Book Review: It's Getting Hot in Here by Jane Costello

Lisa Darling - high-flying TV-exec and twice-divorced mother-of-two - has enough on her plate without having to deal with the handsome New Yorker parachuted in to her best friend's job at work.

She's already navigating life with a grotty teenage son, organising a PTA cheese & wine event, supporting her oldest friend through breast cancer treatment and, since she hit 47, facing a new perimenopause symptom every day. It's no wonder she never has time for Pilates or that DIY panelling she keeps seeing on Instagram (though she'd be the first to admit she'd rather share a bottle of wine with her friends any day).

So when Lisa starts feeling overheated every time she clashes with Zach Russo, she convinces herself it will pass. Maybe her HRT just needs adjusting. Until, that is, she finds herself in a sexy - and seriously ill-advised - clinch with him. And then another...

All of which leads to one question: these long-forgotten feelings couldn't be caused by something else entirely... could they?

Review: Jane Costello is back and is making me laugh the way I have known and loved for so many years now. I love that authors I read in my 20s and 30 when they were writing about women like me in their 20s and 30s are now updating the narrative and writing about women like me in their 40s and 50s! I am here for all of it!

I loved getting to know Lisa and her to do list. Even though I don’t have the kids and the ex-husband that she has to deal with, I still absolutely related to her and her never ending to do list, her stressful job and the fact that she is the only one to volunteer for the PTFA events, the note taking and the clearing out of the hamster she didn’t actually ever want! She is a feisty individual and is just trying to live her life and do right by her friends, she family and most-importantly her two sons!

Then along comes Zach, covering in the media world for her best friend and he reality throws a spanner into her works. This is where all of the best romance tropes are hit, this author was really going for the bingo card of situations she could put Zach and Lisa into. This made me laugh but also made me incredibly frustrated (in a good way) at times too because I just wanted everything to work out for Lisa. 

Although there are a lot of laughs in this book, there are also other parts that I am sure a lot of readers will relate to that are all parts of life when you’re in your 40s, lille having a friend who is dealing with cancer, having a lot of people let you down on a daily basis and having a son who is doing everything he can to assert his own identity by rebelling against you! I also loved the parts where she had last minute things for school come through and didn’t know how maths works in school today-very relatable!

If you are already a fan of Jane Costello, you will not be disappointed in this book and if this is the first time you have picked up a novel of hers, you are in for a treat! I loved every minute of this, I can really recommend the audio and I can’t wait for the next book that is out soon!

To order your copy now, just click here!

Review: Table for One by Emma Gannon

 Willow has everything worked out.

*The steady partner

*The successful career

*The grown-up house

Until she doesn’t – and she’s cast adrift on the sea of heartbreak, grieving a future with no clear path.

With her life transformed beyond recognition, and her friends busy ‘moving forwards’, Willow has never felt more alone.

But she’s in good company.

And when inspiration arrives from an unlikely source, she rekindles the relationship she longs for – but has long neglected… The one with herself…

Willow has everything worked out.

Review: I really enjoyed this author’s previous work-Olive and so I was excited to read her latest. I was really attracted by the cover if I’m honest, It doesn’t give much away and, having read the book, I can say that it really doesn't give you any indication as to what is going to happen in this plot. 

Willow is an interesting character to spend this novel with. She is most definitely flawed and at the beginning of the book when she is working on being a bit of a stepford wife and turning down opportunities for herself in favour of supporting her partner, you kind of struggle to get on side with her. Similarly, when she finds herself alone again, the choice she make are most definitely flawed and so once again, she is a little bit difficult to like. But she is someone that every reader will be able to empathise with and the fact that she is flawed makes for a good connection. 

Moving forwards from the heartbreak that willow experiences, this book has a little bit of everything. It explores themes such as navigating friendships into adulthood when everyone is so busy and everyone is going in different directions; starting over again when it was the last thing you wanted to do; dealing with struggles within a family and everything that brings with it bit this book finds the humour and the human-side of all of those things. It really is a book about being an adult in England today. 

