Tuesday, July 9, 2024

My Review for Blue Skies Over Wildflower Lock by Hannah Lynn

July 09, 2024  , , , ,  No comments


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 growing.

Not one to sit and wallow, Daisy takes matters into her own hands. Who said long-distance relationships can’t work?

With the help of trusted friend Yvonne, Daisy takes the September Rose on a round trip to surprise her new boyfriend. The best thing about a home on the water? You can go anywhere!

But perhaps leaving the serenity of Wildflower Lock wasn’t the best idea. Daisy hates keeping secrets from Theo, and she’s not the only one…

About Hannah

Hannah Lynn is a multi award winning novelist. Publishing her first book, Amendments – a dark, dystopian speculative fiction novel, in 2015. Her second book, The Afterlife of Walter Augustus – a contemporary fiction novel with a supernatural twist – went on to win the 2018 Kindle Storyteller Award and the Independent Publishers Gold Medal for Best Adult Ebook.

Born in 1984, Hannah grew up in the Cotswolds, UK. After graduating from university, she spent 15 years as a teacher of physics, first in the UK and then Thailand, Malaysia, Austria and Jordan. It was during this time, inspired by the imaginations of the young people she taught, she began writing short stories for children, and later adult fiction. 

​Now settled back in the UK with her husband, daughter and horde of cats, she spends her days writing romantic comedies and historical fiction. Her first historical fiction novel, Athena's Child, was also a 2020 Gold Medalist at the Independent Publishers Awards.





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Thursday, July 4, 2024

My Review for Happy Ever After at Puddleduck Farm by Della Galton

July 04, 2024  , , , , ,  2 comments



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 envisions a picturesque life alongside her beloved fiancé. However, the course of true love is fraught with unexpected hurdles.

Career wise, Phoebe encounters a goat who is seemingly experiencing a phantom pregnancy, and a highly-strung talking parrot who pushes her professionalism to the limits.

Things take an unexpected turn for the worse when Phoebe is confronted with a glamorous love rival, and a surprise Valentine's Day ‘date’ to see a financial advisor! Can things get any worse?

When tragedy strikes Phoebe realises that nothing in life should be taken for granted and fears she will lose everything she holds dear.

Whilst her friends find their own happy endings, Phoebe is beset with doubts that she and Sam will ever find theirs. Is love enough to carry them into the future they deserve?


About Della 

Della Galton (aka Della Parker) writes novels set in Dorset, featuring quirky characters and very often a dog or two. She's had more than 2000 short stories published and she's run out of fingers to count her books on | .

She is a popular speaker at writing conventions and the agony aunt for Writers' Forum Magazine.

When she is not writing she enjoys walking her dogs around the beautiful Dorset countryside and beaches.
















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Wednesday, July 3, 2024

My Review for The Butterfly Garden by Rachel Burton

July 03, 2024  , ,  No comments


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 knows the scandal she’ll cause. A single woman buying property is not the ‘done thing’, especially not in a village like Carybrook. But Clara has been in love with Butterfly Cottage, and its garden, since she used to play there before the War. And when she reconnects with her childhood friend James, her decision feels serendipitous. But the true scandal is yet to come, because within six months, Clara will leave England under mysterious circumstances, and Butterfly Cottage will stand empty for more than 50 years.

2018: No one is more surprised than Meredith when she’s bequeathed a cottage by a great aunt she’d never heard of. She hopes, briefly, that the inheritance could be the answer to her financial problems. But when she arrives in Suffolk, she is shocked to discover a man is already living there. A young gardener, who claims he was also bequeathed half of Butterfly Cottage.

As the pair try to unravel their complicated situation, they unearth a decades old mystery involving Clara, the garden, and a stack of letters left unread for over 50 years…


About Rachel

Rachel Burton is the bestselling author of historical timeslip novels and has previously written romantic comedies.

Rachel was born in Cambridge and grew up in a house full of books and records. She has read obsessively since she first realised those black squiggles on the pages that lined her parents’ bookshelves were actually words and it has gone down in family history that any time something interesting happened, she missed it because she had her nose in a book.

