Review: P.S. I Hate You

P.S. I Hate You by Sophie Ranald
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Abbie and Matt were childhood sweethearts, friends have got together, had kids, split up etc but Matt and Abbie keep going, twenty years together and nine married. But lately Abbie has felt something is missing, they've lost that indescribable spark that let her forgive him for always leaving a dirty teaspoon on the side of the sink instead of putting it in the dishwasher (and Matt forgiving her for never closing a cupboard door - which my husband also does).

Abbie's WhatsApp friends group suggest she tries to recreate some occasions from their past, first date, etc. Of course what they are forgetting is that first dates when you are sixteen or seventeen are at Burger King and Nando's - not exactly the romantic dream LOL. Nevertheless, Abbie does try, and revisiting some of their old haunts/memories does bring them closer together, but there are some big issues and secrets causing the rift between them - will Operation Memory Lane heal the rift or break them apart?

This is the first book I've read which neither ignores lockdown nor dismisses it as something that happened in the past. Instead, there is no mention of COVID, just the grim reality of Abbie and Matt working from home together, at either end of their kitchen table, for months on end, the inability to get away from each other or do anything else, albeit that in Abbie and Matt's universe things are starting to return to normal.

There's humour, nostalgia (how I loved those trips down memory lane with the music and the food and the TV shows), pathos and so much more. Loved it.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Retreat to the Spanish Sun

Retreat to the Spanish Sun by Jo Thomas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Eliza is a divorced mother of three adults, all of whom had flown the coop but have now returned to her small two bedroom flat for *reasons*. Desperate for a bit of peace and quiet to finish her dissertation which might enable Eliza to get a degree and start a career is sports therapy (or something similar) and get away from her job as receptionist for a local estate agents, Eliza accepts a short-term hob housesitting in Spain.

The house which Eliza is looking after is famed for rearing the famous Iberico pigs, whose tender meat and delicate flavour are prized the world over. But things start to go wrong almost immediately, the local Gastronomic Society refuses to admit women, or foreigners, and the man who looks after the prized pigs has disappeared, sending a rather untrustworthy guy in his place. Eliza knows these pigs are worth a small fortune, but when the owner isn't answering her calls what should she do?

With the help of the ex-pat community, who call themselves the Spanish Language Class, although there is precious little Spanish being taught, and the young Spaniard who works in a tapas bar owned by an ex-pat called Juan (real name John), Eliza cares for the pigs herself.

I liked this but I didn't love it. I thought the start was a bit rushed in Jo Thomas' eagerness to get Eliza to Spain - don't get me wrong, I didn't want to waste half the book in England but this felt like Bish, Bash, Bosh, she's in Spain. Then the ex-pats felt a bit clichéd, would you really move to rural Spain if you were scared to try authentic Spanish food? I guess if you moved to one of the Anglicised coastal resorts that have British pubs serving a Full English maybe, but surely not in a small rural village? And then the madcap caper at the end ... I honestly couldn't get my head around the logistics and gave up trying. TBH, this felt like one too many plots, I would have preferred a plot centred around Juan's attempts to win the Tapas competition, the pigs, and slowly bringing the ex-pats and the local community together.

Having said that, it was a Jo Thomas novel, so full of great scenery, wonderful descriptions of food, and a slower pace of life, but I feel they are all very similar, very middle-aged, middle-class woman finds a new lease of life abroad, with help from the local women - maybe I shouldn't have looked at a couple of my previous reviews of her books?

If you are looking for a sweet, charming, feel-good, romance set in the glorious Spanish countryside then this is the book for you.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Mad About You

Mad About You by Mhairi McFarlane
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Four and a half stars.

Okay, its true I've morphed into a nicer version of myself.

Harriet is a wedding photographer, she' sort-of happy with her boyfriend Jon until he uses a weekend away with his family to celebrate his parents' 40th wedding anniversary to propose to her in front of his entire family. Harriet realises enough is enough, she's mistaken comfort and gratitude for love for too long, any longer and she'll end up married to a man she doesn't love.

But moving out of Jon's house forces Harriet to confront some uncomfortable home truths, about herself, about past relationships and about friendship. Not least because Harriet finds herself sharing a house with a groom who walked away from his wedding on the wedding day; how can Harriet like a man who could behave so appallingly?

I loved this, Mhiari McFarlane has outdone herself, creating a wonderful, flawed character like Harriet who finally finds the strength to what is right, and what is true.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: The Christie Affair

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 34%.

