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Ad/PR product. New review: Strange Sally Diamond b

Ad/PR product. New review: Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent. Published by Penguin Sandycove and out now.
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Strange Sally Diamond begins with Sally taking literally what her recently deceased father had always said she should do when he died which was to put him out with the rubbish. Sally is known in the small Irish town where she lives as being strange but nobody really sees that much of her. All that changes when the police and press find out what she has done and it opens a can of worms. So begins a story of Sally’s past and we start to understand why she’s a bit strange. Much of the story is told by Sally but there’s also another voice, a male voice, and I came to really like reading his sections and joining the dots between the two narratives until finally I was able to see the full story from all sides.
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This is such a brilliant book. It’s dark and haunting but it also has a dry humour which provided perfect light and shade for me. The darkness is in plain view in every chapter and yet most of it is not expressly written and whilst I could easily fill in the blanks I didn’t have to read anything that was too harrowing, focusing instead on Sally’s evolving life, emotions and new friendships.
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Sally is a fabulous protagonist. She’s not always easy to like but her behaviour is fairly easy to understand. She’s a character that will stay with me and her story is memorable and beautifully written by Liz Nugent. It took me a little while to really settle into it but once I did I found this was a book where I always wanted to read just one more chapter and then another, not wanting to put it down. With questions of nature versus nurture, and the effects of early trauma, this is psychological fiction at its greatest and most original.
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Thank you @vikingbooksuk for the proof copy and the place on the #BlogTour.
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#bookreview #StrangeSallyDiamond #psychologicalfiction #irishfiction #lovereading #fictionlover #lovebooks #fiction #fictionbooks #booksofinstagram #shortbookandscribes

Ad/PR product. New review: End of Story by Louise

Ad/PR product. New review: End of Story by Louise Swanson. Published by Hodder & Stoughton and out now.
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Imagine a life in which fiction is banned. You’re not allowed to read it, write it, tell bedtime stories to your children. The only thing you can read is non-fiction, but when everything is being manipulated how do you even know what is fact and what is not?
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The premise for Louise Swanson’s book, End of Story, is a shocking one, especially for a book lover. There were times that I was able to imagine all too well how it would feel to have my beloved books taken away from me, such is the power of the writing in this book. Fern Dostoy, the main character, was a renowned author, a prize-winning one, and she had had her writing, and everything else, taken from her. Living in a soulless house and working a joyless job, her only glimpses of joy now are her exchanges with the Fine-Fayre tea seller and with Hunter, a young boy to whom she reads bedtime stories via a banned phone service.
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I don’t generally go for dystopian fiction but I knew from this author’s books as Louise Beech that there was very likely to be a strong emotional element and it was here in spades. Swanson puts us right there in a world only slightly in the future but in which so much has changed (it reminded me how fast technology is evolving). There is a lot lying beneath the surface of this book just waiting to be discovered and it’s very cleverly plotted with elements I really didn’t expect.
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End of Story is a book full of dangerous situations and the consequences of defying the rules, but it’s also a book of grief and loss. This is not a fast-paced thriller but a unique and inventive novel in which the insidious horror of Fern’s situation snakes its way into your psyche and doesn’t let go. I doubt I will forget this book in a hurry, both for the terrifying menace and for the last section which turns everything on its head.
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Thank you to the publishers for the proof copy of the book.
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#EndOfStory #bookreview #dystopianfiction #dystopianbooks #emotionalfiction #ilovebooks #ilovefiction #booklover #booklove #fictionlover #fictionlove #booksofinstagram #shortbookandscribes

