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

A Seaside Escape by Lisa Hobman

As a #AriaAddict and #BookBlogger, I was so thrilled when @Aria_Fiction Whizzed through a copy of @LisaJHobmanAuth , Contemporary Romance, A Seaside Escape.

Description

All work and no love can make for a dull life. But cupid’s arrow has a habit of striking when you least expect it… A heartwarming, feel-good romance to curl up with this winter perfect for the fans of Marian Keyes and Veronica Henry.

Mallory Westerman is the successful proprietor of Le Petit Cadeau, a gift shop extraordinaire in thriving Leeds.

Concentrating solely on her business, she has almost given up on finding someone to love. That is until she literally falls into the arms of a handsome, intriguing stranger who becomes her Knight in shining armour.

The whirlwind romance that ensues changes her life-path irrevocably. However, the road to true love is never smooth and things don’t always turn out how you expect…

*Shortlisted for the RNA Contemporary Romantic Novel of the Year 2014*

This book was previously published as A Bridge Over the Atlantic.

Available Editions

EDITION	Ebook
ISBN	9781788540216
PRICE	£2.99 (GBP)

I am a Cover Lover, and always have been a soft touch for a gorgeous cover, it even looks as if my little 15 year old Patterdale cross,  Bertie has got a staring role on the cover of this book!! its not him but it really does look like him.

A Seaside Escape did not disappoint, neither did the characters, they came over as “normal” who chatted about everyday things and laughed, cried and in general made this a very enjoyable book to read.

I am a music lover and loved the playlist idea! A Yorkshire Lass too so been somewhere not too far from me, kind of felt as if i was reading about home until Scotland was on the horizon, then my ears and eyes really opened. I adore that part of the world and loved  the descriptions of the area as well as the other people which appeared along the way.

A book is what you make it, just like life… This was my kind of read…

i rate this book 5/5

Publication Date is 1st October 2017

Lisa J Hobman Website

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

#BookBlogger 📕 Firstly I must thank @HarperCollinsUK @HarperFiction @NetGalley and of course @GailHoneyman

When I first saw the cover and title of this book I was intrigued. I wondered what on earth I would find between the pages.

Wow! A debut writer with a book that had me laughing yet cringing too.

The main character is fantastic we learn so much about her. It really is such a lovely story of why this lady ” Says it how it is” . She comes over as obnoxious but i recommend everyone read this heartwarming story which I guarantee you will love.

I give this book 5*

DESCRIPTION

Eleanor Oliphant has learned how to survive – but not how to live Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life.

She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend.

Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. Except, sometimes, everything. One simple act of kindness is about to shatter the walls Eleanor has built around herself.

Now she must learn how to navigate the world that everyone else seems to take for granted – while searching for the courage to face the dark corners she’s avoided all her life. Change can be good. Change can be bad. But surely any change is better than… fine?

Buy Now From Amazon

The House of Secrets by Sarra Manning

#BookBlogger My Thanks must go to @LittleBrownUK & the lovely @sarramanning for writing #TheHouseofSecrets

I fell in love with the pretty cover of this book,I adore roses so was drawn straight away. I know, you should never judge a book by it’s cover, but believe me, this one really carried on, on the inside too.

The storyline had me gripped & the characters were truly well written into this dual narrative novel set in the 1930s and the present day.

Historical reading isn’t my normal genre but I really enjoyed this book.

I rate this book 5/5

Description

Every home has a story to tell . . . An ordinary house on an ordinary street, built in 1936 and never lived in.

Its rooms might be empty, but this house is full of secrets. When Zoe and Win, raw and reeling from a recent tragedy, move into their new home it’s meant to be a fresh start and a way to mend the holes in their relationship.

But pushed to the back of a cupboard is a suitcase that’s been gathering dust for eighty years. Inside is a wedding dress, letters and a diary all belonging to a woman called Libby. And there’s something else in the suitcase, something that echoes Zoe’s own pain.

Zoe follows Libby’s trail from Paris to Spain on the brink of Civil War to secret trysts in London, and as Libby finds the courage to live and love again, Zoe begins to let go of her own grief.

But when Libby’s story takes a darker turn, Zoe becomes increasingly obsessed with discovering what really happened all those years ago. Because if Libby managed to get her happy ever after then maybe Zoe and Win can too . . .

Buy Now From AMAZON

The Lemon Tree Café by Cathy Bramley

As a #BookBlogger I was so excited when I saw the delicious cover of @CathyBramley soon to be published novel “The Lemon Tree Café” over on @NetGalley , so my Thanks to @TransworldBooks for emailing me a copy over pre launch to read.

