Thursday 31 December 2015
2015 reading wrap up!
Wednesday 23 December 2015
Guest Review: Christmas at Lilac Cottage by Holly Martin
Penny Meadows loves her home – a cosy cottage decorated with pretty twinkling fairy lights and stunning views over the town of White Cliff Bay. She also loves her job as an ice-carver, creating breathtaking sculptures. Yet her personal life seems frozen.
When Henry and daughter Daisy arrive at the cottage to rent the annex, Penny is determined to make them feel welcome. But while Daisy is friendly, Henry seems guarded.
As Penny gets to know Henry, she realises there is more to him than meets the eye. And the connection between them is too strong to ignore…
While the spirit of the season sprinkles its magic over the seaside town and preparations for the ice sculpting competition and Christmas eve ball are in full swing, can Penny melt the ice and allow love in her heart? And will this finally be the perfect Christmas she’s been dreaming of?
The central character is Penny, the owner of Lilac Cottage, so prettily illustrated on the book's cover. The 'cottage' itself sounds a great deal bigger than its name suggests, with its special areas to cater for Penny's ice sculpting business and its annex which is big enough to rent out as a home to another couple. That pair, Henry and Daisy, are the other main characters in the story. The small seaside town of White Cliff Bay, in which the story is set, sounds a lovely place to live. Everybody knows everybody else's business, but in the best possible way. There is a real sense of community that comes over well in Holly's writing. We see them all pulling together in times of need.
While this is mainly a romance, there is also plenty of drama and a bit of humour in the story. It had me laughing out loud one minute and sitting on the edge of my seat the next. In the end it left me with a happy smile on my face. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a romance with a Christmassy feel. I'm looking forward to reading more about happenings in White Cliff Bay.
Tuesday 22 December 2015
Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Leaving Under MyTree This Year 22.12.15
Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists over there at The Broke and the Bookish. I'd love to share my lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!
Monday 21 December 2015
Review: My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins
Friday 18 December 2015
Review: A Night in With Audrey Hepburn by Lucy Holliday
After a terrible day on the set of a cult TV sci-fi series where she has proved herself to be the antithesis of feminine poise and embarrassed herself in front of heartthrob actor Dillon O’Hara, she plonks herself down in front of her trillionth viewing of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Relaxing on her battered old couch, salvaged from the props department by her best friend Olly, Libby is gob smacked to find actual Screen Icon, Audrey Hepburn, sitting beside her. Dressed in her little black dress, wearing her trademark sunglasses, Audrey proffers advice to the hapless Libby between ladylike puffs on her vintage cigarette holder.
And so, Audrey becomes Libby’s confidante and friend – but has Libby got what it takes to turn her life from a Turkey to a Blockbuster? With a little bit of Audrey Hepburn magic, she might just pull it off…
Thursday 17 December 2015
Review: How to Stuff up Christmas by Rosie Blake
But where does Greg keep disappearing to? What does Eve's best friend Daisy know that she isn't telling? And why is there an angry goose stalking Eve's boat?
A hilarious and heart-warming novel about Christmas, catastrophes and cooking, containing exclusive Christmas recipes, from the talented Rosie Blake.
Review: What a fab, funny, festive story! I so enjoyed this book and absolutely raced through it because it was such a fun read... I really liked the idea of trying to avoid Christmas but still paying homage to the festive season and that is just the kind of thing that Eve is doing in this book. I thought the story was told really cleverly because this is not an overtly Christmasey tale, but a romantic comedy about a strong female-I loved it!
I really liked the character of Eve. She was totally relatable and so I found myself really wanting all the best for her. She makes decisions and then sticks to them (nothing worse than a wishy washy heroine who can't make up her mind!) and I really respected her as well. The other characters in the book are also well written. We all have a friend or relative who seems to have it all and therefore seems that little bit unapproachable, that is Eve's sister. We all know the guy who seems to blow hot and cold and we just can't quite figure out and that is the very handsome vet in this case. There is also a strong sense of community between the characters in the novel which was truly in keep with the message at Christmas!
