I seem to be one of the few people who honestly did not know much about Katabasis or R.F. Kuang before I chose this for September's book club pick. As her most anticipated read of 2025, CY could barely contain her excitement in the run-up to its launch in August. So of course she attended the Waterstones book launch event, and the overwhelming response to the TikTok video she posted got me swept up in the online hype. Katabasis is a dark academia about Alice Law, a Phd studen

Whether your novel is more plot-driven or you allow your characters to take the lead, all stories require believable characters that are interesting and can hold the reader's attention. You might be one of the people that struggle with character creation, or you might belong to the group that finds it easy to come up with dynamic protagonists. Whichever category you most resonate with, we hope that this post will be useful for your novel writing journey. Step 1: Motivation Th

You have an idea for a story. That's great! Now you're asking yourself, how do I turn this into a full novel? We've got exactly what you need. We've been where you are and in this mini-guide we will walk you through how we each went from our initial ideas to having a detailed plot. Step 1: Brainstorm The first step for both of us was brainstorming. This can take whatever form works best for you, but if you're struggling with where to start this is how we both approached the p

CY and I are both working on the second drafts of our fantasy manuscripts and some days the struggle to get those words out is real,...

If you’re following us on TikTok, you would already know that I went to Toppings & Company in Bath and picked one of the wrapped books on the Blind Dates with a Book table for the month of August. And if you haven't seen the video yet, go to TikTok now and follow us! Camp Damascus follows the story of Rose Darling who is haunted by an eerie woman with sagging skin and can't stop regurgitating flies at the dinner table. As she notices strange events happening around her relig

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced reader copy! Am I back with another ARC review? Yes. Yes, I am. Without further ado, let's jump right in! 6:40 to Montreal is a locked-room mystery thriller told from the perspective of writer Agatha as she boards the train to Montreal on a first-class ticket. It’s a gift from her husband to help combat her writer’s block, but Agatha has other plans which quickly get derailed when the train breaks down in the mi

As an aspiring writer, I believe that you should always look out for opportunities in which you can showcase your work and receive...

After attending Lisa Jewell's book launch event hosted by Waterstones, I was so excited to read this book. Especially as CY talked so highly of Lisa Jewell's other books, in particular The Family Upstairs . Don't Let Him In follows a series of women, most notably Ash, Nina and Martha, who unwittingly become entangled in the unravelling of a dark and twisted tale. It also follows the handsome and charming Nick, who enters Nina and Ash's lives suddenly and seems to be the perfe

For the month of June, I was torn between two books that both incidentally had blue covers. I'm not sure if it's because summer reminds...