Book launch: The Lie by C L Taylor plus giveaway!

On Monday I was invited to the launch of an exciting new novel by Cally Taylor-The Lie... 

This event was held at Harper Collins towers at London Bridge which was very exciting. We were whisked up to the 17th floor to enjoy spectacular views across London as well as wine, nibbles and great conversation! It's was such a beautiful space-very fitting for such a fabulous author!

We were then treated to an extract from the book read by the author herself which was wonderful and then a question & answer session. Cally revealed that the friendship group in the book, as well as the trip to Nepal, is based on her own experiences-even the particularly toxic friend in this thriller of a novel! 

We were then able to get our copies of #TheLie signed an have a lovely chat with Cally as well as all the other bloggers in attendance!

Thanks to Cally and the Avon team for a great evening and if you fancy getting yourself a signed copy of the book-I have one to giveaway! Just leave me a comment below & I'll announce the winner on release day (23rd April)!

I've decided to chuck in a copy of The Accident as well-you luck lucky people! 

Review: The Gospel According To Drew Barrymore by Pippa Wright

Friendship is like a shark: it has to keep moving forwards to survive. Esther and Laura have been best friends since they were seven, when Esther was chubby and Laura was already perfect. So much has changed since then - school, boyfriends, drink, experimental hair-dye, university, jobs, London, babies - and their friendship has changed just as much, but they are still close, still inextricably linked to one another. 

So when Esther is told that Laura has gone missing, she leaves everything behind - including her husband and small child - to fly to San Francisco and trace her friend's last movements. All she has is an email from Laura: 'I'm channelling Drew Barrymore, as ever. The Gospel, right?' 

In trying to understand why Laura has disappeared, and what on earth Drew Barrymore has to do with it, Esther needs to look back. Back at the secrets woven into their friendship and the truths she's avoided facing for so long.

Review: I thought this was such a cool idea for a book. The whole thing is tied together by references and citations from Drew Barrymore films and I think this is an excellent way to structure it. I would have expected to see a little more of Drew in there or reference to the films, it was like sometimes, the Drew Barrymore focus was lost and I was a little disjointed by this. 

I liked the fact that this story is also anchored by two female leads. You don't often get two female leads who both play as big a part as the other as opposed to one being the lead and one being the supporting actor, this aspect I really liked. I can't say that I liked both of these characters to be honest I found Laura's unpredictability a little draining, I felt as if she never actually felt anything real or tied herself down to one particular thing...I didn't have much more love for Esther either, although she is the mother figure in the story, she is still fairly self pitying and will wallow in her own shortcomings given the chance! The men don't play too big a part in this, unlike many other books in this genre, I found that refreshing. 

The overarching storyline, of Laura's disappearance was my favourite part of the book, I really expected it to take a dark and sinister turn at any Monet! Some of the flashbacks  were endearing and some amusing but generally I found these to be a little bit of a distraction from the main part of the storyline. Although we get to learn a lot more about Laura's character in these sections, I felt myself skimming through some of them to get to find out what happened to Laura in the present day, or in real life as I thought of it...

Overall I thought this was a fun read but it didn't grip me the whole way through. I loved the way the book was structured and the idea behind it is original but I would've liked to see ore made of Drew and her movies. I haven't read anything else by this author before but this book has definitely intrigued me and so I will be trying other novels by her in the near future. 

Paperback April Halfway Update...

So I thought I would let you all know how I am getting on with paperback April so far. As you'll remember, the last time I tried to do a paperback month, I just failed to read my paperbacks. I'm doing a little better this month and so here's what I've read in April so far...

Paperbacks

(Am in the middle of reading the final 3 but I thought I would put them on the list anyway...

Ebooks (bad I know but I'm openly admitting to reading them)

Audiobooks (I also have both of these in ebook)

Finally I have The Maze runner, I listened to this on audiobook but I also have it on ebook and I have 7 copies of the paperback as well (2 different editions) so I don't know what to count this as-what do you think?

I'm really pleased with the number of books that I've read so far in April-you can't tell I've had a week off work can you? So I'm still planning on reading plenty more paperbacks for April, in particular those below but who knows what else I'll manage to fit in now I'm back at work?

