Month: Jan 2020

Today I am excited to be joining the blog tour for When We Say Goodbye, I love trying new authors and this book by Michelle Vernal broke my heart. Many thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to take part.

My Review

I found myself emotionally invested early on as you learn the back story that led to Sam being in a coma and how Ellie came to be living with her cousin.

Once I hit 25% I flew through the pages keen to get to know Ellie and the love she shared with Sam and how she is starting to piece her life back together the best she can.

This book packs an emotional punch throughout as is revolves around the love and loss that Ellie has experienced throughout her life. I felt all of the emotions as I read this rollercoaster of a story and watched Ellie work her way through her layers of grief.

A lovely story that touched on emotional subjects, grief, theft, relationships complexities and the importance of living in the moment.

Book Blurb

Can you love when all seems lost? Ellie Perkins life was right on track until her boyfriend Sam suffers a near-fatal car accident, leaving him in a coma and all their future plans in limbo. Desperately in need of something to fix, Ellie has to find a project and when her grandparents old house is put up for sale, she jumps at the chance. Because, like Ellie, the house is broken. And if she can fix the house, then surely, it’s just a matter of time before she and Sam are back on their path to happily-ever-after… In life, when the worst happens how do you pick up the pieces?

A heart-breaking story of love, loss and the path to forgiveness, perfect for fans of Faith Hogan and Amanda Prowse. To be read with tissues.

Purchase Links

Amazon

Amazon US

Kobo

Apple Books

Google Play

About the Author

Michelle Vernal loves a happy ending. She lives with her husband and their two boys in the beautiful and resilient city of Christchurch, New Zealand. She’s partial to a glass of wine, loves a cheese scone, and has recently taken up yoga—a sight to behold indeed. She writes books that she hopes make you feel you are curled up with your best friend having a cosy chat.

Social Media Links

https://www.michellevernalbooks.com/

https://www.facebook.com/michellevernalnovelist/

https://twitter.com/MichelleVernal

Many thanks for reading my review, please remember to like and share to help spread the book love!

Today I am really excited to be sharing my review for The 24-Hour Cafe by Libby Page, I was really excited to hear of this books upcoming release.

My Review

The 24 hour cafe in London sets the scene for this story, it is a safehaven for many people from different walks of life. Where they can visit in the dead of the night and the story is focused around the friendship between Hannah and Mona.

I was intrigued as to how this story would unfold as it is mainly set within 24hr window. As the story unfolds it exposes vulnerabilities and insights into what goes on behind closed doors. I found I had to really focus to ensure that I wasn’t missing anything crucial from anyone who spent time in the cafe.

Throughout this book you could see the cracks that had appeared in the friendship between Mona and Hannah and the impact of how events can fracture and damage a relationship if they are not nurtured. You could feel the tension left behind by poisonous relationships with boyfriends and how breaking points in friendships and relationships can come without warning.

A book that I thoroughly enjoyed, I loved the setting and the flashbacks to past memories to enable the reader to see what had happened for everyone to end up at the point where we meet them within this 24 hour period in their lives.

Book Blurb

Welcome to the café that never sleeps.

Day and night, Stella’s Café opens its doors to the lonely and the lost, the morning people and the night owls. It’s a place where everyone is always welcome, where life can wait at the door.

Meet Hannah and Mona: best friends, waitresses, dreamers. They love working at Stella’s – the different people they meet, the small kindnesses exchanged. But is it time to step outside and make their own way in life?

Come inside and spend twenty-four hours at Stella’s Café, where one day might just be enough to change your life . . .



Available to purchase here

About the Author

Many thanks to Tracy at Compulsive Readers for the invite to take part in this blog tour. Please remember to like and share and spread the book love!

My Review

Today I am joining the blog tour for the Mix Tape which is a wonderful love story with music intertwined throughout.

Set across two timelines and three destinations this book is a lovely read that once you pick it up you just want to keep reading. Whilst reading this book you visit Adelaide, Edinburgh and Sheffield, the descriptions of the destinations are really visual and make you feel the vibe of each city that you are visiting. The characters are a balance of supportive and controlling with their own character quirks. I personally loved Ali’s extended family in Australia and really connected with the relationship she had with them and how they made her feel.

