March 2022 – My Sanctuary

Book Review – Calder Grit By Janet Dailey

Synopsis

As the countryside explodes in violence, the Calder patriarch has the power to stop the destruction, though some believe Benteen Calder is only stoking the flames for his own gain. One man courageously straddles the divide…

That man is Blake Dollarhide, the ambitious young owner of Blue Moon’s lumber mill. When Blake’s spoiled half-brother takes advantage of the innocent daughter of a homesteading family, Blake steps in as Hanna Anderson’s bridegroom to restore her honor and give her unborn child his name. But Blake doesn’t count on the storm of feelings he develops for sweet Hanna. When the war between the factions rages anew, everyone wonders if Blake will stand by the close-knit community he serves, or the wife he took in name only…

A marriage of love is more than Hanna ever dreamed of. For her family, surviving the rugged trip west, claiming a parcel of land and planting their first crops on the vast prairie are the only things that matter. Which is why the unexpected passion she feels for her husband is all the more poignant. But even as she longs to trust the strong bond growing between her and Blake, Hanna knows it will take courage and grit to overcome the differences between them. And even greater strength of will to put down roots in this wild new country.

Published Date: 22 February 2022

My Review

Blake Dollarhide is from a rich family and is an owner of a lumber mill in town. His half brother is a spoiled brat and impregnated Hanna Anderson. He doesn’t take responsibility for his action. Given their different status ie rancher and homesteader, there is no way Mason would marry her. Blake steps in and do the honorable thing by marry her to take care of her and her unborn child.

This is my first ever historical romance story and I love it! This book tell the story of two different caste ie the rancher and homesteader. Love how the story moves along and the way the author draw us into the lives of her characters.

My Rating

Book Review – One Greek Summer By Kate Frost

Synopsis

When Harlow Sands arrives on an idyllic Greek island to work on a big budget movie, it should be the opportunity of a lifetime. But her uncertainty over the direction of her life and the high expectations of Maeve Fennimore-Bell, her domineering Hollywood producer mum, threatens to ruin her summer on beautiful Skopelos

Location manager Tyler Reed has his fair share of demons. His and Harlow’s lives have been entwined for over a decade and now forced to work together, their complicated past begins to unravel.

Harlow is desperate to break free and make her own way in the world, but with a fractured family, a long-hidden secret and a need to belong, can her happy-ever-after be found during one Greek summer?

Published Date: 9 March 2022

My Review

Harlow is in Skopelos to work as an assistant location manager for her mum’s big movie. She responsible for scouting and helping the crews in the various location on Skopelos Island. Working together with Tyler, her close friend with benefits history make it even harder for her. On the island, she met Adonis and their relationship started to grow despite their rocky start of the friendship.

It is a sweet romance between two persons who are caught in between their desire and their commitment and responsibilities to their loved one. Love the story between Harlow and Adonis though at the beginning of the story it focuses more on the relationship between Harlow and Tyler. Too much that it overshadow the actual story of Harlow and Adonis. This book have relatable character with a lot of pent up emotion, complicated relationship and secrets.

My Rating

Book Review – Friend Me By Michelle McCraw

Synopsis

She’s found her Prince Charming. Her plan to win him needs a little help from her best buddy. Who’s suddenly…sexy?
Romance-reading executive assistant Marlee has a three-step plan to woo her crush, icy and aloof San Francisco tech executive Cooper Fallon.

Step 1: Dance with him at her boss’s wedding. Melt that ice.
Step 2: Work late. Bond over takeout.
Step 3: Share a magical kiss.

But when Cooper takes a date to the wedding, Marlee counters by asking her nerdy, Star Wars–loving, always-there-for-her best friend, Tyler, to pretend to be her boyfriend. Everything is perfect until Tyler gives her a toe-curling kiss on the dance floor and their date doesn’t feel fake anymore.

Kissing the wrong guy? Not in her plan. And neither is Tyler asking for more than she can give. She never meant to break up with her best friend. Especially when she suspects she’s falling for him.
Friend Me is a slow-burn-to-red-hot, friends-to-lovers romantic comedy featuring a starry-eyed heroine, a sweet, cinnamon-roll hero, and a pair of cranky cats. It can be read as a standalone and is the second book in the Synergy series.

