#Review By Lou of The Island of Dreams By Helen McGinn @knackeredmutha @boldwoodbooks #RomFic #ContemporaryFiction #RomanticFiction @rararesources #BlogTour

The Island of Dreams
By Helen McGinn

Review written by Louise Cannon (Lou)

Today is my turn on the Rachel Random Resources/Boldwood Books blog tour for newly published book – The Island of Dreams.
I heard Helen McGinn was writing books and was intrigued. Now, I have the lovely opportunity to review one.
On a rare time when not volunteering, I manage to catch her on Saturday Kitchen with her wine etc recommendations. If she’s reading this, I like that she is also a fan of rose wine.
She has written The Island of Dreams, an uplifting, romantic novel, perfect for Valentines Day, whether you’re coupled up or not.
Discover more in the blurb and then my review below.

Blurb

Martha is the youngest of three sisters and, in her mid-thirties, has the dubious honour of being the only one to call off a wedding at the last moment.

Now, feeling as if she’ll be single forever, and trying to keep her low opinion of her sister Iris’s fiancé to herself for risk of looking bitter, Martha needs a change of scene.

When she is given the opportunity of a holiday to Paxos it seems too good to turn down, though the idea of travelling alone is daunting. And when the trip to the Greek island gets complicated, Martha wonders if this has all been a mistake.

But soon the island and its residents start to work their magic on Martha, and when she meets single father Harry and his adorable son Milo, a new way of living is revealed in contrast with the drab routine of her life back home. How can Martha leave behind the warmth of the people, the freedom and the fun, not to mention Harry and Milo when it’s time for her to go home…

Let Helen McGinn magic you away to a world of sunshine and serenity, romance and relaxation. Perfect for fans of Erica James, Carol Kirkwood and Karen Swan.

Review

Check out that cover! Place yourself under that hat and seeing the horizon. It is intriguing to see what life holds, in a wistful way.
Meet Martha, she’s boldly called off her wedding last minute and she lands a holiday to Paxos, even though she finds it daunting to travel alone. Personally, having travelled alone, I wanted to sit her down and tell her she would be fine and everything that seems difficult about it, works out in the end. She’s a likeable character who is easy to root for. To give her, her dues, Paxos does sound challenging. Overpriced and unreliable (sounds like the UK) transport makes everything harder than it should be, especially when alone. Prior to this life change, you can totally sympathise as to why she seeks a change of life and jumps at the opportunity to do it.

Whilst in Paxos, readers are treated to beautiful scenery and interesting people within the community.
Helen McGinn captures the sense of a place and personalities of people rather well.

The Island of Dreams is pure escapism! It’s got a warm and uplifting, relaxed feel, but with a certain amount of urgency to keep turning those pages to see where the characters end up.

I recommend cracking open the wine (or whatever your tipple is) and feel the sunshine, even if it’s only in book form.
It’s a relaxing read with pure escapism away from any worries about real life and the outside world for a while. It’s well-worth the time to read for the magical time of imagining elsewhere.

#Review of A Gentle Nudge By Mason Bushell @MBWorkhouse @between_pr #ShortStories to “Soothe your soul” #AGentleNudge #BlogTour

A Gentle Nudge
By Mason Bushell

A Gentle Nudge is a relaxing, uplifting read. Take a look at the beautiful cover too. It certainly gladdens the bohemian part of my psyche and heart. Find out more in the blurb and the rest of my review below.

BLURB

Stories to soothe your soul.

In a world drowning in negativity and dark events, we all need a little light and hope. With a little adventure, romance and even music, these short stories will give your hopes and dreams a nudge as they draw a smile.

A Gentle Nudge by Mason Bushell wraps you in calm.

Review

Sink deep in to the pages of ‘A Gentle Nudge’. The writing oozes with positivity and a serene calmness. Trepidation occurs, but there is also a sense of tranquility and sereness in how things end up and in the settings. The writing is beautiful for dipping in and out of and, for some readers, may even aid restoration in faith in humanity. There’s hope and kindness featuring heavily in each story that is sure to soothe your soul.

