaway children it’s home. They don’t fear it.
In conclusion, dark and harrowing, gripping and quite unputdownable. There’s a lot going on. Also, I think some of the themes may be triggering for some readers – these children have run away for a reason after all. This isn’t a fairytale. It’s not outright fantasy and yet it tiptoes back and forth over the line of magical realism. Are there actual hauntings and strange phenomena taking place up on this mountain? Or is that just a strange flight of fancy. Read it and decide.
This isn’t a long book particularly and in some ways it almost feels like a lot is going on, it’s ambitious and strange but ultimately it all comes together with a very fitting ending.
I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
My rating 4.5 of 5 stars
Review: Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett
9 February 2026
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter, Book Reviews, Books, Fantasy, fiction, Heather Fawcett, Review
My Five Word TL:DR Review: A Hug in a Book
Basically, if you need a cosy, warm, enticing and delicious fantasy filled with mischievous cats, wickedly handsome and misunderstood magicians and one feisty woman prepared to stand up for her charges, then look no further.
I loved Heather Fawcett’s Emily Wilde series, it was amazing and ended on a high for me so I couldn’t wait to see what she came up with next. I think I can confidently say that the Mystical Cat Shelter is going to be a winner.
In terms of the story, we meet Agnes at a low point. Her cat shelter has been damaged by magic users taking part in some kind of magical dual and many of the shops in the near vicinity suffered from the backlash. Agnes is desperately trying to find new premises to move her beloved cats before the cold winter months really set in. Unfortunately, not many landlords are happy to rent their premises once they discover who the new tenants will be. That is, until she finds a delightful shop, on a lovely street, bigger than she expected and much cheaper than the norm. With very little choice elsewhere Agnes signs up for a new shop on Rue des Hirondelles, even though she knows deep down that something has to be rotten in Denmark – if something seems too good to be true, well, it quite often is.
Within fairly short order, and no surprise given the fact that the shop has a hidden trapdoor and is visited by a constant supply of strangers who are certainly not there to see the cats, Agnes comes to understand that she has rented a shop that is harbouring none other than Havelock Renard, notorious magician extraordinaire and none other than the man who almost destroyed the world! Well, Agnes is not pleased, to say the least, but she has to think of the cats. She certainly can’t storm out with nowhere else to go and so she simply pays no attention to the strange goings on and gets on with her day to day life – which, lets face it, gives her little time to think about anything else.
Now, I’m not going to go further into the plot. Things pretty soon go to hell in a handcart with all the explosive repercussions that you might expect. The police are searching for Havelock but more importantly another magician is trying to find him. Havelock keeps many magical artefacts and his nemesis wants one of them – I mean REALLY wants it.
To be honest, this is cosy fantasy so don’t come expecting all guns blazing and dangerous situations.
What I enjoyed about this.
The writing is really good. I had no problem picking this up and sinking into the story with ease and I was impressed by the world and creativity at play. Yes, there is a romance that eventually takes place but it’s a very slow build and it certainly doesn’t dominate the plot which I was very pleased about. The magical aspects to the story play a real part here. Magic users seem to be drawn to a fae place called Rivenwood where their magic is increased, however this is not without danger and most magicians do not travel beyond a certain level, I hope this is something that is explored at greater length if indeed this is going to become a series (I don’t know if more books are expected and this reads as a standalone although there is an opening for more adventures).
This is not a world that embraces magic which is understandable as there are some magicians that believe they can and will use their abilities without any regard to the plain old humans living amongst them. This definitely gives magic users a bad name, but as with anything in life, not all magicians are bad and far from being a dark overlord Havelock seems more intent on squirrelling himself away to conjure beautiful spells – unfortunately most people are scared witless by him (it seems that almost destroying the world will damage your reputation after all).
I liked the dynamic between Agnes and Havelock. They are total chalk and cheese. Agnes is organised and dislikes chaos, she runs a tight ship and adores her cats. She’s determined to make a difference to the number of strays and find them new homes. Havelock is a walking shambles. He’s chaos personified, and, of course, he’s allergic to cats. He’s also maybe a little bit lonely as most people are scared witless by him. Agnes would be scared of him if she had time but she has too much to do. There’s a lovely romance that develops here and I adored the ending.
In conclusion, this is a lovely cosy fantasy. Cat lovers and cosy readers prepare to be enamoured. I admit that I’m probably more of a dog person (no, I don’t dislike cats!) but, feline or canine lover, or both, this is a delicious, easy to read little nugget. It has an intriguing story with a couple of twists that were equally unexpected and quite a delight.
I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
My rating 4 of 5 stars
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