I am on a book reading high at the moment. Some great books have come my way and I thought would do a book related post in celebration.
Here are some things book lovers can relate to:
When someone asks you to pick out your favourite book from your entire book collection and they are still waiting for you to answer an hour later.
At a social gathering someone wants you to tell them about the book you are reading. Little do they know you are LOVING the book you’re reading. An hour later, you’re still talking about this book and they have wandered off to talk to someone else.
The pain of struggling with a book for 300 pages and then being rewarded with a terrible ending.
When someone questions whether you can read a book in a day…
People who borrow your books and return them dog eared and tea stained.
Trying to remember a time in your life when you didn’t have a reading pile / list.
Coming out of a bookshop empty handed and announcing to loved ones you must be sick.
When someone tells you the ending of a book you’ve been wanting to read for ages.
Reading a good part of your book in the bath and your glasses keep steaming up.
When someone you know reads the same book as you and questions how anyone could find the fictional love interest attractive. You haven’t been able to stop thinking about that sexy love interest and have had several sleepless nights re-reading the book’s spicy chapters.
Loved ones who sneak their books onto your bookshelves without conforming to your colour coding or design and think you will never notice.
The stress of not being able to find a book mark.
Starting a book with expectations of it changing your life.
Being haunted by the thought, ‘I didn’t bring my book / kindle with me.’
When someone says – ‘it’s just a book..’
When you see one of your best ever reads on a shelf in a book shop and you give it a knowing smile.
Reading your way through grief.
The good plot twists aren’t the ones that are wild left turns out of nowhere, they’re the ones that make all the other little things that didn’t quite add up before suddenly click.
Wondering how those characters from that fab book you read last year are doing now
When you try to explain..’I have been crying for the last I don’t know how many chapters…’
Firstly I am back after my festive blogging break and I would like to wish all of you a happy and healthy 2021. I have some amazing stuff lined up for my blog this year. Lots of fab books to be reviewed, loads of funny writing tales, some inspiring guest bloggers, and news of my next book 😯 More details to follow so watch this space.
Secondly, I will be posting a writing related post on here tomorrow.
Thirdly I am back with a FABULOUS read for you – ❤️ this book from Kate Ryder. If this isn’t on your 2021 to be read pile – get it on there!
Here’s the blurb:
Beneath Cornish Skies
To an outsider, Cassandra Shaw’s life looks perfect. She lives in a beautiful, luxurious house in the English countryside, with a handsome, wealthy boyfriend who insists she needn’t do a day’s work in her life. But Cassie knows that something is not right. Her boyfriend has grown colder, treating her more like a housekeeper than a future wife. And her time feels empty and purposeless.
Cassandra has always been riddled with insecurities and self-doubt, but, just for once, she decides to take a chance on a new beginning. She answers an advert for a live-in nanny, dog walker, cook and all-round ‘Superhuman’ for a family living in a rambling manor house on the rugged North Cornish coast. The work is hard and tiring, but Cassie has never felt so fulfilled.
As Cassie learns to connect with the natural beauty unfolding around her, Cornwall starts to offer up its secrets. Soon, Cassie starts wondering if she was drawn to this isolated part of the coast for a reason. Why was she guided to Foxcombe Manor? What are the flashes of light she sees in the valley? Is it her imagination or does someone brush past her? And who is the mysterious man living deep in the woods?
A beautiful romance with a hint of ghostliness, Beneath Cornish Skies is for anyone who has ever longed to start their lives again.
Here’s my review:
Wow – what a read!
This book is breathtaking in terms of setting and atmosphere. Kate Ryder does an amazing job in whisking you, the reader, away to the beautiful northern coast of Cornwall and the stunning Sussex Downs. if you are struggling with lockdown and need fictional escapism – read this. I felt like I was there.
I loved this book because it had all the ingredients for a great story, one heroine who needed to reclaim herself, one troubled and mysterious potential love interest a large serving of gorgeous scenery, a spoonful of romance and a sprinkling of Cornish magic.
Cassie is the heroine and her experiences at the hands of her controlling partner, David, tugged at my heartstrings. I loved her journey of self discovery which started after she replied to a magazine ad.
