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Blog Tour: Home for Christmas by Heidi Swain

  Bella is living her best life in Wynbridge, with her beloved Spaniel, Tink. She’s found a way to keep the house she inherited from her grandparents while expanding her dream business – Away With the Fairies – and she’s ecstatic that Christmas is on the horizon! In fact, everything is perfect until family friend, Catherine Connelly asks Bella if she’d be willing to rent part of the house to freelance author, Jude who is researching the history of the Connelly Clan and Wynthorpe Hall ahead of turning his findings into a book. The plan had been for Jude to stay at the hall, but he can’t cope with the chaos and Bella reluctantly agrees to open her door to him. Initially, the pair clash but then friendlier feelings begin to grow and Bella finds herself wondering if Jude could become more than just another guest before it’s time for him to leave. That is, until he announces he has no time for Christmas! With her favourite time of the year suddenly in jeopardy, will B...
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Blog Tour: Return to Half Moon Farm by Holly Hepburn

  Discover the beautiful, escapist new novel from beloved author, Holly Hepburn... When Daisy’s mother falls ill she is forced to return home. With her twin sons in tow, she moves back to Half Moon Farm, her family’s ancient hop farm. But a new life in the Kent countryside isn’t necessarily as idyllic as it might seem. Daisy’s relationship with her mother is complicated and the tumbledown farm isn’t the only thing that needs rebuilding. Daisy and her sons must adjust to life with estranged family, a leaking roof, and no WiFi. Luckily for Daisy, she might yet find some distraction in silver fox farmer, Drew, or in the haughty heir to the nearby estate, Kit, who she can’t seem to avoid. Daisy must learn to juggle her new life, the boys, and the daunting task of updating the farm. But there are secrets lurking in her family’s past that might throw everything into further disarray… My Thoughts I am always delighted to get my hands on a copy of the latest release from Holly Hepburn as I...

Blog Tour: The Vintage Dress Shop in Primrose Hill by Annie Darling

  Sophy Stevens is moving to Australia. Turning thirty has found her unexpectedly out of a job, out of a relationship, and just in need of Something Different – and Australia, where she can finally meet her grandparents and surprise them on their wedding anniversary, looks like the perfect answer . . . if she can save up the money for the plane ticket. So when her feckless, absent dad Johnno offers her a job at his vintage clothes shop in Primrose Hill, she can’t turn it down. It’ll only be for a few months, after all. But the Vintage Dress Shop turns out to be a treasure trove of gorgeous preloved clothes, from a 1930s cocktail gown to a never-worn 50s wedding dress, and despite the disapproval of the snooty manager, Phoebe, Sophy starts to fall in love with vintage fashion. And then there’s Charles Radley, the debonair gemstone specialist with exquisite tailoring, cheekbones sharp enough to cut glass, and enough charm to throw Sophy’s plans wildly off course. . . I am delighted t...

Blog Tour: Maybe Tomorrow by Penny Parkes

  A story of friendship, possibilities and hope that maybe tomorrow will be brighter than today . . . Jamie Matson had once enjoyed a wonderful life working alongside her best friend, organising adventures for single-parent families, and her son Bo’s artistic flair a source of pride rather than concern. She hadn’t been prepared to lose her business, her home and her friend. Not all in one dreadful year. Jamie certainly hadn’t expected to find such hope and camaraderie in the queue at her local food bank. Thrown together with an unlikely and colourful group of people, their friendships flourish and, finding it easier to be objective about each other than about themselves, they decide that – when you’re all out of options – it’s okay to bend the rules a little and create your own. What a difference a year could make . . .  It is not a secret I am a Penny Parkes fan. I have waited for this book with great anticipation and I was so very excited to read it. I'm glad to say it did n...

Blog Tour: The House That Made Us by Alice Cavanagh

  One Day  meets  Up :  The House That Made Us  is a love story – and a life story – told through a series of photographs and inspired by a true story   When Mac and Marie marry and find a home of their own, Mac takes a snap of them outside their newbuild bungalow, the garden bare and the paint on the front door still wet. It becomes a tradition, this snap, and slowly the photographs build into an album of a fifty-year relationship.   Every year they take a photo and though things change around them – the garden matures, the fashions change, they grow older – the one constant is their love. Every year, come rain, come shine, from the Seventies through the decades, every photo tells the story of their love. But life never travels the path you expect it to, though they know that a life with love is a life lived to the full. Now, in the present day, the photo album belongs to someone who doesn’t know the people in its pages. As they watch the lives from t...

Blog Tour: Escape to Darling Cove by Holly Hepburn

  I am delighted to be hosting a spot on the Blog Tour for Holly Hepburn's newest release Escape to Darling Cove. I love Holly's books so I know a new book from her is always going to be a treat and this was no exception Official blurb 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 ...

2022 favourites

2022 has been a rollercoaster for me. A lot of the year was fairly awful due to my old job being consistently horrible and a family member being ill for most of the summer and it taking a while to work out what it was to be able to get them on the mend. Fortunately things did turn around. I finally quit teaching, I learnt to paddleboard, started a brilliant new job at Norfolk Children's Book Centre and got my reading mojo back. In 2022 I read 305 books the majority of those being 5 or 4 star reads as I am serial DNFer and will abandon books I am not enjoying very quickly because life is too short. I am pleased to say this year I have read a lot more YA than last year which pleases me no end as I love YA fiction and can't get enough UKYA. A good chunk of what I read in 2022 were picture books which I am picking up at work and reading in my breaks or mid shelving or order packing when something intriguing appears in my hand. I have always been a picture book fan and loving gettin...