I loved the fact that this novel was set predominantly on a houseboat at winter time, it made me want to stay snuggled up with the book, a blanket and a cup of something hot (mulled wine anyone?) and I liked the aspect of Eve having to adapt to live minimally. The new skill that she learns during this time is also really interesting because I enjoyed reading about her learning to actually do it but I also enjoyed the fact that she didn't just give up and wallow, she wanted to better herself and keep herself occupied during a difficult time! As you can tell, I loved this book and you should all pick up at least two copies this Christmas, one to snuggle up with and one to gift!
Wednesday 16 December 2015
Guest review: Christmas For One by Amanda Prowse
Tuesday 15 December 2015
Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Best Books I Read in 2015 15.12.15
Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists over there at The Broke and the Bookish. I'd love to share my lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!
Why why why do I have to decide on this again? Ok here goes, and they're in no particular order, just let me make that clear...
Three Amazing Things Amazing Things about You by Jill Mansell
Paper Towns by John Green
Meet me in Manhattan by Claudia Carroll
The Girls by Lisa Jewell
Letters to The Lost by Iona Grey
The Day we Disappeared by Lucy Robinson
The Vintage Guide to Love and Romance by Kirsty Greenwood
Age Sex Location by Melissa Pimentel
Always The Bridesmaid by Lindsey Kelk
The Piano Man Project by Kat French
Tuesday 8 December 2015
Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten New-to-me authors I read in 2015 8.12.15
Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists over there at The Broke and the Bookish. I'd love to share my lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!
I have to say, I love to find new authors and sometimes I find authors that have been around for ages but I haven't been able to try them out yet. This was a really good year for doing that and so I'm glad this top ten came along!
1. Jill Mansel-I can't believe I haven't read anything by this author until now! Needs to change...
2, Carole Matthews- a book with someone of the same name as me starring-what could be wrong with that?
3. Cathy Kelly, I loved Between Sisters and want to read more!
4. Erin Lawless, having met this lovely lady twice this year, I read her book as well.
5. Liz Tipping, again I met this lovely author so I read her debut novel, that's how it works!
6. Lucy Holliday-I loved a Night in With Audrey Hepburn and I can't wait to hear about Marilyn Monroe next!
7. Kat French, I have another of Kat's novels at home but I haven't read it yet. I loved The Piano Man Project so you know I now want to read the other one!
8. Kerry Fisher, i listened to this on audiobook with my Mum and we both really enjoyed it!
9. Laura Barnett- a massive hit this year!
10. Emma Hamilton-I am so enjoying this series, I need to finish it quickly so I can read the Christmas one!
I could go on and on, there have been so many! What a fab list already though right?!
Monday 7 December 2015
Review: Between Sisters by Cathy Kelly
Review: I loved this book so much more than I thought I would. I know that makes it sound negative but it really isn't that, I've just never read anything by Cathy Kelly before then I went to an event with her and loved the sound of the book so I downloaded the audio book and absolutely raced through it, i literally couldn't wait to get in the car and get stuck into it. I listened to the last 3 hours back to back when I got home, it was so exciting.
The characters in this book are so strong, I am thinking about them still! I loved these sisters and all the other characters who revolved around them. When phoebe (not a sister) was introduced to the story, I was a little confused about where she would fit in to it all but she actually turned out to be one of my favourite characters and her storyline has really stuck with me. It was fabulous how each character had a chapter at a time dedicated to them but also each character was intertwined with another and so it was all woven together beautifully!
I really liked that fact that the book took place over a pretty short time frame and yet we have lots of references to things that have gone on in the past and so you really feel like you have been taken into these characters lives and embraced into their inner circle. Although it did jump around between places and characters it was easy to follow and was so engaging, you barely noticed that you were having to adjust to someone else!
I think this would be a great read for anyone who wants a good heart-warming read, esepcially at this time of year when family are so improtant. I think if you have children or if you don't have children, you will be able to identify with the characters in this book. And if, like me, this is your first Cathy Kelly book, or whether you are a Cathy Kelly fan already, you won't be disappointed! This would also make a lovely Christmas present...
To order your copy, click here!
