Monday, February 24, 2025

My Review for The Cinnamon Bun Book Store by Laurie Gilmore

February 24, 2025  , , , , , ,  No comments



I'm so pleased I discovered the Dream Harbor series - if you haven't read it - make this the year you do!

OMG this was so cute and so gorgeous and all the things that I'd love a man to do for me - I've been married for 23 years, so that isn't going to happen now! But never mind, it's so sweet, I'll just have to be content living through Hazel and throwing myself into the bookish treasure hunt with her. 

I'm not sure about the defacing of books, but I'll forgive it for the sake of the gorgeous story and the gorgeous Noah and the beautiful romance that is inevitable as Hazel and Noah hook-up for the summer, but is it only for the summer...?

I liked The Pumpkin Spice Café, but I adored The Cinnamon Bun Book Store. I've read The Christmas Tree Farm too, and I'll post my review for that one soon!

Thank you to my Laurie Gilmore friends for including me in the chat and introducing me to her books.

About the Book

When a secret message turns up hidden in a book in the Cinnamon Bun Bookstore, Hazel can't understand it. As more secret codes appear between the pages, she decides to follow the trail of clues… she just need someone to help her out.

Gorgeous and outgoing fisherman, Noah, is always up for an adventure. And a scavenger hunt sounds like a lot of fun. Even better that the cute bookseller he's been crushing on for months is the one who wants his help!

Hazel didn’t go looking for romance, but as the treasure hunt leads her and Noah around Dream Harbor, their undeniable chemistry might be just as hot as the fresh-out-of-the-oven cinnamon buns the bookstore sells…



About Laurie/Melissa

As Melissa McTernan, I write sweet and steamy fantasy/paranormal romance. I love grumpy heroes, sarcastic heroines, and grown-up fairy tales. I am currently working on The Wolf Brother’s series for One More Chapter (a HarperCollins UK imprint). The trilogy follows three werewolf brothers and their (maybe if they don’t screw it up) Mates.

As Laurie Gilmore (my pen name), I write steamy small-town romance. My Dream Harbor series is filled with quirky townsfolk, cozy settings, and swoon-worthy romance. I love finding books with the perfect balance of sweetness and spice and strive for that in my own writing. If you ever wished you lived in Stars Hollow (or that Luke and Lorelai would just get together already!) then these books are definitely for you.

When I’m not writing, I’m most likely reading or wrangling my kids as a stay-at-home mom. I live in upstate New York with my husband, kids, cats, puppy, and full bookshelves. I write romance to keep my sanity.




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My Review for Summer Secrets at Duck Pond Cottage by Della Galton

February 24, 2025  , , , , , , ,  1 comment


A rescue centre, jam-packed with animals - what's not to love?!

Mr Spock the parrot is back! I first remember him from one of Della's previous books, and he's still as naughty and hilarious as he was then, but now he's moved into the rescue centre and there are lots of people available to teach him new words!

Summer Secrets at Duck Pond Cottage is the second in the series about Jade's rescue centre and all the animals that she loves, cares for and rehomes. It's full of cuteness, with puppies, foxes, wedding plans and kids and easily a book that you could devour on a rainy afternoon while you're waiting for the sun to make an appearance (I'm still waiting)!

This can be easily read as a standalone book, but I'd recommend reading the first in the series to begin with, just because it's another great read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books and Rachel's Random Resources for the opportunity to read and review Summer Secrets at Duck Pond Cottage.



About the Book

Can love conquer all?

Jade and Finn are idyllically happy in their little corner of rural Wiltshire. A rescue centre jampacked with animals keeps them super busy. With Finn’s art going from strength to strength, Jade can’t believe they’re living the dream until an arrogant property developer with questionable motives jeopardises their perfect lives and the future plans of the rescue centre.

Jade and Finn both have trust issues and they’ve promised there’ll be no more secrets. But keeping promises is harder than either of them imagined, especially where Finn’s past is concerned.

Living with Mr Spock the potty-mouthed parrot and Mickey the dog who barks at TV baddies there's never a dull moment at Duck Pond Rescue. But will the humans get their ‘happy-ever-after’ too?

Can they lay the ghosts of the past to rest and find a bright new future together?



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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Thursday, February 20, 2025

My Review for Happy Place by Emily Henry, read by Julia Whelan

February 20, 2025  , , , , , , , ,  No comments



How have I not read an Emily Henry book before?! 

