Join the darkly, dangerous world of medieval courts with a magical twist this October as we follow Bianca navigate the unsettling truths that shroud her childhood friend’s death.

A wonderful and unique premise for a book: a human trapped within a vampire world until she can find a cure for her sister.

I wish I could read this book again for the first time and I know I’ll be picking it up again soon as the colder months draw in and I need something cozy.

This is the impossible scenario Amanda finds herself in when one of her children’s teenage classmates takes her own life due to sexual bullying and it’s revealed that her son, Nathan, was involved. How could this be when he’s always been such a nice boy?

Set against the backdrop of the Gaza genocide, this is a bold and importantly timely debut exploring silence and complicity.

An easy-read horror for fans of Black Swan.

If you are like me, and all of these aspects of Tudor history excite you, then I hope you’ll pick up my debut fantasy novel, The Court of Venus, where rumors shape who lives and who dies, and magicians blessed by the planets themselves play kingmaker.

I’ve always loved the storytelling asymmetry of one character knowing more about their relationship with another character. I think that sets up such interesting conflicts to unravel, particularly in a romance where attraction and romantic love are a part of the picture too. There’s such great opportunity for yearning!

Who’s the clever one? The quiet one? The evil one?

I cleared an old laptop and I set up an email address for Nathan, the main teenage boy character in the novel. I set up social media and gaming site profiles for him and gave him typical interests such as football, gaming and good looking actresses - typical, innocent teen boy stuff. Then I sat back and waited.

A generational story that follows a line of Māori mothers and their daughters, navigating the world.

Settle down, put on Young Sherlock or Enola Holmes and join Mrs Hudson as she embarks on the first of, what I can only imagine to be, many mysteries.

Another corker for cannibal-themed horror fans!

The Strangling Fig is a gorgeously written ghost story that follows generations of women from the 1940s Partition of India through to 2000s America.

Summer is a time that evokes childhood, beauty and freedom, but also becomes a setting to set a family’s tensions against, asking if they can ever break out of their own trappings.

The story gives voice to some difficult themes and while it does offer them space, it never makes them the focus of the plot or the characters, never turning them into a caricature and instead fleshing them out past their troubles.

The story itself felt passionate about nature, the planet and the ocean, and all of that came across through the characters. It moved me greatly and I couldn’t stop thinking about it, long after I’d put it down.

This book took me by surprise in the best way. I feel in love with each character and the themes were beautifully woven together.

That said, a good story is always a delight. I love the storytelling of writers like Anne Patchett, Isabel Allende and Colm Toibin, in which atmosphere and plot combine for a compelling narrative.

I didn’t really know what I wanted to write or what shape it would take but I knew (or hoped) that if I connected with the right people, things would come together.