#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.

#Review By Lou of The Secrets of Rochester Place By Iris Costello @CostelloWords @PenguinRandom @EllieeHud

The Secrets of Rochester Place
By Iris Costello

Although set in Spring, The Secrets of Rochester Place is a great winter read.
If walls could talk…
Find out more in the blurb and my opinion in the review below.

Blurb

Spring 1937: Teresa is evacuated to London in the wake of the Guernica bombing. She thinks she’s found safety in the soothing arms of Mary Davidson and the lofty halls of Rochester Place, but trouble pursues her wherever she goes.

Autumn 2020: Corrine, an emergency dispatcher, receives a call from a distressed woman named Mary. But when the ambulance arrives at the address, Mary is nowhere to be found. Intrigued, Corinne investigates and, in doing so, disturbs secrets that have long-dwelt in Rochester Place’s crumbling walls. Secrets that, once revealed, will change her life for ever . . .

Who is Mary Davidson? And what happened at Rochester Place all those years ago?

Review

Set between 1937 and 2020, it has an eerie quality intertwined in mystery. Mary phoned Corrine, telling her about a child under rubble. The house she says she is in no longer exists, as such. This sparks many questions, including what happened to Rochester Place and what secrets are being harboured there? Where did Mary suddenly disappear to?
If walls could talk they would tell a thousand stories or more… The crumbled walls of Rochester Place has had its time of harbouring secrets and now is its time for letting them all unravel from its crumbling structure.

It’s quite a complex story set in complicated times as both The Spanish Civil War and World War 2 rumbles on. Everyone has a story to tell, whether its about friendship, bigotry and more…
There’s a lot that people can take from this book, whether it is something about both of these wars or the bigotry aspects that people faced then and still, sadly face today.

Join Corrine on what turns out to be quite an intriguing investigation in challenging times into what is a multi-layered, mystifying story about 2 people separated by time.

#Review By Lou of This Year’s For Me and You By Emily Bell #EmilyBell @PenguinRandom @MichaelJBooks

This Year’s For Me and You
By Emily Bell

This Year’s For Me and You is heart-warming and just gets you into the festive spirit and ready for ringing in the bells for the new year.

Blurb

When Celeste loses her best friend Hannah, she’ll do anything to keep her spirit alive.

So when she uncovers her friend’s old list of New Year’s resolutions, Celeste vows to complete them all.

One adventure at a time, she rediscovers how wonderful life can be.

But when one resolution leads her to someone from her past, Celeste can’t help but wonder . . .

Could the biggest adventure of all be falling in love?

Review

This is a heart-warming story that is great for seeing in the new year. It’s full of tradition like making new year’s resolutions and the warmth of hope and wonder of what’s to come.

Hannah was Celeste’s best friend and it is heart-wrenchingly emotional to learn that she dies. This is when the almost magical part comes in, where memories are re-ignited and new hope comes and surprises spring into life – there’s a new year’s resolutions list that was Hannah’s that gets discovered. What follows feels bittersweet and tender. Celeste vows to honour her friend and do everything in the list. It sends her on quite an adventure of discovery, and re-discovery as one resolution brings her back to an old flame. The ‘will they won’t they’ scenario kicks in and by this time, I’m so invested in the characters that I find myself rooting for Celeste’s love to come alive again as grief and peace circle.

Go on an adventure of a lifetime to bring you in the new year and be inspired to carry out your own resolutions. This book sure does the job and will leave a fuzzy warm glow inside, quite the contrast from the wintry temperatures outside.

You can buy at Waterstones
Please not I am not affiliated to Waterstones in any way.

#Review By Lou of Only Love Can Hurt Like This By Paige Toon @PaigeToonAuthor @PenguinRandom #ContemporaryFiction #RomFic @RandomTTours #BlogTour

Only Love Can Hurt Like This

By Paige Toon

Only Love Can Hurt Like This is beautifully emotive. I have a blurb and my review below as part of the Random T. Tours blog tour and also thanks to Penguin for a copy of the book to review from, in exchange of an honest opinion, which you can find below.

THE SUNDAY TIMES SMASH HIT BESTSELLER.

Neither of them expected to fall in love. But sometimes life has other plans.

When Wren realises her fiancé is in love with someone else, she thinks her heart will never recover.

On the other side of the world, Anders lost his wife four years ago and is still struggling to move on.

Wren hopes that spending the summer with her dad and step-family on their farm in Indiana will help her to heal. There, amid the cornfields and fireflies, she and Anders cross paths and their worlds are turned upside-down again.