Find beautiful sights and romance in ‘A Chance Encounter with Love’, as well as some nature, which leads well, on to ‘Ben’s Birds’, where you can get up close to nature. ‘Benny and the New Year’s Fireworks brings fun and also an act of heroism, as does ‘Bridge of Life’, which may have your heart in your mouth for a moment in a will the person jump or not.
There’s music in Cassidy’s song and the fear of performing sets in.
Despondent, Worthless, Hidden is a terrific title as so many people in the modern day world say they feel like this, especially when job hunting. There’s a bit of advice in there, which may be of value.
Grandmother’s last gift brings a certain melancholy, but also that bittersweet feeling, with music all around. In Hartley’s Fantasy, will Hartley find what he’s has really been searching for?
Interview Intervention has something major occur in it that could blow everything apart, yet also shows the warmth of humanity. In ‘The Old Man In The Park’, not all is as it first seems and may leave your heart in sorrow, before hitting onto The ‘Recovery Man’ that will bring joy to your heart and a certain energy.
There are many other short stories worth reading and they all end rather fittingly with a story that all brings it back to ‘What Matters Most’, that serves as a good reminder that somethings are more important than holding onto something for only ourselves.

The Second Chance Holiday Club By Kate Galley @KateGalley1 @AriaFiction @HoZ_Books #ContemporaryFiction #Uplit #SecondChances #TheSecondChanceHolidayClub

The Second Chance Holiday Club
By Kate Galley

The Second Chance Holiday Club provides wonderful escapism. Travel further to seek out the blurb and then my review below. Thanks first to Head of Zeus for a copy of the book to review from.

It’s never too late to change the habits of a lifetime…

Evelyn Pringle isn’t the sort to make rash decisions. Or any decisions, really – she’s always left that sort of thing up to her husband. But he’s been found dead, wearing his best suit, with a diamond ring in his pocket that doesn’t fit her. When Evelyn finds a letter addressed to a woman on the Isle of Wight, she decides to deliver it. By hand.

PSo begins a very unusual holiday, and an adventure no one could have predicted – least of all Evelyn herself. With the help of some unexpected new friends, and a little effort on her part, Evelyn discovers that it’s never too late to have a second chance at life and forge friendships that are well-worth living for.

The Second Chance Holiday Club is a heartwarming and funny later-life uplit for fans of Judy Leigh, Hazel Prior and Maddie Please.

Review

Evelyn Pringle makes a shock discovery about her now deceased husband, which gets her thinking about doing something rather different in her life. No husband means she has to start making decisions more for herself in order to continue in life. What she discovers, with a ring makes her do something out of the ordinary, for her. She up sticks and leaves the house for a marvellous adventure on the Isle of Wight. On this new adventure she seems to find a new zest for life and finds that she can even make some new friends.

There’s humour, sadness and poignancy abound as you join Evelyn on this holiday, where she tries to discover a new path for her life, but also a link to her old life, in the most unusual manner. What she does, takes some courage to do, even with her newfound support of new friends.

Evelyn is a complex character, as was her marriage in some ways. Peel back the layers in what is an enjoyable book of a very different type of holiday.

#Article #Interview #Reviews By Lou -Celebrating the Work of Matson Taylor @matson_taylor_ @ScribnerUK @simonschusterUK #TheMiseducationOfEvieEpworth #AllAboutEvie

As part of my blog in 2023 until it reaches 5 years old in September, I will be celebrating an author or publisher every so often. I am beginning with Matson Taylor, a design historian and author with lots of wit and poignancy in his writing. He is also someone I’ve had the joy of doing Zoom with and interviewing. I have included links to previous reviews and an interview at the end of each section.

Matson Taylor burst onto the writing scene with his humorous, contemporary fiction book – The Miseducation of Evie Epworth to much praise, so much so that this debut novel had made it to the BBC Radio Book Club. His books caused quite a stir as they landed on bookshelves. He then followed up with All About Evie, again with more high praise, no mean feat I should think when authors often say that writing a second book is one of the hardest and you can only hope the first lot of readers stay with you and also builds too.
The books, set between parts of Yorkshire, London and parts of Scotland are brilliantly humorous and then catch you with poignancy as you lean about her teenage and adult life. All is well-researched and observed and fit into the eras well. So many people would be able to relate to the universal themes and to the fashions and music at the time, whether they lived through the eras or not and if not, there’s certainly plenty that people can learn from that may pique interest within the entertaining story-telling.