This is my first venture into Emily's stories, and it won't be my last. I especially loved listening to the audiobook and was drawn into the friends lives, hook, line and sinker. The story flits between when the friends all first met, the following years, and the present day. It was great to hear how they all got together, and of course what they're all doing now. 

Emily writes about the importance of friendship, but also how people can and do drift apart as life continues for them all in different directions and the difficulties that can occur whilst trying to maintain the relationships. I liked Harriet, but I loved Wyn, he's insecure and constantly putting himself down, together they make a magical couple - if only they could see that. 

I can't relate to meeting up with old friends once a year, because a) I'm not in touch with any friends from my dim and distant past and b) I can't think of anything worse haha! Sociable I'm not!

Thank you to #BookstaBritsBookClub for choosing Happy Place as February's book to read.

About the Book


Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t.

They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.

Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week…in front of those who know you best?


About Emily

Emily Henry is the #1 New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Happy Place, Book Lovers, People We Meet on Vacation, and Beach Read. She studied creative writing at Hope College, and now spends most of her time in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the part of Kentucky just beneath it. Find her on Instagram @EmilyHenryWrites.

 





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Monday, February 17, 2025

My Review for Love & Misdirection by Mari Jane Law

February 17, 2025  , , , , , , ,  No comments



Loved it! I've enjoyed all Mari Jane's books, but this one has just become my favourite. If you like a good rom-com then you need to read this series!

Harmony and James are an incredible couple - well, not a couple at the beginning, but you'll soon work out where it's going! There wasn't a thing I didn't enjoy about this book. Tim was adorable, Saskia was hilarious, James was a sweetie and Harmony just didn't want to upset anyone. There was heartbreak and some difficult decisions to be made, but with the love and support from friends (and sometimes family), everything in Love & Misdirection slots nicely into place as the story progresses. Mari Jane Law intertwines several difficult subjects into the storyline, and it works well as we get to know all the new characters, as well as catch up with old friends. I laughed out loud at parts and my heart was breaking in others, but I loved it a lot. 

Each of Mari Jane's books can be read as a standalone, but if you start at the beginning, you'll be introduced to the characters and their lives from the start, rather than then appearing randomly in the middle of the story. 

Thank you to Mari Jane Law and Rachel's Random Resources for the opportunity to read and review Love & Misdirection.




About the Book

Two people. Two personal tragedies. Can an outrageous lie bring them together?

Harmony Payne is at breaking point. She’s survived being dumped, losing her musical career and a lifesaving operation that rendered her childless. But when she discovers an abandoned newborn, the door to her agonising past re-opens. Hope and longing for motherhood grow—but can she keep the baby? Being engaged might increase her chances of adopting the foundling, but the only eligible man she knows is her judgemental new neighbour…

James Traffurth is still grieving for his wife and younger child. Moving into a cottage opposite the children’s home where Harmony lives and works, the fresh start he wishes for with his wayward older son becomes complicated. The last thing James needs is a fake engagement. Yet...

Life is never simple with troubled youngsters, a clueless employee and mums with adorable babies. While Harmony’s yearning to build a family, James is valiantly trying to rescue what’s left of his.

Will Harmony ever become a mother—and will she and James find happiness together?



About Mari Jane

Mari Jane Law lives in the UK and loves cats and chocolate – and books, TV series and films that make her laugh, preferably while making an emotional connection.

Her Catholic upbringing inspired some great fictional characters – whether Catholic or not – helping her to write humorous stories with protagonists readers could engage with, root for and follow to a satisfying conclusion. Having read many romances, Mari wanted to write off the beaten track and, if using a trope, develop it very differently from how it has been executed before in her reading, bringing freshness to her writing, surprising and delighting romance lovers.

There is a new romance in each title of the Love & Mishaps Quirky Romantic Comedy Standalone Series, and the world in which the characters live remains the same. As sub-plots run throughout the series, reading the books in order will maximise enjoyment. 

She hopes those who buy or borrow her work have as much fun reading it as she had in writing it.

She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s New Writers’ Scheme and The Society of Authors.





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Thursday, February 13, 2025

My Review for Love in the Cupboard by Mari Jane Law

February 13, 2025  , , , , , , , ,  No comments


Hope sleeps in a hearse - but this is a romantic comedy though, so don't be alarmed! 

The storyline of a Catholic priest, (who doesn't want to be a Catholic priest any more), and his new life, as a sacramental photographer is hilarious, as he tries to wend his way through life 'on the outside'. His naivety, and the sheltered life he's led, away from the real world, make for an unconventional read. But who wouldn't want to meet the future love of their life in a cupboard?!!! It would be a funny story to tell the grandkids. 

