Wild Horses on the Salt By Anne Montgomery

Wild Horses on the Salt By Anne Montgomery

by Hannah ♥ 1 Comment

Can Rebecca find hope in the wilds of the Arizona desert?

Escaping her abusive husband, Rebecca hops the red-eye to Arizona. There, Gaby Strand – her aunt’s college roommate – gives her shelter at the Salt River Inn, a 1930’s guesthouse located in the wildly beautiful Tonto National Forest.

Becca struggles with post-traumatic stress, but is enthralled by the splendor of the Sonoran Desert. Soon, she meets Noah Tanner, a cattle rancher and beekeeper, Oscar Billingsley, a retired psychiatrist and avid birder, and the blacksmith, Walt. Thanks to her new friends and a small band of wild horses, Becca adjusts to life in the desert and rekindles her love of art.

After Becca’s husband tracks her down, she has to summon all her strength. But can she finally stop running away?

My Thoughts:

This is Rebecca’s story, after leaving a very traumatic time in her life, she escapes far away from a very bad relationship, she ends up in Arizona, where she meets a few new people including Noah and also some wild horses. Will her past catch up with her? will she finally be free from her past? I found it a really sad story, Rebecca has been through a lot and I wished for her to find peace and happiness. I liked the setting of this story and the small details really make a difference. I liked the parts about the wild horses as I love horses, it was also interesting to learn about the way they are managed in the wild. I found the ending was a little predictable but I really enjoyed the story.

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

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A Surprise Christmas Wedding By Phillipa Ashley

A Surprise Christmas Wedding By Phillipa Ashley

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It’s been a year since Lottie’s fiancé walked out, leaving her heartbroken. But things start to look up when she lands her dream job at a beautiful Lake District estate, with a handsome groundskeeper for a neighbour.
 
So when Lottie is asked to organise a last minute Christmas wedding at Firholme, she can’t wait to get started. Until she meets the couple, and discovers that Connor, the man who broke her heart, is the groom-to-be.
 
As snow falls on the hills, can Lottie put aside her past to organise the perfect winter wedding? And will there be any festive magic left to bring Lottie the perfect Christmas she deserves?

My Thoughts:

I really loved this book, Lottie has been hurt by her ex but still managed to smile. When her sister is ill too she decided not to tell her sister all the details, I really felt for Lottie having to help her sister and help out with her two young nieces whilst having the heartache of her ex with it. I loved everything about this story, the romance, the snow and of course Christmas. I felt as though Lottie puts everyone first before herself and misses out of things because of it. When she meets Jay I thought this is her chance but Jay has heart ache too. Can they both work out their past and leave it all behind? I wonder if there will be a sequel? A must Christmas read.

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The Last Story of Mina Lee By Nancy Jooyoun Kim

The Last Story of Mina Lee By Nancy Jooyoun Kim

by Hannah ♥ 3 Comments

Margot Lee’s mother is ignoring her calls. Margot cannot understand why, until she makes a surprise trip home to Koreatown, LA. What she finds there makes her realise how little she knows about her mother, Mina.

Thirty years earlier, Mina Lee steps off a plane to take a chance on a new life in America. Stacking shelves at a Korean grocery store, the last thing she expects is to fall in love. But that moment will have shattering consequences for Mina, and everything she left behind in Seoul.

Through the intimate lens of a mother and daughter who have struggled all their lives to understand each other, Margot and Mina’s story unravels the unspoken secrets that can drive two people apart – or perhaps bind them closer together.

My Thoughts:

The story is about Mina who is a South Korean woman who is living in America and her daughter Margot. The book is broken down into two points of view between mother and daughter. Mina in the past and Margot in the present, we follow their lives and we follow Margot trying to find out how her mother passed away. The book is well written and sensitively written, when writing about trauma, grief and loss. I found this a sad read, my heart broke for both women, I enjoyed reading about their life and also reading up on the tasty sounding Korean dishes that were eaten through out this book. It was a little slow going at the start but it did pick up and I enjoyed it.

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

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Why Mummy’s Sloshed By Gill Sims

Why Mummy’s Sloshed By Gill Sims

by Hannah ♥ 1 Comment

I just wanted them to stop wittering at me, eat vegetables without complaining, let me go to the loo in peace and learn to make a decent gin and tonic.  
It genuinely never occurred to me when they were little that this would ever end – an eternity of Teletubbies and Duplo and In The Night Bastarding Garden and screaming, never an end in sight.  But now there is.  And despite the busybody old women who used to pop up whenever I was having a bad day and tell me I would miss these days when they were over, I don’t miss those days at all.  
I have literally never stood wistfully in the supermarket and thought ‘Oh, how I wish someone was trailing behind me constantly whining ‘Mummy, can I have, Mummy can I have?’ while another precious moppet tries to climb out the trolley so they land on their head and we end up in A&E.  
Again.

