Nick is the most intriguing man Nella has met in a while. He’s a 9 in the looks department (no one gets a 10), he makes her laugh, and he keeps her company when she ends up in A&E. But they live hundreds of miles apart.

Then Nella loses her job. There’s a perfect role on offer at a Cotswolds holiday retreat. The catch is that her boss would be Nick. And that makes Nick the one man she can’t risk falling in love with.

While Nella struggles with her feelings, a Hollywood star has found a haven at the retreat. Lizzie’s sworn off people – especially men – until her friendly new neighbours entice her out of her shell. Maybe she needs a flirtation – with gorgeous Nick, perhaps? Not with taciturn local Matthew, though, who definitely isn’t a member of her fan club. Then an astonishing secret revealed changes everything . . .

My Thoughts:

Whenever I see a Jill Mansell book out, it always brings a smile to my face, she is one of my go to authors and I know I am always going to love her stories. There is no perfect feeling when reading a Jill Mansell book. When Nella ends up in A&E she has no idea she would meet her ideal man, when she loses her job he offers her a job in the Cotswolds, Nella cannot wait to leave but the only problem is he would be her boss. Nella’s feeling for him grow but can she resist. Also there are other women who have their eyes set on him. It was a great story, with a bunch of characters that really made the story. It was everything I could of imagined. I laughed quite a few times too. A perfect read.

I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

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It’s not dust she’s looking for.
It’s dirt.

Esmie is supposed to be invisible. Just a cleaner with a foreign accent that no one quite has time to place. Her uniform of leggings and a duster allows her to explore the homes of the wealthy, unseen; an outsider creeping around the edges of privilege.

But as she sweeps through the exclusive Woodlands gated neighbourhood, cleaning is the last thing on her mind. Treading silently over the polished wooden floorboards and cloud-soft carpets, Esmie gathers up the mess of broken marriages, quiet deceptions and careless failures. She tucks away their fragments, keeping them safe. For now.

Because one of the residents took from her the person she loves most. She’s not here to clean; she’s here for revenge – and she’ll get it using the weapons her employers unwittingly handed her along with the keys to their homes: their own secrets…

My Thoughts:

Esmie is a cleaner, she remains invisible and goes about her job without her clients even knowing she is actually there but when she starts working for a family little does she know what she will find out whilst cleaning there, But is she really just there to clean, Esmie is here for something else and she is about to get what she wants or is she? I liked how the story flowed and the story intrigued me. It was not a bad story and it did keep me entertained.

I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

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Canon Daniel Clement is Rector of Champton, where he lives alongside his widowed mother – opinionated, fearless, ever-so-slightly annoying Audrey – and his two dachshunds, Cosmo and Hilda.
When Daniel announces a plan to install a lavatory in the church, the parish is suddenly (and unexpectedly) divided: as lines are drawn, long-buried secrets come dangerously close to destroying the apparent calm of the village.
And then Anthony Bowness – cousin to Bernard de Floures, patron of Champton – is found dead at the back of the church. As the police moves in and the bodies start piling up, Daniel is the only one who can try and keep his community together… and catch a killer.

My Thoughts:

I had heard a lot of things about this whodunit read and only decided to pick this one up now. People that are in the public eye you always wonder if they can produce a good read, and for me this time it fell flat. Daniel is the rector of Champton where he lives with his mother and two dachshunds. When Daniel decides that he wants to change things up a bit, the community is up in arms about it. As secrets are buried beneath the walls of the church and people do not want their secrets to be uncovered. When a body is found, Daniel has to work together with his community to find out whodunit. It was an ok read, I found it slow and a bit repetitive, thee are lots of characters which confused me at times and also some ramblings that confused me too. Not really my kind of read unfortunately.

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A house full of secrets…
The McBride house lies on a remote Scottish island, isolated and abandoned. A century ago, a young widow and her son died mysteriously there. Last year a local boy, visiting for a dare, disappeared without a trace.

A woman alone at night…
For Zoe Adams, the house offers an escape from her failing marriage. But when night falls, her peaceful retreat is disrupted—scratches at the door, strange voices—and Zoe is convinced she is being watched.

A threat that lurks in the shadows…
The locals tell Zoe the incidents are merely echoes of the house’s dark past. Zoe is sure the danger is all too real—but can she uncover the truth before she is silenced?

My Thoughts:

When a house on a remote Scottish Island becomes available, Zoe jumps at the chance of moving away. She has been through a lot and needs to find peace and quiet and to just get away from it all. But this house is not all as it seems and Zoe does not know what happened here in the past. Why can she hear all these strange noises, and the feeling she is being watched. A creepy and tense read wondering what the reader will discover on every page. It was quite a slow read to start with but then it gets better throughout. Trying to work out where this story was going was hard and was taken back when I discovered it.

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Welcome to The Comfort Food Café!

It’s been a tough year for Maxine Connolly – so tough she’s almost given up on finding her happy ending. But then she discovers The Comfort Food Café, shining like the star on top of the Christmas tree and welcoming her in to its cozy, cake-filled embrace for hot chocolates dripping with whipped cream, melty grilled cheese toasties and the funniest bunch of regulars she soon calls friends.

Then there’s gorgeous local Gabriel Moran, who looks at Max like she’s a present he can’t wait to unwrap – and she can’t help but think that, maybe, he’s just what she wants for Christmas too…

My Thoughts:

I cannot believe this is book seven in the Comfort Food Café Series, I have to admit I have not read them all but I will be going back to them at some point. This read focuses on Maxine, who has had a tough time and really needs to find herself again so with the help of her daughter, they move to Dorset and Max starts a new job where everything starts to fall into place and they both see a brighter future for themselves. There are parts where she is working in the Café but it mainly focuses on Maxine and her attention to detail with her interior design and building a life for her and her daughter. I loved the cosiness of it all and the way it was a nice light and easy read. The characters were relatable and filled with warmth.

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The sudden death of a pupil in Fleat House at St Stephen’s – a small private boarding school in deepest Norfolk – is a shocking event that the headmaster is very keen to call a tragic accident.

But the local police cannot rule out foul play, and the case prompts the reluctant return of high-flying Detective Inspector Jazmine ‘Jazz’ Hunter to the force. Reunited with her loyal sergeant, she enters the closed world of the school and begins to probe the circumstances surrounding Charlie Cavendish’s tragic death.

When staff at the school close ranks, the disappearance of a young pupil and the death of an elderly classics master provide Jazz with important leads. But, while snow covers the landscape, a suspect goes missing.

As Jazz must confront her personal demons, a grim discovery at the school will make this the most challenging murder investigation of her career. Fleat House hides secrets darker than even Jazz could ever have imagined . . .

My Thoughts:

This is my first book by Lucinda and I really do not know why I had not read any of her books before. I picked this one as it sounded gritty and full of police drama and it really was gripping for me. A pupil dies at a private boarding school, but was it really a tragic accident? the police come into play and interview the people that were there that day but who is hiding a secret and why did the killer specifically kill this pupil? I like the police investigation side of this story, i was captivated when they were interviewing each person to see who may slip up. I thought I had it all worked out but then a twist came and ruined it. But I was utterly shocked when I found out the truth. I liked the mixed bag of characters and how they connected together. I need to start reading a few more of Lucinda’s previous books now as there are quite a few to get reading.

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