Welcome to the latest edition of My Favourite Reads, the book blog I can’t seem to stop doing. Probably because I love it.

I don’t know why I always think I’ll read a lot when I’m roadtripping because it rarely happens. There are just too many other things going on and the only real time I get to read is in the car, and that’s only when the road is smooth. Not a lot of those in rural Australia.

Rural Australia is where I spent I almost all of May, touring The Grazier’s Son around libraries and even a general store (waving to Margaret at Terry at Strathmerton). A whole bunch of fun, but it did mean I read next to nothing. Which is why this edition of My Favourite Reads is so scant.

Scant as in two books for this month. TWO! But… both are by Australian authors, both thrillers/mysteries, and both are terrific reads. Hard to complain about that.

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The House of Now and Then by Jo Dixon

The House of Now and Then was Jo Dixon’s debut novel and was a big hit on release, so I was curious to see what the fuss was about. It didn’t take many pages to discover why it’s been so popular. This is a well written page-turner of a book and one I enjoyed a lot.

The Tasmanian setting was hugely appealing, especially the gorgeous house that our main protagonist Olivia is holed up in. And where, thirty years previously, a young man was last seen before he strangely disappeared.

It’s this mystery that anchors the plot as Olivia tries to unravel what happened to Leo. I thought the dual timeline was a clever way to reveal the story too. There’s even a bit of a romance. Something that always warms my heart.

Good stuff.

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Black Lies by Mercedes Mercier

I had somehow missed Black Lies when it released in 2023 but its cover and good reviews caught my eye when the ebook came on sale earlier this year. I’m very partial to a psychological thriller and being by an Australian author, Black Lies was hard to resist. Even though I have a bazillion other ebooks that need reading, I reminded myself how important it is to support locals and clicked buy.

And what a good choice I made!

Black Lies proved an excellent read. A real page turner, with interesting characters and a nice twisty, complex plot and great pacing. The prison side of things was fascinating, and the ending was suitably dramatic and satisfying.

I liked main character Dr Laura Fleming too. She was clever, brave (perhaps too brave at times) and tenacious. I didn’t realise she was a continuing character from Mercier’s debut White Noise. Not that it made any difference to the story but now I’m going have to add that book to my “want” pile so I can learn about her origins.

Highly recommended. I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for Mercier’s next release.

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What recent reads have you loved? Share away!

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