Two Heads Are Better Than One

Publication date: 22 June 2023

Tor UK

SYNOPSIS

If you knew how dark tomorrow would be, what would you do with today?

The First Bright Thing by J. R. Dawson is a spellbinding debut for fans of The Night Circus and The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue.

Welcome to the Circus of the Fantasticals.

Ringmaster – Rin, to those who know her best – can jump to different moments in time as easily as her wife, Odette, soars from bar to bar on the trapeze. With the scars of World War I feeling more distant as the years pass, Rin is focusing on the brighter things in life. Like the circus she’s built and the magical misfits and outcasts – known as Sparks – who’ve made it their home. Every night, Rin and the Fantasticals enchant a Big Top packed full with audiences who need to see the impossible.

But while the present is bright, threats come at Rin from the past and the future. The future holds an impending war that the Sparks can see barrelling toward their Big Top and everyone in it. And Rin’s past creeps closer every day, a malevolent shadow Rin can’t fully escape. It takes the form of another Spark circus, with tents as black as midnight and a ringmaster who rules over his troupe with a dangerous power. Rin’s circus has something he wants, and he won’t stop until it’s his.

MY REVIEW

I absolutely love stories with a magical twist thrown in, especially if there is also a circus setting. You can imagine how much I was looking forward to reading this one!

I adored the three women who are at the centre of the story, and their strong and inseparable bond. Odette, the healer, Mauve the seer and Rin the time jumper. The powers they have, ‘Sparks’ have appeared randomly in some people around the time of The Great War. It seems the powers they have developed are exactly what they need. One of the circus hands can split himself into multiple copies to erect the big top.

They live in the time period after the end of the war, but on one of their time travel jumps into the future they have seen the horrors of World War Two. Rin is convinced they can stop it happening by travelling back and tweaking events. They just want to do good. Constantly in danger of being found by the Circus King, a dark and menacing figure, who has his own band of Sparks with dangerous powers, they need to keep watching for him at all times.

Beautifully written with gorgeous details of the circus, Rin as the Ringmaster and Odette as the glamorous and talented trapeze artist.

I was absolutely engrossed in this magical story. I wondered if they could stop the war, and would the book have an alternative future for them without the war, so an alternative history for us. Or was the future too set in stone that despite their best efforts the war would happen just as they saw.

Many thanks to Stephen at Black Crow PR for sending me an absolutely stunning finished Hardback copy (you can judge this one by its cover!) and for my place on the blog tour. I can’t apologise enough for my diary error meaning I missed posting on my tour date.

BLOG TOUR HOSTS

SYNOPSIS

When wedding planner Hattie signs up for her dream job, organising her cousin’s wedding in France, it offers the perfect escape from a relationship that’s been going south for a while.
Unfortunately when she arrives at the idyllic Chateau St Martin, not everyone is as enthusiastic about the forthcoming wedding, including Luc Bremont, son of the owner of the chateau.
Luc has finally been given the chance to make his own champagne at the family vineyard and everything rests on making it a success, the last thing he wants is the distraction of a big wedding at the chateau.
Will Hattie be able to build bridges between the inhabitants of the chateau in order to allow the wedding to go ahead?

MY REVIEW

I adored this wonderful romcom set in a gorgeous chateau in France.

Hattie arrives at Château St Martin, her fairytale home for the next two months, to plan her cousin Gabby’s wedding – and desperate to do a good job.

She is one confident lady who can stand on her own two feet. She is faced with problem after problem, mostly those arranged by Yvette who is trying to scupper Hattie’s plans as she wants to hold her wedding at the chateau on the same date! Not realising this, Hattie efficiently solves everything thrown at her including flying a friend over from England to do the catering! Fliss arrives and the cooking commences. We are introduced to many delicious sounding French dishes which will make your mouth water.

The most concerning thing is the bride to be, Gabby, is being elusive. Will the wedding even go ahead?

