Category Archives: Book Review

Book Review – Light Through The Vines By Fiona Valpy

Gina’s London life lies in tatters: she has lost her father, her steady job as a wine buyer and her suave but unfaithful boyfriend. When she also suffers the loss of her beloved aunt, a silver lining dawns in the shape of an unexpected legacy: Aunt Liz has left Gina her beautiful, if slightly ramshackle, house in the heart of Bordeaux wine country. With nothing left to lose, Gina takes a chance on a fresh start.

Throwing herself into her new life in the beautiful French countryside, Gina discovers the warmth of a close-knit—sometimes too close-knit—rural community and the exhausting exhilaration of the grape harvest under the late-summer sun. But just as she is beginning to feel like she belongs in her crumbling but charming home, she uncovers a long-hidden secret that makes her question the one person she used to trust the most. While she’s worrying that this is a sign to pack her bags and run, a storm blows a hole in the roof, and Gina finds herself with nowhere else to turn except her neighbour’s capable son for help.

Before long Gina finds herself admiring handsome Cédric for more than just his stonemasonry skills…But everyone she’s ever held dear has left her or betrayed her. And as the grapes ripen on the vine, can Gina find her way to forgiveness, and could it finally be time for her to open her heart to love again?

Published Date: 1 September 2022

My Review

Gina lost her father and job and at the same time she found out her boyfriend has been cheating on her. To help her to move on from all these depressing moment, she decided to move into the house that she inherited from her aunt in Bordeaux France. Soon, she embracing on village life and learning on to master wine making course. And just as she begin to feel at home, she discover a long hidden secret that make her question her belief. It also have a family mystery to solve and a local man who have his fair share of heartache too.

It is a delightful read for me full of love, laughter and friendship.

My Rating

Book Review – The Wedding Quilt By Jodi Thomas, Lori Wilde & Patience Griffin

THE SECRET WISH * Jodi Thomas
The little town of While-a-Way, Texas, may as well be named Last Chance as far as Avery Cleveland is concerned. Running her late great-grandmother’s quilt shop is the only way to build back her life after losing her dancing career. But local sheriff Daniel Solis is stunned by Avery’s beauty and spirit—and hopes to show her how to stitch brand-new dreams together . . .

WISH UPON A WEDDING * Lori Wilde
Ellie Winter’s sister is holding a quilting bee as her bachelorette party, creating a memory quilt for their grandmother. If only the event weren’t happening at the ranch where Ellie spent childhood summers, now owned by the man she can’t forget. Four days surely isn’t enough time to fall in love again . . . but what about four long, hot, summer nights?

WHEN YOU WISH UPON A QUILT * Patience Griffin
Paige Holiday’s last visit to the International Quilt Festival in Houston ended in heartbreak. It seems like all the women in her family are unlucky in love. So at this year’s festival, Paige is focused solely on business, until a gorgeous cowboy crosses her path, ready to turn her life—and her luck—around

Published Date : 30 August 2022

My Review

This is a trilogy stories from 3 authors.

The Secret Wish is a story about 2nd chances. Avery went back to her aunt’s quilt shop after given up her career as a world class ballerina. Unlike the other 2 stories, there is also a bit of mystery in the story.

Wish Upon A Wedding tell the story for second chance for love where Ellie return to a grief camp and met her first and only love. Dalton have never stopped loving Ellie and he did the only thing that he feel right for her. She is back in town now. Are they able to reconnect and rediscover their love?

When You Wish Upon A Quilt tell the story of Paige travelling around the world teaching quilting. She have a dream to design her own quilt but after her ex boyfriend steal her design, she kept this dream to herself until she met Holt at the quilting event. Paige have trouble in trusting people after the betrayal and Holt learnt the hard way that long distance relationship doesn’t work for him.

Overall these three stories are beautifully written, with love at first sight, 2nd chance in love and trust issue as a theme.

My Rating

Book Review – Quicksand By Janet Dailey

Tess Champion knows better than to trust Brock Tolman, the rancher who once swindled her late father in a land deal. But with the Alamo Canyon Ranch in foreclosure, Tess is forced to accept Brock’s offer of a partnership. Brock claims he only wants to breed the Champion bloodline into his own herd. In exchange, he offers Tess one of his own young bulls. Soon enough, Quicksand is the rising star of the rodeo circuit, which only proves Tess is better at picking bulls than she is men. Because she’s way too tempted to surrender to her attraction to Brock, despite her certainty he’s only out to steal her family ranch . . .

