337 BY M. JONATHAN LEE

What a clever book this is.

First are the numbers in the title when read upside down actually been the author’s name, but secondly how it is written, you won’t ever get a spoiler from me 😉

337 had me completely gripped from the start, it did its job, I needed to know what was going to happen next, my mind was in overdrive, I read it in one sitting, I had to. It’s a good job I’m awake most nights anyway as it really did keep me occupied.

M. Jonathan Lee is a very clever writer, I’ve read his work before and am always gripped. 337 is certainly no exception and I couldn’t wait to start reading it.

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About 337

337 follows the life of Samuel Darte whose mother vanished when he was in his teens. It was his brother, Tom who found her wedding ring on the kitchen table along with the note. While their father pays the price of his mother’s disappearance, Sam learns that his long-estranged Gramma is living out her last days in a nursing home nearby. Keen to learn about what really happened that day and realising the importance of how little time there is, he visits her to finally get the truth. Soon it’ll be too late and the family secrets will be lost forever. Reduced to ashes. But in a story like this, nothing is as it seems.

337 is published on the 30th of November but you can pre order now on Amazon and I highly recommend you do

https://www.amazon.co.uk/337-M-Jonathan-Lee/dp/0995492352

The Cherry Tree Cafe

Check out this book on Goodreads: The Cherry Tree Cafe https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37587925-the-cherry-tree-cafe

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I’ve just finished The Cherry Tree Cafe by Heidi Swain and adored every minute. The storyline had me hooked

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Cupcakes, crafting and love at The Cherry Tree Cafe…
Lizzie Dixon’s life feels as though it’s fallen apart. Instead of the marriage proposal she was hoping for from her boyfriend, she is unceremoniously dumped, and her job is about to go the same way. So, there’s only one option: to go back home to the village she grew up in and to try to start again.

Her best friend Jemma is delighted Lizzie has come back home. She has just bought a little cafe and needs help in getting it ready for the grand opening. And Lizzie’s sewing skills are just what she needs.

With a new venture and a new home, things are looking much brighter for Lizzie. But can she get over her broken heart, and will an old flame reignite a love from long ago…?

For everyone who loves settling down to watch Great British Bake-Off, the Great British Sewing Bee, or curling up to read Milly Johnson or Jenny Colgan, The Cherry Tree Cafe is a coffee-break treat.

I gave it 4*

Its going to be a Hot One!

Here I am sat in the garden, drinking my morning coffee. Its 10.29 and already 23°.

I love the heat, saying that, I don’t mind the cold either. Basically weather isn’t an issue for me as long as I’m dressed for it.

Later I will pop my ear phones in and carry on listening to my current book. I’m loving it and will be reviewing it once I’m finished.

It’s called The Cherry Tree Cafe by Heidi Swain.

For now though, i need to catch up on what is going on in the world. Hope you all have a lovely day and please

Stay Safe xx

Things Have Changed

Hi Everyone

I’ve not blogged for some time and boy things have changed around here!

I am still reading books but in a different way. I’ve found that audiobooks are easier for me to listen to than trying to read an ebook as my concentration levels have gone a tad AWOL due to health issues.

I listened to Sara Cox Biography ” Till the Cows Come Home” about her childhood living on a farm, caravan holidays and been bullied at school. Sara read the book too. I loved every single minute and found that I could relate with quite a lot of her memories including, unfortunately, been bullied at school.

More recently I’ve read The Switch by Beth O’Leary and narrated by Daisy Edgar-Jones & Alison Steadman. This was another fun filled listen which had me chuckling quite a few times.

Here’s what The Switch is all about

A grandmother and granddaughter swap lives in The Switch, a charming, romantic novel by Beth O’Leary.

When overachiever Leena Cotton is ordered to take a two-month sabbatical after blowing a big presentation at work, she escapes to her grandmother Eileen’s house for some long-overdue rest.

Eileen is newly single and about to turn eighty. She’d like a second chance at love, but her tiny Yorkshire village doesn’t offer many eligible gentlemen.