Of course you need to read the book to find out! If you want to be whisked away to France, with a few days in Paris, all beautifully described, and meet some interesting characters along the way, then this is the book for you!

Thank you Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for my spot on the blog tour.

BLOG TOUR HOSTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Julie Caplin, formerly a PR director, swanned around Europe for many years taking top food and drink writers on press trips (junkets) sampling the gastronomic delights of various cities in Italy, France, Belgium, Spain, Copenhagen and Switzerland. It was a tough job but someone had to do it.
These trips have provided the inspiration and settings for the highly successful Romantic Escapes series which have hit the best seller charts in Italy, Germany and the Czech Republic and have sold a million copies worldwide.
The first book in the nine strong series,The Little Café in Copenhagen, was shortlisted for a Romantic Novel of the Year Award.

Social Media Links – @JulieCaplin Twitter
https://www.facebook.com/JulieCaplinAuthor/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/juliecaplinauthor/

Publication date: 6/7/23

Publisher: Head of Zeus

SYNOPSIS

Dieppe, August 1942. A catastrophe no headline dared admit.

Plans are underway for the boldest raid yet on Nazi-occupied France. Over six thousand men will storm ashore to take the port of Dieppe. Lives will change in an instant – both on the beaches and in distant capitals.

Annie Wrenne, working at Lord Mountbatten’s cloak-and-dagger Combined Operations headquarters, is privy to the top secret plans for the daring cross-Channel raid.

Young Canadian journalist George Hogan, protege of influential Lord Beaverbrook, faces a crucial assignment that will test him to breaking point.

And Abwehr intelligence officer Wilhelm Schultz is baiting a trap to lure thousands of Allied troops to their deaths.

Three lives linked by Operation Jubilee: the Dieppe Raid, 19 August 1942. Over six thousand men will storm the heavily defended French beaches.

Less than half of them will make it back alive.

The blockbuster SPOILS OF WAR non-chronological collection features compelling recurring characters whose fragmented lives mirror the war that shattered the globe. For fans of Philip Kerr and Robert Harris.

MY REVIEW

A superbly written fictional account of two men and their lives leading up to the attack on Dieppe. Based on the actual events of the August 1942 attack, where the British Combined Operations, led by Lord Mountbatten, organised Operation Jubilee and sent thousands of men to their deaths.

George Hogan is living in his home country of Canada, and working at a small newspaper. Hogan is given an assignment to write a piece about first hand experience of a front line soldier. His excellent work in this assignment start him on a path which leads to promotion and to a relationship with Annie Wrenne who works at Lord Mountbatten’s Combined Operations HQ.

Wilhelm Schulz is an officer of the Abwehr German Military Intelligence. A proper tough guy who revels in fighting and killing. He is planning to stop the invasion by having every access point covered, and does a thorough job.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading each story, as these men are polar opposites. One story set in Germany and the plans to thwart the invasion of Dieppe. The other set in England where the powers that be think they have everything covered and Operation Jubilee will be a complete success.

There is no actual front line war action written into the story until the end, when the invasion is underway, and the descriptions are hard hitting but necessary to describe the horrors the British and Canadian soldiers faced.

This is the first book I have read by Graham as it’s not my usual genre but I enjoyed it so much he is on my list to read more.

Many thanks to Sophie Ransom at Ransom PR for my spot on the blog tour.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born November, 1946, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. Seaside childhood punctuated by football, swimming, afternoons on the dodgems, run-ins with the police, multiple raids on the local library…plus near-total immersion in English post-war cinema classics including The Dam Busters, Ice Cold in Alex, The Wooden Horse, The Cockleshell Heroes and Reach For The Sky. War-crazy? Sort of…

Wins scholarship to a London boarding school and then onward to Cambridge University. Reads English, volunteers for Six-Day War (those films again!), and emerges three years later with five mercifully unpublished manuscripts, still intent on becoming a full-time novelist. Yet more rejection slips (plus hunger) compel a career rethink…

Becomes a promotion script-writer with Southern Television, then researcher, then director. Spends the next twenty years making ITV documentaries, many of them networked. Films seabed wrecks of the Titanic and the Bismarck (with American oceanographer Bob Ballard), profiles the Brighton Bomber, produces ITV’s account of Richard Branson’s near-fatal attempt to cross the Atlantic by balloon, wins a number of awards…but still dreams of getting into print.