This sounded awesome, the story of what happened to Agatha Christie when she disappeared for eleven days, told by her husband's mistress.

Well I'm over a third of the way through and so far there's been precious little of Agatha. There's been her husband's scheming mistress Nan, there's been a retired police officer, there's been her husband wandering the streets of London blah, blah, blah but not Agatha.

Also, the writing is very odd. I'm sure some poor teenager will be forced to opine on why the book is written from Nan's point of view, even when she's describing her lover's feelings - as if she's the omnipotent narrator instead of one of the characters, but for the reader its very off-putting. I have to keep rereading to see who is taking and who they are talking about.

I wasn't enthralled but I kept plodding at it hoping it would get better - because I would love to read a story about where Agatha Christie was during those days (and why), but sadly that doesn't seem to be this book, which is more concerned with tawdry Nan.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: The Catching Kind

The Catching Kind by Bria Quinlan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hailey is a very ordinary looking woman, a loner who loves writing for teenagers and hates meeting new people. Connor is a baseball player and voted America's sexiest sportsman. After being a bit of a diva at his old team he's moved to a new team and been accused of kissing (or worse) his captain's wife. In desperate need of wholesomeness makeover his agent arranges for a fake relationship to take the heat off and stop alienating the young female demographic. Hailey's agent loses a poker bet and ends up making Hailey the sacrificial lamb.

Understandably reluctant, Hailey is not impressed by her first meeting with Connor, or indeed her second where he sneers at the idea that he would ever date her. And as for the idea that she needs some kind of clothes and hair makeover ... keep walking buddy!

As Connor and Hailey are forced to pretend to date 'under the radar' they actually become quite good friends, Hailey doesn't stand any nonsense from Connor and she brings him back to earth. Also her tiny apartment is more cosy and comfortable than his million dollar penthouse with views.

Connor is convinced that he loves his single life and has no desire for a wife, kids, a dog, or a picket fence - but is he lying to himself?

I got this as a Kindle freebie - I note it is now £4.99 which seems a bit of a bargain! I enjoyed this, engaging characters, a makeover, and a fake relationship - what more could you want?

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Review: Twelve Days in May

Twelve Days in May by Niamh Hargan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lizzy Munro is a half-American, half-Scottish advocate for the Scottish Film Board. The team are at the Cannes Film Festival hoping to lure some big Hollywood director into their marquee and persuade them to shoot their films in Scotland, they don't have the big budget of some of their rivals but Lizzy hopes that the Ceilidh she has planned for the last night will help them stand out.

Having her lunch one day, Lizzy is horrified to see hot-shot Irish director Ciaran Flynn in the café, even more incensed when he totally blanks her when she waves. Their friendship twelve years ago when they were students in France may have ended really badly but there's no need to be rude.

Ciaran is riding high, bringing his film about living in Bordeaux as a student to Cannes to premiere at the Palais des Festivals, the most important venue. Then his film company is served with an infringement notice claiming that Ciaran's film Wish You Were Here bears a striking resemblance to a similar screenplay submitted to the film company two years earlier. Now the only hope Ciaran has of refuting the claims is to find someone who could confirm some of the aspects of the film are based on real life - and that someone would be Lizzy.

Lizzy doesn't want to help Ciaran, the man who not so much broke her heart as stamped all over it then set light to the remains, but her innate sense of fair play forces her to agree. Watching the film together reminds both Lizzy and Ciaran of their time together, both of them lamenting their relationship and how it ended.

This was a sweet and quirky romance about second chances, first love, and how things can appear very different from the other point of view.

Perfect holiday reading (if we get one in 2022), light, amusing, charming and with likable characters.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: In Place of Fear

In Place of Fear by Catriona McPherson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Helen (Nelly) Crowther and her husband Sandy are living at home with her parents and her sister Teenie in their small apartment in Edinburgh. Having acted as an assistant to Mrs Sinclair (a wealthy do-gooder) during the war, Nelly has studied and become an Almoner (sort of like triage but financially assessing what a patient could pay and then sending them to the appropriate resources) prior to the inception of the National Health Service, now she has accepted a position with a local doctor's practice as the in-house unqualified nurse - basically giving sensible advice about childcare, pregnancy and the like. Nelly is evangelistic about the NHS, albeit as a newly-wed she finds some of the topics she has to discuss a little bit awkward, especially since Sandy hasn't wanted to consummate their marriage since he returned from a PoW camp.