It’s not until the tycoon’s private plane crashes in the wilderness, stranding him with Tess, that the truth of their relationship will come out. The Champion family’s future is on the line, but it’s Tess’s heart that will take the hit if she’s fallen for the wrong man . . .

Published Date: 30 August 2022

My Review

Tess is being very conscious of Brock and his intention to help her when he is a nemesis of her family. Everyone including of herself know that he have the intention to expand his holding of asset. She could not understand why would he want to help her to the extend of offering her a choice of bull from his farm. Everyone warned her taking the impulsive Quicksand with its bad attitude but Tess saw something in him. There was attraction between Tess and Brock but she aware that she should not have give in as she can’t trust him. There are strange things happening between them, Brock begin to suspect it has something to do with Tess.

It is a suspense romance filled with dangerous mystery evolved around Tess and Brock. And as the layers peeled away, I become engrossed in the story and there was a twist to the story in the end. I love Brock’s story and both Tess and Brock is a strong character. Love reading how their relationship developed. Overall, it is a quick read for me and I enjoyed the drama and romance between Tess and Brock.

My Review

Book Review – Christmas Miracles At Hedgehog Hollow By Jessica Redland

It’s the countdown to Christmas at Hedgehog Hollow Wildlife Rescue Centre, and everyone is gearing up for a festive season to remember…
It should be the most wonderful time of the year for Samantha and Josh as they prepare for the arrival of their first baby. But life at Hedgehog Hollow rarely goes to plan and the pair are faced with adversaries, old and new, and unexpected challenges to overcome.

Fizz’s job at the heart of the rescue centre is a dream come true but her personal life is more like a nightmare. With her love life a disaster and her past about to dramatically catch up with her, she needs the love and support of her Hedgehog Hollow family more than ever

Published Date: 6 September 2022

My Review

Samantha is due to have her first baby with Josh is busy preparing for Christmas and a charity fair. Their center has also expanded to accept other animals.

Fizz, one of the stalwarts at the Hedgehog rescue center is a bubbly character. But she carried a secret for so many years until the person that cause so much grief is returning home. Fizz’s turmoil come to surface and the nightmares that she is having as she builds up her confidant to tell her parent is too great for her. Fizz also having a complicated relationship with Yasmin and she is not sure of her relationship anymore.

This is the last book of the series and indeed it ended with a bang! It had love, laughter and tears with full drama, emotion and more animals in the center. It is a sweet yet sad for me to review this final book as I became emotional attached to the characters and will definitely miss them and the lovely hedgehogs.

My Rating

Book Review – Tracking You By Kelly Moran

Love isn’t always loud. Sometimes it’s silent.

Gabby Cosette has always been dubbed the good girl of quaint Redwood Ridge, Oregon, and being permanently put in the friend zone has left her dating life stagnant. With no prospects in sight, she clings to her friends and resolves to not let loneliness drag her under. So when the town Battleaxes set their matchmaking sights on her, she figures it can’t hurt. Yet the guy they think is perfect for her just happens to be not only her boss at the veterinarian clinic, but her best friend. Sure, Flynn O’Grady is attractive and the nicest guy around, but going there with him would topple both of their carefully constructed worlds and there would be no going back. Even if he is starting to make her girly parts zing.

Having been born deaf, Flynn has already felt like an outsider most of his life. Aside from his brothers, Gabby is about the only person who’s gone out of her way to treat him as more than a handicap. Which is exactly why he’s banked his secret attraction for his sweet, beautiful vet tech. Except his meddling family is trying to play Cupid and ruin the best thing to ever happen to him. Without Gabby, his work as a veterinarian, never mind his personal life, wouldn’t flow. Determined to ignore the antics, he’s secure in the knowledge she’s not interested in him romantically. But then a kiss changes everything . . . and he’s wondering if taking the ultimate shot at love might be worth the risk.

Published Date: 23 September 2021

My Review

Gabby and Flynn have know each since their childhood. Flynn is deaf and Gabby being a good friend, learnt sign language so that she would to talk him. Not only that, she become his ear, signing whenever people are talking to him. Gabby has no luck in love while Flynn harboured a crush on her, he couldn’t  dare to start something as he afraid it will end their friendship. When the town’s Battleaxes set their matchmaking sight on them, it may turn out something positive instead. 

