Two Heads Are Better Than One

by CL Taylor

SYNOPSIS

You come to Soul Shrink to be healed. You don’t expect to die.

Two years ago, Fran’s sister Jenna disappeared on a wellness retreat in Gozo that went terribly wrong.

Tom Wade, the now infamous man behind Soul Shrink Retreats, has just been released from prison after serving his sentence for the deaths of two people. But he has never let on what happened to the third victim: Jenna.

Determined to find out the truth, Fran books herself onto his upcoming retreat – the first since his release – and finds herself face to face with the man who might hold the key to her sister’s disappearance. The only question is, will she escape the retreat alive? Or does someone out there want Jenna’s secrets to stay hidden?

MY REVIEW

I’m a huge CL Taylor fan, and was looking forward to reading her new psychological thriller, which has just been released in paperback published, and which kept me up until well after midnight last night as I couldn’t go to sleep without knowing the ending!

The story is told over two timelines, now and two years earlier.

In the ‘now’ chapters we follow Fran, a socially awkward teacher, as she is trying to find out what happened to her sister who disappeared 2 years ago during a wellness retreat in Gozo. Was she murdered or did she kill herself? The verdict was suicide although a body was never found. All that was found was a pair of flip flops and some blood at the edge of a cliff. Two other people died on that wellness retreat due to negligence but could it actually be three?

At the insistence of her over bearing mother, Fran signs up with the same company for a retreat in Wales. She will go ‘undercover’ and she intends to find out what happened to her sister in Gozo. This is the first retreat SoulShrinks Retreats have organised since Gozo as Tom, who runs the company with Kate, has been released from prison for negligence following the deaths.

The ‘then’ chapters are set at the Gozo retreat and we find out what happened that night.

Great characters, fabulous settings particularly the white water rafting, and a great page turner which will keep you guessing until the end.
I enjoyed getting to know Fran a lot. What a character she is! Kate was also a very strong character with shed loads of resentment.

Looking forward to the next CL Taylor book.

Huge thanks to Avon Books for sending me a copy of the finished book.

by Caroline Mitchell

SYNOPSIS

From the bestselling author of the DI Amy Winter series comes a thriller about a shocking disappearance—and the village that has conspired to keep the truth buried.

Ten years ago, the Harper family disappeared. Their deserted cottage was left with the water running, the television playing cartoons, the oven ready for baking. The doors were locked from the inside.

Overnight, the sleepy village of Nighbrook became notorious as the scene of the unsolved mystery of the decade, an epicentre for ghoulish media speculation.

For crime journalist Naomi, solving the case has turned into an obsession. So now, with Ivy Cottage finally listed for sale, it’s her chance to mount an investigation like no other. And her husband and stepdaughter don’t really need to know what happened in their new home… do they?

But Nighbrook isn’t quite the village she expected. No one wants to talk to her. No one will answer her questions. And as she becomes increasingly uneasy, it’s clear that the villagers are hiding something—that there is something very dark at the heart of this rural idyll. And the deeper she digs, the more it seems her investigation could be more dangerous than she ever imagined… In raking up the secrets of the past, has she made her own family the next target?

MY REVIEW

Thrilled to be part of the blog tour!

The prologue had me very excited to read this thriller! I do love a good prologue. 

10 years ago the Harper family disappeared from their home. The tap was left running. The oven was on waiting for the cookies which would never be baked. The tv was playing cartoons. It was as if they disappeared into thin air.

Naomi is a crime journalist. She is obsessed with the case of the missing family and is determined to solve it. So much so that with her rich new husband’s money, but without his knowledge of its history, she buys Ivy Cottage as soon as it comes on the market. It will be the start of a new life away from London for them and Morgan, Ed’s troubled 16 year old daughter from his previous marriage.

When they arrive at Ivy Cottage, it has a sense of foreboding. It feels as if this cottage has doom and death built in to its bricks and mortar. It is surrounded by gloomy forest. I would not have got out of the car but Naomi is obsessed with the place. She wants to investigate every part of it, including the loft where many of the possessions of the Harper family have been stored. What secrets may lie up there?

Morgan is a typical moody teenager. She hates Naomi, hoping the marriage will not work out and plays horrible pranks on her but Naomi doesn’t bite. Morgan has had a troubled upbringing.

When Naomi starts digging into the disappearance of the Harper family she has no idea of the danger she is putting her family into.

This is a real page turner! The characters are written very well. 

