#Review By Lou of Second Chance Summer By Phillipa Ashley #SecondChanceSummer @PhillipaAshley @RandomTTours @PenguinUKBooks

Second Chance Summer
By Phillipa Ashley

Summer is upon us and as our minds turn towards that perennial question as to what to read this summer, I am recommending Second Chance Summer.

Blurb

From the moment Lily Harper arrives at a remote retreat on the breath-taking Scilly Isles, she is itching to get back to civilisation – and her thriving business.

Slowing down simply isn’t in her vocabulary, and so she quickly clashes with the gorgeous but dour Sam who runs the retreat.

Just as Lily is about to give up and leave, disaster strikes, and she is involved in an incident that changes her perspective on everything.

Lily is no longer sure she wants to return to the life she thought she loved. But will she have the courage to give the retreat, and Sam, a second chance?

Review

Meet Lily Harper, a woman, a bit like myself, always on the go, yet the idea of a retreat is always idyllic. Lily actually tries out a retreat and where better than in the heat and beauty of Sicily. She knows she has to slow down and her body tells her to in quite a dramatic way. She’s also at the sharp end of the press when she becomes the craft business woman turned craft judge on a tv show.

When Lily goes to the retreat, she isn’t exactly enamoured and old habits are hard to kick, so she naturally wants to go home and get back to her business and be as busy as ever, but not before clashing with retreat owner, Sam, whose business could do with a bit of her oomph.

What unfolds is a gorgeous summer read to sink into your sun lounger with and soak up the rays and feelings of being on holiday, whether it’s a staycation or away somewhere. It’s a heart-warming book with a lot of hope and promise that life, even when tragic circumstances occur, not all is lost, even when there are twists and turns in rebuilding yourself.

Thanks to Random T. Tours for the blog tour invite for this summery read.

#Review By Lou of Janet Jackson Superhost By Becky Papworth #BeckyPapworth @rararesources #CanCanPress #HolidayRead #SummerRead

Janet Jackson Superhost
By Becky Papworth

Get ready for holiday time and check in with Janet Jackson Superhost for your accomodation.

Blurb

Lavender Cottage, Yorkshire’s finest B&B, is owner Janet Jackson’s pride and joy. Now, after a year of running it and coming out alive, she’s set her heart on becoming a Superhost. For that Janet will need a blooming great tsunami of 5-star reviews- despite the many obstacles that stand in her way.

Number one, of course is the guests themselves. their strange requests, habits and lasting damage to her garden, the cottage and her sanity are a non-stop challenge.

Add in the piles of laundry, sleepless nights and scary spreadsheets, sneaky neighbours, and sex with no strings…and her goal seems far away.

Yet despite an endless run of dramas, and thanks to her passion for hospitality and home baking, Janet may find she is just a lemon drizzle cake or two away from a 5- star life.

Review

Yorkshire is a lovely place to go on holiday to. Lavender Cottage is Yorkshire’s finest B&B to check into and belongs to Janet Jackson (not that one). She is ambitious in the dog eat dog world of hospitality and wants that coveted spot of being named a Superhost.

The book, although fiction, feels like it gives a bit of an insight into what it takes to be a B&B owner and how you have to be at everyone’s beck and call, no matter how strange a request is. The guests are eclectic and some are most definitely eccentric with their rituals in the gardens and desires in the bedroom, Janet knows its going to take a lot to get a plethora of 5 star reviews to prove she can be a Superhost. There’s only her and her personal life and the guests standing in her way, so she knows she has to up her game, but anything can go wrong.

Janet Jackson Superhost is warm-hearted, witty full of mayhem.

#Review By Lou of The Holiday Bookshop #LucyDickens @PenguinRandom #SummerRead #BeachRead #TheHolidayBookshop

The Holiday Bookshop
By Lucy Dickens

A quick look at the blurb that reads like an ad for a job as a bookseller in a beautiful location and I am hooked. I also would like the job….

