Melissa's Bookshelf

  I'm so excited to share this with you all! Author of She's Mine  and this year's The Loyal Friend , A. A. Chaudhuri, has kindly offered to do a Q&A with me! I asked her about her newest book, her favourite Italian dish, and what her all-time favourite book is - read the interview below! 😇💕 How does it feel to be releasing another book into the world? EXCITING! It’s always such an amazing, rewarding feeling releasing a new book. It’s the culmination  of months of hard work, including painstaking editing (!) and so to see it out there in the world gives  me a great sense of joy and satisfaction. It’s also a little scary! As an author you try your utmost to  make your book as compelling and error-free as possible, but writing is such a subjective industry  and there’ll inevitably be critics. But it’s all part and parcel of the job, and I’m pleased to say I’ve  been thrilled by the positive response and fabulous reviews I’ve received so far from advance  readers. I rece

What do you do when fate comes knocking? Do you follow what the stars tell you, or do you trust yourself and focus on what's in front of you? That is the choice Mara must make . Mara is a 30-something recluse who has never really lived. That is, until she heads to Budapest on a trip, alone, after her best friend Charlie had to cancel. There, a fortune-teller tells her that she will find the one  - immediately. Within the next 10 minutes, he walks in. Mara is head over heels, and decides to set up her own destiny; but will this mystery man be her forever, or is there someone else that could fit the bill? I never used to like romance books so much, but after reading a couple, and checking out the plot for The Setup , I knew I had to read more. The Setup  is a book for those who enjoy whimsical stories, a roller-coaster of 'will they won't they', and a main character who is something of a hot mess. Upon starting this book, I was quickly invested in seeing how it would end.

What is your current favourite book series? I'm definitely torn between M. W. Craven's Poe & Tilly series and, well, nothing else 😄💛

We all have secrets, don't we? Well, Natalie, Susan and Grace definitely do. When the three women join the same fitness club, run by the seemingly perfect Jade, it seems things are going smoothly. However, Jade's disappearance threatens to release the demons from all three women's closets... After reading A. A. Chaudhuri's previous book, She's Mine , last year, I was more than excited to see what else she had in store; and I was utterly blown away. I struggled writing this review a little, not because I didn't know what to say, but because I had too much  to say. The first thing I felt while reading The Loyal Friend  was that it felt like Chaudhuri. She has kept her incredible author voice, and transferred it to yet another phenomenal tale. Her voice is one of the best I've ever read, in both thriller and otherwise. This book is immensely clever, genuinely shocking, and simply incredible. The plot was something unlike anything else I've read. I loved get