Lloyd, the local police officer with a drinking problem, appears to be at the centre of everything that happens in the village. Does he know the truth of what happened? He was very involved with the lives of the Harpers and in particular their young daughter Grace.

The book is written between the two timelines and we get many first hand narratives. The suspense really builds as bit by bit we find out what happened that day. As it nears the conclusion, the revelations are well worth staying up past your bedtime for!

I have also read The Midnight Man by this author, which I also enjoyed, and will definitely be reading more from Caroline Mitchell.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A former police detective, Caroline Mitchell now writes full-time.

She has worked in CID and specialised in roles dealing with vulnerable victims—high-risk victims of domestic abuse and serious sexual offences. The mental strength shown by the victims of these crimes is a constant source of inspiration to her, and Mitchell combines their tenacity with her knowledge of police procedure to create tense psychological thrillers.

Originally from Ireland, she now lives in a pretty village on the coast of Essex with her husband and three children.

You can find out more about her at http://www.caroline-writes.com, or follow her on Twitter (@caroline_writes) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/CMitchellAuthor).

by Louise Jensen

SYNOPSIS

MEET THE WALSH FAMILY

Lucy: Loving mother. Devoted wife. And falling to pieces.
Aidan: Dedicated father. Faithful husband. And in too deep.
Connor:Hardworking son. Loyal friend. But can never tell the truth.

Everyone in this family is hiding something, but one secret will turn out to be the deadliest of all . . .

MY REVIEW

Well that was some thriller. Just brilliant! 

It had me hooked from page one and didn’t let up until the final page. And then I could finally breathe! This book is definitely up there with some of the best psychological thrillers I have read and I will without a doubt be reading more from this author. This is her 7th book so I have plenty to catch up on.

With a mother’s instinct that something bad has happened, Lucy speeds home from a hospital appointment with her teenage son who is seriously ill. She has a feeling something bad has happened to her 17 year old son, Connor, who was left alone at home. She returns to find him gone, the front door open and blood on the wall.

Connor had been worried as both of his friends had disappeared over the last few days. He was convinced the disappearances were linked to something they were involved in on a school trip last year, when something bad happened to his girlfriend. He thought he could be next to be taken and had been nervous about leaving the house.

Connor had been hiding his guilt over what happened on the trip and couldn’t  talk to anyone about it. Lucy and Aiden, his parents, also have their own secrets which are not revealed until late in the book. 

This book is so cleverly written. It leads you down a road. Many roads. You think you know where you are heading. You will be wrong. I can’t believe there were so many twists and red herrings I just didn’t expect!

I would recommend this to lovers of really good unpredictable psychological thrillers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Louise Jensen has sold over a million English language copies of her International No. 1 psychological thrillers ‘The Sister’, ‘The Gift’, ‘The Surrogate’, ‘The Date’, ‘The Family’ & ‘The Stolen Sisters’. Her novels have also been translated into twenty-five languages, as well as featuring on the USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestseller’s List. Louise’s seventh thriller, ‘All For You’, will be published in Autumn 2020 by Harper Collins. Louise has been nominated for multiple awards including Goodreads Debut Author Of The Year, The Guardians ‘Not The Booker Prize’, best polish thriller of 2018 and she has also been listed for two CWA Dagger awards. All of Louise’s thrillers are currently under option for TV & film. Louise also has a penchant for exploring the intricacies of relationships through writing heart-breaking, high-concept love stories under the pen name Amelia Henley. ‘The Life We Almost Had’ was an international best seller. her latest release ‘The Art of Loving You’ is out now. Louise lives with her husband, children, madcap dog and a rather naughty cat in Northamptonshire. She loves to hear from readers and writers.

BLOG TOUR STOPS

by Katie Flynn

SYNOPSIS

Will love bloom in a new city?

It’s 1938, and Cadi is chosen to be Rose Queen in the annual Rose Fete. She is thrilled to be treated like royalty for the day. But deep down she is desperate to leave the Welsh mining community where she grew up.

When war is declared, Cadi and her best friend Poppy see a chance to escape. Cadi leaves behind her parents and local boy Aled, whom she is meant to marry, for Liverpool.

But city life doesn’t bring the opportunities they’d hoped for. Unable to join the forces, the girls are left looking for work in poverty-stricken Scotland Ward.

They secure jobs in a local pub, and Cadi’s blossoming relationship with a handsome dock worker deepens after he rescues her from a terrifying encounter.

But when Aled unexpectedly appears dressed in RAF uniform Cadi finds her worlds colliding again. Now the Rose Queen must decide: who will become her King?

MY REVIEW

Oh dear how on earth will I write a review which will be worthy of this fabulous book?

Once in a while a book comes along which you are completely submerged in. No mind wandering off and having to re-read pages. But relishing every word and reading until well past your bedtime as you just can’t bear to leave the world you are absorbed in. Readers, this is one of those books for me.

It starts off quite innocently in 1938 with Cadi Williams getting ready for the annual village fete in Rhos, a small mining community in Wales, where she lives with fairly poor family. She is to be crowned Rose Queen and it will be the most important day of her life so far. 

Cadi has always wanted more for herself than scraping a living with a husband and babies and at the grand old age of 17 she decides to take a leap and head for the bright lights if Liverpool with her friend Poppy. Her father is not impressed as he had his sights on her marrying Aled, the son of a farmer, so she would have financial stability. Marriage is not something Cadi is up for any time soon.

War is just breaking out and the girls try to sign up but are too young. They hoped they would pass for 18. Not wanting to go back home, and at the very last minute before they had to get the train back, they find jobs working in a pub for Marie, the landlady who’s husband has gone to war.

The girls help develop the pub into a thriving b&b, and befriend a girl who is beaten by her father trying to persuade her to leave home just as they did. Also for the added romance is Jez, who had rescued them from the hands of a drunken man, and now has his sights firmly on Cadi. I did feel rather sorry for poor Poppy at this point as all the boys seem to fall for Cadi.

I just loved the personalities of the girls. They could be any friends anywhere which for me makes the story so believable and something I could relate to, as haven’t we all had a best friend we would go out of our comfort zone with? Two ordinary girls wanting to try to make a better life for themselves. And perhaps help the war effort.

Of course there is a bit of romance along the way although Cadi is fiercely independent and doesn’t need a man, so will take a fair bit of persuasion to enter a relationship!

I made the book last me 3 days. I wanted to find out what happened to Cadi but also didn’t want it to end. 

I wholeheartedly recommend this stunner of a war time romance and the search for a meaningful life. Just loved it.

Thank you so so much Marie-Louise for inviting me on the blog tour for this book and I guarantee I will be reading more Katie Flynn novels.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Katie Flynn is the author of 47 bestselling novels which have sold over 5 million copies. Her first book, A Liverpool Lass, was published in 1993. Katie Flynn was the pseudonym of the author Judy Turner, who was inspired to write the novels after hearing family recollections of life in Liverpool during the early twentieth century. Judy sadly passed away in January 2019 at the age of 82. Her daughter Holly worked as her assistant for many years and together they co-authored a number of Katie Flynn novels, including Christmas at Tuppenny Corner. The Katie Flynn legacy now lives on through Holly who writes new books, often based on ideas she discussed with her mother.

Holly lives in the north east of Wales with her husband Simon and their two children. When she’s not writing she enjoys walking her two lurchers, Sparky and Snoopy, in the surrounding countryside, and cooking forbidden foods such as pies, cakes, and puddings! She looks forward to sharing many more Katie Flynn stories with readers in the years to come.

by Abbie Greaves

SYNOPSIS

Some love stories change us for ever.

For the last seven years, Mary O’Connor has waited for her first love. Every evening she arrives at Ealing Broadway station and stands with a sign which simply says: ‘Come Home Jim’.

Commuters might pass her by without a second thought, but Mary isn’t going anywhere. Until an unexpected call turns her world on its head.

It will take the help of a young journalist called Alice, and a journey across the country for Mary to face what happened all those years ago, and to finally answer the question: where on earth is Jim?

MY REVIEW

I‘m so happy to be reviewing this thought provoking book as part of the blog tour. Thank you Laura at Century / Penguin Random House. It is particularly topical at the moment as it tactfully deals with men’s mental health, their general reluctance to seek help and the effect it can have on relationships. Life and love are very fragile and sometimes we feel we are to blame for the actions of others.

Mary feels she has found the love of her life when James Whitnell comes into her life. He is staying at the hotel where she is working as an events co-ordinator. Their whirlwind romance sees her leaving her family behind in Belfast and moving to Enfield to live with him after just a few dates.

The book is written over two timelines, following Mary and Jim from their meeting and falling head over heels with each other to 6 years later when he disappears from her life without a word. They had begun to have issues because of his depression and drinking. Mary said things she regretted and has since blamed herself for him leaving.

