Christmas Under a Cranberry Sky - Holly Martin

About the book...

Piper Chesterfield lives a glamorous life travelling the world and reviewing the finest hotels. She calls nowhere home, she works alone and that’s how she likes it. For long ago Piper decided that to protect her heart she should lock it away.

So when Piper’s next assignment brings her to the newly opened Stardust Lake Hotel for the festive season, the last person she expects to face is Gabe Whitaker, the man who broke her heart so completely she could never love again.

But Piper isn’t the only one who has been frozen in time by heartbreak. Gabe hasn’t forgotten the golden-eyed girl who disappeared from his world without a trace.

Now fate has reunited them on Juniper island, can the magic of Christmas heal old wounds? And can this enchanting town be the one place Piper can finally call home? 

Curl up with this gorgeously romantic tale and let the glistening snow and the roaring fires of Stardust Lake Hotel get you in the festive spirit this Christmas.

About the author...

I studied media at university which led to a very glitzy career as a hotel receptionist followed by a even more glamorous two years working in a bank. The moment that one of my colleagues received the much coveted carriage clock for fifteen years service was the moment when I knew I had to escape. I quit my job and returned to university to train to be a teacher. Three years later, I emerged wide eyed and terrified that I now had responsibility for the development of thirty young minds. I taught for four years before History Off The Page came to my school to do a Tudor day. I now drive round the country in my little white van, dressing up as a Viking one day and an Egyptian High Priestess the next. 

I love to write. The characters do exactly what I want them to do, most of the time. Sometimes they do seem to go off and do their own thing without my permission. It is complete escapism into a world where I have full control.I've been writing for four years now, every spare second I have, I'm scribbling ideas in a notebook or typing a scene on my laptop. I have written three romantic fiction books. Changing Casanova and The Chainsaw Masquerade were recently shortlisted for the Festival of Romance New Talent Award. My short story, One Hundred Proposals, won the Belinda Jones Travel Club short story competition and was published in the Sunlounger anthology

My thoughts...

I was given an ecopy of this book by Bookouture, Holly's publisher in exchange for an honest review, something I'm more than happy to do.

From the very first page I knew I was going to love this book.  Piper, the main female character in Christmas Under a Cranberry Sky is a hotel Inspector - traveling the world, writing reviews about the hotels she visits; both good and bad.  She'd already decided after her assignment to the Stardust Lake Hotel on Juniper Island that she would be taking a sabbatical - having some time out to re-think her life and re-charge her batteries. 

Imagine her surprise when she arrives and finds that the hotel and resort is owned by her first love Gabe Whittaker.  A relationship that ended because of misunderstandings and things both said and unsaid.  Pip is there as an undercover reporter to review this new hotel and business.  She has some hard decisions to make as she feels her position as undercover reviewer will compromise the tentative new friendship/relationship she and Gabe easily fall into - it's like the years in-between have never happened.  He of course doesn't know she is an under cover reporter. 

I really don't know how Holly has done but I feel she has crawled into my mind and stolen my dreams.  If I could have any job in the world I'd be a hotel inspector and my dream holiday destination would be a log cabin, in the woods, surrounded by snow, drinking hot chocolate or mulled wine in front of a roaring log fire.  Add christmas - my favourite time of the year, twinkly lights, a christmas village and beautiful glass igloos and I was totally sold!

Holly's descriptions are so vivid I was sucked straight into the setting and love story (both old and new) of Gabe and Pip.  From the journey to Juniper Island, the location and the preparations for the resort opening, the time of year, the characters.  I loved it all. This truly is a perfect slice of deliciousness - a dream like book that totally melted my heart. I oohed and ahed with every chapter. I've told everybody who will listen, this book is not just a nice christmas book - it's special, perfect in every way possible christmas book and to top it all there is a second follow on book available later this month.

I'm hoping that Holly will tell me this place is real and not just fictional - I'm totally sold and would book a visit in a heart beat.  

Thank you Holly - I can't wait for Christmas Under a Starlit Sky where some of the secondary characters in this book come to the fore to tell their story, still set in this dream location.

All fall Down - Tom Bale

About the book...

You tried to save a life. Now you’re fighting to save your own.

It’s the perfect Sunday. Summer sunshine, a barbecue with the kids.
But a knock on the garden gate and two words, ‘HELP ME’, changes everything.

When loving parents Rob and Wendy Turner let a dying man into their home, and do their best to help him, they think pure chance led him to their house. But soon their lives are threatened in ways they could never have imagined … and then the first anonymous letter arrives, forcing them to question all they know.

