#Review of One More Day of Us by Shari Low @sharilow @BoldwoodBooks bookreview by Lou

One More Day of Us
By Shari Low

One More Day of Us by Shari Low is heartwarming with characters that are intriguing bringing a different angle to friendship. I have, thanks to Boldwood Books, my review and the blurb below the bright city lights and beautiful sunset cover.

Told in split time frames of 1990 and 2025, One More Day of Us tells a heartwarming, emotional tale of rekindling friendships.

In 1990 Moira Chiles, Carina Lloyd and Lisa Dixon have formed a band and are in a swanky hotel during a hot, humid summer in Hong Kong. Life is pretty good, they are popular and they play to full audiences. Then everything changes when Moira decides it’s time for her to leave the band to do her own thing, which takes her to cruise ships on the the heights of sunshine in the Caribbean to the greyer skies over the Glasgow pub scene.

In 2025, Moira has retired and life’s adventure takes her back to Hong Kong and this is where the emotional and observational writing gets deftly deeper, the point of whether after 30 years friendships can be rekindled or not. As she meets Carina and Lisa, readers learn what happened in those in-between years, meet a new generation and bit by bit what happened back then truly becomes exposed.
The relational dynamics between the then and now time points is interesting to see play out so makes investment in the characters and plot easy.

One More Day of Us is intriguing and emotionally moving. A great read as we enter the summer months.

Blurb

Would you give up your dreams for love? ❤️

1990: In a hot, humid Hong Kong summer, three young singers are loving life, performing to packed crowds every night in a swanky hotel bar. Twenty-three-year-old Scottish songbird, Moira Chiles is living the dream alongside Carina Lloyd and Lisa Dixon. They work hard, play hard, and always stick together… until one day Moira has to make a choice that changes everything.

Fast forward to…

2025: In a wet, chilly, Glasgow summer, Moira has just retired after singing in Glasgow pubs and Caribbean cruise ships for three decades. Now she’s ready for a new adventure – one that takes her to Hong Kong to revisit a world she left behind. Moira hasn’t seen Carina or Lisa for over thirty years, but will an invitation to join her on a holiday of a lifetime rekindle the friendships that changed her life? Or will stepping back in time expose secrets that could break their hearts?

#Review of Call of the Isles by various authors, Tantallon Tir – a set of stories from the best of Scottish and Scotland – based writers in the world. Think you know the Scottish Isles, think again… @Tantallon_2001 @tantallontir @randomttours #Scotland #scottishanthology #ScottishIslands

Call of the Isles
By various Scottish and Scottish-based authors
Publisher – Tantallon Tir

Call of the Isles takes readers on both a geographical journey, encompassing places like St. Kilda, Skye, Monkey Island in Loch Lomond and more… including all the way to Samoa and an emotional journey through grief, violence, hope, regret and recovery. I am hopping on the Random T. Tours blog tour today with a review of this fascinating, well put together book that shows what you don’t see when you visit the islands. It almost serves as a warning to the UK to pay attention to more than just the scenery.

The cover deserves a mention as it is fascinating and strangely thought-provoking. Sure, it shows an island and the sea, but looking closer, there’s a bit on the larger island that looks almost like a hole you can step into and the sea has interesting wave like markings that makes it look a bit fragmented, yet at the same time, creates one whole picture and in some ways, that’s a bit what the stories inside do. There are several short, snappy stories by a range of authors, but what unites them is both the societal issues and the sea.

Amongst the scenic, rugged landscape of the Scottish Isles as the sea laps up at their shores, sometimes calmly, sometimes ferociously, are also tales of residents on the islands that may not be what you expect. Call of the Isles is raw in many places, creating a vulnerability, a sadness, an anger in many of the storylines and rightly so. They tell a truth of what is unspoken, peoples stories of island life that you don’t hear on the news nor in a cosy reality show or documentary. These tell of unnoticed broken lives together with the harshness of the sea.
There are final messages, but not what you expect with dangerous myths and beliefs at play, a lost person, but with the person be found or lost to the island? There’s mentions of funding issues, issues in the whisky distilleries and more than you may think, the scattering of ashes, empty homes that just stand waiting for someone to live in them, memories of being on islands, such as Skye and more… These are all cleverly entangled with the complexities of emotions that come with them that are palpable, as though you are on these life journeys with everyone.

