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I jumped at the chance to join the blog tour for the latest book by Anna Hope as I absolutely adore her previous books, both historical novels, Hope and the stunning Ballroom. This lady is without doubt an exceptionally talented and accomplished author with the ability to create a world into which you are gently immersed then suddenly drowning in emotion. Expectation couldn’t be more different in style and setting to both this authors previous books and I must admit I was a little wary of the genre change, historical fiction being a theme I am reluctant to relinquish. This is edgy women’s contemporary fiction, with a modern day setting and themes of female ambitions and friendship. The author will gather a whole new following with this book. Featuring twenty and thirty-something girls written with depth and feeling. Youthful and contemporary the book centres around feelings of dissatisfaction when life never goes quite to plan and opportunities are missed. It explores what people will ...

Ideal Angels - blog tour and Extract: Today I am part of the blog tour for the new book by Robert Welbourn - Ideal Angels. BLURB    Is it possible to keep secrets in the age of social media?  When someone lives their entire life in the spotlight, what could they possibly hide from you?  Ideal Angels explores just that. It s the story of one man, one woman, one week.  They meet, fall in love, and never look back.  Eloise's phone is never far away, furiously cataloguing their ups and downs. But there are always shadows, lurking just out of reach.  The moments after the camera flashes, unseen, uncaptured.  The threat of an inescapable doom.  How much can one person change you?  How much can one person be your downfall? Robert Welbourn ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Robert Welbourn is Yorkshire born and bred - he's lived there almost all his life, and now written a book set there. He’s had a passion for books as long as he can remember, and has bee...

The Winter that made us by Kate Field: I am pleased to help introduce you to this new novel, in the genre of contemporary women's fiction. As part of the Blog Tour for this new book by Kate Field I am delighted to share with you the beautiful cover: Here's the blurb so you can discover what it's about: When Tess finds herself unexpectedly alone and back in Ribblemill, the childhood village she thought she’d escaped, she’s sure she can survive a temporary stay. She’s spent a lifetime making the best of things, hasn’t she? Determined to throw herself into village life, Tess starts a choir and gathers a team of volunteers to restore the walled garden at Ramblings, the local stately home. Everything could be perfect, if she weren’t sharing a cottage and a cat with a man whose manner is more prickly than the nettles she’s removing… As winter approaches, Tess finds herself putting down her own roots as fast as she’s pulling them up in the garden. But the ghosts of the past hover...

Among the Branded – Linda Smolkin Today I am taking part in the Blog Tour for the new debut novel by Linda Smolkin, arranged by RandomthingsTours. My Review: Among the Branded is a very modern and contemporary novel with historical connections to the fairly recent past. In it, we meet Stephanie, a 40 something Mum who is a dedicated career woman juggling family life. This busy art director is planning a family day out, and ends up spending a day out at a world war 2 re-enactment day. Whilst there, she chances on a bundle of old letters she can’t resist buying. Little does she know they are going to draw her in completely and possibly even put her hard earned career in jeopardy. Even though time is one thing she doesn’t really have to spare she can’t resist a mystery to get her teeth into. These faded letters contain a real puzzle to solve at the same time as fostering an unlikely friendship. One of the letters really connects with her, it’s from a desperate young mother who is imprison...

Blog Tour and Review – The Man in the Needlecord jacket – Linda MacDonald My thanks go to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the blog tour for this new novel. Here are my thoughts after reading it… All the lead characters in this book are the same side of 50 as me, making it hold great appeal. They are all also putting behind them failed relationships and trying to build new ones and galloping towards old age with dread and disbelief (well I know how that feels!). The eponymous Man in the Needlecord jacket is Coll, an artist, self-centred and in my eyes a dislikeable arrogant absolute prat. We view him through the eyes of 2 of the women in his life. Sarah, who was widowed young and has been developing a long term relationship with Coll over quite a few years. It’s rapidly apparent that her self-esteem is low and no wonder, she is involved with this revolting man who sneakily manipulates and undermines her, so she is barely aware he is doing it. She loves this d...

#FriendRequest - Laura Marshall @laurajm8 #Bookreview My Review: Friend Request is a term most of us will take for granted, you use Social Media you connect with people you know and sometmes you get a friend request from someone you haven't seen in a while. It's happened to me .... Usually it's a pleasant surprise .... But not for single Mum Louise Williams it isn't! The friend request she receives is a bit of a shock - it's from her old classmate Maria Weston. She hasn't heard a thing from Maria since leaving school, unsurprisingly, because Maria died, 25 years ago, didn't she? Louise can't resist having a little peek at her profile though, because Maria has never strayed very far from Louise's thoughts. Not when she was married to Sam who subsequently left her for another woman, even throughout her struggle to conceive her only child Henry, now 4 years old and the centre of Louise's universe, Maria was there in her deepest thoughts and fears. B...

My review of He Said, She Said by Erin Kelly Wow - wonderful twisty read, blew my socks off.  It's not often that I finish a book and can't really find words to write a review straight away. But I loved this book so much I had to take a step back and examine what I thought or just babble away senselessly.  Its delightfully different and darkly convoluted. It actually took me a little while to get into it at the beginning as it's deliberately written in several voices from different viewpoints and jumps back and forth several years and it does take a while to get into the rhythm, but when you do boy does it grab you and just won't let go! We begin our tortuous journey by being introduced to a young couple, Laura who is pregnant and her partner Kit who is heading off across the seas to witness an eclipse. For that is what this young couple do as a hobby, they are eclipse chasers and travel all over the world joing festivals and celebrations and watching eclipses. They...

My review Secrets We Keep - Faith Hogan I wasn’t sure whether I’d love this book, described as romantic contemporary women’s fiction. Of late I find I’m not always enjoying this genre nearly as much as I did, once upon a time. But I needn’t have worried. Secrets we keep has completely renewed my faith in books written by women, for women, with a lot of heart and a good few twists along the way. This is so much more than Chick-lit it’s a very competent and compelling dual timeline of love and loss and heartache spanning the generations, set in a small seaside town in Ireland called Ballytokeep. It is in Ballytokeep that Kate arrives, world weary, tired after years in her successful job as a top London lawyer, looking for a change of pace, a place to calm her soul and put down roots, a place like Ballytokeep. She comes to stay with elderly distant relative Aunt Iris who, with husband Archie, runs a charming, if slightly faded, guesthouse in this seaside village which charms so many folk ...