Published Date: 24 July 2021

My Review

Marlene, a super fan of romance and an PA working in a tech company has been in love with her boss Cooper for the past 3 years. Everyone knows it except Cooper. If only she can convince him that she is the love of his life. For her best friend Alicia’s wedding, she accepted her buddy, Tyler’s offer to attend together with a plan to make Cooper jealous.

This romance is all about friendship turn into office romance. It started with one sided love both from Marlee and Tyler and story develop to a totally different direction after that. At one point, I even have this thinking that this story may end up with a totally different ending. Love both Marlee and Tyler but abit skeptical with Cooper’s character.

My Rating

Book Review – Wrapped Up In Christmas Hope By Janice Lynn

Synopsis

He’s willing to risk his life to save others.
Is she willing to risk her heart on him?

Morgan’s late husband was a daredevil…and now she’s a widowed single mom. All she wants now is to set up a stable life for herself and her son in the small town of Pine Hill, Kentucky.

Andrew’s a firefighter who thrives on the rush of saving others. His secret dream is to become a smokejumper and fight raging wildfires across the country. But it’ll mean leaving his hometown and the people who rely on him.

Morgan and Andrew are drawn together as they both volunteer to make quilts for veterans at the local quilt shop. Morgan’s son looks up to Andrew, and Morgan can’t help but notice how good Andrew is with him. Meanwhile, Andrew’s torn between his ambition and his growing attraction to Morgan. They both have choices to make about their future…and about each other.

Published Date: 26 October 2021

My Review

The story focus on Morgan who moved back to Pine Hill together with her son Greyson when she loss her husband to restart their life again. She prefers to stay safe given the reason she lost her husband but fate shoved her to the direction that she never want to be. Greyson idolised a firefighter Andrew who has a dream of becoming a smoke jumper

From the start I love the vibrant characters and the heartwarming story about fears and anxieties and overcoming them. Love the way Andrew treated Greyson and the patience for him is truly amazing. Morgan given the circumstance, was someone who is indecisive, make the story more draggy.

My Rating

Book Review – Accidentally Perfect By Marissa Clarke

Synopsis

Workaholic Lillian Mahoney has given everything to her job. The hugely popular lifestyle show she helped create monopolizes her time, energy, creativity, and anything remotely resembling a life. But all it takes is the show’s womanizing, egomaniac star throwing a massive hissy on live TV to utterly implode Lillian’s career in a New York minute.

Now Lillian’s hiding out in the gorgeous and completely unknown seaside village of Blink, Maine. Out of gas. A stolen wallet. A broken heel. And worse, she’s somehow managed to completely piss off the town’s resident hunk, Caleb Wright. She’ll show that hot, grumpy single father exactly what she’s made of.

But Blink isn’t quite what Lillian expects—and neither is Caleb…or his feisty teen daughter she can’t help but love. And while her entire life and career are in shreds, Lillian might just discover what happens when she gives her bad first impression a second chance…

Published Date: 1 March 2022

My Review

This book is about Lilian and Caleb who isn’t looking for a relationship found love when they least expecting it. Lilian is a workaholic who in need of a sabbatical leave found herself in a small town and met Caleb, a local boat builder who think she is con artist. The tow people welcome her with open arms. But to Caleb, she was up to something and he need to figure it out.

This is a story about letting go of the past and finding the place that you truly belong. It is filled with twists and turns. I find it a lovely read, which keep me amused throughout the book. Totally Love how well the story was written.

My Rating

Author Interview – Jo Platt

Jo Platt was born in Liverpool in 1968 and, via the extremely winding route of rural Wiltshire, London, Seattle and St Albans, she is now happily settled in Bristol with her husband and two daughters. She studied English at King’s College London before going on to work in the City for ten years. In 2000 she escaped into motherhood and part-time employment, first as an assistant teacher in a Seattle pre-school and then was a Bristol-based secretary to her husband.

What inspire you to write a book?

My inspiration comes from friends, family, strangers in the street, stories that I’m told, or overhear – I’m a dreadful eavesdropper. The list of influences and inspirations is pretty endless really!

Do you write full time? if yes, is it tiring to write day in day out?

