2026 Reviews – Rosepoint Publishing

The Compound: A Novel by Aisling Rawle #AudiobookReview #readingirelandmonth26 #TBT

GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, THE NEW YORKER, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, OPRAH DAILY, THE GLOBE AND MAIL, CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY

Amazon Best Literature & Fiction

Winner for Readers’ Favorite Science Fiction (2025)

I am reviewing this audiobook for Reading Ireland Month. It is hosted by Cathy at 746 Books. Please use the hashtags #readingirelandmonth26 or #begorrathon if you choose to participate.

Book Blurb:

Lily—a bored, beautiful twenty-something—wakes up on a remote desert compound, alongside nineteen other contestants competing on a massively popular reality show. To win, she must outlast her housemates to stay in the Compound the longest, while competing in challenges for luxury rewards like champagne and lipstick, plus communal necessities to outfit their new home, like food, appliances, and a front door.

Cameras are catching all her angles, good and bad, but Lily has no desire to leave: why would she, when the world outside is falling apart? As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation. When the unseen producers raise the stakes, forcing contestants into upsetting, even dangerous situations, the line between playing the game and surviving it begins to blur. If Lily makes it to the end, she’ll receive prizes beyond her wildest dreams—but what will she have to do to win?

Addictive and prescient, The Compound is an explosive debut from a major new voice in fiction and will linger in your mind long after the game ends.

My Review:

Boy, can I pick’em. It’s the whole reality show thing and I’m not a fan. Don’t watch them. But Lily has decided to participate in a reality show, one she is familiar with, remembers some of the history, knows or can anticipate what to expect.

I missed that it was a blurred dystopian type world, perhaps sometime in the near distant future. That world outside is crappy. Lily is ready to escape—anywhere. And “anywhere” becomes a vague and obscure feature. She is one of twenty vying to become the last person standing, espousing the mantra “Nothing to lose. Everything to gain. Winner takes all.” She is pretty but vacuous.

The Compound - UK cover — The Compound – UK cover

The narrative captures the support characters through Lily’s eyes with her set of morals (or lack of them), ideologies, thirst, and competition. No one is viewed “what you see is what you get” as everyone might have ulterior motives. Who is next to stab you in the back and step over your body to climb the ladder?

From playing musical beds and graphic details to plotting the next exit candidate, this one left me cold, battling to get through, and tired of the language, the loss of humanity, and any real characters in which I could engage or invest. The call to Lily’s mum at the end did it for me. That’s just sad.

Well, mercy. Maybe you’re a fan of reality TV. This might work for you. Or dystopian? This might work for you. But not a book for me. Shouldn’t have chosen or failed to DNF. Cannot recommend.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Two point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Dystopian Fiction, Dystopian Science Fiction, Contemporary Literary Fiction
Publisher: Random House Audio
Narrator: Lucy Boynton
Release Date: June 24, 2025

Title Links:

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Aisling Rawle was born in 1998 and raised in County Leitrim in the West of Ireland. She now lives in Dublin. The Compound is her first book.

March is #ReadingIrelandMonth

Thirst Trap: A Novel by Gráinne O’Hare #audiobookReview #ReadingIrelandMonth26

Reading Ireland Month 2026

Reading Ireland Month (The #Begorrathon) returned for the twelveth year in March and will be my eighth. It is hosted by Cathy at 746 Books. Please check out her page and you’ll find all kinds of suggestions for reading, listening, or music on her spotify list. (Of course, I always recommend my favorite Irish podcast, Marc Gunn’s Irish and Celtic Music Podcast.)

Use the hashtags #readingirelandmonth26 or #begorrathon26 if you plan to participate.

I’ve dug right in and started reading, listening, and viewing all things Irish with some success. I usually try for an ebook or two, an audiobook or two, and maybe a movie or series I can glean from our lone streaming service, Netflix. I previously posted a graphic of my initial list, but I’ve since refined it to note updates.

