My Review for The Joy of Exploring Gardens from Lonely Planet

Immerse yourself in the most gorgeous gardens in the world. 

This is such a gorgeous book, full of beautiful pictures from amazing gardens, all over the world. I'd love to visit even just a fraction of these. We love a road trip, so maybe now I will need to persuade my husband that a garden needs to be incorporated into each vacation! The book also includes lots of ideas for you to travel and enjoy outdoor spaces. A great coffee table book that will definitely give your guests something to talk about!

Thank you to Sabrina Dax and Lonely Plant for the gifted copy of The Joy of Exploring Gardens.

About the Book

Discover 60 of the world's most spectacular gardens plus 120 travel ideas to ignite a love of outdoor spaces. Featuring the history of every botanical gem, beautiful photography and trip planning tips, this uplifting book explores the restorative effects of flora and fauna, and the joy to be experienced from each of the inspiring gardens inside it.

Walk spellbinding nature trails at the Desert Botanical Garden in Arizona, US; wander the stone paths of Japan's infamous Kenroku-en Garden; or steal away to a subtropical retreat just off the coast from Glengarriff, Ireland. In-depth garden profiles, Q&As with experts, and personal accounts from writers who have experienced the magic of each destination accompany the mesmerising gardens inside this book, so that you can learn just why each idyllic sanctuary is so joyful.

Inside The Joy of Exploring Gardens

🪴 60 in-depth profiles of gardens illustrated with beautiful photography; a Q&A section where you can read the insights and thoughts from an expert closely linked to the garden; and first-hand accounts from writers who have visited each outdoor space

🪴 120 extra must-visit garden destinations from all over the world

🪴 At-a-glance reasons to go that offer a glimpse into what you can expect to find in each garden from water features to rainforest walks; city views to upcycled sculptures

🪴 Accessibility awareness including an overview of the path and ground conditions and the availability of accessible toilets and other amenities for visitors with disabilities and mobility issues

🪴 In the know tips to help you get there including local transport, when to go, what to take with you, must-do activities, and experiences not to be missed

🪴 Covers global garden destinations including Africa & the Middle East, Americas, Asia, Europe, Oceania

🪴 Foreword by Lyanda Lynn Haupt, author, naturalist, ecophilosopher, and speaker. Her latest book is Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit.

Do more of what you love with our uplifting Joy of series and nurture your biggest passions. The Joy of Exploring Gardens is the ultimate gift book for the horticulturist in your life or a wonderful treat to inspire your next joyful garden adventure to a paradisiacal wonder or secret botanical gem.

About Lonely Planet

Lonely Planet, a Red Ventures Company, is the world's number one travel guidebook brand. Providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973, Lonely Planet reaches hundreds of millions of travellers each year online and in print and helps them unlock amazing experiences. 

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My Review for A Song Of Silence by Steve N. Lee

'For those they took, whose names we'll never know because no one was left to remember them'.

Once again, Steve N. Lee has bowled me over with this WWII historical fiction novel. It is set in Poland at the beginning of the war, in an orphanage run by Mirek, a published author, and Baba Hanka, a grandmotherly figure who I adored. He was a miracle worker in the kitchen. She made edible meals out of plants and herbs that had been foraged in the forest.

Mirek was an incredible strength to the kids he was looking after, and even when things were looking bad, he pulled on his positive mask and attempted to turn things into a game, so the kids wouldn't be scared.

This is a book, based on true events, about WWII so of course it's heartbreaking, hearing about yet more unspeakable events which took place and how horrific people were treated. But everyone should be aware of just how bad things were for hundreds of thousands of people and how heartless the people who carried out these monstrous acts.

'It isn't only the love we've lost that makes it hurt so much, it's the love we'll never get to give'.

Thank you to Steve N. Lee for the opportunity to read and review A Song of Silence.

About the Book

War thrust them together. Love will tear them apart.

Inspired by a true story...

When the Nazis invade a sleepy Polish town in 1939, Mirek Kozlowski swears to keep everyone in his orphanage safe at all costs. However, despite his struggles and sacrifices, the war drags him and his children deeper and deeper into its violent nightmare.

With 89 children looking to him for hope, Mirek must do whatever it takes to protect them — no matter how criminal, distasteful, or perilous it may be.

And just when he thinks things can’t get any worse, the arrival of a sadistic SS captain brings unspeakable atrocities to his town — and surprisingly, a glimmer of hope for Mirek to save all those he cares about if only he has the courage to grasp it…

A story of love, bravery, and compassion, A Song of Silence explores history’s darkest hour and how, even in the face of overwhelming evil, one man can become a dazzling beacon of light.

