Cordelia Jago has lost everything. Her mother, her father, her career, her husband and her best friend, her trust. All she has left is a legacy she never expected – and would never have wanted.

Wilder Hoo – The Wild House – is a crumbling Cornish Manor House which she hates, full of unhappy memories for her. It is falling down to the brink of ruin.

Determined to sell-up and forget the past forever, she begins to spruce up its echoing rooms – but the house seems to speak to her and to pull her back to happier times in Cornwall.

With the help of the locals, Cordelia breathes new life into the home, But will she find a way to heal her heart too?

My Thoughts:

A dilapidated Cornish Manor house, a woman who hates this house, she has lost everything and wants to never see this house again until she starts to get it back to a sellable condition. Cordelia realises there is more to this house than unhappiness. The locals all pull together to help Cordelia bring this place to its best but will Cordelia want to sell up after all? Fern is one of my go to authors when I want a comforting and easy read, you can easily get swept away with her stories. This is one I did not want to put down, everything around me stopped just so I could take in this richness and beauty of the stunning Cornwall. It was full of hope and an uplifting read that warmed my cockles. I loved it all.

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

Get your copy here:

April is lonely. Since her office issued a permanent work from home mandate, she’s lost herself a little. So, in a bid to break out of the funk, she leaves an anonymous note inside a book for the hot guy at her neighbourhood bookstore.

Laura is a busy single mum. Thanks to the meddling hand of fate, she’s the one who finds April’s note, thinking it’s from the guy who served her at the bookstore. A little flirtation with an attractive man who loves books might be just what she needs.

Meanwhile Westley, handsome but not so perceptive, is too distracted by a movie filming at the shop to notice either woman’s furtive glances as they leave notes for each other amid the books in the stacks.

April and Laura’s continued anonymous correspondence will shake all three of these characters out of their mundane routines, sparking a glimmer of hope that they might just get what they want: a storybook ending of their own.

My Thoughts:

Three people, all with different lives but all intertwined within the walls of the bookstore. I love how different and unique this book was. The characters are relatable and I really enjoyed how warm the writing was. These three people all have different reasons to visit the bookstore and it was interesting to see how the book would play out. It was about friendship and romance all set in a bookshop. I found it cosy, comforting and a hopeful read that I did not want to put down. It was so good.

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

Get your copy here:

Beth was seventeen when she first met Gabriel. Over that heady, intense summer, he made her think and feel and see differently. She thought it was the start of her great love story. When Gabriel left to become the person his mother expected him to be, she was broken.

It was Frank who picked up the pieces and together they built a home very different from the one she’d imagined with Gabriel. Watching her husband and son, she remembered feeling so sure that, after everything, this was the life she was supposed to be leading.

But when Gabriel comes back, all Beth’s certainty about who she is and what she wants crumbles. Even after ten years, their connection is instant. She knows it’s wrong and she knows people could get hurt. But how can she resist a second chance at first love?

My Thoughts:

Young love, romance, exploring feelings all wrapped up into a tale of two young lovers but nothing is good for long. Beth was head over heels in love with Gabriel when she was in her teenage years but then he upped and left suddenly, so Beth carried on her life and met her husband and had a child. Many years later after a chance encounter, Beth reunites with Gabriel once more but are they both having the same feelings they once had? Beth is married now and loves her husband so how is she going to feel now Gabriel is back in her life? it is a moving and compelling read which is thought provoking. It is one of those reads where you will never read anything like it ever again. Wow it blew me away. This as a drama on the TV would be epic.

Get your copy here:

Yorkshire, 1979

Maggie Thatcher is prime minister, drainpipe jeans are in, and Miv is convinced that her dad wants to move their family Down South.

Because of the murders.

Leaving Yorkshire and her best friend Sharon simply isn’t an option, no matter the dangers lurking round their way; or the strangeness at home that started the day Miv’s mum stopped talking.
Perhaps if she could solve the case of the disappearing women, they could stay after all?

So, Miv and Sharon decide to make a list: a list of all the suspicious people and things down their street. People they know. People they don’t.

But their search for the truth reveals more secrets in their neighbourhood, within their families – and between each other – than they ever thought possible.

What if the real mystery Miv needs to solve is the one that lies much closer to home?

My Thoughts:

This book had a lot of hype when it first came out so I wanted to wait a while until I read it. It is set in Yorkshire in the 1900’s and the main character is Miv. Something bad is happening where Miv lives and her and her best friend are on a mission to find out the culprit. They start making a list of anything or anyone suspicious and hope that they can solve it before the police can. But the only problem is they start finding out things about the people around them that no one else knows. Should they stop now or carry on? it was an interesting story to follow along with, but I really didn’t get what all they hype was about. Yeah it was good but it did not wow me like I thought it would. It was a pick up and put down kind of read for me.

Get your copy here:

A young man comes of age and crosses continents in search of an identity—and a cause—at the dawn of the Spanish Civil War in a thrilling, timely, and emotional historical saga.

New York City, 1929. Young Theo Sterling’s world begins to unravel as the Great Depression exerts its icy grip. He finds it hard to relate to his parents: His father, a Jewish self-made businessman, refuses to give up on the American dream, and his mother, a refugee from religious persecution in Mexico, holds fast to her Catholic faith. When disaster strikes the family, Theo must learn who he is. A charismatic school friend and a firebrand girl inspire him to believe he can fight Fascism and change the world, but each rebellion comes at a higher price, forcing Theo to question these ideologies too.

From New York’s Lower East Side to an English boarding school to an Andalusian village in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, Theo’s harrowing journey from boy to man is set against a backdrop of societies torn apart from within, teetering on the edge of a terrible war to which Theo is compulsively drawn like a moth to a flame.

My Thoughts:

This is not my usual kind of read but I wanted to give it a try as I am always open to new genres. It is set in 1929 in New York and we follow Theo, who is in the thick of the Spanish Civil War. He wants to fight and change the world but he cannot do it all by himself, he must prove his worth. It shows a journey of a boy becoming a man and some of the things he goes through and sees along the way are truly frightening. It was a very eye opening story that is powerful and captivating. I did find it quite heavy going but I am so glad I chose to read about such a strong and poignant story.

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

Get your copy here:

Your forties just got fabulous…

Becca Burnside is going to make this the year she turns her forties around, and creates a life her 16-year-old self would be proud of… A smidgen of romance wouldn’t go amiss either.

And with a new job, and a blossoming friendship with handsome Conal, she’s off to a great start. Or at least, she was, until her youngest son dropped the mother of all bombshells: his girlfriend, who just happens to be the daughter of Becca’s best friend Niamh, is pregnant. Now Becca and Niamh find themselves not only facing the usual problems that come with being women of a certain age, they’re going to be grannies.

So when Becca’s new job invites them on a weekend retreat, it seems the perfect way to distract themselves from ‘the Situation’. But will wild water swimming and yoga be enough to help the women face the biggest challenge of their adult lives? And can their friendship survive the chaos of a new baby?

My Thoughts:

Becca is happy she is in a new job, seeing a really lovely man and wants to make her forties better than ever. When Becca’s youngest son reveals a shock piece of news how can Becca come to terms with it, thankfully her son’s girlfriends mum is Becca’s best mate so they both can through the next stages all together. On a weekend retreat they both need time away from the situation and to prepare for what is going to be happening very soon. It was a warm and funny read and comforting how the way best friends and family pull together in difficult situations. It is all about being open with the family to be able to plan forwards. This is book two in The Fabulous Forties Club series and I cannot wait to read book one now. I found it uplifting and such a fun book to read.

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

Get your copy here: