Review: Meet me at the Wedding

Meet me at the Wedding by Georgia Toffolo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Two and a half stars.

Lily grew up in a small town in Cornwall and it was where she returned to lick her wounds after her fiance stole her savings and ran away. There she's lived peacefully, started her own restaurant and helped the owner of the nearby Hawkesbury Estate to build his hotel and vineyard into the successful business it is today. However, when he dies unexpectedly his estranged son Henry returns determined to sell the estate. Henry and his father fell out and hadn't spoken for a decade, Cornwall is nothing but regret and bad memories for him now, he can't bear to have anyone near him, judging him and talking behind his back so he's let all the staff go and cancelled all the hotel bookings, including the wedding of Lily's friend Victoria, a wedding that Lily has been planning for months.

Ten years ago Lily and her three friends were involved in a terrible car crash, involving Henry and another classmate called Claudia, on their way to the end of school dance. Each of them bear scars from that night whether physical or mental. Lily's three friends have found love, despite the events of that night, but Lily has remained single since her fiance's betrayal.

At first Lily intends to try to sweet talk Henry into allowing Victoria's wedding to continue, especially since his father had fully intended it to take place on the Estate, but when they meet she is so incensed that she lays into him and calls him names. They part on bad terms, until Henry realises he needs Lily to host an Estate tour and wine tasting for a potential buyer and his wife. In return, Henry has to promise to host Victoria's wedding.

As Henry and Lily work towards Victoria's wedding their attraction grows stronger, but how can they be a couple when he can't bear to stay and she can't imagine leaving?

This is the fourth book in a series and ho boy does it show, maybe if I had read the other books I would have enjoyed this more but there felt like an awful lot of backstory about the three other women and their HEAs which frankly meant nothing to me. This just felt long and sloooow, Henry is attracted to Lily but he doesn't feel he deserves a woman like her, Lily can't let herself care for yet another man who could leave her. There's a disaster with the wedding, they almost kiss, Henry is attracted to Lily but he doesn't feel he deserves a woman like her, Lily can't let herself care for yet another man who could leave her. Rinse and repeat.

Sorry, this just wasn't for me, way too many superfluous characters it was like Avengers Endgame all over again!

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 Burn

One Night Burn by Kate Meader
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Abby has just graduated as a fire-fighter but instead of clubbing with her friends she wants to visit her local diner for a slice of pie. When she gets there however the last slice of pie has already been sold to a guy sitting at the counter.

Roman is a single dad, after a disastrous date he's consoling himself with pie at the diner when a cute woman persuades him to share the last slice. They bond over pie but the night only ends in a gentle kiss.

When Abby starts work at the Fire Station where her mother was stationed (before she died) she is astonished to see that Roman is her commanding officer.

This is a freebie novella prequel to a new series. It was cute and sweet and probably gives you a good insight into the characters.

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Review: Saving Time

Saving Time by Jodi Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Time Police may have foiled a plot to experiment on Neanderthal man for profit, but there are sinister moves afoot to limit their powers and discredit them entirely.

Our intrepid heroes, Team Weird, have now graduated and are full-fledged officers, but still as likely to cause mayhem as ever. Luke is convinced his billionaire father is the shadowy Mr P behind the time experiments, especially since most of the site was built using Parrish Industries materials and his former nanny has gone missing in mysterious circumstances shortly after telling Luke about his childhood. jane has a date with one of the most unlikely characters in the Time Police, and Matthew is Matthew.

When Team Weird (or Team 236 as they prefer to be known) get their first solo assignment they are disappointed to find that it is to visit the scene of their first trainee mission - the late twentieth century and mild-mannered Henry Plimpton, who once tried to get rich quick by time travelling to win the lottery. Although Henry cooperated with the Time Police, he was told he would be under surveillance and it appears as though Team 236 will be doing the observing. But when they return it is to discover that Henry, and half his street, has disappeared in an almighty explosion.

Soon the team are on the hunt for whoever killed Henry, something which encompasses the building of the Acropolis and St Mary's as well as thousands of beetles.

I have just read and reviewed A Catalogue of Catastrophe, and was delighted that the St Mary's series had returned to its previous highs But I have to say I actually prefer the Time Police series (shocking I know) and I can not wait for the next instalment.

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Review: A Catalogue of Catastrophe

A Catalogue of Catastrophe by Jodi Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Phew, what a ride!

