Publication Day – Page 38

Review Card & Book Review – Christmas in Fortune’s Cove By Victoria James

Annie Hamilton is a single mother of two and veterinarian whose family is on the verge of falling apart. Her husband has passed away, her teenage son is finding trouble at every turn, and she’s desperately struggling to keep it all together. When she decides to leave the city for Fortune’s Cove in a last-ditch search for peace and togetherness, she’s welcomed by her late husband’s best friend, Matt—a friend who swore he’d always be there for them.

Surrounded by majestic ocean, the island’s famous red sand dunes, and a glowing holiday spirit, Annie and her family are embraced by a warm community more than willing to welcome them. As she joins Matt’s veterinary practice and her son begins to stabilize, Annie feels hopeful for the future, beginning to realize that true family is all about love and not just about blood. Annie could never have imagined that a thousand hundred miles from the city could feel the closest to home that she’s ever been. But this cozy enclave harbors a trove of secrets that could undo the life of a vulnerable young woman.

When the past threatens the family Annie is rebuilding, she finds the courage to fiercely protect all of them—and discovers just how far she’ll go to save her family and herself.

About The Author

My Review

Annie Hamilton, a single mother, moves with her troubled teenage son Adam to Fortune’s Cove on Prince Edward Island for a fresh start, accepting a job at a veterinary practice owned by Matt, her late husband’s best friend. Promising Adam they’ll return to Toronto if things don’t improve by Christmas, Annie immerses herself in the welcoming community. As the holidays approach, the family finds joy in festive events, but shadows from Annie’s and Matt’s pasts threaten their newfound happiness. “Christmas in Fortune’s Cove” unfolds over six weeks, blending predictability with enjoyable moments. The chemistry between Annie and Matt, with a history traced back to university, adds a sweet touch. Set against the backdrop of Prince Edward Island, the story encompasses family, healing, and festive romance, showcasing the magic of Christmas.

My Rating

Link To Purchase

Happy Publication Day – 9 April 2024

No Place Like Home By Barbara O’Neal

Life didn’t turn out the way Jewel Sabatino planned. However long she’s been gone, home is waiting.

At seventeen, Jewel fled Colorado for New York City and didn’t look back. Now she’s raising a teenage son alone and is a loving caretaker to her one true friend when she receives a surprising inheritance: her aunt’s Pueblo farm and one hundred acres of land. After decades, it’s time for Jewel to reconnect with everyone and everything she left behind.

Her seventeen-year-old son, Shane, is finally meeting his relatives. Jewel’s soulmate, Michael, has a serene haven for his final days. And Jewel’s welcome back is one of a strong community embracing rich Sicilian traditions, three ebullient sisters preparing for a summer wedding, and a tearful and anxious mother with open arms. But for Jewel, it also means facing her father, who has never forgiven his favorite child for betraying him. And he may never forgive her.

As Jewel’s emotional journey begins, an estranged visitor turns her life around again and could heal her wary heart in ways she never expected.

The Wedding Box By Toni Blake

MARRIAGE
Not even a bridal-veil-stealing dog can ruin Haley and Ben’s wedding day. And when Haley’s beloved Aunt Nan gives them a gift that’s not to be opened “until your first big disagreement,” Haley is sure the box will sit gathering dust for a lifetime. After all, she and Ben are the perfect couple. Aren’t they?

MAKING UP
But life comes with stresses. Architect Ben’s career dreams are rooted in losses from his past, while bakery owner Haley has her own firmly-set – and conflicting – plans for how to get to a happy future. Each time they decide to open the gift, though, something stops them, pushing them to solve the issue themselves, and before long, the mysterious box takes on almost mythic proportions. They can’t imagine what’s inside that could fix every marital woe, but they want to save it as long as possible.

MIRACLES
What happens when a problem comes along that can’t be solved and no gift could ever fix? This one might just take believing in miracles.

Happy Publication Day – 8 April 2024

Fake It ’til You Make It By Laura Carter

Can a fake date fix everything?

On a day Abbey thought would be the best of her life – her boyfriend is surely going to propose tonight, right? – it all falls apart: he tells her he’s met someone else. And then to make things worse, she loses her job.

In an act of reimagination, she splurges her wedding savings on renting an apartment in a building she’s always dreamed of living in and kits out her wardrobe to match.

But when her family invites her ex – a close family friend – plus a date(!!) to her parents’ vow renewal, Abbey realizes her façade won’t be enough. There’s nothing for it but to fake one more thing – a romance. And she knows exactly who to ask… her hot new neighbor…

Happy Publication Day – 1 April 2024

A Summer Wedding At The Second Chances Sweet Shop By Hannah Lynn

Going to the chapel, but will they get married?

After the holiday romance to beat all other holiday romances, it’s back to regular life for Holly Berry, and the sweet shop is busier than ever. With Jamie and Finn’s wedding coming up, Holly is rushed off her feet, making sure their big day is perfect.