Someone is watching.
Someone is waiting.
They will stop at nothing.

Rob and Wendy will do anything to keep their family safe, but their children Georgia, Josh and Evan are teenagers now, with their own hidden lives.

Everyone has secrets, but how can you save your family, if you don’t really know them? 

Buy Links:

UK: http://amzn.to/1UjqDJf

US: http://amzn.to/25BFYN7 

About the author...

Tom Bale decided that he wanted to be an author from the age of seven but, after another career got in the way, it wasn’t until much later that his dream was fulfilled.  After several books with Random House, Tom signed with Bookouture for two stunning ‘everyman’ thrillers.

Read more about the author: www.tombale.net

My thoughts...

I am hugely, honoured to be part of the blog tour for this book, All Fall Down by Tom Bale.  I received an ecopy from Bookouture Tom's publisher in exchange for an honest review which I'm more than happy to give.

All Fall Down is the second novel I have read by Tom Bale and most definitely won't be the last.  I don't know how he does it - he's a family man and he has managed to manifest every parents worst nightmares onto paper, almost like if they are out there and shared they could never happen - could they?  His graphic attention to detail is stomach churning and heart attack inducing.  Once again he has feared me half to death, made me sick with suspense and still I kept turning the pages - although I have to admit I started this book whilst eating my salad one lunchtime at work and had to switch to a christmas story I felt so ill and all within the first few pages.

Sunday is the archetypical day, a day for families, a summer bbq in the garden.  But, for the Turners it's the day when their lives as they know them implodes. A knocking on the garden gate and a whispered plea for help reveals a brutally attacked man - why is he at their gate and who attacked him?  Surely nothing to do with their family and his arrival just a random circumstance of chance.  Think again!

This was an incredible book that I found myself compulsively reading. I read faster and slower as the pace of the story ebbed and flowed.  As Tom peels back the layers of the story, me as well as the Turner family get more than a little jumpy with the thought, then knowledge that somebody is watching them, someone has lit the touch paper and is sitting back waiting for the explosion.  Tom builds the tension as the family question first themselves, then each other it becomes apparent that there is more to each of the characters than was originally portrayed.  Rob and Wendy are keeping secrets from each other and their children and their three teenage children Georgia, Josh and Evan are no different. 

I'm not quite sure how he does it but reading a book by Tom Bale makes me sick to the stomach, the adrenalin pumping around my veins and still I go back for more. He knows how to pack a punch and doesn't hold back - All Fall Down was every bit as good as See How They Run.  Another book that left me physically drained, feeling like I'd run the race of my live.  I can only thank God it was 'just a book' and not my life really!

No Turning back - Tracy Buchanan

About the book...

You’d kill to protect your child – wouldn’t you?

When radio presenter Anna Graves and her baby are attacked on the beach by a crazed teenager, Anna reacts instinctively to protect her daughter.

But her life falls apart when the schoolboy dies from his injuries. The police believe Anna’s story, until the autopsy results reveal something more sinister.

A frenzied media attack sends Anna into a spiral of self-doubt. Her precarious mental state is further threatened when she receives a chilling message from someone claiming to be the ‘Ophelia Killer’, responsible for a series of murders twenty years ago.

Is Anna as innocent as she claims? And is murder forgivable, if committed to save your child’s life…? 

About the author...

Tracy Buchanan is a web journalist and producer who lives in Milton Keynes with her husband, their little girl and their one-eyed Jack Russell. 

Tracy travelled extensively while working as a travel magazine editor, sating the wanderlust she developed while listening to her Sri Lankan grandparents’ childhood stories – the same wanderlust that now inspires her writing. 

Find out more about author Tracy Buchanan

Web Page: Tracy Buchanan
Twitter: @TracyBuchanan

My thoughts...

I was given a copy of No Turning Back by Harper Collins, Tracy Buchanan's publishers in exchange for an honest review something I'm more than happy to do.

Wow, where to begin?  This was a real page turner and captured my imagination from the very first few pages.  Tracy's perception of life, bitterness, jealousy and shear shocking horror is so vivid my heart beat faster for practically the whole book.  

The story begins as Anna returns to work from maternity leave to her job as presenter co-hosting a radio chat show, featuring hard hitting, gritting phone-ins.  A job she loves and is good at.  Tracy captures the emotions perfectly - the dead on your feet barely functioning aspect of any new mother returning to work who see-saws between wanting to be at home with her child and needing to be back at work for herself.  Add to that she has recently become a single parent and is facing the spiteful jealousy of a bitter colleague.  Oooh how I loathed Heather from the very first words she uttered!   