If you enjoy the miscommunication trope, then this is definitely a book for you. I think every relationship in here lacks communication at one point or another, and many a time I wanted to bang their heads together! However, as expected, everything has its 'happy ever after', and I dare you to try not to laugh out loud, at least a few times, as you're reading. 

I found this to be a quirky and fun book in the next in Mari Jane Law's Love and Mishaps series. It can definitely be read as a standalone, but you'll have more of an idea who the characters are if you read Love & Pollination first. I'm thinking that Miranda will be our protagonist in the next in the series??

Thank you to Mari Jane Law and Rachel's Random Resources for the opportunity to read and review Love in the Cupboard.


About the Book

A Catholic priest seeks a wife. A betrayed woman needs an honest man. What could possibly go wrong?

When Father Thomas Sheridan encounters Faith in a dark cupboard, he believes he’s found his future wife. But Tom isn’t brave enough to tell her the truth...

When Faith meets Tom in the office kitchenette, she can’t stand him. No matter, she’s fallen for the mysterious man she met in the cupboard and can’t wait to meet him again. Oh, and she’s got a new rule: one lie and he’s out. She’s not getting duped again.

But everyone loves Tom. From Perdita, Faith’s friend, to Hope, her chronically ill sister—who’s on the lookout for a man herself. And neighbours Luke and Gavin—who’ve fallen out over Luke wanting a baby. They urge Faith to give Tom a chance. But how can she have strong feelings for two men? And even worse, how will she react when she discovers that Tom is the man in the cupboard—and, heaven forbid, a Catholic priest?

Love in the Cupboard: A charming, sweet, quirky, farcical, hilarious, enemies to lovers, forbidden love, contemporary romance set in Bristol, UK. It is the second in the series but can be read as a standalone novel.


About Mari Jane

Mari Jane Law lives in the UK and loves cats and chocolate – and books, TV series and films that make her laugh, preferably while making an emotional connection.

Her Catholic upbringing inspired some great fictional characters – whether Catholic or not – helping her to write humorous stories with protagonists readers could engage with, root for and follow to a satisfying conclusion. Having read many romances, Mari wanted to write off the beaten track and, if using a trope, develop it very differently from how it has been executed before in her reading, bringing freshness to her writing, surprising and delighting romance lovers.

There is a new romance in each title of the Love & Mishaps Quirky Romantic Comedy Standalone Series, and the world in which the characters live remains the same. As sub-plots run throughout the series, reading the books in order will maximise enjoyment. 

She hopes those who buy or borrow her work have as much fun reading it as she had in writing it.

She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s New Writers’ Scheme and The Society of Authors.

















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Wednesday, February 12, 2025

My Review for The Color Purple by Alice Walker, read by Alice Walker

February 12, 2025  , , , , ,  No comments



The Color Purple is one of the most amazing, heart-breaking, and powerful novels I have ever listened to.

Chosen as February's book for our #classiclitbookclub, I did start to read the physical book, but the language was difficult, and I soon opted for the audiobook version, read by the author. This is the way I would 100% recommend anyone who isn't au fait with the African American vernacular English, broach the novel, as it will make a lot more sense and adds to the authenticity of the entire story. 

I especially loved the strength and tenacity of the female characters, as they grew in age, and confidence, eventually standing up to their male counterparts and becoming forces to be reckoned with, in their own right. 

The entire book is written as letters, initially from Celie to God and then from the sisters, Celie to Nettie and vice versa. I cannot express how much I enjoyed listening to this, and I will definitely be revisiting it, and I will probably be giving the physical book another try.

About the Book

The Color Purple is a classic. With over a million copies sold in the UK alone, it is hailed as one of the all-time 'greats' of literature, inspiring generations of readers.

Set in the deep American South between the wars, it is the tale of Celie, a young black girl born into poverty and segregation. Raped repeatedly by the man she calls 'father', she has two children taken away from her, is separated from her beloved sister Nettie and is trapped into an ugly marriage. But then she meets the glamorous Shug Avery, singer and magic-maker - a woman who has taken charge of her own destiny. Gradually, Celie discovers the power and joy of her own spirit, freeing her from her past and reuniting her with those she loves.

About Alice

Alice Walker (born February 9, 1944, Eatonton, Georgia, U.S.) is an American writer whose novels, short stories, and poems are noted for their insightful treatment of African American culture. Her novels, most notably The Color Purple (1982), focus particularly on women.