Review: The Day We Disappeared by Lucy Robinson

It's springtime in London and everything is about to change for Annie Mulholland. From the moment she meets Stephen Flint, things seem too good to be true as Annie abandons her customary cautiousness for a wild love affair.

In Somerset, Kate Brady is starting a new job. Fresh air, new faces and good old fashioned hard work is just what she needs to put everything that happened in Dublin behind her.

But what are these two old friends hiding, and for how long can they run from the secrets of their past before they come crashing into their futures?

Review: this is going to be a really hard review to write! I love love loved this book, it kept me up until 2am because I had to finish it but it is so twisty and turny, I will really struggle to review without giving anything away but I promise I will try not to give anything at all away. 

I was sucked into this story right from the word to Lucy Robinson just knows how to write a good page-turner. Anyone who can write about a character having had sex one and a half times in their life is just amazing in my books, I think that is seriously funny and there are some amazingly funny moments in this book, as you can expect from any book by this fantastic author! I loved the premise behind this book, these two friends both starting out in a new job and discovering new things. I wasn't sure I was going to be a fan of someone who worked in a stables as a groom, a little too horsey for me, but that was just the situation she was in and I didn't feel I had horse shoved down my throat at any point during this novel. 

I loved these characters, I found them really easy to relate to. Kate seemed savy and independent and Annie, although she was extremely naive was a lovely positive person who wanted to see the best in people and I was pleased with the breaks that both of thse lovely ladies got. I could see myself being friends with either of these people and their groups of friends were very lucky. Those friends provided a comedy back drop to the stuff that was going on in their own lives and especially the group at the stables, they really were a group of people who I knew I would miss when I out the book down. 

The twist in this novel is what a lot of people have been talking about as this book has been doing the round on social media and I didn't see the twist coming, not one little bit. Normally people say this to me and I'm like, yeah but I knew from about halfway through. I was reading this book in bed and I actually sat bolt up right and had to read the rest of the book right to the end in that very position, there was no way I was putting this little gem down! You won't see the sptwist mocking, you will want to read without stopping and them immediately go back to the beginning and start reading again, looking for any clues you might have missed along the way! Amazing! 

This book is a love story, it is a comedy, it is a mystery, it is feel good and it is shocking, there is no way to summarise this book, but despite all of these things being contradictory in one way or another Lucy Robinson has knitted all these things together so brilliantly that she has crates something do all audiences and someone which is a definite must read. Stop whatever you're doing and read this now because it is amazing! 

Book News! Rebecca Raisin Gingerbread Cafe Trilogy

Enjoy the warmth, cupcakes and hot chocolate of The Gingerbread Café series, and follow Lil’s journey to happily ever after…

Lil has every recipe down, from gingerbread men to cinnamon muffins. So when gorgeous outsider Damon opens a shop opposite The Gingerbread Café, Lil refuses to let him steal her customers without a fight – no matter how much he makes her heart flutter.

When it comes to love, Lil’s never quite got the method right! But it looks like this time, deviating from the recipe might just lead Lil to the magic ingredient she’s been missing all along…

Don’t miss this delicious series from best-selling author Rebecca Raisin – the ultimate romantic indulgence.

Book One - Christmas At The Gingerbread Cafe

The icing on her Christmas cake! 

Christmas is the season the Gingerbread Café in Ashford, Connecticut was made for…but owner Lily couldn’t be feeling less merry if she tried. She’s spent another year dreaming of being whisked away on a sleigh-ride for two, but she’s facing festive season alone – again. And, just to give her another reason to feel anything other than candy-cane perky, a new shop across the road has opened… Not only is it selling baked goods, but the owner, with his seriously charming smile, has every girl in town swooning. 

But Lily isn’t about to let her business crumble — the Gingerbread Café is the heart of the community, and she’s going to fight for it! This could be the Christmas that maybe, just maybe, all her dreams – even the someone-to-decorate-the-Christmas-tree-with ones – really do come true!

