Category: General Fiction

The Holiday Cottage by The Sea by Holly Martin (Sandcastle Bay #1)

51QGCvQEccL Synopsis: Tori Graham is in need of a holiday. Trying to piece her heart back together after losing the love of her life, she escapes to Blossom Cottage, with its picturesque views of the sea. And plans to spend the summer in gorgeous Sandcastle Bay, where her best friend Melody Rosewood lives.

Tori’s not expecting her summer by the beach to be eventful, until she meets handsome and mysterious Aidan Jackson…

Aidan looks after the holiday cottage Tori is staying in. Healing from past hurts, he wants to avoid any further chance of heartache. But could this newcomer be the breath of fresh air he needs?

Finding herself embracing life in the coastal community, Tori starts to fall in love with Sandcastle Bay and its welcoming cast of residents. But that’s not all she begins to fall for, as Tori is swept away by Aidan’s genuine heart and mischievous sense of humour. The attraction between them is undeniable, but will a simple holiday romance be enough?

As Tori’s stay in Sandcastle Bay comes to an end she has a tough decision to make…. Has her heart found a new place to call home?

My Rating: 5/5 Continue reading “The Holiday Cottage by The Sea by Holly Martin (Sandcastle Bay #1)”

It Started With Christmas by Jenny Hale

51mjtH8lfdL._SY346_  Synopsis: Holly McAdams loves spending the Christmas holidays at her family’s cozy cabin, with its little red door and twinkling lights, tucked in the snowy hills outside Nashville. But this year will be different. Someone unexpected is joining them…

After Holly and her beloved Nana struggle through a snow storm to reach the cabin, they discover gorgeous and wealthy Joseph Barnes, who has been renting the cabin for the last few weeks, is now snowed in. And it looks like he’ll be staying for the holidays.

Determined to make the best of the surprise situation, Holly tries to bring everyone together by baking delicious treats and decorating the cabin with plenty of festive sparkle. She finds herself growing close to handsome Joseph, who is unlike anyone she’s ever met before, even if Nana isn’t so keen on the dashing stranger with the mysterious past.

But charming and irresistible musician Rhett Burton is also back in town. Thrown into close proximity with the person who used to be her best friend and the man who broke her heart, Holly realizes it’s time to face her feelings and figure out what she really wants from her life. But to complicate things, both Joseph and Rhett have secrets to reveal…

Will Holly be able to find herself and the love she’s always dreamed of this Christmas?

My Rating: 4/5 Continue reading “It Started With Christmas by Jenny Hale”

Publication List – Jenny Colgan

  1. Amanda’s Wedding (1999)
  2. Talking to Addison (2000) aka My Very ’90s Romance
  3. Looking for Andrew McCarthy (2001)
  4. Working Wonders (2003) aka Arthur Project
  5. Do You Remember the First Time? (2004) aka The Boy I Loved Before
  6. Where Have All the Boys Gone? (2005)
  7. West End Girls (2006)
  8. Operation Sunshine (2007)
  9. Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend (2008)
  10. The Good, the Bad and the Dumped (2009)
  11. Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe (2011) Cupcake Cafe #1
  12. Christmas at the Cupcake Cafe (2012) Cupcake Cafe #2
  13. Welcome to Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop of Dreams (2012) aka Sweetshop of Dreams Rosie Hopkins #1
  14. Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop (2013) Rosie Hopkins #2
  15. The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris (2013)
  16. The Little Beach Street Bakery (2014) Beach Street Bakery #1
  17. The Christmas Surprise (2014) Rosie Hopkins #3
  18. Summer at the Little Beach Street Bakery (2015) Beach Street Bakery #2
  19. Christmas at the Little Beach Street Bakery (2016) Beach Street Bakery #3
  20. The Little Shop of Happy-Ever-After (2016) aka The Bookshop on the Corner
  21. The Summer Seaside Kitchen (2017) aka The Cafe by the Sea Mure #1
  22. A Very Distant Shore (2017) Mure #2
  23. The Endless Beach (2018) Mure #3
  24. Christmas on The Island (2018) aka An Island Christmas Mure #4 
  25. The Bookshop on the Shore (2019)
  26. 500 Miles From You (Due June 2020)
  27. The Christmas Bookshop (2021)
  28. Sunrise By The Sea (2021) Beach Street Bakery #4
  29. An Island Wedding (2022) Mure #5
  30. Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop (2023)
  31. The Summer Skies (2023) Mure #6
  32. Close Knit (2024) Mure #7
  33. The Secret Christmas Library (2025)
  34. Meet Me At The Seaside Cottages (2025) Mure #8
  35. The Late Bloomer (2027)