But Wren doesn’t know that Anders is harbouring a secret, and if he acts on any feelings he has for Wren it will have serious fall-out for everyone.

Walking away would hurt Wren more than she can imagine. But, knowing the truth, how can she possibly stay?

Review

Emotions run long and deep when your love runs off with someone else, this is what Wren learns. As the book develops, it is an emotional read and you really feel for the protagonist. It truly feels like that’s it for her, until she moves to be with her dad and step-family and later meets brothers, Jonas and Anders. Prior to this, however, it is interesting to see what is a complex relationship develop, within her family. It seems things have been far from an easy ride there too.

When Anders comes onto the scene, there is a hope that all will be well, but love doesn’t always work like that. It isn’t always one big fairytale as this book shows the nuances, the complexities and, well, how well can you know a person. Anders keeps a really big secret.

It is a highly emotive, captivating read where you cannot help but be enraptured in the characters lives.

I’ll admit, to finish off this review, from the minute I saw the title and bits in between to the end, I couldn’t help but think of that song – Only Love Can Hurt Like This by Paloma Faith. Think how strongly emotive that is and this book matches it. It is a beautifully written book that enthralls and clings onto you until the end. It is one I highly recommend.

#Bookreview By Lou of Glory By NoViolet Bulawayo #NoVioletBulawayo @carmellalowkis @penguinrandom #Glory #Orwellian

Glory
By NoViolet Bulawayo

Satirical and Animal Farm like in satire, tone and in use of animals. If you like the satire of Animal Farm, then you’ll be equally as fascinated by Glory. Thanks to Carmella Lowkis at Penguin Random House for inviting me to review.

**LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2023**
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2022**

Discover an exhilarating novel about power and corruption set in a nation trapped in a cycle as old as time.

‘A masterpiece for our times. Gripping and exhilarating’Observer

‘Uplifting and original’ Stylist

This is the story of a country on the brink of revolution.

It’s the story of Destiny, who returns home to witness the uprising.

It’s a story for all of us, and a reminder that history can be changed in the blink of an eye.

‘A novel with heart and energy’ Daily Telegraph

‘Bulawayo is really out-Orwelling Orwell. This is a satire with sharper teeth, angrier, and also very, very funny’ New York Times Book Review

** SHORTLISTED FOR THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE 2023**
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 VISIONARY ARTS AWARDS**

Review

The first striking thing about this book, apart from it can be compared to Animal Farm by George Orwell, with its animals having human traits, is how much anger it has throughout. It is intense and is like an outpouring of anger throughout with no let up, so be prepared for quite a ride. NoViolet also pulls no punches about times gone by and also how things were after some changes about the politics.

The book is of black history and black present. It talks about when Africa had white farmers, who were overthrown and tells things how they were, then about present times about fake news and rigged elections. It shows huge power in huge positions and how it can go to your head and what seems hopeful, isn’t necessarily so. It shows that there can be choice in what path you choose. It has its moments of sadness, where you look now at Africa, knowing, when free from imperialism, it could have been so different. NoViolet also pulls no punches when it talks about present governments and the path they’ve chosen to take. It also, even more fascinatingly talks about Asia and how certain countries are viewed.

There is quite a bit about religion too and how it is viewed, especially Christianity and references to Moses and Jesus that is interesting.

About half-way through, the writing format changes to that of a social media style conversation, just for a bit, which brings a different dimension to what is being told, although it unexpectedly does this, it does fit rather well into the context.

Most of the way, you’re holding onto every hope that things change and that people can vote without fear and knowing it will be fair and instead of a country being stuck or being pulled in all sorts of directions, that there will be a peace that will reign over people. It is an energetic book, with a very fast-pace and yet a lot to digest.

#HappyNewYear #2023. Here are a number of #Fiction and #NonFiction Books in many genres I highly #Recommend from #2022 #BookRecommendations #BookReviews #BookWrap

I have reviewed many books in 2022 and what a privilege it has been too. Here are some that I highly recommend out of the many books I have reviewed in 2022. I also have included links to my full no spoiler reviews where you’ll also find the blurbs. The mix of crime fiction, contemporary fiction, historical fiction, non-fiction, memoirs are in no particular order. Please also feel free to explore my blog for other great book reviews, author interviews and talks and theatre reviews.