Book Two - Chocolate Dreams At The Gingerbread Cafe

Chocolate…the most irresistible temptation?

The Gingerbread Café is all a buzz! This Easter, Lily and the rest of the town of Ashford, Connecticut are planning a truly decadent Chocolate Festival. Cooking up a storm, CeeCee and Lily are not just baking a batch of their sinfully delicious chocolate-dipped gingerbread men, but an excess of chocolate truffles, squidgy, cinnamony hot cross buns and melt in your mouth chocolate eggs. The Gingerbread Café staff have definitely enjoyed the tasting process!

Add in Damon’s cute-as-a-button seven year old daughter, Charlie, up for a visit and Lily’s perfect Easter may just be around the corner. Until her ex-husband Joel turns up demanding twenty thousand dollars… Suddenly the future of the Gingerbread Café is not so clear…and Lily finds herself eating far more of The Gingerbread Café’s treats than her skinny jeans allow…

Can Lily concoct a brilliant plan to save her beloved café, convince Damon she has no feelings for Joel and still throw a Chocolate Festival the town will be talking about for years? There’s only one way to find out...

Welcome back to the warmth, cupcakes and hot chocolate of The Gingerbread Café – your home away from home

Book Three - Christmas Wedding At The Gingerbread Cafe

You are invited to the wedding of the year!

Snow is falling thick and fast outside the Gingerbread Café and inside, its owner Lily is planning the wedding of the year. Her wedding! She never dreamt it would happen, but this Christmas, she’ll be marrying the man of her dreams - in a Christmas-card-perfect ceremony!

The gingerbread is baking, the dress is fitted and the mistletoe’s in place – for once, everything’s going to plan. That is until her mother-in-law arrives... Suddenly, Lily’s famous cool is being tested like never before and her dream wedding is crumbling before her eyes.

In the blink of a fairylight, the Gingerbread Café has been thrown into chaos! Lily thought she had this wedding wrapped up, but with so much to do before she says ‘I do’, can Lily get to the church on time – and make this Christmas sparkle after all?

About The Author

Rebecca Raisin is a true bibliophile. This love of books morphed into the desire to write them. She's been widely published in short story anthologies, and in fiction magazines. And now she is focusing on writing romance.

Rebecca aims to write characters you can see yourself being friends with. People with big hearts who care about relationships and believe in true love.

BUY LINKS

AMAZON UK

AMAZON US

KOBO

NOOK

Review and blog tour: Lost by Elle Field

"I’m starting to realise that age is just a number, but Tabitha pointed out I’m only saying that because I’m twenty-five, engaged, and have my life together. (Touch wood things stay that way.)" 

Arielle is back! OK, she’s not on her way to becoming the next Coco Chanel, her childhood dream, but she is one way step closer to running her very own shop with her business partner, Felicity.

She’s also planning her perfect romantic wedding to fiancé, Piers, and Arielle is starting to believe that she’s finally found her place in the world... Of course life is never that straightforward.

With a new-found foe interfering with her shop decisions, not to mention haughty wedding planners and loved ones facing personal struggles, will Arielle figure out what's important before all is lost? 

Review: this book was a bit of a slow starter for me, it took me a little while to get my head back into the characters and the storyline but once I got going, I thoroughly enjoyed being back with these characters and thought the storyline was jolly good fun! I really loved the things that went on over the course of this story, the wedding planning, the shop planning and Arielle's new and old friendships as well, I found myself swept along with what was going on in her life and compelled to keep on reading! This was also a book where as soon as I had finished it, I had to go back to the start and read the first couple of chapters again, just to tie it all back together-a definite sign of a good book-the last book I did that with was a Jenny Colgan novel! 

I think I said in my review of Kept, the first book in this trilogy, that I didn't always like Arielle as a character because I found her frustrating in parts, but overall she is really endearing and I was pleased to see her grow and change even more over the course of this novel! I really like her relationship with Piers, even if I am a little jealous of it and I liked the new friendships and new enemies that she made in this novel. Essentially, she is someone who has quite a bit to learn about the world but her naivety also means that she really would do anything for anyone, a good friend to have around. 

