My Review for Summer at the Santorini Bookshop by Rebecca Raisin

Books, sunshine, cocktails, sea, beaches, dogs and handsome Greek men - what’s not to love?! Well, to be honest, Greek men are far too hairy for me but I’m sure others love them!!!

Evie has lost her job and joins her eccentric grandmother in Santorini, where she has married for the ninety-millionth time. I loved all the characters. Each had their own quirky ways and were delightful to read about. The dogs were all brilliant! Especially Houdini, who loves stealing wallets and hiding them from his owners!

Evie is trying not to fall for Georgios, Granny is trying not to get into anymore debt and Evie’s mum and sister are trying to find out all about what is actually happening in Santorini, but no one is telling them anything! In the meantime, Granny and Evie are running the bookshop and planning the opening of a cute evening cocktail bar.

Once you’ve read this, I guarantee you’ll want to jump on a plane and whisk yourself off to Santorini for your next holiday.

Thank you to NetGalley, HQ and Rachel’s Random Resources for the opportunity to read and review Summer at the Santorini Bookshop by Rebecca Raisin.

About the Book

A Greek island holiday. A fake-dating pact. A chance at true love?

After losing her job as a book scout, hopeless romantic Evie needs a fresh start. So when she hears that her eccentric grandmother has just taken on a small bookshop in Santorini, Evie jumps at the chance to visit her.

But life on the island is not as idyllic as it first seems. Gran has a tempestuous relationship with her landlord and he’s threatening to take the bookshop away from her. So when Gran asks Evie to fake a romance with her landlord’s Greek God of a grandson, Georgios, to keep the family on side, she reluctantly agrees.

As the sun sets on Evie’s Greek holiday, can she save the bookshop – and fake date her way to love?

About Rebecca

Rebecca Raisin writes heartwarming romance from her home in sunny Perth, Australia. Her heroines tend to be on the quirky side and her books are usually set in exotic locations so her readers can armchair travel any day of the week. The only downfall about writing about gorgeous heroes who have brains as well as brawn, is falling in love with them – just as well they’re fictional. Rebecca aims to write characters you can see yourself being friends with. People with big hearts who care about relationships and believe in true, once in a lifetime love. Her bestselling novel Rosie’s Travelling Tea Shop has been optioned for film with MRC studios and Frolic Media.

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My Review for Timeslayers by Colin Sephton

“There are only two types of being with such power - those who have no vested interest in the contents contained within the artefact, completely ignorant of its contents, of its worth, a rare being indeed; and those born of the Elder God! So, which are you?”

The Book of Consciousness is the book that everyone seems to want to get their hands on, some to make their existence better, some to make others’ existence worse. Ignatius and Indigo are just a couple of humans who stumble upon the reality of demons, gods, dragons and super-beings, and that maybe there really is something beyond the world in which we live.

Once you get past the world-building, who is who and what is what, Timeslayers is a fascinating, thought-provoking read. I actually read it twice, almost immediately. The first time to figure it all out, and the second time to settle down and enjoy the story. In my head, Ignatius and Indigo are a couple of strange eccentrics who just don’t want to be the same as anyone else, and they’re not, they’re really not! Indigo, in particular, has no qualms about killing or maiming anyone who crosses her and her newfound allies. While Ignatius is trying to work out how the universe works!

“Shadows are like doors. Doors to dark prisons.... You should never play in the shadows, you never know who... or what... may be there waiting to cross the threshold of that particular door!”

If you’re a fan of Terry Pratchett or of what the world might consist of outside of our planet, then I would recommend Timeslayers, the debut novel from Colin Sephton. I can’t wait to discover what happens in the next book in the series.

Thank you to Cinnabar Moth Publishing and Colin Sephton for the opportunity to read and review Timeslayers which is published on 7 May 2024.

About the Book

In a Steampunk Oxford, Ignatius and Indigo are both agents for the Union Jacks, a secret organisation. The role of the Union is to protect the British Empire, which is at the height of its powers, and help in its technological advances. They have discovered the existence of the mystical Book of Consciousness written by the creator of the cosmos, the genderless Omnisoul. The book is the history of everything that is, that has been and that will be. The agents are aided by Skye, who accidentally calls forth seven merciless immortals called the Charon.