At the end of that first day back at work, Anna is exhausted but glad to be getting back to work.  She takes her customary, nightly walk over the beach out to the lighthouse, owned by her grandparents to say goodnight to her beloved grandfather who's life ended, tragically on the rocks beneath it.  Heading for home, Anna and daughter Joni encounter a situation that proves to be life changing.  Not just for them but a whole community.  A community that was rocked on it's heels twenty years ago is once again facing tragedy so awful it's unthinkable, literally everybody touched by it but none more so than Anna.

It was at this point that I thought OMG - I can't read this, the storyline had just taken a dramatic turn, it was shocking and rocked my equilibrium.  The sun was shining and I had turned one page too many into a dark, twisted place with no where to run.  It was so close to the beginning of the book I knew it had to get worse before it could get better and boy did it!

Tracy Buchanan is without doubt one of the best writers I've read that can write in such a shocking way, yet you're compelled to read on - I felt like I was living Anna's world, I really was the fly on the wall - seeing and hearing everything, my heart rose and fell in total sync with the tempo of the book and so many times I wished I could un-read the words.  But for me, the brilliance was in Anna's inner voice, the conversations in her head that play out as thought processes as she decides what to say, who to trust, what to do  Nobody really seems to listen or understand. 

No Turning Back has clearly been researched to a tee.  Tracy has demonstrated through media and that of a small community how word of mouth and the written word can twist and turn what was actually said or done.  Public opinion changing in a blink of an eye. 

Anna's strength of character comes across - many would have crumbled with all that she has to face and the support she gets or doesn't get is surprising. The characters in this book aren't always likeable and in fact aren't always what they seem.  She doesn't know who to trust or who to turn to - her sole focus is that of a mother, the lion like nature kicking in, facing demons far worse than she ever thought possible in her pursuit of the truth.

In case you haven't guessed, I absolutely loved this book and highly recommend it - it's a psychological thriller with a plot that is so intricacy woven it will leave you guessing right until the end.  So many times I had my theories blown like dandelion clocks in the wind and when the answers come with the end of the book you like me will sit back open mouthed and words will fail you - a book with an unthinkable storyline running through it that will make you sit back and be thankful it was just a book, it's not real - yet it so easily could be!

Tracy, thank you - such a vivid, capturing book that will stay with me for a long time to come.

We”ll Always Have Paris - Sue Watson

Is it ever too late for a second chance at first love?

About the book… 

A charming, moving second-chance love story for fans of Thursdays in the Park, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Last Tango in Halifax.

Does first love deserve a second chance?

When she was almost seventeen, Rosie Draper locked eyes with a charismatic student called Peter during their first week at art college, changing the course of her life forever. Now, on the cusp of sixty-five and recently widowed, Rosie is slowly coming to terms with a new future. And after a chance encounter with Peter, forty-seven years later, they both begin to wonder ‘what if’ . . .

Told with warmth, wit and humour, We’ll Always Have Paris is a charming, moving and uplifting novel about two people; the choices they make, the lives they lead and the love they share.

Buy Links: 

Amazon: We’ll Always Have Paris

About the Author...

Sue Watson was a journalist on women's magazines and national newspapers before working in a career in TV where she was a producer with the BBC. She has published six novels, her most well-known being Love, Lies and Lemon Cake. Originally from Manchester, Sue now lives in the Midlands and writes full time.

Contact Links: 

Twitter: @suewatsonwriter

Website: www.suewatsonbooks.com 

My thoughts…

Where to begin?  It's no secret how much I love Sue Watson and her writing - she has characters that are engaging and so very true to life. Stories that provide the perfect amount of escapism but you don't have to totally suspend belief - they're realistic, touching and heart warming with a generous helping of fun and laughter to counter balance the more serious aspects.

We'll Always Have Paris is a story packed tightly with love, family. friendship, and hope.  It's about a family drifting through each day without a rudder to guide them.  Mike, husband to Rosie, father to daughters Anna and Isobel passed away, taken by the dreadful curse that is cancer; just six short weeks after diagnosis.  

Married for over forty years Rosie is struggling to get back to normal.  A year has passed and she realises that she has to start to regain some normality in her life, to do things for herself and begin living again.  She goes back to work in the florist shop she owns and runs with her daughters.  She finds just being out of the house is a big enough step for her to begin with - the thought of facing everyones sympathy face to face is too much so she takes a role in the background preparing the flowers for a big wedding.