The Books and Interview

The Miseducation of Evie Epworth is set in 1962 and you first join her at 16 1/2. She has her music, literary and actor idols and she’s growing fast with philosophical musings about future jobs. She is also learning lots from Mrs Pym; which is where the poignancy comes in.
You can find out more about the book in my review, which also includes a blurb in the link: The Miseducation of Evie Epworth Review

All About Evie is about how her life is as an adult in 1972. The setting is between London, various parts of Yorkshire and Scotland. She had a job in London working for the BBC, which turns out disastrous, meaning she needs a different direction in life and even her love-life is poor. The situations she finds herself in brings much humour. Again, there’s poignancy with family matters.
You can find out more about the book in my review, which also includes a blurb in the link: All About Evie

The style and layout of writing is interesting in both books as the poignancy is written within what he calls Interludes. The humour is quick-witted and all of it is highly engaging with universal themes. Matson Taylor is a design historian and his passion comes across well as does his knowledge in the eras of which he writes. He also likes his writing to bring many emotions from happy to sad these two books do it with a plomb. He once said the Evie Epworth books will become a trilogy. You may need to wait because he’s another wonderful sounding book he is writing ahead of that. I once did an interview with Matson Taylor, Find out what he has to say about his books, his future plans in his writing career and how his career as a design historian aids his writing and much more in the link: Interview With Matson Taylor

#BookReview By Lou of Escape to Darling Cove By Holly Hepburn @HollyH_Hepburn @BookMinxSJV @simonschusterUK #EscapeToDarlingCove this #winter it is a #Heartwarming #SeasideRetreat #ContemporaryFiction #romfic #BlogTour

Escape To Darling Cove
By Holly Hepburn

Picturesque settings and a lovely writing style is, in part of what you get with Escape to Darling Cove. Thanks to Sara Jade Virtue aka BookMinx at Simon and Schuster, I have a review as part of the blog tour. Paddle down to discover the blurb and review as well as a glimpse of a cover that looks good to step into.

Eve has always lived on Ennisfarne, an idyllic island just off the coast of Northumberland and only accessible when tides are low. There she runs a bar overlooking Darling Cove, a heavenly horseshoe-shaped beach named after her seafaring ancestors, whose links to the Farne Islands stretch back centuries.Logan is a famous photographer desperate to evade the limelight after a difficult break-up. Renting a cottage from Eve, he chooses Ennisfarne in the hope of anonymity but is immediately spellbound by its natural beauty.The pair don’t get off to the best start, butting heads over Eve’s adorable but boisterous Chocolate Labrador. But when Logan’s true identity is revealed, Eve realises her new tenant isn’t quite the man she thought he was. Is it too late to start again or will Logan’s island escape be over almost before it’s begun?
The brand new novel from Holly Hepburn, author of Coming Home to Brightwater Bay, will whisk you away to a sublime seaside retreat you’ll never want to leave.

Picture it now, stepping into a sandy cove at Ennisfarne, Northumberland with atmospheric views that even inspired the artist, Turner to pull out his paints and easel to recreate the scenes on canvas. Holly Hepburn has pulled out her writing instruments so you can paint the scenes in your imagination. It is like a painting in words. This is of course, not a book about that great landscape artist – Turner, he just happens to get a mention; rather it is about fictional characters Logan and Eve and their lives in this part of Northumberland.

Love and breaking up is never easy. Logan has gone to Ennisfarne because he’s just split from a one time love and to escape whatever the press may have to say about it. He’s a famous photographer. Breaking up is complicated when the lady who was in his life still appears to have feelings and there’s a lot to work out. Hepburn puts a great slant on this side of life and one that’s quite different as it isn’t one of all animosity in the beginning and how everything changes in an instant as his ex girlfriend, Suki suddenly has other ideas… Being famous in the public-eye, being in love and breaking up isn’t easy once everyone gets wind of it.

Eve Darling works in a bar and doesn’t initially have warm thoughts towards Logan Silk, although she sees him as good looking, she also notes he’s arrogant with what she would term as old-style attitudes. There is actually a great humour to be found in certain situations and her thoughts that hold quick-witted quips. How will it all end in what is a well written ending?

With its scenery that is a feast for the eyes, a plot and characters that makes compulsive reading, Escape To Darling Cove is another wonderful book from Holly Hepburn that will stay in your heart and mind. It’s a must read for fans of contemporary fiction.

#BookReview By Lou of Sunrise With The Silver SurfersBy Maddie Please @MaddiePlease1 @BoldwoodBooks #TheSilverSurfers is entertaining #Uplit with #Travel #Friendship #Romance in #ContemporaryFiction

Sunrise With The Silver Surfers
By Maddie Please

You’re never too old to have some fun in the sun with sea and sand in this book that will appeal to both the retired and younger readers alike. It gives hope, elements of surprise and intrigue, whilst being uplifting and adventurous in the exciting travel plans. Discover more in the blurb and my thoughts below.

The brand new novel from the #1 bestselling author of The Old Ducks’ Club!

Newly single at sixty, Elin Anderson decides it’s finally time for an adventure of her own. With her marriage to tedious Tom now officially over, Elin plans to visit the family she hasn’t seen in years. First stop: Australia!

But going home is harder than Elin thought. Everywhere she turns Elin sees brightness and colour, which only makes her own life seem even more drab and beige. How has she let herself fade away?

Determined to have some fun, Elin reluctantly agrees to join The Silver Surfers – a group of seniors who travel the coast, only caring about their next big adventure. Because life’s too short to watch the ocean when you could be making waves…

There’s only one catch – her road trip companion, Kit Pascoe. Kit is a man who doesn’t know the meaning of the word fun and makes it clear to Elin that this adventure will be subject to his own strict rules.

But with every new day, Elin slowly begins to rediscover who she really is. And she’s certain that rules are meant to be broken…aren’t they?

Perfect for fans of Judy Leigh and Dee Macdonald

Review

This is perfect for sweeping winter away and escaping to the sun. This is the first book I have read by Maddie Please and I rather enjoyed it. All that promise of fun travel on holidays that beckons and companionship makes this great to sit back and for awhile, let the sea within the book wash all your cares away and bring inspiration and a warm feeling like the sun beaming down on you.

Elin was living in what sounds like a kindly neighbourhood. Her marriage hasn’t survived intact, as some don’t when life changes into a new phase. There are also changes where she lives. We meet her at Heathrow Airport waiting for her flight to Australia, where she was born. Most of us people watch and that’s what she does, she’s also a bit introspective as she looks around at her fellow passengers. She also likes some of the more lavish lifestyle and goes to town in treating herself. You can feel the relief of the divorce and see she is ready for a new adventure. She isn’t alone when she touches down in Australia, she has Rowan, Maggie and Shane to meet up with.
Then she has Kit Pascoe to meet and contend with… her main travel companion. Will they warm to each other? Will he get into the spirit of things? Where will their explorations lead them?

As her new big adventure begins, in many ways, she gets more than she and the group get more than they bargained for. Not everything is plain-sailing. There are just a few unexpected challenges to face to say the least. Some more complicated for Elin to work out than others, including her emotions and how she’s going to be in this phase of her life, what paths, personally, to take. Then there’s home in the UK, that one way or another, isn’t ever too far away, even when she is physically thousands of miles away. There are elements here and there that are reminiscent of Shirley Valentine, in a good way. There’s part of story within this that could go either way. There are elements of the book being a page turner as curiosity as to how it all turn out firmly bites.

It’s an adventure of a lifetime and one worth joining The Silver Surfers on. I certainly wasn’t disappointed.

Thanks to Boldwood Books for the review e-book copy to review from.