Sam's Fireside - Cosy Book Reviews & Recommendations

We Were on a Break made me laugh out loud and smack my forehead in frustration! Honestly, I loved Emma. She was eccentric, quirky and hilarious. On the other hand, Callum was a bit boring and too straitlaced. I loved the synopsis. I really fancy the idea of a road trip across Europe, although maybe not with an ex! That would be quite hard work.  I liked Jo’s descriptions of the places Emma and Callum visited, and I would have loved to stay in the monastery with the monks, they honestly seemed like such a fun bunch of people, although I’m not sure that was the impression I was supposed to be getting! If you want a book to immerse yourself into this summer, grab a copy of this and lose yourself on a journey in a camper van called Miranda, across Europe. Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books and Rachel’s Random Resources for the opportunity to read and review We Were on a Break by Jo Lovett. About the Book A summer to remember... A love to last a lifetime... Stranded in Rome, with al...

I loved, loved, loved this. I loved Lily; I loved Luke, and I almost loved Zack. Too much happened and I don’t want to give any spoilers, but if you love romance, then you absolutely must read this. The story does sort of end on a bit of a cliffhanger, but that’s good. I can’t wait to read the next one and thankfully I won’t have long to wait. Few books make me cry, but Olivia got me good and proper with this one. OMG, soul-searching and heart-wrenching is an understatement. That email.....! It ripped my heart apart, mangled it all up and shoved it back into my chest! A book that does that to me will always be a winner. Thank you Olivia, for giving us Lily, Luke and Zack! Thank you to Olivia Lockhart and Rachel’s Random Resources for the opportunity to read and review For the Love of Lily. About the Book Lily Forshaw loves her life, her job, and her best friends. Romance? Not on her radar. So, when a blind date with Zack leaves her unexpectedly smitten, she’s completely caught off guar...

I love an audiobook and although this was a slow start; I found myself enjoying it more and more as the book progressed. Hudson was a great character. I liked him from the very beginning, but Willa was a different story. It took me a while to warm to her, and she did irritate me a bit when she was constantly calling on Hudson to come and get her out of a pickle. Both Elyse and Teddy were great narrators and worked well together as Willa and Hudson. Teddy’s voice made me melt inside. I have no idea what he looks like and don’t want to check in case I am disappointed lol! Small-town-romance and family-orientated books are always a winner for me and once the scene was set, and I understood the background of both characters, I enjoyed Cathy Yardley’s latest book.  Thank you to NetGalley, Cathy Yardley and Literary Media Tours for the opportunity to listen to and review Do Me a Favor. About the Book Willa Lieu-Endicott moved from California to the Pacific Northwest to start over. Sinc...

As a girl (yes, I still think of myself as a girl), who turned 51 a few months ago I was looking forward to reading this, and whilst my life is absolutely nothing like Kate’s, I could relate to bits of her life. I think Kate is brilliant; she has great friends, a job she enjoys and godchildren she adores. I particularly loved Elsie and the names she decided on for her cuddly unicorn and sheep - I won’t spoil that for you, but it made me laugh. The Saga Louts are Kate’s newfound friends, none of them a day under 80, but they are amazing. They are loving life; they have no filter and they don’t care a jot what they talk about and who they might shock. I hope I’m like that at 80! There are many, many sad and heartbreaking moments throughout the book too. Celia handles these well, with compassion and understanding and, of course, the book has a happy-ever-after. What else would you expect from a book with such a jolly cover?  Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books and Rachel’s Random R...

Stolen Mothers is another fast-paced thriller from Stacy Green, throwing you once again into the daily life of FBI Agent Nikki Hunt. This time she needs to find the serial killer who is responsible for killing all these women, but there is a harrowing personal story behind it all too. Did what happened nine years ago to Nikki influence what the killer did next? I sped through the book as quickly as other things allowed me to, and it was a welcome break from the fantasy worlds I am used to. Parts of Stolen Mothers are fairly graphic, but if you’re a thriller reader anyway, I’m sure you’ll have no problem devouring this in one sitting.  The book is the ninth in the Nikki Hunt series, but only the second one I have read. You definitely won’t lose anything if you read it as a standalone, as Stacy explains previous incidents, characters and everything else as she goes along. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review Stolen Mothers by Stacy Green. Abou...

