May 29, 2026 – My Sanctuary

Review Card & Book Review- Ex On The Beach By Phoebe MacLeod

She heads to Jamaica for rest and relaxation and ends up starring in her own tropical rom-com, featuring an ex she can’t escape, and sparks that refuse to stay on holiday 🌴💘

Tori needs a holiday. London is cold and grey, work is manic, and after a regrettable New Year’s Eve hookup with her ex, her best friends won’t stop pushing her onto dating apps. So when a colleague offers Tori the last spot on a Jamaican getaway, she doesn’t take much persuasion.

But paradise comes with a twist. Not only is she forced to share a room with grumpy, recently dumped Robert, but her ex has turned up too, hand-in-hand with his new girlfriend. Ten days in the sun suddenly looks like ten days of torture.

Still, Tori is determined to make the most of her situation. And who knows, with sun-kissed beaches, poolside views, and a charming hotel piano player, this trip might just turn into the escape she didn’t know she needed…

About The Author

My Review

This book is about a New Year’s Eve that goes spectacularly wrong and sets off a sun-soaked chain of awkward, funny, and surprisingly heartfelt events. Tori begins the year with too much champagne, a brutal hangover, and the horror of waking up next to her deplorable ex. She escapes quickly, convinced things can’t get worse—only to be proven wrong when a last-minute Caribbean trip lands her sharing a room with someone else’s freshly dumped boyfriend, while her smirking ex and his girlfriend turn up too.

Phoebe Macleod leans into the chaos with warmth and humour, placing Tori in one cringe-worthy situation after another while letting her optimism and resilience shine. The alcohol-free resort is a clever contrast to Tori’s disastrous night, and the beach bar scenes add charm and sparkle. Gabriel is an absolute highlight—gentle, intriguing, and refreshingly grounded—while Throbbert brings much-needed comic relief. Any, on the other hand, is spectacularly irritating, though clearly written that way to stir things up.

Light, escapist, and emotionally satisfying, it delivers laughs, second chances, and a thoroughly enjoyable ending.

Forced proximity

Second chance at love

Holiday romance / vacation romance

My Rating

Link To Purchase

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Happy Publication Day – 29 May 2026

A Summer Wedding At Pennycress In By Sarah Hope

She can plan everyone else’s happy ever after… but what about her own?

Ellie thought she was starting over. After her long-term relationship collapses and her career implodes, she was braving a new chapter on her own, setting up a wedding planning business in her beautiful Cotswold village.

But when her ex walks away with almost everything she owns, Ellie’s carefully rebuilt world begins to crack. Just as she’s clinging to her last lifeline, planning her first wedding at the idyllic Pennycress Inn, fate throws the biggest complication yet into her path.

Murray. The man who broke her heart. The love she never truly let go.

Murray is back, working as a carpenter at the inn, and determined to ‘clear the air’. As the days tick forwards towards the Pennycress wedding, Ellie must juggle the needs of her clients with new revelations from her old love, and a fresh spark of hope…

Could first love finally become forever love?

Road Trip To The Riviera By Gillian Harvey

When Sarah breaks her leg, her only thought is how on earth she’ll get to the south of France for her beloved son’s wedding. She’s been told not to fly, and the train route involves many changes – not ideal when you can barely walk.

There’s only one person she can turn to. Her son’s father, Hal. The pair were teenage sweethearts when Sarah fell pregnant, and he’s always been in his son’s life. Only his parenting style is more ‘fun uncle’ than serious dad; all the ‘proper parenting’ has been left to Sarah. He’s oblivious. She’s furious.

But she’s out of options. And Hal is happy to drive her, with one proviso: they’re taking the scenic route, in his battered VW camper van.

Now, two people – whose lives have only been intertwined through their child for more than twenty years – are about to find out there is far more of a journey ahead for them than either could possibly anticipate…

Review Card & Book Review- You Belong With Me By Beth Moran

A woman who stopped believing in romance. An Island worth fighting for. And a love she never saw coming ✨

Three times a fiancée but never a bride is not a claim to fame Bluebell Beddoes is proud of. But she is taking it as a sign…

Sworn off romance, instead the love of Blue’s life is the beautiful Isle of Siskin. Her home from birth, her community and now her job with the wildly successful podcast Only on Siskin. Her life is full and her future is set.

So, when the peace on Siskin is threatened with being destroyed forever, Blue knows she has to act. There are secrets from the past that may be able to save the future of the island, and only Blue can get to the bottom of them.

When handsome and mysterious Jonathan White arrives on Siskin, Blue is unsure if he’s here to help or hinder. But when it becomes clear Jonathan holds the key to unlocking the past, Blue will have to learn to trust again or risk losing everything she loves…

About The Author

My Review

This book is about community, belonging, and the quiet ways love,romantic and shapes who we become. This is set on the wonderfully vivid Isle of Siskin, where podcaster Blue Beddoes and her formidable mother Goldie rally the islanders to stop a mega-resort threatening their way of life. Their plan hinges on uncovering long-buried truths about Jack’s Place, from elusive natterjack toads to a disputed inheritance.

The present-day story sparkles with warmth and humour, especially as fiercely independent Blue teams up with charming environmental consultant Jonathan White. Their slow-burn connection is full of witty banter, gentle romance, and laugh-out-loud moments, particularly around Blue’s insistence that she definitely does not need a man.

Running alongside this is a poignant dual timeline set in the 1950s, following Sorrel and Calvin Griffin. Their love story is tender and bittersweet, deepened by the knowledge of Calvin’s lonely future.

Beth Moran’s writing shines with heart, humour, and emotional depth. The close-knit island setting feels utterly real, the characters are deeply lovable, and the quietly Christian values are woven in with subtlety. It’s a comforting, uplifting read that lingers long after the final page.

Slow-burn romance

Dual timeline / generational story

Small-town island community charm

My Rating