Book Extract / Escape to Willow Cottage by Bella Osborne

The Escape to Willow Cottage was originally published as a four-part serial. This is the complete story in one package.
 
A cosy and heartwarming seasonal romance, perfect for fans of Trisha Ashley.
 
Beth is running away. With her young son Leo to protect, Willow Cottage is the lifeline she so desperately needs. Overlooking the village green in a beautiful Cotswolds idyll, Beth sees a warm, caring and safe place for little Leo.

When she finally uncovers the cottage from underneath the boughs of a weeping willow tree, Beth realises this is far more of a project than she bargained for and the locals are more than a little eccentric! A chance encounter with gruff Jack, who appears to be the only male in the village under thirty, leaves the two of them at odds but it’s not long before Beth realises that Jack has hidden talents that could help her repair more than just Willow Cottage.
Over the course of four seasons, Beth realises that broken hearts can be mended, and sometimes love can be right under your nose…

Escape to Willow Cottage was originally digitally published as a four-part serial under the title Willow Cottage. This is the complete story.

Chapter 11 p.104-106

Three fully leaded takeaway coffees later, Carly and a sick bag were on their way back to the train station. Leo was zoned out playing a game on Beth’s phone, so Carly and Beth were able to have a hushed conversation in the front of the hire car.

‘I can’t believe you were going to kiss Jack,’ said Beth.

‘I wasn’t!’ protested Carly, although she was scowling as she spoke. ‘Well, it was only going to be a little kiss on the cheek not a full-on snog fest!’

‘You were not heading for his cheek!’

‘That was probably the wine doing the steering,’ said Carly glumly rearranging her sick bag.

‘Why were you going to kiss him at all? You don’t know him, he’s a stranger and you have Fergus.’

‘He said something lovely … but I can’t remember what,’ said Carly pulling the same face she pulled when she accidentally switched on University Challenge and tried to join in. She sighed. ‘I’m sorry I was drunk.’

‘And what did you talk about anyway?’

‘I’m so sorry, but I can’t remember,’ said Carly, hugging the sick bag as Beth went a little too fast over another village speed bump.

‘Nothing at all?’

‘Nope.’ Carly shook her head. ‘Ouch. Wishing I hadn’t done that,’ she said, putting a hand to her forehead.

‘Me too,’ muttered Beth.

‘Are you and he … you know?’ asked Carly.

‘No! Seriously, do you think I would get involved with someone else so quickly after Nick? Or even get involved with anyone at all after Nick?’ Beth’s voice was rising.

‘I don’t know.’ Carly’s expression was pained. ‘No. Of course not. Again, very sorry.’

‘Good,’ said Beth, relaxing her tight grip on the steering wheel. They bumped along the hedgerow-lined lane in silence for a while before Carly spoke. ‘You can’t pledge not to have any more relationships because of Nick.’

‘I can,’ said Beth with a snort.

‘You shouldn’t,’ said Carly, as Beth opened her mouth to contest. ‘I don’t want to argue. I’m your friend and I’m just saying, you never know. And while I’m at it from what I can remember Jack was really nice to me, so don’t judge him the same as Nick. If he wants to help you, give him a chance.’ ‘I’m thinking he might not want to do that after today,’ said Beth and she started to grind her teeth.

Book Review / Summer at Rose Island by Holly Martin

Fall in love with the gorgeous seaside town of White Cliff Bay this summer and enjoy long sunny days, beautiful beaches and… a little romance.

Darcy Davenport is ready for a fresh start. Determined to leave a string of disastrous jobs and relationships behind her, she can’t wait to explore White Cliff Bay and meet the locals.

When Darcy swims in the crystal clear waters of the bay, she discovers the charming Rose Island Lighthouse. But it’s not just the beautiful building that she finds so intriguing…

Riley Eddison doesn’t want change. Desperate to escape the memories of his past, he lives a life of solitude in the lighthouse. Yet he can’t help but notice the gorgeous woman who swims out to his island one day.

Darcy is drawn to the mysterious and sexy Riley, but when it seems the town is trying to demolish his home, she soon finds herself having to pick sides.

She’s fallen in love with White Cliff Bay. But is that all Darcy’s fallen for?

Pull up a deck chair, sink back with a bowl of strawberry ice cream and pick up the summer read you won’t be able to put down.

Published:     13th May 2016
Publisher:  Bookouture
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Book 3, White Cliff Bay
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

MY REVIEW

What I liked about this story...  Having read the first book in this series a little while ago (and loved it) I was really excited to pick this one up.  I know this is book 3 in the series but book 2 looked like it was based around Christmas time and I'm not going to read a Christmas book in the summer.  I was hoping that this was one of those book series that I can just dip in and out of and I was right.  To me, it really didn't matter that I had skipped a book, this book had its own plot line.  

What I liked the most was the dynamic between Darcy and Riley.  You have Darcy who is new to White Cliff Bay and doesn't like being told what to do.  Riley has lived in White Cliff Bay for most if not all of his life and doesn't like change but change is what is happening.   

What I didn't like about this story...   There were some parts of the story that didn't feel right to me.  You have Darcy who up until now has been a failure in the job department having unsuccessfully had 17 jobs.  She is then offered a job at the local council, a job that looks like it holds a lot of responsibility and something that she has no qualifications for and seemingly no training for.  She is a trained marine biologist which is vastly different to what she has ended up doing (although I do admit that there is a reason for why she has stopped doing that).  I also didn't agree with the choice that Darcy made when working for the council.  The decision she made just made her seem a bit unlikeable in that moment. 

Book Review / Prisoner of Ice and Snow by Ruth Lauren

Valor is under arrest for the attempted murder of the crown prince. Her parents are outcasts from the royal court, her sister is banished for theft of a national treasure, and now Valor has been sentenced to life imprisonment at Demidova, a prison built from stone and ice.

But that's exactly where she wants to be. For her sister was sent there too, and Valor embarks on an epic plan to break her out from the inside.

No one has escaped from Demidova in over three hundred years, and if Valor is to succeed she will need all of her strength, courage and love. If the plan fails, she faces a chilling fate worse than any prison ...

An unforgettable story of sisterhood, valour and rebellion, Prisoner of Ice and Snow will fire you up and melt your heart all at once. Perfect for fans of Katherine Rundell, Piers Torday and Cathryn Constable.


Published:     7th Septmber 2017
Publisher:  Bloomsbury
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Book 1, Prisoner of Ice and Snow
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

MY REVIEW

I can't tell you how excited I am for this series (or trilogy - not sure which at the moment).  I read this book in one sitting.  I just could not put it down.  This book was fun to read but also so action packed it kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through.  Although I generally do not like comparing books to other books but the main character in this book, Valor, reminded me so much of Selaena from Throne of Glass.  A very strong character with a lot of hidden talents and I am sure there is a lot more to this story that we have yet to find out!

Such great fun to read this book, I can't wait to read more!





 

Book Review / Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

It was Sloane who yanked Emily out of her shell and made life 100% interesting. But right before what should have been the most epic summer, Sloane just…disappears. All she leaves behind is a to-do list.

On it, thirteen Sloane-inspired tasks that Emily would normally never try. But what if they could bring her best friend back?

Apple picking at night? Okay, easy enough.

Dance until dawn? Sure. Why not?

Kiss a stranger? Um...

Emily now has this unexpected summer, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected), to check things off Sloane's list. Who knows what she’ll find?

Go skinny-dipping? Wait...what?

Published:     6th May 2014
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Library

 

MY REVIEW

What I liked about this story...  I kept hearing about this book everywhere so I thought it was time to pick it up!  This one has been on my wish list since it came out!  This was a really fun read.  Right from the beginning we are in the same position as the main character, Emily, when we find out that Sloane has disappeared.  Up until this point Sloane was the person who brought Emily out of her shell and helped build her confidence.  Now Emily is on her own and not sure if she can do this on her own.  Sloane hasn't left her completely high and dry.  She left a to do list for Emily to follow.  What I enjoyed the most was following Emily as she decides to complete this list. 


What I didn't like about this story...  Firstly, Emily's parents...   Emily's parents are script writers and when the writing bug hits it seems that they no longer care about looking after children (and from what it seems no longer care about looking after themselves much either) and its not the first time this has happened.  Morally, I don't agree with that.  When you have children, they should come first.  For someone to just drop all responsibility to focus on one thing and that one thing is not their children.

Lastly, I really didn't like the ending.  It was just kind of blah.  Emily goes through a lot that summer and the ending just didn't live up to the excitement of the rest of the story.

Book Review / Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer

Juliet Young has always written letters to her mother, a world-traveling photojournalist. Even after her mother’s death, she leaves letters at her grave. It’s the only way Juliet can cope.

Declan Murphy isn’t the sort of guy you want to cross. In the midst of his court-ordered community service at the local cemetery, he’s trying to escape the demons of his past.

