Love more Reads

Caitlin's life is a mess. Her marriage to a man everyone else thinks is perfect has collapsed, along with her self-esteem, and breaking free seems the only option.  Nancy, her four-year-old daughter, used to talk all the time; in the car, at nursery, to her brother Joel. Then her parents split up. Her daddy moves out. And Nancy stops speaking.  Nancy's Auntie Eva, recently widowed and feeling alone, apart from the companionship of two bewildered pugs, is facing a future without her husband or the dreams she gave up for him.  But when Eva agrees to host her niece and nephew once a fortnight, Caitlin and Eva are made to face the different truths about their marriages - and about what they both really want .. . I always look forward to a new book by Lucy Dillon and her covers are always so enticing and the cover of All I Ever Wanted is no exception, this will call out to you from the shelves. When Patrick accepts a job transfer it sparks the end of his marriage to Caitlin. W...

I had come across Ruby Elliot on Twitter (@Rubyetc ) with some of her drawings so when her publishers asked if I would like a copy of her new book called It’s all Absolutely Fine I jumped at the chance as it was something completely different to what I usually read and was rather intrigued. It is no secret that I battle with anxiety and depression and sometimes it is so hard to put in to words how you are feeling to someone who has been lucky enough never to have suffered but what Ruby has managed to do is draw pictures that shout a thousand words making it understandable to those who don’t understand and also making them incredibly relatable to those who have found themselves going through the dark times. Ruby has managed to take the topic of mental health and sprinkle some humour to make it a lighter read. There was one particular picture that showed how yes you can acknowledge all the things that you have achieved but instead lets focus on that tiny little thing that I messed up and...

Christmas has arrived in the town of Wynbridge and it promises mince pies, mistletoe and a whole host of seasonal joy.  Ruby has finished with university and is heading home for the holidays to save up for her trip around the world in January. Against her father’s wishes, she takes on a stall at the local market, and sets about making it the best Christmas market stall ever. There’ll be bunting and mistletoe and maybe even a bit of mulled wine. But with a new retail park just opened on their doorstep, the market is under threat. So together with all the other stallholders, Ruby devises a plan to make sure that Wynbridge is the first port of call for everyone’s Christmas shopping needs.  The only thing standing in her way is Ruby’s ex, Steve. It’s pretty hard to concentrate on saving the world when he works on the stall opposite, especially when she realises that her feelings for him are still there… Heidi Swain takes us back to Wynbridge this Christmas with her new novel Mince...

Just because you can't remember, doesn't mean you can't love . . .   Anna Forster is thirty-eight years old and has started to suffer from the early stages of Alzheimer's. She knows that her family is doing what they believe to be best when they take her to an assisted living facility. But best can still hurt. What she also knows is that there's just one other resident her age at the facility - Luke.  As her disease steals more and more of her memory, Anna fights to hold on to all that's left. What remains are her feelings for Luke. Before long the pair fall in love, despite the forces that are set against them.  But when a tragic incident occurs, Luke and Anna's families decide to separate them. There is one person at the facility who can help the pair, but only if she's willing to risk everything for them . . . The Thing we Keep is the first book I have read by Sally Hepworth and I wasn’t too sure if it was going to be my kind of book if I am completel...

Today it is my stop on the Not Just for Christmas blog tour. I'm joined by the lovely Alex who is talking to us about her love of Christmas. Countdown to Christmas I absolutely adore Christmas, from the tips of my fingers right down to my toes; snuggly encased in my Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer slippers! There’s no other part of the year like it and I throw myself into the whole affair with much enthusiasm! I try to get all of my shopping done in plenty of time, having learnt over the years that trudging through the hordes of other disorganised shoppers on Christmas Eve really isn’t the best start to the perfect festivities.    On Christmas morning, I’m like a kid in a sweet shop! I LOVE giving presents to those special people in my life, even more than getting them myself and I spend ages picking the perfect gifts. Seeing the look on their faces when they rip open the paper is the best present I could have. But the loveliest thing about Christmas is being together with ...

I have been longing to replace my poor broken kindle for over a year now. I made the mistake of purchasing the Kindle Fire which is great to use as a tablet but personally I didn't like reading on it, I found I was getting headaches and just generally didn't enjoy reading on it.  I really wanted the Paperwhite but it came with a hefty price tag. BUT IT HAS FINALLY GONE ON SALE! The Paperwhite is usually £109.99 but it has been reduced to  £79.99 You need to get in quick though as this offer is only available until Tuesday 29th November. So get your Christmas shopping started early and make someone's Christmas with a gift that just keeps giving. Click on the link below to purchase. Available in White and Black. If the Paperwhite still has a hefty price tag for you then think about the Kindle Fire which is great for people looking for a lightweight device to read on as well as having the added use of using as a tablet. The Kindle Fire is only £29.99! Making it an affordable p...

