My Review for Summer at the French Olive Grove by Sophie Claire

⭐⭐⭐⭐. Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of Summer at the French Olive Grove by Sophie Claire.

Sophie Claire’s book begins in Columbia where the protagonist, Lily, is making a film about the lives and careers of some Columbian women in a world where women don’t really have careers.  Lily is attacked and suffers a broken arm, returning to her home village in France to recover.  Moving back in with her elderly grandmother, Mamie, Lily catches up with her oldest friend Olivier and enjoys the slower pace of life in this peaceful place.  Torn between returning to her nomadic lifestyle and spending more time with Mamie, Lily has a decision to make.

I love a story set in sunny, seaside villages with idyllic views and villagers who all know each other and this is no exception,  The author takes us into the heart of the French village with her descriptions of the olive groves, the boats in the marina and the tantalising aromas of Mamie’s cooking, making us wish we were there.

Olivier and Lily both want very different things from life which seem to stem from their childhoods, and the author keeps us guessing throughout the novel how their past relates to their outlooks on the future,  Both characters frustrated me and at times I just wanted to bang their heads together and simply tell them to talk to each other!

If you enjoy a delightful novel with a happy ending, then you’ll enjoy Summer at the French Olive Grove.  Slip your sunhat on, grab a cold drink and settle under a shady tree. This is a lovely book for an afternoon in the sun.

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My Review for The Vacation by M.M. Chouinard

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of The Vacation by M.M. Chouinard.

I have never really been a thriller reader, not because I don't enjoy them, it has just never been something I've picked up off the shelf, but wow - if thrillers are like this then I've seriously been missing out!

Six adults and four children are in Jamaica for Thanksgiving, but it is apparent from the outset that all is not as it should be.  When one of the children goes missing, the police have to find out what has happened, is someone perhaps more involved than they should be?

The author kept me guessing throughout the book, with each page turn she threw another spanner in the works, and when I was sure I knew what was going to happen, I was again left wondering.  With twists and turns at every opportunity, and characters that you could sympathise with at one moment yet become angry with, in another, The Vacation kept me hooked until the last page.

Don't miss out on this book if you're a thriller reader but even if you're not, try it, perhaps let it be your first one.  I would totally recommend this to everyone.  I loved it right from the start and will be reading more by M.M. Chouinard as soon as I can.

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My Review for The Broken Hearts Honeymoon by Lucy Dickens

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK, Cornerstone and Arrow Publishing for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of The Broken Hearts Honeymoon by Lucy Dickens before the release of the paperback.

Wow! I loved it and read it, in under 24 hours. Granted, it was pouring with rain in the UK and I had nothing else to do but it was such a wonderful book. Informative, educational, happy, sad, comical and slightly heart-breaking, I experienced such a wide range of emotions whilst reading it I didn’t want it to end.

Charlotte and Matt are the perfect couple, they’ve been together since they were 14, they stayed at sixth form together, went to the same university and were planning their perfect life together after their perfect wedding.... until Matt decided perhaps things weren’t so perfect after all. Their honeymoon was all booked and paid for, and Japan had been the one place Charlotte had always wanted to visit, so she bravely packs her bags and flies off to the other side of the world, on her own, and slowly begins to find herself.

The Broken Hearts Honeymoon is such a lovely book, Lucy Dickens writes with such passion and knowledge of Japan, you feel as though are travelling around the country with Charlotte. The author’s descriptive writing is addictive. I wanted to be hiking through the Japanese Alps with Charlotte, taking tea in the Japanese gardens and meditating with the monks.

Less of a love story and more of a story about self-love, Lucy Dickens shows us how often learning about different cultures can make us see things in a new light and encourages us to change our lives for the better.

I would recommend The Broken Hearts Honeymoon to anyone who needs some escapism, to live and enjoy someone else’s life for a while and you know what, you’ll learn some things whilst you’re reading it too.

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My Review for The Wishing Tree Beside the Shore by Jaimie Admans

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  Thank you to NetGalley and HQ Digital for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of The Wishing Tree Beside the Shore by Jaimie Admans.

Felicity works for a property development company and, with. a twist of fate, the latest proposal for hotel development is in Felicity's home town of Lemmon Cove on the Gower peninsula. Fliss's boss decides to send her undercover, to infiltrate the protesters who are delaying the signing of the paperwork and trying to save a 300-year-old Sycamore tree. However, as soon as she sets foot into the protesters' camp and realises her teenage crush, Ryan, is the man in charge, Fliss knows she wants to help the protesters and save the tree.

Although slow to begin with, The Wishing Tree Beside the Shore soon grabbed my attention, and I picked it up at every opportunity. The characters were so passionate about saving the Sycamore tree and the land around it that I found myself wishing it was a real protest and hoping I could get involved! The stories and memories that came from the carvings made in the trunk of the tree over the last few hundred years were romantic and magical and indicative that everyone needs some magic in their lives.