Ad/PR product. New review: Million Eyes III: The O

Ad/PR product. New review: Million Eyes III: The Ouroboros by C.R. Berry. Published by Elsewhen Press and out now.
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Having read the first two books in the Million Eyes trilogy I was really looking forward to seeing how C.R. Berry would wind everything up. Once again, I was really pleased to see the recap at the beginning (why don’t all book series have them?) which served as a really helpful reminder of all that had gone before….and that was a lot!
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This book starts well into the future in 2219 with a terrifying alien called the Shapeless doing something rather unpleasant to Jackson Montgomery, witnessed by his wife, Cara. We’re also taken to Victorian London with Harriet Turner, who had previously met Jack the Ripper and was horrified by his vicious crimes against women. How these characters are linked to each other and to the previous books is just brilliant. In fact, the whole trilogy is plotted to perfection, with the sort of mind-bending detail that I find thrilling.
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I’d say this is a series that needs to be read in order if you’re going to get the most out of it. Everything comes full circle in this third book and all the threads are pulled together. I loved the way that I was rapidly transported from one time to another, one chapter in the past and the next in the future, throwing me around time as if I was in a time machine of my own, or in fact had popped one of the little red pills that send the characters through time. I enjoyed the challenge of keeping up with it (I’m not entirely sure I completely managed it but I did well enough) and I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent reading this book.
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Berry has done a fantastic job with the Million Eyes books. These books are clever, twisty, intricate, compelling and exhilarating, with an alternate view of some major aspects of history and a fascinating idea of what the future may hold, all bound up with some fabulous time travelling exploits.
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Thank you to the publishers and author for the review copy and the place on the #BlogTour.
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#bookreview #millioneyes #millioneyesouroboros #timetravel #timetravelbooks #timetravelfiction #fictionlover #booklover #ilovefiction #ilovebooks #sho

Ad/PR product. New review: The Woolworths Girl's P

Ad/PR product. New review: The Woolworths Girl's Promise by Elaine Everest. Published by Pan Macmillan and out now.
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Regular readers of Elaine Everest’s Woolworths series will recognise the protagonist at the heart of The Woolworths Girl’s Promise, Miss Betty Billington. A prominent character throughout the series, this book focuses on her early life. We’ve always known about her lost love, Charlie, who was killed in action during WWI but this book now fills in all the gaps regarding what happened to Betty afterwards.
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If you haven’t read any of the other books this one in particular works well as a standalone (I heartily recommend reading all the books though!).
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Betty wasn’t always the down to earth Betty we know now. Once she was known as Elizabeth and lived with her upper-class parents, with the knowledge that they would never accept Charlie as her fiancé due to his working-class roots and his job on the railway. When they discovered their relationship, even after Charlie had died, they disowned Elizabeth and she found herself down on her luck, eventually taking a job at the beloved store, Woolworths. I loved following Betty’s story, knowing where she would end up but not knowing her route there. Full of courage, ambition and pluck, she manages to work her way up with the help of good friends, old and new.
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I loved this book so much, just as I’ve loved all of this author’s books. She always seems to be able to portray hardship without taking it too far into darkness, using her research to transport the reader back in time. Betty has a tough time with some of the characters and a stint at the munitions factory proves particularly difficult for her, but it’s balanced out by the kindness she receives when she needs it most. My favourite sections were set in the store and I loved reading about Betty’s time on the different counters, but really I enjoyed all of it from beginning to end. Full of warmth, grit, comradeship, and hope for the future, The Woolworths Girl’s Promise is a joy to read and a perfect addition to a series that I love by an author who never disappoints.
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Thank you to the publishers for the review copy and the place on the #BlogTour.

Ad/PR product. New review: The Walled Garden by Sa

Ad/PR product. New review: The Walled Garden by Sarah Hardy. Published by Manilla Press and out now.
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It’s 1946 and Stephen Rayne has returned home from the war a broken man, unable to forget what he experienced and the part he played. His wife, Alice, having expected the husband she remembered, is shocked and often frightened by his anger and bewildered by his complete indifference to her and to everyone and everything around him. Stephen is the heir of the Oakbourne estate including the hall which is literally falling apart. I thought it was an interesting perspective having Stephen as somebody whom the people of the local village were supposed to look up to when he couldn’t bear the sight of anyone, least of all himself.
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The Walled Garden is a beautifully written, at times heartbreaking, novel. It asks how any man can see the horrors of war and then return to everyday life, not only because those horrors replay over and over, but also because the feeling of being needed is suddenly taken away from them. But equally, the women of this book feel similarly about their war, in which they weren’t simply required to look after the home but found a new purpose in life, albeit temporarily.
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Alice finds comfort in the rebuilding of the estate’s walled garden and in the company of another man who provides salvation in more ways than one. I really liked her character and her love for the outdoors, with the possibility of new growth giving her hope for the future.
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This is not a fast-paced read, but it is one that must be savoured. I found myself drawn in to the characters’ lives, not just Stephen and Alice, but the parallel stories of Jonathan and Jane Downes, also struggling with the aftermath of war, him the local doctor and her, once required to plug the gap her husband left, now relegated back to cooking, cleaning and mending once again.
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The Walled Garden is a thought-provoking and powerful look at the futility of war and the difficulties of dealing with the mental and physical after-effects. I found it to be a compelling and moving read, with much to think about. It’s a wonderful debut from Sarah Hardy.
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Thank you to the publishers for the review copy

