My Review for The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon is a story set within a dual timeline, full of passion, anger, cruelty and patriotism. We begin in 1943 when we are coming towards the end of the Second World War. Gabriella and her brother Riccardo are living with their parents in Florence, Italy, where they are becoming anxious about the German invasion. In 2019, Riccardo has recently passed away and his wife Isobel and daughter Sofia are organising...

Read More

My Review for The Blood Tide by Neil Lancaster

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I loved the first book in this new DS Max Craigie series, and The Blood Tide is even better because now we have a relationship with the characters! We know who’s a pain in the backside; we know whose heart is always in the right place, and we know who we can trust...or do we?If you have read the first in the series, you will be familiar with what Max and his small team do, basically searching out dodgy law enforcement guys and making sure they...

Read More

My Review for The Drowned Village by Norma Curtis

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Set between the present day and the years following the end of World War II in Mid Wales, The Drowned Village is a beautiful, but heartbreaking story. Sixty-five years ago, Elin Jenkins, a young Welsh girl, and Al Locke, an American sailor, had their whole lives ahead of them and, after Al proposed, the plan was for Elin to move to Pennsylvania and marry the man she loved. However, life doesn’t always work out the way you want it to.Present-day...

Read More

My Review for A Wedding in Provence by Katie Fforde

 ⭐⭐⭐⭐  It is 1963 and our protagonist, Alexandra, is in Paris, en route to a Swiss finishing school which she isn’t looking forward to and would really rather stay in Paris. Through a friend of a friend, she finds herself in short-term employment as a Nanny to three French children, although not in Paris, but in sunny Provence, deep in the French countryside. Planning on staying with the family for a few weeks and then continuing onto...

Read More

My Review for A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe

⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe is based on the horrific disaster which occurred, in the coal mining village of Aberfan, Wales on 21 October 1966. Embalmers were the unsung heroes of Aberfan, with volunteers rushing to the small Welsh village to ensure that the 116 children and 28 adults who perished were cleaned, identified and embalmed to keep them from deteriorating and thus saving their loved ones from further distress.This book...

Read More

My Review for The Book of Sand by Theo Clare

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I love a dystopian; the world is ending, kind of book and The Book of Sand by Theo Clare didn’t fail to deliver. Written with a parallel timeline, Mckenzie is a teenager, living in the present day in Virginia in the USA. Spider (I couldn’t work out what age Spider was supposed to be), is living in a parallel universe somewhere in a desert, which comprises various countries, states and cities from around the world. He is surrounded by his desert...

Read More

My Review for The Rebound by Catherine Walsh

⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Rebound, by Catherine Walsh, is just what you need to get you in the mood for love and romance this Valentine’s Day! It will have you laughing and crying and shouting at the characters! Abby has had no choice but to return home to Ireland from New York, where she has been living and working for the past few years. Her entire life was there, her home, her job, her fiance and her friends. Now she is left with nothing. Staying with...

Read More

My Review for Some Kind of Comfort by Gary Clark

 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Once again, it was a privilege to be an Advance Reader for Gary Clark’s new book, Some Kind of Comfort. It’s totally different from his Interland books, which are a dystopian fantasy series. This one is real-life, sensitively dealing with issues that many teenagers have suffered or are suffering with. Charley is our protagonist. A sixteen-year-old girl with severe anxiety issues and ‘thought tangles’, her anxiety has caused Charley...

Read More

My Review for Am I Allergic to Men by Kristen Bailey

 ⭐⭐⭐⭐  The 5th book in Kristen Bailey’s ‘The Callaghan Sisters’, but you don’t need to have read any of the others to enjoy this one. This is the first Kristen Bailey I’ve read and Lucy is our protagonist, happy-go-lucky Lucy, the sister with the wild streak and a devil-may-care attitude. I loved her, her free spirit, her unconditional love for her family, and simply her energy.Lucy has it tough throughout much of the story. Following a...

Read More

My Review for A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This is Stacy Willingham's debut novel! I didn't realise this until I'd finished reading it, and to say I was surprised is an understatement. It feels like she's been writing for years! Full of plot twists and turns, I guarantee it'll leave you reeling and wanting more with each turn of the page.Chloe is the protagonist in A Flicker in the Dark and has been trying to hide from her past, and her serial killer father for the last twenty...

Read More