book-reviews – Chasing Driftwood Books

Plus what to look forward to in 2026!

Excuse us for being a little quiet on the blogging front for a while! It’s been a busy year for most of the authors in our independent collective and we have also been discussing how best to share our news and tackle marketing as a collective! For the moment we have decided to stick to Facebook and this blog as they are both already in progress and it would be silly to stretch ourselves too much at this point. Our main goals remain the same! We are a tightly knit group of experienced independent authors who have come together to help support each other and improve our visibility.

Our author’s 2025 update and 2026 predictions!

K.M. Allan

After the completion of her compelling Blackbirch series, K.M Allan turned her hand to non-fiction in 2025 to share her expertise and experience with aspiring writers. Writing and Editing Checklists: Everything You Need To Take Your Book From First Draft to Publication was released in June 2025. This came with a companion book, Authoring Checklist Book, which is a free ebook listed on her website: https://kmallan.com/authoring-checklists/

Coming in 2026 for K.M Allan: K.M Allan is currently working on a YA murder mystery. You can read more about how that’s going on this blog post: https://kmallan.com/2025/09/26/the-benefits-of-ugly-drafting/

Chantelle Atkins

Chantelle has been busy in 2025 releasing the long-awaited sequel to her debut novel, The Mess Of Me, with February’s release, The Mess Of Us.

She also put together an anthology of short stories and poems written by the young people who attend her creative writing groups and workshops and this was published in June 2025.

Finally, she has just set up the pre-order link to her next release, The Dark Finds You. This book, which can be read as a standalone but is also the final book in a connected universe of characters and stories, will be released on 9th January 2026 but you can ore-order it now:

Coming in 2026 for Chantelle Atkins: First up in January, will be the release of The Dark Finds You, followed closely by another anthology written by the young people she works with. Something Happened In Lakeside View… is a collection of stories and poems all set in the same strange little town! You won’t have to wait long after that for the release of the first in a five book folk horror series! Black Hare Valley Book 1 – 1996 was recently serialised and shared on Chantelle’s blog and Substack and will be released on May 1st 2026.

Richard Dee

Richard has been as prolific as ever in 2025 with the release of three exciting novels in 2025! You can find them listed below with their buy links.

Coming in 2026 for Richard Dee:

Miriam Hastings

Miriam has spent 2025 working on an ‘experimental’ novel, which we are all very excited about! Meanwhile, here is a link to a blog post she wrote for us on authors responding to the rise of AI, followed by the books Miriam currently has available.

Kate Rigby

Prolific and award-winning author Kate Rigby has been working on the third draft of her memoirs during 2025 but has found the time to contribute to the following publications:

She has three poems included in the winter edition of Jawbone. Link to the Jawbone website to find out more: https://www.jawbonecollective.org.uk/?fbclid=IwY2xjawObiElleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFURzJ1N2ozTldXMDBCcDB3c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHgtjrmbvl0IgFZ-dZ_xWNhuitVtcId0PuwQLdabp6_kzZML4cT-JUIRymETq_aem_wY-gbG-JnXEbE_fEsPcsIQ

Kate has also turned some of her blog posts into an ebook:

Coming from Kate Rigby in 2026: Kate will continue to produce blog posts and poems, and hopes to be nearing the end of editing her memoirs!

Sim Sansford

Sim has been quietly working on the follow up to 2024’s YA slasher thriller, Welcome To Hollow Wood. You can find the link to that below and we look forward to reading part two, titled, Lie, Lie again in 2026!

Steven Smith

Steven has just released a collection of festive short stories and flash fiction just in time for Christmas!

Coming in 2026 for Steven Smith: Steven plans to work on a thriller in 2026 and may also get around to the third book in the Chronicles of The Crow saga!

As early this month marked International Women’s Day, what better month than to celebrate all our phenomenal female writers.

Kicking it off we have Chantelle Atkins!!!!

Chantelle Atkins was born and raised in Dorset, England and still resides there now with her husband, four children, and multiple pets. She is addicted to reading, writing, and music and writes for both the young adult and adult genres.

Her fiction is described as gritty, edgy and compelling. Her debut Young Adult novel The Mess Of Me deals with eating disorders, self-harm, fractured families and first love. The novel received a wave of glowing reviews, one reader had this to say: At over 400 pages, The Mess Of Me is not short but the gritty, vibrant and engaging style will soon have you turning the pages. What I found so impressive was that it ticked all the boxes: the attention to detail is spot-on, the characters are vivid and real, the dialogue edgy and witty and the pace and plotting executed skilfully making it a real page-turner. – Kate Rigby, Author

Her second novel, The Boy With The Thorn In His Side follows the musical journey of a young boy attempting to escape his brutal home life and has now been developed into a 5 book series. She is also the author of This Is Nowhere and award-winning dystopian, The Tree Of Rebels, which readers praise for its suspenseful storyline and engaging characters. Another award-winning novel, Elliot Pie’s Guide To H uman Nature, was released in October 2018.

A Song For Bill Robinson was the first in YA trilogy titled Holds End, followed by Emily’s Baby and The Search For Summer. Recently, she has co-authored the Fortune’s Well YA trilogy with Sim Alec Sansford. The Day The Earth Turned books 1-4 are her latest series release. Followed by the amazing The Boy series spin off, At Night We Played in the Road. And her follow up to her first novel, The Mess of Us, which has received multiple glowing reviews.

You can find all of Chantelle’s books, poetry and short story collections by clicking here!

You can also stay up to date with all her latest articles, blogs, and news by subscribing to her Substack here.

Tag: book-reviews

Chasing Driftwood Books 2025 Wrap-up!