Lucy in The Sky by Paige Toon

51+K42IHzmL._SY346_Synopsis: Settling down for a 24-hour flight to Australia, Lucy finds a text message on her phone – not from her boyfriend James, as she fondly hopes, but from a woman claiming to have slept with him four times in the past month. Trapped on the plane, she questions everything about her relationship with James. She finally calls him and he reassures her: it was only his mates playing a silly joke.

James is a lawyer, persuasive and gorgeous and Lucy adores him. So why, at the wedding in Sydney of her best friend Molly, does she have niggling doubts, and find herself attracted to Molly’s brother-in-law Nathan? The sooner she gets back to her regular life in London, the flat she shares with James, her job in PR, the better. Nathan is a happy-go-lucky surfer boy, with no prospects, no place to live, an almost-girlfriend in tow. And the other side of the world…

Lucy – a girl caught between two distant continents – and two very different men…

My Rating: 3/5

My Review: Having read Paige Toon’s newer books I was keen to go back and read her debut novel. This was originally published over 10 years ago back in 2007. This book concentrate’s on Lucy and the opening few chapters were brilliant. Lucy is on a flight to that is going to last 24 hours and all she can think of is a text message claiming her boyfriend James has been unfaithful to her. Soon enough she has landed and is spending time with her friends and is introduced to Nathan.

Now normally I am quite constructive (or try to be) but this book just felt ‘blah’.  Yeah Lucy was an okay character, but there were way too many cliches and it felt a little bit contrived. That sounds like I am being super critical, but I think this is due to the fact that her more recent books are brilliant and this is a sure sign that sometimes going back to read debut’s isn’t the best idea. I know for a fact that I have changed over the course of 10 years, and I am pretty sure Paige Toon has too. I think this clearly shows in her writing.

This was what I would consider a fluff book. Easy enough to read, nothing too horrible about it, but overall largely unremarkable and unmemorable. I am just thrilled that I picked up Paige’s more recent books.

One New York Christmas by Mandy Baggot

40731112Synopsis: Will this Christmas romance be just for the holidays?

A fun, festive romantic comedy to curl up with this winter. If you love Josie Silver’s One Day in December, you’ll love Mandy Baggot’s heart-warming festive romance.

Lara Weeks is heading to New York with best friend Susie for the Christmas trip of a lifetime.

A festive break in the snowy Big Apple visiting the tourist hotspots, not to mention the shopping, seems like the perfect way for Lara to get over her ex-boyfriend. Or maybe make him so jealous he begs for a second chance.

Enlisting the help of gorgeous actor, Seth Hunt, doesn’t quite go to plan, but there’s something about him that has Lara wishing for a different kind of happy ever after… Continue reading “One New York Christmas by Mandy Baggot”

Publication List – Jenny Hale

  1. Coming Home for Christmas (2013)
  2. Love Me for Me (2014)
  3. A Christmas to Remember (2014)
  4. Summer by the Sea (2015)
  5. Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses (2015)
  6. Summer at Oyster Bay (2016)
  7. A Barefoot Summer (2016)
  8. All I Want for Christmas (2016)
  9. The Summer House (2017)
  10. We’ll Always Have Christmas (2017)
  11. One Summer (2018) aka The Summer Hideaway
  12. It Started With Christmas (2018)
  13.  Christmas at Silver Falls (2019)
  14. Christmas at Fireside Cabins (2020)
  15. The Memory Keeper (2021)
  16. The Beach House (2021)
  17. A Lighthouse Christmas (2021)
  18. Butterfly Sisters (2022)
  19. An Island Summer (2022)
  20. The Christmas Letters (2022)
  21. The Magic of Sea Glass (2023)
  22. Meet Me at Christmas (2023)
  23. The Golden Hour (2024)
  24. The Noel Bridge (2024)
  25. Out of the Blue (2025)
  26. Where Are You Now (2025)
  27. Ten Christmases Without You (2025)
  28. Postmarked December (2026)
  29. The Broken Hearts Beach Club (2026)