So they decide to try a two-month swap.

Eileen will live in London and look for love. She’ll take Leena’s flat, and learn all about casual dating, swiping right, and city neighbors. Meanwhile Leena will look after everything in rural Yorkshire: Eileen’s sweet cottage and garden, her idyllic, quiet village, and her little neighborhood projects.

But stepping into one another’s shoes proves more difficult than either of them expected. Will swapping lives help Eileen and Leena find themselves…and maybe even find true love? In Beth O’Leary’s The Switch, it’s never too late to change everything….or to find yourself. 

You can buy your copy from Amazon here : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Switch-Beth-OLeary/dp/1787474992

Family Matters by Rose Finch

Sophie’s life has just got back on track, when in a single day all is shattered.
Bewildered and blindsided she must pick up the pieces of her life.
Realizing there is no going back to her perfectly plotted life, Sophie is forced to seek refuge.
So she heads home; first to the English countryside into her parents nurturing arms,
and then to a quaint Italian village and into the inspiring and receptive arms of her nonna Rosa.
Will she find happiness again and could love make an unexpected appearance along the way?

I most certainly did get away this summer, without even leaving my sofa!

The cover is so pretty with its pastel colours, that’s what drew me to want to read it.

This was an easy to read book with a lovely main character. Each chapter had me gripped and I adored my time in Italy, having never been before.

I feel the ending was possibly left open for a second book and even the cook book? I’d love to read the cook book.

It was a very enjoyable read and I received an advanced review copy for free and am leaving this review voluntarily.

I give this book 5*

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Family-Matters-Rose-Finch-ebook/dp/B07T1S9MX2

Rose Finch on Facebook

The Beverley Old Bookshop

If ever you’re visiting East Yorkshire, you really must pop along to the picturesque market town of Beverley. Maybe you’ve been already but I bet you never found The Beverley Old Bookshop.

It is a little gem of a shop, hidden away in Dyer Lane, right in the centre of the town.

A lot of people don’t realise this independent bookshop is there and it’s a real shame as there are so many gorgeous books to see once inside the different tiny rooms.

The oldest books in there when I visited were published in 1723

The books next to them made me giggle ” History of Tom Jones” no, not THAT one!

There really are so many rare books in this little book shop, it needs to be on the map of Bookshops to Visit around the World.

Upstairs is a gift shop too which sells candles, incense sticks and burners. It’s so cosy up there.

I even spotted some old comics as I came down the stairs, memories in a box.

This bookshop may be compact but believe me, there is so much history inside and books of every genre. The owner is very approachable too and so friendly.

Let’s all get this fantastic independent bookshop on the map and support it.

2019 Reading Challenge

I received this notification on my Goodreads account and to be honest was very surprised as this year has been a bit busy ( health, bereavement and new additions) and my reading has kind of gone out of the window, until now!

Now I am in gear, on track and raring to read.

I am actually reading book 11 and thoroughly enjoying every single page so far.

📖. 📚. 📖. 📚. 📖. 📚. 📖. 📚. 📖.

I have read 10 of 10 books for the 2019 Reading Challenge! What should I read next? http://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/15546141

Blast from the Past by Cathy Hopkins

What a joy @CathyHopkins1 @HarperCollinsUK & @NetGalley #Bookreview

I absolutely loved every page of Cathy Hopkins latest book Blast from the Past

It’s a love story with a difference, it has twists and turns. There is Genealogy, of which I have studied for over 30 years so my attention was caught straight away. Travel, Fun, Friendships. There are also some past life regression, which has always intrigued me.

A true uplifting read which actually made me shed a tear at the end. I can most definitely recommend this book. It’s a fabulous warm read on a cold winter’s evening.

I give this book 5*

On a trip of a lifetime to India, Bea is given an unexpected fiftieth birthday present – an hour with a celebrated clairvoyant. Unlucky in love, Bea learns that her true soulmate is still out there ̶ and that he’s someone she knew in a past life.

