Cosy up to The Christmas Holiday, oozing with festive spirit and romance. Thanks to Avon Books UK for the review copy. Below is the blurb and my review.
Blurb
Krystle didn’t have a normal childhood and longed for warm family Christmases with presents under the tree. Now she makes sure everyone else has the perfect Christmas she never had, bringing beautiful decorations to cheer as many people as possible.
With her festive business booming, she decides to celebrate by renting a secluded house in the Lakes, with a plan to make this the ultimate yuletide getaway.
But fate immediately throws a spanner in the works in the form of a broken-down car, a flooded river and Max; a man who despises Christmas.
Krystle becomes determined to show Max the joys of the holiday. She won’t take no for an answer.
Can she melt Max’s Grinch-like heart? And can he show her that life doesn’t need to go to plan to take you somewhere magical…
Let Sunday Times bestseller Phillipa Ashley whisk you away to the Lakes this Christmas, with a story full of unexpected romance, second chances, snowflakes and starlight! Perfect for fans of Sarah Morgan, Karen Swan and Heidi Swain.
Review
Being transported to the Lake District at Christmas is a delight! This book oozies Christmas, especially with Krystle trying so hard to make everything absolutely perfect. Max, on the flip side is that classic grinch, who Krystle feels the need and desire to win over. If you like the HBO movies, this book would hit the spot. There is warmth and all the spirit of Christmas within these pages. The supporting cast are strong and lead interesting lives too. The message within the book about life not always going to plan is a strong one and brings that heartwarming feel that’s lovely for this time of year. This takes readers on a trip through lovely scenery, Christmas atmosphere and second chances in life as well as making it a time to feel more complete and reconcile memories and heal from times of old. It is a book of pure festive escapism!
Feeling Christmassy yet? Whether yes, or no, A White Christmas on Winter St. is just the ticket/book to transport you there and into Middledip, a recurring place in Sue Moorcroft’s contemporary fiction tales. Join the snow furry down to the blurb and my review, containing my thoughts on the book.
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Blurb
When Sky Terran returns to the village of Middledip after losing the job she loves, she anticipates a quiet Christmas getting used to her new life. However, the annual street decoration competition is coming up and this year, the residents of Winter Street are determined to win.
As she is pulled into the preparations, Sky quickly grows to love the quirky, tight-knit community she is now part of. Including the extremely handsome Daz, who soon becomes more than just a friendly neighbour.
But when Daz’s ex turns up determined to win him back and it seems he might not be the man Sky thought he was, she remembers how much allowing people into her life – and heart – can hurt. As the snow falls, will she and Daz find a way through – and help win a Christmas victory for Winter Street?
A gorgeously festive novel about love, family and the power of forgiveness from Sunday Times bestseller Sue Moorcroft, perfect for fans of Sarah Morgan and Phillipa Ashley.
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Review
It is always a treat to return to Middledip to find out what is going on and meeting the people within it. This time, the focus is on Sky Terran. She has returned to Middledip, having fond memories of the time when she was fostered by Nan Heather. Now, all grown up, she had a job that she leaves, to become a landlord/landlady, for reasons you’ll discover in the book.
As Sky moves back into Middledip, discovering Corner House and unearthing it’s treasures in the undergrowth, she also goes exploring and finds friends new and old, that are rather moving, but will Nan Heather still be there?
Amongst the cosy Christmas vibe that makes it easy to cosy up against the wintry weather elements, there’s some serious and passionate conversations amongst the people in Middledip, including wildlife and trees. There are also personal challenges that affect characters directly and indirectly to varying degrees to face and deal with. They are sure to keep readers involved in this community, to see if they’re overcome. There’s a romance brewing, but will it reach sizzling point?
This is a Christmas book that’s a joy to unwrap and emerge in Middledip to discover what everyone is doing in the lead up to this Christmas. There’s much to entertain and intrigue as well as giving that cosy, heartwarming feeling, even on the coldest of days.
The Good Servant, a book that is fiction based on fact about an ordinary woman in Dunfermline, Scotland, whose life turned into the extraordinary, in this fascinating and engrossing book. Thanks to Harper Collins for a review copy. Find out more in the blurb and rest of my review below.
Blurb
From the no.1 Sunday Times bestselling author comes the story of Marion Crawford, governess to the Queen – an ordinary woman living in an extraordinary time in 1932. Dunfermline, Scotland.
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…
1936. Windsor Castle.
At first this ordinary woman is in a new world, working as the governess to two young princesses, in a household she calls home but where everyone is at a distance. As the course of history changes, she finds herself companion to the future Queen, and indispensable to the Crown. And slowly their needs become her needs. Their lives become hers.
It’s then she meets George, and falls in love for the first time. Now Marion faces an impossible choice: her sense of duty or the love of her life.