Publication List – Alex Brown

  1. Cupcakes At Carrington’s (2013) Carringtons #1
  2. Me and Mr Carrington (2013) Carringtons Short Story
  3. Christmas At Carringtons (2013) Carringtons #2
  4. Ice Creams at Carrington’s (2014) Carringtons #3
  5. The Great Christmas Knit Off (2014) Tindledale #1
  6. The Great Village Show (2015) Tindledale #2
  7. The Secret of Orchard Cottage (2016) Tindledale #3
  8. Not Just for Christmas (2016) Tindledale Short Story
  9. The Wish (2018)
  10. A Postcard From Italy (2019) Postcard #1
  11. The Great Summer Sewing Bee (2019)
  12. A Postcard from Paris (2021) Postcard #2
  13. A Cosy Christmas at Bridget’s Bicycle Bakery (2021) Carringtons Bakery #1
  14. A Postcard from Capri (2022) Postcard #3
  15. A Summer Holiday at Bridget’s Bicycle Bakery (2023) Carringtons Bakery #2
  16. Bring Me Sunshine (2024) Come Away With Me #1
  17. Wish You Were Here (2025) Come Away With Me #2

Publication List – Tilly Tennant

Publication List – Dorothy Koomson

  • The Cupid Effect (2003)
  • The Chocolate Run (2004)
  • My Best Friend’s Girl (2006)
  • Marshmallows for Breakfast (2007)
  • Goodnight, Beautiful (2008)
  • The Ice Cream Girls (2010)
  • The Woman He Loved Before (2011)
  • Where I Found You (2012)
  • The Rose Petal Beach (2012)
  • The Flavours of Love (2013
  • That Girl From Nowhere (2015)
  • When I Was Invisible (2016)
  • The Friend (2017)
  • The Brighton Mermaid (2018)
  • Tell Me Your Secret (2019)
  • I Know What You’ve Done (2021)
  • My Other Husband (2022)
  • Every Smile You Fake(Due 2024

My Other Husband (2022)

  • Every Smile you Fake (due 2024)

Publication List – Carole Matthews

  1. Let’s Meet on Platform 8 (1997)
  2. A Whiff of Scandal (1998) aka The Scent of Scandal
  3. More to Life Than This (1999)
  4. For Better, for Worse (2000)
  5. A Minor Indiscretion (2001)
  6. A Compromising Position (2002) aka Bare Necessity
  7. The Sweetest Taboo (2003)
  8. With or Without You (2004)
  9. You Drive Me Crazy (2005)
  10. Welcome to the Real World (2006)
  11. The Chocolate Lovers’ Club (2007)
  12. The Chocolate Lovers’ Diet (2007)
  13. It’s a Kind of Magic (2008)
  14. All You Need Is Love (2008)
  15. The Difference a Day Makes (2009)
  16. That Loving Feeling (2009)
  17. It’s Now or Never (2010)
  18. The Only Way is Up (2010)
  19. Wrapped Up In You (2011)
  20. Summer Daydreams (2012)
  21. With Love at Christmas (2012)
  22. A Cottage by the Sea (2013)
  23. Calling Mrs Christmas (2013)
  24. A Place to Call Home (2014)
  25. The Christmas Party (2014)
  26. The Cake Shop in the Garden (2015)
  27. The Chocolate Lovers’ Christmas (2015)
  28. The Chocolate Lovers’ Wedding (2016)
  29. Paper Hearts and Summer Kisses (2016)
  30. Christmas Cakes and Mistletoe Nights (2017)
  31. A Million Love Songs (2018)
  32. Happiness for Beginners (2019)
  33. Sunny Days and Sea Breezes (2020)
  34. Christmas for Beginners (2020)