I wish I’d discovered this series before the third one. I loved Blue Skies Over Wildflower Lock so much. I disappeared onto the waterways of England from the moment I read the first page until I finally closed my Kindle.  Hannah has put so much research into this book and how you can navigate the waterways to get from one side of the country to the other. I honestly wished I was travelling with her and September Rose, enjoying the tranquillity of the canals and the mayhem of the Thames! This is the first book I have read by Hannah Lynn, but I am definitely going back to read others and will look forward to the next book she writes. Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books and Rachel’s Random Resources for the opportunity to read and review Blue Skies Over Wildflower Lock. About the Book Just when Daisy thought she had canal life understood, Theo, her primary go-to for all of her boating questions has left Wildflower Lock, not to mention the budding romance that has been steadily grow...

This is the fifth book in the Puddleduck Farm series and another delightful book from Della. As always, I love the characters and I especially love the animals. Spock the parrot is probably my favourite from this book! In this one, Della deals sensitively with certain subjects, but overall I think you’ll find that this visit to Puddleduck Farm is as warm and cosy as the rest, despite the circumstances.  From my understanding there is still more to come from this series, so I can’t wait to read about what antics the animals get up to next. This book can be read as a standalone, but if you want to know the background of everyone, then put all of these books on your wishlist! Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books and Rachel’s Random Resources for the opportunity to read and review Happy Ever After at Puddleduck Farm by Della Galton. About the Book When life throws up the unexpected, can Phoebe hold strong? In the idyllic setting of the New Forest, talented vet Phoebe Dashwood envisio...

I love gardens and nature and anything even remotely related to that, so to read a book called The Butterfly Garden was an inevitable choice for me, especially as it’s set in Suffolk, England - I live on the Norfolk/Suffolk border, so I was keen to see if I recognised any places. A dual timeline novel split between 1963 and 2018, where our female protagonists are Clara and Meredith, respectively. I was hooked as the story and all the family secrets jumped from one decade to another. Life and love are brought together as we read about Butterfly Cottage and why it was left empty for fifty years. The Butterfly Garden is beautifully written, with so many gorgeous descriptions of the Suffolk countryside, the winding lanes and village life. I was invested from the very beginning. Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books and Rachel’s Random Resources for the opportunity to read and review The Butterfly Garden by Rachel Burton. About the Book 1963: When Clara Samuels buys Butterfly Cottage, she...

I read the first two books in the Clarks Factory Girls series, back to back. This second in the series is a continuation of the lives and stories of the people who live and work in Street, Somerset, in the UK and, once again, they welcome us with open arms. I love the characters (well, most of them) that May has created and the family and friendship they bring.  This time around, we discover more about the effects the First World War had on the men who fought and the women who stayed at home, as well as the backward beliefs that some characters had, resulting in heartbreaking decisions having to be made, particularly by young women.  I love the community spirit in this series. Almost everyone looks out for their friends and neighbours and will help them out any way they can if necessary.  If you love a wartime saga like I do, then pick up these books. Despite the setting of WWI, they are warm and cosy books with great characters who you just want to be friends with. ...

The Clarks Factory Girls is a new wartime saga series by May Ellis and as I’m on the book tour for the second in the series, I wanted to read the first one, before I started the second. I’m unsure whether our friends across the pond know that Clarks Shoes used to be a massive thing in the UK (although maybe not as much these days). Almost everyone I knew had a pair of Clarks shoes as their first ever pair, and school shoes in particular would, more often than not, have been a pair of Clarks. Anyway, this series immerses us into the lives of characters who lived and worked in the village of Street in Somerset in the UK, where Clarks had its first factory. Louisa, Jeannie, and Kate have been friends since they were all at school together and now work side by side in the machine shop in the Clarks factory in 1914. Throughout the book, we learn how the community, factories and individuals coped with the onset of war and the challenges that it brought, whether personal or professional. I ...