Category Archives: Book Reviews

The Dose Effect by Neuroscientist TJ Power Book Review

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People, my bedroom is tidy. Why? Because this excellent book told me so. It had a positive impact, and was one of many little nuggets in this book that will enhance your life. Written by Neuroscientist TJ Power, who really knows his stuff, this book will make your 2026 the best year so far. Because it focuses on everyday habits, the advice in it all seems achievable. It is as easy to read as it is to implicate. Brilliant stuff. Get your copy now.

SMALL HABITS TO BOOST YOUR BRAIN CHEMISTRY

‘This is the book all parents need in their lives.’ – This Morning

‘If you want to buy just one book this year to make your life better…Get this one. And live by it.’ – Chris Evans, as heard on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show, Virgin Radio

‘This book will help you find more motivation, create deeper connections, energise your body and destress your mind.’ – Jay Shetty, author of Think Like a Monk

‘The best book I’ve read on this subject.’ – Dr. Julie Smith, author of Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?

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Life can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be.

Today’s fast-paced world leaves many of us struggling with extreme emotional highs and lows caused by chemical imbalances in our brains, brought on by the pressures of modern life and constant digital connectivity.

In The DOSE Effect, Neuroscientist TJ Power shares how you can reset and balance your brain chemistry with simple, everyday habits to lead a happier, healthier, and more productive life.

Unlock your brain’s four key chemicals and discover the powers of:

DOPAMINE to get motivated and stay driven

OXYTOCIN to build deeper connections with others

SEROTONIN to boost your energy and mood

ENDORPHINS to destress and find calm

TJ’s practical approach and straightforward solutions will guide you on an exciting, action-based journey to optimise your brain chemistry and transform your mental health.

TJ Power’s book ‘The DOSE Effect’ was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 2026-01-26.

This brilliant book is available here.

Ultra-Processed Women by Milli Hill Book Review

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I loved Milli Hill’s book, The Positive Birth Book, and I was excited to read Ultra-Processed Women. I believe our diets are causing health problems. It is not normal that the rate of many diseases has rocketed. Our food is full of rubbish, to put it politely. I have always felt overwhelmed about trying to improve my diet, but Ultra-Processed Women explains everything clearly. It is an eye-opening book which lets you take back control of your diet and health. Other health books I have read made everything too hard to follow and overwhelming. Basically, just give up everything you love and never eat anything nice again. Ultra-Processed Women takes a complicated subject and makes it easy to understand and follow.

Ultra-Processed Women is brilliant and informative. I think every woman should read it. This book is literally life-changing. I will be referring to it regularly. A must read.

In Ultra-Processed Women, acclaimed journalist and women’s health advocate Milli Hill uncovers the shocking truth. From period pain and weight gain to depression, hormone imbalances, autoimmune conditions and even Alzheimer’s, Hill reveals cutting-edge research into the hidden dangers that lurk in your daily food choices.

But this is not just a book about food. Ultra-Processed Women also explores the way the modern food industry has exploited women in their advertising for decades and uncovers the damage being wrought not only on our bodies but on the environment and on our own ability to connect with each other through the fundamentally human experience of cooking and eating.

This isn’t just a wake-up call―it’s a battle cry. Written in Hill’s trademark down-to-earth style, Ultra-Processed Women will help you understand the issues and develop a clear course of action, arming you with tools and practical steps to cut through the confusion, break free from the damaging effects of UPFs, and reclaim your health without guilt or deprivation. Changing the way we eat, Hill argues, is a radical act of resistance to an ultra-processed world.

It’s time to take back control. Your body, your choices, your future.

Milli Hill is a writer and freelance journalist with a passion for women’s rights in childbirth and throughout their reproductive lives. Her book The Positive Birth Book is one of the UK’s bestselling pregnancy guides, and has sold nearly 100k copies since publication in 2017. Her more recent books, Give Birth like a Feminist, and My Period (for preteens), have also topped the Amazon charts.

HQ will publish Ultra-Processed Women on 3rd July 2025 in hardback, eBook, and audiobook formats.

