Confessions Of A Forty-Something F**k Up by Alexandra Potter published by Pan Macmillan Nell Stevens’ life is a mess – moving back to London from LA after her business goes bust and her relationship fails she notices that many things have changed. Her friends are now all settled with children, and she is forced to rent a room in a house. Life just feels like it’s f**ked up!. When Nell gets a job writing obituaries, she first encounters Cricket, an eighty-something widow with challenges of her own, and they strike up an unlikely friendship. Together they begin to help each other heal their aching hearts, cope with the loss of the lives they had planned, and push each other into new adventures and unexpected joys. Because Nell is determined. Next year things are going to be very different. It's time to turn her life around. Initially I didn’t think I was going to like this book, as I mistakenly thought it was transcripts of a podcast, but how wrong was I? This is in f
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The Christmas Shop On Nutcracker Lane by Jaimie Admans published by HQ Books Christmas has always been Nia Maddison’s favourite time of the year and as a crafter and a massive lover of Nutcrackers, this season gives Nia the opportunity to combine them both. As a child, her grandmother used to take her to visit Nutcracker Lane, a row of Christmas shops full of magic and wonder. When the opportunity to run her own Christmas gift shop on the most magical street in town arises, it feels like her wishes have been finally granted. After receiving a text from her boyfriend, who obviously meant to send it to another woman (!) Nia faces the holiday season on her own, but as she leaves work late one night, she makes a wish on the (supposedly) magical nutcracker and half-jokingly wishes to find Prince Charming. The next day Nia gets to work to find another decoration shop has opened directly across the lane from her own, and she can’t resist having a nose around. Whilst there, s
A Season In The Snow by Isla Gordon published by Sphere Books Alice Bright loves her life as a cartoonist. She has a job she adores, a devoted family, and friends she'd lay down her life for. So when tragedy strikes, bringing with it Bear - a rapidly-growing Bernese Mountain puppy in need of a home - it turns Alice's whole world upside down. She retreats inside her flat, and inside herself, with only her new companion for company. But one-bedroom London flats aren't made for mountain dogs, and so Alice lets Bear push her out of her comfort zone to his homeland: the mountains of Switzerland. Could a change of scene in snowy serenity be just the thing to help Alice balance out life again? This was the last festive read I had on my review list, and boy did I inadvertently leave the best till last!! It’s not really a Christmas book, although the big day does feature, but it’s a winter season book, so if you find yourself reading this in January or February, it won’
Moonlight Over Studland Bay – Della Galton published by Boldwood Books Samantha Jones works as an audio typist for a local company in Dorset. However, it’s not her dreams job. She wanted to devote, and expand, Purbeck Pooches, her pet sitting service. When best friend (and housemate) Abby has a baby boy Sam’s priorities change and she realises she wants more from her life. Does she want life to continue as it is or does she want to look for the perfect sperm donor – on a drunken evening Abby and Sam draw up the perfect "daddy" list. Sam’s world is soon rocked when her boss Rex accuses her of moonlighting and her parents who have run a B&B locally for years make a shock revelation. I’m going to say it from the start…I loved this book! Sam is a relatable character who knows what she wants from life, but she doesn’t want to upset, hurt or trample on people to get it. She’s just an all-round good egg!! There were times in the book when Abby made me laugh but a
Just Between Friends by Rosie Nixon published by HQ Books Aisha Moore is eight months pregnant. She’s thrilled, and a little scared. Not least because her husband Jason hasn’t quite wrapped his head around the fact. Lucy is having her first child too. She has finally got her wish – although the circumstances aren’t quite what she had hoped. Oscar will be a great dad though, won’t he? When the two women join the same baby group, they quickly become friends and before long they’re confiding in each other. Only there’s one thing Lucy hasn’t told Aisha. And while a baby may turn your life upside-down, a secret this big will change everything. I’m not going to lie – I had a horrifically traumatic birth with my (only!) son who is now 17, and the thought of a book purely about pregnancy, childbirth and babies filled me with dread, it was a time and a place that I never wanted to go back to…however…I absolutely loved this book! It’s not a story of gory birth details, it’
The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss published by Pan MacMillan Kate Turner is a fabric designer for Liberty Department store in London who has returned to her childhood home of Blexford when her parents marriage broke down. Her lifelong friends Matt and Laura both have partners but Blexford isn’t exactly the Big Smoke, and the romantic prospects are limited. So when Laura comes to the rescue and signs Kate up with a dating agency that promises to help singles find love before the holidays, she decides to give it a go – after all what has she got to lose? Twenty-three days until Christmas. Twelve dates with twelve different men. This is an extremely festive read and will have you jingling your bells by the end of it – there is no way you can escape the Christmas season after reading this book!! It is stuffed full of tinsel, baubles and snow! It is a lovely, albeit predictable read and at times I felt that the twelve dates were way too much, and about thirt