There are some fab scene to do with fashion and twitter in this book that were really enjoyable but I don't think were to girly to put of readers who may not like their storylines pink and frilly. There were also some fab wedding planning moments that I'm sure anyone who has planned a wedding before will recognise. Some parts of the story were very descriptive, especially bits to do with food whereas other parts moved a little quicker so this novel varied in pace over the entire storyline. I have to admit, I would have liked to have delved a little deeper into one or two scenes but it definitely didn't affect my enjoyment of the story too much! 

There were some real laugh out loud moments in the book as well as some hold-your-breath moments where I feared for the worst. Although this book dose t have the neatest of endings. I really like te way that it ended and it definitely leaves itself open to the next book in the series which, thank goodness, is out later this year-I honestly can't wait to read to the conclusion to Arielle's adventures and to find out what happens with Piers, felicity, Ob and the gang! If you enjoyed reading Kept, you will enjoy this one even more, and if you're looking for a novel with laughs as well as something deeper, then you'll find it here, although in would definitely recommend reading these books in order, as close together as possible! 

Review: The Vintage Guide To Love and Romance

Jessica Beam is a girl who knows how to party. Only lately she's been forgetting to turn up for work on time. Or in clean clothes. Down on her luck, out of a job and homeless, Jess seeks the help of her long-lost grandmother.

Things aren't going well for Matilda Beam, either. Her 1950s Good Woman guide books are out of print, her mortgage repayments are staggering and her granddaughter wears neon Wonderbras!

When a lifeline from a London publisher arrives, the pair have an opportunity to secure the roof over their heads – by invigorating the Good Woman guides and transforming modern, rebellious Jess into a demure vintage lady.

The true test of their make-over will be to capture the heart of notorious London playboy Leo Frost and prove that Matilda’s guides still work. It's going to take commitment, nerves of steel and one seriously pointy bra to pull this off... 

Review: oh I loved this book so much it is going to be so so hard to review! Firstly this books was everything I hoped it would be. It is classic feel-good chick lit with some really really funny moments, a strong female lead, some real old-school family values and a twisty turns love story! Of course there is a happy ending which will leave you feeling as if you've just finished that delicious last bite of pudding at the end of your roast dinner and now you just want to lie back happy and content. 

Let's start with those fabulous characters. I loved Jess. I could really relate to her just wanting to have a good time and feeling in no hurry to settle down and be sensible. She's a blogger too (YEY!) so that's an awesome addition to her portfolio. She knows what she wants and she is sure she is right about all her decision until fate steps in her way and she is suddenly thrown into a new situation with new people and a fabulous new vintage take on life! Matilda beam is another strong-willed woman and you know when these two get together, that is going to make for some fabulous reading! 

The supporting characters in this novel also make for some fun reading. We have a couple of love interests (of course) but these are not the main focus of the story. Best friend summer turns out to be a bit of a shady character, I can just imagine her on You Tube with the wonderfully named kitten, Mr Belding. And then we have Peach. She is such a fun character, I defy anyone not to fall in love with her. She definitely needs a spin off book all to herself because she will kill it! 

This book is set between Manchester and London and the two cities deep it beautifully to two sides to Jess's life. The descriptions of her London life were very relatable and Matilda beams apartment in London sounds amazing! The whole story was just lovely the whole way through. There is a nice chunky first act with lots of funny moments and some life changing stuff for Jess and then from there we really get into the vintage section, the clothes, the manners, the love and romance! There are some real contrasts to the vintage guide morals with some casual sex, lots of swearing and some excellent hashtags and Facebook posts. The whole storyline is interwoven with extracts from Jess's mum (Rose) diary, very apt because of course, she was Matilda's daughter so it brings the whole thing full circle. 

I think one of my favourite things about this book is that Kirsty Greenwood puts into writing what so many of us are thinking but don't have the balls to say out loud. Because of this, The Vintage Guide to Love and Romance was a fun easy read with some very real messages and definitely a storyline to get your teeth into. If you're looking for something to really get you excited then this is the book for you. With guaranteed laughs and some characters you will want to call friends, this should definitely be your next good read!