The Sufi Storyteller by Faiqa Mansab Book Review

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From the first page I was deeply drawn into The Sufi Storyteller. Faiqa Mansab is a fantastic storyteller. Her prose is beautiful and eloquent. This book is steeped in myth and I found the tales of Sufi story traditions fascinating. The books’s deep and full of knowledge, with a murder mystery woven through it. It is high-end literary fiction with a riveting crime twist.

Set in America and Afghanistan, the book is sprawling and is set in the past and the present. The novel is unique and immersive. I was hooked until the very last page. With a darkness that lingers through it, you will struggle to put it down. Faiqa Mansab is a writer to watch. Five stars.

An estranged mother and daughter urgently need to reconnect and navigate a world of Sufi story traditions to catch a killer, and to save each other.Layla is a scholar of women’s histories and stories. Her life is a carefully constructed set of routines in her small American liberal arts college, but all of that is about to change…

Mira is a renowned Sufi storyteller who is running from a terrible past. When she learns that the murdered woman in the library was carrying a note from the killer addressed to her, she is presented with an opportunity to break a cycle of trauma and hurt. To confront her past, she must disclose the truth to Layla.

Together they enter the realm of Story, but can Layla find the forgiveness in her heart necessary to lead them to the answers they are looking for?

This contemporary murder mystery takes readers from small town America to the mountains of Afghanistan.

 Living without Itch Book Review

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Living without Itch (Second Edition)

Proven Strategies and Treatments for Relief

By Gil Yosipovitch, MD, and Zoe M. Lipman, MD

Many members of my family have itchy skin. It is not fun at all and finding a solution can be hard. This book, Living Without Itch, is a great and comprehensive book that covers a range of skin conditions, and how to manage itching. It is an essential read for anyone living with this annoying skin condition.

Chronic itch (medical term pruritus) can be incredibly annoying and has numerous causes, from inflammatory skin conditions, autoimmune disease, insect bites, skin wounds such as burns or scars, as well as treatment, age  or illness induced pruritus.  In recent years significant advancements in our understanding of mechanisms of itch and new treatments have been developed.  Living without Itch offers the millions of people suffering from itch an essential and updated guide on how to find relief from their suffering. Researcher and clinician Gil Yosipovitch, MD, draws from his decades of experience caring for patients to share a treasure trove of easy-to-understand information to educate you on how to manage your itchy conditions.

This book comprehensively covers both acute and chronic itchy conditions, from hives, psoriasis, and eczema, to systemic and neurologic diseases, as well as recommendations for treatment options. Patients share their lived experiences and advice, while contributions from multi-disciplinary experts in nursing, psychology, and alternative medicine provide unique approaches to managing itch. This new edition includes:

  • Updated information about the itch pathway—why it occurs and the cascade of events that result in itch
  • Newly available treatments
  • Special considerations for populations such as individuals undergoing immunotherapy for cancer
  • Recommendations for lifestyle interventions, including nutrition, psychotherapy, allergy medications, and behavioural changes.

Completely revised and updated to include important developments in the field since the last edition’s publication, this guide provides the information you need to understand, prevent, and manage itch.

April 2025 | Paperback 168 pages | ISBN 9781421450469 | Price £20.00

One Cornish Summer With You by Phillipa Ashley Book Review

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Phillipa Ashley is at the top of her game. I devoured this book in a day and a half. It’s quite chunky so that’s an achievement. I was swept away in the works of art Tammy makes, and this wonderful story of love and family. All set in glorious Cornwall.

Tammy cherished her childhood growing up in the charming harbour town of Porthmellow. However, when her father’s bankruptcy and her mother’s abandonment shattered her world, she quickly realised that nothing lasts forever.

Now, Tammy dedicates her days to creating art in the golden Cornish sand, determined to shield herself from further heartbreak. But her life takes an unexpected turn when she meets Ruan – a captivating solicitor who has relocated to Cornwall seeking a fresh start.

As Tammy begins to question if Ruan could be the key to breaking down her walls, she uncovers a shocking secret – one that shatters everything she believed she knew about her past.

Can they work past it? Will everything be okay? Read this brilliant book and find out.