The romance is slow burn but I think that was needed as this story was more about Cassie finding her authentic self again after years of David’s controlling ways.
There are a few twists and turns in the story which kept my interest too.
This was just the sort of inspiring book I wanted to read.
Author Bio – Kate Ryder is an award-winning, Amazon Kindle international best seller who writes timeslip and romantic suspense in a true-to-life narrative. On leaving school she studied drama but soon discovered her preference for writing plays rather than performing them! Since then, she has worked in the publishing, tour operating and property industries, and has travelled widely.
Kate is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Society of Authors. In 2017, she signed a 4-book contract with Aria (digital imprint of award-winning independent publisher, Head of Zeus).
Summer in a Cornish Cove, a contemporary romantic suspense set on the Lizard Peninsula, gained her a nomination for the RNA’s 2018 Joan Hessayon award, while its standalone sequel, Cottage on a Cornish Cliff, reached the heady heights of #2 in Kindle Literary Sagas.
‘Secrets of the Mist’, a mysterious timeslip romance, not only achieved #1 Kindle best seller flags in the UK, Canada and Australia, but also reached #49 in Amazon UK Paid Kindle. In the original, self-published version (The Forgotten Promise) it was awarded the first Chill with a Book “Book of the Month”.
Originally hailing from the South East of England, today Kate lives on the Cornish side of the beautiful Tamar Valley with her husband and a collection of animals.
Last year I reviewed Bettina Hunt’s, Without a Hitch, a novel about the wedding journeys of three brides. Bettina’s novel made me reconnect with my inner bridezilla which is something I thoroughly enjoyed doing. After nineteen long years of marriage there’s nothing better than being whisked away to think about wedding dress choices, flower arrangements and handsome grooms.
What I liked about the first Without a Hitch is that the three brides; Sienna, Agnes and Bryony all experienced different challenges, emotional issues and comedy moments with their weddings and it was a fun premise.
So, you can imagine my book reading delight when Bettina contacted me to say she was carrying on with the series and this book was all about the same three brides going on honeymoon.
Seeing as my own honeymoon had many hitches, one being where I got off a coach after a trip and fell head first into a cactus bush (too many Spanish lemonades) and my loved one spent a romantic evening pulling needles out of my body, I was keen to see whether Sienna, Agnes and Bryony had an easier ride.
Here’s the blurb:
Sienna, Agnes & Bryony are back! Making memories one beach at a time …
In the sequel to the hilarious wedding romcom Without a Hitch, find out what happens to the three brides after the wedding …
Because after the wedding …comes the honeymoon… doesn’t it?
Here’s my review:
It was great to be back with the ladies from Without a Hitch again. I love sequels because it is like catching up with old friends.
This book was different to the first as the author takes things to a deeper level and you start to see the characters in a new light.
In this book I got emotionally attached to the character of Bryony. So much so, I wrote the author, Bettina Hunt several lengthy text messages. This is the sign of a good book – when you find yourself fishing out your phone in the middle of the frozen puddings aisle in Tescos and telling the author how your emotions are in shreds over what’s happening to their character. I’m not going to give anything away, but all I will say is I could have cried for Bryony.
By the end though I had this inkling something wonderful was happening inside of Bryony and I am now hungry for more.
Sienna as always provides the comedy relief and she never fails to bring a smile on.
Agnes – well…she never stops surprising me. Not content with leaving my jaw hanging open in shock at the end of the last book, she carries on doing things her way. I do like this character and she could feature in her own book.
Three different brides and three different honeymoons.
A cool part of this book is that all three brides are in contact via this wedding site and they are all emailing each other about their experiences. I thought the snippets from their emails was a great part of the book.
There is a cliffhanger at the end and I know the author is planning another in the series.
A good read and I can’t wait for the next one!
Weddings and honeymoons don’t always run smoothly and they make the perfect settings for romcom.
This book could work well as a standalone novella as the emails from the brides fill you in on what’s happened so far.
While I wait for book 3, I will be sending Bryony telepathic vibes of hope and transformation x
Lucy Mitchell Author Blog 