An ITV commission for 6-part drama series Rules of Engagement is sucessfully finessed into a two-book contract with Pan-Macmillan. Two more novels, both dubbed “international thrillers” follow. Sacked after Television South loses the ITV franchise and embarks on new career as – at last – a full-time novelist.

To date, 25 novels, one biography, two books for challenged readers, plus Airshow, a fly-on-the-wall novel-length piece of reportage, and Backstory, a book-length account of how and why I embarked on crime fiction. Draws gleefully on home-town Portsmouth (“Pompey”) as the basis for an on-going crime series featuring D/I Joe Faraday and D/C Paul Winter. Contributes five years of personal columns to the Portsmouth News, pens a number of plays and dramatic monologues for local production (including the city’s millenium celebration, Willoughby and Son), then decamps to Devon for a more considered take on Pompey low-life.

The Faraday series comes to an end after 12 books. Healthy sales at home and abroad, plus an on-going (and immensely successful) series of French TV adaptations, tempt Orion to commission a spin-off series, set in the West Country, featuring D/S Jimmy Suttle.

First book in the series, Western Approaches, publishes 2012. Second title, Touching Distance, already in the bag.

Married to the delectable Lin. Has three grown-up sons (Tom, Jack and Woody). Plus recently-arrived grandson Dylan. A corker.

Lifetime ambition? To properly master colloquial French. Current passion? Coastal quad rowing with Lin and the rest of The Forty Niners (don’t ask). 

Favourite time of the day? Six’o’clock.

More on my website: http://www.grahamhurley.co.uk

SYNOPSIS

Rosa Larkin is down on her luck in London, so when she inherits a near-derelict corner shop in a quaint Devon village, her first thought is to sell it for cash and sort out her life. But nothing is straightforward about this legacy. While the identity of her benefactor remains a mystery, he – or she has left one important legal proviso: that the shop cannot be sold, only passed on to somebody who really deserves it.
Rosa makes up her mind to give it a go: to put everything she has into getting the shop up and running again in the small seaside community of Cockleberry Bay. But can she do it all on her own?
And if not, who will help her succeed – and who among the following will work secretly to see her fail?
There is a handsome rugby player, a sexy plumber, a charlatan reporter and a selection of meddling locals. Add in a hit and run incident and the disappearance of a valuable engraved necklace – and what you get is a journey of self-discovery and unpredictable events.
With surprising and heartfelt results, Rosa, accompanied at all times by her little sausage dog Hot, will slowly unravel the shadowy secrets of the inheritance, and also bring her own, long-hidden heritage into the light.

Purchase Links
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Corner-Shop-Cockleberry-Bay-uplifting-ebook/dp/B07B8KML35
https://www.amazon.com/Corner-Shop-Cockleberry-Bay-uplifting-ebook/dp/B07B8KML35

MY REVIEW

Rosa is left a shop in a will. She has no idea who it is from or why it has been left to her, but according to the terms of the will she is not allowed to sell it.

So, having just lost her job and with her stolen Dachshund, Hot, in tow, she packs her suitcase headed for a new life leaving Josh her best friend and flat mate behind in London.

She arrives to find the shop has been closed for years and needs a lot of work. The Corner Shop had been a firm favourite with the locals, the owner fitting in to the local community like an old friend and running the shop until he was too old to carry on. Rosa decides what she will do with the shop and gets planning the big opening day celebration.

With plenty of men giving Rosa plenty of interest, she is spoilt for choice. But who can she really trust? Which one of them is genuine?

With a girl injured in a hit and run and the mystery of the driver running through the book, I was fully immersed with Rosa’s new life and who the driver was and why they didn’t stop to help.