They aren’t uplifting tales, they show the other-side of the “fairytale” like lifestyles portrayed within idyllic looking scenery. This is what makes it a unique read, with each story told in approx 3 pages, making it easy to dip in and out as you learn through stories the hard lives lived within the islands that people forget when heading to them for a scenic holiday. They almost serve as a warning as well as an insight, telling people not to look away in abandonment, from the tourist right through to governments throughout the UK.

So, take a read and find another part of the truth within the islands of Scotland in Call of the Isles. They’ll make you see the islands in a different light.

Blurb

From St. Kilda to Samoa, Call of the Isles sails into islands beset with grief, violence, hope, regret and recovery.

A stunning set of stories from the best Scottish and Scottish-based writers in the world

The islands are calling.

#Review of The Marsh In May and Poems and Paintings by Ronald Rand a #book filled with #poems #paintings #art in #TheMarshInMay by #RonaldRand

The Marsh In May
and poems and paintings
By Ronald Rand

Ronald Rand is a cultural ambassador in the U.S. He takes his work of books and plays, encouraging drama and more across the country and other countries in the world. I have had the pleasure of reviewing a book and interviewing him before. He has once again given the opportunity to review another book, which he provided a PDF of in-exchange of an honest review. Check out my review and blurb below. Here is also the link to that interview, which will open in a new tab, so you can return here with, hopefully relative ease.

Interview

The Marsh In May takes readers to various places in the world such as Kathmandu, Olympia, Fez and more in a journey through 29 odes, shape poems and 30 paintings. After a devastating flood, which he had personal experience of as informed by Ronald Rand, himself, this is the creative work that emerged.

The poems are reflective, some, deeply so, others are lighter. There’s a quiet stillness in many of them, inviting the reader to be contemplative and study the circumstances and nature around them. What is written is of the everyday occurrences, done in a relatable, interesting seamless manner between the writing and artwork.

Sitting near a peaceful field or in a woodland or a beach with the sea gently lapping the sand would be some great places to be whilst immersing yourself in this book.

Is it possible to see the miracles of life happening right before our eyes?

The Marsh in May brings the reader into an unforgettable journey of soaring poetry on nature and the joys and mysteries of life, accompanied by twenty-nine full-color, luminous paintings by Cultural Ambassador and world-acclaimed solo performer, Ronald Rand in a stunning debut volume.

Within these pages, you’ll discover myriads of worlds within words – a harmonious dance between each poem and painting with some written as shape poems; others as odes to Thomas Wolfe, Edwin Booth, Jean-Claude van Itallie, and to the poet’s mother; and transforming experiences around the world to fantastical places including Kathmandu, Mostar, Olympia, and Fez.

Float along the Tennessee River, travel back in time to when art appeared in caves thousands of years ago, experience when Helen Keller first recognized water, and sit in a field with a chimney alone. Take a moment to rest easy within and soar inside Ronald Rand’s heartfelt paintings and poetry.

For everyone who loves poetry, nature, and the gift of life, you’ll be transformed by the miracles revealed in The Marsh in May.

The first book of Lucky Shoe Press with an introduction by author/publisher, Lawrence Knorr, Ph.D.

Features 29 full-color acrylic paintings by Ronald Rand, and a painting each by playwright Jean-Claude van Itallie, portrait artist Martha Carpenter, and Maribee.