Saturday 5 December 2015
Blog Tour: Extract from and review of Follow me by
Friday 30 October
Sat on the windowsill, trying to block out the late lunch drinkers
in the Queen Elizabeth pub below, Freddie pressed her phone to
her ear. How, in Dalston, in the middle of the country’s capital,
could this be the only place to get signal in her room? Her new
flatmate – what was his name, short guy, wore glasses, worked
in ad sales, always out drinking after work. Pete? P – something.
Edged into her room, en route to the kitchen, mouthing, ‘Sorry’.
Must be his day off.
She nodded. Three people in one pokey two-bed flat had seemed
a great money-saving plan. But that was five flatmates ago, when
she’d actually known the two girls she shared with. Now she
slept in the lounge, the sofa claimed as a bed, and all and sundry
crossed her room to get their breakfast cereal. Privacy and mobile
reception were for other people.
Freddie gurned at her reflection in the seventies mirror above
the faux thirties fireplace opposite. Her brown hair, cut by a mate
with kitchen scissors, sprang away from her shoulders like she’d
been shocked. Flashes of red hair chalk zigzagged toward her DIY
fringe. Her legs, stubbornly plump despite working on her feet
and taking more than the recommended 10,000 steps a day, poked
out from beneath her nightshirt (a T-shirt that had belonged to
a long-forgotten one-night stand). Unless she squished herself in
with her hands or a belt, she never looked like she had a waist. Her
torso, like her mum’s, was square, with the addition of breasts that
practically needed scaffolding to restrain them. She wiggled her
black plastic rectangular-framed glasses. Not traditionally beautiful.
The line in her ear clicked, and the noise of the busy newsroom
came through. ‘Freddie.’ Sandra, the deputy editor of The Family
Paper online, sounded tense and tired. Business as usual. ‘Is there
a problem with this week’s copy?’
‘No. No problem.’ Freddie pushed her back into the cold glass,
willing the signal to hold. ‘It’s just I’ve been writing the Typical
Student column for three years now…’
‘Time flies when you’re having fun.’
Freddie thought of the two years she’d spent on the dole, clawing
her way into glass collecting jobs, churning out pitches, unpaid
articles and free features during the day – a blur of coffee, cigarettes
and unpaid bills since she graduated. ‘Yes, it is fun. And popular.
Didn’t I get over 90,000 hits last week?’
Sandra didn’t deign to confirm or deny this figure.
‘Well I was wondering if, given the column’s popularity, I might
get paid for writing it?’
There was silence on the other end. Only the sound of the UK’s
busiest and most hated newsroom could be heard. The clamorous
grind and grunt as the newspaper was conceived in a hail of
profanities all journalists told you was the best-paid gig. The one
that Freddie had written one hundred and fifty-six eight-hundredword
columns for, and been paid precisely nothing by.
‘Sandra?’
‘We don’t have the budget. If you could get the column into the
print edition then you’d be paid,’ Sandra sighed. Freddie noticed
it was more from annoyance than shame.
‘How do I do that?’ Surely you could do that for me, you lazy cow.
‘I’ll think about it. I’ll send you some emails.’
Unlikely.
‘Didn’t we try this before?’ Sandra sounded on the verge of
dozing off.
We? There’s no we in this, Sandra. You go off with your monthly
pay packet, and I sit in my lounge bedroom trying to work out how
I’m going to afford to eat this month. ‘Yes.’
‘What did they say?’
‘The student focus was too young for the main paper.’ Snotty
baby-boomers.
‘The online readers enjoy your stories of debauched students,
Freddie. They really go for it.’
They really go for hating on it. Last week she’d written about
getting wasted the night before an exam. Total fabrication. Her
and her mates had sat in night after night working in fear, as they
watched the collapsing economy swallow everything around it like
a dead star: paid internships, graduate schemes, jobs, benefits.
She might as well have spent her time downing pints of vodka. ‘I
graduated two summers ago, I’m not even at university anymore.’
‘It’s up to you, it’s all good experience.’
Experience. Everything was good experience: writing articles
for free for a national newspaper, landing a job in Espress-oh’s
coffee chain to pay her bills, pitching, publishing, pumping out
all her words for no reward. When was this experience supposed
to pay off? When would she have enough experience? ‘I’ll send
the copy over now.’
