Rating: There’s two things new mums don’t need. One – twelve (or more) months stuck in their maternity jeans. Two – a complicated, time-consuming regime for getting rid of said jeans. New mums are too busy being new mums, looking after their health and the health of their new babe, and attempting to catch up…Read More

Rating: We’re a funny species. We know what we need to do. We know what we should be eating and should not be eating. We know all about exercise. We are totally au fait with comfort eating. We’re cohesive of the fact that too much booze and fat, and too many sweets will undo our…Read More

Rating: It’s Christmas time – a time that’s meant to be the happiest of the year but for many, the festive season is fraught with stress, relationship strain, financial burden and that Scrooge-like feeling that can seriously test the boundaries of inner contentment. Balancing the ‘perfect’ get together with family and friends can become an…Read More

Rating: Could there be a more perfect time for a book on everyday kindness? Author and holistic wellbeing expert Stephanie Dowrick has long been tapped into Australia’s emotional zeitgeist, plucking needful gems from society’s ills and polishing them into beautiful books that lay open the requirements at hand. Whether it be learning about intimacy in…Read More

Rating: “Treasury” is an apt description of this wonderful collection of over 40 short stories. Each of the stories is a real gem, unique and beautiful. Some are as subtle as aquamarines, or dazzling with the bright fire of diamonds; a few perhaps glowing with the depth of rubies and others, gentle like pearls. All…Read More

Rating: Susan Duncan is no stranger to sea-side living: her best-selling memoirs A Life on Pittwater and Salvation Creek both touch on her experiences as a new resident in the coastal town of Pittwater. In The Briny Cafe, Duncan’s first novel, Pittwater is given a fictionalised treatment. Given the moniker of Cook’s Basin, it’s joyfully…Read More

Rating: How far would you go for love and when does it cross the line into obsession? The Hypnotist’s Love Story by Liane Moriarty tells the tale of a hypnotherapist named Ellen O’Farrell, her lover Patrick and Saskia, who is Patrick’s ex-girlfriend and stalker. Ellen O’Farrell leads a normal life helping people overcome some of…Read More

Rating: This is an extremely well-crafted novel, one that will enthral and convert even the most reluctant of crime fiction readers. The arrival of an elderly American tourist in London mysteriously sets off a seemingly unconnected chain of events. What might have been mere self-indulgence in nostalgia, draws out past misdeeds to seriously threaten the…Read More