 

This book had me giggling and smiling throughout it had a feelgood factor with the added bonus of Italian food making the reader want more.

The characters were likeable and the storyline well written. I loved the intrigue and the not knowing what would actually happen next. You really had no clue as to just what was round the corner.

I felt quite sad when I turned the final page but I also felt content that this wonderful book had been in my hands and that other readers are guaranteed to enjoy more of Cathy Bramley’s work just as I have.

🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋

Description

The Lemon Tree Cafe was originally published as a four-part serial. This is the complete story in one package.

When Rosie Featherstone finds herself unexpectedly jobless, the offer to help her beloved Italian grandmother out at the Lemon Tree Cafe – a little slice of Italy nestled in the rolling hills of Derbyshire – feels like the perfect way to keep busy. Surrounded by the rich scent of espresso, delicious biscotti and juicy village gossip, Rosie soon finds herself falling for her new way of life. But she is haunted by a terrible secret, one that even the appearance of a handsome new face can’t quite help her move on from.

Then disaster looms and the cafe’s fortunes are threatened . . . and Rosie discovers that her nonna has been hiding a dark past of her own. With surprises, betrayal and more than one secret brewing, can she find a way to save the Lemon Tree Cafe and help both herself and Nonna achieve the happy endings they deserve?

Publication Date is 24th August 2017

http://www.cathybramley.co.uk/

Preorder from Amazon

The Big Little Festival by Kellie Hailes

My Thanks once again must go to @HQDigitalUK who kindly gave me this fabulous book to review via @NetGalley by @KellieHailes. 

As a #BookBlogger I adored the cover of this summer read and the content most certainly did not disappoint either.

The characters were likeable and the storyline had that wonderful romantic feel which wasn’t too heavy or slushy. I loved reading about the village and the people in it, there were some wonderful entertaining moments. 

This book made me smile, books should always make you smile

Publication Date is 19th July 2017

I rate it 5/5

Description

Join the whole village at The Big Little Festival for the perfect summer day out!

With only weeks until the little Devon village of Rabbit’s Leap holds its first ever festival, Jody McArthur is desperate. She – more than anyone – wants to raise the funds to rebuild the local swimming pool and when she fell pregnant with her twin boys, it was the village who was there to support her. So, to stop disaster in its tracks, she brings in bigshot London events manager Christian Middlemore to make The Big Little Festival the huge success everyone deserves.

But Jody is totally unprepared for the impact reserved-but-gorgeous Christian has on Rabbit’s Leap – and her heart! Except Jody has avoided relationships for so long, and anyway, she’s sure romance between a country-born-and-bred single mum and a career-focused city boy would be impossible – wouldn’t it?

As tensions rise along with the home baked scones and miles and miles of bunting, Jody is about to find out!

The second book set in the picture-perfect Rabbit’s Leap, this little village is where love blooms!

Pre Order From Amazon

The Honey Farm On The Hill by Jo Thomas

As a #BookBlogger I must thank @headlinepg @NetGalley and of course @jo_thomas01 for putting pen to paper for this wonderful read.

Description

Jo Thomas’s irresistible novel transports you straight to the mountains of Crete. A gorgeous, sun-filled new read from the author of THE OYSTER CATCHER, THE OLIVE BRANCH, and LATE SUMMER IN THE VINEYARD.

We never forget the one who got away.

Eighteen years ago Nell fell in love in the mountains of Crete and life changed for ever. Nell’s daughter, Demi, has never met her dad. Nell never saw him again.

When she gets the chance to return to the hilltop town of Vounoplagia – where everything began – Nell can’t resist the urge to go back and find him.

Working on a honey farm perched high up in the hills, there’s plenty to keep her busy. And she will quickly realise the town harbours just as many secrets as she does.

But if Nell’s favourite romantic films are right, there’s a happy ending in store for each of us. All she has to do is seek out the magic of the mountains…

Jo Thomas takes you there.

                                                🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

From start to finish this book had me hooked, I’ve loved all of Jo’s work and this did not disappoint. I have never been to Crete but feel now that I need to visit, the descriptions are wonderful. 

The characters so likeable and the fact that we learn all about bees and honey is a truly unique and special storyline to read about in a book. The romance and gorgeous food really topped off this  perfect summer read for me. 

I rate this book 5/5

Publication Date 24th August 2017

http://jothomasauthor.com/

PreOrder from Amazon

Summer at Bluebell Bank by Jen Mouat

As a #BookBlogger, I’m always happy to receive a #newrelease and @HQDigitalUK once again came up trump’s with @jenmouat_author #romcom Summer at Bluebell Bank.

