Review: The Lottery Winner Widows Club

Meet The Lottery Winner Widows Club - a fabulous, filthy-rich sisterhood whose husbands all hit the jackpot . . . and then mysteriously dropped dead.

Paula is having a surreal week. Having just lost her husband, John, in a freak car accident, she's utterly gobsmacked when, two days later, she wins the lottery - with the ticket he bought.

Just as she thinks things can't get crazier, Paula is approached by a tight-knit trio of glamorous women - also jackpot winners - with dead husbands, suspiciously large bank accounts . . . and a very specific interest in Paula.

They tell her that they've been where she is now. That grief looks good on her. That freedom does, too. There's just one problem: Paula didn't kill her husband. She loved him, of course.

But something about their world - lavish, secretive, thrilling - is hard to resist. And when word of Paula's jackpot win spreads and others come sniffing around for a share, she's faced with the ultimate choice: hold onto her old life, or accept help from her new friends, whose methods are a little more . . . unconventional.

Review: I went into The Lottery Winner Widows Club already a fan of Elly Vine’s books written under her other name, Lucy Vine, so I was really curious to see what she’d do differently here. And it definitely is different-darker, sharper, and with a delicious edge that makes it clear why she chose to publish under another name. This isn’t your typical rom-com territory; it leans much more into suspense and secrets, and I was hooked by the premise alone.

The story centres primarily around Paula, with the other three women forming the rest of the lottery-winning widows’ group around her-and what a group they are. All four are lottery winners and all are widows, which immediately gives the book that slightly sinister, “what really happened?” energy. If you loved The Housemaid (or its film adaptation), this one will absolutely be for you. I really enjoyed getting to know Paula first and then gradually peeling back the layers of the other women in the club. Watching their friendships unfold was such a highlight-they know how to have a fabulous time, but they’re also fiercely protective of one another. There’s real loyalty there, even if everything isn’t quite as glossy as it first appears.

What really makes this book shine is the underlying message: you truly never know what’s going on behind closed doors. Everyone has secrets, and this novel peels them back layer by layer in such a satisfying way. And let’s just say… revenge is most definitely a dish best served cold here. It’s sharp, entertaining, and packed with twists-a bold and intriguing departure from the author’s previous work that I thoroughly enjoyed.

To order your copy now, just click here!

Blog Tour: Review of The Book Lovers' Retreat by Heidi Swain

Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Book Lovers' Retreat by Heidi Swain. I have a review for you today and the book just came out on Thursday so you can order it by clicking here. Don't forget to check out the other stops on the tour for more reviews and other content. Here's what this new novel is all about:

One long summer. One perfect setting. Can fiction inspire real life…?
 
Sometimes a book grabs you by the heart and grows to mean everything to you. That’s what Hope Falls is to friends Emily, Rachel and Tori. So, when they get the chance to spend a whole summer at the cottage in Lakeside where the film adaptation was located, they know it is going to be the holiday of a lifetime.

Spending six weeks away will give them a chance to re-evaluate their life choices. For Emily to decide which way her career will go – the safe route, or the more risky creative option? And for Rachel to decide whether to move in with her partner Jeremy. Then Tori has to drop out at the last moment, and her space is offered to another Hope Falls afficionado, Alex. 

But when Alex turns out not to be who they expected, the holiday takes an unforeseen turn. And as the summer develops, so does their friendship. Could this be where they uncover their future selves, find love in all its forms and where their lives will change course forever…?

Review: A book about book lovers set in the lake district? Yes please! Even before I knew the setting of this one I knew it was going to be special. Heidi Swain is an autobuy author for me but I was extra excited about this book because this is her first standalone. Her Wynbridge series and her Nightingale Square series as well as her Wynmouth series all tie in together in some way and so I was excited what she would do with all new characters, a new setting and it doesn’;t hurt that one of those characters was named after me!

I loved getting to meet Emily, Rachel, Tori and Alex. They were all such well-rounded characters in themselves, I really hope we get to hear more from them in the future. I need a spin off to find out what happens next for Tori for sure! Emily is our main character and so we get to find out about her thoughts and feelings about her retreat as things progress and we get to see the other characters through her eyes too. Her best friends are Rachel and Tori and I had a special connection with Rachel because she is a tired teacher just starting her summer holidays. I will admit that I was jealous because it was already summer for her and just Easter holidays for me. Heidi always writes about people who work in education so well and as an educator I always appreciate that!

Tori was a really interesting character for me because I think she is the character who is hardest to empathise with because she comes from money. She reminded me a little of Sophie Kinsella’s Becky Bloomwood because she might like to spend but she always has her friends' best interests at heart. Then the wildcard in the group is Alex. Part of the story is getting to know Alex and finding out how this new person adds to the dynamic and mixes things up with the plot of the book. Now the premise behind this onel, going away for the summer to retrace the steps of a famous book and its movie adaptation might sound a little on the slow side but believe me there is plenty of action in this book, plenty to laugh at and plenty to keep you turning the pages.

The best thing about this book is that it takes our characters out of their routine, out of their comfort zones and places them somewhere with no wifi, somewhere that demands introspection and reflection and what better place to do that than the lake district? I adored the setting. It made for some wild weather, some unpredictable moments and of course some beautiful evernings around a fire with a glass of wine. I defy anyone to pick up this book and not come away wanting to jump right into the pages and snuggle up with their own book or watch a movie under a cosy blanket-such hygge vibes! I loved the story, I loved the characters and most of all I loved the setting. I flew through this latest release from Heidi Swain and I know you’re going to love it too!

To order your copy now, just click here!

Review: The Christmas Wish by Lindsey Kelk

 Newly single lawyer Gwen Baker is hoping that a family Christmas – countryside, a mountain of food and festive films –

will salve the sting of her career hanging by a thread and her heart being trampled on. Because everyone else has their life sorted: even Dev, her boy-next-door crush, is now a tall, dark and handsome stranger with a fiancée. She can’t help wishing her future was clearer.

Then Gwen wakes up to discover it’s Christmas day all over again. Like Groundhog Day but with turkey. And family arguments. On repeat.

As she figures out how to escape her own particular Christmas hell, Dev is the one bright spot. He might be all grown-up but underneath he’s just as kind and funny as she remembers.

Maybe, just maybe, her heart can be mended after all.

But how do you fall in love with someone who can’t remember you from one day to the next?

Review: A new Lindsey Kelk book is always a treat but when it is a new Lindsey Kelk book set at Christmas following the pattern of one of my favourite films and it’s a beautiful, strokable hardback edition, that is my idea of heaven right there. This book has Kelk’s usual mix of heart and humour, real life with absurd things going wrong that you know this author has probably experienced at one time or another. You don’t have to have read any of Lindsey’s other books to enjoy this one though. Whether you are new to this author or have read all of her books multiple times, this one is for you.

Gwen is a great character to spend this book with because she is wonderfully imperfect and living in the real world like all of us. She is having a moment, an existential crisis, a journey of self-discovery and she is doing this while she is ‘home for the holidays’ because that’s the perfect time for this to happen. When I describe her in this way I know I have already sold you on this but when I add in the fact that she gets to spend Christmas day over and over and over again like Groundhog Day but she is Billy Murray, you know things can only get better. I loved going on this journey with her and seeing her grow and her mindset change over the course of the novel.

What is wonderful about living the same day over and over again is that we also get to see more of our supporting cast again and again. Gwen gets to know her long suffering mum and her slightly emotionally repressed dad a lot better over the course of the book and so we do too. It was a real treat to be disc covering these characters through the main character and I love this as a writing choice on the part of this author. We have cousin Manny and of course the matriarch of the family-Nan. They were great characters and provided some real comedy moments too.

Of course, this is a romcom and we have former crush and boy next door Dev to get to know in this novel too. The wonderful thing about Dev though, is that is isn’t always around. Because he is the boy next door and he doesn’t know that Gwen is living Christmas again and again, we get to know him again and again. He doesn’t feature in every Christmas day and so Gwen is just free to do her own thing whilst he is doing his. I loved this balance and this old friendship that the two have. It made for more ‘will they, won’t they’ moments as well as keeping the book about Gwen and not just her search for someone to ‘complete’ her.

There were moments where I laughed out loud, several of them, I also read a few chapters of this in audiobook form and so I can highly recommend that narration as well as the beautiful hardback. I think there really is something in here for everyone. It is a Christmas book but I think it would work as a funny read to let you escape at any time of year. I loved it and I think you will too!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Guest Review: Christmas in Paris by Tilly Tennant

As the snow flutters down on the Eiffel Tower and fairy lights sparkle on the pavement cafés of Paris, meet the girl determined not to fall in love in the most romantic city in the world…

When Brooke arrives in Paris at Christmas, it feels like the perfect place to escape after being dumped by her long-term boyfriend. And while her head might be turned by the romance of couples strolling arm in arm along the riverbank, and the air scented with chocolat chaud, her heart remains firmly under lock and key – this trip is going to be about her.

Brooke might be able to resist the charms of one persuasive Frenchman who takes her to some of Paris’s most romantic spots, but when a chance encounter leads her to green-eyed Armand with his dark wavy hair and warm smile, she is annoyed to feel her heart skip a beat…

Still, what’s the harm of a holiday romance with no strings attached? Brooke is sure she can play it cool. But when Armand opens his heart to her in a candlelit restaurant and kisses her at the top of the Eiffel Tower, she throws caution to the wind. Armand isn’t her ex – and doesn’t she deserve a second chance at love?

But when Armand begins to blow hot and cold, she wonders if she has been taken for a fool. Why does he never answer his phone? Who is the mysterious tall blonde French woman who always seems to be watching Brooke? And when Armand leaves Paris without warning as Christmas Eve approaches, should Brooke try and find out more about the stranger she has found herself falling for?

Review: As other fans of her books will no doubt agree, Tilly Tennant writes great Christmas stories. The pull of the festive season in Paris coupled with the promise of romance from the wonderful cover had me excited to read her latest Christmas offering.

The story focuses on Brooke and her best friend and business partner, Felicity. Brooke is heart-broken after being dumped by her long-time boyfriend and both girls hope that a month in Paris selling their custom-made jewellery and fabric products at the Christmas markets may help her recover. The one thing that Brooke is adamant about is that she is not going to succumb to the charms of any Frenchmen, no matter how romantic the setting. However, she didn’t count on a chance meeting with the dashingly handsome Armand. Trying to keep their relationship low key doesn’t work, and soon she is falling in love. However, Brooke suddenly finds herself in the middle of a mystery, and at the same time Armand begins to behave in a strange way and odd things happen to herself and Felicity. She is left wondering if she has been foolish to let a man into her heart or if she should continue to find out more about him.

This is a lovely Christmassy story, with romance and mystery mixed in with the sparkling lights and tinsel, set against the backdrop of this famously glamorous city. The reader is taken on a tour of the sights and to many exotic locations, the writing so powerful that the sounds and smells of Paris came floating right off the page. I loved that there was an element of intrigue built into the story, taking it to a new level, with danger lurking in the background of the festivities. The central characters in the story are interesting and well developed. I particularly liked Felicity with her bold, no-nonsense attitude while being fiercely protective of her friend. Of course, who could not be attracted to Armand, a courteous and handsome companion with whom to stroll the streets of Paris. I would recommend this as a book which should definitely join the list to read this Christmas.

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Guest Review: Happy Endings at Mermaids Point by Sarah Bennett

Music sensation Aurora Storm finally has her career back on track, but then she’s caught up in a media storm. Desperate to distract from the story, she enlists the one man she trusts to pretend to be her boyfriend.

Meanwhile, in the small seaside village of Mermaids Point, Nick Morgan never expected to see Aurora again. When she calls out of the blue needing his help, he agrees at once. It feels like she’s back in his life for a reason, and he’s determined to make the most of it.

Aurora joins Nick and the rest of his family for their festive celebrations and, as the snow falls, Aurora finds herself caught up in the romance of Christmas. But having tasted worldwide fame, can she ever be content with village life?

Two weeks is all Nick has to prove to Aurora that there’s a happy ending for them both in Mermaids Point.

Review: This is the fifth, and last, book in this series set in the little seaside town of Mermaids Point. I have enjoyed this series of stories which centres on two of the families living in the town, with newcomers in each addition. Every book in the series has had a particularly pretty, colourful cover depicting the story within, this one showing a snowy Christmas scene. 

In this story, the reader is treated to the return of a familiar face from the first book in the series, singer Aurora Storm. She has been enjoying huge popularity, but is suddenly involved in a scandal whipped up by the media. Remembering a previous occasion when she sought shelter in the town, she contacts her friend Nick Morgan who agrees to help her. What starts out as a pretend romance between Aurora and Nick for the world to see quickly becomes real. As she becomes involved in family life and Christmas preparations in the town, Aurora wonders whether she might enjoy life in the slow lane after becoming jaded with the giddy world she has been living in.  

I found this a compelling story and quickly became absorbed in the lives of the characters. It was so well written that I found myself worrying what was going to happen to Aurora and what would be revealed next in the media with potential to hurt her further. She was very lucky to know such a sympathetic and understanding person as the handsome Nick. It was heart-warming to see the community rally around to help in any way they could; Mermaids Point certainly comes over as a place where residents look after each other and anyone would want to live. It has been wonderful reading all about the town and the people who live there. I can recommend the whole series. I am already looking forward to Sarah Bennet’s next book. 

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: Together Again by Milly Johnson

Sisters Jolene, Marsha and Annis have convened at their beautiful family home, Fox House, following the death of their mother, the tricky Eleanor Vamplew. Born seven years apart, the women are more strangers than sisters.

Jolene, the eldest, is a successful romantic novelist who writes about beautiful relationships even though her own marriage to the handsome and charming Warren is complicated.

Marsha, the neglected middle child, has put all of her energy into her work, hoping money will plug the gap in her life left by the man who broke her young heart.

Annis is the renegade, who left home aged sixteen and never returned, not even for the death of their beloved father Julian. Until now.

So when the sisters discover that their mother has left everything to Annis in her will, it undermines everything they thought they knew. Can saying their final goodbyes to Eleanor bring them together again?

Together, Again is the story of truths uncovered and lies exposed, of secrets told – and kept. It is a novel about sister helping sister to heal from childhood scars and finding in each other support, forgiveness, courage and love.

Review: Once I started this book, I was hooked and I could not put it down. I read this novel in 2 great big delicious chunks. This book is definitely on the darker side of what we come to expect from this author but with the darkness comes the light of love found in family and the love found in unexpected or forgotten ties. 

I loved getting to meet these three sisters. They come from this big house in a village but they are by no means the March sisters. Because of the fact that they were born seven years apart, they were basically each raised as only children and so their bond is essentially non-existent at the start of the book. The beauty of this novel is the fact that we get to go on this journey with them of rediscovering their family, rediscovering a bond that was incredibly tenuous to begin with and therefore rediscovering themselves in the process. 

The house itself feels like a side character in this book too and I think that the house is essential to what happens between these three women and also their memories of their mother Eleanor, who we do get to hear some opinions from via a letter being drip-fed to us throughout the book. The house is cold and unforgiving, it holds so many memories within but memories that are unique to each woman and those memories start to unfold as new ties and new warmth are made. 

I really like the fact that each of these women are self-sufficient. They don’t need to be there for a place to stay, the thing that unites them is grief but they each have their own lives to lead. These are strong women who have made their own way and their won fortunes and at no point was I worried about their integrity because of that. I was worried about these women though and I think that sympathy for them definitely powered me to read more and carry on turning the pages in the hope that they would see the light. 

In true Milly Johnson style we have some particularly shitty male characters we have to deal with as well (of course) and the men in this book, on the whole are real pieces of work. Each woman has a man in their past or present that is not good news and so their new bonds definitely help them to better deal with these men but Joelene’s home situation definitely does come with some care-warnings so check the blurb before you read this one. 

I loved getting to meet and getting to know Jolene, Marsha and Annis. I think these characters and this book will stay with me for a long time. I would love love love to read more from them and I think you will too!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Blog Tour: Review of The Reason by Catherine Bennetto

 

Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Reason by Catherine Bennetto. I have a review for you today but don't forget to stop by the other blogs on the tour for more reviews and exclusive content!

How much is the smile from the person you love worth to you?

 

Brooke’s life has derailed. Her social life and career have evaporated, her daughter is desperately unhappy and being bullied at school, and, for a 43-year-old, she probably spends way too many weekends at her parent’s. But the reason for all this is no mystery. A year and a half ago, Brooke’s husband died.

 

But Brooke does have one secret. Her husband’s death, the worst thing that has ever happened to her, has made her unbelievably rich.

 

Despite her despair, Brooke suddenly realises she has the power to make her daughter’s life, and the world a little brighter.

Review: A book about a mother and her teenage daughter getting ready to start a new school that’s released in autumn? Even the blurb alone gives me Gilmore Girl vibes and the relationship between Brooke and Hannah made sure that continued throughout the novel. 

Brooke is really struggling with grief and her daughter is too and so this book takes us on a journey of Brooke trying to help her daughter through her own trauma and grief responses whilst ignoring her own and the allout from that. I adored the love that Brooke has for her daughter, it is of course reciprocated, but the lengths that Brooke will go to to ensure that Hannah has a reason to smile and is living the best life possible is just wonderful to read about. 

I really liked getting to meet Hannah and discover more about what makes her tick. She is such a mature person and she really does know herself and what she wants. It’s been a while since I read a ‘secondary’ character who is so well rounded and who has stayed with me since finishing the book. Like a lot of children in their last year at school she has some friendship issues but her school is just so wholly unsupportive and clearly thinks it’s following policy when it really isn’t, it made me very very angry. 

Catherine Bennetto never fails to make me laugh with her writing, she has such a great sense of humour that she imparts on her characters. I laughed at so any points during the opening of this story and then there’s a moment where Brooke is shopping for a new bed that had me guffawing as I was reading it! The humour and the heart in this book is a great balance. 

So much of this book also involves family. Found family, family it’s easy to get along with and family it’s not so easy to get along with but there’s that bond that drives the whole thing and I really enjoyed exploring how different the idea of family can look to the same person in different contexts. I really enjoyed reading this book, it was so easy to come back to it the next day and I was always excited to pick it up. If you’re a GIlmore Girls fan, or if you’re not, I highly recommend No Reason by Catherine Bennetto.

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: Girl Friends by Holly Bourne

 "Men see women in two separate categories. There are the women they sleep with, and the women they fall in love with. And they will treat you differently based on that."

From the day they first meet as teenagers Fern and Jessica are best friends. Despite their differences, they are there for each other throughout everything, navigating the difficulties of growing up and fitting in. That is, until Jessica crosses a line that Fern can't forgive.

But now, more than ten years later, Jessica has unexpectedly reappeared in Fern's life.

A lot has changed for them both - but can their relationship be different now they are older? Is it possible for either of them to rewrite the role that they have been cast in? Or will their shared history ultimately be doomed to repeat itself?

Set between the present day and the past, GIRL FRIENDS is a blisteringly funny and devastating novel: both a joyful celebration of female friendship and a razor-sharp look at the damage we can all cause to those we claim to love the most.

Review: I adored Holly Bourne’s last adult novel but I think I loved this one even more. You know when you want to stop doing other things or avoid other commitments in life because you want to stay home and read your book? Thatv was this book!

I think the main reason I connected with this book so much is because I related to it so hard. The main character in this book is one year younger than me and would have been rhe year below me at school so we had very similar experiences during our school years and beyond and just everything she was going through I could recognise and if it wasn’t happening directly to me the same way as it was to Fern, then I knew someone that it did happen to. I was quoting bits of the book outloud to friends and family as I was reading because I just felt like it was written about my own formative school years!

Fern is a great character to get to spend this book with because she is so beautifully imperfect, I feel like anyone could relate to her. She has her own mental health issues and her own self-esteem issues and there will definitely be millions of readers out there who can empathise with her as well as sympathies with her situation. She has a great career and a great relationship but she has this imposter syndrome because she still feels like the self that she was when she was a teenager. 

And then we have Jessica. She comes back into the picture and we know that this is not the most positive thing in the world but it takes until just about the very end of the book to find out why this is not such a positive thing. Jessica is wild and free and she seems to be good for Fern, in the beginning. I was always very anxious for Jessica, the choices that she made in the past and the choices that she makes in the current day thread of this story made me very concerned and I was always on the edge of my seat waiting for her to take things just one step too far. 

The structure of this story is also just perfect in every way. We flash back and forth between the present day storyline and the storyline of Ferns youth. Both timelines proceed in a chronological way but we switch back and forth just at the moment where we’re going to find out something juicy or see the consequences of someone's action. I think that is why this book gave me such anxiety as a reader, thankfully I read it over basically 2 days, because I was always worrying about what was going to happen next or what the fallout of something was going to be. I loved every minute of it though. 

The author's note at the end of this book really sums up why this book is important and why I connected with it so much. There are care warnings in that and at the start of the book so definitely have a look at this before picking this one up but if you’re ok with those then I highly recommend this book about growing up and friendship and having it all in the world that we live in today. Easily one of my top books of the year!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell

LONDON. June 2019: on the foreshore of the river Thames, a bag of bones is discovered. Human bones.

DCI Samuel Owusu is called to the scene and quickly sends the bag for forensic examination. The bones are those of a young woman, killed by a blow to the head many years ago.

Also inside the bag is a trail of clues which lead DCI Owusu back to a mansion in Chelsea where, nearly thirty years previously, three people lay dead in a kitchen, and a baby waited upstairs for someone to pick her up.

The clues point forward too to a brother and sister in Chicago searching for the only person who can make sense of their pasts.

Four deaths. An unsolved mystery. A family whose secrets can't stay buried for ever ...

Review: As always I am in awe of the way Lisa Jewell constructs her stories. The fact that this picks up so many different threads from The Family Upstairs and ties them all together just adds to the complexity of this writing and the impressive nature of both plots. Whilst you don’t need to have read The Family Upstairs before reading this sequel I would highly recommend doing so. The Family Upstairs is definitely Lisa’s creepiest and scairest novel yet and so its a great read but also you will get to know the characters featured in this novel, get inside their heads and just understand them on a deeper level as you embark on this new journey with them. 

This is such a great follow up novel to The Family upstairs because you have a lightness about the characters having been through what they went through in the previous book, they don;t have that to worry about any longer and yet it was such a huge part of their past and who they are today it is still always around. I found the previous novel very claustrophobic and  so the fact that we don;t have to be inside that house any longer with the inhabitants meant that this book felt different but it also opened up a whole world of possibilities in terms of what could happen and what could go wrong!

I listened to the audiobook for the second part of this novel and I’m glad in some ways that I made the choice to switch between ebook and audio because this audiobook is a whole cast production and so it meant it was easy to discern whose story we were following even if I had stopped in the middle of a chapter. However this book does jump around in time so it means you have to listen carefully to which time period you’re in and I sometimes got a little confused with which timeline I was following as I was listening. 

I loved getting back inside the head of Henry in this book because he is an extremely complex character and just so unpredictable he must have been great fun to write. It was also great to touch base with Lucy again. We opened the previous book with her and so I felt a really strong connection with her. Then we have a new character Rachel. It was so interesting to see how Rachel fitted into the plot and watch her story grow and develop. There are definite care warnings for sexual assault when it comes to Rachel’s story but I really connected with her as a character just as I did with Lucy in the first book. 

Then we have the mystery of the bones in the water and how they came to be. I was driven to find out who they were and how they came to be there but there were so many other threads being woven together, tied and untied that I almost forgot about them from time to time just trying to work out what was going on with Lucy, Henry and Rachel. I love the way Lisa Jewell does this to me. She has never failed to write a book that doesn’t keep me guessing and keeps me turning the pages and The Family Remains is no exception. I’m just sorry that I can’t go back in time and read the 2 books back to back not knowing what happens for the first time!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: A Wedding at Sanday Cove by Bella Osborne

 Escape to Sandy Cove, where the scent of summer and the sound of wedding bells is in the air!

Ella is in the business of making brides’ dreams come true with yards of white tulle, delicate lace and sparkly sequins.

But Ella’s own love life couldn’t be further from a fairy tale. Recently dumped by her boyfriend and with her best friend’s wedding only months away, Ella feels more alone than ever so she finally accepts her friends’ offers to set her up on a blind date.

But a mix up on the night throws her into the path of Kit, instead.

Kit is most definitely not the man she was supposed to meet, but he could end up changing her life in ways she never thought possible…

Review: This was such a great summer read from Bella Osborne. Iloved getting to meet Ella and her friends and see her drive for business and her drive to get her life back on track. Ella really shows us that we don’t have to be perfect and that everyone struggles but that we can all make something of ourselves if that’s what we want. She is a great character to spend this novel with, especially because she comes with an amazing group of ride or die friends!

I loved getting to meet Lucy in particular. She has a whole subplot of her own going on and I really hope we get to meet her again soon! Lucy is a lawyer and so we actually get to follow one of her cases through the novel. It dips inot all four parts of the book so we can get updates along the way. The ending of Lucy’s story verges on the crime/thriller novel and so I was glad to have her in the book as a bit of an antidote to the romance and wedding side of things!

Brittany is getting married and so we have that to contend with. There are the usual awful bridesmaids dresses and embarrassing relatives on the hen do but her wedding is what ties all of the parts of the book together and what brings these friends together for a mutual event/love/hate. I adored how she was such a lynchpin in the whole story. 

Of course there are a few love interests along the way for our girls, all of them complex and all of them interesting and fully developed characters in their own rights. No spoilers here but I was definitely so here for all of the drama that each and every romance throughout the book brought. 

I always love a Ball Osborne four part series but I really did enjoy this one. It had a little bit of everything and definitely had me hooked from the very first page!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: The Girls by Bella Osborne

 Four old friends. Thrown back together after forty years apart. What could possibly go wrong?

In the 1970s, The Girls were best friends sharing a house and good times: Zara the famous diva actor, Val the uptight solicitor, Jackie the wild child and Pauline the quirky introvert. Now they're in their twilight years, and Zara suggests that they live with her to support each other through old age.

Initially, being housemates again is just as much fun as in their heyday. But then Zara reveals the real reason she asked them to move in with her, and suddenly things take a sinister turn.

As the women confront their demons they come under the spotlight of the press, the police and an angry parrot. With their lives spiralling out of control can they save their friendships and each other?

Review: Another great read where we get to read about people who are over 30 and have seen some life, I am so here for it! This new side of a Bella Osborne novel is just wonderful. I love the way she explores some of the darker elements of life, those moments that we go through but not everyone talks about, and weaves them into her novels in an uplifting way!

The Girls is a group of four women who have known each other for forever but have fallen out of touch in recent years. When they come together for Zara’s big birthday party, against their better judgement, they reconnect and this is the jumping off point of the book. Zara is a classic diva, I can just imagine her as one of these old hollywood stars that they’ve made an E True Hollywood Story about. Jackie annoyed me to begin with, she really grated on me but she definitely grew on me over time. I think I related most to Val, trying to be the voice of reason and get everyone organised. I felt for her throughout the book since she seemed to be the only person to truly be able to look at things logically, despite her own struggles, And then we have Pauline who is the voice of anxiety and panic to Val’s voice of reason.

I loved the premise of the book, the fact that these four women will be once again sharing a house together just like they did in their wild and free days. I loved the location of the house and even the reasons behind Zara asking them to all come together for her. I really enjoyed the way they bumped up against each other and the way their personalities clashed and yet got along at the same time. This aspect of the book I found really interesting. When we started going down the road of a murder mystery type of genre and a bit of a ‘who said that?’ and “where were they when this happened?’ type of affair I didn’t find myself enjoying it quite as much.

I really loved the way that Bella Osborne explored this side of adult friendship, the way she showed this kind of reconnecting that doesn’t always go smoothly. I also loved the way the women in this book all have fully formed lives and personalities just like they would in real life. Often in fiction, just because someone is progressing in years, they have their personality taken away from them. This is certainly not the case here. These women have thoughts and feelings and can totally handle themselves as well as being able to support each other. There are 2 animals in the book for some added comedy too so you’ve got that to look forward to. I listened to this book and it was well-narrated. I definitely recommend giving Bella Osborne a try!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Guest Review: A Golden Cornish Summer by Phillipa Ashley

Under the golden Cornish sun, buried treasure and family secrets will change Emma’s life forever…

Emma loved her life in the seaside village of Silver Cove. But when the discovery of sunken treasure ignited a feud between her family and that of Luke, her first love, everything fell apart. Heartbroken and betrayed, she fled.

Now, as she wades into the sparkling surf for the first time in fifteen years, she remembers everything she loved about this beautiful place. Then a huge wave knocks her off her feet. Wet and dripping, Emma is rescued by none other than Luke – who is, to her dismay, even more handsome than ever.

As their paths continue to cross, and Emma is reminded of everything she ran away from, she starts to wonder if returning home was a huge mistake.

Or could the real treasure have been waiting here for her all along?

Review: This is the latest book in the Falford Series from Phillipa Ashley, the stories being set in and around the fictional Cornish village of Falford. Being part of a series, the book contains some recurring characters and locations, but it can be read as a standalone. I have already read the other books in the series, and was looking forward to returning to this location and the new characters introduced in this story. From the synopsis, I suspected that I was going to be taken on an adventure, and, as promised, I was hooked from the very start and didn’t want to put it down.

The story involves illustrator Emma, who is returning for the summer to her childhood home of Silver Cove, a small seaside village not far from Falford. She has not been there for fifteen years, her family having left following a bitter dispute with another family over sunken treasure. Unfortunately, the other family included her boyfriend Luke, and the pair parted company on very bad terms indeed; things were said that could not easily be overlooked. Emma has no idea when she returns to stay with her best friend Maxi that Luke has also returned to the village after a career in the navy and lives there in Emma’s former home. She decides to stay nonetheless and even becomes involved with Luke’s beachcomber group, who clean up the beach after the tourists have gone and recycle as much as they can. It is clear that Emma and Luke still have feelings for each other, but can they overcome what happened in the past?

I can thoroughly recommend this heart-warming and romantic story. I enjoyed returning to the setting for the previous books in this series, and being introduced to Silver Cove, a particularly idyllic sounding village right on the sea. What a shame that a family feud had forced Emma to leave. I liked Emma and thought her brave to stay in the area when she discovered that Luke was in residence. Luke is also a very likeable character. He has had an interesting life since the feud caused him and Emma to part, and is now a successful business owner determined to protect the beaches and wildlife in this area. Another interesting character in the story is a former teacher of both Emma and Luke. She obviously didn’t like Emma as a pupil but can’t help admiring what she has become and Emma begins to discover another person under her strict and stubborn exterior. I wasn’t sure whether Emma and Luke were going to end up together in this book. They had a very on and off relationship, enjoying each other’s company one moment and fighting the next. It was definitely worth the wait to find out the answer.

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: The Guilty Couple by C.L. Taylor

 What would you do if your husband framed you for murder?

Five years ago, Olivia Sutherland was convicted of plotting to murder her husband.

Now she’s finally free, Olivia has three goals. Repair her relationship with her daughter. Clear her name. And bring down her husband – the man who framed her.

Just how far is she willing to go to get what she wants? And how far will her husband go to stop her?

Because his lies run deeper than Olivia could ever have imagined – and this time it’s not her freedom that’s in jeopardy, but her life…

Review: I think this is possibly CL Taylor’s twistiest novel yet. You don’t know who is telling the truth, what will happen next and you start believing nothing you hear because someone could be double crossing someone else. All set around a marriage that broke down, several affairs and someone out for revenge. It is juicy and stressful and fabulous all at the same time!

Olivia is such an interesting character to spend this novel with because when we meet her she has just got out of prison, we know she is not above underhand moves and we know she wants revenge. She is also a mother who has been separated from her child and we know the power that can have over someone so you start off with some sympathy for her but mainly there’s just some suspsician and sense of ‘how much can we really trust’ about her. Then add in her friends on the inside and the outside and the long list of people who scorned her and you have a melting out that is just waiting to bubble over. It is quite literally the perfect storm!

The host of other characters in this thriller is phenomenal. We have a police officer who just seems to lie her way around everything that she does. I feel like I never really got to know who’s side she was on or whether anything she said or did ever was in fact the truth or what actually happened, she needs her own spin-off book that’s for sure. And then we have the husband. I don’t know what happened in his past to make him the way that he was but he is a complex fellow and someone else I’m not likely to ever be able to work out. Just like the other main players in this book, I never felt like I could trust him but again I know that some of what he did came out of love for his child and some of what he did came out of lust and thinking with his pants so I can sympathies to some extent with the position he was in.

The child in this novel just adds to the messiness. She is a teen by the time her mum gets out of prison and she therefore has some autonomy in the whole situation and so often the choices that she makes as the plot thickens really do add to the twists and turns along the way. She plays such an important role in the whole situation and yet sometimes she does hinder things going smoothly and definitely stops anything being resolved most of the time. I like that she was involved in the story but I worried about her so much for the majority of the book and I was glad for her when I was turning those final few pages!

I listened to this book on audio. I haven’t listened to a CL Taylor book all the way through before and so it was interesting and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to keep up with the plot and the characters but I think it added to the thrill. The narration was great and I was just as dgripped as when I have read paperback, hardback or ebooks from this writer. This book was excellent. It filled me with adrenaline and I think it is the perfect book to escape with this summer!

 

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: A Mother's Heart by Carmel Harrington

 Before we dive into my review of this fabulous new book from Carmel Harrington, I have an interview with this author coming up on my channel on Thursday at 6pm BST. If you're reading this before then, you can set a reminder or if you're reading this after the interview I'll leave it below for you to watch!

Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand

While Rachel Butler likes her life in a pretty Dublin coastal village, her heart lies in Hawke’s Bay, where she grew up. Visiting for the first time since tragedy tore her family apart, she and her stepchildren fall for its beauty and outdoor lifestyle.

Malahide, Ireland

As Rachel picks up the threads of her life as a single parent, she can’t shake off the memories of her loving family in New Zealand – and her dream house, the villa on the bay. But it’s time to move forwards with their life in Ireland, close to the children’s grandparents, amid the familiar surroundings they all know well.

Until the children’s grandmother, still grieving, starts to interfere, questioning Rachel's position as stepmother.

Until Rachel’s attempts to strengthen the family she loves so dearly backfires, pitting everyone against each other.

And until her late husband’s parents mend the rift that has existed as long as she’s been married – bringing with them an explosive secret . . .

Review: I listened to this book on audio and the narration was excellent!

I just love the many meanings hidden in the title of this book. A Mother’s Heart. Rachel is a mother and she is our main mother that we follow in this book but then there is the mother of Olivia and Dylan whom Rachel has recently adopted. Then there are 3 grandmothers all with concern for their own children as well as their grandchildren. Finally we have Rachel’s sister who is yearning to be a mother too. The stories of all 6 of these mothers are woven together so beautifully in the way that Carmel Harrington knows how to do so cleverly.

The wonderful thing about this book is that we get to hear about and from all of the mothers in question over the course of this novel. We get to hear from them and therefore each and everyone of them gets our sympathy as a reader and probably if you are a mother yourself then your empathy too. I love a book with multiple narratives and this writer does that so well. Just when you think you’re about to make a breakthrough with a character or someone reveals something in their life, we switch direction and you hear from someone else. This makes for an excellent page turner though!

Not only does this book have multiple points of view but it also has multiple locations. This is another thing that I loved about Carmel Harrington’s previous novel. Switching between New Zealand and Ireland is quite a contrast but both settings are written so well they both feel like home. Switching settings also allowed some of the tension to diffuse between some of these mothers and I think I was as grateful as Rachel in some instances to get away from things and have a change of scenery. 

Rachel is definitely the star of the show in this book. She is instantly relatable and easy to empathise with because she goes about her life in such a considered and caring way. She loves her step children and she has done the very best for them the entire time she has been in their lives. Everything she does outs them first but she is so torn after tragedy has followed her and affected her so many times. Whilst this may not sound like the most appealing concept to deal with in a novel, it is the way that Rachel deals with this stress and the tragedies that face her that is the uplifting thing about this book and what endears her as a character. I am sure that she will touch many hearts and that this novel will bring hope and joy to many people.

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US