Blog Tour: A Review of The Heart-Shaped Box by Lucy Kaufman
Today I am helping end the Blog Tour for The Heart-Shaped Box by Lucy Kaufman! I am sharing my review for this novella. If you are lucky enough to be in the UK, there is a giveaway going on! This is a page-turning psychological thriller novella about infatuation, revenge and the lengths we will go to for love.
Novella Description:
Victorian, rural Sussex. When headstrong daughter of a rector, Constance Timothy, receives a flurry of gifts in pretty little boxes from the charming, smouldering student doctor Smith Williams, her whole family anticipates a future betrothal.
Yet beneath the exquisite pastel lids and satin bows lie macabre secrets that entice Constance into a private world of obsession and darkness, where morality becomes blurred, loyalties are tested and unthinkable acts are possible.
One secret will shake the genteel world she knows to the core…
The first book of The Carousel of Curiosities series, this haunting novella is perfect for readers of Sarah Waters, Laura Purcell, and Angela Carter.
The Heart-Shaped Box
Series: Carousel of Curiosities #1
Author: Lucy Kaufman
Published: February 3, 2026
Kindle: 87 pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: January 19-29, 2026
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Jessica’s Review:
The Heart-Shaped Box is a short novella, just 87 pages, but it pulls you in! At first you think it’s going to have a little romance with Constance receiving gifts from her suitor Smith Williams, but then what the gifts are… The reader realizes that this novella is in fact, is going down a dark path!
The more gifts Constance receives the further into the macabre Constance goes, and she is seemingly enjoying it. As the novella progresses, there are a few unexpected twists and then the reader was left hanging: I need the second in this series as I need to know what happens! Ms. Kaufman, how many novellas will be in this series? When will novella two be released?
In addition to a potential romance this novella has topics that readers who enjoy ‘darker’ novellas will enjoy: Jealousy, the macabre, obsession, and more!
I received a copy to read and review as a part of the blog tour. I enjoyed reading this one! I just wish I had been able to sit down and read it quicker than I did.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
UK Giveaway
If you live in the UK you can enter this giveaway: Subscribe to Lucy Kaufman’s newsletter at www.sepiaink.co.uk by 15th February 2026 (UK home address only) to win a small heart-shaped box of chocolates!
About the Author:
Lucy Kaufman is an award-winning author, playwright, audio dramatist and poet. 40 of her plays have been performed professionally around the UK and Australia, to critical acclaim. She has lectured in Playwriting and Screenwriting for Pen to Print and Canterbury Christ Church University and is a mentor at The Writing Coach. Originally from London, she now lives by the sea with her husband, sons, dogs and cats.
Contact Lucy:
Instagram: @kaufmanlucy
Instagram: @sepiainkpublishing
Sepia Ink Website
Audiobook Review: The Wife Upstairs by Freida McFadden
The Wife Upstairs
Author: Freida McFadden
Narrator: Angie Kane
Published: March 23, 2020
Audiobook: 9 hours 46 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: January 22-28, 2026
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Victoria Barnett has it all: a great career as a nurse practitioner, a handsome and loving husband, a beautiful home in the suburbs, and a plan to fill it with children. Life is perfect—or so it seems. Then she’s in a terrible accident…and everything falls apart. Now Victoria is unable to walk. She can’t feed or dress herself. She can’t even speak. She is confined to the top floor of her house with 24-hour care.
Sylvia Robinson is hired by Victoria’s husband to help care for her. But it turns out Victoria isn’t as impaired as Sylvia was led to believe. There’s a story Victoria desperately wants to tell…if only she could get the words out. Then Sylvia discovers Victoria’s diary hidden away in a drawer. And what’s inside is shocking.
Jessica’s Review:
Yes, there are similarities to The Wife Upstairs and Verity: An injured wife, a young woman hired to take care of her, a secret diary and many things that are not as they appear. Otherwise, they are different novels. A huge difference is that The Wife Upstairs is not sexually explicit and Verity is. In some ways I wish I had read The Wife Upstairs before Verity, but this wasn’t the case for me.