I supposedly write full-time, although a time and motion study would probably reveal that a fair percentage of my working day is lost to ‘staring from the window’ and ‘eating cake’.

Which of the book that the story plot touches you the most and the hardest for you to let go?

I love exploring friendships: how they start, how they develop and, in the case of my latest book Working It Out, how they end. As I write, the characters and their situations become very real to me and it can feel quite a wrench to say goodbye to them and move onto the next book.

Do you read other author’s book specifically from the same industry as you?

I’d describe my reading choices as eclectic! I don’t restrict myself to any one particular genre.

Which part of the writing process that you find it hardest to go thru i.e. from writing to the published book?

Book Spotlight – Working It Out By Jo Platt

Please share the opening lines of this book

‘At a funeral, Jason,’ I said, laughing bitterly and shaking my head. ‘At your own aunt’s funeral. Just when I thought I couldn’t be any more appalled. You’re so obviously beyond help and hope.’

I held the front door open and he exited without argument, before stopping on the top step, making no attempt either to walk away, or to come back inside. ‘I can’t explain, Edie,’ he said quietly, his head bowed. ‘It’s a—’

I held up a hand. ‘Well, you’re in luck, because I don’t want an explanation. I just want you to go.’ With that, I closed the front door and returned to the living room.

Fun fact about the main characters in this book.

Edie Whitmore is a woman who is in love with her job and happy with her lot. But when new guy, CameronGrange, arrives in the office and ruins not only her work life, but then her social life too, the battle lines are drawn.

In five words, describe the story..

Friends and enemies in disguise.

Can you share your favorite the excerpt in this book?

Ooh…that’s tricky, because the part of the book which immediately springs to mind is Chapter 12 – June’s wine and cheese party – but that contains rather a lot of spoilers! But a part I also love, which doesn’t give anything away, is Edie’s encounter with her 5 year-old neighbour, Harry, and his mother, Kerry, when Edie is feeling at her most low and most desperate. So, here’s a tiny snippet of that:

Opening Kerry’s gate, I walked slowly up the path, as she and Harry stood back to let me inside.

‘Let me take your coat,’ she said, pushing the door closed behind me. ‘It’s soaked.’

‘I’ve been outside most of the day.’

‘Why didn’t you put your hood up?’ asked Harry.

I put a hand up to my dripping hair. He had a point. ‘I must have forgotten to put it up when I got off the bus.’

‘You look really sad,’ he said. ‘Have you broken something? Are you in trouble? Did you get told off?’

‘That’s enough questions, Harry,’ said Kerry gently.

‘Have you fallen over? Did you spill red paint on the carpet?’

Kerry’s eyes narrowed and she turned towards him. ‘Have you spilled red paint on the carpet?’

His mouth widened and turned down at the corners. ‘Yes,’ he said quietly, addressing his feet.

‘Where?’

‘In my room. But I cleaned it up.’

‘With what?’

‘Toilet paper and the cream you clean your face with. It made the paint go pink,’ he said, before adding in a murmur, ‘and big.’

Kerry’s eyes closed slowly.

‘I’ll let you clear up and come back another—’ I began.

She opened her eyes and placed a hand on my arm. ‘Hang on just a moment, Edie. How long has the paint been on the carpet, Harry?’ she asked.

‘I spilled the paint at quarter to…’ He paused to study a chunky blue plastic watch on his wrist and ran his finger thoughtfully around the dial. ‘…yesterday.’

Reader should read this book..

Because Working It Out has it all: betrayal, deception and drama, packaged with redemption, laughter and uplift

Book Review – Working It Out By Jo Platt

Synopsis

Her new colleague is about to shake things up…

When her love life crashed down around her, Edie turned to work for solace. But office life goes downhill with the departure of her work wife, Ruby, and the arrival of new guy Cameron – a chauvinist, a womaniser and the very opposite of a team player. But is Cameron the bad guy he seems to be?

When a best-forgotten ex decides to get back in touch, Edie’s work life, love life and home life are on a collision course. Exactly what she will be able to salvage from the twisted wreckage, is anybody’s guess.

A funny and feel-good romance for fans of Mhairi McFarlane and Jo Watson.