Mummy has been a wife and mother for so long that she’s a little bit lost. And despite her best efforts, her precious moppets still don’t know the location of the laundry basket, the difference between being bored and being hungry, or that saying ‘I can’t find it Mummy’ is not the same as actually looking for it.

Amidst the chaos of A-Levels and driving tests, she’s doing her best to keep her family afloat, even if everybody is set on drifting off in different directions, and that one of those directions is to make yet another bloody snack. She’s feeling overwhelmed and under appreciated, and the only thing that Mummy knows for sure is that the bigger the kids, the bigger the drink.

My Thoughts:

If you are after a hilarious and laugh out loud read then this is the book for you, I loved it, definitely in my top ten books of this year. I loved the first three in the series and this is the fourth and final why mummy books. It will be a shame to see the end of them as they are just brilliant but I am excited to see what Gill writes about next. Everything that happens in this book is amusing, I do feel for Mummy but I just can’t help laughing what she says and does.You don’t have to be a mum to read this story, I am not yet and still find the stories amusing. Some of the stuff with the kids reminds me when I was a teenager and what my mum had to put up with me. This is a book I would reread many times if I need cheering up. Absolutely brilliant.

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

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One Family Christmas By Bella Osborne

One Family Christmas By Bella Osborne

by Hannah ♥ 2 Comments

A big family. A whole lot of secrets. A Christmas to remember…

This year, Lottie is hosting one last big family Christmas at the home she grew up in – just like her Nana would have wanted.

But when her relatives descend on the old manor house, Lottie gets more than she bargained for. Every family has its secrets, but in this family, everybody has one!

So, between cooking a Christmas dinner, keeping tensions at bay and a stray dog out of mischief, she has plenty on her plate (and not just misshapen sausage rolls and a frozen turkey). And then her first love shows up – nine years after he walked out of her life.

Can Lottie make their last family Christmas one to remember… for the right reasons?

My Thoughts:

I think Bella Osborne is definitely one of my new favourite authors. I love her books, I loved this story about Lottie and her family at Christmas time. It was festive, fun and like a big warm hug. There are animals too, which include a dog called Dave who is cheeky and a cat called Duchess. I really like Lottie a lot, she does everything for everyone else and has such a Kind heart. I was intrigued to see what would happen with Joe conning back her old love who she hasn’t seen for many years. Lovely ending, I do see if this story will continue as there is a great bunch of characters and I would love to see Lottie settled down. It deserves 10/10.

I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review. Thank you Netgalley for the copy.

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kindle edition

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Evil Things (Hella Mauzer) By Katja Ivar

Evil Things (Hella Mauzer) By Katja Ivar

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Northern Finland, 1952, at the height of the Cold War with its neighbour the Soviet Union. A misunderstood, flawed, whip-smart Finnish woman police detective, while fighting against prejudice and political interference, investigates a murder on the Finno-Russian border.

But that is just the beginning of her involvement. In fact the locals have been the victims of a crime so evil it is beyond anything any of them could have ever imagined.

My Thoughts:

This book is the first book in the Hella Mauzer series, I actually read book two first which I preferred. This book was good to get the insight and back story of Hella. What it is to be like a woman police detective in Northern Finland in 1952. We go on a journey of Hella’s life and what she has to overcome. I like the way Hella is a strong but real woman she fights for what she thinks is right, I am looking forward to reading more in this series as it can only keep getting better and better.

I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review. Thank you to Bitter lemon press for sending me a copy.

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Since September ( The Bourbon Books 2) By Allison Martine

Since September ( The Bourbon Books 2) By Allison Martine

by Hannah ♥ 5 Comments

Most brides dream of planning every last detail of their wedding. Not Olivia Markham. She’d been down the aisle once already and regretted that decision, along with every other judgment call connected with her unfaithful ex.

But she also never planned on falling for Adam Burkhardt, who proposed sooner than anyone could have guessed.So when Adam suggests letting their mothers suss out the particulars for their big day, Olivia agrees, hoping it will assuage their mothers’ trepidation towards their upcoming union.

She even relents to having a bachelorette weekend, for the sake of her friends.Olivia shall endure more nuptial nonsense and play bride once again.They should have eloped.