Forward another 7 years and Mary is just surviving day by day. After work she goes straight to the railway station where she waits every night for Jim to come back to her. She holds a homemade sign saying simply ‘Come Home Jim’

There are a handful of colourful secondary characters most of whom Mary volunteers with at a crisis call centre,and most with their own personal problems. Helping others is a way for them to cope with their own lives. When Alice arrives on the scene she is keen to investigate what happened to Jim and with the help of Kit they set off to follow up on leads found on a missing persons website.

Will they find Jim and bring him back to Mary?

You will just have to read the book to find out.

PURCHASE LINKS

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ENjXBp

Waterstones: https://bit.ly/3mSoQ6e

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ABBIE GREAVES studied at Cambridge University before working in a literary agency for a number of years. She was inspired to write her first novel, The Silent Treatment, after reading a newspaper article about a boy in Japan who had never seen his parents speak to one another before.

 Abbie lives in Brighton.

@AbbieGreaves1

IG @abbiegreavesauthor 
www.abbiegreaves.com

by Christina Courtenay

SYNOPSIS 

Born centuries apart. Bound by a love that defied time.

She couldn’t believe her eyes. The runes were normally so reliable and she had never doubted them before.

Madison Berger is visiting Dublin with her family for a Viking re-enactment festival, when she chances upon a small knife embedded in the banks of the Liffey. Maddie recognises what the runes on the knife’s handle signify: the chance to have her own adventures in the past.

Maddie only intends to travel back in time briefly, but a skirmish in 9th century Dublin results in her waking up on a ship bound for Iceland, with the man who saved her from attack.

Geir Eskilsson has left his family in Sweden to boldly carve out a life of his own. He is immediately drawn to Maddie, but when he learns of her connection to his sisters-in-law, he begins to believe that Fate has played a part in bringing them together. Amidst the perils that await on their journey to a new land, the truest battle will be to win Maddie’s heart and convince her that the runes never lie…

MY REVIEW

as looking forward to this next instalment of Christina Courtenay’s ‘Runes’ series so much having read the previous books in the series. It lived up to all my expectations.

Oh what joy to be transported back to  Viking times! As I with the other books, I was gripped from the first page and totally immersed in life as a Viking.

In this book, which can easily be read as a stand alone, it is the turn of the third brother to feature. Geir leaves his family behind in Sweden, headed for a new country to start a new life. He takes a few of his friends and their families, along with some animals and seeds for crops. Everything they need to start their settlement from scratch. 

On the way they stop off at Ireland and he finds Maddie who has recently arrived from the future and is being harassed by some men. He takes her in his boat to their new life.

Initially all Maddie wants to do is return home. Geir has taken her knife which is the object to allow her to time travel and persuades her to stay and help for a while. He believes she has been sent by the gods to be his wife. 

As time goes by, Maddie realises she actually has feelings for this strong, respectful Viking. As her parents are both very into Viking history and re-enactments, she has grown up immersed in viking history and can speak their language of Old Norse and knows a thing or two of how vikings live so she is able to help establish the new settlement.

Maddie has such wisdom and strength and she is only 19.

I will not divulge too much of the storyline as you really need to read it, and if you have not read any of the other books in this series I highly recommend them all.

I hope Christina has another book in the series up her sleeve.

Purchase Links

Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tempted-Runes-stunning-evocative-adventure-ebook/dp/B08TTVCDLB/

Amazon US – https://www.amazon.com/tempted-runes-stunning-evocative-adventure-ebook/dp/B08TTVCDLB/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Christina Courtenay writes historical romance, time slip and time travel stories, and lives in Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) in the UK. Although born in England, she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden – hence her abiding interest in the Vikings. Christina is a former chairman of the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association and has won several awards, including the RoNA for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014), and the RNA Fantasy Romantic Novel of the year 2021 with Echoes of the Runes. Tempted by the Runes (time travel published by Headline 9th December 2021) is her latest novel. Christina is a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology (the armchair variety).

Social Media Links –

• http://www.christinacourtenay.com

• https://www.facebook.com/christinacourtenayauthor?fref=ts

GIVEAWAY

Giveaway to Win a signed paperback copy of Tempted By The Runes, a pair of silver Thor’s hammer earrings and a Thor’s hammer Christmas tree bauble (Open INT)

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box 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/33c69494464/?