I'm on the blog tour today for #AJewishGirlInParis

I'm on the blog tour today for #AJewishGirlInParis by @melanielevensohn. It's paperback #publicationday 🎉

I'm sharing an extract which can be found on my blog. I'll put a link in my stories.

Synopsis:
Paris, 1940, a city under German occupation. A young Jewish girl, Judith, meets a young man, the son of a wealthy banker and Nazi sympathizer – his family will never approve of the girl he has fallen in love with. As the Germans impose more and more restrictions on Jewish Parisians, the couple secretly plan to flee the country. But before they can make their escape, Judith disappears . . .

Montréal, 1982. Shortly before his death, Lica Grunberg confesses to his daughter, that she has an older half-sister, Judith. Lica escaped the Nazis but lost all contact with his first-born daughter. His daughter promises to find the sister she never knew. The search languishes for years, until Jacobina is spurred on by her young friend Béatrice.

Soon the two women discover a dark family secret, stretching over two continents and six decades, that will change their lives forever . . .

Adapted from a translation by Jamie Lee Searle, A Jewish Girl in Paris is a historical novel for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
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#bookextract #bookexcerpt #historicalfiction #histfic #warfiction #ilovebooks #booklover #booksofinstagram #historicalfictionofinstagram #shortbookandscribes

Ad/PR product. New #BlogTour review: One Enchanted

Ad/PR product. New #BlogTour review: One Enchanted Evening by Katie Fforde. Published by Century and out now.
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It's 1964 and Meg's mother asks her to come to Nightingale Woods to help out with a big event. Nightingale Woods is a quaint, rather rundown hotel in Dorset and Meg is a cook. She hotfoots it there, happy to help out, even when Justin, the son of the owner, turns up and is rather rude to her, especially about women in the kitchen (he's a chef too).
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This is a Katie Fforde book though so all will be well between them and for Meg in general. She settles into the hotel, becoming friends with the staff and Ambrosina, an elderly lady who lives there. Many of her friends, quite a few of whom I recognised from A Wedding in Provence, make appearances too and everybody is jolly lovely….well, with the exception of one or two rather tricky characters.
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One Enchanted Evening is a complete and utter delight of a book. I was drawn in immediately and I absolutely loved Meg who is young, yet knows her own mind, and is friendly and kind. I also took rather a liking to motorbike-riding Justin, stomping around in his black leathers with a smell of petrol and road dust…..err, excuse me a moment whilst I fan myself.
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The hotel is charming, a place I'd love to stay at with its welcoming and homely feel and beautiful location. Meg goes to France for a while too and I enjoyed her time working in a restaurant there. But what really sold this book to me was the romance, the spark between Meg and Justin, and the way their relationship develops throughout the book made my heart sing. It was just so sweet and lovely to watch their burgeoning feelings for each other grow.
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So, in case you hadn't guessed, I loved, loved, loved One Enchanted Evening. Katie Fforde doesn't just sell a romance to her readers, she sells a package, a dream. I found this book to be an absolute joy from start to finish.
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Thank you to @ed.pr and @centurybooksuk for the book and the place on the tour.
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#bookreview #OneEnchantedEvening #feelgoodfiction #feelgoodreads #feelgoodbooks #romancebooks #foodfiction #ilovebooks #bookish #booksofinstagram #romanceofinstagram #shortbookandscribes

Snowy Day Stack ❄️ We've had quite a significa

Snowy Day Stack
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We've had quite a significant snowfall here in Sheffield so I thought I'd share a #SnowyDayStack today. Some brilliant books on this pile.
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Unfortunately I did drop them all in the snow whilst trying to photograph them. Don't worry though, no books were seriously injured in the taking of this photo 😂🤦
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Do you have snow where you are?
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#sheffield #sheffieldissuper #sheffieldsnow #sheffieldsnowday #snowstack #snowbookstack #snowyfiction #snowday #snowdays #ColdReckoning #AnOrphanInTheSnow #PerfectKill #TheLanguageOfFood #TheChristieAffair #shortbookandscribes

