Review: The Butterfly Women

Title: The Butterfly Women

Author: Madeleine Cleary

Publisher: 29th April 2025 by Simon & Schuster (Australia) | Affirm Press

Pages: 400 pages

Genre:  General Fiction (Adult) | Historical Fiction | Mystery & Thrillers

Synopsis:

It's 1863, and Melbourne is transitioning from a fledgling colony to a thriving, gold-fuelled metropolis. But behind its shiny new façade, the real Melbourne can be found in the notorious red-light district of Little Lon, full of brothels where rich and poor alike can revel all night. The most glamorous among them is Papillon, home to the most alluring women in the city.

For poor Irishwoman Johanna Callaghan, a job at Papillon could be her ticket to success, but in a time when women's lives are cheap, it also brings great danger. Meanwhile, for respectable women like journalist Harriett Gardiner, Papillon is strictly off-limits, but when a murderer begins stalking the streets of Little Lon, she becomes determined to visit it and find the truth.

As both women are drawn into the hunt for the killer, a long-hidden side of old Melbourne is revealed. Lush, dark and meticulously researched, The Butterfly Women weaves romance and mystery into an unforgettable tale of Australian history, and the women so often erased from it.

My Thoughts

Madeleine's debut novel, The Butterfly Women is a sure-fire winner - I loved it. Melbourne in 1863 is growing exponentially thanks to the discovery of gold, however, all that glitters is not gold. This shiny new façade conceals the real Melbourne where the notorious red-light district of Little Lon is found.  Brothels are attended by rich and poor alike and the most glamorous among them is Papillon, home to the most alluring women in the city. A murderer is stalking the streets of Little Lon, including the Butterfly women, and it must be stopped. 

‘We may resemble pretty little butterflies, Captain, but we have been in more fights and know these streets better than your men.’

Reading about the Melbourne of this era was absolutely fascinating. Combine that with memorable women and a page turning murder mystery and I couldn’t put it down. The story is told through the voices of four women: Johanna an Irish ‘dressed’ woman, Catherine the brothel owner, Mary who police patrols the streets in her husband's uniform and Harriet a respected journalist. All these women’s lives interconnect as together they work towards trying to get by in a man’s world. It was so engrossing to read about my city from a time long past. A stunning debut filled with twists and turns told through a feminist lens. 

‘For while John and many of the town’s men failed to find their fortunes on the goldfields, Catherine and the women they’d left behind found theirs in the boarding houses and brothels of this dusty town.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

 

Review: Rise and Shine

Title: Rise and Shine

Author: Kimberley Allsopp

Publisher: 4th June 2025 by HarperCollins Publishers Australia

Pages: 383 pages

Genre: General Fiction (Adult) | Romance | Women's Fiction

Synopsis:

Charming, talky, wryly funny, poignant and original - Rise and Shine is a love story, yes, but it's a love story that happens ten years into a marriage, when somebody wants out.

This is a story about marriage. It is also a story about life and love and happiness and the absence of happiness and what we need to do to find it again.

It's a story about hope, baking, making music, lemon trees, painting, love, divorce, dogs, the families we create for ourselves, and the heat of the Brisbane sun.

It's a story about August and Noah.

It begins at the end.

Rise and Shine is an utterly surprising delight, a break-up tale that is also a love story; endearing, astringent, talky, wry, wise, uplifting and so original.

My Thoughts 

Kimberley Allsopp has a most unique style of writing. Her debut novel in 2022, Love and Other Puzzles, blew me away - I adored it. It was full of wit and charm, refreshing, never dull with a perfect combination of humour and hindsight. Kimberley has carried some of this over into her next book, Rise and Shine where once more she challenges her readers by asking the question, when you realise that life is not what you want or wish it to be … how does one change?

‘She had a good life. She had to stop worrying about it and trying to stretch it into a shape that she thought it needed to be when this was a good shape.’

This is a story about life, love and what happens when, after ten years of marriage, someone wants out. What makes us happy, what makes us unhappy and what can we do about it. It’s a story that gets you thinking, presented in Kimberley’s witty, quirky and uplifting way. 

‘She had to fold this moment up and put it in her pocket so she could bring it out when her love for this man felt worn out and thin.'

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: The Royal Librarian

Title: The Royal Librarian

Author: Daisy Wood

Publisher: 11th April 2024 by Avon Books UK

Pages: 384 pages

Genre: General Fiction (Adult) | Historical Fiction | Romance

Synopsis:

A royal palace. A closed book. A betrayal that will echo through generations…

Windsor, 1940: War rages, and as bombs rain down across Britain, nowhere is safe: not even a royal palace.

Secretly tasked with foiling a suspected plot, Sophie Klein is placed in the Royal Library at Windsor castle, where the princesses reside. But when she learns that Windsor is compromised, Sophie must sacrifice everything she knows to save the future queen of England…

Philadelphia, Present day: Digging into her great aunt’s family tree, Lacey Turner comes across a mysterious book bearing the stamp of Windsor Castle’s royal bindery. But how did it come to be in her family’s possession?

And so begins a journey that will take Lacey from battlefields to Buckingham palace in a quest to reunite the book with its rightful owner…

My Thoughts

I have read and enjoyed previous books by Daisy, so I was excited to see how this story would unfold. This is a dual timeline with the first story about two Austrian sisters at the beginning of Nazi rule in 1938. I found this part very interesting especially with regards to escaping their homeland - one goes to America and the other ends up being the Royal Librarian at Windsor Castle and working in intelligence. The second timeline is in the present when a granddaughter discovers that she does in fact have an aunt and travels to discover her story. 