Six Poppies by Lisa Carter Book Review

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Six Poppies by Lisa Carter is a unique book. This book came about because the author saw a newspaper article about an extraordinary man, Rob French, in 2017. Rob was a former Royal Marine who had a large tattoo of seven large poppies on his back. The poppies represented seven of Rob’s colleagues who died within weeks of each other in Afghanistan in December 2008. This book is not about Rob. He did not want the attention, or the book to be about him. This fictional tale perfectly tells a story, however, and what a beautiful story it is. I could not put this book down.

Lisa Carter has taken Rob’s extraordinary experience and weaved it into a fantastic tale which is a beautiful love story, but also a modern book about an underwritten about war. It perfectly captures war and what it is like being a soldier. No punches are pulled on the mental toll of those who join the military.

Carl is a fantastic character and is written so well. I was fully invested in his story. He falls immediately in love with Sarah on the first day of camp, but she is his fellow soldier, Danny’s childhood sweetheart. This is a fantastic and deeply moving book. I loved it and cannot recommend it enough.

A Secret Escape by Sarah Morgan Book Review

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A Secret Escape went straight into The Sunday Times bestseller list. Deservedly so. I wanted to read it after the blurb said it was about two female friends that have lost contact, and one asks the other for help after ghosting her. Could a female friendship be repaired? Should it?
Milly and Nicole are lifelong friends who have drifted apart. Milly likes a quiet life with her daughter, running her business, and Nicole is a successful actress. They same very different, but practically grew up together. Nicole’s mother not being the maternal type.
I love A Secret Escape for a lot of reasons. One is obviously the characters. Sarah Morgan sure can write them. She takes you under their skin. The story is fantastic and woven together expertly. The book has its heartbreak, as well as its joyful moments. The story leaves you guessing all the way. A Secret Escape is the perfect summer book to get lost in. I read it in a day. A perfect five star read from a masterful writer at the top of their game.

A lifelong friendship

Childhood friends Milly and Nicole had always been more like sisters so Milly never understood why Nicole dropped out of contact all those months ago. Milly buried that hurt and moved on with her life.

A call for help

Now, suddenly, Nicole is begging for Milly’s help. She needs somewhere private to hide, and the only safe place she can think of is Milly’s holiday home business in the Lake District. Milly knows she should tell Nicole no, but she can’t ignore the desperation in her old friend’s voice so, despite her misgivings, she agrees to let Nicole stay.

A summer to reconnect

Over a summer of tentative conversations, the two women begin to reconnect, and there’s a potential new romance for Milly too. But then the biggest bombshell of all lands and their delicate friendship is put to the test once more …

Can the friends come together in this time of need, or will this summer break their bond forever?

The Lying Guest by Mahi Cheshire Book Review

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I loved Mahi Cheshire’s debut, The Deadly Cure, so I was excited to read The Lying Guest. I also love a destination book. There is nothing quite like being whisked away to a different world. Preferably one with a beach.

I could not put this book down. I was drawn in from the first page and was desperate to know what was going to happen. Mahi Cheshire has cornered the unique medical thriller market. Anika is a surgeon who makes a mistake at work. Her entire life unravels and she heads back to Sri Lanka, where she used to summer when she was younger, and when a tragic accident happened. The Lying Guest has so many layers and they are all tied together perfectly. I love everything about this immersive novel. It has everything you could want: secrets, drama, exotic locations, a medical setting, and love. I had no idea where the plot was going. I loved the ending. I raced through this five star read. A perfect, twisty, thriller.

Hardworking and overworked, Anika is a talented surgeon at a London hospital. It’s been some time since she’s had a decent night’s sleep, let alone a holiday. Not ideal for someone with parasomnia – a rare condition, made worse by stress, that can cause sleepwalking.

When a patient dies on her operating table, important people start asking questions and the media and her colleagues turn against her overnight.

It seems her only respite is to escape on a housesitting gig in Sri Lanka and to keep a low profile until the verdict on her case, and her career, is decided.

Despite everything, she’s excited to visit the place she used to summer as a child. But what should be a restorative beach break ends up being a trip back into a murky, haunted past that’s been waiting for her all along.

Anika left for what she thought was a dream holiday, only to find herself trapped inside another nightmare. Will she finally wake up to face her demons?

The Lying Guest is available here.