I have to confess I've missed a few books in the St Mary's series as I found the interactions between Clive Ronin (boo, hiss) and Max to fall into the heroine TSTL category - it was like she was every stupid heroine in every horror film ever, insisting on going off alone and walking into a trap EVERY TIME. So I skipped a few books here and there. Which is a long-winded way of saying I don't know how Max and Markham started working as Recovery Agents with Smallhope and Pennyroyal but I like it, the break from St Mary's has allowed Jodi Taylor to cease and desist with the every-growing checklist of quirks and in-jokes that were threatening to overwhelm the plot (according to my own review of book 11 (Plan for the Worst).

Anyway, Max and Markham are recovering criminals and other miscreants who are misusing (try just using) time to escape punishment for their crimes. They then hand the criminals over to justice and get paid a small fortune in return.

Then one day the house is rudely awakened by an attack from forces unknown, although one of them seems to know Max, which leads to Max taking a job undercover to investigate what appears to be a harmless historical research organisation.

There's lots of lovely great historical moments, from the signing (although you will learn that King John didn't actually sign it) of the Magna Carta to the Gunpowder Plot. But more seriously, all of Max's to-ing and fro-ing in time is starting to catch up with her, so every jump may be her last.

This has breathed a new life into the series for me. High-octane drama, familiar characters and jokes, great historical insight, and that special je ne said quoi which is all Jodi Taylor. Now I'm going back to read book 12.

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 Peculiar Combination

A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Electra (Ellie) McDonnell is an orphan with an extraordinary past, she lives with her uncle, a housekeeper and her two cousins in North London. Her uncle is a locksmith, that is when he isn't safecracking. With one of her cousins missing in action and the other with the air-force, patriotism has stopped Ellie and her uncle Mick from supplementing their salaries, but times are tight and her uncle has heard about a swanky house that's empty and has a safe full of jewels.

The job is a trap and Ellie and her uncle are offered a stark deal, help the UK government with a matter of national security or spend many years inside by an officious Major Ramsay. The job seems simple, break into an empty house, open the safe and steal some top secret plans for a new weapon. But when Ellie and the Major get there they find the safe empty and a dead body. Can Ellie and the Major retrieve the plans, substitute them for fake plans, and identify the German sympathisers without raising suspicion?

I had read some negative comments about this book which (alongside the high price) put me off buying this earlier - Big Mistake, Huge! I just loved this, all of the historical detail I've come to expect from Ashley Weaver, engaging, enthralling and fast-paced I absolutely loved this and will definitely be pre-ordering the next book.

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Review: A Wedding in Provence: From the #1 bestselling author of uplifting feel-good fiction

A Wedding in Provence: From the #1 bestselling author of uplifting feel-good fiction by Katie Fforde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Alexandra is a very wealthy twenty-year old orphan, on her way to Switzerland to finishing school in 1963 when she decides to take a little detour in Paris. A series of fortuitous coincidences lead to her obtaining a job as nanny to a divorced Comte's three children in rural Provence, the basic qualifications being the ability to speak English and drive a car, she may have added five years to her age as well.

When she arrives in Provence Alexandra is daunted at first by the surly children, the marge chateau and the complete lack of responsible adults. It appears that the Comte's three children (Henri, Felicite and Stephie have allowed to run wild, no tutors, no school and little Stephie can barely read.

At first I was disappointed that Katie had decided to write a new 'series' loosely based on a group of young women who meet at culinary school in the early 1960s but I am starting to see that her signature romance of sheltered, virginal young woman and worldly man works better when set in an historical context, even if as another reviewer noted, there is very little in this book to suggest it was written about the past.

Soon Alexandra is dealing with three rebellious children, her employer's ex-wife Lucinda who wants to send her children to an English boarding school, and Lucinda's mother Penelope who has very old-fashioned ideas about what is correct behaviour for her grandchildren. But Alexandra soon wins over her charges with cakes and brings in her old friend David, together with his travelling companion Jack to help teach the children music, mathematics and Shakespeare.

Katie Fforde romances follow a fairly predictable formula and you either enjoy it or you don't. Her heroines are generally young and inexperienced (maybe briefly previously married to an older man, but only ever one previous romantic partner), they are artistically gifted, artists, pastry chefs, musicians etc, often dominated by an older relative, current fiancé, boss etc and victimised by elegant, stylish but spiteful other women for being young and beautiful. Now having watched Escape to the Chateau I know that restoring outbuildings, let alone a chateau, takes months of back-breaking work and is not achieved in a few weeks by a twenty-year old in a boiler suit with an Hermès scarf as a belt but in my imaginary world where the sun shines every day, the locals are charmed by an English accent, and amazing produce is available on every corner I do believe.