This book also dives into influencer culture a little and the darker side of the media now that it is so entwined with social media. Willow finds herself involved in that world never having asked to have been part of it and faces some ethical dilemmas because of it and I found that really interesting to read about. Willow brings an interesting perspective to the influencer world since she has previous worked in traditional media and so you get a glimpse of that world not only through your eyes as a reader but also through her eyes.There were moments in the book where I cried and moments where I laughed an I love that balance when I pick up a book. 

To order your copy now, just click here!

Book Review: Swept Away by Beth O'Leary

 Lexi is looking for no-strings-attached fun with a stranger. She deserves one night for herself, doesn't she?

Zeke is looking for love. But for one night with a woman like Lexi, he'll break his rules . . .

Sparks fly at the pub, one passionate kiss leads to another and they end up stumbling home to the marina together.

The next morning, hungover and shaken by an amazing night together, Lexi is more than ready for Zeke to leave. There's just one small problem . . . the houseboat they stayed on has been swept out to sea.

As their supplies start to run dangerously low, and the waves pick up, Zeke and Lexi soon realise there's much more on the line than their new relationship.

How long can they really survive on a drifting houseboat in the North Sea? Will search and rescue find them? And who will they be if they both make it back to dry land?

Review: If the premise of this book isn’t enough to lure you into reading the whole thing in one sitting, then as soon as you pick it up and start devouring it chapter by chapter, you will NOT be able to put this book down. 

I just don’t know how Beth O’leary does it, she writes book after book with compelling characters, multiple viewpoints and original plots that I wouldn’t even think of drawing up-they are truly addictive. This latest book had me hooked from the premise and it didn’t let me down when I started to read about Zeke and Lexi and their one night stand that never ends! I love that this author gives me a dual narrative everytime. It is so great getting to find out what each character thinks of the other and see different plot points from multiple points of view. I loved seeing Lexi through Zeke’s eyes in particular because they have very different perceptions of who Lexi is and what is so great about her. 

Getting to know these characters was very easy because, as a reader, you are also trapped on the house boat with them and so you are literally living on top of them the way they are living on top of each other-such a brilliant way to force empathy out of an audience. I loved how strong Lexi was and yet how unsure she was at the same time and yet I loved how strong Zeke was in his own way. It was great to have someone who was really quite self-assured with someone who on paper should be in a better place than he was but really only knew what she didn’t want, not what she DID want. 

Being trapped on a houseboat with these characters was great and it made for some fun and some awkward situations but being trapped on a houseboat with them out in open water was quite frankly terrifying. When you weren’t worrying that they were going to die of dehydration, you were worried that they were going to drown, get injured or even get swept away in a storm. If you're a reader who dislikes miscommunication as a plot point then be warned there is a fair dose of that in this novel but honestly you barely notice it whilst you’re willing these two characters to not only survive through the night but also to just get it on already! I loved this book, I couldn;t put it down and read it in 2 delicious sittings. It’s another hit for this author and one that is not to be missed this summer!

To order your copy now, just click here!

Blog Tour: What if I Never Get Over You By Paige Toon Review

I'm excited to be part of the blog tour today for the amazing new book by Paige Toon. The book comes out on Thursday 10th April and you can order your copy here! I have a review for you today, here's what it's all about:

Ellie didn’t expect to fall in love while travelling in Europe. But she also didn’t expect to meet a man like Ash.

Three blistering days in Lisbon is all it takes to form an unforgettable connection – deep enough for them to plan to meet again in Madrid. But Ellie arrives late, and Ash is nowhere to be found.

Six years later, the memory of Ash and their time together still burns deeply in Ellie’s heart. She hopes that her dream job as a gardener on a grand estate in Wales will bring the fresh start she desperately needs.

But when Ash unexpectedly crashes back into her life, Ellie is forced to question if the universe has other plans...

Review: gosh it was good ro be back in a Paige Toon novel again. I know I am in safe hands going into one of her books, the short chapters make for a page turner you really can’t put down! And….this one didn’t make me cry! Paige always does such a great job of a bit of a slow burn romance, puts a barrier up for her main characters and their love story and always has some sort of exotic location as a long-distance additional barrier too of course. There’s always a hot Aussie in there too! And this book is no exception!

