The Paris Prize

 The Paris Prize

Tania Blanchard

Reviewed by Helen

This is my first Tania Blanchard book but it won’t be my last, this one pulled me in from page one as the author takes me back to a time when Australia was living of the sheep’s back, yes times were hard, very hard at times but Maddy Rainforth won’t back down no matter what.

Maddy is married to Tom and together they run the sheep grazing and farm share farms they work hard, they have three children David, Reggie and Tess and together they work hard to ensure that Maddy breeds the best merino wool in the world.
Maddy and the family fight drought, bushfire, rabbit plagues to name a few but she never gives up ensuring that her rams and ewes are the best of the best and her aim is to produce cloth which she can turn into clothing and then when she is left a family heirloom that turns out to be a tartan, Maddy makes a trip to Scotland to research her heritage and here she finds help with making her cloth even better, home again Maddy and the family are soon making her dreams come true.

This is a story that takes the reader through from the 1930’s through the war years to the 1950’s, it shows the strength that Maddy has to ensure that her dreams come true, it shows the true grit of the Australian grazier and what they went through, Maddy then takes us to Paris and haute couture with Christian Dior, when there was so much against her, she never gave up.

This story is based partly on the authors ancestors and was a brilliant read, filled with not only wonderful characters and settings but facts about farming sheep and what happens to their wool, I highly recommend this, it is so very good.

5 stars

September 29, 2026 by HarperCollins AU

The Glass House: Part One

 The Glass House: Part One

Kaye Dobbie

Reviewed by Helen

This one is set in the 1800’s around Sydney Town, the time of convicts and a very big divide in the people who lived then, we meet Libby Sharsell she is only twelve years old and lives with her grandmother in a run down cottage on the land belonging to the Glass family where they live free and are supplied food and that is the way is will stay according to the late Thomas Glass.

Libby has always had dreams of living in the Glass house and when her grandmother dies in a terrible flood that nearly takes Libby’s life as well her dreams come true but not exactly as she wanted she finds herself working as a scullery maid in the kitchen conditions are not bad but punishment and the taunts of some of the other slaves pushes Libby at times but she keeps going and the years move on.

Gabriel Allen is a convict working on the Glass House he has dreams of making it big in Sydney Town one day as he and Libby get closer they know that their love will never be accepted.

Dominic Glass is the master of the house he lives here with his sister Alice and Aunt and stays away from Libby but he is who Libby has her heart set on and she will not change her mind.

Libby is taught to read and write and has a good life here until she doesn’t and at the age of seventeen she finds herself heading to Sydney Town on her own.

This is a story that takes in a lot and I will need to read part two to find out how Libby gets on in Sydney Town, will she meet up with Gabriel? It was bit slow at the start for me but once I got into it I found it a great story about Australian history and what it was like to live in those time, and I recommend this on to any lover of an Australian historical.

4 stars

August 1, 2026 by Dobbie Enterprises

The Landlady of the Resolution Hotel

 The Landlady of the Resolution Hotel

Darry Fraser

Reviewed by Helen

It is 1894 and The Resolution Hotel on the banks of the Murray River is a crumbling place, but a place that over the years has offered refuge for woman when they needed it Young Biddy Casey has just been handed the license by her aunty Dot a strong woman who did what she could for everyone even after the loss of her husband.

Biddy has been there for two years now after a heartbreak that nearly broke her but she is feeling more like her resilient self these days and then one day the troopers arrive and the constable, Aunt Dot’s nemesis accuses Biddy of murder, the murder of the woman who ran the bawdy house across the river but there is someone there who gives her an alibi, someone she hasn’t seen for two years, Ned Walsh.

Then two woman, Clara and Freya arrive on a paddle steamer wanting refuge but Biddy feels there is a lot more to these two woman than they are telling everyone and they also find out that there is a murderer on the loose in the area a madman by all accounts and it appears that he may be after the woman staying at The Resolution Hotel, will they be safe, Ned is determined to keep them safe.

This is a fabulous story a story filled twists, turns and secrets, I loved learning of their pasts throughout the story, they had been through so much and now as these woman are hunted by a killer and their pasts are coming out will they all survive, I loved this story the characters, Biddy, Ned, Clara, Freya and Dot are so very good, some not so nice but they all make this story what it is, a story that I highly recommend another keeper from one of my favourite Aussie historical authors, don’t miss this one.

My thanks to HQ Fiction and Netgalley for my copy to read and review,

5 stars

October 27, 2026 by HQ Fiction

Once Upon a Scandalous Secret

 Once Upon a Scandalous Secret

Spies Like Us #2

Cassandra Samuels

Reviewed by Helen

I read and loved book one in this series and I loved this one as well, this time Lord Anthony Ashton is put to his paces as he has just become a guardian the last thing this spy and confirmed bachelor wants and when he meets Miss Lucinda Sterling he realizes that this is going to be a very hard time, but Tony is always up to doing the right thing, or is he?

Lucinda has been in a finishing school in the country since she was nine years old sent to one firstly by her father and then later after the suspicious death of her father by her guardian and just left there, she is now eighteen years old and has had two guardians when suddenly she is snatched in the middle of the night and taken to the home of The Duke of Warrington to find that she has a new guardian that of Lord Anthony Ashton the youngest brother of the Duke and life is about to change for Lucinda, with Tony’s mother and sister deciding that Lucinda should be making her come out, it is time for her to find a husband.