Today I’ll review Thirst Trap by Gráinne O’Hare

Book Blurb:

Sometimes friends hold you together.
Sometimes they’re why you’re falling apart.

Harley, Róise, and Maggie have been friends for ages. After meeting in primary school years ago, the women are still together, spending their nights on the sticky dancefloors of Belfast’s grungiest pubs. Each woman is navigating her own tangle of entry-level jobs, messy romantic entanglements, and late nights, but they always find their way back to each other, and to the ramshackle house they share. And amidst the familiar chaos, the three are still grieving their fourth housemate, whose room remains untouched, their last big fight hanging heavily over their heads.

The girls’ house has witnessed the highs and lows of their roaring twenties—raucous parties, surprising (and sometimes regrettable) hook-ups, and hellish hangovers. But as they approach thirty, their home begins to crumble around them and the fault lines in their group become harder to ignore. In the wreckage, they must decide if their friendship will survive into a new decade—or if growing up sometimes means letting go.

Brimming with heart and humor, Thirst Trap is an exuberant ode to friendship, to not having it all figured out, and to ordering just one more round before heading home.

My Review:

Okay. Well, that cover, if nothing else, might have been the hint that this book would not be for me and I ignored it.

Maggie, Harley, and Róise are pushing thirty, still share a house and a pet turtle. They had a fourth in their little clique, Lydia, who died in a car crash leaving lingering guilt and grief that now sits somewhere in the gut along with increasing alcohol intake and unsuccessful therapy session angst.

Each are educated and battling a number of little narcissistic quirks; Maggie with panic attacks, Harley the profound pessimist, and Róise, who loves her boss who in turn is clueless.

Thirst Trap by Grainne O'Hare — Thirst Trap cover – UK

It’s a dispassionate insight study of women at odds with facing a mature age and the folly of maintaining an immature stance on life. Too much booze, too many hangovers, unfulfilled love lives, lack of direction, and too few goals or the attainment of any.

Close friends whose friendship should have matured along with their age, but didn’t. They use Belfast’s nightlife as the glue that keeps them together until the reality of the loss of Lyndia’s death anniversary slaps them upside the head.

They have one life, not promised tomorrow, and what are they doing with it?

It’s a lot of tell, not show, but I gotta give it to the narrator, Susan Crothers, who kept the dialogue dynamic with realistic and appropriate voice inflection and kept me listening. Sarcasm, yes, but sarcasm has often been offered as a joke, but in veiled and targeted verbal irony. In this case, not humor, pushing barbed satire. And I didn’t find it that funny.

I realize my problem is probably a generational as well as cultural one with this novel. So, take my comments with a grain of salt and if young, swinging adult fiction is your vibe, go for it.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three Stars

Book Details:

Genre: LGBTQ+, Coming of Age Fiction
Publisher: Random House Audio
Narrator: Susan Crothers
Release Date: November 4, 2025

Title Links:

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Gráinne O’Hare is a writer from Belfast based in Newcastle upon Tyne. She received a Northern Debut Award for Fiction from New Writing North, and was awarded funding by the Arts Council for the development and completion of her first novel. Her short fiction has been published in the London Magazine, Extra Teeth, and Gutter. She has a PhD on eighteenth-century women’s life-writing from Newcastle University. [Photo courtesy Goodreads]

Reading Ireland Month

Yeegods! Another Friday the 13th? Is There Yet Another in 2026?

Are you superstitious? I’m not usually. But didn’t we just have one in February? How many are we supposed to have in a year?

One to Three—depending…

There was only one in 2025, two in 2024, and two in 2023.

We’ll have three this year. Yeah, yet another one, November 13, 2026.

And according to the internet, that’s Doomsday. Friday, November 13, 2026. At this date, the human population will approach infinity if it grows as it has grown in the last two millenia.

Oh good grief! We lived through Y2K. I think we’ll be okay.