Discover what it means to be human. Discover A Song of Silence.

About Steve

Steve has three passions: anti-heroes, animals, and travel. To date, he's visited 60 countries and has adopted five homeless cats, but he's yet to prowl the streets in the dead of night to beat up bad guys (though he still daydreams about doing so, but who doesn't?).

In pursuit of adventure, he's cage-dived with great white sharks, sparred with a monk at a Shaolin temple, and explored exotic locales such as Machu Picchu, Pompeii, and the Great Wall of China.

Fortunately, his passions fuel his fiction. He loves to pepper his action-packed thrillers with the exotic places he's explored and the unusual encounters he's experienced, while his dog stories glow with the love and companionship that will warm the heart of any animal lover.

More recently, while on his travels, Steve came across two true stories from the Holocaust which moved him so deeply, he has based two novels on them.

He lives in the North of England with his partner, Ania, the great-great-great niece of the 1924 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and two stray black cats who visited their garden one day and liked it so much, they moved into the house. Luckily, they graciously allowed Steve and Ania to carry on living there, even allowing Steve to continue paying the mortgage to give him a sense of purpose.

If you love stories of four-legged heroes, tales from histories darkest hour, or books with pulse-pounding action, you'll love Steve's three series. He wrote them for book lovers just like you!

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My Review for Unbound by Shadows by Avalon Griffin, read by Aileen Bishop

Transported to another world, tempted by a dangerous passion.

Demons, royal courts, vampires, and an adventure! What more could a fantasy lover need?

I probably glanced at the synopsis when I requested this one, but I forget that within five minutes! So when I plugged in my AirPods and started planting up my tomatoes, I absolutely wasn't ready for any of what I listened to, but oh boy, was I taken on an adventure. Unbound by Shadows starts off pretty normally, just a couple of sisters, spending a weekend hiking together, until Selene seemingly falls through the earth. It's then that the fantasy begins. 

I loved that Selene was idolised by the majority of people who came across her, it was a refreshing change that someone didn't want to kill her on first sight! Samael was an awesome demon, who, just needed to learn how to control his temper and perhaps Selene was the human who could help him with that.

Aileen Bishop did a fantastic job narrating this one, and quite often I found myself in amongst the conflicts, which Selene and Samael encountered on their journey.

If you love ACOTAR, and the Crowns of Nyaxia then you're sure to enjoy this one. 

Thank you to Blush Audiobook Promotions for the opportunity to listen to and review Unbound by Shadows by Avalon Griffin.

About the Book

Transported to another world, tempted by a dangerous passion.

Selene has never been one to make a fuss. She doesn’t mind it when the barista gets her order wrong, someone cuts her off in traffic, or she has to drop everything to mediate her family’s latest crisis. But when she goes through a portal to the matriarchal dimension of Aurelia, she discovers that being nice doesn’t always pay. Especially when she meets a demon whose smoldering gaze makes her wonder why she ever craved a life so ordinary.

Samael is a vengeance demon with a drive to punish wrongs. Kidnapped from the Underworld and brought to Aurelia as a boy, his demonic tendencies make him an outcast in a realm he can’t escape. When he becomes Selene’s guardian on a quest for a stone that could send her home, he plots to sacrifice her and steal it for himself. But as they travel together, their attraction grows. Until one day, they each must choose between finding escape and surrendering to temptation.

About Avalon

Avalon Griffin is an indie author who writes fantasy romance with unique characters, far-away settings, and a healthy dose of heat. She is the author of the novel Unbound by Shadows,and the short story, The Vampire’s Library,which was published in Once Upon a Book Club’s 2024 Book-Club-Mas anthology. When not writing, she can be found traveling the globe in search of kitschy roadside attractions, off-beat museums, and cryptozoology legends. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband and a crew of formerly feral cats.

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My Review for Over the Sea to Skye by Sue Moorcroft

'...before she met a tousled American man who'd packed a piece of her heart in his suitcase when he'd left...'

Nooooooo! I don't want this trilogy to end, but sadly this in the final book in the series. 😢 This time around, we are living with Valentina for a wee while. She is living a slightly tumultuous life right now, with no job, an errant husband and nothing very positive happening. 

But she's off to her cottage on Skye for the summer, to spend some downtime with her sisters and their families - but of course it doesn't turn out to be quite as relaxing as she'd hoped.