Everything is going well, the dawn of a new era, Doctor Strasser even gives Nelly and Sandy their own apartment which has been recently redecorated and even has its own indoor bathroom. Then Nelly finds the half-naked corpse of a young woman in their Anderson air-raid shelter. In her determination to discover the identity of the woman and the cause of her death, Nelly uncovers some shocking truths about the seedy underbelly of her city (BTW, why do we always say seedy underbelly? Surely we only need to say one or the other).

I have enjoyed Catriona McPherson's other series and so I was delighted to receive an ARC of this new book, which is very different from those series, albeit still featuring a Scottish protagonist (and yes I know that Dandy is actually an Englishwoman living in Scotland).

I'm halfway through this review and I still haven't assigned a star rating because it is so difficult to think of it as a whole. First, as a working class woman Nelly has a strong Scottish accent which peppers the dialogue (even worse than Dandy Gilver and The Reek of Red Herrings), which can present some challenges to the reader.

Second, the information about the birth of the NHS was fascinating, particularly the way in which people didn't know to what they were entitled, and no-one really knew how it worked. But ... in and of itself it didn't have anything to do with the mystery and was maybe a bit too much of an information dump, as in I've done all this research and I must shoe-horn it into the book.

Similarly, the relationship between Sandy and Nelly and the relationship between Nelly and her family felt superfluous in a way, unless of course this is the start of a new series, although the postscript would indicate that this was a standalone novel.

The mystery, well that was clever. well thought through, no obvious clues being dropped but also no Sherlock Holmes-like deductions from absolutely nothing. All the little snippets were there and came together very cleanly.

Overall, I would say I enjoyed this, the new setting, the mystery, and the characters, there you go I've decided on four stars.

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Review: Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow, just wow.

Jen is a middle-aged lawyer, married to Kelly (a self-employed painter and decorator) with an eighteen year old son Todd. On the Saturday just before Hallowe'en, on the night the clocks go back to mark the end of British Summer Time, Jen is waiting for Todd to return home from a party when she sees him accosted by an older man in the street. feeling deeply uneasy Jen and Kelly run into the street only to see Todd stab the man several times.

When Jen awakes the next morning, ready to go to the Plie station to get Todd a lawyer etc, she is astonished to find that Todd is at home. Neither Todd nor Kelly has any memory of the previous evening's events and it becomes obvious pretty quickly that Jen has woken up on the Saturday morning (again), before the stabbing, can she do anything to prevent her son possibly spending twenty five years in prison for murder?

With her lawyer's eye for detail Jen notices things as she relives the day that she never noticed before but each new clue is just a fragment - now she notices that her son has become thinner, less joyful than he was six months ago, is she a bad mother for not paying attention? Did something she failed to do lead to the stabbing?

Each day when Jen awakes she wakes a day earlier, then a week, going further back in time, discovering everything she thought she knew about her life and her marriage was a lie, but still no closer to why Todd killed the man.

I honestly spent several hours annoying my husband enormously yesterday by exclaiming at regular intervals over the latest twist in this book. What made it so enthralling was that I genuinely did not see half the twists coming, and yet they made total sense when they unfolded. I really wanted the Eastenders' theme tune to dum dum dum at the end of half the chapters as yet another truth was uncovered.

There are so many things I won't discuss because to do so might spoil the novel for the reader. Suffice it to say that I was not only 100% invested in the novel while I was reading it, but when it finished I was also fully onboard with the ending (unlike another book which was too clever for its own good which I read recently), as I sit here the whole thing ties together beautifully with no concerns about plot holes. This reminds me of that film The Usual Suspects (in a good way) as the reader is led one way, then another, in the search for the truth.

I have never read a book by Gillian McAllister before but if this is the calibre of plotting I will be looking up some of her previous books lickety-spit.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Tea for Two at the Little Cornish Kitchen

Tea for Two at the Little Cornish Kitchen by Jane Linfoot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Am I suddenly in a good mood for 2022? So many books are getting four stars from the queen of the three and a half star review.

Cressida Cupcake has a very popular YouTube channel where she makes gorgeous cakes whilst looking immaculate. Then a slightly underbaked cake on a national TV baking show is presented in the worst possible light. Suddenly Cressida is the butt of many an unkind hashtag, and she's losing her sponsors.

