Book-Mad-Mum

  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 br...

  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 ...

 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 ...

  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 f...

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...

  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 kne...