And Hot Dog the dachshund is such a sweetie!

I have read the Ferry Lane books by Nicola which are fantastic and I’m seeing this series being just as good!

Thank you Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation to the blog blast.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nicola May is a rom-com superstar. She is the author of sixteen romantic comedies, all
of which have appeared in the Kindle bestseller charts. The Corner Shop in Cockleberry Bay became the best-selling Kindle book in the UK, across all genres, in January 2019, and was Amazon’s third-
bestselling novel in that year. It spawned three sequels, followed by the hit Ferry Lane Market trilogy.

Social Media Links –
http://www.nicolamay.com
W: http://www.nicolamay.com
Nicola May – Home | Facebook
i: https://www.instagram.com/author_nicola/

Publication Date: 22 June 2023

SYNOPSIS

Garland Fairford has her dream job as a historical Costumier in London and is engaged to a handsome and successful playwright, Marco.
.. 
Whilst working on an exhibition of dresses owned by a Victorian actress, Garland meets a long-lost relative – Honey Fairford. Having no family, Garland is delighted, and intrigued to discover Honey is planning to open a wedding dress museum in Lancashire.
..
When Garland loses her fiancée and her job in the same week, she is excited to accept Honey’s offer to work at the museum. Escaping London, and her old life, Garland is then shocked to be confronted with a ghost from her past – Thom.
..
As Garland starts to repair the beautiful vintage wedding dresses for the museum, as well as her relationship with Thom, could this finally be the chance for her own happy-ever-after?

MY REVIEW

I loved this book. I was completely absorbed in Garland’s life, the wedding dresses, and the cat.

Garland is loving her job, working for a costumier in London and making a stunning Titania dress for her fiancé’s new stage production.

Then she overhears a conversation about her at the theatre. Her world crumbles and she sells her home, leaves London, and takes up a job with her newly found distant relative and bestselling author, Honey Fairford. Honey is setting up a wedding dress museum and Garland is tasked with preparing the dresses, all of which have their own stories, for display.

Moving to this small and friendly community is just what Garland needs and she soon fits in like a long lost friend.

Of course there is a love interest, and an ex fiancé who is trying to find her.

I adored this book. I liked Garland from the beginning, Honey is a fabulous diva, Thom is a lovable love interest. Howevee, the absolute star of the show is Golightly, the cat who accidentally becomes Garland’s responsibility. What a character!

Many thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for my spot on the tour for this gorgeous read.

BLOG TOUR HOSTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Trisha Ashley’s Sunday Times bestselling novels have sold over one million copies in the UK and have twice been shortlisted for the Melissa Nathan award for Romantic Comedy. Every Woman for Herself was nominated by magazine readers as one of the top three romantic novels in the last fifty years.

Trisha lives in North Wales. For more information about her please visit http://www.Facebook.com/TrishaAshleyBooks or follow her on Twitter @trishaashley.

I’m delighted to be joining in with today’s cover reveal (29/6/23) Thank you Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation.

SYNOPSIS

The scrap of paper looked as if it had been torn from a diary. The words written in faint pencil. The letters rounded, almost childlike: Please look after her. Her life and mine depend on you not trying to find me. 

When Detective Alana Mack arrives at Clonabee police station, in a small Irish seaside town on the outskirts of Dublin, she doesn’t expect to find a distressed two-year-old girl sobbing on the floor. Abandoned in a local supermarket, the child tells them her name is Casey. All Alana and her team have to go on is a crumpled note begging for someone to look after her little girl. This mother doesn’t want to be found.

Still recovering from a terrible accident that has left Alana navigating a new life as a wheelchair user, Alana finds herself suddenly responsible for Casey while trying to track down the missing mother and solve another missing person’s case… a retired newsagent who has seemingly vanished from his home.

Forced to ask her ex-husband and child psychiatrist Colm for help, through Forensic Art Therapy, Alana discovers that whatever darkness lies behind the black windows in Casey’s crayon drawing, the little girl was terrified of the house she lived in.