After reading for a degree in Classics and another in English Literature she accidentally fell into a career in law but her love of books prevailed as she realised that she wanted to slip into imaginary worlds of her own making. She eventually managed to write her first novel on her lunch breaks.

She is obsessed with old houses and the secrets they keep, with abandoned gardens and locked gates, with family histories and surprising revelations, and with the outcomes of those surprises many generations later.

She lives in Yorkshire with her husband, a variety of cats and far too many books. By writing novels she now has an excuse for her head being forever in the clouds.




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Tuesday, July 2, 2024

My Review for Courage for the Clarks Factory Girls by May Ellis

July 02, 2024  , , , , , ,  No comments


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. 

Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books and Rachel’s Random Resources for the opportunity to read and review Courage for the Clarks Factory Girls by May Ellis.


About the Book

1915: As war continues to rage across the Channel, the families of the Somerset village of Street can no longer avoid its long shadow.

Workers in the Clarks shoe factory, at the heart of the village, have left for the army in droves, and news from the Front seems to grow darker by the day.

When life-long friends Louisa, Jeannie and Kate receive the news they had been fearing, all hope seems lost. And Louisa’s world will be rocked further when she makes another discovery, one that will see her cast out by her family, changing her life forever.

Kate and Jeannie are determined to be strong for their friend, but each of them has their own problems to bear, and when Jeannie’s beloved brother Lucas enlists, she fears history is about to repeat itself.

Can the Clarks factory girls help each other through the darkest days and keep hope alive?

About May

May Ellis has been a legal executive, registered childminder, professional fund – raiser and a teacher. She has travelled the world, including trekking in mountains, deserts and the Great Wall of China, as well as helping build a house in Thailand. She went to university in her forties and gained a first class degree and an MA while still working full – time. Her first book, a contemporary romance, was published in 2014. Since then she has had five more novels published, including another romance and a YA time travel adventure. The last three are gritty dramas set in the 1960s/70s published by Darkstroke Books. She lives in Somerset, within sight of Glastonbury Tor, volunteering at her local library and for the Alfred Gillett Trust (custodians of the Clark’s archives). Her current series, based on the factory workers at Clark’s Shoes was inspired by her move to the area and her love of social history.
















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My Review for The Clarks Factory Girls at War by May Ellis

July 02, 2024  , , , , , ,  No comments


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 enjoyed reading about the Quakers and how their beliefs differed from those of their neighbours. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the opportunity to read and review The Clarks Factory Girls at War by May Ellis.

About the Book

Can love blossom in times of trouble?

Life-long friends Louisa, Jeannie and Kate are following in the footsteps of their families, working at the Clarks shoe factory.

But when Britain declares war on Germany, the Somerset village of Street is shaken to its core. The Clarks factory is at the heart of life in the village, but the Clark family are Quakers and pacifists. Before long, there are fierce debates amongst the workers and tensions between those who oppose the war and those who believe the village men should go to fight.

Each of the girls must decide her own position but as brothers and sweethearts leave for France, Louisa is relieved that her beloved Mattie, a Quaker, won’t be signing up. But she’ll soon find that they face fierce opposition at home as well as across the Channel.

Will the girls’ friendship be enough to keep them together, as everything around them falls apart?

About May

May Ellis has been a legal executive, registered childminder, professional fund – raiser and a teacher. She has travelled the world, including trekking in mountains, deserts and the Great Wall of China, as well as helping build a house in Thailand. She went to university in her forties and gained a first class degree and an MA while still working full – time. Her first book, a contemporary romance, was published in 2014. Since then she has had five more novels published, including another romance and a YA time travel adventure. The last three are gritty dramas set in the 1960s/70s published by Darkstroke Books. She lives in Somerset, within sight of Glastonbury Tor, volunteering at her local library and for the Alfred Gillett Trust (custodians of the Clark’s archives). Her current series, based on the factory workers at Clark’s Shoes was inspired by her move to the area and her love of social history.