A chance meeting whilst accompanying Anna to deliver the wedding flowers with a man, who as a teenager was the love of her life literally knocks Rosie for six. Peter is equally reeling, they haven't seen each other for over 40 years.

I can only imagine the tug of love played out in Rosie's mind as she was drawn to Peter and the 'perfect' memories of teenage love, then the heart stopping guilt because she feels she shouldn't be happy because the man she married is dead.  After all she's a widow and is still grieving.  Feeling immense guilt because she loved Mike, but he wasn't the love of her life. That was Peter, something Mike always knew but he still loved and cherished her all the same.  

The more I read of this book the more entranced I became.  Through this book Sue demonstrates how grief and grieving is a process.  There isn't a rule book and it can also be a positive thing.  Somehow, grief can empower people, giving purpose, focus as a result of reflection - this was certainly the case for Rosie.  

Grief affects us in different ways and takes differing amounts of time for people to come to terms with their loss. The wanting and needing to move on versus the guilt for being the one left behind enjoying life is all too apparent as Rosie struggles with her inner self.  At the same time she also has to consider the feelings of her daughters.   They're so busy looking out for their mother their own grief is on hold.  It's a complete role reversal that though well meant, in the end comes across as patronising - they have become the parent and she Rosie, the child.  

Through Rosie Sue demonstrates how we often look back at life through rose tinted glasses, remembering the good bits and erasing from our memories the worst bits.  It's easy to forget that young people have fewer commitments and don't often look beyond the here and now so everything was perfect then. Peter's re-arrival in Rosie's life is the catalyst, the turning point for Rosie.  When shrouded in grief she could only see herself as a widow.  With Peter back in her life, a friend to share happy memories with she finds the strength and begins the process of taking control of her life, stepping back into the shoes of her other roles.  That of Mother, grandmother and daughter. Connecting with her daughters on a much closer level, sharing her past and the events in her life that have shaped her. 

We'll Always Have Paris has a strong storyline that each and everyone of us can relate to.  It has family at the heart of it, led by a mother who always has her children's best interest at heart. The connection and understanding between mothers and daughters not always evident until they too become parents and face the same challenges - loving and protecting them, making decisions based upon experience. The older characters were perfect for this story about reflection, the dynamics of family life and taking second chances - with age comes maturity and understanding.  We all, I'm sure, can remember a time when we couldn't understand our parents reasoning and thought they was just being deliberately mean or awkward but as mature adults, perhaps as parents ourselves suddenly 'see the light' and get it.  It's a book that highlights the need to take chances, to live your dreams as we only have one life after all - life is too short and we shouldn't lose sight of our own hopes and aspirations whilst nurturing those of the people closest to us - it is still possible to achieve them whilst helping others achieve their own. Grief shouldn't be, but is often is the thing that gives us a kick up the bum to live our lives a little fuller.

I just loved this book, it's taken me three hours to try to put into words how much I loved it and I'm still not happy, I haven't done it justice.   It's such a thought provoking, reflective story told from the heart.  I smiled and savoured the raspberry macaroons - thank you Sue! Whilst at the same time laughing to myself as I thought about the many texts I receive off my daughter on a weekly basis, checking up on me - asking me where I am, what time I'll be home and telling me to ring when I arrive somewhere.  I'm not quite sure when I became the child and my daughter the mother but it has slowly happened in this house too!

The Skeletons of Scarborough House - Kitty French

About the book...

An absolutely hilarious, totally entertaining, spookily sexy read that you won't be able to put down!

Life’s tricky for Melody Bittersweet. She’s single, she's addicted to sugar and super heroes, her family are officially bonkers and ... she sees dead people. Is it any wonder no-one’s swiping right on Tinder? 

Waking up lonely on her twenty-seventh birthday, Melody finally snaps. She can’t carry on basing all of her life decisions on the advice of her magic 8 ball; things have got to change. 

Fast forward two months, and she’s now the proud proprietor of her very own ghostbusting agency – kind of like in the movies but without the dodgy white jumpsuits. She’s also flirting with her ex Leo Dark, fraternising with her sexy enemy in alleyways, and she’s somehow ended up with a pug called Lestat. 

Life just went from dull to dynamite and it’s showing no sign of slowing up anytime soon. Melody’s been hired to clear Scarborough House of its incumbent ghosts, there’s the small matter of a murder to solve, and then there are the two very handsome, totally inappropriate men hoping to distract her from the job… 

Welcome to Chapelwick, home of the brand new and hilarious Girls Ghostbusting Agency series, where things really do go bump in the night. 