Known as the Beautiful and the Damned, the Charon are the Infernal Dukes of Hell, created to carry out the will of the Omisoul. But they are tired of their immortality and want to end their existence. Elsewhere, the sorcerer Ragnar of Roc has conjured a hole in spacetime, allowing the draconic Elder God Calabi Ya to re-enter the cosmos from the Ghost Worlds. He is as old as the Omnisoul and wants the book to learn his destiny. The two Union Jacks leave Oxford and are taken on a journey across the cosmos in the great ship Taraka, which sails through space and time. Ignatius and Indigo are mere pawns in the cosmic ocean of fate, carried to fabled places, witness to bloody massacres, and half-willing conspirators in the Charon's plot to thwart the Omnisoul's plan and defeat the protectors of the Well at the Centre of Time.

About Colin

Colin was born in Coventry and worked in the automotive industry for over twenty years before becoming an Engineering teacher. Obtaining his first library card at the age of thirteen, he became an avid reader of Fantasy and the mysteries of the Universe. He has an inbuilt curiosity for lost knowledge and ancient texts that may help to unlock the secrets of consciousness and the universe. Living in Oxford for many years, he has now moved back to his home county of Warwickshire where he enjoys creating and working with his wife on their garden in which he writes and entertains their two grandsons. He has always been an artist and writer and is inspired by the worlds created by Robert E Howard and Michael Moorcock, with the artwork of Frank Frazetta.

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My Review for A Pear-Shaped Life, Written by Carmel Harrington and Read by Amy McAllister

I’m currently on a Carmel Harrington binge listen. I listened to A Mother’s Heart just over a year ago and it was incredible, and now I’ve decided it’s time for more. I love the Irish narrators with their lilting voices and right now I can’t get enough of them. 

My Pear-Shaped Life was a great listen, with loveable characters and thought-provoking, sometimes difficult themes throughout. Greta is our female protagonist in this book and she’s simply amazing, even if she doesn’t believe it herself a lot of the time. 

Greta has to accept that life isn’t going quite the way she would like right now and is finding it difficult to accept that maybe, just maybe, she needs some help, both personal and professional. Her family is right behind her, most of the time, Greta just needs to realise that. 

I loved that Carmel incorporates a US road trip into Greta’s story, something which my husband and I are doing more and more as we get older. With an end destination of Las Vegas - my happy place - it just made me smile as I look forward to our next trip. 

Focusing highly on family values, and the love and support of the people who care for you, My Pear-Shaped Life is an enjoyable listen (or read) and may just help anyone lacking in a little self-confidence to look at things in a different light. 

Thank you to Libby for providing the opportunity and the availability to bring books to life for so many people and thank you to Carmel Harrington for being such an incredible writer. Never stop writing!

About the Book

This is a joyful, uplifting book for those of us who sometimes wake up and feel we’re not good enough. Spoiler alert: we are!

Meet Greta.

She’s funny.

She’s flawed.

She’s hiding so much behind her big smile she’s forgotten who she is.

But Greta is about to discover that the key to being happy is…being you.

Greta Gale has played the part of the funny fat one her entire life, hiding her insecurities behind a big smile. But size doesn’t matter when you can laugh at yourself, right?

Until Greta realises she’s the only one not laughing. And deep down, she’s not sure if she’ll ever laugh again.

But with her world feeling like it’s falling down around her, Greta is about to discover she’s stronger than she feels. And that sometimes the best moments in life come when it’s all gone a bit pear-shaped…

About Carmel

International bestseller Carmel Harrington lives in Wexford with her family & rescue dog. Carmel writes domestic dramas filled with emotional reveals and twists. Her trademark is to write authentic, relatable characters that readers can root for, and has been described as a ‘storyteller with heart, hope and humour.’ (RTE Culture)

A confessed wearer-of-heart-on-her-sleeve, Carmel smiles a lot because life is good. She knowingly overuses the word lovely. Speaking of which, she calls it chasing the lovely when she writes. A few of her favourite things include rainbows, good coffee and gin, notions – all of them, lemon drizzle cake and books. Always books.

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My Review for the Unhoneymooners, written by Christina Lauren and read by Cynthia Farrell and Deacon Lee

Another audiobook listen for me; this time it was The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren, chosen as February’s read for one of my book clubs.