So when her handsome boyfriend comes to visit, she is both elated to see him and overwhelmed. She wants to show Evan all the things she loves about her village, as well as introducing him to baby Hope, but how can she find the time?!

Evan offers to lend a helping hand in the shop, and as he gets to know the locals, this loud and proud American certainly makes an impression. But Holly knows she can’t get used to this – because it won’t be long until he has to go home.

Can she make the most of the summer, with everyone she loves finally in the same place, or will she let the hectic wedding planning get the better of her?

Happy Publication Day – 26 March 2024

Highland Fling With Her Boss By Karin Baine

A SWEET TEMPTATION!

Running her own chocolate shop in a Highland castle is a dream come true for Bonnie. Working with her reluctant new boss, Ewen, is not… The brooding tycoon is infuriating and disarmingly attractive in equal measure, but fragile Bonnie can’t chance her heart again. A fling, however, could be just what they both need… It’s only supposed to be fun—and temporary! Except now Bonnie begins to wonder if Ewen is the second chance she never saw coming…

Undone In The Billionaire’s Castle By Louise Fuller

When he issued his impulsive invitation…
their passion wasn’t meant to last!

A devastating injury brought Joan Santos’s world crashing down. Until, at a high-society wedding, her raw encounter with brooding billionaire Ivo Faulkner makes Joan feel alive for the first time in months!

With his private jet booked for the next day, Ivo has a business deal he’s intent on closing. Except after his night with Joan, his infamous laser focus is nowhere to be found! He invites her to his opulent castle to exorcise their attraction, but by indulging their temptation, Ivo risks being unable to ever let his oh-so tempting Cinderella go…

Forbidden Nights With The Paramedic By Alison Roberts

A DANGEROUS TEMPTATION!

After a family trauma, self-proclaimed playboy Edward is living life to the fullest. On his first day with Aberdeen-based air rescue paramedics, he’s floored by the instant crackle of electricity he experiences with crew partner Jodie. It’s clear heartbroken Jodie’s not willing to risk another workplace romance, but a secret fling could be just what they need! Will forbidden nights together lead to the forever they’ve been too scared to consider?

A Surprise Second Chance By Anna J.Stewart

Could a secret…

Bring them together?

Lush rainforest, magical sunsets and a welcoming community—Nalani has everything botanist Daphne Mercer needs…except the only man she ever loved. Griffin Townsend broke her heart years ago. Now he’s in Hawai’i on vacation, a single dad with two kids. Daphne is charmed by Griff’s little family, and he longs for a second chance. But will she forgive him when she learns his true reason for seeking her out?

Matzah Ball Blues By Jennifer Wilck

Why is this night different from all other nights?

For starters, Jared Leiman is home for the holidays. Because though he and Caroline Weiss were high school sweethearts, their postcollege lives took them in different directions. Jared became a big-time entertainment lawyer in LA, while Caroline became a fitness instructor and stayed in town to care for her sick mother. And though her mother passed away three years ago, Caroline is finally free to go where she chooses. Meanwhile Jared, who inherited custody of his baby niece after a tragic accident, is suddenly a family man.

So now Caroline wants to leave her hometown in the dust, whereas Jared might just set up roots there. Because there is one thing that Browerville, New Jersey, offers the two of them that no other place does…each other!

Hunted Hotshot Hero By Lisa Childs

A killer’s after the man

…he used to be

Who’s more dangerous: The saboteur targeting Rory VanDam’s hotshot team or Brittney Townsend, the hot reporter asking too many questions? Maybe the secrets Rory has had to keep since he survived a plane crash are more dangerous than both of them. When a killer pursues the guarded firefighter and relentless journalist, it’s Rory’s past that could cost them their lives. And his reluctant attraction to the newswoman could make him expose the shocking truth.

Happy Publication Day – 20 March 2024

A Fresh Start At Wagging Tails Dog’s Home By Sarah Hope

There’s no place like home…

Although dog trainer Sally is relatively new to Wagging Tails, the team she works with have quickly become her family and the dogs her friends.

But when Andy, the one that got away, turns up for a brief respite from the city, she is at a crossroads. As tempting as a life with him is, she loves her home of West Par, and anyway, she has responsibilities here.

Number one on that list is ensuring the dogs’ home stays in business. A developer has been sniffing around wanting to buy the land, and the team is worried.

Sally will do anything to save her home and her friends’ livelihoods but the lure of reuniting with her lost love is strong. Is there a way for her to have both?

Happy Publication Day- 15 March 2024

The Bordeaux Book Club By Gillian Harvey

Love books? The Bordeaux Book Club is seeking new members!