It was wonderful to meet Ellie at the beginning of the novel, she is trying to do the wild and independent woman travelling thing but we know that something is holding her back, we just don’t know what yet! Then she meets Ash and this meet cute helps to unleash her feer self, the one who gets to let go and have fun and that was fabulous. When Ellie shuts down again once she’s back home, towards the beginning of the book, I found this section so hard to read. The way she is written to be so closed off to pleasure and so just doing anything to stay quiet and be successful in her job-it was just so relatable. 

When we change settings in the third section of the book, that is when the fun really starts. Paige Toon knows how to write a fun group of friends to have an adventure with, people who will challenge our main character to be their best selves and find their joy and this book is no exception. Who knew there was so much fun to be had in such a location that many would consider mundane. 

Now don’t get me wrong, the fact that this book didn;t make me cry doesn’t mean that there is no tragedy in here, there are plenty of moments that tug at the heart strings and both Ellie and Ash have been through a lot to get them to the various points we meet them throughout the novel. But as we always find with a Paige Toon novel, the joy outweighs that. This was a quick read with fun characters, a great meet cute and a story that will have you guessing right up until the last page!

Review: Date With Destiny by Lucy Vine

 Ginny is about to turn 32. It’s a year she’s been thinking about for a long time. Sixteen years ago she crossed paths with a psychic who made some key predictions about her thirty-second year…

Three bad things: A heartbreak, a loss of independence, and a death.

Three good things: A life-changing trip, reconnecting with someone, and meeting her soulmate.

The issue is that Ginny is due to get married in a month… but it’s all nonsense, obviously. But when some of those pesky predictions start coming true she starts to wonder what might happen next…

Review: I love Lucy Vine books so much, she just seems to write to appeal to my lifestyle and my sense of humour and so how could I complain? The speed with which I tore through this book once I picked it up was intense, I just couldn’t put it down, I wanted to read on and find out what would become of Ginny, her friends, her family and, most importantly, her psychic predictions!

Ginny is great because she is so easy to relate to. She works in her family’s jewellery business (which definitely gave me Bridesmaids vibes) and she has a pretty settled life at the start of the novel. Then something shakes everything up like a snowglobe and we get to be with her as she tries to piece her life back together and move on with this set of psychic predictions hanging over her. I think my favourite of the predictions was definitely her life-changing trip, it was clear what it was going to be and it made me laugh out loud whilst reading a LOT!

Ginny’s team behind her are a varied bunch and I always love that shout Lucy Vine books, she really does make her characters like the kind of people you have as friends in real life. People aren’t all the same age in a friendship group, people come and go and people have very different lifestyles and are still able to be friends. I always feel like I am seen and I am represented in one of her books and I loved Ginny’s friends and family in Date With Destiny! I thought it made a real change that Ginny’s sister was part of the group and was just accepted even though she was younger and I like that the friends didn’t always go down the cliche route when it came to major life events!

This book was just a really good time! I was invested in the story straight away, behind Gunny every step of the road. Lucy Vine made me laugh, she made me think and she entertained me from start to finish. I highly recommend Date with Destiny, I think it’s got something for everyone and definitely one that should be in your bag this summer!

To orde your copy now, just click here!

Blog Tour: Review of The Happiest Ever After by Milly Johnson

 

It is my stop on the blog tour for the Amazing new book from Milly Johnson today! Here's what it's all about: 

Polly Potter is surviving, not thriving. She used to love her job as a business consultant, turning around businesses that were on their uppers – until her mentor died and her new boss decided to make her life hell. She used to love her partner Chris – until he cheated on her, and now she can’t forget. The only place where her life is working is on the pages of the novel she is writing – there she can recreate herself as a feistier, bolder, more successful version of herself – as the fictional Sabrina Anderson.

But what if it was possible to start over again? To leave everything behind, forget all that went before, and live the life you’d always dreamed of?