The Little Shop of Hidden Treasures By Holly Hepburn – An antique shop, antiques, a mysterious puzzle box, a trip to Egypt, a mention of the Canarvon Family (think the real Downton Abbey), all wrapped up in a wonderful book full of splendid characters.
Holly Hepburn has a new book coming this year that I will also be reviewing.

Check out the blurb and my review in the link: The Little Shop of Hidden Treasures

Suicide Thursday By Will Carver explores this and the darker corners of society. It’s a compulsive read with intriguing characters – Mike, Jackie and Eli. Will Eli leave a hated job and get past writing chapter 1 of a novel? What is written in texts? Find out the answers to these and more in Suicide Thursday.

Link to blurb and review –Suicide Thursday

All About Evie By Matson Taylor is a humorous second book to the much talked about The Miseducation of Evie Epworth that was a Radio 2 book club pick. There’s much humour mixed with poignancy and sadness. Find out what happens at a sound check at Broadcasting House, her friend, Caroline and life’s mishaps and incidents. It’s highly engaging. Find the blurb and review in the link: All About Evie

Yes, I Killed Her By Harry Fisher s full of chilling suspense. The question isn’t who, but it is how. How did a murderer commit such a calculated crime. Is it as perfect as he thinks? Here is a link to the blurb and full review. Remember, I’m not going to disclose the answers to those questions. That’s for you to discover yourselves: Yes, I Killed Her

Verity Vanishes By A.B. Morgan is book 3 of The Quirk Files. The books can be read as part of the series or as standalone as the cases each complete by the end of the book. The Quirks are quirky private investigators.

There are secrets to uncover, including who was Verity, why has she vanished and why is a tv station so interested in this particular case? It’s intriguing with wit. See blurb and review in the link –Verity Vanishes

Touching, haunting and a darn good unputdownable read. It takes place between Glasgow and H.M. Polmont Prison in Central Scotland. It’s gripping getting to know about what revelations unfold in Ginger and Wendy’s personalities and what happens to them. It’s a book of obsession and friendship and more in this contemporary fictional book… Find out more in the link to the blurb and my full review: Ginger And Me

The Homes By J.B. Mylet is set in an orphanage village in Scotland. Follow the lives of Lesley, Jonesy and Eadie, all from their points of views. How safe is The Homes? Murder strikes and everything changes in this fast-paced, immersive page-turner. It’s fiction based on a true story. Find out more in the link: The Homes

Remember Me by Charity Norman is gripping and addictive as the layers build up to discover what has happened to Leah, who has disappeared.

The book also follows Felix, who has Alzheimer’s. It’s authentically and sensitively written. Discover the blurb and the rest of my thoughts in the link: Remember Me

Should I Tell You By Jill Mansell is enthralling in both setting and the relationships between all the characters. Meet Lachlan, a chef in high demand and Peggy, a formidable, yet fun woman who puts up a credible argument as to why he should follow her to Cornwall to cook his amazing food. Also meet Amber, Lachlan, Rafaelle and Vee as you step into idyllic scenery. Is all well though? What would you make of the mysterious letter? Find out more in my link about this beautiful, compelling book that perfectly captures the lives of its characters, who are concealing truths. Should I Tell You

White Christmas on Winter Street has all the festive feel-good vibes you can want. Unearth the treasures in Corner House in Middledip. It’s a rather moving book as Heather returns to discover new friends and old. Find out more in the link: White Christmas on Winter Street

The Little Wartime Library By Kate Thompson is about a courageous librarian who took Bethnal Green Library underground during World War 2. It is fascinating and is fiction based on fact. Lots of research was done, including asking librarians, including me, many questions that then formed the basis of the central character. The Little Wartime Library

The Locked Away Life by Drew Davies is about 2 people who are seemingly poles apart. 1 is becoming practically a recluse and increasingly elderly, the other, much younger in need of a job, which is how they meet. Little do they know they need each other more than they thought they would. It’s a heartwarming story. Find out more in the link: The Locked AwayLife

Love Untold by Ruth Jones is uplifting, emotional and endearing, It crosses the generations from a teenager right up to a 90 year old. It’s well observed in all the complexities of life and interactions.
Discover more such as the blurb and my review in the link. Love Untold

The Cliff House by Chris Brookmyre puts readers on an island. There’s a hen party set on a Scottish island. In some ways it’s a bit like And Then There We’re None by Agatha Christie, but there are also many differences.

