Autumn is just around the corner so it’s a good time to stock up on books, whether it’s from your local library, a charity shop, a bookshop or online. Here are some ideas about you could read next. It’s a bit of a mixed bag this month – some of the books are big hits such as “Where the Crawdads Sing” while others are less well known such as “Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel”. As before, I’ve rated them out of five with five stars being excellent and one star being awful.
The Surf House by Lucy Clarke – five stars
Another great destination thriller from Lucy Clarke, the author of The Hike and The Castaways. I’ve really enjoyed her previous books and her 2025 book, The Surf House, didn’t disappoint either.
Morocco is the destination this time. British model Bea is on a photo shoot in Marrakesh on a sweltering hot day when she throws the head up and jumps into a fountain wearing a ridiculously expensive dress! This caused uproar and she decides to walk out on her successful modelling career.
Walking the streets of Marrakesh, Bea is accosted by two men in an alley when Marnie comes to her rescue. In the struggle, Marnie is about to be choked to death but Bea uses a knife and plunges it into the neck of the assailant. The two girls run off grabbing the knife. Bea is terrified but Marnie brings her to her van where they drive out of the city heading towards the village of Mallah on the Atlantic coast. On their nocturnal journey, they are stopped by the police who search the van. Nothing is said by he police but the bloody knife disappears during the search and the girls continue on their way.
Marnie lives in the Surf House with her partner Ped. It is a guest house on a cliff overlooking a beautiful beach which is famous for excellent surfing. Bea takes refuge there but then she is threatened by the police that she will be imprisoned unless she pays them 10,000 dollars in return for the bloody knife. Her next discovery is that an American girl Savannah disappeared in the village twelve months previously. Bea is intrigued and helps Savannah’s brother Seth in his investigation.
This is a fast-moving story set against the background of a popular surfing destination full of international holiday makers. There is surfing, parties, romance, friendship, bribery, lies, secrets, a landslide and even an attractive Irish man in the mix. But all was not what it seemed and the story kept me guessing right to the very end.
The Secrets of Sunshine by Phaedra Patrick – three stars
This is my third Phaedra Patrick book to and I have to say that I was a little disappointed by “The Secrets of Sunshine”. It wasn’t a patch on “The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper” or “The Library of Lost and Found” which were quirky, entertaining and memorable.
This book centres around Mitchell who is a single father to nine year old Poppy. His partner Anita had died three years ago in a car accident.
Mitchell is quite a dreary character and he is obsessed with lists and schedules to organise his free time. Even though he used to be an architect, he now works as a maintenance man for the local council and spends most of his time cutting padlocks off a bridge where couples had pledged their love for each other.
One day, Mitchell spots a woman in a yellow dress falling from the bridge into the fast flowing river below. Immediately he jumps into the river and manages to rescue her. He then becomes the hero of the town and lots of people write to him to congratulate him on his bravery. The woman he rescued was a mystery until Poppy’s guitar teacher Liza recognises her as her missing sister Yvette. Then the search begins to track down Yvette who had been missing for over a year. Liza persuades Mitchell to help her in the quest. But do they succeed?
All in all, this was a fairly predictable romance with a touch of mystery.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens – five stars
If you haven’t read this book, you need to put it on your “to be read” list. If you have read this book already, read it again. I first read it in 2022 but when it was picked as my Book Club choice for September 2025, I didn’t need any persuasion to read it again even though I knew the ending.
“Where the Crawdads Sing” is set in the swamps of North Carolina in the 1950s and 1960s. Seven year old Kya is living in a shack with her family in a remote part of the marshes. Her father is a violent drunkard who drives his wife and Kya’s siblings away. Kya then lived with her father for three years who taught her how to fish and use a boat.
One day, Kya’s father disappears too leaving Kya all alone. Her instinct to survive brought her to Jumpin’s shop where she sold mussels in exchange for gas and food. Jumpin’s wife Mabel gave Kya clothes and shoes which was crossing a racial line – Jumpin and Mabel were coloured. The white community turned their backs on Kya and called her the “Marsh Girl”.