That’s how Polly finds herself as Sabrina, living at the heart of a noisy Italian family restaurant by the sea. Run by Teddy, the charming son of her new landlady Marielle, it has potential, if only a rival restaurant is stopped from moving in next door. Sabrina can’t remember her life as Polly, but she knows she is living a different life from the one she used to live.

But what if her new life could give her her happiest ever after…?

Review: I warmed to the main character Polly Potter straight away when I picked this book up. Like many Milly Johnson characters, she is hard done by (especially by men) but very very easy to relate to. However I did not expect the twists and turns of this story. It started out as a classic Milly novel with Polly trying her best to overcome the shit men who surround her and make her life as happy as it can possibly be. This involves a little deception and a lot of self-control, as well as a couple of awesome females in her office, then the books veers suddenly off in another direction and oh boy are you in for a treat?! This became part comeback tale and part mystery and I could not put it down. 

Polly really was delightful to spend the course of the novel with. As well as the fact that you find yourself rooting for her, she just feels like a classic Milly Johnson character that we all know and love and so there’s such a sense of familiarity with her. I really wanted her to live the life that she created for Sabrina and she genuinely does not have a bad bone in her body so you just can’t help but get behind her. Thankfully she does have a couple of other women looking out for her. Her new landlady is wonderful and we get to see a glimpse of her story as the book progresses as well and then Polly’s deskmate and head of HR also really do have her back and as a reader you are glad that they are there. 

Milly Johnson always does such a great job of writing a villain you love to hate so that when they get their comeuppance you can rejoice and cheer on those moments along the reading journey. The villains in this book are truly, truly horrible. They are so well-written you almost want to jump into the pages and warn Polly about them before she even comes face to face with them. There are quite a few baddies to boo along the way but they don’t take away from the happiness you feel as you unravel Polly’s tale. I know I’ve mentioned quite a few times that this feels like a classic Milly Johnson novel and that’s one of the things I liked best about it but that’s just the genius of it. If you love a Milly book then you know you’re in for a treat right from the word go, but if you’re reading this review trying to decide whether to read it or not then you can be reassured that this is indicative of this author’s work and you know you’re going to have a good time and you’ve made the right choice!

To order your copy now just click here!

Guest Review: Christmas at the Highland Flower Shop by Lucy Coleman

Four months. One impossible task. It's time to save Christmas at The Highland Flower Shop...

Bella Reed has worked at The Highland Flower Shop ever since she left college and now her Aunt Jane has handed the keys and the lease over to her. With the business under her reign, Bella is ready to hit the ground running - until she's dealt a massive blow. They're being evicted.

When dashing businessman Maverick McIntyre turns up in Fort William, Bella discovers the reason they're being kicked out. He has no intention of honouring a ridiculous deal his father made many years ago.

As Maverick and Bella lock horns, they both begin to see different sides to one another and before long the two strike up the most unexpected of friendships. Bella knows she has to keep business separate, but when her head and her heart are saying two different things, life starts to get complicated.

Review: Although Lucy Coleman is a prolific author, I have somehow read only a few of her books. This one caught my eye immediately, with its bright wintry cover and subject matter of a Christmas romance in the highlands of Scotland. The book is set in the Highland Flower Shop, which is located in Fort William, a town sitting at the foot of Ben Nevis.

The story concerns Bella Reed, who has suddenly become the owner of the flower shop where she worked for her aunt for many years. As well as the challenge of becoming responsible for the business and its staff, Bella is faced with the shocking discovery that the building they lease is being sold and, unless an alternative solution can be found, they are going to need to find new premises. She must deal with Maverick McIntyre, son of the man who set up her aunt’s lease, but he is a hard businessman, and the pair don’t hit it off. However, after a few meetings, Bella and Maverick begin to warm to each other, which makes life hard for both of them as they have to remember that business is business while their hearts are telling them otherwise.

