Book-Mad-Mum

  Kathleen is eighty years old and lives independently in her seaside cottage in Cornwall. After an altercation with an intruder, Kathleen’s daughter Liza questions whether she should move her into residential housing. What octogenarian Kathleen craves is one last hurrah, and she sets about arranging it. Liza is so stressed with daily family life, so the last thing she needs is her mother jetting off on a wild holiday. Unemployed Martha needs to change her life, her family see her as a failure and so when she sees Katherine’s advert for a driver and companion to share an epic road trip across America with, she decides this job might be the answer to her prayers. She's not the world's best driver, but anything has to be better than living with her parents. As these women embark on the journey of a lifetime, they all discover it's never too late to start over. This was a really enjoyable read – it took me a little time to get into it, but when I did I felt I bonded w

  Newlyweds Charles and Grace decide on a quiet honeymoon in Cornwall after Grace experienced a traumatic accident on a previous holiday to Turkey. When their train terminates early due to a storm, they’re forced to find accommodation in the sleepy town of Saltwater. However, there is only one guesthouse, The Anchorage, left with rooms available is it really as empty as Charles and Grace think? In the night, Grace is woken by the haunting sound of a child crying but the next morning when husband Charles convinces her that it was her imagination. But the following day, she finds a warning scrawled in the guest book:  Leave now. Do not trust them . With phone lines down, no transport links and no wifi Grace and Charles are truly stranded in the eerie guest house. This was such a chilling read, it made the hairs on my arms stand up. It was the first ghost story that I’ve read as I’m a bit of wimp when it comes to things like that – however it completely gripped me and I raced throu

  I’ve been a bridesmaid twice in my life, and to be honest, they were the two   most stressful days in my life, so why anyone would want to do it for a living is beyond me!!! However, Sophie Breeze loves it…posing as a friend of the bride she goes undercover to make sure that the day goes to plan, averting all problems and making sure that everything runs like clockwork. When a member of the aristocracy approaches her to act as a bridesmaid for her daughter, former model and IT Girl, Lady Victoria Swann, Sophie knows that this will open more doors for her and is a great career opportunity. However, I didn’t feel comfortable with this – to say that Lady Vicki was a minx is putting it mildly, and the bullying and hateful things that she made Sophie do made me feel really uncomfortable, and I wanted Sophie to grow a backbone and tell her “No”! Sophie was a likable character but, I felt instead of giving in to every demand, swans walking up the aisle of the church, peacocks above the

    Lydia’s Butler’s life has been turned upside down in a heartbeat – quite literally. When her husband suffers a massive heart attack and dies, Lydia finds out secrets about him which forces her, and their daughter Sunny to leave their wealthy, luxurious Dublin lifestyle, selling their house and most of their possessions and moving to Sandy Cove, in Kerry on the west coast of Ireland. Wild Rose Bay is the last place Lydia Butler thought she’d be, but seeking solace in the run-down cottage she inherited from her Great Aunt Nellie, she tries to protect her daughter from the gossip of Dublin and adapt to a different lifestyle, but can she escape the web of deceit and re-build their lives on a shoestring?   This book was perfect for me – it was like slipping my feet into handmade shoes – the fit was spot on, and I don’t know how I haven’t read any of Susanne O’Leary’s books before.  Although this book is just one of the Sandy Cove series, I really didn’t feel that I missed any