Scandal abounds in the ton about her father and where she has been but the biggest issue for Lucinda is the way she feels about Tony, yes she is looking for a husband but Tony swears he will not marry, enter Lord Dunstan could he be the man to marry if only Tony didn’t seem to be jealous of him all the time.

Escorting his ward around the balls and events is not easy for Tony his feelings for his ward are getting dangerous for him this is not how he should feel but danger is building when there seems to be people after the secret that Lucinda’s father had, could Lucinda now unknowingly hold that secret? And what of his career as a spy it will all end if he marries Lucinda, everything is changing, will everyone be safe and will he open up his heart to the beautiful Lucinda?

I do highly recommend this one and am very much looking forward to book three, this is a fabulous historical romance with awesome characters and a beautiful romance and actioned packed mystery, thank you MS. Samuels, I loved it.

5 stars

April 24, 2026 by Dragonblade Publishing, Inc

The Lyon Deception

 The Lyon Deception

The Lyon's Den Connected World

Sara Bennett

Reviewed by Helen

We have gotten to know the MacKenzie family well, the three brothers Callum, Rory and Donal all went to London and found the love of their lives but now Bonnyrigg the family castle in Scotland is in danger of being lost and the only daughter Cat will do anything to save the family home even if that means marrying Sinclair Robertson who is the grandson of Lord Armytage the man who is determined to take the castle.

Cat arrives in London and is staying with her Aunt Jenni and Uncle James she is determined to find The Master as he is known here in London but when she is on her way to meet him there is a problem with the carriage she is in and a gentleman stops to help, Robert Sutherland and she is drawn to this very friendly, handsome man but she must not let anything get in the way of her goals and a meeting with the match-maker Mrs. Dove-Lyon is a must.

Sinclair Robertson is not happy his grandfather is a hard taskmaster he was much happier in his days with his parents and becoming a carpenter but these days he needs to be a gentleman to please his grandfather but when he meets a beautiful young woman and helps fix her carriage and she opens up to him about her problems Sinclair is smitten he has fallen in love but he has not been honest with her and this is going to be a problems.

Can Sinclair and Cat overcome the lies and look to the love that is growing between them and can they save Bonnyrigg for the MacKenzie family? I did very much enjoy this romance, fabulous characters and can love at first sight really happen? I do highly recommend this one, a beautiful story.

My thanks to Dragonblade Publishing Inc. and Netgalley for my copy to read and review.

5 stars

September 30, 2026 by Dragonblade Publishing, Inc

Christmas Cinderella

 Christmas Cinderella

Anne Gracie

Reviewed by Helen

It is getting close to Christmas and young Sally Destry is devastated when she receives a letter from home from her mother telling her that she is to come home and help get her sister ready for a ball in her honour and the man that she has known for some time now Peter Sinclair who is now an Earl seems to be the person her mama has set her eyes on for Julia to marry, Sally spends some time speaking to her teacher about what is happening and Sally goes home to do her best to win the man she loves.

What she discovers when home is that the family fortunes are lost and her mother is doing all she can to ensure that her sister Julia marries The Earl and Sally is feeling rather left out and being treated like a servant instead of a daughter.

When then meets up with Peter and his friends although still shy her and Peter have fallen into their old friendship but could it be more or is Peter wanting to marry Julia? When in London to Get Julia a new ball gown Sally wanders into a modiste shop owned by Miss Chance and commissions a gown to be sent home, she is sure to be a hit at the ball only everything goes wrong and Sally is left thinking that she has lost Peter but has she?

Christmas and the ball are bring friends together and the Destry family will have a big change in their lives will it be for the best will Sally and Peter find love and what of Julia, this is a beautiful historical romance that had me turning the pages I loved it so much a true Anne Gracie story that left me sighing and smiling, this is a prequel to Marry in Haste and a must read, I do highly recommend this one.

My thanks to the author for my digital copy to read and review.

5 stars

October 6, 2026 by Anne Gracie

Wouldn't It Be Scottish

 Wouldn't It Be Scottish

Mackenzies Take London #3

Sara Bennett

Reviewed by Helen

The third book in this series and this time it is Donal’s turn to have a HEA but will it be with his childhood sweetheart, Mary?

Donal is the quietest of the Mackenzie brothers and he and his neighbour Mary have grown up together and he knew as they got older and he fell in love with her and her with him that they would marry but then Mary goes to London, she wants to try something new and Donal is worried that she will not come back so he follows in his brother’s footsteps and makes his way to his Aunt Jennie’s house to win Mary back and is shocked to find that Mary is living it up.

Agatha is Scottish and her and her close friend Richard had planned to marry but when Richard goes to London Agatha is a bit concerned so her Father takes her to London and when she discovers that it appears that Richard has fallen for someone else she needs a plan and with the help of her father and his friend she meets up with Donal and a plan to make both Mary and Richard jealous is put in action.

But the more time they spend together and pretending to be in love is opening their hearts to really falling in love.

I did very much enjoy this one it is sensual and moving as Donal and Agatha who are both loving and caring characters fall in love with some fun along the way and we get two romances in this one with Agatha’s father finding his match in Miriam, if you love a good historical romance than this is one that I highly recommend. I do look forward to seeing the last Mackenzie Cat find her HEA.

My thanks to Dragonblade Publishing and Netgalley for my copy to read and review

4 stars

September 10, 2026 by Dragonblade Publishing, Inc