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So… I am making headway in catching up with my book reviews and have made it to this year!
Last year you may remember that me and my Mum had a list of prompts for our reading challenge. This year we have roped in my friend Emma, and we have gone a bit simpler – read a book starting with every letter of the alphabet (The is not counted in this challenge).
I have made a solid start with 7 reads in January and February – the one that isn’t on here is Matilda by Roald Dahl which was a re-read for me but I wanted to read it again before planning the shared reading lessons for my class. Loved it as a child, still love it now!! But for everything else I read… here you go!
Read more: Book Reviews – Jan and Feb 2026The Correspondent*
by Virginia Evans
The Blurb
Every morning, Sybil Van Antwerp sits down to write letters – to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to attend a class she desperately wants to take, to her favourite authors to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.
Because at seventy-three, Sybil has used her correspondence – witty and wise – to make sense of the world. But beyond the page, she has spent the last thirty years keeping the people who love her at arms’ length… Until letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life.
Now, Sybil must send the letter she has been writing for all these years – and find forgiveness within herself in order to move on.
Sybil Van Antwerp’s life of letters might not be an extraordinary one, but she also might be one of the most memorable characters you will ever read.
What I Thought
Well… the year sure started well in regards to reading!
My mum read this book and said it was brilliant and I couldn’t agree more. It is an early 5 star read for this point in the year, but I can see this being one of my top reads of 2026 already!
I loved the character of Sybil and you really do grow to know her through her series of letters to different people over the years. The other characters are bought to life through the wonderful writing and the story is raw, emotional and truly beautifully written.
A thought-provoking read that will surely stay with me – and a HUGE recommendation from me if you haven’t already read it!
Where To Buy
Buy from my Amazon Store Front
Boy Parts
by Eliza Clark
The Blurb
Irina is in a rut. She obsessively takes explicit photographs of average-looking men she scouts from the streets of Newcastle while her dead-end bar job slips away; she’s more interested in drugs, alcohol, and extreme cinema. When she’s offered an exhibition at a fashionable London gallery which promises to revive her career in the art world, it should feel like an escape. But the news triggers a self-destructive tailspin, drawing in her obsessive best friend and a shy young man from her local supermarket who has attracted her attention . . .
BOY PARTS is the incendiary debut novel from Eliza Clark, a pitch-black comedy both shocking and hilarious, fearlessly exploring the taboos of sexuality and gender roles in the twenty-first century.
What I Thought
I was intrigued by a BookTok review of this one so picked it up.
Great writing and good characterization – not that you like the main character all that much – but the plot lost me a little. The journey is interesting, but then I feel like the ending isn’t finished. Maybe there should have been more. Or maybe I am missing the point?
I enjoyed it but I didn’t love it – well, now I sound like Simon Cowell! I gave it 3.5 stars out of 5 as I did like the premise and enjoyed the writing – just felt the content was lacking a bit.
Where To Buy
Buy from my Amazon Store Front
Fourth Wing
by Rebecca Yarros
The Blurb
Welcome to the brutal and elite world of Basgiath War College . . .
Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general – also known as her tough-as-talons mother – has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.
But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away . . . because dragons don’t bond to ‘fragile’ humans. They incinerate them.
With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter – like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.
She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.
Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.
Everyone at Basgiath has an agenda, and every night could be your last. So, sleep with one eye open because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.
What I Thought
Well… I finally gave in to the hype and wondered… why did I not do it sooner?!
My friend posted a pic on her Instagram stories saying she was reading it and I was like ooooohh… I have been thinking about it but am not the biggest fantasy fan. She then told me it was like Harry Potter crossed with Hunger Games crossed with Game of Thrones (all of which I loved) so I was in!
I was hooked from the very start and this is a big ol’ book but I flew through it! Violet is a brilliant main character, flawed, but she knows it, and keeps going on anyway. The other characters were well written, I loved how the dragons are portrayed and there are a couple of steamy scenes but they are not overdone.
It is well written, with plenty of twists and turns which keep you on the edge of your seat. I cannot wait to get into the next one! Should you believe the hype? Yes, yes and yes again!
Where To Buy
Buy from my Amazon Store Front
Number Thirty Two
by Cassie Stewart
The Blurb
A family home, full of secrets.
Number Thirty-Two was once a family home. Anna was once a mother and a wife. Now, she is in arrears and alone.
With little choice but to sell up, she is forced to confront the memories of the people who once inhabited the empty rooms. With the help of an unlikely ally in her next door neighbour’s son, she is finally able to piece together the tragic events of forty years ago that have inextricably linked the fates of their families and ricocheted through both of their households for decades.