It is a friend to lover story with disability issues between them. It take a strong women to look beyond a disability to find her Mr Right. Love the main characters very much and the superb way the author wrote a realistic writing of Flynn’s deafness and his frustration and emotion that play out in his life.

My Rating

Book Review – Puppy Love By Kelly Moran

This playboy has met his match, and she’s organized…

After a passionless marriage under the scrutiny of high society, Avery Stowe is taking back her life. All she wants is a little privacy and a quiet place to raise her autistic daughter, Hailey. Redwood Ridge, Oregon, seems to offer all the right ingredients.Except for the problem of the local sexy veterinarian. The last thing she needs in her life is to fall for his irresistible allure, even if he is a nice guy who keeps doing her favors. But the well-meaning patrons of her new hometown have other ideas, and it appears playing Cupid is one of them.

Cade O’Grady has never met a woman he couldn’t handle, but when Avery Stowe walks into his office late one night cradling an injured puppy, he’s struck stupid. Which might explain her total lack of interest in him. But now that she’s working for his family’s clinic, he doesn’t have to lust from a distance.He might just have a chance at convincing Avery–and her too-guarded heart–that falling for the right man isn’t a mistake . . .

Published Date : 21 September 2021

My Review

Avery is back to her mum’s town together with Hailey, her autistic daughter after a nasty divorce from her husband. All she want is to start a fresh. Fate seem to be playing with her when her encounter with a dog led her to the town’s sexy veterinarian Cade. It was not a good first encounter and Cade somehow misjudge Avery. He knew it and he want to make it up to her but it is not going to be an easy one as Avery have built a wall in her heart in order to protect herself and Hailey.

I love how the author have bring in the disability into the story and wrote the characters seem so real with in-depth and real. I also love the interaction between Cade and Hayley and how strong Avery are in handle Hailey. Overall, it is an emotional read for me.

My Rating

Book Review – Let It Snow By Beth Noran

After the end of a long-term relationship, local weather girl Bea Armstrong has been avoiding her family, and their inevitable ‘I-told-you-sos.’ But with Christmas fast approaching, she is finally on her way home to Charis House, the school in Sherwood Forest that her mum and dad run in their old family home. And to top it all off, the insufferable Henry Fairfax – who her parents have always wanted her to marry – has also been invited. 

Relief comes in the shape of a last minute interview for her dream job. There are just a few minor problems… The interview is in Scotland, Bea has no car, and the snow is falling already. The only solution is for Henry to drive her – could this Christmas get any worse…

But during an unforgettable two day interview, a stay in a log cabin and a nightmare journey through the snow, Henry turns out to be nothing like she thought. And when Bea’s first love and recent ex shows up, Bea has a difficult choice to make…

Published Date : 30 August 2022

My Review

Bea is back at home and as it was revealed that this may be the last time hee family is going to celebrate Christmas at the family home, Brea discover that she have missed out a lot what went wrong with her family. Bea didn’t expect to meet Henry, who she known all her life and there was expectation for her to be married to him despite what Bea actually feels about him. When there is an opportunity to attend a wacky interview in Scotland, Bea accepted Henry’s offer to send her there. It was then that Bea discover Henry’s true self is.

This book gave me a romantic feel and I love to be part of Armstrong family despite Abe’s has been complaining about them. I can feel that she genuinely love them.

My Rating

Book Review – Coming Home To Puddleduck Farm By Della Galton

When your heart’s broken, all roads lead home…
London City Vet, Phoebe Dashwood, finds her partner Hugh and their boss in a passionate clinch beneath the mistletoe at their works Christmas party.

Heartbroken, she bolts to the New Forest, her childhood home to regroup and soul search.

Being home gives Phoebe the chance to reconnect with friends and family and especially with her fiercely independent gran, widower Maggie Crowther, owner of Puddleduck Farm, and makeshift animal shelter New Forest Neddies. 
Deciding not to return to London, Phoebe hunts for work locally, hoping she can also help Maggie, who’s clearly swamped and not coping. But will Maggie accept Phoebe’s help? 

Her quest is hampered by stubborn grandmothers, meddling mums, an attractive childhood friend, a real-life Lord, a remorseful ex, and a best friend who’s determined to play matchmaker. 

Can Phoebe find happiness professionally and personally in the place she calls home, surrounded by those she loves or does fate have other plans for Phoebe?

Published Date: 29 August 2022

My Review

Phoebe move back home in the New Forest after she breakup with her boyfriend leaving behind her job as a vet. Maggie is Phoebe’a grandmother, is a feisty and tough lady who loves her animal . With Phoebe back home, she trying to find ways to help her grandmother but Maggie is just too stubborn she need help to run her farm. Phoebe also reconnect with Sam, her childhood friend and who always been around, caring and supportive.

It is a sweet story with fierce and independent female character. As the story develops, the author dabble some potential love interest along the way. The story have a wonderful setting with a smooth and engaging storyline.

My Rating

Book Review – Second Chances At Brambleberry Creek By Elizabeth Bromke

Sometimes you need to fall to learn how to fly…

A totally addictive, heart-melting novel about the magic of friendship, family and making every day count, even when life takes an unexpected twist. Fans of RaeAnne Thayne, Elin Hilderbrand and Susan Mallery will love this page-turning story.

Amber Lee Taylor has lived in the close-knit town of Brambleberry Creek, Kentucky her whole life. And she thought she had everything figured out. But when Amber discovers her long-term fiancée, Grant, has been cheating, her perfect future shatters into tiny pieces…

Heartbroken, Amber retreats to her family’s crumbling farmhouse in the stunning countryside outside her little town. It’s her favourite place in the world. She loves the old oak beams and the smell of the fire crackling in the grate. But her family say the farm isn’t making enough money and they need to do something to save it…

Determined to forget Grant and save her family home, Amber throws herself into launching a new wine business with her cousins, and stumbles across one of her grandfather’s old notebooks.

Just as she realizes the size of her project, she discovers a family mystery weaving through her grandfather’s writing, and everything suddenly seems more complicated. But then, she hasn’t thought about Grant in days, and when she bumps into handsome, charming Callum on Main Street, Amber starts to wonder if breaking up with Grant could be the best thing that’s happened to her in years.

It feels good to spend time with a guy with such a kind and genuine heart, and as he helps her untangle the notebook’s secrets, she wonders if the key to the mystery might just be the key to saving her beloved farmhouse too.

Published Date : 25 August 2022

My Review

It is a story that focus on different characters in a family and their own relationship and issues. Morgan trying to figure out the recipe left behind by her grandpa and trying to take care of the grapes. She together with her boyfriend, Emmet and cousin Amber embark on a journey that tell the story of how they worked together to Morgan with the wine recipes.

This book carry the story of second chance, family ties, friendship and love where everyone deserves a fresh start after an event that threatened to tear a family apart. Overall it is heartwarming read to me with great characters and storyline

My Rating

Book Review – A Lot Like Forever By Jennifer Snow

Whitney Carlisle has everything under control—or at least that’s what she needs everyone in Blue Moon Bay to think. She has always faced the hard times in her life head-on and come out stronger for it. But this time, she isn’t so sure. Whitney knows she needs help, but how can she put that burden on Trent, her fiancé? How can she crush his dreams by telling him the plans they made for a future together have to change?

All Trent Connolly wants is to get married, have kids, and spend the rest of his life loving Whitney. Their relationship has had its share of ups and downs—like any other couple—and they’ve always managed to get through it unscathed. So when Whitney is clearly struggling with something, Trent is ready to help. His fiancée’s strong will is part of what draws him to her—but this time, it feels like it’s pushing him away.

Whatever Whitney is hiding from everyone has to be big. Possibly life-changing. She must believe that revealing her secret would do Trent more harm than good, even if it crushes her under the weight of it. The only thing he can do now is be there for her in whatever way she needs…until a secret of his own comes to light that threatens to steal their chance at forever.

Published Date: 23 August 2022

My Review

Whitney gotten to know about her latest health issue and unable to decide what to do but decided to keep it from Trent. She focus on her work instead. Trent, her fiancé noted the changes in her but unable to find out what has been bothering her. It’s seem like the more he tried to approach her, the further Whitney is pushing him away.

It is a quick read for me despite the main characters doesn’t seem to be communicating to each other. Reading this story make me realized just how important communication is. Both of them keep presume that what they are doing is for the goods of the other without realizing that it has the opposite effect.

My Rating