Ad/PR product. New review: Until Proven Innocent b

Ad/PR product. New review: Until Proven Innocent by Nicola Williams. Published by Hamish Hamilton on 16th March.
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I always enjoy a good legal crime thriller and Until Proven Innocent is a fantastic example of this genre. I was gripped by the story and found it to be a hard book to put down.
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Lee Mitchell is a barrister in South London. She comes from the same side of the tracks as many of the people she represents and she's done well for herself, but she's never forgotten her roots. Against her better judgement Lee finds herself acting for DS Jack Lambert when he's accused of shooting the son of the pastor at the Black church in her neighbourhood and it soon seems that locals are questioning where her loyalties lie.
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Whilst Lee is the main character, there are also chapters that cover the story from the point of view of a Black police officer, a Tory councillor, instructing solicitor and others, and whilst much of the book is about bringing the case to court, the story covers much more than just the trial. This all served to give an excellent overview of crime, punishment, and the legal system as all the strands were pulled together.
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I found this book to be a really exciting and compelling read. The author gives a strong sense of place and community, and the racism that the Black characters endure, not least from the suspect himself, felt realistic and sadly, not unexpected.
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This is not the first book to feature Lee Mitchell (Without Prejudice was the first, originally published in 1998 and republished in 2021 as part of the Black Britain series) and I think there could be more in the future. I'd certainly read another book by Nicola Williams who has used her own experience as a barrister to brilliant effect. I haven't read the first book and it didn't matter as any pertinent background information was mentioned.
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Until Proven Innocent is a rollicking good read. It's gritty, relevant and fast-paced and comes highly recommended by me.
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Thank you to the publishers for the proof copy.
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#bookreview #UntilProvenInnocent #legalfiction #legalthrillers #crimebooks #crimethriller #crimefiction #londonbooks #londonfiction #shortbookandscribes

It's International Women's Day! 💪 I thought I'd

It's International Women's Day!
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I thought I'd celebrate by sharing a stack of some of my favourite female authors. These are all authors whose books I would pick up without knowing anything about them.
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Which female author's books would you always pick up?
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#booksread #internationalwomensday #iwd2023 #TheEducationOfIvyEdwards #OneForSorrow #AnythingYouDoSay #ComingToFindYou #TheHoneyFarmOnTheHill #SaturdaysAtNoon #TheWartimeNanny #JustGotReal #TheVintageShop #ATerribleKindness #shortbookandscribes

Ad/PR product. #BlogTour review - If I Let You Go

Ad/PR product. #BlogTour review - If I Let You Go by Charlotte Levin. Published by Mantle and out now.
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I've been looking forward to Charlotte Levin's second book since…well…since finishing her first one, and it was worth waiting for. In fact, I think it's now my favourite of the two.
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Janet Brown is a cleaner. She lives with her husband, Colin, who controls her in pretty much every way possible and continues to pile on the guilt for something that happened eleven years ago. Basically, her life is mundane and miserable and she's simply surviving from day to day. But then she's involved in a train crash which gives her a chance at redemption for the tragedy that she believes is her fault. Unfortunately for Janet, nothing is quite as it seems and she gets deeper and deeper into a deceitful situation.
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I loved Janet who seems to be carrying so much on her shoulders. She's a brilliant creation, torn between doing the right thing and not caring because she doesn't really have anything to live for. Although this is a heartbreaking book in many ways, there is dry humour too and Levin does a really great job at conveying Janet's inner feelings, especially about Colin, whilst simultaneously giving the reader the fuller picture of Janet's rather cheerless life.
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I found this a very easy book to get into and stay with. It kept me interested and the pace never flagged at all. I was engrossed in Janet's story and longing for her to get rid of Colin and get on with her life. It's beautifully written, sad yet hopeful, and I absolutely LOVED the ending. I really enjoyed this thought-provoking story with its fabulous cast of characters and Janet's moral dilemma at its heart. I shall now start looking forward to book three!
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Thank you to @libraryofchlo for the proof copy of the book and the place on the tour.
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#bookreview #IfILetYouGo #heartbreakingreads #ilovebooks #booksofinsta #readersofinsta #booklover #fictionbooks #fiction #bookish #fictionlover #shortbookandscribes