When Declan reads a haunting letter left beside a grave, he can't resist writing back. Soon, he’s opening up to a perfect stranger, and their connection is immediate. But neither of them knows that they're not actually strangers. When real life at school interferes with their secret life of letters, Juliet and Declan discover truths that might tear them apart. This emotional, compulsively-readable romance will sweep everyone off their feet.


Published:    6th April 2017
Publisher:  Bloomsbury
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

MY REVIEW

Now this was a pretty amazing read.  Right off the bat you have Juliet Young who has lost her mother and still visits the grave to leave letters writing how she is feeling.  It is only when Declan reads one of her letters and communicates back that Juliet has to confront not only Declan but her own emotions for losing her mother.  

This book was so packed full of emotion I had to read this in one sitting, in just one day.   Not only do you have Juliet having to face up to her feelings about her mother's death but you have the dynamic relationship between her and Declan.  Along with that you have Declan's story, so there is certainly a lot to pay attention to but not too much to be annoying.

I will definitely be picking up more by this author!





 

Blog Tour Author Interview / A Message from the Other Side by Moira Forsyth

When Catherine moves several hundred miles away from her sister, Helen says, ‘Phone calls aren’t enough’, but they make it easier to edit the truth. Helen can dismiss Gilbert and his enchanted Factory as ‘weird’ when she’s never met him, and Catherine think Helen foolish for loving the unreliable and dangerous Joe. 

Neither sees the perils concealed in what they have not told each other, or guesses at the sinister connection between their separate lives. 

A Message from the Other Side is a novel about love and marriage, but even more about hatred and the damage people do to each other in the most ordinary of families.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

If you could work with any other author, who would it be and why?

As an editor, in my ‘day job’ I work with other writers all the time, and with (almost!) all of them it’s a pleasure and privilege. I’ve never collaborated on a project with an author, but that’s a project tucked away for when I have more time. It would be my partner Robert Davidson – he’s a very different writer from me, so we’d complement each other. We often talk about doing this, but have never had the time and the good idea together so far!

What would be a typical working day for you? When and where do you write?

I have written in lots of unlikely places – cafés, railway stations, the waiting area by a swimming pool… but usually I’m at the desk in my little study at the top of the house, surrounded by drawings, photographs and poems pinned up on the wall. I used to write everything longhand in the first draft, but a bout of tendonitis in the past has meant my handwriting is not good, and too painful to do for any length of time. So it’s the PC now – I like a big screen and a proper keyboard. Because I can rarely write daily, full time, this often has to be tucked into the corners of my life, but now and again I take some time out and focus on my own work. New writing is usually done in the morning, before the rest of the world has crowded in. I feed the cat, go back to bed to read for twenty minutes, go for a run then come back to shower, dress and sit at my desk. I like to have a walk or work in the garden after lunch, then come back to what I wrote in the morning and work on it again. Sometimes, if I’m well on with a novel, I’ll write again late in the evening, because by then it’s all I’m thinking about.

What is the hardest part of the writing for you?

The worst part is the uneasy period when I’ve finished one novel but haven’t begun another. There are ideas, odd paragraphs, sometimes several chapters, none of them going anywhere. It’s frustrating. I love that day when you suddenly realise you’ve got it – the new story has begun to unroll in front of you like a landscape with a winding road. When that happens I can’t wait to follow it, and I write steadily, and quite fast, from then on.

When and why did you first start writing?

I’ve been writing since I was a young child – I can’t remember not telling stories or writing them. I completed my first novel at twelve, then as a young teenager I wrote long stories putting my friends in as characters, as well as the pop stars we all loved, and these were passed round the classroom – some of my friends from those days remember waiting for the next instalment!

How did you come up with the idea for your book?

‘A Message from the Other Side’ began with a dream about the empty space that became the upper floor in The Factory in the novel. When I woke up, couldn’t stop thinking about it: it seemed too good to waste. At the same time, I had a few chapters about two sisters and the ex-husband of one of them, but no real story to put them in. These two strands began to merge, and once I had the character of Gilbert, who tries to make The Factory into a going concern, I was able to plan the novel.

Are you a big reader? If so, what are you reading now?

I’m always reading – I can’t go to sleep at night if I don’t have a book. Just now I’m re-reading the novels of Mary Wesley. A great inspiration for any hopeful writer, she wasn’t published till she was seventy, and became a huge best seller. I’ve ordered her biography and look forward to that – I love literary biographies.

Do you have any advice for other aspiring writers?

Join a good writers’ group if you can. I was lucky to be a member of Dingwall Writers’ Group in the 1990s, some of whose members were superb writers and excellent critics. Impartial, constructive feedback is vital. Give your work to people whose judgement you respect, and listen to what they tell you. Read good writers, and learn from them.

