Deborah Maclaren - Editorial Expert
Latest Reviews By Deborah Maclaren
June Jones is a library assistant who has not moved much further than her fiction section. It’s where she grew up and it feels like home. She picks up the role after her mum passes away, and what tough shoes they are to fill.
Incredibly shy and socially awkward June is forced to come out of her comfort zone and fight for what she believes in when the library is forced with closure.
It’s such a warm and uplifting story of community, of kindness, of love and libraries. And along the way you really come to ... View Full Review
For those of us at parenting age, with children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews, we have a responsibility to guide and encourage them towards a future that is inspired and informed by values of fairness, inclusion, respect for all our fellow human beings and, of course, for the planet we call home.
How to Raise a Global Citizen is written by and for parents and carers of children of all ages.
In an exclusive LoveReading LitFest event, we are delighted that author Anna Davidson was joined by two of the seven contributors to the book; mother of three daughters ... View Full Review
Nina George Dean on the surface has it all. Fantastic friends, a new home all of her own, a successful career as a food writer and a loving family. Saying that, her thirties thus far haven't been all they were cracked up to be...and so she decides to dive into online dating.
This is a funny observational debut novel by Dolly Alderton, a voice we recognise from her best-selling memoir Everything I Know About Love and her podcast The High Low. But it's fresh, it's so relatable, so real. We've all been through it or know someone who has ... View Full Review
The Comfort Book is just that. A beautifully packaged, beautifully comforting hug in a book. Haig’s lists, aphorisms, quotes, case studies and recipes are an antidote to today’s busy lifestyles, medicine for our crazy lives. It is suggested that you should read it how you want; “it’s as messy as life”. And there is something incredibly liberating about being told there are no rules on opening a book. So then I flicked. Because I could. Because I was given permission to.
I came to a chapter: Short. Life is short. Be ... View Full Review
Dedicated to “readers and writers everywhere” this is a stunning gift of a book for every devoted bibliophile. Ex Libris: 100+ Books to Read and Reread is a beautiful, beautiful reminder of the power and the joy of books. Libris is used as an inscription on a bookplate to show the name of the book's owner. I’ve never had one, I’ve always wanted one. Life goals right there.
Michiko Kakutani is perfectly placed to write this “magical brick-sized object”, as she wonderfully speaks of books. She is a Pulitzer Prize-winning literary critic ... View Full Review
I’m really not sure where to start. A book has never held my attention so much, nor has one made me think so hard. In a good, good way, but in an uncomfortable way. About being white, about white privilege, about how white is the default, how white is neutral.
Having always seen myself as an anti-racist, I am embarrassed by how little I knew about black British history until I read this book. How little I knew about things that happened on my doorstep in my home town of Liverpool, originally Britain’s biggest slave port ... View Full Review
When a book grabs you from the first page with bullets shooting past a young eight year old boy, you know this is going to be one gripping read. Lydia is married to an investigative journalist trying to save Acapulco and expose the cartels who are destabilising their beloved home city. After a particular article exposes the main boss of the Los Jardineros cartel "La Lechuza", sixteen of Lydia's family are gunned down at a family get-together. She loses almost everyone she loves - with only her 8 year old son left.
This story is of Luca and his Mami - ... View Full Review
The Queen of Skin Care Caroline Hirons delivers a beautifully put-together stroke-able book which covers everything you ever need to know about a great skincare routine.
Her usual straight-talking non-nonsense advice shines out of the book, and I know this will follow through to my skin as I start to embed these routines into my life.
This holds your hand and takes you through how skin works, top tips for great skin, routines, as well as dispelling decades of skincare myths.
This is the most comprehensive guide for the perfect complexion, choosing the right products, understanding your skin’s ... View Full Review
It’s more than 20 years since I read my first Mike Gayle book. And I loved it. Perfectly pitched and incredibly funny, I became a fan. This is Mike’s most grown up novel yet and I adored it. Unable to put it down I ploughed through, consumed by the story of Kerry and her fierce love for her long-lost brother Jason. Although worlds apart, with Jason’s adoption, idyllic childhood and privileged education, they are connected and a stream of events change their lives forever. My glasses steamed up with my tears as I cried ... View Full Review
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