2026 V Williams

Countdown by Sara Driscoll #BookReview #policeprocedurals #NetGalley

NYPD Negotiators Book 5

Book Blurb:

Following their terrifying ordeal as hostages of domestic terrorists, NYPD Detective Gemma Capello is back in the negotiator chair, while Detective Sean Logan, healed from injuries sustained saving Gemma’s life, has resumed leading an A-Team tactical unit—just in time for their next challenge . . . perfect for fans of James Patterson and David Baldacci.

It’s New Year’s Eve, Manhattan is alight with celebration, and Gemma and Logan are hoping for a relatively normal night amid the revelry. But that hope is shattered by a 911 text from a luxury yacht somewhere in busy New York Harbor. Below deck, a college student working aboard is hiding from a hostage taker. The student reports that the crew was ordered to join the guests. Gunshots followed.

The yacht party, hosted by billionaire venture capitalist Lucas Horner, includes local government officials and some of the city’s wealthiest, most influential people. Gemma and her team hypothesize that Horner, an infamously arrogant hustler, has burned someone financially—someone who now wants revenge.

Once the Aviation Unit identifies the yacht and its location, Logan and his team are transported through the brutal winter waters toward Liberty Island. Gemma finally connects with the hostage taker and learns of a cryptocurrency ransom demand—and a chilling execution plan if it’s not fulfilled by midnight. But Horner is refusing to pay. And Gemma senses things aren’t adding up—because beneath the unnerving scenario lies an even more twisted plan, layers of deceit—and a captor with nothing to lose.

My Review:

It’s New Year’s Eve but a call to Gemma Capello, hostage negotiator, has been called out on an unusual location and a unique situation. Detective Sean Logan of the NYPD Emergency Services Tactical Team will join her as the two units work together to save the persons taken hostage aboard a luxury yacht owned by a coldhearted billionaire.

Gemma has been proven successful in getting into the head of the hostage taker before. The hostages include the employees working the party as well as the guests of the host and the host himself. The location of the captives presents a singularly rare problem in that, besides the number of perps involved is unknown, the approach by water and boarding will take a multi-sided strategy.

The owner refuses to pay the cryptocurrency ransom, which has been given a time frame of midnight. It is the terror-stricken call from a college student subbing for a crew member who secreted himself below decks that forced the initial immediate action and call to multiple available teams.

As the author creates an atmosphere of the harbor water with frigid winter night winds and the tension inside the cabin, Gemma begins to feel a deep sense of loss in the hostage taker as he fails to communicate.

The pacing escalates through negotiation, well-plotted through multi-layers of emotions and objectives. The characters radiate the apprehension, the uncertainty, the concern, and the sweat under pressure.

The last book I read in this series was Book 3, Lockdown. I’m not sure this one could be read as a standalone, as I missed Book 4 and there was obviously something major that occurred with Sean and Gemma that only now finds them getting back into full service.

The narrative appears to be growing in the complexity of scenarios and the characters are more fully developed, especially the relationship between the two. The inner workings of police tactics are descriptive and informative, interesting, the capability of technology amazing. If you enjoy intelligent storylines with engaging characters, this one will fill that bill.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Rating: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Police Procedurals, Women Sleuths, Cozy Mysteries
Publisher: Kensington Books
Publication Date: April 28, 2026

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Sara Driscoll is the pen name of Jen J. Danna, coauthor of the Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries and author of the FBI K-9s and the NYPD Negotiators. After over thirty years in infectious diseases research, Jen hung up her lab coat to concentrate on her real love—writing “exceptional” thrillers (Publishers Weekly). She is a member of the Crime Writers of Canada and lives with her husband and four rescued cats outside of Toronto, Ontario. You can follow the latest news on her books, including the FBI K-9s, at http://www.saradriscollauthor.com.