The Message from The Other Side ebook deal will be down to £1 on Amazon, iBooks and the Kobo Store. Links to the Kobo and Amazon pages are below:

https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/a-message-from-the-other-side

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Message-Other-Side-Moira-Forsyth-ebook/dp/B01MU2SGDI

 

Book Review / We Were Liars by E Lockhart

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.

And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.



Published:     13th May 2014
Publisher:  Delacorte Press
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Library

MY REVIEW

Well this book was a surprise...   

This is one of those books that I have been meaning to pick up for a while and now that I have read it I can't believe that it took me so long!  I loved this book.  From recommendations that I had from various book reviews, I went into this book blind.  The only information I had was the description at the top of this post and I have to be honest and say that this was most definitely the best way to enter into this book.  Not knowing anything meant that anything was possible, which made the twist in this story so much more unexpected and very interesting indeed!  I am not going to spoil any part of the story here but all I will say is this is definitely one to pick up.  

The best part of this book is most definitely the twist.  It was one of those kind of plot twists that made me have to take a minute before continuing reading because it was so surprising!

Adored this book and can't wait to read more from this author!

Book Review / Wilde Like Me by Louise Pentland

Meet Robin Wilde! You'll make a friend for life and she'll take you on a journey you'll never forget ...

Single mum Robin Wilde adores her six-year-old daughter and loves her job as a make up artist's assistant. She has a wonderful best friend and an auntie who is bonkers, yes, but loves her to the moon and back.

But Robin has a secret. Behind the mask she carefully applies every day, things just feel ... grey. And lonely. She struggles to fit in with the school mum crew. Online dating is totally despair-inducing, and she worries every day about raising her little girl with self-confidence, courage and joy.

What Robin longs for is someone (over the age of six) to share with - someone who's always on her team.

After 4 years (2 months, and 15 days!) of single-mum-dom, it's time for Robin Wilde to Change. Her. Life.

Exciting new opportunities are about to come Robin's way ... Perhaps a man, perhaps the chance of a lifetime ...

What will Robin do with the possibilities she creates for herself? And what potential will she unlock if she takes the leap?

Published:     29th June 2017
Publisher:  Bonnier Zaffre
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone / Possible Book 1 in a Series
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

MY REVIEW

This is just what I wanted to read this summer!  A perfect holiday read that made me laugh and really want the main character, Robin, to 'win the day'.  If I had to pick one thing that I enjoyed the most was the character of Robin.  Following her journey throughout the story was really fun and I  was really hoping that all would work out for her and her daughter.   A part of the story that I really enjoyed was her work life where at the start we see her as an assistant make up artist and to where she ends up at you can't not be emotional for the journey she has taken. 

Heart warming and funny, this is the perfect book to read on a summer's day, whether that is at the beach, by the pool or even at home! 

The Andalucian Nights Trilogy - Author Giveaway

The award-winning epic Andalucían Nights Trilogy sweeps the reader from the wild landscapes of Spain in the 1950s, through a history of dangerous liaisons and revenge dramas, to a modern world of undercover missions and buried secrets. Romantic, exotic and deeply compelling, and featuring a memorable cast of characters, including a passionate young gypsy, a troubled young writer and an estranged family, The Andalucían Nights Trilogy is a romantic treat waiting to be discovered.

Buy link: Amazon.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hannah Fielding is an incurable romantic. The seeds for her writing career were sown in early childhood, spent in Egypt, when she came to an agreement with her governess Zula: for each fairy story Zula told, Hannah would invent and relate one of her own. Years later – following a degree in French literature, several years of travelling in Europe, falling in love with an Englishman, the arrival of two beautiful children and a career in property development – Hannah decided after so many years of yearning to write that the time was now. Today, she lives the dream: writing full time at her homes in Kent, England, and the South of France, where she dreams up romances overlooking breath-taking views of the Mediterranean. 

Hannah is a multi-award-winning novelist, and to date she has published five novels: Burning Embers, ‘romance like Hollywood used to make’, set in Kenya; The Echoes of Love, ‘an epic love story that is beautifully told’, set in Italy; and the Andalusian Nights Trilogy – Indiscretion, Masquerade and Legacy – her fieriest novels yet, set in sunny, sultry Spain. 

You can find Hannah online at:
Website: www.hannahfielding.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fieldinghannah
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Hannah-Fielding-Author-Page-340558735991910/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5333898.Hannah_Fielding

Author Giveaway - http://hannahfielding.net/fan-tastic-fiesta/