Then a bag of human remains is found in a bin, and a chilling link is made – the DNA matches Casey’s.

Alana and her team must find the body and make the connection with the missing newsagent fast if she is to prevent another life from being taken. But with someone in her department leaking confidential details of the investigation to the media, can Alana set aside her emotional involvement in this case and find Casey’s mother and the killer before it’s too late?

Heart-pounding and totally addictive, The Puppet Maker is the first in the Detective Alana Mack series that will have fans of Ann Cleeves, Angela Marsons and LJ Ross racing through the pages late into the night.

Publication Date: 17th October

Pre-order Link

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in Dublin, Jenny O’Brien moved to Wales and then Guernsey, where she tries to find time to write in between working as a nurse and ferrying around 3 teenagers. 

In her spare time she can be found frowning at her wonky cakes and even wonkier breads. You’ll be pleased to note she won’t be entering Bake-Off. She’s also an all-year-round sea swimmer.

Jenny is represented by Nicola Barr of The Bent Agency and published by Storm Publishing and HQ Digital (Harper Collins)

Social Media Links – Twitter https://twitter.com/ScribblerJB

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/scribblerjb/

Book 28 of 31 : Little Duck Pond Cafe

Rosie Green

Publication date: 29/5/23

SYNOPSIS

Krystle has always yearned to live a different kind of life, so when she hits the jackpot, quite literally, she’s over the moon. At last she’ll get the chance to live in a gorgeous house, drive the car of her dreams and maybe even track down that elusive soulmate at last! It all sounds perfect
– but can reality ever live up to your dreams?

BLOG TOUR HOSTS

MY REVIEW

Book number 28 in this gorgeous series, but can of course be read as a stand alone.

Although Rosie’s books are novellas, she packs so much in I feel I get to know the characters as well as I would in a full novel.

I have read 5 or 6 in this series so far, but this one is slightly different. It is a bit darker as it deals with how coming into money can change people, and those around them.

Krystle’s twin sister Carrie wins the lottery and halves it with Krystal who couldn’t have come into the windfall at a better time. She is struggling to pay her rent and has fallen into the grip of a loan shark. She is looking forward to paying her off, but it isn’t that easy.

Krystle is rather naïve and far too trusting of people. Her slimy ex gets in touch out of the blue, and she doesn’t even consider he has heard about her good fortune! Then she meets Doug who she really likes, but what is he hiding? Is he only after her money too? Is Adam, her best friend, actually her soul mate or are they destined to stay just friends?

Thoroughly enjoyed it. Roll on book 29!

Thank you Rachel, for having me along on the blog tour.

Purchase Link
https://amzn.to/42S4f5s

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rosie has been scribbling stories ever since she was little. Back then, they were rip-roaring adventure tales with a young heroine in perilous danger of falling off a cliff or being tied up by ‘the baddies’. Thankfully, Rosie has moved on somewhat, and now much prefers to write romantic comedies that melt your heart and make you smile, with really not much perilous danger involved at all – unless you count the heroine losing her heart in love.

Rosie’s Little Duck Pond Cafe series of novellas is centred around life in a village cafe and each book can be read as a stand-alone story.

Rosie has also written a full-length, stand-alone book, ‘Snowflakes over Moondance Cottage’, a heart-breaking but ultimately uplifting tale filled with the joy of the season.

Look out for ‘A Kiss under the Stars’, out in August 2023, and ‘A Cosy Cottage Escape’ for Hallowe’en 2023.

