#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 of The Hotel on the Riviera By Carol Kirkwood @carolkirkwood @HarperFiction @fictionpubteam #HarperFictionPR #TheHotelontheRiviera #Fiction #SummerRead #SummerVibe

The Hotel on the Riviera
By Carol Kirkwood

The Hotel on the Riviera is a beautifully written, summer escapist book, with opulence and intrigue. Find out more in the blurb and my review below. Thanks to Harper Collins UK for a review copy.

Blurb

From Sunday Times bestselling author and the nation’s best loved TV presenter Carol Kirkwood comes a glittering escape to the French Riviera. ‘A stunning holiday read with passion and heart, perfect…!’ Anton Du Beke

––––––––

By the sapphire blue waters of the French Riviera, a decades-long secret is about to be revealed…

Wayward Greek heiress, Ariana Theodosis, inherits the Hotel du Soleil as part of a mysterious legacy. Captivated by its faded glamour, she hopes it offers her the chance to start again.

Hotelier Gabriel du Lac’s family have owned the hotel for decades – and he has no intention of giving it up for a beautiful stranger.

Madame du Lac has watched the rich and famous pass through the doors of the hotel for almost half a century, and she has kept its secrets too.

As the past finally catches up with them all, will this summer reveal a forgotten secret, and change their lives forever…?

Review

From the outset I felt captivated. The prologue poses much curiosity in the row that is created. Then readers are taken to Ithos, 2009, where Ariana is. It all feels sparkly and richly elegant. Underneath all that is an air of change when she meets up with her father – Demetrios Theodosis.

Readers are on a fantastic journey through the beautifully written book through Ithos, Portofino, Cannes. It all sounds idyllic, but rather mysteriously, tragedy strikes and so does a different sort of intrigue as now there is not only a need to find out more behind the initial beauty, there is a mystery to solve too and the question of what happened at a party is posed.

The Hotel du Soleil intrigues as there is a row brewing over who actually owns it and everyone wants a piece of it and has their own ideas of what to do about it now it’s once, more opulent and rich, famous history has faded away. There are also secrets that are uncovered, as well as quite a bit of name-dropping, which fits the setting of Cannes and around the film industry well. The book captures a bit of the lifestyles of the “other-half” of society.

The Hotel on the Riviera is a great summer read for escapism!

#Review By Lou of Hostage By Claire Mackintosh @ClareMackint0sh @BookSphere @RandomTTours #Thriller #CrimeFiction #SummerReading #summerread #HolidayReading #BlogTour #HostageBook

Hostage
By Claire Mackintosh

Hold on tight for a breath-taking fast-paced summer read in Hostage By Claire Mackintosh. Today I am on the blog tour with a review. Find out more in the blurb and review below. Thanks first to Random T. Tours and Book Sphere for inviting me onto the tour to review and for a copy of the book.

Blurb

Save hundreds of lives. Or save your child?
You’re on board the first non-stop flight from London to Sydney. It’s a landmark journey, and the world is watching.
Shortly after take-off, you receive a chilling anonymous note.
There are people on this plane intent on bringing it down – and you’re the key to their plan.
You’d never help them, even if your life depended on it.
But they have your daughter . . . So now you have to
choose.
DO YOU SAVE HUNDREDS OF LIVES? OR THE ONE
THAT MATTERS MOST?

Review

Hostage begins with a heart in the mouth moment, there’s no other way of describing the opening pages. It’s tense as eyes open wider and boom, hooked, and got to know what happened to lead up to that moment of a horrific and terrifying incident. A situation no one would ever want to find themselves in.

The book cycles between Mina and Adam and various passengers. Mina’s life has complexities that are spilled out to her work colleague, like she is getting it all off her chest; the difficulties to conceive, Sophia who she adopted and turns out she has been diagnosed by a psychologist with hyperlexia and other deep issues. The book takes readers between homelife and the momentous, ground-breaking flight.

There’s a lot of anticpation about the first non-stop flight to Sidney and Mina is working on it. The passengers have various reasons to be on this particular flight, some are very deep and to very consciously leave something or someone behind. They all have a story to tell, all with some type of profound emotion attached.