#Review of Festival Days by Julie Anderson @julieandersonwriter @HobeckBooks #HistoricalCrimeFiction #bookreview by Lou

Festival Days
By Julie Anderson

Festivals are fun, full of joyous atmosphere and there’s often a lightness in the air. Festival Days celebrates that in 1951 and adds a twist of murder in what is book 3 of The Clapham Trilogy. I read it as a stand-alone and it holds up pretty well.
Thanks to Hobeck books, check out the lively jazz-filled cover. my review and the blurb as you scroll down…

May, 1951 and everyone who knew the dark days of war and rationing, is in the mood for a lively, uplifting festival that will change the tide to that of one of hope.
The atmosphere of anticipation for the present and future of something huge brewing is captured well. The something big turns out to be more that just the jovial atmosphere of festival days…

Detective Constable, Faye Smith is who readers meet because things turn rather sinister when a double murder that looks is more than a straight-forward killing when two bodies are discovered in old wartime shelters, and turn out to be more in gangland territory. She has her work cut out in not only solving the crime, but in a male dominated world, to prove herself as does her work colleague, Ellie Peveril.

Ellie Peveril, meanwhile also has her own domestic problems with her ex-fiance hanging around between the background and foreground of her life.

Julie Anderson mixes the light with the dark, the criminal underworld and domesticity in an intriguing way. It’s one that readers can be caught up in the characters lives and progresses the story at a great, fast pace. She changes the tempo, cranking it up, tightening events. the more you read, so what it becomes is a tense and gripping plot, at a time when everyone’s lives are changing one way or another.

This summer as all types of festivals loom large, this is the book to check out for your tbr pile and read to whet your appetite for them. It’s captivating for festival-goers and crime fiction fans alike.

Blurb

May 1951

Celebration is in the air with the Festival of Britain and for the first time in years the mood is one of hope rather than hurt.

For Detective Constable Faye Smith, London is not as safe as it seems. The criminal underworld is gaining strength, enjoying a lively existence below the surface. Then two bodies are found in the war-time shelters, a man and a woman. Who are they? What’s their story? Why were they murdered and how did they end up in the shelters?

Meanwhile, Ellie Peveril is busy with a celebration of a different kind. Ellie does all she can to support her friend but has her own worries, with ex-fiancé Patrick Haverstock looming in the shadows. Faye, keen to unravel the mystery of the double murder, finds herself tangled up in crimes that stretch far beyond a simple killing.

Faye and Ellie must face their toughest case yet as their lives change, irrevocably, for the future.

#Review of 27 Church Street by A.J. Hobart #Bookreview by Lou @HobeckBooks #BlogTour #PreNHS #27ChurchStreet

27 Church Street
By A.J. Hobart

27 Church Street is the debut novel of A.J. Hobart and was more than pleasantly surprised at what was concealed within the pages. A well-researched, atmospheric family drama, the sort that would sit very nicely on tv on a Sunday night.
It’s a very different book for Hobeck Books to publish, but one that’s very worthwhile checking out.

Meet three generations of the Stretton family, a family who actually lived and breathed on this earth. If you haven’t heard of them, you soon will. They were surgeons, pre-NHS, which adds interest, challenges and also some interesting insights perhaps the NHS (National Health Service in the UK) could learn a little from. The prestige and attitudes are higher and better in 1910 in some ways, although perhaps not in others.
Not everyone in the family wants to follow in those footsteps. Sammy doesn’t see a future in the medical field, causing friction as he has a desire to be a different type of working man…

Calvin Whitman, a brash American from New York changes things for the working man when he rocks up. He’s ready to buy anyone and anything to make his business and factory work. He does have one okay point to him, that he keeps to his word. There’s nothing wishy-washy about him. He doesn’t, however, like it when the Stretton family try to get some semblence of order to deal with the Smallpox outbreak.

The insights of family relations are often poignant and relatable, with rebellion and love. 27 Church Street has lots of drama behind its doors, and outside them too, which captivates interest and stops it from becoming dry. The facts of the time period mixed with human experience with nothing sugar-coated keeps the plot intriguing.

For a debut novel, it has lots of strengths to it and one I recommend.

Blurb

Kidderminster Town Hall, July, 1910
A glittering family celebration

The Stretton family spare no expense as the heads of their medical dynasty, Samuel and Kate, mark their golden wedding anniversary at Kidderminster Town Hall. Daughter Katie fights to ensure everything goes to plan. But family divisions soon come to the fore in a very public way, fueling gossip that will keep the town talking for weeks.