The story focuses on Alison and Dan who knew each other in their teens and reconnect many years later through the power of social media. They are both passionate about music and communicate through the power of music and sending songs that both carry meaning to each other.

Throughout this book the song choices were superb and as the story progresses they create a new mix tape which conveys their feelings and things they want to say to each other. I absolutely loved this book and found listening to the songs they sent really helped to enforce the story being told.

This is the ultimate story about love, music and perfect timing, the power of music should never be under estimated and this spot lights the memories songs hold even in our subconscious and how the lyrics allow us to say things we can’t always find the words for.

Book Blurb

We all remember the soundtrack to our first love.

Daniel was the first boy to make Alison a mix tape. But that was years ago and Ali hasn’t thought about him in a very long time. Even if she had, she might not have called him ‘the one that got away’; she’d been the one to run away, after all.

Then Dan’s name pops up on her phone, with a link to a song from their shared past. For two blissful minutes, Alison is no longer an adult in Adelaide with temperamental daughters; she is sixteen in Sheffield, dancing in her too-tight jeans. She cannot help but respond in kind. And so begins a new mix tape.

Ali and Dan exchange songs across oceans and time zones, across a lifetime of different
experiences, until one of them breaks the rules and sends a message that will change everything…

Full of heartache and promises, joy and disappointment, Mix Tape asks the biggest question of them all: what if ‘what could have been’ is still to come?

Packed with music – some old, some new – and featuring playlists of songs you’ll want to
discover for yourself

Available to purchase here

About the Author

Jane Sanderson is a writer and journalist. She has worked as a producer for BBC Radio 4, first on the World at One, and then on Woman’s Hour. She lives with her husband and children in rural Herefordshire.

Jane has poured much her own story into this book; from the boyfriend who gifted her a mix tape introducing her to the likes of Van Morrison, to the carefully curated playlist (featured in the book) which includes songs that have helped to shape her life and pay homage to her own youth.

Many thanks to Ann Cater for the invitation to take part in this blog tour, please remember to like and share to help spread the book love for this lovely story!

My Review

Today I am joining the blog tour to celebrate the paperback publication for You Me and the Movies by Fiona Collins. This was my first read by Fiona Collins and I am really pleased I picked a copy up, it is a lovely story focused around the relationship of Mac & Arden.

Mac & Arden knew each other many years ago when Arden was still a student and by chance she stumbles across a mute Mac years on from their original relationship. Whilst reading this story it explores past and present day and how they can recall their relationship through the movies. I loved getting to know both Arden and Mac through the film references he recalls and the memories that it triggers for Arden.

A beautiful story that deals with layers of complex issues as you delve deeper into the past, a lovely uplifting story that will make you smile and leave you feeling warmhearted, a true love story.

Book Blurb

Arden has just started university when she meets Mac – and quickly falls head over heels for the
handsome, charismatic film lecturer. Their love affair is dramatic, exciting and all consuming; the
sort of thing you only see in the movies. It couldn’t last.
But thirty years later, leading a very different life, Arden is visiting a friend in hospital when she
suddenly comes across the man she never forgot. Badly injured in an accident, Mac can only make
brief references to the classic films they once watched together: Casablanca, A Star is Born, Pretty
Woman among others… and they make Arden remember everything.
The bittersweet memories of their relationship help Arden re-connect with the world in a way she
no longer thought was possible.
But will a movie-worthy love ever be hers again?

Available to purchase at the outlets below:

Amazon UK

WHSmith

Waterstones

Book Depository

Foyles

About the Author

Fiona Collins grew up in an Essex village, and after stints in Hong Kong and London, returned to the
Essex countryside where she lives with her husband and three children. She has a degree in Film and
Literature and has had many former careers including TV presenting in Hong Kong, traffic and
weather presenter for BBC local radio and film/TV extra. You can find her on Twitter
@FionaJaneBooks.

Social Media Links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FionaJaneBooks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fionacollinsauthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fionacollinsauthor/

Many thanks to Emma at Damppebbles for the invite to join the blog tour, please remember to like and share to help spread the booklove!