About the author...

Kitty French lives in the Black Country with her husband, two young sons and two crazy cats. She’s a lover of all things romantic - songs, music, and most of all, books. 

Her USA Today best-selling Lucien Knight series topped the erotic chart on both sides of the pond, and she also writes romantic comedy as Kat French for Avon, HarperCollins. She's over the moon to join Bookouture with her brand new paranormal romantic comedy series, Melody Bittersweet and the Girls Ghostbusting Agency.

My thoughts...

I was given an ecopy of this book by Kim at Bookouture, Kitty French's publishers, in exchange for a review on the final day of Kitty's Blog Tour.  Where to begin, Kim told me way back she'd read an absolutely amazing book and I should read it 'you'll love it' she said.  Love isn't a strong enough word!  This book was an absolute delight - I found myself laughing out loud and sitting with a stupid grin on my face from the very first page.

Melody Bittersweet was born into a 'different' family to say the least - her grandmother, mother and herself all live and work together with dead people - they all have the gift? Affliction? of seeing ghosts.  

Melody is single, addicted to chocolate and cakes and reaches a crossroads in her life on her twenty seventh birthday - time to flee the coop and strike out on her own setting up her own business.  Her mother and grandmother need ghosts to pass on messages, find lost items and generally comfort people.  Melody decides she's going to be a modern day ghostbuster - getting rid of unwanted ghosts and desperately seeks the blessing of her family.   

And so begins Melody Bittersweet and the Ghostbusting Girls - well girls and one boy! Melody is joined in business by a whole host of characters that can only be described as a bag of revels - each one completely different - love them or not they compliment each other perfectly.  There's best friend Marina, Glenda part-time office manager to herself and her mother, Babs the company vehicle with more than a little character and Artie - the member of staff she didn't know she needed until she had a message from his dead father. 

This has got to be one of the best feel good books I've read in a long time.  Different to anything else I've read with colourful, vibrant characters that play off each other.  Each and every chapter is filled with humour, fun and laughter alongside a murder mystery with a difference and a little bit of romance thrown in for good measure.  Kitty French really has used artistic licence in writing this book and to find out it's part of a series is just brilliant.  Doctors should prescribe this book as the perfect, tongue in cheek tonic that wouldn't fail to lift even the lowest spirits - no pun intended :D.  

Until the next time...... thank you Kitty.

My Girl - Jack Jordan

About the book...

Paige Dawson: the mother of a murdered child and wife to a dead man.  She has nothing left to live for… until she finds her husband’s handgun hidden in their house. Why did Ryan need a gun? What did he know about their daughter’s death? 

Desperate for the truth, Paige begins to unearth her husband’s secrets. But she has no idea who she is up against, or that her life isn’t hers to gamble – she belongs to me. 

From the bestselling author of Anything for Her, Jack Jordan's My Girl is the new chilling thriller that you won't want to miss.

About the author...
Jack Jordan lives in East Anglia, England. He describes himself as an introvert disguised as an extrovert, an intelligent person who can say very unintelligent things, and a self-confessed bibliomaniac with more books than sense. 

Author of Anything for Her and My Girl.

I love connecting with other readers, so don't hesitate to add me as a friend. Let's talk books! :-)

My thoughts...
I was given an ecopy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review, something which I am more than happy to do.

Where to begin? This is a shocking tale of a woman, Paige who thinks life can't get any worse - her daughter was murdered at fourteen identified by her fingers found in a river but with no body to bury, the case still unsolved and a husband who committed suicide in the bath. Paige is lurching from day to day in a drunken stupor, surviving on wine, fags and prescription drugs. For what reason she doesn't know - her life really is not worth living.

I read this book in an afternoon at sea, a relaxing holiday read it was not but, I was literally glued to the pages. There were times when I wanted to put the book down but that was never going to happen - My Girl was intensely gripping. 

Jack's descriptions of both people and scenario's was superb.  The characters complex and haunting.  Paige a shell of a person, nothing left of her but a bleeding heart, needing something/someone to drag her out of the abyss. To her mother-in-law with her brittle, biting her lip calm like manner unable to reach Paige and feeling her own pain which she was holding in check - just. Then there was Paige's homely, but emotionally crushed father.  I could have wrapped my arms around him, I visualised his sad, woeful eyes knowing he was as crushed as Paige but not able to shake her out of slump. Maxim her older brother, sitting quietly on the sidelines, bailing her out when necessary, reading her the riot act and retreating until the next time. Their mannerisms and actions played like a cinema reel across my eyes as I read.  