There are frictions amongst the guests and things take a sinister turn. It’s a well-observed book in the way relationships are between the characters and what happens when people are on a remote island. Everyone has a secret and no one is safe. Find out more in the blurb and the rest of my thoughts in the review: The Cliff House

Cat Lady By Dawn O’Porter is very humorous but also very poignant and thought provoking. Within the book, wrapped in the cuteness of a cat, there is a great human story too and both together makes this quite different and compelling. There are 5 parts to Cat Lady – Mother, Career Woman, Animal, Wife, Cat Lady. Follow Mia and Tristan through the ups and downs of life. Mia is especially more than you would perhaps assume she is… Here is the link to the blurb and full review: Cat Lady

Thrown is a debut novel by Sara Cox. It’s heartwarming and uplifting at a pottery class. It’s about community pulling together and friendships forming. There are elements that may well tug at your heartstrings. Here is the link to the blurb and review: Thrown

The Cruise by Catherine Cooper takes place on the most luxurious cruise-liner. The type that would be a holiday of a lifetime. Something mysterious happens and it is compelling to travel around to try to fit together all the pieces to discover how they all fit together and some truths. Here is the link to the blurb and full review. The Cruise

Keeping A Christmas Promise By Jo Thomas is about 4 friends who have known each other for 25 years. Tragedy happens to one of them, meaning it is up to 3 of them to keep their bucketlist promise- to see the northern lights at Christmas. With themes of friendship, mortality and strength to carry on in the face of adversity and community, it’s an entertaining, heartwarming book. Here is the link to the blurb and full review. Keeping A Christmas Promise

The Echoes of Love By Jenny Ashcroft transports readers to the 1930’s to the 1940’s and then to 1970’s. It takes readers into the depths of love and war and how it reverberates years later. The book is set between Portsmouth in the UK and Crete. It is a story of war and love. A story unfolding at the BBC Broadcasting House. It is fascinating, poignant and beautifully written. Here is the link to my original review and the blurb. The Echoes of Love

Cooking the Book by various authors published by Hobeck Books also raised money for the Trussell Trust. It’s various short stories, each taking on a different sub-genres of crime fiction. Each also has a recipe you can create by each author. Here is the link to all the details Cooking The Books

The Language of Food is fiction based on fact. It takes reader into the life of a little known woman, by many, called Eliza Acton. She changed the course of cookery forever and when today’s cooks come across her, they are inspired by her story and style and have been influenced greatly by her. Annabel Abbs now opens up her life in this very interesting book. Here is the link to discover more: The Language of Food

Create Your Own Indoor Green by Joe Swift who is also an expert gardener on Gardeners World and various other programmes. The book is an easy step by step guide to indoor plants. It quite literally has everything you need to know, whether you’re getting started or already have indoor plants as there’s always more knowledge to be gained. There are handy hints and tips as well as growing and caring for them. I actually bought this for a friend after reviewing it and she is delighted. Find out the blurb and review in the link: Joe’s Create Your Own Indoor Green

Women Like Us By Amanda Prowse, is a memoir where she sheds light and insight into her life, which many women will be able to relate to or understand, perhaps more than they may first expect. It’s a highly interesting read.
Women Like Us

One Night on The Island introduces readers to Cleo. She works for the magazine – Women Today and has an unusual assignment to do. Directed by her boss, Ali, the assignment is to marry herself (or self-coupling or sologamy) on a remote island. She has a few reservations to say the least. It’s an entertaining story with lots of heart and warmth. One Night On the Island

Mothers and Daughters By Erica James is a compelling story of family life and revelations. Families can be more complex than what they may first appear to be in this sweeping family drama. Mothers and Daughters

Marion Crawford, a bright, ambitious young teacher, is ready to make her mark on the world. Until a twist of fate changes the course of her life forever…
This mixes fact and fiction with Marion and the UK Royal Family in a fascinating way, about a woman not everyone knows much about. The Good Servant

Wolf Pack By Will Dean is a Scandi-Noir.

Tuva Moodyson has a case on her hands to solve with Thord and Chief Björn.
Elsa Nyberg is reported as being missing and chillingly, Rose Farm has quite the history of deadly things happening there, involving a family. It’s a gripping page-turner. Here is the link to the full review and blurb. Wolf Pack

The Empire By Michael Ball is exquisitely theatrical, after all, that is his background. It takes readers back in time to the glitz and glamour of 1922, where you’ll meet Jack Tredwell and a whole host of other cast. There are secrets and the future of the theatre itself is in jeopardy. It’s a page turner! Here’s my link to the blurb and rest of the review The Empire