Finding Love At The Christmas Market by Jo Thomas published by Random House C onnie works in a residental home, delivering ready-made meals to the people who live there, but when her online date is at a German Christmas market, the residents decide to hitch a lift with her in their minibus! On paper, Baker Henrich is everything that Connie could wish for and more, but when she meets his rival William, another baker in the Old Town, Connie starts to wonder if there is more to love than just ticking boxes on a list. This is a story of friendship and memory making regardless of age. There were times when I wanted to shake Connie, as I was worried that she was going to get sucked into a story of revenge and spying, but thankfully she is more savvy than that and I was really relieved!! This book is stuffed full of Christmas jumpers, stollen, gingerbread, ice skating and hot chocolate what more could any festive fan ask for?! Jo Thomas is a magical storywriter who brings to l
Happiness For Beginners by Carole Matthews published by Spectre Books C hristmas For Beginners – Carole Matthews published by Sphere Christmas is gathering pace and Hope Farm, and owner Molly Baker has been convinced by her colleague Bev, to go completely out of her comfort zone and organise an open day to raise some much-needed funds ahead of the New Year. Molly finds it all a bit overwhelming, and is concerned that the animals will play up on the day. Despite the chaos of the farm getting in the way of her event planning, Molly is looking forward to spending the holidays with tv soap actor boyfriend Shelby and his teenage Lucas, hopeful that a happy family Christmas is exactly what they need to draw them all together. But while she is busy making plans on the farm, Shelby, it seems, has ideas of his own. I absolutely loved this book!! If I could give it more than five stars in a review then I would!!! It is by far the best festive novel I have read this season (and I’ve notc
The Country Village Christmas Show by Cathy Lake published by Cathy Lake Clare is at a crossroads in her life, with the ink drying on her divorce papers, her son at uni and the family home sold, she must now start all over again. Moving back into her childhood home in the village that she grew up in, Clare faces new challenges. When herself and her son Kyle chance upon the idea of running a Christmas show in the village to bring the community together, it feels like she has purpose again, but can she manage to pull it off? I snuggled down to read this book with a large mug of hot chocolate, the dog on my lap, and rain lashing down outside and for a few hours I lost sight of the doom and gloom going on in the world – COVID hasn’t reached Little Bramble yet! I did enjoy the book, the characters were believable and I got a taste of the village community which I yearn for, after living all my life in the Big Smoke! However, saying that I was a little disappointed in t
The Winter Garden by Heidi Swain published by Simon & Schuster Freya Fuller is estranged from her parents and has been following her childhood dream of becoming a gardener ever since. When an opportunity to design a winter garden opens up at a Victorian property in Nightingale Square, Freya jumps at the chance to make a fresh start. But while the majority of the residents are welcoming, local artist Finn seems determined to shut her out, and when Freya's family make a surprise appearance, it seems that her new life is about to come crashing down . . . This is a story where you settle on the sofa on an autumnal afternoon, the rain lashing outside, a cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows by your side and you sit down and lose yourself in this Christmas tale. Although a nice story, I didn’t gel with the characters, but perhaps that because I hadn’t read the other books in the series, and although this can be read as a stand alone story, I felt I hadn
Eudora Honeysett Is Quite Well, Thank You by Annie Lyons published by Harper Collins/One More Chapter 85 year old Eudora feels that she has lived her life, she’s not depressed, she just wants to control her own death and decides to take things into her own hands and makes a call to a clinic in Switzerland. With the arrival of new next door neighbours, ten-year-old Rose knocks on Eudora’s door in a riot of colour and with the prospect of friendship. As Rose takes Eudora on adventures she remembers the past and soon finds herself wondering if she’s squeezed everything out of life? I will admit, initially I wasn’t sure if I would like this book because of the subject, but death isn’t the main focus of this story…in fact I think it’s all about living and not dying – it’s not at all morbid, and I absolutely loved it. It is a gorgeously written story of cross generational friendships which are completely believable – my favourite character was Stanley – I so wanted him to be my gra
Us Three - Ruth Jones published by Bantam Press Lana, Judith and Catrin have been friends every since they made a pledge over a Curly Wurly wrapper in the school playground when they were eight years old, but years later, after a trip to the Greek Islands to celebrate the end of their A levels, that pledge is tested, and inevitably broken. Right from the first page I was gripped by the character led story of friendship, deceit and heartache. You felt like you were sitting behind them, overhearing their conversations rather than reading them on the page. I liked how I absolutely loved some characters, wasn’t sure on others, and one in particular (Patricia) I hated with a vengeance!!! This is a really wonderful story of the highs and lows of friendship, and I couldn’t put it down evening finding myself still reading it at 4am as I was desperate to know what happened to the group of friends. I read Ruth Jones’ first book, Never Greener, and I loved that, so I knew that this bo