Adam, Mina’s husband, works in the police force in CID on major cases as he is a Detective Sergeant, who is given a hard time by Sophia, but the intense love cuts through.

Things get even more intense, as if that were possible, but Mackintosh wracks it up a few more notches and it all becomes increasingly chilling when a note is found that spell that lives are in danger and a situation involving Sophia comes to head.~
There are many moments that are sure to make any reader gasp and want to hold their breath as it is breath-taking, but remember to breath as no one can hold their breath for 385 pages, no matter how fast-paced they are.

Hostage is intense and an absolute page-turner. It’s incredibly immersive, more than what readers may be bargaining for.

About the Author

Clare Mackintosh is the multi-award-winning author of five Sunday Times bestselling novels, including I Let You Go, which was the fastest-selling debut thriller in the year it was released.
Translated into forty languages, her books have sold more than two million copies worldwide, have been New York Times and international bestsellers and have spent a combined total of 64 weeks in the Sunday Times bestseller chart.
Clare spent twelve years in the police force, including time on CID, and as a public order
commander. She left the police in 2011 to work as a freelance journalist and social media
consultant and is the founder of the Chipping Norton Literary Festival. She now writes full time
and lives in Wales with her husband and their three children.
http://www.claremackintosh.com / http://www.facebook.com/ClareMackWrites / @ClareMackint0sh

#BookReview By Lou of The Set-Up By Lizzy Dent @DentLizzy @VikingBooksUK @EllieeHud #LobsterArmy #Romcom #RomanticFiction #ContemporaryFiction #WomensFiction #Summer #SummerReading

The Set-Up
By Lizzie Dent

The Set-up is a sweet and funny rom-com that captures the heart. Today I am reviewing the latest stand-alone book by Lizzy Dent. The first was The Summer Job. Thanks to the publisher – Viking for gifting me the book to review from. Find out more in the Blurb and the rest of my review below…

Blurb

There are two men in my life. But this is not a love triangle.

Mara Williams reads her horoscope every day – but she wasn’t expecting to be in a whole other country when destiny finally found her. Just as a fortune teller reveals that her true love is about to arrive, a gorgeous stranger literally walks into her life. And now Mara is determined to bring them together again . . . Surely even fate needs a nudge in the right direction sometimes?

But while Mara is getting ready for ‘the one’, the universe intervenes. Her new flatmate Ash is funny, and kind, and sexy as hell . . . There was no predicting this: it’s as if her destiny just arrived on her doorstep.

So will Mara put her destiny in fate’s hands – or finally trust herself to reach for the stars?

*An edgy, hilarious rom-com from the author of The Summer Job. For fans of Beth O’Leary, Starstruck and New Girl.*

Review

I was delighted to be given the opportunity to review The Setup after falling in love with Lizzy Dent’s debut novel – The Summer Job. Lizzy Dent absolutely has the knack of writing rom-coms that are properly funny and captures your heart. The Setup is another absorbing summer read where time just flies by when reading in the sun.

The book is character driven by characters that you want to keep reading about until the very end and Mara, the main protagonist is one very interesting character to get to know.
Mara is going through some life changes and is into astrology. She studies and truly believes in horoscopes in such a big way that she totally follows their every word and absolutely believes in fate. It becomes apparent that horoscopes, clarevoyance, fate are a bit like a comfort blanket for her, concealing her insecurities and anxieties that do then begin to emerge to the surface. There are quiet introspective moments, giving readers an opportunity to see what’s going on in her head as the character development builds up. There’s a bit of repetition here and there, but that felt right as it felt like it was just part of Mara’s personality.

There ends up being 2 men in her life. This is far from being a conventional love-triangle.
There is the wonderful and sexy dream of a guy who becomes her flatmate – Ash and talented cello player – Josef. There’s a choice to make – to follow what she thought was steadfast and true – the fate in the stars or be brave and step a bit into the unknown, where the rules and conclusion isn’t so clear-cut and follow her heart.