Review
The Good Servant is fiction based on fact. It’s a fictionalised account of Marion Crawford’s life from before, during and after she an employee for the monarchy. Marion is a young Scottish woman who becomes a governess to two princesses – Princess Margaret and the princess who became our queen – Queen Elizabeth II. They were devoted to Marion Crawford and affectionately called her Crawfie. She was ambitious, but hadn’t planned to take her ability to teach to that end of the population; her original plan was to educate and be a child psychologist at the other end of the scale – the underprivieged, until fate drew its hand and changed them quite unexpectedly and dramatically. She took them on a journey of what people who aren’t royalty, call normality.
It’s a fascinating story that is revealed and makes me want to look into Marion’s life more as I am sure many readers will after reading this rivetting book.
The book has an air of authenticity to it and Fern Britton has cleverly woven through the facts of an ordinary woman who suddenly has her life changed to the extraordinary and has to weigh up choices she hadn’t thought she had to face, with the consequences to choose which path she will go along and some of the mistakes made along the way.
There are twists as readers see what mistakes are made and motives uncovered, involving a certain man in her life.
This is a book I recommend as it is very interesting, about a woman I certainly was barely aware of and the writing coupled with the research makes it a very good read.
Today I am excited to reveal my review of After The Rain By Lucy Dillon. After The Rain is Out Now! There’s more than meets the eye after the storm and the drama that ensues as it is more than just the weather that can be stormy.
Find out more in the blurb and my thoughts in my review and a bit about the author below…
Thanks, firstly to Random Things Tours and Transworld Books/Penguin for inviting me to review as part of the blog tour.
Blurb
After the storm it’s time for a fresh start . . . First, the clouds… Tara Hunter is a therapist on a mission to restore Longhampton’s community spirit after catastrophic flooding. But with her boyfriend AWOL, her family fragmented, and only a cat for company, Tara’s own life is crumbling. Then the storm… On top of everything, Tara’s father – last seen as he walked out on her when she was ten years old – is suddenly back, with a surprising offer that could change everything. And after the rain… Dr David Dalloway is Longhampton Wellness Centre’s new star counsellor. He’s charming, caring and has a knack for reading people’s minds – which is the last thing Tara needs right now. Will having David and her dad around make for a bigger storm on the horizon? Or is this Tara’s chance for a fresh start?
Review
After the Rain is insightful and leads readers into a therapist’s office, where readers meet Tara, and later, newcomer – David. The storm had an impact on the residents of Longhampton, but after the rain, there are surprises for them, especially Tara.
NLP and Hypnotherapy are some of the therapies that are what on offer by some of the therapists. I found this striking as NLP and Hypnotherapy have become more known about over the years, especially with the rise in fame of the likes of Paul McKenna and now seems to be, as is people going to any sort of therapy, within books in a way it perhaps hasn’t before. What makes this one so interesting, is you get to know more about a therapist’s office and the lives of therapists that patients/clients won’t normally be privy to know.
Readers are privy to see therapist’s lives behind the scenes as it were, especially through Tara as she navigates her own career at the Wellness Centre, and her own issues, as despite her job, finds it easier to help her patients, than herself and she is better at giving advice, than following her own or receiving it, in Longhampton. It really shows this can be part of the human condition.
New counsellor David is easy to be charmed by and it’s interesting to see how he and Tara get along. He is excellent at his work, really cares and is intuitive, even when it comes to colleagues, so he knows all isn’t always well with Tara and he wants her to open up, which she finds infuriatingly annoying, or rather that he can read her so well. The interactions within the Wellness Centre between staff themselves and between them and their patients brings the book alive.
Keith, Tara’s father returns out of the blue to try to reconnect, after he left Tara and her brother, Toby and to help the town rebuild after the storm. The drama throughout is enthralling, within the family, as well as within the Wellness Centre.
With intertwining threads of family and patient/counsellor relationships intertwining as a community tries to piece itself back together physically and mentally, there is much poignancy as you see whether new starts can begin or not. There’s care and compassion and a bit of humour and intrigue along the way.
Ther e are a couple of parts with animals, I wasn’t sure about, but all in all my verdict is: This is a book I very much recommend!
At the end of my copy is an extract of Unexpected Lesson’s In Love. There’s romance in New York and characters in the prologue you will want to know more about and where there lives go to after an event… Would I want to know more? Yes, absolutely!
About the Author
Sunday Times bestselling author Lucy Dillon grew up in Cumbria and read English at Cambridge, then read a lot of magazines as a press assistant in London, then read other people’s manuscripts as a junior fiction editor. She now lives in a village outside Hereford with a Border terrier, an otterhound and her husband. Lucy won the Romantic Novelists’ Association Contemporary Romantic Novel prize in 2015 for A HUNDRED PIECES OF ME, and the Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 2010 for LOST DOGS AND LONELY HEARTS. You can find her on Twitter (@lucy_dillon) and Instagram (@lucydillonbooks).
Blurb
After the storm it’s time for a fresh start . . .
Sunday Times bestselling author Lucy Dillon grew up in Cumbria and read English at
Bookmarks and Stages by Lou 