I very much enjoyed this gentle Christmas romance. The story has a wonderful setting and some lovely, warm characters. I thought Bella was a remarkably strong business woman, given her age and lack of experience in taking responsibility for running things, and I was cheering her on all the way. I was glad that she was faced with an adversary who wasn’t quite as gruff as he appeared; in fact, he was a perfect gentleman and very handsome with it. I think this makes a marvellous book to read this Christmas, and it would make a perfect gift for readers who enjoy romantic fiction.

To order your copy now, just click here!

Review: The Burnout by Sophie Kinsella

 Discover the joy that awaits when you set yourself free...

Sasha is well and truly over it all: work (all-consuming), friendships (on the back burner), sex-life (non-existent). Sasha has hit a brick wall (literally).

Armed with good intentions to drink kale smoothies, try yoga and find solitude, she heads to the Devon resort she loved as a child. But it's off-season, the hotel is falling apart and now she has to share the beach with someone else: a grumpy, stressed-out guy called Finn. How can she commune with nature when he's sitting on a rock, watching her? Especially when they don't agree on burnout cures. (Sasha: manifesting, wild swimming, secret chocolate bars; Finn: drinking whisky.)

But when curious messages start appearing on the beach, Sasha and Finn are forced to begin talking - about everything. What's the mystery? Why are they both burned out? What exactly is 'manifesting', anyway?

They might discover that they have more in common than they think...

Review: I’m not going to lie, the start of this book where we meet Sasha and experience her burnout did have me a little stressed out. I think I just related to her so much that my heart rate went up and I was a little short of breath because each and every email and interaction that she experienced, I experienced for her as well and I could just empathise with the way she was feeling. So if you’ve ever felt somewhat overwhelmed at work or felt like there weren’t enough people to make doing your job possible then this book is most definitely for you!

This book isn’t all about burnout though. This book has some classic Sophie Kinsella elements that we know and love. As already mentioned, Sasha is extremely relatable and easy to get along with. I love the fact that she can be silly and serious all at the same time but she pretends that she has it all together because that’s what society expects of women her age. But then there’s this massive nostalgia element for her as well as she heads to the holiday resort she went to as a child for some much needed R and R. 

I enjoyed travelling to an ‘off season’ British holiday resort with Sasha. It was a great location for this story because it really does put her and her needs at the forefront. There is no sunshine and holiday makers to distract her and we don’t have to imagine packed beaches. In fact the opposite meant that you could clear your mind with Sasha looking at the waves, feeling the cold sand and the sweeping winds. I really enjoyed the fact that Sahsha got to rediscover this setting through very different eyes and in a very different way to how she went there as a child. 

Then we do have to have the romance aspect of a Sophie Kinsella romcom. Finn is a great antidote to Sasha’s hopefulness. They are equally burned out (or so they think) and so they have this in common but don’t seem to be able to find any other common ground until a mystery from their past starts to become prevalent in their present, particularly through mysterious messages on the beach. I liked Finn because he was honest and I think that is a rarity these days. I also loved the rest of the cast of the novel, the hotel staff, the Devon locals and of course Sasha’s mum-they were great antidotes when things in Sasah’s world start to get a bit dark. 

I really enjoyed this novel, it felt very classic Sophie Kinsella and I would definitely recommend cosying up with it this autumn and being whisked away to a Devonshire beach for some therapy of your own! 

To order your copy now, just click here!

Review: More Confessions of a Forty Something F**K Up

 There is no magical land you finally arrive at where everything is figured out, fixed and sorted. Life, like us, is a sum of moving parts, and if we’re lucky, we get to keep f**king up, figuring it out and laughing in the face of it all.

Nell’s back. Her life still isn’t going to plan. And she’s still asking the big questions and getting none of the answers. Like, for example:

1. Why is falling in love so easy, but staying in love so hard?

2. What do you do when your friendships are put to the ultimate test?

3. Can we ever really live in the moment and leave the past behind?

4. When everything goes tits up, do you fall apart or jump on a plane to LA with Cricket (an eighty-something widow and your BFF)?