This one was my most favourite of the trilogy, and I didn't think it was going to be. After reading the others, I thought Valentina was going to be stuck-up and boring, but she was far from it. I loved her. I loved her story, I loved Barnaby, I loved the views from her cottage, and yes, the author made me feel as though I was right there, wandering on the beach and searching in the rock pools. 

I'm looking forward to seeing what Sue has in store for us next. Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be just as gorgeous.

Thank you to Avon Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Over the Sea to Skye by Sue Moorcroft.

About the Book

One summer on a beautiful island could change everything…

Valentina Taylor's life has been upended. With her marriage over, and unsure of what her future holds, she heads to the Isle of Skye for the summer with her young son, Barnaby.

But the journey there sets her on a new path, when she meets Xander Courage on the train – a charming American, running from problems of his own. After sparks fly, they go their separate ways. But on this small island, they’re never far from one another…

Skye offers Valentina the refuge she needs as she whiles away the long summer days at her beachside cottage, enjoying visits from her sisters, Thea and Ezzie. But when bad news from home throws her Scottish idyll into turmoil, Valentina finds herself pulled away from the place – and people – that she loves.

Valentina knows she must confront her heart’s desires – but can she let go of the past and embrace the future she deserves?

About Sue

Sue Moorcroft is a Sunday Times bestselling author, and her novels have been #1 on Kindle UK and Top 100 on Kindle US, Canada and Italy. She writes two books a year for publishing giant HarperCollins and has won the Goldsboro Books Contemporary Novel of the Year, Readers’ Best Romantic Novel award, a HOLT Medallion and the Katie Fforde Bursary. She’s the president of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. 

Her novels, short stories, serials, columns, writing ‘how to’ and courses have appeared around the world.

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My Review for The Woman Who Got Her Spark Back by Fiona Gibson

'Nuturing drooping aspidistras and desiccated begonias back to full health'.

I've been reading so many more books recently where the protagonist is middle-aged. As a 52 year-old in reality, a 30 year-old in my head, and a 70 year-old in my body, I love that Celia, Amanda, Terri, and Enzo made me feel that there are still hundreds of opportunities, just waiting around the corner. 

When I read that Celia ran her very own houseplant hospital, I found myself wondering whether I knew enough about plants to run my own… I definitely don't! 🤣 But Celia did, whether it was a poorly Peace Lily, a sickly spider plant or a finicky Fiddle Leaf Fig, she somehow manages to find a cure and send them on their way. Does she cure Spike? You'll have to read the book to find out! 🌵

I think you'd need to be in the UK, and old, to remember a character called Beryl the Peril in a comic called the Beano. Well, Mathilde is Enzo's nine-year-old daughter and that's who she dresses like. With her black and red stripey tights and black dungaree dress, it gave me a blast from the past as the sassy little girl knew what she wanted and went all out to get it!

Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review The Woman Who Got Her Spark Back by Fiona Gibson

About the Book

Meet Celia. Life hasn’t worked out quite how she’d planned.

Since her son left for university, Celia has felt stuck at home – battling with her husband Geoff over control of the thermostat, and without the merest glint of a social life. Her only joy comes from the plants she nurtures in her makeshift plant hospital in their Glasgow flat.

Then three unexpected things 

She catches Geoff in bed with a secretary from his sausage factory (no pun intended). Her high-flying best friend Amanda arrives on her doorstep without warning (but with a very large suitcase). A tall handsome French teacher asks her to tend his daughter’s cactus back to health. Suddenly, Celia finds her life in freefall, but she makes a she won’t let this be the end of her. She’ll bring herself back to life, just like the plants she works her magic on. But just how do you change the habits of a lifetime?

About Fiona

As a self-confessed magazine addict, Fiona started working on teen bible Jackie in Dundee at the age of 17. Originally from a West Yorkshire village called Goose Eye, she spent her twenties as a magazine journalist in London and moved to a crumbling old house in the South Lanarkshire countryside when her twin sons were toddlers.

When her boys left for university, Fiona felt a craving for city life again. With her husband Jimmy and their daughter Erin, she now lives in a flat in Glasgow. She loves to draw, paint, cook and run – usually with her collie cross, Jack (just the running part).

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My Review for Death at Fakenham Races by Ross Greenwood

'A large, dark shape materialised to his right, as though plunging through a thick cloud. The drumming faster, relentless'.