Follow Rosie on Twitter – https://twitter.com/Rosie_Green88

Publication date: 27 April 2023

SYNOPSIS

Young and quiet, Lucy Granger leads an introverted life in Reading, living in a flat and working in design at a graphics company—until it is upended when she both sells her idea for a mobile game and suffers an unexpected medical diagnosis shortly afterwards.
Facing a mandated medical rest period, she decides to use her windfall earnings to take a year’s holiday, renting a farm on New Moon Lane in a country village in Yorkshire. As Lucy settles into her holiday home for some tranquility, she soon learns that she is not the only tenant, when a llama named Llarry strolls out of the farm’s supposedly-derelict barn. He is shortly followed by others in a menagerie of abandoned animals left behind—from a sickly donkey who likes eating crisps to a flirtatious cockerel sleeping in the back garden.
To Lucy’s consternation, no one is willing or able to take them on, leaving her with a strange mix of furry and feathered friends to find homes for. Reluctantly adapting to her circumstances in order to deal with this problem, Lucy will discover other surprises about the animals in her care, and the
place she is temporarily calling home. About herself, as well.
Will her ordinary life ever be the same after her experience on New Moon Lane? More importantly, should she really want it to be?

Purchase Link -https://mybook.to/newmoonlane

MY REVIEW

I’m delighted to be joining the one day blog blitz for this delightfully uplifting read.

When Lucy received the news her mobile phone game has been taken on by a big game company, she uses the advance money she has been given to rent a run down cottage in the Yorkshire countryside, a far cry from her flat in Reading.

As she settles in she finds animals on the farm she was not expecting and it appears no one has been looking after them for the last few days. 

Introverted, socially awkward and a bit of a loner, she soon settles into her new life looking after the animals, doing up the cottage and garden. She even finds the inspiration to begin making her own soup from a recipe book.

Will this holiday be a new beginning for Lucy?

I enjoyed getting to know Lucy and the animals. Quite an inspiring young lady who is up for anything new – DIY, animal care, cooking and a bit of felting!

Gorgeously written and the descriptions had me completely immersed.

I’m so pleased there is a second book in this series which I will read. I’m keen to find out what Lucy does next.

Thank you to Rachel for my spot and my e copy of the book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Laura Briggs is the author of several feel-good romance reads, including the Top 100 Amazon UK seller ‘A Wedding in Cornwall’. She has a fondness for vintage style dresses (especially ones with polka dots), and reads everything from Jane Austen to modern day mysteries. When she’s not writing, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, caring for her pets, gardening, and seeing the occasional movie or play.
Social Media Links –
Author Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1JjeMoI
Author Twitter: http://bit.ly/1ME9ivJ

Giveaway – Win an e-copy of The Llama Farm on New Moon Lane (Open Internationally)
*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the
Rafflecopter link below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter
from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response
is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to
select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal
data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will
not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information.
This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the
prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am
not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/33c69494557/?

Lauren Forry

Publication date: 22/6/23

Publisher: Zaffre

SYNOPSIS

THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME. YOU’D DIE TO BE THERE.

Ten lucky people have won a place at the most exclusive launch event of the century: the grand opening of the Hotel Artemis, the first hotel on the moon. It’s an invitation to die for. As their transport departs for its return to Earth and the doors seal shut behind them, the guests take the next leap for mankind.

However, they soon discover that all is not as it seems. The champagne may be flowing, but there is no one to pour it. Room service is available, but there is no one to deliver it. Besides the ten of them, they are completely alone.

When one of the guests is found murdered, fear spreads through the group. But that death is only the beginning. Being three days’ journey from home and with no way to contact the outside, can any of the guests survive their stay?

MY REVIEW

10 guests. No staff.

10 people win the ultimate holiday to be the first to stay in the only hotel on the moon.

During the 3 day trip to get there, most begin to pair up. We get to know a few basic facts about each person. There is a billionaire, a reality TV personality plus what appears to be his number one fan, a police officer in the Met, a reporter, a student of criminology from New York plus a few others.

All is going well when they arrive until they realise all of the staff have left.

Then one of the guests is found dead.

Penelope, the detective, begins to investigate the murder. With ‘Fly me to the moon’ playing constantly in the background. Fun at first but the music very soon starts to grate and they can’t find the ‘off’ button. In fact most of the computer systems in the hotel appear to be locked.

How many more will die before help arrives?

