Book-Mad-Mum

The Butlins Girls by Elaine Everest My rating: 3 of 5 stars The book tells the story of Molly whose parents have recently been killed in a car accident just after the end of WW2. With an ironmongers business to sort out, Molly is busy sorting out her parents affairs, until Harriet and Simon turn up out of the blue, claiming to be family, and insisting that her Mum and Dad stated in their Will that the house was left to them! With Simon getting more and more threatening every day, Molly decides to move away until their solicitor comes back from Europe to sort out their affairs, and she gets a job at Butlins as a Redcoat where she meets up with Plum and Bunty on her first day and the three of them forge a friendship. I really, really wanted to love this story and in fairness, it was nicely written, however if I am truly honest, I found the plot a bit flaky...Molly moved out of London, in fear of her "cousin" and "aunt" but took mana...

Love at the Italian Lake by Darcie Boleyn My rating: 5 of 5 stars Wow! Wow! Wow! I absolutely blooming loved this book and it so deserves a five star review. Sophia comes home from her stressful job one evening to find her boyfriend Lee in bed with another woman. This results in a life changing decision for Sophia who decides to jack in her pressurised job in the city, and go and visit her Nonna in Italy to see if she can figure out where she wants her life to go. After an encounter  at the airport she literally bumps into Joe and their friendship blossoms from there. Romance is in the air, but is it just a summer fling or could this be a happy ever after? Set in my favourite country of Italy, the descriptions in the book, actually took me there, I could feel the heat of the sun on my skin, the breeze of Lake Garda in my hair and when Sophia went to Verona, and visited Juliet's balcony, I actually squealed in delight as it is a place I have always wanted to g...

You Are Loved by Jo Platt My rating: 4 of 5 stars Grace Waterhouse is a successful author whose husband's left her for another woman, and they've just had a baby together. When she presents her latest novel to her literary agent and friend Neil, he dismisses it and says that she needs to go away and think about life. When her cleaner Rose goes away on holiday for four months, Grace decides to step into the breach and use the cleaning jobs as a distraction, and hopefully, a source of inspiratation. I must admit, when I first started reading this book, I didn't think I was going to like it...I wasn't sure where the story was going to go, and to be honest, who wants to read a book about a cleaner, but I will be the first to admit that I was wrong! I quickly fell in love with all the characters especially Neil and Gavin (who I would love to befriend and share a couple of bottles of wine with!) and Percy...don't get me started on Percy...