When I was younger, my favourite book was the Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton and The Wishing Tree reminded me so much of this I half expected fairies and goblins to appear up in the branches somewhere! There were often moments in the book that made me laugh, particularly when Ryan's pet sheep amused everyone with her comical antics.

This is the first book by Jaimie Adams that I have read and I really enjoyed it. I will definitely be adding her to my list of favourite authors.

This is a great feel-good read and I would recommend The Wishing Tree Beside the Shore to anyone who wants something to lose themselves in for a few hours.

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My Review for Island of Secrets by Patricia Wilson

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  I listened to Island of Secrets, by Patricia Wilson, as an Audiobook from Borrowbox. Read by Julie Maisey, it was another outstanding book from the author and once again, taught me so much about the Second World War that I wasn’t aware of.

‘The story started at dawn on the fourteenth of September 1943...’

Angelika (Angie) is planning her wedding to Nick and has decided that she wants her mother’s family to be involved. The problem is, is that her mother hasn’t spoken to her family in almost 40 years and they live in Crete! Cue a trip to the Greek island to see what she can find out. Her grandmother, Maria, is overjoyed to see her granddaughter and begins to tell her story of the massacre in 1943 when the Germans occupied Crete.

I imagine that often Greek village life is chaotic, very family-orientated and with everyone knowing each other’s business. Angie’s wedding day was very much like this. Nothing went to plan, and to say it was chaos was an understatement!

The story is told over the two timelines, present-day and 1943 and to be honest, I was much more interested in the stories of the past. Knowing the accounts were based on fact, horrific though it was, made me warm to the characters more, whilst learning about the horrors they were put through for seemingly no reason whatsoever.

Patricia Wilson is a master at descriptive writing, and I love how she draws you into the story, making you believe you could be experiencing every gunshot, yet also enjoy a coffee in the local cafe with the sun beating down.

I would recommend Island of Secrets to anyone interested in Greek history and would like to know a little bit more but with the ease of a ‘nice read’ behind it. I have enjoyed the three novels I have read or listened to by Patricia Wilson, and I will be on the lookout for more.

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My Review for The Kew Gardener's Guide to Growing Roses

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group- White Lion for the opportunity to review 'The Kew Gardener's Guide to Growing Roses' before the publication date. 

Being an avid, albeit fairly new gardener I am interested in widening my knowledge to learn as much as I can about flora and fauna and how I can grow and nurture plants in my own garden. I do particularly love roses but know next to nothing about them and reading this lovely book was an ideal opportunity to understand a little bit more. 

 The book is set out beautifully, with a long introduction that covers everything you need to know about roses, different rose types, and how to grow them successfully. Following this, there are many sections on which roses are best for which part of your garden including growing roses in a container or training a rose against a wall. 

The photographs are stunning and each one draws you into the page as you eagerly read how to get a rose to 'perform' for you. I am on a mission to identify the roses I currently have in my garden and this delightful book will start me on my quest. 

The only thing I wasn't too keen on was the background of each page. It has a somewhat mottled effect, especially as I was reading it on an iPad I was constantly thinking there were marks on my screen. However, I am sure this wouldn't be the case with a physical copy of the book and indeed a physical copy would definitely be my recommended format. Ideal as a coffee table book and lovely to browse through whilst having a cuppa and learning just that little bit more about your roses.

Please note that I read this as an ebook on an iPad so I am unsure what the physical copy is like.

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My Review for Villa of Secrets by Patricia Wilson

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I listened to Villa of Secrets, by Patricia Wilson, as an Audiobook from Borrowbox. Read by Lucy Paterson, I was so taken with the story that it only took me a couple of days to reach the end, listening as I went out for a long walk with my dog and then planting tomatoes in my greenhouse! Books and gardening - I couldn't have been happier.

Sisters, Naomi and Rebecca, were raised by their grandmother, Pandora Cohen and the story is told through Pandora's diaries which Naomi and Rebecca are given to read. Unbeknown to the girls, their grandmother was a Freedom Fighter for the Andartes during World War II and risked her life to help free the Greek island of Rhodes from German occupation. Rebecca and her family had a falling out, ten years previously, and we also learn how this affected Naomi and Dora and how Rebecca eventually comes back into their lives.

Although a work of fiction, Villa of Secrets is based on some fact, I wasn't aware of how affected Greece and her islands were by the second world war. Patricia Wilson's attention to detail, and descriptive ability, bring to life the often harrowing and heartwrenching times of this war on the Greek communities.

There were humorous moments coupled with often very sad moments in Villa of Secrets, I didn't want some of the characters' stories to end the way they did, but I guess life doesn't always pan out the way you want it to, and because some of this novel was based on fact, it does bring home the reality that sad things sometimes happen to good people.

I would recommend Villa of Secrets to anyone who enjoys reading about World War II, particularly the lesser-known aspects of the German invasion. However, this is by no means a historical war novel, yes there is an element of this, but it also brings together the importance of family and friends and love and romance.

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