My Thoughts:

This is book 2 in the Bourbon books series and is just as good as the first. If you haven’t read Dibs you really need to first to get an idea of Adam’s and Olivia’s relationship, in this story we follow them planning their wedding. It reminded me of my husband’s and my wedding day, we didn’t tell anyone that we were going to get married just went on holiday to Canada and came back married. I think a wedding day is about the two people that are getting married and not anyone else. I love the way Adam and Olivia’s feelings and relationship grow through out the book. I am so ready for book 3 to find out what is going to happen next.

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

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The Mourning Report By Caitlin Garvey

The Mourning Report By Caitlin Garvey

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Two years after her mother’s death from breast cancer, Caitlin, then 20 years old, was admitted to a psychiatric facility after a suicide attempt. There, a therapist diagnosed her with major depression and anxiety, and she spent time as an inpatient. Years later, still suffering from grief and depression, Caitlin decided to embark on a “”grief journey,”” interviewing the people involved in her mother’s dying process: a hospice nurse, a priest, an estate planner, a hairstylist, and a funeral director. If she figured out how they could function after being so close to her mother’s death, then maybe she could learn how to navigate her own life. Each chapter of The Mourning Report is centered on each interview and the memories, anxieties, and reflections that it stimulated. It asks what it means to “”move on.

My Thoughts:

This is a very detailed read. After Caitlyn’s mother dies, Caitlyn doesn’t cope very well but who would? I mean I couldn’t ever imagine how she must of felt I would be grief stricken if I lost my mum. After a suicide attempt she gets admitted to a psychiatric unit, I really felt for her when she was in there but I think it was for her own good, at twenty years of age I couldn’t imagine what that must of been like. I can imagine but it is never the same unless you experience it yourself. After years of grief she decides to interview and question those people that where in her mothers final days of life. It was really interesting to hear their accounts and it was interesting to learn what it means to move on. A book that will stay with me a long time and one I will never forget.

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

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paperback

dibs: The Bourbon Books By Allison Martine

dibs: The Bourbon Books By Allison Martine

by Hannah ♥ 4 Comments

Not tonight, Olivia. Olivia’s ex-husband shut her down so many times before the cheating bastard left her that Olivia lost count. She didn’t realize she’d also lost the ability to banter, interpret body language, or accept that a man could find her desirable. None of that should matter when she leaves for a two-week training for her new job with the Ranchers, an outdoorsy nonprofit, but when her co-worker adds ‘halter top’ and ‘bikini’ to the official pack list, she has no idea what to expect on this trip.

It certainly wasn’t a perky blonde roommate who thinks their training is like spring break, but with a paycheck. It wasn’t the after-hours hot tub. It absolutely wasn’t the man with a rumble for a laugh who shows up on her flight and introduces himself as the colleague she didn’t know would be her companion for the next two weeks.

When blondie calls dibs on that same colleague, Olivia just wants to stay out of her way, but her colleague has ideas of his own. Ideas which involve Olivia, the hot tub, and shared sips of bourbon.

My Thoughts:

This is a nice, easy read that is full of romance, it is a little bit sexy too. The characters are all relatable, This story is about Olivia who has broken up with her husband and wants to rebuild her life by herself, when she meets Adam who tries to charm her, he is also sexy and loves bourbon. Will she be able to resist or is she looking for a new relationship so soon after her ex husband? It was nice to see how their friendship developed, it would be nice to see another book about them. This was a perfect pick me up read.

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

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Dead Rock Stars By Guy Mankowski

Dead Rock Stars By Guy Mankowski

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‘The first page of my sister’s diary was a picture of Frances Farmer, facing a drawing of Ophelia. My sister’s psychic accomplices were all tragic figures…’

Emma Imrie was a Plath-obsessed, self-taught teenage musician dreaming of fame, from a remote village on the Isle of Wight. She found it too, briefly becoming a star of the nineties Camden music scene. But then she died in mysterious circumstances.

In the aftermath of Emma’s death, her younger brother, Jeff, is forced by their parents to stay at the opulent home of childhood friends on the island.

During a wild summer of beach parties and music, Jeff faces up to the challenges that come with young love, youthful ambition and unresolved grief. His sister’s prodigious advice from beyond the grave becomes the only weapon he has against an indifferent world.

As well as the only place where the answers he craves might exist…

My Thoughts:

This is the story of Jeff and Emma who are brother and sister. Emma has died and Jeff wants to know what really happened to his sister. I liked the way the story is split between the two siblings, I found the diary entries that Emma wrote quite emotional, all she has been through, the author has written with emotion and sensitivity. Emma was a rock star and you can see what she is going through especially when you think of people like Kurt Cobain. It has a lot of emotion in this story. You will need tissues after discovering Emma’s story but also seeing Jeff’s journey too. A heartbreaking story that has been written well.

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

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