Today it is my stop on the While You Were Sleeping blog tour and I am able to share with you the Prologue to give you a little teaser of what this book has to offer....... While You Were Sleeping   By Kathryn Croft   PROLOGUE   I open my eyes and know immediately something is wrong. Nothing is familiar. The dark blinds, shutting out all but a tiny sliver of sunlight, are not mine, and neither is the black silk sheet covering my body, nor the too-soft pillow beneath my head.   This is not my bedroom.   With eyes still groggy from sleep, I rely on all my other senses to comprehend where I am, but I have no idea.   Something else is wrong.   I should be warmer than this – it was over eighty degrees yesterday evening, yet now I feel cold. And as I become more alert, it only takes a few seconds to work out why this is.   I am naked.   Forcing my eyes to focus, I squint into the darkness, and try to take in the rest of the bedroom. Everything is wh...

Today I am thrilled to be taking part in the blog tour for A Year and a Day by Isabelle Broom. This book is a perfect winter read to get you in the festive spirit on the run up to Christmas. For Megan, a winter escape to Prague with her friend Ollie is a chance to find some inspiration for her upcoming photography exhibition. But she's determined to keep their friendship from becoming anything more. Because if Megan lets Ollie find out about her past, she risks losing everything - and she won't let that happen again . . .   For Hope, the trip is a surprise treat from Charlie, her new partner. But she's struggling to enjoy the beauty of the city when she knows how angry her daughter is back home. And that it's all her fault . . .   For Sophie, the city has always been a magical place. This time she can't stop counting down the moments until her boyfriend Robin joins her. But in historic Prague you can never escape the past . . I was won over earlier in the year by My...

Amber Raey is working all the hours God sends as assistant to one of the country's top fashion designers, and her boss is a complete nightmare. But Amber has big plans for her future so, for the time being, she just has to grin and bear it. And then opportunity comes knocking and suddenly she's on the fast track to the top. Amber adores her new life, especially as she's falling in love for the first time too. But soon the glossy exterior starts to slip and Amber begins to wonder if she's made the right decision entering this world. Then a face from her past reappears and she finds herself in real trouble. With Christmas fast approaching, Amber is drifting further away from her loved ones.  Can she get her life back on track before it's too late for a merry Christmas? With such a pretty festive cover it was impossible not to stop everything and dive in to A Christmas Kiss by Vicky Pattison. I really enjoyed All that Glitters earlier in the year so I was looking forwa...

Father and Son, Landyn and Vale Midwinter, are Suffolk farmers, living together on land their family has worked for generations. But they are haunted there by a past they have long refused to confront: the death of Cecelia, beloved wife and mother, when Vale was just a child. Both men have carried her loss, unspoken. Until now. With the onset of a mauling winter, something between them snaps. While Vale makes increasingly desperate decisions, Landyn retreats, finding solace in the land, his animals - and a vixen who haunts the farm and seems to bring with her both comfort and protection. Midwinter is a beautifully written sensitive debut by Fiona Melrose. At the heart of the storyline is a deep raw grief that has divided father and son Landyn and Vale. After the tragic death of Cecelia the pair are both dealing with grief in their own way whilst Vale is like a boiling kettle waiting to bubble over, Landyn puts his heart into his pup and the mysterious vixen that arrives on the farm....

Today it is my stop on the It's a Wonderful Life blog Tour and I am delighted to be able to share an extract from Julia William's latest release. Daniel got in late from work to find Beth cooking and the kids, as usual, in their rooms. Sometimes it felt as if they’d already left home and it was just him and Beth in the house. For all the notice the kids took of them, they might as well be invisible. Still, it was always good to come home, to Beth, to their shared life. He was lucky to have such a family, lucky to have a four-bedroomed detached house, lucky to have a garden. He could never have imagined this happening to him when he was growing up, in the small flat he and his Mum had shared in south London.             ‘Good day?’ Beth asked, giving him a welcoming hug. He pulled her to him, breathed her in. She was every bit as gorgeous to him now as she had been that first day he’d met her at teacher training, when she’d walked in...

A victim killed with a single, precise stab to the heart appears at first glance to be a robbery gone wrong. A caring mother and social worker lost to a senseless act of violence. But for Detective Kim Stone, something doesn’t add up.  When a local drug addict is found murdered with an identical wound, Kim knows instinctively that she is dealing with the same killer. But with nothing to link the two victims except the cold, calculated nature of their death, this could be her most difficult case yet.  Desperate to catch the twisted individual, Kim’s focus on the case is threatened when she receives a chilling letter from Dr Alex Thorne, the sociopath who Kim put behind bars. And this time, Alex is determined to hit where it hurts most, bringing Kim face-to-face with the woman responsible for the death of Kim’s little brother – her own mother.  As the body count increases, Kim and her team unravel a web of dark secrets, bringing them closer to the killer. But one of their o...