Wanting to (metaphorically) lick her wounds in private, Cressida agrees to cat/ dog-sit for her brother and his wife while they go to Switzerland for IVF treatment (I assume brother and sister-in-law were the subjects of the previous book in the series) at their cottage in St Aidan, Cornwall while she curates a new book on baking.

However, things don't go according to plan. First Cressy loses the publisher for her new book, then she discovers that her brother's best friend, and her first big crush, Ross Bradbury, is temporarily working as a vet locally. They have history, the absolute worst, and she can't imagine anything worse that being forced into regular contact with him in a small village.

Partially because of what happened between Ross and Cressy all those years ago, Cressy has always wanted to be totally self-sufficient (ie not accepting help from anyone, rather than aping The Good Life TV series), something that has been exacerbated by the success of her myriad elder brothers and sisters. At first she resists attempts by the local yummy mummies, who call themselves The Mermaids, to enter into the village social scene. But soon Cressy discovers that resistance is futile. Soon she's teaching piping skills at the old people's home, baking for St Aidan's singles evenings and feeding the livestock for a local farmer who has been forced by ll-health into the old people's home temporarily. And everywhere she goes it seems like Ross pops up, looking more handsome than ever, being reasonable and helpful and charming ... the nerve!

This book should come with the warning that just reading it could make you put on weight as Cressy spends most of her days and nights creating delectable brownies, meringues, and cupcakes.

This is a no-surprises, sweet (literally and figuratively), second-chance romance set in a picturesque Cornish village. Perfect for escapism.

I was offered a free review copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Just The Way You Are: The perfect uplifting, feel-good read for 2022

Just The Way You Are: The perfect uplifting, feel-good read for 2022 by Beth Moran
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ollie Tennyson wrote a Dream List when she was sixteen, fourteen years later none of her dreams have materialised because her manipulative mother won't let her have a life. Every time Ollie tries to go on a date, or on holiday with friends, her mother fakes a panic attack, or heart palpitations or some other illness to keep Ollie firmly by her side.

But when Ollie discovers her mother has ransacked her bedroom drawers, opened her diary and dug out her Dream List, proposing the two of them do many of the things on the list for Ollie's impending thirtieth birthday, something snaps and Ollie decides to move out.

Ollie's best friend has her own burdens (I assume she had her own book) and challenges Ollie not to swap catering to her mother's very need to do the same thing for a man, persuading her to sign a Man Ban until Ollie has completed all the things on her list (many of which she dreamt of doing with her dream guy) solo.

Ollie loves into a tiny end of row cottage, her two neighbours being an elderly, bad tempered, man and a single mother with a pre-teen daughter. Oh, and there's a hunky forest ranger who patrols Sherwood Forest which extends just beyond the cottage's shared garden.

Can Ollie become her own woman without a man?

This is a sweet, fun, contemporary romance. Ollie's Pollyanna-like charms soon help her befriend her new neighbours, foster romance between her adult-literacy clients, and melt the heart of the prim and proper local librarian.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: It Takes Two

It Takes Two by Natalie Cox
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Clem is a bit of a soft touch. She has a massive dog that she can't really afford to feed. She manages an artisanal cheese shop, her upstairs neighbour has taken out a restraining order against her dog, and she's still friends with her ex-boyfriend even though he's really boring.

Then Clem finds that someone has stolen her identity - and appears to be having a much better life, even if it is a bit creepy that this person is visiting the same bars, restaurants and shops, oh and she seems to look very similar too.

When Clem is arrested, because of frauds her doppelganger has perpetrated, she determines to track down this mysterious identity thief.

I started this book three months ago and gave up after a short period because Clem seemed such an idiot, I mean who doesn't realise that someone is spending on your card for months on end? Especially when a barman accuses you of borrowing money from him and not repaying it?

I restarted this yesterday and finished it today, while I did enjoy it it had a very Goldie Hawn feel to me; Clem is just so dipsy and insists on tailing people around London wearing a dodgy wig on her rollerblades. Also, I felt that almost everything was a plot device to enable something else to happen later in the plot. And there were lots of kooky characters with bizarre interests which all felt a little overblown.

Overall, it was an okay, fun read but I have a feeling that this style of character could get very tiresome.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: A Casterglass Garden

A Casterglass Garden by Kate Hewitt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a series about the Penryn family who own Casterglass Castle in Cumbria. each book features a different sibling's romance, set against trying to save the castle.

