Tuesday, 7 September 2021
Top Ten Tuesday: Books Guaranteed To Put A Smile on Your Face
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.
This is by no means a definitive list but books that spring to mind and make me smile just thinking about them!
Monday, 6 September 2021
Review: The Little Shop of Hidden Treasures Part 2 by Holly Hepburn
PART TWO in the brand new series from Holly Hepburn.
When Hope loses her husband, she fears her happiest days are behind her. With her connection to London broken, she decides to move home to York to be near her family and try to piece her life back together.
Taking a job at the antique shop she has always loved, she finds herself crossing paths with two very different men. Will, who has recently become the guardian to his niece after the tragic death of his parents. And Ciaran, who she enlists to help solve the mystery of an Egyptian antique. Two men representing two different happy endings.
But can she trust herself to choose the right man? And will that give her the life she really needs?
Review: Well part two of the latest Holly Hepburn series did not disappoint. Now we've met all the characters and explored the setting we can really get into the meat of the story and we really get into the meat in this installment. There are revelations and excitement left right and centre. There's still time to catch up with part 1 and jump into the drama of part 2!
It was great to catch up with Hope again. I am so enjoying getting to know her and watching her build a fascinating life in York close to her family. She is such a romantic though and I really hope that won't turn around to bite her in the future. It was also great getting to revisit Will and Brodie and also Ciaran in this part of the story. I do have some questions surrounding both of the male supporting characters in this book and some of these were answered in this part but some of them, frustratingly, remain a mystery.
Of course I love the setting of this series and we get to go a little further afield in this episode, travelling to Whitby and exploring more of York. I can't wait to see where we go and what we get to see in parts 3 and 4. I'm just about to pick up part 3 and I can't wait to find out what happens!
Sunday, 5 September 2021
Blog Tour: Review Of The Bookshop of Second Chances by Jackie Fraser
It's my stop on the blog tour for The Bookshop of Second Chances by Jackie Fraser today. I have a review to share with you to celebrate the book being released in paperback last week. You can click here to order your copy now. 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...
Thea’s having a bad month. Not only has she been made redundant, she’s also discovered her husband of nearly twenty years is sleeping with one of her friends. And he’s not sorry – he’s leaving.
Bewildered and lost, Thea doesn’t know what to do. But, when she learns the great-uncle she barely knew has died and left her his huge collection of second-hand books and a house in the Scottish Lowlands, she seems to have been offered a second chance.
Running away to a little town where no one knows her seems like exactly what Thea needs. But when she meets the aristocratic Maltravers brothers – grumpy bookshop owner Edward and his estranged brother Charles, Lord Hollinshaw – her new life quickly becomes just as complicated as the life she was running from...
Review: I loved the premise of this book, starting over in a beautiful Scottish village, a new house unexpectedly yours and a new country and bookshop to explored. Jackie Fraser wrote a beautiful setting for this novel, it didn't always ring true to life for that part of the world but it certainly was idyllic and great to escape to without hundreds of other tourists crowding the roads as you explore. It was a great backdrop for Thea to explore and for her to heal.
Thea was a unique character. I am glad that we are getting more books with older female characters starting over again after unexpected life changes. I think adding a level of maturity to a character means scope for a different sort of coming of age or journey of transition. I enjoyed getting to read about Thea's journey and would love to get into her head and find out what she makes of her new life if we get to meet her again in future books.
There are certainly some interesting characters that Thea meets along the way. I really loved her best friend and also liked the fact that she makes so many new friends in her new setting, Two people who are key to Thea's story are the Maltravers brothers who basically run the town. They are intriguing men and although I personally didn't warm to either of them, the fact that Thea bonded with them both speaks volumes about her as a character.
I really enjoy a character driven novel but I was a little confused at first with so many new characters to meet and so many details to find out about them. I think if I could change one thing about this book it would be that level of detail, it just felt a bit much at times but I know there are readers out there who will appreciate the character development and work on their back stories that has gone into the writing of this novel. I listened to this book on audio and perhaps I would have been able to keep track of the characters better had I been reading the beautiful paperback copy, the cover is just stunning!
Thursday, 2 September 2021
August 2021 Reading Wrap Up
Ok, I thought July's reading was pretty bad and then August hit... I mean if you break it down then I read something every week but I didn't get anywhere near most of my TBR! Being back in the UK meant I had lots of places to go and people to see plus doing things like getting my first haircut and first dentist visit in since March 2019-the joys of visa issues followed by global pandemic.
I don't really know if there's any point in breaking my reading down into the kind of books that I read but it't the way I always do it so why not...
Ebooks
Physical Books
Nothing to see here!
Audiobooks
Wednesday, 1 September 2021
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