November 2024 – Page 5

Review Card & Book Review- The Forbidden Greek By Michelle Smart

He wants…
what he can’t have.

The last person Greek billionaire Leander Liassidis wants to see is Kate Hawkins. He even abandoned his convenient wedding to escape his forbidden attraction to her. She’s infuriating, irresistible…and on the doorstep of his Californian mansion!

Maid of honor Kate knows she’ll have her work cut out for her bringing Leander back to the altar. She doesn’t expect the need blazing in his gaze—or the explosive connection it ignites. Kate knows that giving in to their desire would be unforgivable. But could she ever forgive herself if she walked away from a bond this powerful?

About The Author

My Review

Leander plans a fake marriage with childhood friend Helena for her inheritance, intending to divorce later. During pre-wedding celebrations, he bonds deeply with Kate, Helena’s best friend. On the wedding day, Leander’s twin substitutes as he retreats, realizing he loves Kate. Kate finds and confronts him, enduring his hostility. Eventually, Leander admits his feelings, and they explore their mutual attraction. Their evolving relationship, built on strong communication and chemistry, makes this a heartfelt and emotional read.

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Review Card & Book Review – Dating His Irresistible Rival By Juliette Hyland

THE COMPETITION IS HEATING UP!

Foster care survivor Knox has worked hard to be the best trauma surgeon. Yet it still stings that in med school annoyingly irresistible Miranda beat him to a coveted fellowship. Now that Miranda’s returned, it’s clear the remarkable woman he knew is a shadow of her former self. Putting his competitiveness aside, Knox is determined to bring her fire back. Could a first date to rival all first dates be the answer?

About The Author

My Review

Surgeon Miranda Paulson returns to Phoenix to reconnect with her sisters and rebuild her life after burning out and getting divorced. She unexpectedly encounters Knox Peters, her fierce rival from medical school, internship, and residency, still at Hope Hospital. This medical romance, filled with chemistry, lively personalities, and hospital politics.

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Review Card & Book Review – Prickly Company By Kitty Johnson

Frances Mathews doesn’t get out much since her husband died, but that doesn’t stop her from jump-starting a campaign to create a hedgehog highway in Hilltop Place—feeding stations, holes at the bottoms of gates and fences, and wild garden areas for hibernation. To Frances’s delight, her neighbours are on board. Mostly.

There are Jess and Michael, whose marriage is cracking under the unanticipated strain of a recent adoption. And Ryan, a wounded war reporter struggling to connect with his son after a divorce and forced to return to an exasperating parental fold. Plus, a very forthright single mum new to the neighbourhood and an exceedingly proper couple not about to upend their picture-perfect garden for prickly nuisances.

As relationships—from the romantic to the nerve-racking—form and secrets are unearthed, Hilltop Place is threatened in ways that affect them all…unaware hedgehogs included. What Frances and her charitable neighbours soon discover about themselves and each other is hardly what any of them expected.

About The Author

My Review

The book has an intriguing premise and offers a compelling narrative, particularly in the subplot about adoption. Jess’s struggle with her lack of maternal feelings towards her adopted son, Toby, and how this affects her relationship with her biological daughter, Stella, is handled with great sensitivity by the author. The characters are portrayed realistically, with flaws that make them relatable, despite their sometimes immoral actions. Notably, Tara’s affair with a married man and the impact on her daughter, Hermie, adds depth to the story. Other notable storylines include Ryan’s struggle with paralysis after a landmine accident and Frances’s efforts to build a hedgehog highway. The author skillfully intertwines these diverse narratives, enhanced by enjoyable hedgehog analogies and facts, creating a cohesive and memorable book.

My Rating

Link To Purchase

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Review Card & Book Review – A Summer Wedding At The Cornish Manor By Linn B. Halton

This summer, save the date for Renweneth Farm’s very first wedding!

As the seasons change, so do the lives of those who call the farm home. Bustling with activity in anticipation of a busy Spring, it’s all go with Jess and Riley’s wedding on the horizon and Renweneth Manor’s restoration in full swing.

But while the farm business flourishes, Jess and Ivy need to learn to navigate unforeseen challenges – financial worries, two disgruntled locals, and even a blast from Riley’s past… In the midst of it all can Ivy juggle a new and unexpected arrival with her booming business, and can Jess keep track of her perfect day?