I admit I found the first 15% quite difficult and I left the book for four weeks, but when I picked it up again I raced through it. Also, Katie doesn't skimp on the ending, everything is tied up in a lovely bow.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, I know it's not everyone's cup of tea and I accept that the hero is perhaps no more than a distant figure (like the father in an E. Nesbit novel) but I find that preferable to some of her previous heroes who have been a little problematic for me.

Anyway, if you want a gentle romance set in Provence with a LOT of wonderful food, two weddings and lots of wholesome fun then you need look no further.

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 Wilde Card

The Wilde Card by Ashley R. King
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 33%.

Simone is thirty-seven years old and has come to, maybe not a mid-life crisis but a realisation that her life is not what she wanted. CEO of her family's hotel chain, divorced after finding her husband was cheating on her, unhappy in love and unhappy in work she realises that she has been a people pleaser all her life and if she doesn't change something soon she'll be unhappy for the rest of her life.

Attending a luxury hotel with her sister and brother-in-law, she acts completely out of character and indulges in a one-night stand with a young Canadian tennis professional called Alex Wilde, secure in the knowledge that he is unlikely to visit her home town of Atlanta, Georgia. Unbeknownst to Simone, Alex's game is suffering, overwhelmed by his desire to do better than his nasty step-brother Bastien, and he has asked her brother-in-law and his business partner to coach him, hoping to emulate her brother-in-law's success in the game. When Simone announces that she has resigned as CEO, her brother-in-law's partner asks her to join their coaching team, particularly since her brother-in-law is about to go on tour with her sister (who is an author).

No-one tells Simone that she will be helping to coach Alex, until the day she is blind-sided by him in a meeting. How can she keep it professional when her body throbs with passion every time she thinks about his body and the amazing things he did to hers?

I admit I had my doubts about requesting this book from NetGalley, a former CEO who turns tennis coach, who is also a divorced single mother? It sounded a bit hinky but I loved the idea of her finding a HEA with a hot young tennis professional eight years her junior. Sadly, I'm almost a third of the way into the book and all I've got is a woman who dissolves into a puddle of lust every time Alex even walks past her, a man who constantly babbles French (sorry, but that's why I refuse to read any book set in New Orleans because I loathe the way the men say 'cherie' every couple of pages), zero plot and way too much throbbing, rubbing of thighs and reminiscing about sexy times. It's not even as if the steamy scenes were anything to get me hot and bothered just page after page of yawn-inducing platitudes.

I gave it a good chance but I'm sorry I've had enough, not enough plot, no character development, irritating side characters, and steam-less love scenes.

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 Village Secret

A Village Secret by Julie Houston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jennifer meets her own personal Lord Byron while studying at Cambridge, bowled over by Laurie Lewis' charm and good looks they fall madly in love and start a family together. But while Jennifer has some success with her book about Byron and the women who loved him, while also holding down a job in publishing, Laurie isn't having the same success in his acting career which leads to resentment between them. When Laurie lands a job on a BBC soap opera (think Eastenders) it looks like his time has finally come, but unfortunately he lets the fame go to his head and starts acting like a Hollywood star. When everything comes crashing down around them Jennifer and Laurie have to sell their big expensive house in St Albans to pay the debts, Laurie has lost his job, and they have to move back to his family's dilapidated farm in Yorkshire - will this be a new start for the family or will it be the final straw?

This was definitely a book of parts for me. I thought the early years in Cambridge and when Jennifer and Laurie first got married were too long and slow, I really felt like giving up. But as soon as they moved to Yorkshire the book really picked up for me. Of course Laurie's family farm is in Westenbury where Julie Houston's other books are set, so Jennifer and Laurie meet some of the characters from the previous books. Multiple family secrets are uncovered (or are they?), there are alpacas, dachshunds, horses, llamas, cute moppets, regency romances, and a lot of alliteration.

Definitely ended on a high note for me - loved it.

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

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Review: Hunt the Stars

Hunt the Stars by Jessie Mihalik
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Four and a half stars. Jessie Mihalik does it again.