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Saturday, June 22, 2024

My Review for The Plot Twist by Victoria Walters

June 22, 2024  , , , , ,  No comments



I loved this. It is a book written about people who love books, huge bookshelves, publishers, authors and best of all, a book that mentions us, reviewers and how much we love the acknowledgement we get when someone wants us to read a copy of their book first!

Stevie is brilliant. She’s independent, knows what she wants and is pretty determined she isn’t going to take any shit from anyone, particularly not a man who walked away from her five years ago! I loved her so much. She has amazing friends, an addiction to Starbucks coffee, a cute flat and supportive parents. 

Other than knowing the genre, I rarely read a book description because I’d rather go in blind than risk even a hint of a spoiler. The Plot Twist was no different, so it wasn’t until the blurb at the back that I realised the book I’d read in February (The Love Interest) was sort of the first in this series/duology and The Plot Twist focused on one of the other characters! 

I cannot recommend this book enough. Romance books aren’t just for women, you do know that right? If you’re a man who also enjoys lovey-dovey movies and doesn’t mind a good cry now and then, why not try reading a romance book? You might be surprised - there might even be something in there to heighten your interest if you give it a try! Nudge, nudge, wink, wink!

Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books and Rachel’s Random Resources for the opportunity to read and review The Plot Twist by Victoria Walters.



 About the Book

One new boss, one ex-boyfriend, one big dilemma…

Stevie Phillips has just landed her dream job working for a publishing company and it seems like this is page one of her new, improved life.

But her first day throws more curveballs than she thinks she can there’s been a takeover and the whole publicity team has been fired. And her new boss is the last face she expected to see.

Because Noah Anderson also happens to be her ex-boyfriend.

Thrown together on a campaign for a book the rest of the staff don’t want to touch with a barge-pole, Stevie resolves to make the best of a bad situation. This is her chance to prove herself, and she’s not going to let the man who broke her heart ruin it for her.

When Noah starts hinting that there was more to their break up then him just not loving her, Stevie’s resolution starts to wobble. Getting back with your ex is never a good idea, is it? Especially not when your ex is also your boss…



About Victoria

Victoria Walters is the author of both cosy crime and romantic novels, including the bestselling Glendale Hall series. She has been chosen for WHSmith Fresh Talent, shortlisted for two RNA novels and was picked as an Amazon Rising Star. Previously published by Hera, she is now writing romantic comedies for Boldwood.




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Tuesday, June 18, 2024

My Review for Tangled Power by Jillian Witt

June 18, 2024  , , , ,  No comments



Tangled Power is the second book in the Compass Points series, and we return to Compass Lake. This time around we meet Juliette who is the Osten Point and Carter, the Vesten Point. Along with Luc and Rose who we got to know in the first book (Suden Point and Norden Point respectively). Together they are on a mission to find and defeat one of the Gods and they must pool their power and weapons in order to do this. Can they all put aside their differences to achieve the ultimate goal? Get yourself a copy of Tangled Power right now, and find out!

Thank you to Jillian Witt and Literary Media Tours for the opportunity to listen to and review Tangled Power.



About the Book

“Technically, the continent is doomed if you can’t figure out how to work together…the good news is there’s no way for the Compass Points to trust each other less than they currently do.”
-- Arie

Before the Compass Points can confront a god, Rose will unite them the only way she knows how: through their magic.

To forge her weapons is to know the heart of the wielder. Uncovering the secrets that have plagued the fae courts longer than the mist will not be an easy task. But it may be simpler than predicting how her magic entwines with the Suden Point’s unprecedented power—and the growing bond between them.



About Jillian

Jillian Witt reads more romantic fantasy than is strictly necessary and writes books she would love to read. Her stories unleash powerful women into fantasy worlds, usually turn enemies into lovers, and always offer an escape from reality.

When not reading or writing, she’s enjoying all four seasons in Michigan with her partner and their dog, Loki.




























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