Join Jess and the team at Renweneth Farm as they struggle to make the pieces of the intricate puzzle that bonds them together, fall neatly into place.

A story that celebrates love, life, and the way friends become family in this growing community.

About The Author

My Review

“A Summer Wedding at the Cornish Manor” follows Jess and Riley as they prepare for their wedding while renovating Renweneth Manor. Jess’s best friend Ivy and her husband Adam also face challenges with Ivy’s bakery business and an unexpected arrival. The novel explores Jess’s independent approach to life and Riley’s personal growth. Set in picturesque Cornwall, it offers vivid descriptions of the farm and countryside. Although it can be read as a standalone, reading the series enriches the experience. The heartwarming story highlights a supportive community coming together, providing a satisfying conclusion to the series.

My Rating

Link To Purchase

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Happy Publication Day – 7 November 2024

Secrets Of Swanfield House By Elayne Grimes

When Marcie Mosse receives news that her grandmother is sick, she rushes back to her childhood village in the remote Scottish Highlands. Despite the tragic circumstances, returning to her family’s ancestral estate, a once grand and now crumbling farmhouse overlooking a crystal-clear loch, feels like a long-awaited homecoming.

Reconnecting with childhood friends, Marcie is flooded with memories of her life before moving to the city. Then, during a windswept horseback ride along the edge of the loch, she bumps into Ruaridh Balfour. With the same bear-like hug and dry wit that won her over all those years ago, Ruaridh still knows how to read her mind – and make her heart flutter. But Marcie has a life back in London, not to forget a fiancé.

While torn between her past and present, Marcie grows increasingly concerned about her uncle, who’s been like a father to her and seems to be fading before her eyes. Marcie’s instincts tell her something is wrong, and it’s connected to a mysterious new farmhand. As secrets rear their heads and family tragedy strikes, Marcie must decide where she truly belongs – and just how far she’ll go to protect those she loves.

Breaking The Ice By Amy Andrews

A bookshop face off!

NHL hot shot, Nick Hawkeye Hawke has 4 months to recuperate from a potentially career ending injury. All he has to do is take it easy and keep things low key. So, looking after his grandmother’s beloved second hand romance bookshop and working very closely with the ruthlessly efficient Samantha Evans is just what he needs right? Wrong!

Career driven Sam has impulsively decided to swap her highly stressful corporate job for a slower pace in her favourite bookshop at the exact time her biological clock has started to tick. And she wants absolutely none of that. But when your boss is a hot hockey superstar and you can’t stop daydreaming of him being your baby daddy, forced proximity takes on a whole new meaning.

With temptation around every book shelf, Nick and Sam find themselves skating on thin ice until they put themselves firmly in the friend zone. But the more they try to resist their slow burn, the more they want each other. How long can they stay in the zone until one of them breaks the ice?

Review Card & Book Review – A Wedding In The Sun By Leonie Mack

Four exes and a wedding. And a road trip no one expected…

Jo Watters would rather do anything than go to her ex-husband Ben’s wedding to perfect Monica, and if it wasn’t for her beloved children she would already be far, far away. But having promised to be civilised for the sake of their soon-to-be-blended family she is headed to Spain with a fixed smile and hoping for a very fixed drink!

But when Jo realises that she’s on the same plane as Monica’s ex-husband, the devastatingly handsome but equally cantankerous Adrián, she thinks her trip can’t get any worse… she’s wrong. When bad weather forces the plane to land the wrong side of the Pyrenees, and the hotel they’re sent to only has one double room available Jo begins to wish she was anywhere – anywhere – but here…

Determined to get to the wedding however they can, Jo and Adrián make an unlikely team, but as their disastrous trip continues, Jo starts to wonder if fate has other ideas for her and Adrián, especially when he seems to be getting more handsome by the day…maybe this trip won’t be so terrible after all?