Ad/PR product. #PublicationDay Spotlight: The Girl

Ad/PR product. #PublicationDay Spotlight: The Girl Who Dared to Dream by Diney Costeloe.
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This book is published today by Aria and for those who love historical fiction and sagas, like me, it sounds absolutely wonderful.
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Synopsis:
In London in 1912, Mabel Oakley and her family are typical of their time. Her father Andrew is a solicitor, her mother Alice keeps the home fires burning and her brothers plan to become skilled apprentices. Mabel would rather die than go into domestic service like her cousin, and is determined to train as a secretary.

But one February morning, a terrible tragedy strikes Andrew on the way to work and the lives of the Oakley family are forever changed. Swallowing her pride, Mabel takes on a position as a maid and finds it every bit as unpleasant as she expected. But when help comes from an unexpected direction, Mabel finds her dreams might not be lost after all.
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You can get a copy of #TheGirlWhoDaredToDream in paperback, eBook and audiobook. I'm really looking forward to reading my copy. Thank you @ariafiction!
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#bookspotlight #historicalfiction #sagafiction #sagabooks #historicalfictionlover #histfic #20thcenturyfiction #booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #historicalfictionofinstagram #sagasofinstagram #booklove #dineycosteloe #bookish #shortbookandscribes

Ad/PR product. New review: A Good House for Childr

Ad/PR product. New review: A Good House for Children by Kate Collins. Published tomorrow by Serpent's Tail.
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The Reeve, a grand house on a cliff top in Dorset, welcomes families to live in it. It seems like A Good House for Children, with space to play and to grow. In this dual timeline story we learn that there is more to The Reeve than meets the eye.
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In 2018, Orla and her husband, Nick, along with their children, Sam and Bridie, have moved to the house. Orla didn’t really want to move from Bristol but is persuaded by Nick that it will be good for the children and also an opportunity for Orla to get back to her work as a painter. More than 40 years earlier, in 1976, Lydia has moved to The Reeve as a nanny to four children.
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Both women find the house has a strange and unsettling effect on them. They see and hear things that are impossible to explain and they, and the children, start to behave differently and at times, peculiarly. It is as though the house has tendrils that grow from it and stealthily envelop whoever lives there, insinuating its way into their minds and bodies.
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I came to this book primarily because of the house and because I enjoy dual timeline stories. I stayed for the incredible writing, the mesmerising story and the compelling characters. It’s clear from the beginning that the house is a character in its own right and it unnerved me as I read the parallel tales of Orla and Lydia and the house’s effect on them. I don’t want to give anything away but the way the two narratives were woven together absolutely thrilled and fascinated me.
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A Good House for Children is a tremendous debut from Kate Collins. It’s thoroughly immersive, not just the sinister atmosphere of the house but also the day to day details of the characters’ lives. I found myself so entranced by them all and I thought the story as a whole was perfectly told, linking the everyday and the extraordinary to great effect. I honestly loved this book and I can’t wait to see what comes next from Collins.
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Thank you to the publishers for the proof copy of the book.

February Reads 📚 Only seven this month but it's

February Reads
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Only seven this month but it's a short month and it's been a busy month too. Some excellent books here though. Have you read any of them?
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#booksread #februaryreads #februaryreads2023 #febryary2023reads #AGoodHouseForChildren #CallOfThePenguins #TheSilenceProject #TheGarnettGirls #TheVintageShop #ThisCouldBeEverything #TheInstitution #shortbookandscribes