A transatlantic threat

Meanwhile, the social fabric of this famous carpet-making town is being threatened by a surprise arrival. Ambitious American carpet-tycoon Calvin Whitmore has designs on disrupting the established order. Whitmore’s son Charles is far from convinced about his father’s plans. Can Katie support him to find the courage to finally face down his father?

A lethal epidemic

As the future of Kidderminster is being fought over, the town’s population is threatened by a deadly outbreak of smallpox. Principal surgeon Lionel Stretton, son of Samuel, must inspire his hard-pressed team at the infirmary to save as many people as possible. Under the strain, more buried family secrets emerge, secrets that threaten to destroy the family’s unity and reputation forever…

#Review of Walking On Sunshine by Heidi Swain by Lou. Happy Publication Day @Heidi_Swain @simonschusterUK @RandomTTours #BlogTour

Walking On Sunshine
By Heidi Swain

What a pleasure it is to kick off this Random T. Tours blog tour on Publication Day of Walking On Sunshine by popular author Heidi Swain, whose books are such a joy to read with their heart-warming themes and depth of character and scenic settings, encompassing most of the seasons. Yes, it absolutely has me thinking of “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves. The book, much like the song written and sang many years before, are not linked, but they do have one thing in common, they bring in that light atmosphere that only summer air can.
Heidi Swain has now successfully written and had published with Simon & Schuster, many books set in winter, summer and autumn, taking in a couple of different communities with people coming and going as they look for a new life for themselves.
Discover my review and the blurb below, first, check out the summery yellow cover to put you in the mood for the warm season that’s just around the corner.

Review

Meet Tilly, Constance and James in summer in the picturesque village of Willowell, Suffolk. They each have their reasons for being there.

Tilly has the most heart-rendering reason. She has had a tough life and is now marred in tragedy. As the pricks of heat from the sun’s rays come through, she has the task of scattering her dad’s ashes. She goes to Willowell to relax and to give herself time and space to work out what direction she is going to head in for the next chapter of her life. Once there, the place feels like home, a new place for her to reside.
She meets Constance on her travels. She lives in a big Georgian house called Fernside. She’s getting older and has recognised that she cannot maintain Willowell Woods, which she owns, by herself and sees the only solution is to sell them.

People meeting others who didn’t know each other existed and plotting opportunities for a new breath of life is what Heidi Swain does extremely well.
Upon meeting Constance, Tilly creates a plan to buy the woods. She sees this and creating a business as a vibrant solution to what she’s going to do in her life now and to keep the woodland, therefore also helping Constance, who also has a nephew, James who doesn’t want the woods to be sold. All of course isn’t plain-sailing as Tilly has plans for the land and has to find a way of convincing the family that she is the person to save the woods. Can she find a way to cut through the stubborness and a bit of fear of change from the aged Constance? What will happen as a slow-burn relationship begins between her and James? It isn’t without its tensions.

Walking On Sunshine is a sweet and meaningful book full of warmth of character and a bit of intrigue as to what direction their lives will take and the twists and turns that ensue.

As we head into summer, this is a perfect read to start the season off, perhaps with your favourite summery tipple as the sun beats down and the heat builds to a crescendo, much like the plot.

Blurb

A Summer in Suffolk could be just what she needs…

When Tilly heads to the river in Willowell, Suffolk, to scatter her dad’s ashes, she’s in need of some rest and relaxation. Life has been tough lately, and she wants a new start.

Constance has lived in Fernside forever. She owns the beautiful Willowell Woods – but she can’t manage them alone, and they’re now up for sale.

Her nephew, James, has always loved Willowell Woods – and he doesn’t want anyone taking them over. So when Tilly asks to buy them, with an exciting idea for the land, sparks begin to fly… the problem is, they’re already falling in love.

Can Tilly and James find a way to turn sparks into fireworks? And will Constance finally realise that letting in the new doesn’t have to mean getting rid of the old…?

Spend Summer with Heidi Swain in her most glorious book yet – perfect for fans of Sarah Morgan.