I read my first Ross Greenwood novel, earlier this year and loved it, so of course I was going to read this one. Another day and another Norfolk murder! This one reminded me of a Dick Francis book. If you don't know, Dick was a former jockey, turned author and many of his books were set in the horse racing world and featured a murder or two!

As Ross was writing about the stable yards, and the beauty and grace that comes with the horses who reside there, I could smell the wood shavings and the gorgeous horsey smell. I could sense the love the people who worked there, had for their charges, and I dropped myself right into the middle of it all, as I set about trying to solve the murder(s) along with DI Ashley Knight.

A perfectly written police procedural. Ross kept me guessing most of the way through, and my choice of murderer changed from one chapter to the next as one curveball after another was thrown into the mix. I had just one thought at the end.....poor Barry! 😉

Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Death at Fakenham Races by Ross Greenwood. 

About the Book

When everyone is lying, how do you catch a killer?

A brutal attack at Fakenham Racecourse plunges DI Ashley Knight into the competitive world of horse racing, where fortunes are won and lost in the blink of an eye. As the investigation unfolds, a chilling discovery reveals a darker side to this glamorous sport. In these high-stakes arenas, where winning is everything and everyone has something to hide, a few are willing to cross the ultimate line.

Can Ashley, an outsider in a world of whispers and long-held grudges, unmask the murderer before they kill again?

About Ross - by Ross

I was born in 1973 in Peterborough and lived there until I was 20, attending The King's School in the city. I then began a rather nomadic existence, living and working all over the country and various parts of the world.

I found myself returning to Peterborough many times over the years, usually when things had gone wrong. It was on one of these occasions that I met my partner about 100 metres from my back door whilst walking a dog. Two children swiftly followed. I'm still a little stunned by the pace of it now.

My first book Chancer was written after I decided to do something challenging while my knees permitted. No skydiving for me. I became a prison officer for four years. Ironically it was the four a.m. feed which gave me the opportunity to finish the book as unable to get back to sleep I completed it in the early morning hours.

It's surprising for me to realise I've written twenty books now. There are three strands, one where the books concern lives affected by prison, and then my detective series starring DI John Barton. The first Barton book, The Snow Killer hit the coveted number one spot on KOBO and AUDIBLE, with the rest of the series not far behind.

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My Review for One Cornish Summer With You by Phillipa Ashley

'He felt that Seaspray was simply waiting for someone to come along, hack through the thorns like the prince in Sleeping Beauty and save it from eternal slumber.'

I loved reading Phillipa's new book. It was full of sunshine and happiness, beautiful sand art and the promise of a gorgeous garden - reminding me of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. 

Tammy and Ruan have a really sweet meet-cute, as he sits on the seawall, watching her create her amazing art on the beach, and you just know that they're going to end up together. Of course there are some obstacles which pop up along the way, secrets that they keep to themselves for just a little bit too long and Tammy's inability to trust someone with her heart. But of course it all comes good in the end, as all great romance reads do. 

We nearly moved to Cornwall a few years ago, but opted for Norfolk instead, so I relish a book where I can lose myself in the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean, with the dramatic cliffs looming over the beaches. The North Sea doesn't crash (well, not often), and there are huge expanses of beach rather than cute little coves!

Thank you to Random House UK, Cornerstone and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review One Cornish Summer With You by Phillipa Ashley.

About the Book

Tammy loved her childhood growing up in the harbour town of Porthmellow. But when her father went bankrupt and her mother abandoned them, she was quick to learn that nothing lasts forever.

Now, Tammy spends her days creating works of art in the golden Cornish sand, and is determined to protect herself from further heartache. But everything changes when she meets Ruan – a gorgeous solicitor who has moved to Cornwall for a fresh start.

Just as Tammy starts to question if Ruan could be the one to break down her walls, she discovers he has a secret – one that unravels everything she thought she knew about her past.

Can Tammy find the courage to trust again? Or will Ruan’s secret push her away forever?

About Phillipa - by Phillipa

I started writing fiction in 2005, after joining an Internet creative writing site. My first novel, Decent Exposure, a romantic comedy set in the Lake District, was published in October 2006. It won the RNA New Writers Award and was made into a TV movie called Twelve Men of Christmas which aired on the Lifetime channel in December 2009. 

Since then, I’ve now had 27 books published including two Sunday Times best-sellers, an Audible number 1 and many Amazon Top 10 best selling ebooks.

My books have been or are being translated into many languages including German, Thai, Turkish, Bulgarian, Italian and Russian.

I live in a Staffordshire village with my husband and love being in the great outdoors, especially Cornwall and the Lake District.

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