Walker was the eighth child of African American sharecroppers. While growing up she was accidentally blinded in one eye, and her mother gave her a typewriter, allowing her to write instead of doing chores. In an interview with The New York Times in 1983, Walker described her parents as “both storytellers. They always spoke with metaphorical richness.” When she was eight years old, Walker was sent to live with her grandparents for a year in rural Georgia. In a TimesTalk interview in 2015, she remembered them both as “so kind, so giving,” but they had had a turbulent past caused by her grandfather’s alcohol use. Her grandfather eventually recovered from alcoholism and changed his life for the better. (During her TimesTalk interview Walker said that this experience led her to wonder “how could people who were so wonderful, when I knew them, be terrible when I didn’t know them?” Her wondering led her to write The Color Purple, because she “had to show what happened to them and why they were like that,” describing the experience of writing the novel as a form of “reclamation.”).

Walker received a scholarship to attend Spelman College, where she studied for two years before transferring to Sarah Lawrence College. After graduating in 1965, Walker moved to Mississippi and became involved in the civil rights movement. She also began teaching and publishing short stories and essays. She married Melvyn Rosenman Leventhal, a white Jewish civil rights attorney, in New York City in 1967, after which they moved to Mississippi, becoming the state’s first legally married interracialcouple. In her introduction to a collection of her journals, Gathering Blossoms Under Fire (2022), Walker wrote: “There was a long tradition of white men having Black mistresses in the South. That was not going to be my path. So I proposed to Mel, and he happily obliged. Apart from our love, it was important politically for us to be legally married.” They had one daughter, the writer and feminist activist Rebecca Walker, but their life in Mississippi was isolating and lonely, as Walker recorded in her journals. The family was subject to threats from the Ku Klux Klan, and Leventhal was often away working on legal cases involving civil rights throughout the state. The couple divorced in 1976.



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Tuesday, February 11, 2025

My Review for Love & Pollination by Mari Jane Law (February 2025)

February 11, 2025  , , , , , ,  No comments


It isn't very often that I re-read a book, however when the opportunity arose for me to read the next two books which Mari Jane Law has written, I just had to go back and re-read her first book which I remembered absolutely loving!

Love & Pollination is brilliant. The story is funny, the characters are hilarious, Perdita is quirky and adorable, and in her own, neurodivergent way she creates a whole new set of words for human reproduction, including 'pollination' for pregnancy! I'm sorry Mari Jane Law, but the 'uprooting' reference reminded me of the mandrakes in Professor Sprout's greenhouse - probably not the image you were going for!

With a lot of miscommunication, and men who just don't listen, a few busybody villagers and an adorable interfering aunt, if you're in the mood for an uplifting comedy with a massive dose of romance, then I highly recommend this one. I can't wait to start the next book.

Thank you to Mari Jane Law and Rachel's Random Resources for the opportunity to read and review Love & Pollination.



About the Book

Perdita Riley is facing the greatest dilemma of her life. 

Why had she taken Violet Freestone's advice on how to make herself look more alluring? It led her into the arms of a womaniser. And now Perdita has to deal with a huge setback. Actually, Setback Number One isn't huge yet, but it won't be long before it is. To cheer herself up, Perdita goes shopping, where an extraordinary encounter deposits her, literally, into the lap of Saul Hadley. She would like to stay there, but Setback Number One is going to get in the way.

Will she find a way to deal with what has happened? Can she manage the complications of her growing attraction to Saul?

This hilarious situational romantic comedy will keep you gripped until the very end.


About Mari Jane

Mari Jane Law lives in the UK and loves cats and chocolate – and books, TV series and films that make her laugh, preferably while making an emotional connection.

Her Catholic upbringing inspired some great fictional characters – whether Catholic or not – helping her to write humorous stories with protagonists readers could engage with, root for and follow to a satisfying conclusion. Having read many romances, Mari wanted to write off the beaten track and, if using a trope, develop it very differently from how it has been executed before in her reading, bringing freshness to her writing, surprising and delighting romance lovers.

There is a new romance in each title of the Love & Mishaps Quirky Romantic Comedy Standalone Series, and the world in which the characters live remains the same. As sub-plots run throughout the series, reading the books in order will maximise enjoyment. 

She hopes those who buy or borrow her work have as much fun reading it as she had in writing it.

She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s New Writers’ Scheme and The Society of Authors.




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