It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. Hosted at The Book Date.
HERE’S WHAT I’VE READ IN THE PAST WEEK
WHAT I’M CURRENTLY READING
READING NEXT
RECENTLY FINISHED WATCHING
CURRENTLY WATCHING
Does anyone have any recommendations for shows similar to the ones above?
After a successful teaching career, an exciting new chapter awaits Emma – helping her fiancé Grayson run one of Beatrix Potter’s farms. While imagining days spent supporting Grayson with his dream, working the land and helping with the animals, Emma harvests a dream of her own – to set up an alpaca-walking business around the farm.
But working together isn’t as easy as Emma expected. Soon her dreams are in tatters and, broken-hearted, she must start over yet again.
When Oliver, Rosie and the team at Willowdale Hall welcome Emma with open arms, she can’t believe her luck. But starting a new business in a new place is a daunting prospect, especially when it comes with unexpected obstacles. With a reserved, prickly groundskeeper as a partner, rapidly changing family dynamics to contend with, and time running out to get her new career off the ground, Emma may have bitten off more than she can chew.
But even though things are not going to plan just yet, the best is yet to come for Emma, if she can just take a leap of faith and follow her heart…
Escape to the Lake District with million-copy bestseller Jessica Redland, for an uplifting story of family, friendship and love.
MT THOUGHTS
I am immensely enjoying the new Lake District series by Jessica Redland. I really enjoyed her hedgehog series and now this series has alpacas. A series that has animals is a surefire winner.
This book is sweet, romantic and enduring but yet has a serious side as well. With so many twists and turns and it’s not even a mystery I couldn’t stop turning pages because I just knew I had to know what happened next and then after that. With a marriage that went bad and another romance after that that wasn’t right it’s time for fresh starts.
The story has an everchanging landscape and we get questions answered from the previous book in the series. I loved seeing all the change not only for our main character but others as well. The many changes going on in the book leads to many side stories not involving our main character but they are just as interesting and I’m assuming we’ll see these explored more in future books.
Fun, realistic, romantic but written with a serious side as well, filled with empathy. An emotional and uplifting page turner that I’m looking forward to reading more of the upcoming series.
I was given a complimentary copy of the book. All opinions expressed are my own.
Jessica Redland is the million-copy bestselling author of novels, including the Hedgehog Hollow and Escape to the Lakes series. Inspired by her hometown of Scarborough and the Lake District, she writes uplifting women’s fiction of love, friendship and community.
Saturday again and that means another Stacking The Shelves post hosted at Reading Reality. This is a post to share which books we’ve received this week, may it be by mail, library, NetGalley, arc from an author, bought, borrowed or some other way of acquiring it.
Once again, we are having rain here in Pennsylvania. Once that lets up, we’ll have cooler more Fall like temperatures here in Pennsylvania. I’ve not done a lot of reading this week as I’ve been doing some deep cleaning of the house now that it’s not so humid. By deep cleaning I mean cleaning walls and wiping down the wood trim. Stuff that you’re more than happy to ignore most of the time.
Anyways, on to my acquired books this past week.
RECEIVED FROM NETGALLEY
Maybe it would be better if NetGalley didn’t love me so much? LOL
BOOK MAIL THIS WEEK
And what have you added to your reading stack this week? Thanks for stopping in and have a relaxing day.
Happy Friday & welcome to First Line Friday! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line. Today I’m delighted to feature the first line of In the Blink of a Pie. This is the third book in this delightful cozy mystery series.
FIRST LINE(S)
“Can you believe this weather that we’re having?” My best friend, Heather Murray asked as she spread a checkered red cloth over the picnic table. “I can’t remember Vermont ever going through Indian Summer this late in November before.”
368 pages G.P. Putnam’s Sons publisher July 19, 2022 publication date
ABOUT THE BOOK
In the spirit of Lisa Jewell and Kate Morton, an emotional mystery set in the rugged remote landscape of north Cornwall full of dark secrets and twists, about three unusual sisters forced to confront the past.
Some secrets need to be set free…
When half-sisters Kat, Flora, and Lauren are unexpectedly summoned to Rock Point, their wild and remote Cornish summer home, it’s not a welcome invitation. They haven’t been back since that fateful summer twenty years ago—a summer they’re desperate to forget.
But when they arrive, it’s clear they’re not alone. Someone is lurking in the shadows, watching their every move. Someone who remembers exactly what they did…
Will the sisters be able to protect the dark past of Rock Point? Or are some secrets too powerful to remain under lock and key?
MY THOUGHTS
Told from alternating points of view and in different time periods. Three half-sisters their connection being their father. Jealousy is rampant amongst the sisters who haven’t seen each other in twenty years.
This Gothic thriller is full of secrets, secrets the women are desperate to forget but they must face once again. Why were the women summoned to the rugged Cornish home where the walls have eyes and someone unseen hears all.
Will desperation force them to do something they would never have thought of doing to keep things quiet? Hard to put down, I had to keep reading this intriguing read.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All options expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eve Chase is an internationally bestselling British novelist who writes rich, layered and suspenseful novels, thick with secrets, unforgettable characters and settings. Her latest novel, The Midnight Hour – ‘Her best yet…I loved every word’ – Claire Douglas – publishes June ’24, in the UK. Other novels include, The Birdcage, The Glass House (The Daughters of Foxcote Manor, US) a Sunday Times top ten bestseller and Richard and Judy Book Club pick, The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde (The Wildling Sisters, US) which was longlisted for the HWA Gold Crown Award, and Black Rabbit Hall, winner of Paris’ Saint-Maur en Poche prize for Best Foreign Fiction. She works in the Writer’s Shed at the bottom of her garden, usually with Harry, her golden retriever.
Say hello @evepollychase on Instagram, X, and Facebook
This is a new to me author and when I saw there was a cover reveal for this book, I knew I had to participate. Looking forward to reading this and I hope you’ll enjoy the cover too.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Bella’s Countryside Christmas
An uplifting festive romance perfect for fans of Hallmark Christmas movies and authors such as Phillipa Ashley, Trisha Ashley, Sue Moorcroft, Rebecca Raisin and Donna Ashcroft.
Fleeing her heartache and horrendous job, Bella stumbles upon a December wedding in the beautiful village of Haileybrook and the spirit of the season moves her to act as a fake date to handsome stranger Jack.
Jack and Bella hit it off, but Bella has to leave in a hurry and their magical evening soon becomes nothing more than a blissful memory.
A year later, Bella is returning to Haileybrook, seeking a fresh start and a quieter life. With a new job close to her cosy cottage home, a peaceful Christmas is surely only days away.
But it’s not long before family surprises, small-town feuds and romantic drama disrupt Bella’s plans, and she has to wonder if being alone is what she really wants for Christmas …
Just look at this beautiful cover. Isn’t this eye-catching?
Claire Huston lives in Warwickshire, UK with her husband and two children. She writes uplifting modern love stories about characters who are meant for each other but sometimes need a little help to realise it.
A keen amateur baker, she enjoys making cakes, biscuits and brownies almost as much as eating them. You can find recipes for over a hundred sweet treats at clairehuston.co.uk. This is also where she talks about and reviews books.
Their son, Travis, is due to take some important exams, but will he be able to concentrate when a serious crush derails his schedule?
As their fortieth birthdays approach, some significant celebration will be required, but how can Veronica agree to Owen’s life-changing request?
The fifth standalone episode of ‘Christmas on The Close’ shows how sharing a treasured life with someone does not necessarily result in sharing the same treasured dreams.
MY THOUGHTS
Set at Christmas time though I feel this novella would be a fun read any time of the year. The Close is all about neighbors and this one feature Veronica and Owen and their son Travis. The couple are approaching forty. Though a couple they don’t have the same dreams. Their son Travis is growing up before their eyes, where has the time gone? No longer a child, but not quite grown he’s in a different life stage than them and they’re having a hard time relating to each other. We get a glimpse of life with the other neighbors, and I’m intrigued enough to want to read the other stories in this series now as well. Heartwarming and fun. A great read!
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
I write contemporary fiction in the form of novels, novellas and short stories.
