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New on thew blog! This week's Book Briefing 📚

Shirl's Top 10 Must-Reads of 2026

2026 has already had some amazing books released and there are still more to come! Here are my Top 10 reads that I have been lucky enough to get an ARC copy for including the upcoming Meg Mason and Lisa Jewell. I'm so looking forward to the new Bonnie Garmus as I was a fan of Lessons in Chemistry. My TBR list has never looked so full!

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1
Yesteryear
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Yesteryear

ByCaro Claire Burke
LizzyYesteryear is a debut novel, but is an absolute stunner of a story that I think will have people talking for a long time! An unsettling novel about Natalie, a tradwife influences who portrays her carefully curated and produced life online to many fans (and many who are not!). One morning she wakes up on the same farm, with the same (almost) family, but it's not quite right and she can't work out why (neither can we!). This book is one that will keep you gripped til the very end, and is such a timely story about the life we portray versus the life we live; the life we dream of and the life we dream of escaping. It's thrilling, entertaining, and I cannot wait for whatever this...
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2
The Things We Never Say
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The Things We Never Say

ByElizabeth Strout
ShirlThe Things We Never Say completely won me over! Elizabeth Strout’s writing is as beautiful as ever and Artie Dam is a character I won’t forget anytime soon. This is one of those books that makes you wonder how your own life might have changed if you’d crossed paths with someone like Artie. I especially loved the classroom scenes and his interactions with his students, as well as the quietly evolving relationship with his son Rob. It’s a thoughtful novel reminding you of the quiet impact one person can have on the lives around them. I can't wait for everyone to meet Artie Dam!
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3
The Midnight Train
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The Midnight Train

ByMatt Haig
LizzyThe Midnight Train is the perfect mix of bringing back the things that worked in The Midnight Library (which I adored) and telling the story in a new way with a new format that felt fresh and different and well worth reading. Its about looking back at the end of our lives and seeing those moments where we could have changed everything, and didn't. It's about reflection and presence and taking the moments we have to do our best and be courageous. Loved it, an easy and impactful read for everyone.
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4
Banjara
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Banjara

ByShana Chandra
ShirlBanjara is a powerful and beautifully written book. Shana Chandra transports you to the sights and smells of India and Fiji through her immersive writing. I must admit I didn’t know much about the history and relationship between India and Fiji, and this book offers a clear, moving insight into how that shared history has shaped generations. It’s a deeply affecting read that lingers long after the final page, inviting reflection on identity, belonging, and the stories we carry with us.
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5
The Truth About Ruby Cooper
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The Truth About Ruby Cooper

ByLiz Nugent
ShirlThis is not your traditional thriller but a very dark psychological thriller that pulls you deep into the complexities of family, trauma, and secrets. I genuinely could not put this book down and found myself reading until midnight because I was so eager to see how everything would unfold. The ending did not disappoint! The story moves at a great pace and is told through multiple perspectives across many years, which slowly reveals the truth behind the events that shaped Ruby’s life. If you’re a fan of Lisa Jewell or Freida McFadden, this one will definitely be for you. Overall, this is a dark, gripping, and compelling read that will keep you turning pages late into the night!
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6
Stakes
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Stakes

ByNoelle McCarthy
ShirlI just love Noelle’s writing, I don’t really know how to describe it, it’s just so unmistakably hers. She writes with such raw honesty and doesn’t hold back as she lays everything out there from her addictions and desires. It surprised me to learn that she had actually started writing Stakes before Grand. Her curiosity with Bram Stoker’s Dracula brought back memories for me as a teen in the 1990s, also obsessed with Dracula, mainly due to Coppola's star-studded film. It was interesting to read how Stoker's book was a part of her life and how she would keep coming back to it at different stages in her life. Her memoir addresses the #MeToo movement and also has her coming back to the Magdalene laundries in Ireland. As...
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7
It Could Have Been Her

It Could Have Been Her

ByLisa Jewell

PREPARE TO BE HOOKED- The no. 1 Sunday Times and MULTI-million-copy bestselling author is back with a brand-new spine tingling thriller. It was the night she almost died. Jane Trevally, newly divorced and feeling a little lost, agrees to accompany a man she doesn't know to his house in the darkest corner of Hampstead Heath. She's offered a drink, goes in, and then - a scream and the sound of something falling upstairs - Jane senses she's in a bad place. She runs. Twenty five years later, Jane finds herself outside the same house, this time to return a small white dog who's been found near her home in the country; a dog whose owner has just been reported missing. A fleeting glimpse of a haunted looking woman...

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8
Sophie, Standing There
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Sophie, Standing There

ByMeg Mason
ShirlMeg Mason's Sophie, Standing There was a book that once I got stuck into I found it hard to put down. The book follows Sophie who is a technician for mainly literary festivals and one in particular which will feature her favourite author, Lilac Dunne, who she is obsessed with. I loved that the book centered around the book industry and gave a behind the scenes look into this world as well as name dropping some famous authors. I even think one author that is alluded to maybe a New Zealand author? Although the pacing was slower from what I usually prefer I didn't mind this as Sophie's character develops throughout the book. It's left me keen to research more about Meg's development of the book and who...
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9
Peck & Peck
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Peck & Peck

ByBonnie Garmus

THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF GLOBAL SENSATION LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY RETURNS . . .   Peck & Peck tells the irresistible story of a young man whose life turns upside down when he is hired by the most prestigious, secretive and dysfunctional poetry journal in the world: the renowned Peck & Peck. Batter Gray is worried about his future. Even when he was eleven, his classmates seemed to have settled on a goal: doctor, lawyer, broker, engineer. Good jobs that automatically command respect and security. Now Batter is in his early 20s, living in New York City, and he wants something different; something that alienates some people and bores most. Poetry. And yet to him - and exactly thirty-nine editors at a company called Peck & Peck...

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10
Main Characters
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Main Characters

ByBobby Palmer
ShirlMain Characters might seem like a typical love story at first however Bobby Palmer cleverly tells it through the eyes of everyone except the main characters, Clara and Seb. I found myself just as invested in the lives of the surrounding characters, each adding depth and emotion to the central relationship. This book is perfect for fans of Sally Rooney or Coco Mellors.
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