Monday, May 31, 2021

My Review for Summer at the French Olive Grove by Sophie Claire

⭐⭐⭐⭐. Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of Summer at the French Olive Grove by Sophie Claire.Sophie Claire’s book begins in Columbia where the protagonist, Lily, is making a film about the lives and careers of some Columbian women in a world where women don’t really have careers.  Lily is attacked and suffers a broken arm, returning to her home village in France to recover. ...

Thursday, May 27, 2021

My Review for The Vacation by M.M. Chouinard

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of The Vacation by M.M. Chouinard.I have never really been a thriller reader, not because I don't enjoy them, it has just never been something I've picked up off the shelf, but wow - if thrillers are like this then I've seriously been missing out!Six adults and four children are in Jamaica for Thanksgiving, but it is apparent from the outset that all is...

My Review for The Broken Hearts Honeymoon by Lucy Dickens

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK, Cornerstone and Arrow Publishing for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of The Broken Hearts Honeymoon by Lucy Dickens before the release of the paperback.Wow! I loved it and read it, in under 24 hours. Granted, it was pouring with rain in the UK and I had nothing else to do but it was such a wonderful book. Informative, educational, happy, sad, comical and slightly heart-breaking, I experienced...

Wednesday, May 26, 2021

My Review for The Wishing Tree Beside the Shore by Jaimie Admans

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  Thank you to NetGalley and HQ Digital for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of The Wishing Tree Beside the Shore by Jaimie Admans.Felicity works for a property development company and, with. a twist of fate, the latest proposal for hotel development is in Felicity's home town of Lemmon Cove on the Gower peninsula. Fliss's boss decides to send her undercover, to infiltrate the protesters who are delaying the signing of the paperwork...

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

My Review for Island of Secrets by Patricia Wilson

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  I listened to Island of Secrets, by Patricia Wilson, as an Audiobook from Borrowbox. Read by Julie Maisey, it was another outstanding book from the author and once again, taught me so much about the Second World War that I wasn’t aware of.‘The story started at dawn on the fourteenth of September 1943...’Angelika (Angie) is planning her wedding to Nick and has decided that she wants her mother’s family to be involved. The problem...

My Review for The Kew Gardener's Guide to Growing Roses

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group- White Lion for the opportunity to review 'The Kew Gardener's Guide to Growing Roses' before the publication date. Being an avid, albeit fairly new gardener I am interested in widening my knowledge to learn as much as I can about flora and fauna and how I can grow and nurture plants in my own garden. I do particularly love roses but know next to nothing about them and reading this...

Thursday, May 20, 2021

My Review for Villa of Secrets by Patricia Wilson

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I listened to Villa of Secrets, by Patricia Wilson, as an Audiobook from Borrowbox. Read by Lucy Paterson, I was so taken with the story that it only took me a couple of days to reach the end, listening as I went out for a long walk with my dog and then planting tomatoes in my greenhouse! Books and gardening - I couldn't have been happier.Sisters, Naomi and Rebecca, were raised by their grandmother, Pandora Cohen and the story is told through...

My Review for Three Weddings and a Proposal by Sheila O'Flanagan

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  Thank you to NetGalley and Headline Review for the opportunity to review Three Weddings and a Proposal by Sheila O'Flanagan before the publication date.Delphine Martens is a thirty-something Executive Assistant to Conrad Morgan, a multi-millionaire businessman. Delphie has a great home by the sea, and, although single, she loves her life and her friends, everything is going well until she receives a phone call on the night of her brother's...

Saturday, May 15, 2021

Favourite Book Quotes

 Favourite Book Quotes"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." This is the first line from 'Rebecca' by Daphne Du Maurier and is my most loved book ever. I can honestly say, that apart from Enid Blyton books when I was a child, it is the only book I have read more than once.The novel begins in Monte Carlo, where our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and...

Friday, May 14, 2021

Cover Reveal & Book Description for Beta's Bane by Liv James

Due for release on 11 June 2021, Beta's Bane by Liv James has just revealed its cover!  The description for the book is here and I will post my review on publication day.When Wolf Shifters pass from this plane to the next, their souls make the journey along the Pathway, to reunite with their ancestors and hunt the eternal forests.Without the Pathway, their souls can know no peace.The Pathway must be protected; at all costs.When Alpha Cameron...

My Review for Into Thin Air by Phillip Jordan

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thank you to the author, Phillip Jordan for the ARC of his new novella, 'Into Thin Air', a Detective Inspector Taylor thriller.'Aido Quinn went for a run and didn't come back'. 'Into Thin Air' is part of the Belfast Crime Series and Detective Inspector Taylor and her team set out to uncover what or who is behind the disappearance of Adrian Quinn. On the surface, Adrian seemingly has a loving family and is the Company Director of a successful...

Thursday, May 13, 2021

My Review for Off-Road with Clarkson, Hammond & May by Phillipa Sage

⭐⭐⭐⭐  Thank you to NetGalley and Ad Lib Publishers for the opportunity to review 'Off-Road with Clarkson, Hammond & May' before its publication date. Now I've always loved watching 'the boys' on TV. When I still lived at home, it became a Sunday night ritual to all sit down together to watch Top Gear, and this continued when I moved out. I thankfully found a husband who was also into the boys' antics, and we continued my tradition of...

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

My Review for From Something Old by Nick Alexander

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for the opportunity to review 'From Something Old by Nick Alexander as an Advance Reader Copy.From Something Old is the first novel I have read by Nick Alexander, but it won't be the last. I loved it from beginning to end.The lives of two couples, Ant and Heather and Joe and Amy, randomly begin to intertwine, with perhaps unforeseen consequences. Initially brought together by their children who...

Thursday, May 6, 2021

My Review for The Dover Cafe at War by Ginny Bell Read by Bea Holland

⭐⭐⭐⭐ I listened to The Dover Cafe at War by Ginny Bell as an Audiobook from Borrowbox and loved it.  I find that a wartime saga always makes for easy listening or easy reading, and this was no exception.  Bea Holland narrated it beautifully and I enjoyed how she brought the characters to life.  Despite the sometimes heartwrenching circumstances, a good book, set in wartime, always makes me feel warm inside.The Dover Cafe is set at...

My Review for Til Death We Do Part by Bruno Beaches

⭐⭐⭐⭐ I was kindly offered Til Death We Do Part as an Advance Reader Copy by the author, Bruno Beaches. Pablo Pinkerton has spent his career in the police force, carrying out a variety of different roles, but his life begins to unravel, as he has to deal with a complaint against him from a former 'client' at work, and there quickly follows the disintegration of a seemingly happy and successful marriage. The story takes place over a few years, and...

Saturday, May 1, 2021

My Review for Worldlines by Adam Guest

⭐⭐⭐⭐   I reviewed Worldlines by Adam Guest for Online Book Club, and although I thoroughly enjoyed it, I often found myself trying to follow the ‘worlds’ too closely, trying to understand whether there really was the possibility of us occupying several dimensions at once, and this detracted from the flow of the novel.Worldlines is a sci-fi/fantasy novel about a multiverse rather than a universe, where the protagonist, Gary, gradually realises,...