Mara is also a film buff and there are wonderful references to many films, which really adds to the fun. They’re intelligently woven through the story for a purpose – to send messages, but the question is, whether Mara actually sees what they are or not?

This is a rom-com perfect for a summer read, with complexities and humour.
Lizzy Dent absolutely nails it!

About the Author

Lizzy Dent (mis)spent her early twenties working in a hotel not unlike the one in her first novel, The Summer Job. Soon to be a TV series! She somehow ended up in a glamorous job travelling the world creating content for various TV companies, including MTV, Channel 4, Cartoon Network, the BBC and ITV. She writes about women who don’t always know where they’re going in life, but who always have fun doing it. The Setup is her second novel.

#Review By Lou of Summer at the French Cafe By Sue Moorcroft @SueMoorcroft @AvonBooksUK #RomanticFiction #WomensFiction #ContemporaryFiction #Summer #SummerReading

Summer at the French Cafe
By Sue Moorcroft

Summer at the French Cafe is unputdownable, may keep you up for longer than you thought and will most certainly transport you to a French idyll where the food is good and where you’ll meet characters to embrace and be enraptured by.
Read onwards to the blurb and the rest of my review below. First, thanks to Avon Books for the review copy.

Blurb

As soon as Kat Jenson set foot in the idyllic French village of Kirchhoffen, she knew she’d found her home. Now she has a dreamy boyfriend, a delightful dog and the perfect job managing a bustling book café in the vibrant Parc Lemmel. ‘

But when she learns her boyfriend isn’t all he seems, it’s the start of a difficult summer for Kat. Vindictive troublemakers, work woes and family heartache follow, and the clear blue sky that was her life suddenly seems full of clouds.

Then she gets to know the mysterious Noah, and her sun begins to shine brighter than ever. But Noah has problems of his own – ones that could scupper their new-found happiness. Together, can they overcome their many obstacles, and find love again?

The perfect summer read for fans of Trisha Ashley, Sarah Morgan and Carole Matthews.

Review

Whether you are avoiding the airport queues or having a staycation or travelling to France, Summer at the French Cafe will get you in the mood for whatever your plans are.

Summer at the French Cafe provides wonderful escapism and great story-telling. There’s lots to entice – food, romance, friendship, humour to get bound up with this summer. Kat is a great character to get to know. She works at the cafe/bookshop that she has 100% embraced.

Life, despite the idyl of the the parkland backdrop and the setting of the lovely cafe, life isn’t as easy as creating tasty pastries. Kat has come from a broken home life, with many issues, that she then proceeds to try to resolve with her brother and father, to try to re-establish relationships. As she does this, along comes Noah. Noah is kind and understanding, but this is also not always an easy relationship as Kat’s previous relationships in romantic entanglements have also been troubled, even her work takes advantage. The book covers coercive relationships well. That being said, there is an air of the upliftiing summery spirit as Kat is strong and independant and doesn’t allow all the emotional baggage to weigh so heavily to have her completely crumble.
She also has an important and perhaps, life changing decision to make – to open herself up to romance with the lovely Noah or not. Noah also has to work out what to do for best for his daughter too and whether and how he can continue to be the perfect boyfriend and take care of his daughter’s sensitivities.

Summer at the French Cafe is unputdownable and a perfect read to escape into and not exit until the very end.

Happy Publication Day for The Lucky Escape by Laura Jane Williams @laurajaneauthor @AvonBooks @ElliePilcher95

The Lucky Escape
By Laura Jane Williams

Happy Publication Day to Laura Jane Williams for her book The Lucky Escape. It is available in paperback, e-book and audio book. Discover more in the blurb below and you can purchase this feel-good summer read from today. Thanks to Ellie Pilcher at Avon Books for giving me the opportunity to share this with you all.

Blurb

The wedding? Cancelled.
The bride? Heartbroken.
The honeymoon? Try and stop her…

The Lucky Escape by Laura Jane Williams is OUT TODAY in ebook, paperback and audiobook. Escape to Australia this summer in this hilarious feel-good read!