From the Book Elf

What Fools We Have Been by Hank Williams What Fools We Have Been by Hank Williams  was published in 2026 by Chiselbury. My thanks to the author and publisher for sending me a copy to review and to  Rachel's Random Resources for inviting me onto the tour. Synopsis Morecambe Bay, Lancashire:  After his father’s death, a son clears out his parents’ house. When he finds a series of haunting photographs of Morecambe Bay, taken by his father towards the end of his life, it sparks a journey through the scattered memories and broken connections of five generations of family history.   Flowing from the vibrant post-war Jewish community of London's east end, to the quiet suburban streets of Stanmore, and back to the Lancashire coast, the story cascades down through each generation’s shifting perspective. A wife appeases her charismatic yet destructive husband; a son reimagines the jigsaw of his mother’s life; a granddaughter tries to heal the traumas of the past.   What F...

The Library After Dark by Ande Pliego The Library After Dark by Ande Pliego was published on 14th may 2026 by Bantam.  My thanks to the author and the publisher for sending me a copy to review and to Random Things Resources for inviting me onto the tour. Synopsis In the centre of New York stands the city’s most notorious library. It has a history of mysterious disappearances and freak accidents. But tonight, it opens its  doors to welcome a group of strangers for an exclusive after-hours tour. The famous author. The journalist. The professor. The bookseller. The architect. They are here to see a legendary book – one of the most valuable in the world. But each visitor also has other, more sinister reasons for being in the library after dark. As the tour takes them deeper into the building, one of the guests meets a gruesome, inexplicable end – and the others realise they are living on borrowed time. The search for the murderer forces them to confront awful truths about the...

Stikki The Squirrel -Tree Spirits- by Jane H. Wood Stikki The Squirrel - Tree Spirits - by Jane H. Wood was published by The Book Guild in 2026.  Thanks to Jane for sending me copy to review and to Rachel's Random Tours for inviting me to take part on the book tour. Synopsis Join Stikki and his mate Rella on their second exciting adventure—full of mystery, danger, and the wonders of magic found in the most unexpected places. Winter has arrived in Hazy Hills Wood, covering everything in a blanket of snow. Food is hard to find, and the animals are getting hungry. To make things worse, there is a scary food thief on the prowl. Stikki heads out into the cold to find his secret stash, but when he doesn’t come home, Rella goes searching for him. A frightening journey looms ahead as Stikki and Rella are forced to confront their enemies and the dreaded longlegs. Deep in the heart of the ancient wood stands the animals’ sacred ash tree. When Brodboar the badger spots something strange high ...

Year of the Lynx by Lizzie Lane  Year of the Lynx by Lizzie Lane was published in 2026.  My thanks to Lizzie for sending me a copy to review and to Rachel's Random Resources for inviting me onto the tour. Synopsis When the news comes of Roman invasion, Morcant the druid, also known as brother of the lynx, heads for home only to find it destroyed, the flames reaching the sky. Overcome by a thirst for vengeance he joins the army of Caradoc, who the Romans call Caractacus. As a druid, he becomes a trusted advisor and his advice is to head west with a view to uniting the disparate tribes. After their main settlement is lost, the bedraggled host head west into action and adventure where not all tribes are willing to fight, and some are too terrible to make allies. My Thoughts Year of the Lynx is the first book in The Celtic Chronicles and is the story of Morcant, a Druid, at the time of the Roman invasion. The first thing the book does is introduce you to the main characters which...

Call Of The Isles  by Tantallon Tìr Call of the Isles is a collection of short stories published by Tantallon Tir on 1st May 2026. My thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy to review and to  Random Things Tours for inviting me onto the tour. Call of the Isles is a Scottish anthology curated and published by Glasgow-based publisher Tantallon Tìr, founded by brothers John Gerard Fagan and Michael Anthony Fagan. From St Kilda to Samoa, Call of the Isles sails into islands beset with grief, violence, hope, regret, and recovery .   My Thoughts This is a very good collection of thought provoking short stories from Scottish writers and writers who are based in Scotland    that will have you thinking outside the box. Each story deserves to be read in its entirety and fully digested and thought about before moving to the next one. Consequently I find it enjoyable as a book to have handy for when I want to read but know I cannot sit down for hours . Even th...