Tweets by PiaCCourtenay

• https://www.instagram.com/ChristinaCourtenayAuthor/

by Heather Young

SYNOPSIS

 stunning novel that examines the price of loyalty, the burden of regret, the meaning of salvation, and the sacrifices we make for those we love, told in the voices of two unforgettable women linked by a decades-old family mystery at a picturesque lake house.

In 1935, six-year-old Emily Evans vanishes forever from her family’s summer house on a remote Minnesota Lake.

Sixty years later, Lucy, Emily’s quiet and watchful older sister, lives alone in the lake house.

When Lucy dies, she leaves the house to her grandniece, Justine. The lake house offers Justine an escape from her manipulative boyfriend and a chance to give her daughters the home she never had.

But the discovery of a notebook, in which her great aunt has written the story of that devastating summer, forces Justine to realise there may be more to her inheritance than she first imagined.

In a house haunted by the sorrows of the women who came before her, Justine must overcome their tragic legacy if she hopes to save herself and her children.

MY REVIEW

I am delighted to have read this book as part of the blog tour arranged by the publisher.

This is a powerful read spanning 5 generations of a troubled family.

The innocent, care free life of a family holidaying at their lodge by a lake in the 1930’s is not quite as innocent as it appears. you never know what goes on behind closed doors. The three sisters are growing up and trying to find themselves but are held back by a controlling father and a weak mother. Then tragedy hits when the youngest sister, Emily, disappears one night.

Shocking secrets are revealed when the last surviving sister, Lucy, decides to write a journal before she dies of her life and her family for her grand-niece Justine to read.

Lucy has lived in the lodge by the lake most of her life and when she passes her solicitor contacts Justine to advise her of her inheritance. Justine is living with a boyfriend who is also very controlling and decides this is her chance to leave him and start a new life with her two teenage daughters. can she escape into a new life or will he find her?

A dark but engrossing story, which kept me turning the pages to find the truth about Emily which I would never have imagined.

Definitely recommended.

by Robert J. Lloyd

SYNOPSIS

The City of London, 1678. New Year’s Day. The body of a young boy, drained of his blood and with a sequence of numbers inscribed on his skin, is discovered on the snowy bank of the Fleet River. With London gripped by hysteria, where rumors of Catholic plots and sinister foreign assassins abound, Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey, the powerful Justice of Peace for Westminster, is certain of Catholic guilt in the crime. He enlists Robert Hooke, the Curator of Experiments of the Royal Society, and his assistant, Harry Hunt, to help his enquiry. Sir Edmund confides to Hooke that the bloodless boy is not the first to have been discovered. He also presents Hooke with a cipher that was left on the body. That same morning Henry Oldenburg, the Secretary of the Royal Society, blows his brains out. A disgraced Earl is released from the Tower of London, bent on revenge against the King, Charles II. Wary of the political hornet’s nest they are walking into – and using evidence rather than paranoia in their pursuit of truth – Hooke and Hunt must discover why the boy was murdered, and why his blood was taken. Moreover, what does the cipher mean?

MY REVIEW

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Very happy indeed to be part of the blog tour for this completely immersive part fact part fiction historical crime thriller. So descriptive and well written I was transported back in time to London and the year 1678.

London is being rebuilt following The Great Fire.

The body of a young child, perhaps only 2 years old and drained of blood, is found on the bank of the river Fleet by an eel fisherman. Justice of Peace Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey enlists the assistance of Robert Hooke and Harry Hunt from the Royal Society, which is a society of scientists, to investigate this dreadful crime. Sir Edmund is convinced it is papists and clearly has a deep dislike of Catholicism.

When Hooke gets concerned about where the investigations are leading he insists they stop investigating immediately. his assistant, however, ignores his instruction and carries on, feeling quite elated to be taking responsibility for his own actions and not simply following instructions. He finds himself immersed in a dangerous world and we follow him through the streets of London, stumbling across criminals and assassins, and also uncovering a plot to assassinate King Charles II, as well as finding out the truth behind the bloodless boy.

This is a story with a cast of many colourful characters. There is a helpful list of ’who’s who’ at the beginning to keep track but I found I didn’t need to refer back to it. The author cleverly summarises the plot at various points throughout the book enabling the reader to keep on top of the many strands of the story.

Very highly recommended to fans of crime fiction and historical fiction and I will be buying a copies for Christmas presents.