Cleverly written and I had no clue what could have happened! The revelations came thick and fast towards the end, then that last chapter had me thinking! 

This is the ultimate locked room mystery, set 3 travelling days away on the moon’s only hotel.

The characters were interesting and I enjoyed following Penelope’s investigation. Very Agatha Christie!

Thank you to Kelly Rose at Zaffre books for my ARC.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lauren A. Forry was brought up in the woods of Bucks County, Pennsylvania where her FBI agent father and book-loving mother raised her on a diet of The X-Files and RL Stine. After earning her BA in Cinema Studies from New York University, she spent some time in film production before moving to London where she earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Kingston University. There she was awarded the Faber and Faber Creative Writing MA Prize for her first horror novel, ABIGALE HALL (Black & White Publishing, February 2016). Her short stories have since been published by Brick Moon Fiction, Lamplight Magazine, and in multiple sci-fi and horror anthologies. She currently resides in the woods but can, on occasion, be found in the quieter parts of London.

Maeve Haran

Publication date: 8/6/23

Publisher: Pan

SYNOPSIS

Filled with wit, warmth and sunshine, In the Summertime by Maeve Haran has all the things we love about a seaside England in the sun making us realize you don’t have to go abroad to find romance and adventure.
With her marriage falling apart and her longed-for holiday cancelled, Georgina Greenhills gets an unexpected offer: a holiday in the small seaside town nestling in the beautiful South Downs where she grew up. There is only one catch: she must try and solve the mystery of the valuable antiques disappearing from the remote manor house belonging to an old lady called Maudie.
Gina gathers her childhood friends, scatty Ruth and feisty Eve, to help her. In the middle of a blazing summer they swim, sunbathe and share cocktails as they watch the sun sparkling on the sea and Gina realizes how much she missed them and how happy she is to be back here in the summertime. Not least because of bumping into Daniel Napier, her shy and awkward teenage dancing partner, now an alarmingly attractive man. Although there is the small problem of his annoying girlfriend.
As Gina tries to solve the mystery at the manor and wonders how to get rid of the girlfriend, an even bigger secret emerges that will take all their skill and experience to resolve.

BLOG TOUR HOSTS

MY REVIEW

I was so keen to join the blog tour for this one having read Having It All when it was released. And I have recently found my original copy!

Gina is trying to find a way to get her and her husband Mark out of a mountain of debt caused by his gambling addiction. Their antiques valuation business is teetering on the edge as he has taken so much money out of it.

Then, after 28 years of marriage and two now grown up daughters, he ups and leaves. He tells Gina he has met someone else and wants a divorce.

Gina needs to get away and takes up a job offer to go back to the seaside town where she grew up, but couldn’t wait to leave, to live in an old manor with Maudie. Maudie is an elderly lady, but is quite a character and still has plenty of get up and go. One of her daughters has asked Gina to value Maudie’s antiques. And also keep a close eye on things as the housekeeper has noticed small items of value disappearing.

Maisie’s daughter Rosa and her husband ‘Awful’ Ambrose are after the manor but Maudie is not ready to move out.

Absolutely delightful story! Not just a summer fiction rom com type book, this has so much more from looking back on life and wondering about paths not taken to friendships to new beginnings. I loved Gina and had to giggle at the New World cooker her mum had – as mine had the same! I’d like to think we are quite similar but there is no way my knees could cope with the paddle boarding she seemed to find quite easy! And I’m not sure I’d be up for the naked swimming ….

Overall a brilliant summer read.

Huge thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for my spot on the blog tour and my gorgeous copy of the book which will be kept with Having it All!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Maeve Haran is an Oxford law graduate who worked in television and journalism before writing her worldwide bestseller Having It All which was translated into twenty-six languages. She has since written fourteen contemporary and two historical novels plus one work of non-fiction extolling life’s small pleasures. Two of her novels have been shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year award.
She has three grown-up children and divides her time between North London and a cottage in the lovely Cuckmere Valley in East Sussex.