About The Author

My Review

Jo is a fiercely independent woman who has emerged from divorce with a determination that is impossible to challenge. She is just about ready for another relationship, although walking away from her husband almost broke her. Her life is now organised to ensure everything runs like clockwork and her children come first. She certainly doesn’t need the laid-back attitude of the ex-husband of her ex’s new bride. She finds him to be unreliable and irritating beyond belief.
The events that started with a seemingly straightforward flight had me in stitches as I eagerly flipped the pages. I could easily envision this story on the big screen, with Jo and Adrián’s antics providing endless laughter. As they navigated from one chaotic situation to the next, their witty banter was perfectly timed, and the growing attraction between them was palpable. Adrián, with his rugged good looks, laidback demeanour, and charming Spanish accent, had me swooning from the start. He was the epitome of a perfect book boyfriend, unflappable even in the face of adversity. But beneath his cool exterior, it was clear that his son’s happiness was his top priority, adding a layer of depth to his character that was truly endearing. This book delves deeply into the complexities of divorce, presenting a realistic and often gloomy portrayal of its impact, especially on children. Its strength lies in exploring the difficult decisions, consequences, and emotional struggles involved in splitting up and moving on. While some of Jo’s reasoning for her breakup with Ben might be debatable, the book courageously addresses the painful aspects of breaking up, making it a valuable read for those seeking an honest depiction of divorce beyond the surface-level notion of starting over.

My Rating

Link To Purchase

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Review Card & Book Review – The Goddesses Of Kitchen Avenue By Barbara O’Neal

A loving wife and a mother of three accomplished children, forty-six-year-old Trudy Marino has an uncomplicated life—until she’s blindsided by her husband’s affair. But in Trudy’s close-knit neighborhood, she’s not alone in navigating the sudden surprises in a woman’s life.

Her neighbor Roberta has just lost her husband of sixty-two years and struggles with bittersweet memories and grief. Roberta’s granddaughter Jade is a divorcée who has taken up a cathartic new hobby to get over her cheating ex. And there’s Shannelle, whose creative aspirations are fracturing her marriage.

Then Trudy meets Angel, a sensual young man with the vulnerable heart of a poet who awakens her to invigorating new sensations. With a bracing confidence and three dear friends coming together in confusion, anger, and hope, Trudy is encouraged to take control of her life, to reflect on the choices she didn’t make, and to fulfill the youthful dreams she abandoned. As a new world opens up, Trudy can only marvel at where to go from here.

About The Author

My Review

This story follows four women and the men they love. Roberta, the oldest, is grieving her husband’s death, and her granddaughter Jade has come to support her. Jade, recently divorced from a man now in prison, finds her strength and more through boxing. Trudy is facing divorce from her unfaithful husband and realizes she needs to rediscover herself and stand up for what she wants. Across the road, aspiring writer Shanelle struggles with her husband’s disapproval of her dreams of being published.

This character-driven novel explores real-life situations of four women and their support system. The story focuses on their enduring friendships and mutual support. The narrator particularly struggles with Trudy’s storyline. Trudy deals with an unfaithful husband who feels neglected despite their long marriage and three children. The narrator finds it hard to sympathize with him, questioning how Trudy can forgive and move on so quickly. This resonates personally, as the narrator reflects on their own inability to tolerate infidelity.

My Rating

Link To Purchase

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Review Card & Book Review – Secrets in the Little Irish Village By Michelle Vernal

Grace Kelly can’t escape the draws of Emerald Bay; the sweeping cliffs, the sparkling sea… and her gorgeous new flatmate. The problem is, she has to keep him a secret from her family. And she isn’t the only one in the village with something to hide this summer…

Grace really needs someone to help cover the rent for her London flat, but Christopher Dorrance? Everyone in the little Irish village of Emerald Bay knows about the feud between their families, though no one knows how it started. But, both being in a tight spot, they try and make it work, swearing to tell no one back home. Until a mutual friend and her son in the bay are left homeless after a storm. Grace and Christopher must head back to Ireland to help… together.

As they flesh out their idea to raise money for their friend with a village charity concert, Chris’s blue eyes light up. Even though they have to hide out for every planning session, and after all her father has said about the Dorrances, Grace can’t believe how kind he is. Soon sparks are flying as they laugh together, chasing dairy cows from a field to set up the stage. Could Chris be more than just a flatmate?

But their hopes that a good cause will soften the hostility between their dads are dashed. The two men still argue constantly. And with a happy future for their friend depending on the concert running smoothly, the truth behind the feud threatens to come out and destroy everything…

Could the events of the past destroy any chance of a future for Chris and Grace? Or, if Grace follows her heart, could she finally heal the rift between their families?