5. And when all else fails, will celebrity-scented candles, smashed avocados and Instagram filters save us?*

In this hilarious, un-put-downable follow-up to the bestselling Confessions of a Forty-Something F##k Up, now the basis for the major TV series, Not Dead Yet, there are laugh-out-loud lessons to be learned, truths to be told, adventures to go on and joys to discover.

But first, Nell has some more confessions . . .

*#onlyjoking #sortof #LOL

Review: It was great to be back in Nell’s world again after having LOVED Confessions a couple of years ago, but a little different to be reading a sequel to a book almost directly after having watched the TV adaptation of the first book, I kept having to bring my head back to ‘book Nell’ world and not what I had just watched on the small screen. 

I love that this author heard my pleas and wrote a follow up to catch up with all these characters, especially Nell and especially these characters post-covd. I like the way Covid was mentioned as something that had happened and changed the lives of the characters but it wasn;’t something that was the main focus of the book and I don’t think it pulled me away from this imaginary world and into the real world too much. I think this author found a nice balance of keeping it real for the integrity of the characters and being fictional enough to be escapism. 

Of course Nell has grown older and slightly wiser but she is still getting the wrong end of the stick and still flailing around trying to conform to normality when she is just too unique of a person to have a ‘standard’ life. I sometimes wished I could go into the book and tell her to just go her own way and do her own thing. Luckily for Nell she has the wonderful Cricket who helps keep her weird. Her other friends are wonderful and I like that we get to catch up with them and where they have been too but they do have rather ‘normal’ lives. Cricket does her own thing and helps to show Nell that we don;’t all have to be the same and not to really care what other people think which I adore about her. 

I love the fact that Alexandra Potter never fails to make me laugh. There are some serious issues tackled in this book and yet there’s a great balance between that and Nell messing up for comic value. I laughed a lot, I cried a little, I worried a bit, but overall I really enjoyed being back in Nell’s world and seeing that a happy ending isn’t really the end, a bit like Grease, it’s only the beginning.

To order your copy now, click here!

Review: An Invitation to Seashell Bay by Bella Osborne

 One ambitious businesswoman.

One irresponsible heir.

A deal that will turn both their lives upside down…

To grow her craft business, Nancy is in desperate need of two things: help and money. So when a potential investor she’s looking to impress recommends an assistant, she jumps at the chance to secure both.

Freddy Astley-Davenport is a notorious playboy with zero work experience. He’s poised to inherit his family’s estate in sunny Seashell Bay – but only if he can hold down a job for six months first. His plan is to take the assistant role in name only, then do the least work he possibly can.

Nancy has other ideas, though, and the pair butt heads from day one. However, as they argue, sparks begin to fly, and they soon discover exactly why opposites attract…

Review: this was such a lovely story. I read part 1 as a standalone and then listened to the rest of the book on audiobook. I loved getting to meet Nancy and Alice in part 1. Both strong independent women who are finding their way in the world. I loved the fact that Nancy had built up her own business and was doing everything in her power to ensure that it continued to thrive. Alice is similarly trying to be as independent as possible by taking a job in a school and moving to london. They are by no means the best of friends but their relationship is important especially in a world that can be as lonely as the one we live in!

Then along comes a couple of men to throw spanners into the works. We have dad from Alice’s school Dom and then we have Freddy. Freddy is the perfect antidote to Nancy's continuous hard work and diligence. He’s a playboy with no real understanding of the real world but naturally this makes him the perfect person to be her personal assistant. Freddy is such a fin character to read and you know whenever he enters a scene, there’s going to be humour and perhaps chaos!

Then the titular invitation to seasell bay happens and we get to explore a whole new world outside of London. We get a bit of background as to why Freddy is the way he is and in addition, a deeper understanding of Nancy’s drive. We discover the secrets that Alice has been hiding and we also get to meet a peacock named Percy! It was wonderful to see the world that Freddy comes from and see his family and why they are the way they are, it made him seem to have much more humour and as we get deeper into the novel it's hard not to fall in love with all these characters and really genuinely care about what happens to them. 

I so enjoyed my journey to seashell bay, it was funny and real and had a great deal of warmth and heart about it. I really recommend the latest Bella Osborne, I’m sure you will enjoy it as much as I did!