Returning home, Bea revisits the men in her life and can’t resist looking up a few old lovers – the Good, the Bad and the… well, the others. As Bea connects with the ones that got away, she suspects that her little black book has remained shut for a reason. But one man out there has her in his sights.
They say love is blind and maybe Bea just needs an eye test

http://cathyhopkins.com/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blast-Past-Cathy-Hopkins/dp/0008286574

Sea Babies by Tracey Scott – Townsend

My last #BookReview of 2018. And boy it’s a belter from the local #indiepublisher @Wildpressed … Once again @authortrace had me gripped with this wonderfully written book.

This is the second book I have read of Tracey’s and I’m a massive fan.

Sea Babies is a psychologist drama set mainly in the Outer Hebrides and Edinburgh from the 1980s to the present. As a teenager in the 80s this book isn’t too ” historical” for me so had me completely ensnared in every turn of each page.

I love the characters and the way Tracey brings them to life. It’s wonderful and I can see Sea Babies sailing off the shelves.

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In September 2016, Lauren Wilson is travelling by ferry to the Outer Hebrides, about to begin a new job as a children’s social worker. She’s also struggling to come to terms with the recent drowning of a Sheena, a teenage girl she had deeply cared for.

Engrossed in her book, when somebody sits opposite her at a table on the ferry, Lauren refuses to look up, annoyed at having her privacy disturbed. But a hand is pushing a mug of tea across the table, and a livid scar on the back of the hand releases a flood of memories.

Lauren studies the hand on the table in front of her, the line of the scar drawing a map of the past in her mind. She was the one who created the scar, not long before her relationship with the love of her life ended almost thirty years ago. Lauren hasn’t seen Neil since she walked out of their shared life, unable to forgive either herself or him for a decision he strongly pressured her to make.

She’s not ready to meet his eyes, not yet. From his scar to his wrist bone, following his arm upwards and across his shoulder to his collarbone, his chin and the lower part of his face; Lauren remembers incidents from their past and tries to work out what caused their life to go so horribly off-track.

When she finally meets his eyes and they speak to each other for the first time, Lauren believes she has set her life on a new course. But her gain will result in losses for others. Is this really what she wants to happen?

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I give Sea Babies 5*

Publication Day for the Paperback is 1st May 2019

E-book is available 21st February 2019

ISBN 9781916489639

RRP £8.99

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sea-Babies-Tracey-Scott-Townsend/dp/191648963X

https://traceyscotttownsend.com/

http://www.wildpressedbooks.com/

Penny’s Antique Shop of Memories and Treasures by Helena Fairfax

Here is my recent #BookReview #BookBlogger..

I thoroughly enjoyed reading @HelenaFairfax, Penny’s Antique Shop of Memories and Treasures. This feel good romance really had me hooked from the start.

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One rainy day in London, Wyoming man Kurt Bold walks into an antique shop off the King’s Road and straight into the dreams of its owner, Penny Rosas.

Kurt certainly looks every inch the cowboy hero…but he soon brings Penny’s dreams to earth with a thump. His job is in the logical world of finance – and as far as Kurt is concerned, romance is just for dreamers.
But when Kurt hires Penny to help refurbish his Victorian house near Richmond Park, it’s not long before the logical heart he has guarded so carefully is opening up to new emotions, in a most disturbing way…

The cover drew me in straight away, it’s clear and crisp. The characters are wonderful, who have their own little quirks.

This book was a heartwarming light read which made me smile, it is true escapism. Readers of any age will really enjoy and be truly fascinated by the lovely antiques mentioned too.

The story is lovely, and an ideal read to have, when you’re tucked up with hot chocolate after a hard day Christmas shopping.

If you need to purchase a gift for someone who adores a truly romantic read, then this really is for you. There is absolutely nothing to dislike in this book, I can most certainly recommend it.

I give this book 5*

You can purchase the book from Amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pennys-Antique-Shop-Memories-Treasures/dp/1728648122