When Leah and her husband moved to France, it was with the dream of becoming self-sufficient. But in truth, it’s not the ‘good life’ she’d imagined, as three hours of digging barely yield a single straggly carrot. Worse, her teenage daughter is acting up, and her husband seems to find every strange excuse under the hot French sun to disappear.

So when her friend entreats her to join the new bookclub she’s forming, Leah decides it’s something she will do for herself. The chance to make new friends, to drink a few glasses of wine, and to escape into stories that take her miles away from the life she’d thought would be her own happy-ever-after.

But the book club is a strange group of misfits. There’s prickly Grace, who lives alone and seems to know everybody and like no-one. Buttoned-up Monica, who says her husband is away and appears to be parenting her baby all alone. Handsome builder George, who has barely read a book before. And Alfie – who is a full two decades younger than everyone else, and is hiding a devastating secret…

As the stories they read begin to bring the new friends closer together, Leah is about to discover that happy-ever-afters don’t always look how you expect them to…

Happy Publication Day – 14 March 2024

Invitation To Italy By Victoria Springfield

Abi is distraught when her ex-husband Alex takes their twelve-year-old daughter, Chloe to spend the summer with his glamorous fiancée Marisa and her parents at their home on the beautiful Italian island of Procida. Persuaded by her best friend to book a holiday at the island’s Hotel Paradiso, Abi finally meets the woman she’s been avoiding for so long. Will the two women’s strained relationship survive the summer?

One-time teenage swimming sensation, Loretta, has run the Hotel Paradiso since leaving Capri broken-hearted. When childhood friend Salvo comes to stay, Loretta is forced to confront her past and the fears that have kept her away from the water for forty years. But just as she finds the courage to open her heart, she discovers all is not as it seems with Salvo…

It’s a summer of new beginnings for Abi and Loretta – and one they will never forget.

The Woman Who Ran Away from Everything By Fiona Gibson

Kate is sick of being taken for granted by her husband Vince. It’s bad enough that she allowed herself to be dragged away from the London life she loved, but now she’s constantly compelled to keep up with the (very smug) Joneses in this small home counties town. She hates it here. What happened to the fun-loving woman she used to be? At almost 50 Kate feels lost, overlooked and like nothing is ever going to change. That is, until she comes home to an unexpected party – one that she has to cater.

And that’s it. The final straw. Breaking point.

Scrambling out the bathroom window, Kate leaves. She has no plan, but a chance encounter at Euston station sees her following her own heart for once – to beautiful Scotland where a crumbling mansion and a handsome bookseller could be just what she needs . . .

As Kate discovers, sometimes you have to feel utterly lost to find out who you truly are.

Happy Publication Day – 12 March 2024

Love Unscripted By Denise Hunter

The perfect boyfriend only exists on paper…doesn’t he?

Fresh off the heels of a bad breakup, Chloe Anderson poured her heart into penning the perfect boyfriend—and the result was an off-the-charts debut beach read that resonated with women worldwide. Now, Chloe’s scripted hero is headed for Hollywood, with her book destined to become a major motion picture.

When Chloe gets wind that silver screen bad boy Liam Hamilton has been cast as the ideal-in-every-way hero of her novel, she’s horrified by the film director’s choice. How could a player like Liam possibly do Chloe’s perfect hero justice? Unafraid to speak her mind, Chloe lets her executive producer know she’s one hundred percent opposed to the casting. And oops—the call is on speakerphone, where the annoyingly attractive Hollywood star hears Chloe’s unbridled outrage firsthand.

With Liam’s reputation already on the rocks, his agent concocts a PR plan to upgrade Liam’s image while putting the story—and the film—in the spotlight. The catch? During the movie’s filming in Chloe’s cute hometown of Stillwater, North Carolina, Chloe and Liam will fake a wholesome, committed relationship. Both stand to gain something from the arrangement. Liam’s fans will see him in a new light, while Chloe can boost her struggling social media following and further her writing career. What could possibly go wrong?

JAs author and actor navigate the waters of the PR relationship, they’re unprepared when their professional agreement turns into an actual friendship. And when serious sparks start to fly—well, that’s an unread chapter for both of them.

Happy Publication Day – 8 March 2024

Can You Keep A Secret By Jo Lovett

One New Year’s Eve, Georgie James and her friends come up with a genius plan to help them stick to their resolutions… They all write down secrets, seal them in envelopes and then post them to each other. The secrets will be revealed at the end of the year if they haven’t kept their resolutions.

It’s perfect. Except…

Georgie’s secret is BIG… and revealing it could destroy their friendships. She has no idea why she chose that one to write down. There are plenty of innocent things she could have said – even admitting she finds newcomer Raf incredibly annoying would have been better.

What she does know is that there’s no way she can let her secret be revealed. Which means she needs to keep her (nightmare) resolutions and, most importantly, get her envelope back before anyone can open it. Which, given she sent her secret to Raf, means spending a lot more time with him than she’d choose to…