Ad/PR product. Welcome to Day 1 of The Insta-tutio

Ad/PR product.
Welcome to Day 1 of The Insta-tution.
Enter at your own risk.
Leave if you can. 😱
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New review: The Institution by Helen Fields. Published by Avon on 2nd March.
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When I read The Shadow Man I was really hoping for another book featuring Dr Connie Woolwine, a fiercely clever forensic profiler, and here it is. The Institution is a locked-room mystery with terror and a cloying sense of claustrophobia at its core.
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Connie is taken to the remote and isolated towers of The Institution by helicopter to work undercover in a place occupied by some of the most dangerous serial killers. Her task is to discover who killed Nurse Tara Cameron and stole her baby, and time is running out. Connie's own past is working against her though, and that plus the suspicion of the staff and patients makes her job an extremely difficult one.
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As always, Helen Fields drops the reader right into the action and the momentum never lets up. The finer details of Tara's death, and the information Connie finds out about the patients' crimes, are shocking and disturbing. Being thrust straight into The Institution offered me a parallel view to that of Connie, hitting the ground running, but it also meant that I felt like I had a bit of settling in of my own to do. Once I had (and it happened quickly) I found this book hard to put down. I had a few ideas as to the killer but honestly, it could have been anyone in that place.
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Fields is a superb writer and a master plotter. Connie is an amazing heroine and I found her psychological insights fascinating. The Institution itself is steeped in menace and as the story progresses the insidious sensation just grows and grows. There are quite a few hairy moments! This is a fabulously dark and sinister, totally gripping read. More Connie Woolwine please.
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Thank you to the publishers for the proof and finished copies of the book.
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#bookreview
#TheInstitution #TheInstatution #crimethriller #psychologicalthriller #thrillerfiction #thrillerbooks #thrillersofinstagram #crimeseries #thrillerseries #ilovebooks #booklover #lovereading #lovebooks #crimebooks #crimefiction #shortbookandscribes

New review: Call of the Penguins by Hazel Prior.
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I loved Away With the Penguins, the first story to feature Veronica McCreedy and her adventures with penguins, so I was really looking forward to reading the sequel, Call of the Penguins, in which Veronica has even more adventures with penguins.
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This time she’s not going to Antarctica but to the Falkland Islands to make a television programme with Sir Robert Saddlebow, the fictional equivalent of Sir David Attenborough. She takes Daisy with her, the young daughter of her grandson’s friend, and it’s quite a trip for both of them. Throw into the mix Patrick, Veronica’s grandson, and his girlfriend, Terry, who live and work together on Locket Island, the scene of Veronica’s original encounter with penguins, plus Eileen, Veronica’s long-suffering housekeeper, and all the cast are back together. It’s by no means an easy time for any of them but this is ultimately feel-good fiction and it was an absolute delight to read.
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Hazel Prior gets the balance of humour just right against serious issues of illness, family discoveries and environmental issues. I laughed out loud many times at Veronica’s sharp tongue and her very precise way of speaking and thinking. The settings of Veronica’s home in Scotland and the fictional islands in Antarctica and the Falklands are portrayed beautifully and of course, once again, the penguin stars of the story are absolutely charming.
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I loved the relationship between Daisy and Veronica, the youngest and oldest characters, and the joy they brought to each other. I also really enjoyed the subplot regarding Patrick and his quest for the truth about his origins and his childhood. All in all, Call of the Penguins gave me a lot of pleasure to read. I’ve now read all three books by this author and I’m very much looking forward to reading her next book, Life and Otter Miracles well it's published in May.
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#bookreview #CallOfThePenguins #feelgoodreads #feelgoodfiction #feelgoodbooks #penguins #falklands #falklandsislands #booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #ilovebooks #lovereading #booklover #fictionbooks #booksread #shortbookandscribes

Ad/PR product. New review: This Could be Everythin

Ad/PR product. New review: This Could be Everything by Eva Rice. Published by Simon and Schuster and out now.
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It’s 1990 and February Kingdom (what a fabulous name!) is 19, just a few years older than I was at the same time, and the scene is set perfectly, taking me back to the days of the Sony Walkman and trying desperately to record the Top 40 countdown onto a cassette tape.
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February’s short life has been beset by tragedy at every turn, losing her parents and later her twin sister in terrible circumstances. Understandably, everyday life is difficult to cope with now and she hasn’t been out for months. Could a little yellow bird and a boy named Theo be enough to help her carry on?
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This is very much a character-driven plot and the characters are well-written, fascinating and larger-than-life creations that I really enjoyed reading about. There’s a subplot featuring February’s aunt and uncle and I think Ann, the aunt having something of an awakening of her own, was possibly my favourite character of all, along with the rather special Theo. I also loved Plato, a would-be pop star, and a cameo appearance by Michael Hutchence was such a thrill. The music storylines transported me right back to the 90s and the days of excitedly flicking through the new issue of Smash Hits for my latest heartthrob. It’s such an evocative read in so many ways.
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This is not my first Eva Rice, in fact I’ve been reading her since her first book, Standing Room Only. I’ve always enjoyed her quite wistful and whimsical style of writing, combined with the way she completely transports me to another time or place, or way of living. This Could be Everything is a sad read in many ways, but it left me feeling ultimately full of hope for February’s future. Some very clever plot developments that I never saw coming but which made perfect sense once they were revealed, coupled with the dynamics between the characters, make this a charming read.
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Thank you to the publishers for the proof copy of the book.
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Ad/PR product. New review: The Vintage Shop of Sec