Somehow despite living alone, Kya survived and developed a keen interest in the wildlife and fauna of the marshes. She became an avid collector of feathers, butterflies, leaves and flowers. Aged 15, a local boy Tate arrived on the scene and he taught her to read and write. This opened up a whole new world for Kya as she was able to document her collection. Tate went off to college and another local boy, Chase took an interest in Kya promising to marry her. This never happened but with Tate’s help, she became a famous author publishing books about the nature of the swamps. But then Chase mysteriously dies and Kya is a suspect. You’ll have to read the book yourself to find out what happens!
This is a book about love, loss, mystery, loneliness and community, all set against the backdrop of the marshes. Kya’s life was extremely challenging but she showed amazing resilience to overcome the obstacles that life threw at her. Perhaps we all need to take a leaf out of Kya’s book.
Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel by Ruth Hogan – four stars
“Never judge a book by its cover” but this is another book that I picked up in a charity shop because I liked the pretty cover! Plus I had enjoyed two other books by Ruth Hogan and I wasn’t disappointed by this one either. The main character was Tilly/Tilda and we jump between seeing Tilly as a seven year old girl and a forty six year old Tilda.
Young Tilly is devastated when her beloved father dies – so much so that she burns his garden shed down in the middle of the night. Her mother Grace is depressed and hits the bottle.
Tilly takes comfort in striking matches, her imaginary dog Eli and the local Catholic Church which she visits with a neighbour Mrs O’Flaherty – Tilly loves all the candles there, the beads and is intrigued by the little hut which Mrs O’Flaherty visits with the man in a long black dress. Out of the blue, Grace gets a job in the Paradise Hotel in Brighton which is run by the flamboyant drag queen, Queenie who Grace had met during a stay in a psychiatric hospital. Tilly loves living in the hotel with its many colourful characters even though she has a phobia of boiled eggs (there might be a dead chick inside) and she has a flower bed of colourful plastic windmills growing in the back garden. At the age of eleven, Grace sends Tilly to boarding school which she hated.
Nothing is said about Tilda in her 20s and 30s but when she is 46, Grace dies. Tilda has never married and is working from home as a proofreader. Tilda moves into her mother’s flat in Brighton and discovers her diaries. They give Tilda an insight of what really happened in her childhood. The discoveries shake her to the core but she is supported by local cafe owner Daniel and her mother’s neighbour Penelope as well as her imaginary dog Eli who has stayed with her during her life.
I enjoyed this book even though it took a while to get to the actual Paradise Hotel which is the book’s name! There is the sadness of a fractured relationship between mother and daughter but there is also humour. For example, when Tilly is asked by the local shopkeeper, what would she like to do when she grows up, she replies “a virgin”! It’s an enjoyable book if you are looking for something a little lighter but it does make you think about things not always being what they seem.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig – five stars
Nora is in her 30s, has a philosophy degree and is living in Bedford. She is single and lives alone with her cat Voltaire. But one evening, her cat is found dead in the road and she is devastated. The next day, she loses her job at the local music shop “String Theory” and then she forgets about her piano lesson with pupil Leo.
She then decides that there is no point continuing to live so she attempts to commit suicide just before midnight.
At midnight, Nora goes to a place which is between life and death. She finds herself in a huge library filled with green books which is managed by her old school librarian Mrs Elm. Nora is able to select a book and go to a life that she might have had if she had made different decisions. For example, she finds herself running an English pub with husband Dan who she had dumped two days before her wedding. In another “life”, she is a world famous pop singer performing at a concert in São Paulo and then she is a scientist at the International Polar Research Institute where she is attacked by a polar bear. Nora has lots of different adventures based on “what if” she had made different decisions in her “real life”. But does she actually die?
This book made me think about how past decisions have influenced my life’s path. What would have happened if I had made different decisions? The book was also full of wise words from Mrs Elm such as “Never underestimate the big importance of small things”.
This is a Marmite book – you’ll either love it or hate it. And I loved it! But you do need an imagination to enjoy it – so if you were an Enid Blyton reader as a child, you will love it too.
Hopefully I have given you some inspiration about what to read next and if you have any ideas as to what I could read next, please feel free to comment below with your thoughts.
Lynda
The Author
Lynda Willis lives in Co Armagh and writes blogs about her rambles in nature as well as rambling about topics close to her heart. This year, she is fundraising for Macmillan Cancer so please click here if you’d like to donate.