The book had me captivated from the start, i loved the bookshop it made me want to hunt it down. The characters were well written and the storyline and area it was written in had me wanting more. Family relationships, love and friendship this is a really great read.

I rate this book 5/5

Description

Returning home is never smooth sailing . . .

Summoned by her childhood best friend, Kate Vincent doesn’t stop to think, instead she books a one-way ticket from New York back to Wigtown, Scotland and leaves her glittering new life behind. Scenes of idyllic holidays at Bluebell Bank with the Cotton family dance in her mind, but not everything has stayed the way it once was . . . Especially when her first love, Luke, returns to town, too.

Emily Cotton never expected one email, sent off in a wine-fuelled daze, to bring her old friend barrelling through the front door of her dismally failing bookshop. But life for the Cottons isn’t how it once was, Emily’s brothers are hardly speaking, her beloved grandmother isn’t quite the same and Emily . . . well, Emily is the one most in need of Kate’s help.

Kate has given herself until the end of the summer to stay in Wigtown. Can she bring the Cottons back together, and save the family who once saved her?

Publication Date 2nd August 2017

EDITION	Ebook
ISBN	9780008252786
PRICE	£2.99 (GBP).

Pre Order https://www.amazon.co.uk/Summer-Bluebell-Bank-Jen-Mouat-ebook/dp/B0719L2JYL/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498103793&sr=8-1&keywords=summer+at+bluebell+bank

Love and Laughter in the Time of Chemotherapy by Manjusha Pawagi

#BookBlogger #BookReview 📚📚 My Thanks to @_secondstory for allowing me to review this Biography.

This was a book I could associate with having had cancer and all of the treatment that goes with it. People think that a cancer ward is a sad place but this often is not the case and us patients can laugh at ourselves, our hairloss, the constant peeing when the chemotherapy drug is entering our system and in some cases ( mine anyway) a tingly feeling down below which made me giggle loudly on the ward and lots of other things in which others will think quite bizarre.

This is a personal story which is very interesting as well as some fun too. The book made me cry in parts yet in others it was uplifting. The lady is one tough cookie and this book is one that really needs to be read by everyone so they to can get a true idea of cancer treatment.

I rate this book 5/5

Description

An unexpected, wry, and funny memoir about one woman’s experience with cancer.

Manjusha Pawagi, a successful family court judge, has written a not-so-typical memoir about her experience with cancer. Wryly funny and stubbornly hopeful, this is her quirky take on what it’s like to face your own mortality when, to be honest, you thought you’d live forever. She describes how even the darkest moments of life can be made worse with roommates; details how much determination it takes to ignore the statistics; and answers the age-old question: what does it take to get a banana popsicle around here?

Publication Date is 10th October 2017

https://secondstorypress.ca/adult/love-and-laughter-in-the-time-of-chemotherapy

The Brazilian by Rosie Millard

#BookBlogger 📚📚 Thanks once again must go to @Legend_Press and of course @Rosiemillard for putting in all of the hard work in this fabulous funny summer read.

This had me laughing so much, the characters are great and had me chuckling at every turn of the page. Rosie writes really well, she knows how far to go and has obviously researched well. 

This is one of the top ten books everyone needs in their case or backpack this year, they certainly will not be disappointed. It has fun, emotion, entertainment and lots of summer sun. Grab a Pina Colada and The Brazilian and get on that sun lounger and encounter a summer read you will never forget.

Description

Following a sensational scandal at one of London’s most desired postcodes, Jane and Patrick decide to escape the gossip with a family holiday to Ibiza, their eight-year-old son George in tow.

Also on the island that week is a TV reality show involving an eccentric artist, a horny It Girl, a Brazilian footballer and a famous magician.

As hapless celebrities are picked off one by one, Jane is desperate to be on the programme, leaving childcare in the not so capable hands of a teenager.

One lesbian escapade and an explosive row over hair removal later, the contestants of Ibiza or Bust leave the island with more than sand in places they never knew existed…

Following on from Rosie’s comic romp The Square, The Brazilian is a hilarious summer read, combining sun, sex and celebrity in one satirical scoop, and is perfect for fans of Rachel Johnson and Claire Sandy.

I rate this book 5/5 📓📒📕

Publication Date 14th June 2017

https://rosiemillard1.wordpress.com

Pre Order NOW https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brazilian-Square-Rosie-Millard/dp/1787199878/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1497342294&sr=1-3