This book concerns Olivia. Shy, quiet and self-effacing, she worked at a garden centre in Leeds until a disastrous romance with a married man sent her fleeing home. Now she's been charged with restoring/transforming 30 acres of unloved grounds in a matter of months on no budget and with no assistance, other than a few hours of her nephew's time every few weeks.

Fortuitously Olivia meets Will Turner in the local pub one night. Will is a landscape gardener, although since his move from Norfolk to Cumbria he has spent more time doing mundane gardening and fencing than the grand projects he envisaged. Enthralled by Olivia's rough sketches of Secret Garden she envisages, Will invites himself along to view the gardens and gets a part-time job helping Olivia. But Will is a widower with two small children, whose wife only recently died, he's not in the market for romance, and after nearly destroying a marriage Olivia is guarding her heart this time.

If creating a secret garden in the grounds of a dilapidated castle, cute moppets and irritating siblings is your cup of tea then I think this will be right up your street.

Ideal for lovers of Katie Fforde, Sue Moorcroft and Milly Johnson.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Rachel Ryan's Resolutions: A heartwarming, laugh out loud romantic comedy for 2021

Rachel Ryan's Resolutions: A heartwarming, laugh out loud romantic comedy for 2021 by Laura Starkey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rachel Ryan works in advertising. She might be thirty and single, but she has her best friend Anna, Anna's boyfriend, and his flatmate - together they spend evenings and weekends together as a group.

Then Rachel's world is turned topsy-turvey, her agency is bought by a large Manchester firm and her college ex Jack Harper (who cheated on her and broker her heart) is part of the Manchester team, not only that, he's also joining the London office and Rachel has got a big promotion, but it means that she has to work with Jack on a series of difficult not-for-profit accounts.

Rachel thinks she's immune to Jack's good looks and charm, but soon she starts to fall for his smiles and awe-shucks eye-rolls. Can she keep his past behaviour in mind or has he really turned over a new leaf?

I thought Laura Starkey did this very well, too often the reader sees or guesses something that is resolutely kept secret (if that makes sense) which can become frustrating, in this case Laura only keeps the reader in suspense for a short time before revealing the love interest's feelings - now we just need Rachel to catch a clue LOL.

Funny, charming, with a bit of a tear-jerker in the middle, this was a great fun read.

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Review: The Woman Who Took a Chance

The Woman Who Took a Chance by Fiona Gibson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jen is a fifty-something, single mother of an adult daughter, a flight attendant with a budget airline based in Glasgow. When the airline goes bust she's suddenly unemployed, living alone and hasn't had a date in two years. Pushed into joining a dating app by her daughter Hannah and colleagues she finds there are slim pickings for a mature woman, Jen's not necessarily looking for true love, just someone to share a luxury holiday in Greece she won for selling the most airline mascot toys in the period before the voucher expires.

Will Jen realise that her daughter's father could be the man for her? Or will it be the suave solicitor with a way with words? Will it be the dentist or the fencing specialist? Or what about the silver fox Jen sees running effortlessly while she's struggling with her Couch to 5K app? It's probably not the guy who stares at her boobs or the reformed thief though ...

As with so many of Fiona Gibson's books this took me on a journey I wasn't expecting and the reader really is left guessing until the last minute who Jen falls in love with (with whom Jen falls in love). Funny, yet with serious concerns about ageing parents and being jobless over fifty, quirky and charming. Another winner from one of my new favourite authors.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Welcome to Your Life

Welcome to Your Life by Bethany Rutter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Serena jilts her fiancé just minutes before their wedding, he's the only man she's ever slept with and they've been together ten years, everyone says she's lucky to have someone as good-looking and solvent and h=kind as Alistair but Serena realises (almost too late) that they've become cosy friends and the spark has gone.

So, to the horror of her family, she cancels the wedding and moves to London to stay with her best friend Lola, who gets her a job as a copywriter with a jewellery company owned by a college friend. Serena decides to put herself out there and resolves to go on a Tinder date a week, not realising that she is sabotaging herself by only swiping right on men than she thinks might fancy a plus-sized woman (ie mediocre) rather than men she finds attractive. Inevitably what follows are a series of appalling dates with weird men!

With the help of her work friend Nicole, who is also plus-sized but carries herself with a confidence and panache that Serena can't emulate, and Lola Serena realises that old cliché that in order to be lovable you first need to love yourself, and if that don't work, fake it 'til you make it.