AI generated Irish Wolfhound courtesy Freepik.com

Singing Bones: A Novel by S G Ullman- #BookReview #AncientHistoricalFiction #NetGalley

An Epic Saga of Loss and Survival in an Ancient Neolithic World (The Teuta’s Child)

Book Blurb:

Nearly 8,300 years ago, a sudden climate collapse reshaped the earth. Winters grew longer and colder, harvests failed, coastlines flooded, and the ground itself became unstable. For the Téuta, a settled Neolithic village that had endured for generations, survival became uncertain.

Eini is born with troubling visions of disaster—warnings her people dismiss as superstition. As the climate worsens and violence spreads among desperate neighbors, Eini spends her lifetime trying to protect her family and preserve the fragile traditions that hold her community together. When catastrophe finally strikes, the Téuta must face the unthinkable: abandoning their ancestral home and redefining who they are in a transformed world.

Told across generations, Singing Bones follows the lives of women whose strength, memory, and resilience shape the fate of their people—from prophecy, to survival, to leadership forged in loss. Song, story, and shared history become tools of endurance in a world where nothing can be taken for granted.

Grounded in real archaeological and climate research, Singing Bones is ancient historical fiction set during the Neolithic era. Its spiritual elements arise from a prehistoric worldview in which nature, belief, and survival are inseparable. Sweeping yet intimate, it explores how early civilizations responded to climate catastrophe, displacement, and change.

Perfect for readers of immersive historical fiction, ancient civilizations, prehistoric survival stories, and epic sagas rooted in humanity’s deep past.

His Review:

Life was quite different around 8300 BC. The entire population of the world was smaller than the population of Los Angeles and surrounding area. Hunter-gatherers got fresh meat daily and developed jerking and salt storage. These were consumed when a fresh catch or animal could not be taken. The calendar was kept by a medicine man or shaman and life hinged around these individuals.

When crops failed or the harvest was low, sacrifices were in order. Usually, young unspoiled girls were the preferred offering. Trading with other villages that had expertise in stone work and spear making as well as agriculture and herding helped to settle tribes into static areas rather than wandering with the herds and the seasons. Crops of barley and wheat were cultivated to provide food storage for the winter months.

Northern Idaho tribes went up to the higher plateaus during the summer because the winds kept the village cooler. During the winter months, settling into the canyons provided protection from the cold arctic blasts and freezing temperatures. This is the lifestyle of the villagers in this tome. Medicine men and women were the keys to the health and welfare of the population.

But time is forcing change. And few are dealing well with it. Told from multiple POVs, the difference in the tribal leadership, and the decisions, directions each take is engaging. The book is informational and thought provoking. Recommended to any who enjoys historical fiction, exploration of ancient civilizations and their societies! 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the author for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Ancient Historical Fiction, Historical Fantasy Fiction
Publication Date: to be released March 25, 2026
Source: Author and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK

The Author: Stuart Ullman retired from working after 38 years as an economist and engineering project manager at a US Navy lab. He has been an avid recreational sailor for decades, and was, for a time, the Commodore of the Sailing Club of Washington; he once sailed to Bermuda on one of the U.S. Naval Academy’s 44-foot sailboats. Since his retirement he has pursued a life-long interest in writing. He has been active in the Maryland Writers Association and for several years was president of the Montgomery County chapter. He and his wife raised two children, have a grandson, and are currently living in Kensington, Maryland.

Visit his Facebook author page at https://www.facebook.com/stuartullmanauthor/, or his web site at https://www.sgullman.com/

Have a good week!

Flight Path by Suzanne C Carver #BookReview #TuesdayBookBlog #NetGalley

Book Blurb:

A plane crash. No survivors. Two widows left behind with everything to lose.

Eva was once a scrappy journalist, but motherhood and suburban life softened her edge-until her husband’s death forces her to investigate the biggest story of her life. Bank accounts drained. Documents forged. Her father’s name entangled in financial crimes. To save her family, she must expose the truth about the person she trusted most-her husband. Harper, a roller coaster designer, knows how to build a ride that keeps people safe, even when they’re hurtling into the unknown. But no blueprint could prepare her for the sudden drop after her husband’s death. No records. No family. No past. Harper, five months pregnant, must dismantle his secrets-before her child is born into a lie. The two women-strangers and opposites-should have nothing in common. But bound by suspicion, Eva and Harper are thrust together into a truth-seeking mission that will change them both. Because sometimes, the most dangerous lies are the ones we tell ourselves.