An easy listen, enemies-to-lovers romance, with two main characters who you can’t help but adore. Olive lacks in confidence, thinks the world is against her and can’t understand why Ethan, the best man at her sister’s wedding, hates her so much. Amy is Olive’s twin, and can’t see that the man she’s married is a prize knob. What will it take to show her just how disrespectful he actually is?

I loved that Amy paid for her entire wedding by entering, and winning competitions, from the disastrous catering to the incredible honeymoon in Hawaii which Amy never actually goes on!

The story was full of fun and humour, and listening to the audiobook probably made me fall in love with Hawaii even more so than if I had just read the book. The luxury hotel, picturesque setting and great characters definitely made this an enjoyable read.

Thank you to #bookstabritsbookclub for choosing The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren as February’s read/listen of the month.

About the Book

For two sworn enemies, anything can happen during the Hawaiian trip of a lifetime—even love—in this witty and swoonworthy romance from the New York Times bestselling duo who “hilariously depict modern dating” (Us Weekly) and authors of Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating and Roomies. 

Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything. Her identical twin sister Amy, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and she’s managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man.

Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.

Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of...lucky.

About Christina & Lauren

Yes, there are two of them! Christina (on the left) and Lauren (on the right).

Lauren

Lauren Billings (but everyone calls her Lo) received her doctorate in neuroscience from UC Irvine, and before she started living the dream as a full-time writer, spent her days researching neurodegeneration in ageing. She lives in California with two cuddly dogs, two less-cuddly teenagers, and one mountain biking, homebrewing scientist husband.

Christina

Christina Hobbs (but you’ll always hear Lo call her PQ) used to spend her days in a junior high counseling office surrounded by teenagers. These days you can find her at her desk, writing, or watching BTS videos. She lives in Utah with her husband and daughter, thinks she’s the luckiest person in the world to write books with her best friend, and is an unapologetic lover of boy bands and glitter.

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My Review for The Serpent and the Wings of Night, written by Carissa Broadbent and read by Amanda Leigh Cobb

'Human or vampire, the rules of survival are the same: never trust, never yield, and always – always – guard your heart'.

This gave me Fourth Wing/Iron Flame vibes, and I adored it right from the beginning. This isn’t something I’d have chosen myself, but it was a book club pick of the month for February, and I’m so glad Carissa Broadbent is now at the top of my ‘favourite authors’ list.

As the weather slowly starts to improve in the UK and I spend more time outside, I find myself listening to more and more audiobooks. I love that I can keep up with my TBR as well as lose myself in someone else’s life for a few hours while I’m outside.

Narrated by Amanda Leigh Cobb and full of energy, passion and excitement, this book had all the weirdness of Hunger Games, the fantasy of Harry Potter, plus so much more. Oraya was awesome, feisty and wasn’t taking any shit from anyone, and quite frankly Raihn was an ass and I couldn’t work out what was in it for him? Why he befriended Oraya and why he was going out of his way to help and protect her? There is so much more of this story to come and I can’t wait to buddy-read part two with some amazing people.

Thank you to #acrossthepondbookclub for choosing The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent as February’s read of the month.

About the Book

The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her. Her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself.

But winning won’t be easy amongst the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, Oraya is forced to make an alliance with a mysterious rival.

Everything about Raihn is dangerous. He is a ruthless vampire, an efficient killer, an enemy to her father’s crown… and her greatest competition. Yet, what terrifies Oraya most of all is that she finds herself oddly drawn to him.

But there’s no room for compassion in the Kejari. War for the House of Night brews, shattering everything that Oraya thought she knew about her home. And Raihn may understand her more than anyone – but their blossoming attraction could be her downfall, in a kingdom where nothing is more deadly than love.

About Carissa

Carissa has been freaking out teachers and parents with mercilessly grim tales since she was roughly nine years old. Since then, her stories have gotten (slightly) less depressing and (hopefully a lot?) more readable. Today, she writes fantasy novels with a heaping dose of badass ladies and a big pinch of romance. Her books include the Crowns of Nyaxia series, the War of Lost Hearts series, and hopefully many more to come!

She lives with her husband, one very well-behaved rabbit, one very poorly-behaved rabbit, and one perpetually sceptical cat in the extremely underrated state of Rhode Island. 

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My Review for A Fresh Start at Wagging Tails Dogs' Home by Sarah Hope

Anything with ‘wagging tails’ in the title has to be a good book, right? As soon as I saw the title, I knew I wanted to be included on the blog tour for A Fresh Start at Wagging Tails Dogs’ Home. This is the third book in the series and I haven’t read any of the others. This can be read as a standalone, and I wouldn’t hesitate to go back and read the others.