To order your copy now, just click here!

Review: Love Me Do by Lindsey Kelk

 She’s written the perfect romance . . . for someone else

Greetings card copywriter Phoebe Chapman knows a good romantic line or two – and it makes her a fantastic Cupid.

So when she lands in the Hollywood Hills – a place that proves film stars, golden beaches and secret waterfalls don’t just exist in the movies – she can’t resist playing matchmaker for her handsome neighbour, carpenter Ren.

But you can’t hide from love in La La Land.

And isn’t there something a little bit hot about Ren, her own leading man next door?

Review: Review: This book was so much fun from start to finish. If you know me you’ll know that I will read anything Lindsey Kelk writes and will recommend her books until the cows come home but this was a great standalone with all the feels and a great way to travel to LA without having to endure that hellishly long flight! I loved getting to meet Phoebe because she is a character who is easy to relate to. She has her flaws and she has a past btu she has come to LA for a break from her life and it was great sharing her adventure. Her sister is a fun character too and I enjoyed the ying and yang of their relationship and then her sister’s neighbour Ren is a great addition to the character line-up. They have a wonderful meet cute and you just know from their meeting that Ren is going to add quite the intrigue to the novel. 

My favourite character though has to be Bel. If you love the I heart series and you love the way Jenny and Angela meet and she sorts Angela out with the food and the shopping, this is the same but on the west coast. Bel is a personal trainer with every side hustle under the sun going on because of course she is an actress too and so you just know that she and Phoebe are going to get up to no good. The fact that she takes Phoebe out to one of the author's favourite restaurants to begin with really sets the tone for their relationship. Then we have glamorous retired actress Myrna. She is really something else. To begin with she gave me Sunset Boulevard vibes but then she also has a little bit of Elizabeth Taylor meets Moira Rose about her. Her meet cute with phoebe also includes fences like Ren’s does so there’s a definite theme going on here. 

I loved all the locations I got to travel to with phoebe and her new friends, it really was a great experience to be had through the pages of the book. Some of the locations I could picture because I have been there and others I felt like I had because they are described so vividly through Phoebe’s eyes-it was a lot of fun. And then we have the perfect balance of humour and romance that Lindsey Kelk always seems to manage to capture in her books. She never fails to make me laugh out loud with her funny one liners and the situations she puts her characters in. I mean “and do you know they don’t sell Birds Eye potato waffles in America? No wonder there’s so much political unrest.” How could you not laugh at that? I loved this book. You will laugh, you will go to Disneyland, you will be willing some of these characters to get it on already-what more do you want?

To order your copy now, just click here!

Review: A Song of You and Me by Mike Gayle

 Helen and Ben parted as heartbroken 18-year-olds and went their very separate ways.

Twenty years later, mother-of-two-teenagers Helen is still in Manchester, a part-time primary teacher, stunned by the behaviour of her love-rat husband. In an old T shirt and scruffy jeans, she feels at the lowest point in her life.

And suddenly, impossibly, Ben is standing on her doorstep. Tired maybe, lonely even, but clearly still the world-famous, LA-based multi-millionaire rockstar he has become.

Can you ever go back?

For Helen and Ben, so much has happened in the years between. But just to sit in the kitchen for a while and talk - that would be nice.

Before the world comes crashing in.

Review: This is easily one of my top ten books of the year-I loved it. If you liked Daisy Jones and the Six or if you are a fan of Paige Toon’s Johnny Jefferson books, then you will absolutely love this one! I was hooked into Ben and Helen’s story from the start. I loved meeting Helen. She is trying her absolute best to be there for her kids and do the right thing by them. Like a lot of parents with children who are about to go off to university though, she is struggling with her own sense of identity. She has a fabulous best friend and a mum who help to build her up and amplify her voice but she has an ex-husband who is trying to undo all of the good work that she has done.

Then we have Ben. Ben is a celebrity, and it is always fun to read about celebrities in novels. I think they must be so much fun to write because you can make them have the most extravagant life style and do the most unthinkable things and Ben really does seem to have it all-on the surface. Underneath all of that, Ben is just like you and me and is struggling just as much with his sense of identity as Helen is. I love the idea that he is attempting to come back to his roots in this book in a sense but only subconsciously, consciously he has made a decision to try and escape it all and I think that was incredibly brave of him.

This book deals with the celebrity lifestyle, yes, but it also covers issues that you and I face in our everyday lives and, most importantly, it deals with mental health in men, a bit of a buzz topic right now but something that still isn’t talked about as openly as it should be. I love the way Mike Gayle writes characters of all genders, but I’m always interested to read his male characters and hear certain love stories from their point of view. I couldn’t put this book down. It made me laugh, it made me cry and it will definitely stay with me for a long time-highly recommend!

To order your copy now just click here!

Blog Tour: Book Review Maybe Tomorrow by Penny Parks

 

Today is my stop on the blog tour for Maybe Tomorrow by Penny Parks. The book is out now and you can click here to order your copy! Don't forget to check out the other stops on the tour for more exclusive content and reviews. 

Here's what it's all about: 

What a difference a year could make…
 
Jamie Matson had once enjoyed a wonderful life working alongside her best friend, organising adventures for single-parent families, and her son Bo’s artistic flair a source of pride rather than concern.
 
She hadn’t been prepared to lose her business, her home, and her friend. Not all in one dreadful year. And now she finds herself reeling - rebuilding her world, with Bo at its heart - swallowing her pride and asking for help.
 
Jamie certainly hadn’t expected to find such hope and camaraderie in the queue at her local Food Bank - thrown together with an unlikely and colourful group of people - all of them struggling to get by, yet still determined to reclaim their lost careers and agency over their lives. Even if just choosing their own groceries again is a goal they can all share.
 
As their friendships flourish, they quickly find it’s easier to be objective about each other than about themselves, and decide that - when you’re all out of options - it’s okay to bend the rules a little and create your own.

Review: I feel like this book is the one that no one is writing. This book is real life. This book reflects what happened so quickly and so uncontrollably to so many people as a result of everything that happened in 2020. And yet it is not a depressing book, it is not a book that will bring you down and it doesn’t focus on 2020 it’s the aftermath. This book is uplifting and hopeful and shows what human kindness, hope and spirit can look like. I am a huge fan of this book and I will be pushing it on everyone!

I loved getting to meet Jamie and Bo, hear their story and see Jamie fight so hard to give her son the life he deserves. Jamie and Bo are a single parent family suffering at the hands of the rental market, the minimum wage job market and then the judgement rather than help that they receive from Bo’s school. Jamie had it all but unfortunately a travel company couldn’t survive what happened in 2020 and so she finds herself in this position. She is such a relatable character because she sees how unfair and unjust the world is, especially her little world and yet she doesn’t complain about it because she knows that she has to play the game just to survive. Bo is such a great kid but is so let down by his school. He also suffers from chronic asthma which I also don’t think is talked about enough in books but it is something that affects the lives of so many children like Bo. 

Bo’s school is a whole other kettle of fish.I really hope that Penny Parks didn’t write this school from first hand experience because the way that school treats Bo and Jamie is so bad and does not follow the duty of care that schools have. They are also certainly not an inclusive school and I felt so bad about the way they treated poor Bo-I would have loved to have taught a child as thoughtful as he was! Bo is so great and is the antidote to all the negativity in their world. He is artistic and funny and asks all the questions that people are thinking but are too afraid to ask-I loved that about him. 

There is a whole cast of characters who are living similar lives to Jamie and Bo and getting along with their lives regardless because they have to. I thought that Jamie’s ‘Village” was well-selected and well-written because everyone who reads this will be able to find someone they can relate to and someone they can empathise with. I can’t go into too much detail about the supporting cast of this novel because to do so would definitely involve spoilers! I was angry at points reading this book but I was also hopeful and joyful and I just loved seeing these characters triumph in the face of adversity. I really loved this book and I hope everyone picks it up because I know you will relate to it as much as I did!