I did enjoy this, don't get me wrong, it was charming and funny without trying too hard. I liked Serena and I liked the way that there was no Hollywood ending,(view spoiler)[her side hustle of dress-making doesn't suddenly turn into a huge business making her a millionaire, (hide spoiler)]
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Lessons in Chemistry

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Elizabeth Zott has struggled against sexism all her life, she is a brilliant chemist but everyone from her college lecturers to her colleagues at Hastings Research Institute seem to think she's more interested in snagging a husband than cutting-edge chemistry research. As the only woman in the team she is expected to make the coffees, bring equipment to the male scientists and clear up after them, despite being more intelligent and having more insightful research. The only exception is the equally gifted enfant terrible Calvin Evans, Hastings' Noble prize winning chemist, all the other chemists hate him but the two of them fall in love.

Fast forward a few years and Elizabeth is a single mother to an equally gifted daughter, unable to get a job as a research chemist at Hastings, she has somehow been offered a job presenting a daytime cookery show for housewives, but Elizabeth refuses to kowtow to the network's sexist ideas about how she should look, how the set should look, or even what she should say. She's teaching cookery as chemistry.

See that describes the book, and yet it doesn't. There's a whole tragic, almost French farce surrounding Calvin's past which the reader guesses at, but could have changed his whole life if things had gone differently. The style sort of reminded of The World According to Garp, maybe it's just because I rarely read a book written entirely from the view of a third party narrator, but it also had that slightly surreal element to it, especially when we hear Elizabeth's dog's thoughts.

Kooky and quirky don't really hit the mark. I wouldn't say it was loud-out-loud funny, more mildly amusing with a dark underbelly. All of the main characters have something terrible happen(ing) in their lives. Most of the ancillary male characters are just plain awful, and the women aren't much better.

It was slow to start and the unemotional delivery took some getting used to, yet, by the end, I really enjoyed it. Very different.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Take Mum Out

Take Mum Out by Fiona Gibson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Alice is a thirty-nine year old single mother of two teenage boys, Logan aged sixteen and Fergus aged thirteen. Their father Tom spent years lying on the sofa, not working, drinking too much and generally being a slob, then when Alice kicked him out he somehow transformed and is now married to a woman with her own business (think Boden/ White Company levels of aspirational middle-class living) and has a young daughter.

Alice works as a school secretary during the day and bakes meringues for additional cash in the evenings. Since she and Tom split she hasn't had much time for dating, what with her jobs and bringing up two teenagers but her three best friends are urging her to 'get back on that horse' and each decide to set her up with a lovely man that they know.

I think to describe this as a humorous look at dating in your late thirties kind of sells this book short because it is much more than that. It's about being friends even when you have very little in common, it's about seeing people clearly (but it's also about not judging too quickly). Alice and her sons have a tense relationship, not helped by Tom or Logan's best friend Blake whose parents have just converted their attic into a self-contained apartment for him.

Overall, this was funny, charming, and ultimately life-affirming. I also liked that what I thought would be the romantic twist turned out to be wrong.

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Review: Once a Laird

Once a Laird by Mary Jo Putney
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Two and a half stars.

Kai Ramsay has spent years away from his home in Scotland's remote Thorsay Islands being a spy and an archaeologist. Then he receives a letter to tell him his only living relative, his grandfather the Laird of Thorsay, is dying and he must come home. The letter is sent by his dead fiancé's little sister Signy, who has blossomed from a child to a beautiful woman (Nordic goddess is mentioned far more than necessary). Signy has been the Laird's estate manager and general support for years and still blames Ramsay for her sister's death.

Despite their rocky start, Ramsay and Signy soon bond over their love for the Laird and the islands, together they discover an ancient settlement which has been uncovered by a strong storm, but the financial burden of years of hard winters puts Ramsay in a difficult situation.

I'm sorry but I'm bored just writing this summary. There are two half-hearted attempts at binging some dramatic tension to the story but frankly they are both damp squibs. Everything interesting seems to happen off-stage so the reader is simply presented with a fait-accompli - like they used to say at school, show your workings!