The Holiday Bookshop

Blurb

Are you looking to start a new chapter?
Role: Bookseller wanted! (3-month fixed-term contract) Location: A luxury resort on the island of Bounty Cove Cay.
Skills required: The ideal candidate will have experience in a retail environment, preferably within the book industry.
Desired qualities: This role will appeal to a book lover with an adventurous streak who is looking for an escape from their everyday life.
What to expect: Sun, sea, and a bookshop that is far from thriving. No one said it would be smooth sailing.
Please note: You may fall in love with more than just our island along the way…
Looking for your next beach read? Look no further! Escape with The Holiday Bookshop, perfect for fans of Jo Thomas, Phillipa Ashley and Jenny Colgan.

Review

Okay, so I would love the job and maybe I could be somehow spared for 3 months from normal life. I am just about all those things and I could easily get around not working in a bookshop before due to retail and other book experience.

Okay, I’m obviously not the candidate. Jen is the successful candidate and is off for a new life in the Maldives to run the bookshop.

Jen and Marianne were once best friends, but something happened that caused cracks, that becomes a bit of a rift. They ran and co-owned a bookshop called:
The Book Nook, so you really feel for them that things aren’t working out quite as well as they might and both end up leaving Marianne’s brother to run it. Jen, as said, goes off to the Maldives and Mari, along with her boyfriend, plan a trip of a lifetime.

The book is part adventure as it takes you from your cosy reading nook to various places by page. It’s adventure by location and life as, especially Jen, when she meets different people, discovers something quite special, but just needed a nudge to see it.

It’s a lovely read, just when it’s that time of year of planning holidays or lazing around on a beach for a day or even in the garden on a warm day. Even on a rainy day, this brings guaranteed sunshine and joy.

#BookReview By Lou of The Beach Party By Nikki Smith @Mrssmithmunday @EllieeHud @VikingBooksUK #TheBeachParty

The Beach Party
By Nikki Smith

The Beach Party kept me up all night. My fingers danced the night away as they turned page after page, until they reached the end!

Six friends.

The holiday of their dreams.

One night that changed it all . . .

1989: The tunes are loud and the clothes are louder when a group of friends arrives in Mallorca for a post-graduation holiday of decadence and debauchery at a luxury villa.

A beach party marks the pinnacle of their fun, until it isn’t fun any longer. Because amidst the wild partying, sand flying from dancing feet and revellers leaping from yachts, an accident happens. Suddenly, the night of a lifetime becomes a living nightmare.

Now: The truth about that summer has been collectively buried. But someone knows what happened that night.

And they want the friends to pay for what they did.

Review

The book caught my attention as soon as I saw it in its proof state. Finally, I’ve had the time to review it. Certain other life things took me away from my blog for a bit. The book is available now! Thanks Viking Books for an e-book copy.

Roll back the years to the 1980’s. Mallorca is one of the places to be to party hard with loud tunes and the brightest ever beachwear. Get ready to holiday with sun, sea and sand, with full-on nostalgia, “yuppies” and even some tech is in here with some early computer games.

The fun doesn’t last on this holiday. The party on a yacht is not only full tunes, but also fuelled by drugs and alcohol consumption. In short, sharp chapters, you see tragedy strike. What started off as a post-graduate party of excess and much debauchery becomes an intriguing, sit-on-the-edge-of-you-seat, psychological thriller. It turns out the place is quickly washed with secrets.

The book easily sweeps you away into its aura and mystique and takes you into some dark places.

#Review by Lou of An Italian Island Summer @SueMoorcroft @AvonBookUK @HarperCollinsUK @RachelsRandomResources #AnItalianIslandSummer #SummerRead #HolidayRead

An Italian Island Summer
By Sue Moorcroft

An Italian Island Summer is Sue Moorcroft’s latest book and there is a lot to it in a beautiful setting to warm your heart and take you deep into character’s, less uncomplicated lives. Find out more in the blurb and full review below as part of Rachel’s Random Resources blog tour for Avon Books, who I thank for a copy of the book.

Blurb

Will one summer in Sicily change her life for ever?

After her marriage falls apart, Ursula Quinn is offered the chance to spend the summer working at a hotel on a beautiful island off the coast of Sicily, Italy. Excited by a new adventure, she sets off at once.