There are twists and turns in this book that are shockingly graphic and highly emotive with the major twist causing a jaw dropping OHHHHHHHH.  I literally never saw that coming and didn't want to deal with it when it did.  If you think Paige is living in hell at the beginning of the book by Part II you'll despair, my stomach literally dropped.  

Jack Jordan hooked me with his synopsis and reeled me in with the story - he is definitely an author to look out for. I'm still reeling now a month after reading it and can honestly say nothing I've read recently has come close to this.  I highly recommend Jack Jordan and My Girl - utterly brilliant and powerfully shocking.  What's next Jack?

How to Find Love in a Bookshop - Veronica Henry

About the book...

Nightingale Books, nestled on the high street in the idyllic Cotswold town of Peasebrook, is a dream come true for booklovers. But owner Emilia Nightingale is struggling to keep the shop open. The temptation to sell up is proving enormous - but what about the promise she made to her father? Not to mention the loyalty she owes to her customers. 

Sarah Basildon, owner of stately home Peasebrook Manor, has used the bookshop as an escape from all her problems in the past few years. But is there more to her visits than meets the eye? Since messing up his marriage, Jackson asks Emilia for advice on books to read to the son he misses so much. But Jackson has a secret, and is not all he seems... 

And there’s Tomasina, painfully shy, who runs a pop-up restaurant from her tiny cottage. She has a huge crush on a man she met and then lost in the cookery section, somewhere between Auguste Escoffier and Marco Pierre White. Can she find the courage to admit her true feelings? 

How to Find Love in a Bookshop is the delightful story of Emilia’s fight to keep her bookshop alive, the customers whose lives she has touched - and the books they all love. 

Published in Hardback by Orion Books 16th June 2016, £12.99. Also available in ebook and audio. 

About the author...

Veronica Henry has worked as a scriptwriter for THE ARCHERS, HEARTBEAT and HOLBY CITY amongst many others, before turning to fiction. She won the 2014 RNA NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD for A NIGHT ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS. Veronica lives on the coast in North Devon with her sons. 

For more information on Veronica Henry 

Visit her website www.veronicahenry.co.uk

Follow Veronica on Twitter @veronica_henry

See Veronica’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/veronica- henry author 

My thoughts...

I was offered a copy of How to Find Love In a Bookshop in exchange for an honest review by Elaine Egan, Publicity Manager at Orion Books, something which I am more than happy to do.

This was a touching book that was a pleasure to read.  Emilia, finds herself alone with big decisions to make.  Her father, Julius was a single parent to Emilia and his love of books and their ability to soothe and enlighten was a gift which he passed onto his daughter. Sadly, How to Find Love In a Bookshop begins with the death of Julius and the reality that Nightingale Books is now Emilia's responsibility, bringing with it problems and the one person who she always leant on and sought advice from - gone.

Nightingale Books is a responsibility that she wants to take up but when the reality of the challenge facing her is presented in black and white it becomes a challenge that may be that step too far.

Veronica sensitively conveys Emilia's feelings and her grief, that was at times all consuming.   I really felt for Emilia as she dealt with the huge tug of love that was Nightingale Books.  She realises the bookshop is struggling financially but initially not quite how bad. Grief is a terrible thing that effects us all differently and for Emilia the yo-yoing between decisions is made harder when she arranges a memorial service for her father and practically the whole community wants to take part. The emotional strain of dealing with the desire to keep the bookshop open for her fathers sake, but realising it appears to be a hopeless case so she should sell up is all too evident.  

Emilia slowly begins to realise that perhaps she isn't all alone.  The love and genuine support given and received by Julius and subsequently Emilia was evident with each and every character introduced to us.   Nightingale Books really was at the heart of Peasebrook and to close it down would be like ripping the heart out of the community.   I felt strongly that Emilia should keep it open and willed her on with each chapter.  Every time I thought she had made a positive decision to stay open something would happen to change her mind and I genuinely felt saddened by this.  

I loved this story, at times it was sad and I felt quite emotional but at others found it to be an uplifting read that made me smile and wish for the chance to walk through the doors of Nightingale Books. The descriptions were so vivid I could smell the books and see myself stroking the spines as I chose my next read, wanting to be a part of a community that has a bookshop playing a pivotal part in the community.   Thank you so much for this beautiful read.