This is the sixth (possibly last) book in a series and (not having read the other five books) it feels as though Mary Jo Putney had to write a book for the final member of the group but wasn't feeling the love ... and neither was I. I felt that Mary Jo Putney had read a lot about ancient sites on remote Scottish islands and wanted to put it in a book. As a consequence neither Ramsay nor Signy felt like fleshed out characters, their 'romance' was laughable and the tension was non-existent. (view spoiler)[Oh no! I owe my snake of a cousin £25,000 repayable in full in only a few weeks, I have no money, I will lose everything. Never mind, at the last minute five of my old friends will literally sail in at the last minute and each give me £5,000 for saving their lives. Reminds me of that insurance advert where they say they won't make a drama out of a crisis! (hide spoiler)]

Okay, I was under the impression that I liked Mary Jo Putney's books and that this was an aberration but looking at Goodreads my highest rating was only a three, so maybe this is me persisting in requesting an author who doesn't really work for me.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Once a Laird

Once a Laird by Mary Jo Putney
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Two and a half stars.

Kai Ramsay has spent years away from his home in Scotland's remote Thorsay Islands being a spy and an archaeologist. Then he receives a letter to tell him his only living relative, his grandfather the Laird of Thorsay, is dying and he must come home. The letter is sent by his dead fiancé's little sister Signy, who has blossomed from a child to a beautiful woman (Nordic goddess is mentioned far more than necessary). Signy has been the Laird's estate manager and general support for years and still blames Ramsay for her sister's death.

Despite their rocky start, Ramsay and Signy soon bond over their love for the Laird and the islands, together they discover an ancient settlement which has been uncovered by a strong storm, but the financial burden of years of hard winters puts Ramsay in a difficult situation.

I'm sorry but I'm bored just writing this summary. There are two half-hearted attempts at binging some dramatic tension to the story but frankly they are both damp squibs. Everything interesting seems to happen off-stage so the reader is simply presented with a fait-accompli - like they used to say at school, show your workings!

This is the sixth (possibly last) book in a series and (not having read the other five books) it feels as though Mary Jo Putney had to write a book for the final member of the group but wasn't feeling the love ... and neither was I. I felt that Mary Jo Putney had read a lot about ancient sites on remote Scottish islands and wanted to put it in a book. As a consequence neither Ramsay nor Signy felt like fleshed out characters, their 'romance' was laughable and the tension was non-existent. (view spoiler)[Oh no! I owe my snake of a cousin £25,000 repayable in full in only a few weeks, I have no money, I will lose everything. Never mind, at the last minute five of my old friends will literally sail in at the last minute and each give me £5,000 for saving their lives. Reminds me of that insurance advert where they say they won't make a drama out of a crisis! (hide spoiler)]

Okay, I was under the impression that I liked Mary Jo Putney's books and that this was an aberration but looking at Goodreads my highest rating was only a three, so maybe this is me persisting in requesting an author who doesn't really work for me.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: A Cottage Full of Secrets

A Cottage Full of Secrets by Jane Lovering
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tamzin leaves Cornwall for the Yorkshire Moors, fleeing an abusive relationship with Dominic. She buys a small cottage, uninspiring called Cottage Two, Bracken Ridge Farm and determines to make it her own, not realising the parallels between her life and that of a former occupant, Stella, who moved into the cottage as a newly-wed in the early 1970s.

Cottage One is occupied by a morose single man who seems to spend a lot of time dressed like a tramp and staring, Tamzin can't decide if he's creepy or a bit simple. Little does she know that she has more in common with her new neighbour than she thinks.

Told partially in flashbacks to Stella and partly in the present day, this novel is pure Jane Lovering, cute, quirky and yet with a serious undercurrent. Loved it.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: One Night Only

One Night Only by Catherine Walsh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sarah Anderson is a young architect in New York, after a brutal break up with her ex, Josh, she's become a love 'em and leave 'em one-night stand artist. Imagine her horror when her latest one-night stand turns out to be the best man at her BFF Annie's wedding in Ireland, where Sarah is the maid of honour. What's worse, the groom's mother is trying to set her up with the best man, her son Declan!

I loved the sound of this, who doesn't like the idea of being stuck at a destination wedding with your last one-night stand when you barely know anyone else other than the bride and groom?

Unfortunately, this started to wane around the halfway mark, first it just dragged. Second, Sarah had that irritating habit of not believing what she was told, whether it was Declan or her friends saying he was smitten with her, she just didn't believe it. Third, Declan was a bit of a tool TBH. (view spoiler)[Allegedly he has seen Sarah several times at the bar which he runs and really liked her but he always lets/makes her make the first move and is very quick to detonate the relationship at the first sign of Sarah wavering. (hide spoiler)] Fourth, there were just too many tropes for one book to carry single-handedly.

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