‘Let’s do drinks soon.’
They wouldn’t. That was what people with paid jobs said to
get rid of you. They didn’t need contacts. They didn’t need any
more drags on their time. When they were done, they wanted to
go home and wank off in front of their latest box set. Drinks were
for those who needed a way in. Drinks were fucking fictional.
Freddie left the phone on the windowsill. She should sleep.
What had she managed? Her shift finished at 6.00am. She’d brainstormed
ideas on the way home on the Ginger Line. 9.30am first
commission came in. There were three in total today, all wanted
them filed within a couple of hours, all under a thousand words,
only one of them was paid. Thirty pounds from a privately funded
online satire site. Gotta love the rich kids. Awash with their parents’
money, they didn’t have enough business sense to demand that
their contributors work for experience.
She clicked refresh on her Mac mail. No new emails. Then she
clicked refresh again. Then she did the same on Twitter, Facebook,
WhatsApp and Snapchat. Round and round. Waiting. For what?
Something. Something big.
Here's the blurb:
LIKE. SHARE. FOLLOW . . . DIE
The ‘Hashtag Murderer’ posts chilling cryptic clues online, pointing to their next target. Taunting the police. Enthralling the press. Capturing the public’s imagination.
But this is no virtual threat.
As the number of his followers rises, so does the body count.
Eight years ago two young girls did something unforgivable. Now ambitious police officer Nasreen and investigative journalist Freddie are thrown together again in a desperate struggle to catch this cunning, fame-crazed killer. But can they stay one step ahead of him? And can they escape their own past?
Time's running out. Everyone is following the #Murderer. But what if he is following you?
ONLINE, NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM …
Review: I was definitely hooked into this book from the word go. I don't read many books from this genre, but I know when Avon sends me one, it's going to be a good one. I have to admit, I really didn't like main character Freddie to begin with, or any of the other characters to be honest, but she grew on me as the book went on, there are lots of police names in the novel, understandable as it is a book about a serial killer, and a found those a little hard to keep up with, but it knew the main ones that I help contempt for so that was ok...
I liked the fact that this book was set in the UK, it made the real places and areas of London easier to follow. The story surrounding the serial killer is totally believable as well, it's something that could actually happen and that makes this book even more scary! I would say, though, that if you're not very social media savvy, some of the hashtags and abbreviations won't make as much sense as if you are very into Twitter or other social media sites. The main story will still flow and you'll be able to follow it but if you're not into twitter, I would suggest having a quick look at it before reading this!
There is quite a lot of swearing in this book, at times I found it a little unnecessary, however I do understand that it is the character of Freddie and she swears a lot, does a lot of things a lot of people wouldn't do. I don't mind swearing in novels but there is quite a lot of crude language right from the word go. The murder scenes are pretty graphic and scary as well so something else just to be warned about. I think the fact that this book comes with so many warnings shows you what an effective read it is, it definitely effected me and I am glad that I read it!
Thursday 3 December 2015
Guest Review: When You Walked Back into My Life by Hilary Boyd
This author is new to me, but when I saw this audio book on the shelf in the library, I thought it looked well worth a try. I'm glad that I did, as I found the story captivating and compelling.
It is basically the story of Flora and Fin, an ex-boyfriend who suddenly reappears having suddenly walked out on her without explanation several years before. Flora is a lively and highly likeable character - kind and gentle. She puts up with an awful lot from Fin, but then she's in love. I felt really suspicious of his motives all the way through the book and even found myself shouting at her not to tell him things!
In addition to those two, there are only a few other characters in the cast, but all are strong individuals with their own stories. Flora lives with her sister, Pru, and family, including her niece who clearly idolises her aunt. Flora is a nurse for a lovely old lady, Dorothea, who has a slightly dodgy nephew hanging about in the wings. There are also the other private nurses and Dorothea's attentive family doctor. Finally, the doorman to the block of flats where Dorothea lives. He is an entertaining but caring guy; just the right personality for the job.
I found the book well written and engaging. It left me wanting to know how life progressed for Flora after we left her, which I think is the sign of a good story. I shall certainly be looking out for other books by Hilary Boyd.