Published Date: 3 February 2022

My Review

The story focus on Edie and people around her. She is an architect and have close relationship with her colleague except for one, Cameron. The story continue with the lies that Ruby told her which affect her opinion on Cameron and her subsequent boycott of him.

The story remind me of I don’t friend you, you don’t friend me kind of situation. Edie come across as one who easily take in people’s opinion and uphold it as her own. She doesn’t seem to be a person who have her own thought. Despite that, the characters are lovable although I find some situations in the story make me feel awkward.

It is a good read for me although the story grow on me at a much later part. Love how the author created and develop the characters.

My Rating

Author Interview – Jessica Redland

Jessica Redland was born in Teesside but now lives on the stunning North Yorkshire Coast which inspired the creation of the fictional seaside town of Whitsborough Bay where she sets all her books.

She lives with her husband, daughter, Sprocker Spaniel and is a self-confessed stationery addict. She loves chocolate, although it doesn’t love her, 80s music, collectible teddy bears and lighthouses.

Her dream is to be able to write full-time one day but, until then, she has a day job as an HR Tutor and tries to balance her time – usually unsuccessfully – between that and writing.

What inspire you to write a book?

All sorts of things. Ideas come from so many places. The first book I wrote was inspired by a real event that happened to me. Another was inspired by my experience of setting up and running my own shop. I have one where the idea came from the lyric in a song. My Hedgehog Hollow series started off as an exercise on my Masters in Creative Writing.

Do you write full time? if yes, is it tiring to write day in day out?

For many years, I fit writing around a full-time job where I worked long hours but I was lucky enough to find myself able to leave my day job and write full time from June 2020. Is it tiring? It can be. I spend long hours – sometimes 14 a day – in front of a computer creating. If I’m writing an emotional scene, I feel those emotions and will cry which can be quite draining. But most of the time it’s an absolute joy. The hardest part is not the writing of the book but the keeping up with everything else, particularly a social media presence

Which of the book that the story plot touches you the most and the hardest for you to let go?

Snowflakes Over The Starfish Cafe which was released in late summer 2021 is the most emotional story I’ve written. It’s about two characters, Hollie and Jake, who have suffered extreme tragedy in their lives but who meet when Jake finds a lost dog on the beach below Hollie’s cafe. It’s a beautiful, uplifting story but I really did feel their pain

Sidenote: This book is an emotional read for me too

Do you read other author’s book specifically from the same industry as you?

I don’t get nearly as much time to read as I’d ideally like (because I spend so much time writing!) but I do read books by authors similar to me. I write the books I write because they’re the types of books I love reading. I also read out of genre. I’m currently reading a few cosy crime books but enjoy crime/thriller/psych thrillers too

Which part of the writing process that you find it hardest to go thru i.e. from writing to the published book?

I find the first 20k words of a book the hardest to write as the start of the book always feels so much slower (and painful) to write. From that point, the words flow so much quicker. I enjoy edits but they can be tricky if there’s a major change needed like extending the timeline or swapping some key events out. It doesn’t just have an impact on that part of the book; it knocks everything out and it can be a challenge trying to knit it back together. But I do enjoy that challenge. I’m so lucky to be doing what I absolutely love. There aren’t really any parts I don’t like.

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Book Review – The Women Who Took A Chance By Fiona Gibson

Synopsis

Meet Jen. Flight attendant. Mum to a grown-up daughter. Permanently single.

Age: Fifty (gulp)

Number of children: One

Number of husbands: Zero (it’s complicated)

Number of failed first dates in the last month: Too depressing to contemplate

Number of tickets for a romantic, once-in-a-lifetime trip: Two

Number of days left to find her Mr Right to take on holiday: Quickly running out…

Publish Date: 17 March 2022

My Review

A-bit difficult for me to get connected to the characters as I begin to read this book. It is a interesting storyline of a women in 50s tapping on the online dating which play a center stage in this book. This book is a about Jen, who was been made redundant. She finds that she have a lot of time alone and unsure how to spend it alone. With some persuasion from her daughter, Hannah she signs up for online dating site. The book continue with the story about her countless dates which come across as hilarious but not so much to Jen.

Overall, it is a slow start at the beginning but it’s accelerated fast towards the ending of the story which make a reader rather disoriented with the book.

My Rating