Number Thirty-Two is a novel of family secrets and shocking betrayals, promising heartbreak and humour in equal measures.
What I Thought
Wow – an emotionally charged book for sure!
I picked this one up after seeing a booktoker recommend it – th eother four books she mentioned I had already read and loved so I thought I might enjoy this one.
From the first chapter you get the sense that the characters have secrets, so many things left unsaid and not done. As you read on and start learning more about the characters, you become hooked!
It was beautifully written and the characters are brilliant. Heart-warming and heart wrenching – a 5 star read for me and a firm recommendation.
Where To Buy
Buy from my Amazon Store Front
Titanic: Day by Day*
by Simon Medhurst
The Blurb
After the Titanic sank on 15 April 1912, the story hit the headlines worldwide. Details of the tragedy were displayed on the front pages of every newspaper and magazine, and were talked about in every home.
The events that happened on that fateful night should never be forgotten. In this unique book, each page is filled with information for every Titanic enthusiast, whether seasoned or a beginner. For each day of the year, there are births and deaths of passengers and crew alongside relevant newspaper articles from the time. These are details of true-life events as seen by the eyes of the world in 1912.
Also included are Titanic facts and Titanic survivor quotes. This allows the reader to discover more about the tragedy as it unfolded before the eyes of witnesses, and to delve into the British and American inquiries to see what really happened.
Simon’s great-grandfather Robert Hichens, one of the six quartermasters of the Titanic, was at the helm when the ship hit the iceberg. He survived on lifeboat number six. His experience on Titanic is one of hundreds recounted in this book, passengers and crew alike.
Titanic Day by Day has a worldwide appeal to all ages because of the wealth of information and facts within. The book can be picked up both for casual reading or used every day of the week and enjoyed. It is distinctive in the way that it covers facts and information on Titanic’s passengers and crew in a daily format. With the information displayed throughout a full year, this allows for a uniquely straightforward exploration of details about the people who perished in the waters of the Atlantic and those that survived. This will keep their stories alive for generations to come.
What I Thought
If you know me you will know I am a huge Titanic buff. Tom recently took me to the Titanic exhibition at the NEC which was AMAZING!
I have read a lot of books about the Titanic but gave this one 4.5 stars out of 5 as I loved the way it was written. Going through they year, day by day, you learned who, linked to the Titanic, was born or died on that day, a bit about their story, interesting facts and information and I couldn’t put it down!
Tom would often turn to me at night and say don’t you think it’s time you get some sleep now ha ha!
I learned some new things which can bed hard to do when you have watched the a mount of films, documentaries and read the number of books I have on this ship, but I really, really enjoyed this one and would recommend to fellow Titanic fans for sure!
Where To Buy
Buy from my Amazon Store Front
Workhorse
by Caroline Palmer
The Blurb
An astonishing portrait of a city on the brink of a dizzying new era and a story about a young woman who will do anything to infiltrate the rarefied world of New York’s fashion elite.
New York City, 2001. Editorial Assistant Clodagh “Clo” Harmon wants nothing more than to rise through the ranks at the world’s most prestigious fashion magazine. But there’s just one problem: she doesn’t have the right pedigree. Clo is a ‘workhorse’ in a world of beautiful, wealthy, impossibly well-connected ‘show horses’ and it seems that her fortunes will never change. That is until Clo meets Harry Wood, a reporter with visions of his own media empire and the person who might be Clo’s ally in gaming the system…or is he the only thing standing between Clo and her rightful place at the top?
Clo begins to wade across boundaries, taking ever greater and more dangerous risks to become the Important Person she wants to be. But who is Clo under all the borrowed designer clothes and studied manners? And who are we if we share her desires?
As wickedly funny as it is darkly unsettling, Workhorse is an astonishing story of envy and ambition, set against the glamour and privilege of media and high society in New York at its height.
What I Thought
One I picked up at first due to the cover… and I was pleased I did!
I love the fact that this book is set in the early 2000’s – oh the memories! It is sort of a Devil Wears Prada-esque story about Clodagh – a main character you don’t really like… but you kind of root for for some reason! The whole cut-throat world of fashion is highlighted in this story – the lengths some will go to is truly shocking at times!
None of the characters are really likeable and are superbly written! As well as showing the underhand and ruthless tactics of some to get to the top, the issue of privilege is explored in this fun read that keeps you turning the page at every moment!
Where To Buy
Buy from my Amazon Store Front
Have you read any of these? What did you think – did you agree with my review or have a different take? Let me know in the comments below!
Take care and keep reading,
The Spoonie Mummy 
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