‘I am the Royal Librarian, she reminds herself, straightening her shoulders, and I have done nothing wrong.’

The story of Sophie, royal librarian, and her work at Windsor castle was the highlight. The whole issue concerning the role of the abdicated Edward and the espionage resulting was very engaging. I did not appreciate the contemporary timeline as much and felt the book would have been better served with just the one timeline and events would have evolved more quickly on the page. Daisy has undertaken a wonderful amount of research surrounding everything from the atrocities to Jews under Nazi rule to what life was like working in the British royal household during the war. The Royal Librarian is an entertaining read with interesting historical details - mystery, romance, family drama provide the icing on top!

‘Oh no, I want a quiet life.’ Sophie made an effort to smile back at him. In that moment, she could think of nothing better: losing peaceful hours in the archive, reading about history rather than living through it.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

 

Review: The Starlets

Title:The Starlets

Author: Lee Kelly & Jennifer Thorne

Publisher: 12th November 2024 by Harper Muse

Pages: 384 pages

Genre: General Fiction (Adult) | Historical Fiction | Mystery & Thrillers

Rating: 4 cups

Synopsis:

Real life is turning out to be stranger than a script for the silver screen.

Vivienne Rhodes thinks she’s finally landed her break playing Helen in Apex Pictures’ big-budget Troy epic, A Thousand Ships, an anticipated blockbuster meant to resurrect the failing studio. Naturally, she’s devastated when she arrives on the remote Italian island of Tavalli and finds herself cast as Cassandra—while her nemesis, the fiancée-stealing Lottie Lawrence, America’s supposed “sweetheart,” is headlining instead.

The tension on set, though, turns deadly when the ladies discover that members of the crew are using the production as a front for something decidedly illegal—and that they are willing to kill to keep their dealings under wraps. When the two women find themselves on the run and holding key evidence, Vivienne and Lottie frantically agree to work together to deliver the proof to Interpol, hoping to protect both their lives and their careers.

Staying one step ahead of corrupt cops and looming mobsters, the arch rivals flee across the seas. Their journey leads them into Monaco’s casinos, Grace Kelly’s palace, on a road trip through the Alps—even onto another film set, before a final showdown on Tavalli, where the lives of the entire cast and crew hang in the balance. Vivienne and Lottie finally have the chance to be real heroines—to save the day, the film, maybe even each other—but only if they can first figure out how to share the spotlight.

My Thoughts

A story set in the 1950s involving glamorous movie stars would be enough to entice me. However, when you also include movie worthy baddies versus goodies pursuit throughout Europe - from Mediterranean islands, to Monaco, to the Alps - then all is set for a romping read. 

The Starlets is a fun, fast paced story in the style of an old Hollywood movie where two female leads go from enemies to friends in order to solve the mystery.  An old fashioned movie set with a good murder mystery thrown in is a sure fire winner in my view. The authors so cleverly achieved a balance between old Hollywood celebrity drama, to daring Mafia pursuits, to old fashioned comedy! They certainly captured the ‘feel’ from this era. It reads like a movie playing out in your mind's eye. 

This is more than a historical fiction story. It is a classic adventure story  of two women coming together as the drama unfolds. The Starlets is  glamour, action and suspense all rolled into one. If this is your vibe then get ready for a fun and entertaining read. 

‘Movies are the closest thing we have to magic. Every problem, complication, disaster solved in an hour and a half. Every hero deserving of love and redemption.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

 

Review: The Secret Christmas Bookshop

Title:The Secret Christmas Bookshop 

Author: Cressida McLaughlin

Publisher: 24th October 2024 by HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction

Pages: 380 pages

Genre: General Fiction (Adult) | Romance

Rating: 4 cups

Synopsis:

In a beautiful seaside village, where enormous blue skies and golden sand dunes stretch into forever, somebody is opening an unexpected gift…

When an anonymous parcel turns up at the shop where Sophie works, she’s surprised to find a beautifully bound classic novel, one that eerily seems to chime with her own story.

Enigmatic Harry lives in a crumbling manor house, spending solitary days patching up leaks in the roof. The subject of unwelcome gossip in the village since his return from London, he prefers to keep to himself.

As Christmas draws near and the gifting season arrives, Sophie attempts to get to the bottom of her mysterious parcel. Finding herself being drawn into Harry’s orbit, they are both about to learn that good stories can take on a life of their own …

My Thoughts

I enjoyed books from  Cressida’s Cornish Cream Tea series so it was inevitable that I would jump at the chance to read another of hers that contains a bookshop during the  Christmas period! This is a light and enjoyable read with a little romance and mystery set in a quaint English village. 

‘I’m seizing the moment,’ Harry said. ‘Not waiting for things to be perfect, but making the most of right now. Someone taught me that recently.’

There is a wonderful cast of characters from this small village that come together to prepare for Christmas. It is fun, however, Cressida delves a little deeper into themes of finding a home and the importance of family and community. I love how the gifted copy of Jane Eyre that Sophie mysteriously receives and reads, reflects both Jane and Sophie’s story with the latter drawing inspiration from this classic. 

‘I’m going to take chances and be braver. I’m going to live, rather than exist.’

So make yourself a nice cuppa and settle in for all the festive community feels! This is a tale about finding out where you belong in a beautiful village by the sea.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.