I had to come up with a name that packed a lot into one handle. In short, I live beside a river. I love riverside life more than I ever expected. There’s nothing more relaxing than watching swans gliding past as you drink your first coffee of the day. I buy books with the intention of reading them while sitting on a riverbank on a hot afternoon. The reality has been less romantic. I have spent most of the last few months trying to turn the house into a properly cosy space, full of soft light, warm blankets and that shut‑the‑world‑out feeling. Somewhere I can hide away from the world, surrounded by my books and snacky snacks. All while I work my day job, parent, and deal with a permanently stressed husband who could easily win awards for overthinking the small stuff.

The noir part is a nod to my reading tastes. In a previous life, I was a fan of horror fiction, but something shifted for me during the COVID years. Being surrounded by constant news of death and real-world misery made me feel as if I were stuck in a horror film without a pause button. It made me question how much space death should take up in the things I read for enjoyment. I turned to psychological thrillers instead. I know the genre still racks up a body count. A whodunnit without a corpse is just a nosy neighbour with too much time on their hands. The difference is that thrillers do not force you to linger on every bloody slice of the knife or savour the grisly end of each character.

I am a mum to mostly grown-up daughters. They are all incredible women, and I am certain they will appear in the pages of this website at some point. I am also married to a car-obsessed tech-bro who is usually either poring over pages of indecipherable – his words, not mine – code or blowing off steam on a drift track.

I have so many topics I want to discuss within my blog posts, but my true passion lies in books. I love nothing better than a road trip, ending in a shopping trip in a bookstore, and coming home with more books to add to my ever-growing TBR pile. I want to celebrate them and share my reading journey with you. Thank you for coming on this ride with me!