About The Author

My Review

Grace Kelly, drawn to Emerald Bay, reconnects with childhood friend Christopher Dorrance as they become flatmates. They plan a music festival to help another friend, Clara Casey, whose home was destroyed by rain and whose son, Alfie, has leukemia. Grace hides these plans from her family due to a longstanding feud. Despite familial tensions, sparks fly between Grace and Chris. As they rekindle their friendship and navigate obstacles, they hope their fathers can reconcile. The story is compelling, highlighting the family’s history and the blossoming romance. Although part of a series, it stands well on its own.

My Rating

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Happy Publication Day – 5 November 2024

The Party Line By Carolyn Brown

Returning home to Ditto, Texas, is bittersweet for Lila Matthews. Her dear and feisty aunt Gracie has passed away, leaving Lila her estate. That includes a centuries-old house, a field of the freshest strawberries in Atascosa County, more money than Lila can count, and a secret Aunt Gracie took to her grave. All the angels in heaven won’t be able to pry it out of her.

For more than eighty years, generations of folks in Ditto have whispered and gossiped about what the secret could be. When Lila inherits Aunt Gracie’s legacy, ears perk up and tongues start wagging. As Lila reacquaints herself with locals, finds warmth in family—extended and otherwise—and cozies up to a handsome new neighbor, she begins collecting clues to the past. They’re revealing an Aunt Gracie nobody knew—and a life of rebellion, broken hearts, and selfless love that affected more people than anyone realized.

Whatever reason Aunt Gracie had for leaving Lila the secret, will it now be Lila’s secret to keep?

My Darling Jane By Ilsa Madden-Mills

On an ordinary day, Jane Darling wouldn’t be caught dead in a sports bar wearing a toga with angel wings. But she’s desperate to launch her matchmaking business to secure her young daughter’s future. Her mission: to attract new clients at any cost.

Her Cupid outfit catches the eye of New York’s beloved star quarterback, Jasper Jannich. She and Jasper have always clashed, but when a pushy admirer goes too far, he steps in as an unexpected knight in shining armor.

He offers a tantalizing proposal: to be Cupid’s Arrow’s premier client. Reluctantly, Jane agrees, aware of the business potential despite her reservations about Jasper and his playboy reputation.

As she sets him up on date after date, it grows clear that Jane’s the only woman he wants.

She is his goal, his endgame.

She’s not not interested…but her heart has been burned before. To get anywhere, they’ll need courage and faith, not just sizzling chemistry.

He’s ready to make the pass. Is his darling ready to catch it?

Review Card & Book Review – Life, Loss, and Puffins By Catherine Ryan Hyde

Freakishly smart. That’s the unwelcome box Ru Evans is put into for life. After all, she taught herself Euclidean geometry at age seven, has an eidetic memory, and is about to enter college at thirteen years old.

Boarding at a house near campus 150 miles from home, Ru meets seventeen-year-old Gabriel, an outsider himself who, like Ru, has trouble making friends—until they form a fast sibling-like bond. Finding a relatable someone in the world to talk to is a first for both of them.

But when Ru’s mother dies and the threat of living with her miserable aunt looms, Ru hatches an escape. It’s an impulsive road trip that takes Ru and Gabriel from California to Canada, where Ru can fulfill her ultimate dream: to see Atlantic puffins in the glorious wild.

Mile by mile, Ru discovers the joy of friendship, found family, dark night skies, and the aurora borealis, and she basks in going from being a smart person to just a person. Though she knows they’ll be in trouble when they’re caught, for the short time they are navigating twist by twist of an unknown road, the freedom is liberating, and she is living for what feels like the first time.

About The Author

My Review

Thirteen-year-old Rumaki Evans, a gifted student with an eidetic memory, starts college but moves in with Paula and Gabriel. After her mother’s death, Ru is sent to live with her aunt in Kentucky. Feeling misunderstood, Ru and Gabriel run away on a road trip to see the Northern Lights and Atlantic puffins. Along the journey, they discuss life, meet people, and contemplate their futures, highlighting themes of friendship, acceptance, and the struggles of being different.

My Rating

Link To Purchase

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