My Review:

Two very different women caught in the same tragedy when the plane their husbands are on goes down with no survivors.

Perhaps their names give away their personalities, the force of their lives, as Eva is a rather docile young mother of two and Harper is the no-nonsense, smart woman in the man’s world of roller coaster design—an engineer enjoying the use of her math skills. She is also somewhat of a nympho, promiscuous, unapologetic and loves exerting the power.

“Most women succeed within capitalistic parameters by developing their masculine side. They trade their intuition for their intellect, their sensitivity for hard exteriors, and their wisdom for data.”

Eva was a journalist, a path she followed with interest at times and then again, boredom. But when hubby goes down leaving what appears to be a forthcoming bankruptcy, she begins to dig into his history. Harper, perhaps exhibiting pregnancy brain, realizes she knows little of her guy and begins to dig, which yields nothing. So who was he really?

Eva and Harper discover each other and join forces to expose the stories behind the man each thought they knew.

And didn’t.

Yeah…married and clueless? The thing is, Harper is smarter than that, but she has her own agenda or perhaps didn’t care?

Mercy, but it could drag sometimes, jumping chapters and dates back and forth, but gaining little to add to the mystery. Still, disbelief began to grow. While I enjoyed the info going into the design, build, and execution of a roller coaster (you gotta admit that’s different), it was slow to the reveal. Suspicion, however, filled in the blanks and I’d pretty much solved it about two-thirds of the way through so that the denouement didn’t really come as much of a surprise.

Did either character really love their husband? Perhaps Eva did more so than Harper, or not love so much as to provide a comfortable living situation. Still, the two women worked well together to solve who they each knew as the father of their children.

A solid debut effort, interesting characters, but a mystery possibly too easily unraveled.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Rating: Three point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Financial Thrillers, Women’s Psychological Fiction, Psychological Fiction
Publisher: Manhattan Book Group
Publication Date: August 25, 2025

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble

The Author: Suzanne C. Carver is a lifelong storyteller who wrote her first masterpiece at age seven in a turquoise spiral-bound notebook, featuring excessive exclamation points and more Heathers than necessary. She holds a B.A. from Occidental College and is a licensed massage therapist and Reiki Master. In addition to writing novels and blogging about truth and transformation, she works as an authenticity coach, helping women reclaim their truest selves.

She lives in Maine with her wife, daughters, a dog that is the center of their solar system, and a cat who steals AirPods. She can most often be found talking to strangers, dancing in her kitchen, expertly parallel parking, or off in the woods claiming to not have cell reception.

Her debut novel, Flight Path, was praised by Kirkus Reviews as “riveting…a domestic thriller with heart.”

Reverse by Steven F Havill – #BookReview #policeprocedurals #NetGalley

A Posadas County Mystery Book 28

Book Blurb:

A road to nowhere . . .

Recovering from a near-death collision with a giant elk, Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman is back to finish her last month at the Posadas County sheriff’s office. It’s supposed to be a quiet road to retirement, until a body is found at the bottom of a water-filled quarry. The barely alive figure of the grandson of the wealthiest man in town also lies further down the ravine.

Figuring out what really happened is going to take everything that Estelle and her understaffed, overworked team have. Especially when there’s a vandal on the loose targeting the local airfield and the department has its own internal issues wreaking havoc.

Plunged into another tricky investigation, one Estelle hopes will be her last, she can’t help but think her retirement can’t come soon enough . . .

His Review:

She is a lovely 16-year-old girl and has the chance to drive a vintage Corvette. The opportunity is overwhelming. Sure, the car is a stick shift but she knows she is a quick learner. The key is handy and the ride up to the quarry will be fun on this warm and breezy night. What could possibly go wrong?

Young Martin Chavez is smitten with her and would like to ride along. However, he does not have access to the car or the garage where it is stored. So, he takes his motorcycle up to the quarry to keep an eye on her and her escort. The quarry is deep and filled with water but many young couples use the area as a quiet place for a tryst. A little night petting after a joy ride is not unusual, but Martin is very jealous of the guy with her.

She backs up the car expecting the photo shoot to give her lifelong memories. When things go awry, what follows is a very extensive investigation that attempts to pin the blame on young Martin.

C E Williams The MC is Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman who is looking forward to retirement and counting the days. This tragedy, however, takes most of her focus as she is also wrestling with a vandal wreaking chaos and confusion. The MC appeared to me to be quick to judge, no one’s fool, seen it-been there, and had no patience for anyone she suspected of wrong doing. You wouldn’t want to cross her. This along with the usual internal issues of the department spells some slow time for the plot. 3.5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. Any opinion expressed here is my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Police Procedurals, Women Sleuths
Publisher: Severn House
Publication Date: May 5, 2026
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Steven F. Havill is an American author of mysteries and westerns.

Havill lives in Raton, New Mexico, with his wife Kathleen. He has written two series of police procedurals set in the fictional Posadas County, New Mexico; along with other works. [Goodreads]

#SundayRead

The Listening List – Stories to Hear, Anywhere, Anytime – Audiobooks for 2026 – #TuesdayBookBlog

Impossible to Pause

I definitely got blindsided on the number of audiobooks on my shelf, in the queue, and those listened to but neglected to review. It was an explosion of greed, no doubt, that overcame me at some point like a kid in a candy store. So I’ll be attempting to do some catching up here with an eye of what might look good to you also.

Links to all Amazon audiobooks listed here are included in headings below.

On My Shelf

Just Finished:
See How They Hide (Will hold to review with another Brennan book coming up.)

Currently listening to:
Nightshade (scheduled for February 26)

Up Next:
My Husband’s Wife

Currently in the Queue:
Buckeye

Currently On Library Hold Lists

Wait time on these holds is anywhere from 2 weeks, depending on the number of copies or persons on the list, to 16 weeks.

Which of the following suits your mood? These represent a few different genres, including my favorite,

Mystery, Suspense, or Thriller

Mystery, Suspense & Thriller

Nightshade

Amazon Editors’ pick Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense – #policeprocedurals

See How They Hide

Book 5 Quinn and Costa Thrillers – #policeprocedurals

Her Last Breath

#crimethrillers – February 17, 2026 – Happy Release Day!

My Husband’s Wife (domestic suspense/drama)

Amazon Charts #17 this week – bestseller – #psychologicalthriller – January 20, 2026

Romance

To the Moon and Back

Book 8 The Baxter Family – #cleanandwholesomeromance

And Now — Back to You

Amazon Editors’ pick Best #Romance – Book 2 Heartstrings – February 24, 2026

Fantastical or Speculative

The Astral Library

#FantasyAction&Adventure (because I’ll read anything by Kate Quinn and narrated by Saskia Maarleveld—are you kidding? perfect!) – February 17, 2026 – Happy Release Day!

Beyond the Clouds

Book 3 of The Women of Midtown – Amazon #1 New Release in #WorldWarIHistoricalFiction – January 20, 2026

By Any Other Name

Amazon Editors’ pick Best Books of 2024 – #fictionsagas

Literary

Buckeye

Amazon Editors’ pick Best Books of 2025 – NYTimes bestseller – Jenna Book Club pick – #WorldWarII&HolocaustHistoricalFiction

I’d be willing to bet you’ve read at least one of those! I can’t vouch for the audiobooks on my hold list, but a wait of four months must mean something. NY Times bestsellers, great authors and narrators, I can’t wait! Which one will you choose?

©V Williams

#TuesdayBookBlog