Rebecca Shaw – A Village in Jeopardy (Orion, £7.99) **

Alice works hard, denying her own dreams to finance her husband’s hopes of being a writer. Given the loveliness of Alice and the straightforwardly horribleness of Marcus, she attracts sympathy when her affair with gorgeous Johnny, is revealed. However, will the Lord of the Manor leave her, with child, now he’s ruined her honest name? The attraction for this book, 16th in the Turnham Malpas Village series must be, for fans, finding out more about what happens to well-loved characters. The plot never really gets going, and the ‘jeopardy’ the village is plunged into seems exaggerated.

Gemma Richards, 34, office worker, Bingley

Imogen Robertson – The Paris Winter (Headline, £6.99) ***

It’s 1909 and young Maud Heighton has taken the decision to leave her small English town to seek her living in Paris. Art school is exciting but her fellow students have much more money than her and she’s forced to skip meals and dress poorly in order to remain at college. When she’s offered the chance to work as companion to the beautiful Sylvie – a job that fits in around her studies – it seems an opportunity too good to miss. Except that she soon realises that Sylvie’s life centres around opium and alcohol. An exciting and poignant read.

Rachel Bellerby, 39, writer, Moor Lane, Addingham