The narrator Angie Kane did a great job with her performances of both Victoria and Sylvia. I did have issues trying to understand when Victoria was attempting to talk to Sylvia, but that is what would happen in actuality with Victoria’s handicaps. I did find myself wishing I had a physical copy to see what she was trying to say.
The novel goes between Sylvia’s POV and Victoria’s diary. As with McFadden’s other novels, The Wife Upstairs is a quick and easy to read. I enjoyed it and like usual did not see the ending coming! I am still working on McFadden’s backlog of novels, while listening to her newer ones that keep coming out.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
ALC Review: This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum
This Story Might Save Your Life
Author: Tiffany Crum
Narrators:
Julia Whelan
Sean Patrick Hopkins
To Be Published: March 10, 2026
Audiobook: 10 hours 39 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: January 7-12, 2026
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Book Description:
Benny Abbott and Joy Moore host one of the most beloved podcasts in the world. Each week, they delight listeners with a different “against all odds” survival story, gleefully finding the weird, life-affirming humor in near-death experiences. Since their first episode on Joy’s experience with severe narcolepsy, they’ve been the best friends everyone wants to befriend—and thanks to the meticulous management of Joy’s husband, Xander, they’ve built a lucrative empire.
The problem is, their next survival story may be their own. When Benny arrives at Joy and Xander’s one morning to record, he finds shattered glass and an empty house. The one clue shedding light on the couple’s disappearance is the incomplete, previously unseen first draft of Joy’s memoir. Benny will stop at nothing to find them, even as the police zero in on him as their prime suspect.
Millions of devoted listeners think they know the “real” Benny and Joy. But as the hours tick by, and the odds seem increasingly stacked against Joy and Xander being found alive, not even the most devoted fans could guess the terrible secrets their favorite famous BFFs have hidden from the world—and from each other.
Jessica’s Review:
This book! It was my first five star read of the year and I know it will be in my ‘Top 10 Reads’ of 2026. Where, exactly? Close to the top if not my top spot! We will have to wait until the end of the year to see where it ultimately ends up!
Anyways… This book! It’s pretty much everything I love in a book and a debut novel too!?!?! This Story will be one of THE books to read in 2026. I listened to an advanced copy and it is perfection! We have two main narrators: Julia Whelan and Sean Patrick Hopkins. They portray Joy and Benny as BFF’s with such precision! You can just feel the chemistry and more with these two. Both Julia and Sean Patrick are in fact Joy and Benny.
With the audio we also get podcasts, Benny and Joy’s dual POVs, voices of tipline callers and even some occasional special effects added in. Everything just makes this audiobook a MUST LISTEN to for 2026!
This novel really is everything. You just love Benny and Joy: Their present and backstory. I was transfixed for the entire novel! And the directions this novel goes in.. I would have never expected. The fact that this is a debut novel for Crum, wow, she is on my list to see what is written next!
As you can tell from the book description, Benny and Joy’s podcast is a survival podcast that takes off. We have Joy who suffers from Narcolepsy, and as a listener I learned a little about it. One of their podcasts Joy asks a question: “What is the most dangerous home appliance?” I am proud to say I guessed that one right in one guess! And one of the tipline calls mentions Snellville, Ga… I was shocked to hear that city’s name! I looked it up and the author is now local in Georgia! And Snellville is the area I grew up in. Being Crum lives in my state, this is another reason I will be keeping up with her and what she writes. I love supporting local-to-me authors! And the fact that Crum was able to get Julia Whelan as a narrator for a debut novel???? I’m ready to see what Crum brings us next!
And I will have to buy myself a physical copy of this book to go with my favorites….
Many thanks to the audiobook publisher Macmillan Audio for granting me an advanced copy to listen to and review. It was a great pleasure to listen and review this one!
Pre-Order Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK