Guest Review: Clover Cottage by Christie Barlow

Love Heart Lane – where friends are there for you no matter what.

When Vet Rory Scott inherits ramshackle Clover Cottage in the quaint village of Heartcross, Allie MacDonald just knows this is their happy ever after. A place to call home with the man she loves – it’s her dream come true!

Until Rory drops a bombshell. He loves Allie but he has dreams of his own to follow – to live and work in Africa. Clover Cottage will have to wait just a little longer…

Allie can’t imagine life without Rory, but she loves him too much to hold him back. And as he embarks on his adventure, Allie begins to rethink her own plans. She loves Rory and knows she wants him in her life, but maybe she can follow her own dreams too?

And always there, nestled in the beautiful village of Heartcross, surrounded by the people she loves, will be the place that will always bring them back to each other. Their forever home, Clover Cottage.

Review: This is the third book in the Love Heart Lane series by Christie Barlow. Although it is part of a very enjoyable series, this story is completely stand-alone. I’m sure I’m not the only reader who enjoys revisiting places and characters that have become so familiar from previous novels, but that is not a prerequisite for following the events in this story. I have been looking forward to reading this book ever since I finished the last one in this series. I devoured it in the space of a few hours, and am now hoping that there will be a fourth part, as I can envisage lots ahead for the characters of Love Heart Lane.

In common with the other books in this series, the action takes place in the village of Heartcross, in the highlands of Scotland. This particular story centres on Allie, daughter of the owners of the village pub, and her boyfriend and local vet, Rory, who works in partnership with his father, Stuart. Allie is delighted when Rory is bequeathed Clover Cottage, a rather rundown property in the village. However, Allie is more than a little bewildered that Rory seems reluctant to consider settling down and moving in there with her. It seems that he still has dreams of spending time working with animals in Africa. Rory’s itchy feet are made worse when the peaceful village life is suddenly shattered by the arrival of TV personality Zach, who has himself spent time with wildlife in Africa and is soon to return there. Allie has never entertained ideas of leaving Heartcross, but is torn between her desire to settle down with Rory and not wanting to hold him back from realising his dream, which is suddenly within his reach. In addition to Zach, there is another, more sinister arrival in the village - a property developer whose intentions are the subject of much speculation.

I enjoyed this third book in the Love Heart Lane series just as much as the last 2 parts. There were highs and lows and even tears of sadness and joy, as the wonderful feeling of community in this village was once again expressed in the skilful writing. Friends and family played a big part in guiding Allie and Rory through this troubled period in their relationship, but the whole community pulled together when required. As a reader of the previous books in the series, it was a joy to see how things had developed since my last visit. I can recommend this whole series to other readers.

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

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors who have a fun social media presence 10/3/20

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

So many authors are so much fun on social media so this list is really hard to put together, but make sure you are following these writers on Twitter or Insta because they're great!

February 2020 Reading Wrap Up: All The Long Books in the Shortest Month

via IFTTT

Blog Tour: Review of The Neighbours by Nicola Gill

Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Neighbours by Nicola Gill. I have a review to share with you today and if you like the look of that, you can order your copy using the links at the bottom of the post. Don't forget to check out the other stops on the tour for more exclusive content and reviews!

Meet Ginny, 34, and Cassie, 55. Neighbours, and (very) unlikely friends.

Some women have it all. Others are thirty-four and rent a tiny flat alone because they recently found their long-term boyfriend in bed with their boss. Ginny Taylor is certain her life can’t get any worse. But then she meets her downstairs neighbour…

 

Cassie Frost was once a beloved actress, but after a recent mishap she desperately needs a new publicist. And Ginny is a publicist who desperately needs a job – but can she be persuaded to work for the prickly woman who lives below her floorboards?

 

Ginny and Cassie are two very different women, but they have more in common than they’d care to imagine (or admit). And when their worlds collide, they realise that bad neighbours could become good friends…

Review: If you love character driven novels then this one is definitely for you! This book is very different from what I thought it was going to be based on the synopsis and the cover but I’m really not complaining about that because we basically step into Ginny’s shoes and we’re taken on a wild ride through her life.

Ginny is a great character to follow along with because she is flawed and she knows it. She doesn’t have the smoothest ride and she voices some of the things we would all love to voice in our lives or perhaps love other people to hear-she doesn’t think she can do it. She is convinced every career move, friendship & relationship is going to fail and so it is a joy to watch any moment where she actually succeeds.

Ginny befriends her neighbor, slightly washed up celebrity Cassie and this is where we get into some of the issues that this book covers. I think this writer did a great job of using Cassie as a platform for exposing the dangers of online trolls and the way society seems to think they can talk about people online in very different ways than they would to their faces. This topic is so timely and it is so important that it is explored further.

This book also deals well with the subject of depression-again through a characters first hand experiences, that does mean that there are care warnings for depression and suicide so make sure you exercise caution here. I think this was handled very well too, again using first hand experiences and really delving into the various different approaches to treating as well as living with depression.

There is romance in this novel but it’s a bit of a secondary storyline that goes alongside the rest of Ginny’s life and her insecurities. This is the area where some of the real comedy in the book comes out because there are some embarrassing mishaps as well as some very real moments. I really like that the romance was a bit of a subplot here just going hand in hand with everything else life throws at Ginny because that is real life and when you’re this involved with a character in a novel it’s always great when things feel true to life.

I really enjoyed this book despite the difference from what I thought it was going to be and I think you will to.

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

Movie Reviews 2020: Emma and Impractical Jokers

via IFTTT

February Reading Wrap Up

Well February was an interesting month for me. I definitely read more than I did last February because last year I only read 4 books... I ended up reading lots and lots of long books though which is quite out of character for me and also doesn't really fit with it being the shortest month! 

I will break down what I read, as always, by format read and do take a look at my March TBR to see what I'll be hoping to read this month...

Ebooks

My Review

My Review

My Review

Physical Books

Audiobooks

My Review

My Review

Book vs Movie: Room by Emma Donoghue

via IFTTT