I loved most of the characters in the book. They’re warm and friendly, and I felt a part of their lives from the very beginning. I wanted cuddles from all the dogs that were staying in the dogs’ home and I loved the Nemo puppies the best!

To be honest, the human characters were just a sideline to the dogs who were one hundred per cent the stars of this book. I think you'll like this one if you love dogs, great characters and a warm and easy read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books and Rachel’s Random Resources for the opportunity to read and review A Fresh Start at Wagging Tails Dogs’ Home by Sarah Hope.

About the Book

There’s no place like home… Although dog trainer Sally is relatively new to Wagging Tails, the team she works with have quickly become her family and the dogs her friends.

But when Andy, the one that got away, turns up for a brief respite from the city, she is at a crossroads. As tempting as a life with him is, she loves her home of West Par, and anyway, she has responsibilities here.

Number one on that list is ensuring the dogs' home stays in business. A developer has been sniffing around wanting to buy the land, and the team is worried.

Sally will do anything to save her home and her friends’ livelihoods but the lure of reuniting with her lost love is strong. Is there a way for her to have both?

About Sarah

Sarah has been dreaming up stories ever since she was a child. She remembers many a family stroll when she’d daydream up her next story adventure. 

As an adult, she prefers to write romance novels and novellas with a Happy Ever After ending. She has two main romance series, the Escape To... series that focuses on single mums taking a chance and fulfilling their career dreams as well as finding love, and The Cornish Bakery series, that follows a busy bakery in a beautiful fictional bay in Cornwall. 

Sarah Hope lives in Central England with her two children and an array of pets and enjoys escaping to the seaside at any opportunity. 

She has also written some women’s fiction books.

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My Review for Kilt Trip by Alexandra Kiley

When Alexandra Kiley asked readers to express their interest in her book, Kilt Trip, I jumped at the chance. After all, who doesn’t love the wilderness of Scotland and a Highland Coo?!

An enemies-to-lovers romance, Addie and Logan have that spark from the offset, you know the one? Everything that a certain person is doing annoys you, but you can’t get enough, and your entire day consists of that back-and-forth banter that results in the desire just getting stronger, despite your head protesting!

The author immerses you into the heart of Scotland itself, with its many castles, stunning scenery and oh-so-much history. The more I read, the closer I could feel myself becoming to Logan, Addie, and Elyse. Elyse was kind and funny and but I think she’d make a good friend!

With Outlander vibes, amazing descriptive writing and warming characters, I’d one hundred per cent recommend adding Kilt Trip to your reading list for this summer.

Thank you to NetGalley, Alexandra Kiley and her publishers for the opportunity to read and review Kilt Trip.

About the book

Ready or Scot...

Globetrotter Addie Macrae always follows her wanderlust. As a travel consultant, she jet sets around the world—anywhere but Scotland. But when she’s sent on assignment to help a struggling family-run tour company in the Highlands—and save her own job—Addie packs away her emotional baggage and turns on the professional charm. 

Rugged as the land he loves, Logan Sutherland’s greatest joy is sharing the beauty of Scotland’s hidden gems…even if it means a wee bit of red ink on the company’s bottom line. The last thing Logan wants is some American “expert” pushing tourist traps and perpetuating myths about the Loch Ness Monster—especially when Addie never leaves her desk to experience the country for herself. 

As they wage an office war, Logan discovers Addie’s secret connection to Scotland: a handful of faded Polaroids of her late mother. Hoping for a truce, he creates a private tour to the places in the pictures to help Addie find closure and appreciate the enchantment in less-traveled destinations, never expecting the off-limits attraction sparking between them. But Addie’s contract is almost up, and magic won’t pay the bills. They can’t afford distractions, but how can Addie do her job if she hasn’t explored all Scotland—and Logan—have to offer?

About Alex

Alexandra Kiley writes big-hearted romances full of banter, found-family, and deep love. When she’s not writing, you can find her drinking tea, hiking, or gazing adoringly at the mountains of Colorado where she lives with her husband and two kids. Her novels are inspired by her semester in Scotland where she fell in love with not only the lush and magical land, but also the people who invited her into their homes and made her feel like family.

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