Ad/PR product. New review: The Vintage Shop of Second Chances by Libby Page. Published by Orion tomorrow!
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I’ve loved all of Libby Page’s previous books but I think she has excelled herself with The Vintage Shop of Second Chances and this is my favourite of them all.
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Lou has returned to her home town of Frome in Somerset. At first it was to look after her ill mother but now she’s decided to stay and has opened a vintage clothing shop. She’s lonely though and a chance meeting with Maggy gives her the opportunity of a new friendship. Maggy is embarking on life as a divorcee after 50 years and feels a bit directionless. The other main character is Donna, a New Yorker who finds she has a link to a yellow dress that is displayed in Lou’s shop.
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Libby Page writes female friendships so well and the three women do become firm friends. This is such an uplifting book, full of joy and comradeship. From the moment I started reading I was completely hooked. It’s such an easy book to read and enjoy and yet there’s plenty of depth in the characters’ personal situations. How do you start again at 70? How do you return to your childhood home town and deal with life on your own? How do you cope when everything you thought you knew is thrown up in the air?
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I follow Libby Page on social media and recognise so much that she writes about in the pages of this novel. Her love of vintage fashion and Frome absolutely shines through and I was totally sold on the beauties of the town. I don’t know anything about vintage clothing but each piece was brought to life and my imagination was captured by the shop and all the items in it.
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I adored The Vintage Shop of Second Chances. The characters are all so lovely and the plot (not just the friendship between the three women but what actually brings them together) is utterly charming. This book is like a ray of sunshine – glorious, cheering and enriching. I loved it.
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Thank you to the publishers for the proof package.

Happy #valentinesday 💖💘 #valentinesdaybooks

Happy #valentinesday 💖💘

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Ad/PR product. New review: The Garnett Girls by Ge

Ad/PR product. New review: The Garnett Girls by Georgina Moore. Published by HQ on 16th February.
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The Garnett Girls: Rachel, Imogen and Sasha, and their glamorous social butterfly mother, Margo. There’s something rather timeless and classic about them all. Margo holds court over all who come into contact with her at Sandcove, the family home on the Isle of Wight. To an extent, her daughters live a little in her shadow but each tries to forge their own lives with Rachel apparently the most together of them all, Imogen drifting a little, and Sasha trapped in her marriage. And looming over them all is their father, Richard, missing from all of their lives for so long, and the spectre of the great all-encompassing love that he and Margo shared (I imagined a sort of Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton scenario).
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It’s clear the author has a great love for the island. She writes about it so evocatively and brings it to life between the pages. Not all of the action takes place there but it’s the hub of the family and they’re always drawn back there, along with others collected along the way, and despite the ups and downs that they experience there’s such a bond between them all which oozes warmth and clannish intimacy.
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Fractures do start to formulate during the course of the story, not least because of a secret that Margo has kept from the girls, and for a while they’re all at odds with each other. This is a novel about the delicacies and intricacies of family life, and forgiveness. I couldn’t help but like Margo with her magnetic allure, especially to men. I liked the ‘girls’ too, particularly reliable and strong Rachel, and I really enjoyed the sections with languid friend of the family, Jonny, as well.
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Georgina Moore’s debut is assured and well-written, with a gorgeous setting and interesting characters, and it put me in mind of the TV series The Split in terms of characterisations and family dynamics. The invisible thread that ties families together whilst sometimes also tearing them apart is portrayed perfectly. I look forward to seeing what comes next.
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Thank you to the publishers and author for the proof package.

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