I have two series of linked standalone stories; one is a collection of Greek holiday reads called Aegean Sun and the other is Christmas on the Close which is set in a suburban cul-de-sac and reveals what is happening in each of the neighbours’ houses over the festive period.
I live in Lancashire where I have a large garden which takes a lot of maintenance, but I also enjoy reading lots of different genres and watching the soaps Emmerdale and Neighbours because I love character-based stories.
‘Bea was always early for everything. Even, it turned out, when she was running away from her life.’
As Christmas approaches, Bea Preston has a choice.
Looking up at the departures board in Heathrow airport, her flight to New York boarding soon, she knows that getting on that plane changes everything. Her life in London has grown stale, her relationship with boyfriend Dom has run its course, and New York has always been her dream. But it’s a risk – she’ll miss her parents, her friends, her job.
What if Bea could live both lives? In one she goes back home for Christmas, and in another she heads to the Big Apple. Would her fate remain the same, or can one decision really change everything?
In a grand sliding-doors love story that spans oceans, years and lives, Clare Swatman’s unforgettable tale of fate and friendship is perfect for all fans of Jojo Moyes, Beth Moran and Ruth Jones.
MY THOUGHTS
With not much time for Christmas celebrations Bea is off to New York several days after the holidays. Bea’s life is hectic and certainly doesn’t always go as she’s planned.
Decisions………, we all make them every day. How do we know if they’re the right ones, or not. How about those decisions we regret and think on after our choice. Wondering if we could’ve kicked those bad decisions under the rug and chosen again, would things have been better?
There is a show of strong family support and close friendships. On again off again romantic relationships and finding the perfect one to be with. The New York energetic vibe is strong, covering the early 2000’s from finding that perfect pub to the busy streets and the small flats to the busy rushing about.
A book women can identify with, emotional with strong characters you’ll see a bit of yourself in. A keeper that I’ll be reading again.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
Clare Swatman is the author of seven women’s fiction novels, which have been translated into over 20 languages. She has been a journalist for over twenty years, writing for Bella and Woman & Home amongst many other magazines. She lives in Hertfordshire.
Holly Berry is finally in a place where she can see her happy ending: a beautiful daughter, who’s growing ever sweeter by the day, a new home she can make her own, and – of course – her partner-in-crime, Evan.
But when tragedy strikes, Holly’s life is thrown into turmoil. And, perhaps in denial, she decides to cancel all of her Christmas plans in favour of some healing of her own.
She thinks spending time with Evan’s family will help, but it’s her own family she needs to be with right now. Luckily, they know this, and follow her out to the States to join her in her alternate holiday plans.
They say that time heals all wounds, and with her loved ones around her, can she hope for a brighter tomorrow…?
A heart-wrenching and ultimately uplifting story about friends, family and true love lasting forever, from the bestselling author of the Wildflower Lock series
MY THOUGHTS
Having read Hannah Lynn’s previous books in the series I am familiar with her writing style and enjoy her writing very much. This book is not what I was expecting at all. No matter how much you plan life with all the best intentions it can change just like that, in the blink of an eye.
I’d advise reading the other books in the series, so you have Holly Berry’s backstory. Holly is happy in life, she runs her sweetshop, has a beautiful young daughter and has a strong romantic relationship that is on the verge of engagement.
A tragedy occurs and in an instant life changes for her. The book has a lot of emotions running through it, dealing with loss and uncertainty. After her tremendous loss she gets a lot of support from family and friends.
Though the book is heartbreaking at times there are heartwarming times as well especially involving her precious daughter who though doesn’t completely understand what has happened has much love wrapped around her. Beautifully and emotionally written and highly recommended.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
Hannah Lynn is the author of over twenty books spanning several genres. Hannah grew up in the Cotswolds, UK. After graduating from university, she spent 15 years as a teacher of physics, teaching in the UK, Thailand, Malaysia, Austria and Jordan.
August has only a few hours left in it, and I won’t be able to finish any of the other books I have started before the end of the month. Let’s get on with what I was able to read this month. here in my recap.
Have you read any of these? Are any of these on your tbr list?
Vegan Book Blogger 