Review – The Unpredictable Consequences of Love by Jill Mansell

By | March 10, 2014

When Josh Strachan, newly returned to his home in north Cornwall from sunny California, first meets Sophie Wells, he’s immediately smitten. Sophie’s pretty, she’s funny, she has lots of friends and she clearly loves her job as a photographer, despite the sometimes tricky clients. There’s just one problem: Sophie has very firmly turned her back… Read More »

Catching up…and looking forward

By | February 23, 2014

I had a bit of a nasty shock this week – I requested yet more books from netgalley (I have no self control…) and found I was being rejected by some of the publishers. I think it might be because I’ve overdone it a little, so the month ahead is going to be catch-up time! Let… Read More »

Review – The Secret Kiss of Darkness by Christina Courtenay

By | February 23, 2014

Must forbidden love end in heartbreak?   Kayla Sinclair knows she’s in big trouble when she almost bankrupts herself to buy a life-size portrait of a mysterious eighteenth century man at an auction.  Jago Kerswell, innkeeper and smuggler, knows there is danger in those stolen moments with Lady Eliza Marcombe, but he’ll take any risk… Read More »

Author feature – A Woman’s Choice by Annie Thomas

By | February 22, 2014

It is 1901. Queen Victoria is dead; a new era has begun. And on a cold April morning a young girl stands uncertainly on Liverpool Docks ready to board an emigrant ship that will take her to America and an unknown future. Michael, Luke, and Meg are amongst her fellow travellers, with the common bond… Read More »

Celebrations soon!

By | February 9, 2014

I was just sitting back, feeling rather smug about being up-to-date with my reviews, and wondering what to do next.  I really need to do a proper index of the books I’ve reviewed, maybe some links to the reviews that have been published on author/publisher sites, think about some features (publishers maybe? favourite authors?) and… Read More »

Review – Cauldstane by Linda Gillard

By | February 8, 2014

When ghostwriter Jenny Ryan is summoned to the Scottish Highlands by Sholto MacNab – retired adventurer and Laird of Cauldstane Castle – she’s prepared for travellers’ tales, but not the MacNabs’ violent and tragic history.  Lust, betrayal and murder have blighted family fortunes for generations, together with an ancient curse. As members of the family… Read More »

Review – Echo Boy by Matt Haig

By | February 8, 2014

Audrey’s father taught her that to stay human in the modern world, she had to build a moat around herself; a moat of books and music, philosophy and dreams. A moat that makes Audrey different from the echoes: sophisticated, emotionless machines, built to resemble humans and to work for human masters. Daniel is an echo… Read More »

Review and giveaway – Once Upon A Timepiece by Starr Wood

By | February 8, 2014

When Conrad Sands returns a wristwatch to an old flame after 20 years apart, a remarkable chain of events begins.  The watch passes through the hands of a gold-digger, a journalist, an enchantress and a professor. It touches the lives of a rogue art collector, a domestic helper, and an environmental campaigner. It influences a… Read More »

Review – The Lemon Grove by Helen Walsh

By | February 8, 2014

Each summer, Jenn and her husband Greg return to Deia, on Mallorca’s dramatic west coast. This year the arrival of Emma, Jenn’s stepdaughter, and her new boyfriend Nathan threatens to upset their equilibrium. Beautiful and reckless, Nathan stirs something unexpected in Jenn. As she is increasingly seduced by Nathan’s youth and the promise of passion,… Read More »

Review – Spare Brides by Adele Parks

By | February 8, 2014

New Year’s Eve, 1920. The Great War is over and it’s a new decade of glamorous promise. But a generation of men and women who survived the extreme trauma and tragedy will never be the same. With countless men lost, it seems that only wealth and beauty will secure a husband from the few who… Read More »

Review – The Memory Book by Rowan Coleman

By | January 27, 2014

The name of your first-born. The face of your lover. Your age. Your address… What would happen if your memory of these began to fade? Is it possible to rebuild your life? Raise a family? Fall in love again? When Claire starts to write her Memory Book, she already knows that this scrapbook of mementoes will… Read More »

Review – The Flavours of Love by Dorothy Koomson

By | January 27, 2014

‘I’m looking for that perfect blend of flavours; the taste that used to be you. If I find it, I know you’ll come back to me.’ It’s been 18 months since my husband was murdered and I’ve decided to finish writing The Flavours of Love, the cookbook he started before he died. Everyone thinks I’m coping… Read More »

Review – The Lie by Helen Dunmore

By | January 27, 2014

Cornwall, 1920, early spring. A young man stands on a headland, looking out to sea. He is back from the war, homeless and without family. Behind him lie the mud, barbed-wire entanglements and terror of the trenches. Behind him is also the most intense relationship of his life. Daniel has survived, but the horror and… Read More »