About the Author

Robert Lloyd, the son of parents who worked in the British Foreign Office, grew up in South London, Innsbruck, and Kinshasa. He studied for a Fine Art degree, starting as a landscape painter, but it was while studying for his MA degree in The History of Ideas that he first read Robert Hooke’s diary, detailing the life and experiments of this extraordinary man. After a 20-year career as a secondary school teacher, he has now returned to painting and writing. The Bloodless Boy is his debut novel. He is at work on a sequel.

by Gail Aldwin

SYNOPSIS

I’m seven years old and I’ve never had a best mate. Trouble is, no one gets my jokes. And Breaks-it isn’t helping. Ha! You get it, don’t you? Brexit means everyone’s falling out and breaking up.

Huxley is growing up in the suburbs of London at a time of community tensions. To make matters worse, a gang of youths is targeting isolated residents. When Leonard, an elderly newcomer chats with Huxley, his parents are suspicious. But Huxley is lonely and thinks Leonard is too. Can they become friends?

Funny and compassionate, this contemporary novel for adults explores issues of belonging, friendship and what it means to trust.

MY REVIEW

This is my review as part of the blog tour for Huxley.
A very well written book by an adult from the perspective of 7 year old Huxley. It can’t be easy getting into the mind of a child but the author has done it so well. I enjoy reading books written from the innocent viewpoint of children. 

Huxley Griffiths is in Year 2 at St Michael’s school. We meet him and his parents after school at the school charity auction and I knew I was going to enjoy this book from the first laugh out loud moment involving the squashed toad!

Huxley is a very funny boy and I enjoyed his play on words where he would make long words into funny shorter words – for example nuisance becomes ‘new sense’ – which is a good thing to be!

We join Huxley for a short time, during Brexit which he is sick of, his desperation for a sibling (he is an ‘only’ and not happy about it), flirting parents, bullying and a very un-PC correct gran of his friend Ben.

The main thread is Huxley wanting to be friends with Leonard, the old man on the scooter he met at the barbers. Leonard invites him round to watch a Disney DVD and gives him chocolate. He can’t understand why his parents have banned him from talking to Leonard. He is just a lonely old man and Huxley with the innocence of a child wants to be his friend. The adults see this old man as a potential threat to children and rumours begin to circulate within the tight knit community. I so hoped Leonard was just a lonely old man wanting friendship and you will just have to read it to find out if he is innocent.

Overall a really enjoyable read focussing on the innocence of youth and the judgement of adults.

Poppy Alexander

SYNOPSIS

The most magical time of the year…

For the first time in ten years, Freya is back in the little village of Middlemass for Christmas. The streets might be twinkling with fairy lights, but after the recent loss of her mother, she’s never felt less festive. 

Forced to sleep under the same roof as her handsome neighbour Finn, Freya realises she’s going to need a distraction – fast! So she sets herself a challenge: to cook the ’12 Days of Christmas’. Her delicious food soon brings the villagers together, and as each day passes, old friendships are renewed, memories stirred and there’s even the flickering of romance… 

She was only meant to stay for the holidays, but could Middlemass – and Finn – steal her heart forever?

MY REVIEW

Feeling very lucky to be part of the blog tour for this wonderful heartwarming Christmas read.

I read this in 2 sittings it was so difficult to put down!

Freya is summoned home from her beloved job in Paris working for one of the top chefs. She has worked there for 10 years, following her dream, but it is extremely hard work and long hours.

She arrives just in time to see her mum before she dies. Then begins the regrets and guilt of not spending more time with her. The awful reality of arranging the funeral and clearing out her childhood home.

On the positive side she meets Finn, one of her schoolgirl crushes, who is such a gentleman he takes her under his wing and helps her through this difficult time, letting her rent the attic room above his delicatessen.

She is due back to her job in Paris, but will she decide her home is now in Middlemass?

Although there is the sadness running through the story, it is overall an uplifting read of following your dreams and of course finding love! I enjoyed getting to know the many likeable characters, and even the one unlikeable one!

What a great idea to challenge Freya to use her chef skills to invent a dish based on each of the 12 days of Christmas, and the author has added the recipes to the back of the book! I’m definitely going to be trying some.

Loved it. 

Thank you so much to Ellen at Orion books for having me on the blog tour.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

About the Author

Poppy Alexander wrote her first book when she was five. There was a long gap in her writing career while she was at school, and after studying classical music at university, she decided the world of music was better off without her and took up public relations, campaigning, political lobbying and a bit of journalism instead. She takes an anthropological interest in family, friends and life in her West Sussex village (think, The Archerscrossed with Twin Peaks) where she lives with her husband, children and various other pets.