At Residenza dei Tringali, Ursula receives a warm welcome from everyone except Alfio, son of the Tringali family. He gave up his life in Barcelona to help his mother Agata with the ailing business, and is frustrated with Ursula’s interference – and she in turn is less than impressed with his attitude. As they spend more time together, though, they begin to see each other in a different light.

But what with Ursula’s ex-husband on her tail, family secrets surfacing and an unexpected offer that makes Alfio question his whole life, there’s plenty to distract them from one another. Can she face her past and he his future, and together make the most of their Sicilian summer?

Review

A failed relationship, physical and psychological issues are in the offering for Sue Moorcroft’s latest book. Fear not, there is plenty of opportunity to basque in the sun on An Italian Island Summer, even through the trials and tribulations that life throws at the characters.

An Italian Summer takes readers deep into the lives. Ursula’s life is changing. She is going through a breakup from her husband and the tattoo parlour where she works is closing down, although in heart of hearts, there is a little relief there. She makes some huge decisions and makes the move to an Italian island.
A hotel is found, but isn’t doing very well. It’s ran by Agata and her daughter. Her son had been in Spain and now has had to return, so his life is also in a period of change, except the jobs he thought he was required to be returning to are taken already. Cue some tensions.
It doesn’t all go swimmingly for Ursula either, with that and her ex-husband not being the type to let go so easily.

Complicated lives in a beautiful setting of small hotels, marinas, eateries makes for good reading. The book draws you into all the atmosphere and sites the picturesque island has to provide, as well as the people on it and arriving on it.

It is a lovely book to sit in the great outdoors to read and enjoy summer sun giving heat to your body as the book warms your heart.

#BookReview by Lou An Endless Cornish Summer by Phillipa Ashley @PhillipaAshley @AvonBooksUK #Summer #SummerRead #Fiction

An Endless Cornish Summer By Phillipa Ashley ★★★★★
Rating: 5 out of 5.

An Endless Cornish Summer is a great summer read that will take you on a heartrendering mission to find a donor. It’s quite a story that has some heartache, but an overriding warmth and escapism with some romance. It’s a great book for on the beach. Find out more in my blurb and check out the rest of my review too. I thank Avon Books for allowing me to review and gifting me the book.

Blurb

Escape to the seaside with this gorgeous new series from the Sunday Times bestselling author – perfect for fans of Trisha Ashley and Heidi Swain. Rose Vernon is headed to a quiet Cornish village – to find the man who saved her life. For Rose, every day is a gift. She narrowly survived a life-threatening illness and owes everything to her anonymous donor. Determined to thank him, Rose follows a trail of clues that lead her to the little Cornish fishing village of Falford. But things become complicated when Rose is drawn into local life, becoming involved in the legendary Falford Regatta and meeting the handsome Morvah brothers – one of whom might just be the man she’s looking for. But which one? Can Rose find the answer she’s searching for, or will she lose her heart before the summer is over?

Review

This has a great summer feel and a great story. Rose has had a life-threatening illness and has been in hospital in an isolation ward, where even stem-cell treatment crops up. Fast forward 4 years later and things are much better, but sad events still occur in her life, but it is heartwarming that Marge lleaves a powerful, beautiful letter, which persuades her to start to hunt for her donor. It’s quite a story that has heartache, is heartrendering and affairs of the heart. Rose meets Finn Morvah and he and his family own Morvah Marine, but business is complicated on the backdrop of gorgeous scenery, boats and boatyards, that make the area colourful and come to life, along with the other characters she meets. There’s even the potential for a spot of romance and it keeps you guessing whether she will fall for Finn or Joey or neither of them. They also have to work her out too, whether she will be interested in either of them, or so dedicated to her job as an archeologist that she doesn’t have time for that sort of thing. It also brings some light humour to what starts out as quite a heartbreaking situation and moves to being heartwarming, romantic in a way that is great for lounging in the sun with. It is all such a joy to escape to Cornwall and its coastal scenery. It really does make you wish summer would never end. It has that sunshine glow written all over it that makes it a great summer read!