The Valoffs and the human federation fought a terrible war and are now in an uncomfortable peace. Octavia Zarola was a Lieutenant in the Federation forces but now she and her crew are bounty hunters. When former general of the Valoff forces Torran Fletcher approaches them with a job Tavi refuses at first, but the eye-wateringly large amount of money he's offering, plus his guarantee of safe passage to and from the Valovian home planet persuades her to accept the job.

Torran might be her enemy, he might be hiding things from her, but Tavi is still wildly attracted to him. Can she and her team retrieve the stolen object he's so desperate to retrieve? And is there a political motivation behind the theft?

Political intrigue, space romance, special powers, enemies to lovers, a motley crew of misfits - what isn't to love?

I've already pre-ordered the next book in the series.

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Review: The Car Share

The Car Share by Zoe Brisby
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 13%.

THE BLURB: A suicidal ninety-year-old woman with Alzheimer's and a heartbroken depressed young man share a ride to Brussels that ends up changing their lives forever.

I have started and stopped this book several times, it's nearly a year since I started reading it. Unfortunately, I have just noticed on the NetGalley page that it says 'translated from the French' and frankly I guessed that this wasn't written in English, the writing was just too stilted and took me back to 'A' level French literature (and not in a good way). I don't know how to describe it, maybe the French speak differently or maybe there's a 'literature speech' that the French use when writing but it reads (to me) unnaturally, it pulls me out of the story and I just can't summon the enthusiasm to continue reading any longer.

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 Felt Like a Kiss

It Felt Like a Kiss by Sarra Manning
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ellie Cohen has a loving, if unorthodox (not in the religious sense), Jewish family and a good group of friends and she loves her job working for a Mayfair art gallery. Unfortunately, she also has a reputation for lame duck boyfriends, when her latest boyfriend turns out to have a scary Class A drug habit she dumps him at Glastonbury.

However, Ellie has a secret, she is the secret daughter of a world-famous rock-star, not that she's ever seen or spoken to him. Her ex-boyfriend sells her story to the gossip rags and embellishes it to make Ellie look like a sex-mad, crazed stalker who sold her own story for money. Then her half-sisters weigh in with stories of how Ellie is a gold-digger and the tabloid press drag up every picture of Ellie in a bikini or at a party from her Facebook page to portray her as a party girl.

Now her father's lawyer and publicist are doing damage control, but are either of them acting in Ellie's best interests? Also, Ellie has never heard the whole story about how her parents got together and why they split up - did her mother cut him out of their lives or didn't he want anything to do with them? It doesn't help that her father's lawyer, David Gold is extremely handsome and charming, but not to be trusted.

Told from Ellie's POV in the present and her mother Ari's POV when she first met Ellie's father, this is a feel-good romance where the heroine triumphs. Loved it.

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Review: Ten Years

Ten Years by Pernille Hughes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Becca and Ally were best friends. Charlie and Ally were engaged. Becca and Charlie loathe each other. After Ally dies, she asks Becca and Charlie to finish her bucket list together, scattering some of her ashes at each location. Love trumps hatred so each year Charlie and Becca meet up to carry out Ally's wishes on the anniversary of her death.

Becca and Charlie are both from broken homes, while Becca's mother walked away and left her with her grandmother (who also viewed her with indifference), Charlie's parents fought over custody of him. Charlie has the good looks and charm that have let him just walk into jobs without even trying while Becca is a struggling actress holding down a series of low-paid jobs while she struggles to find roles. Charlie is a people-pleaser, an appeaser, while Becca has learned not to rely on anyone for anything. Strangely though, Charlie feels no need to appease Becca, she's the only one he allows to see his anger and in return Becca gives him the unvarnished truth about his behaviour. Yet they are also supportive of each other, albeit on the quiet.

Some books you read and enjoy but then a day or two later you are a bit fuzzy on the details, whereas its nearly a week after I read this book and it has all come flooding back. I thoroughly enjoyed this, snarky behaviour, humour and sadness all wrapped up together in a thoughtful romance.

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

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Review: Is This for Real?: a feel-good friends-to-lovers fake dating romance

Is This for Real?: a feel-good friends-to-lovers fake dating romance by Kathy Strobos
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Okay, let's say up front that I am probably the wrong demographic for this romance and so much of what jarred is probably an age thing.

Penelope makes minatures, little scenes with tiny characters which she sells on her Etsy page (can you hear my 50+ year old eyes rolling?), she also blogs about her minatures and is trying to write a romance based on the characters, which are loosely based on her life. To make ends meet she also walks dogs and helps her friend Jamie's mum Theresa in her sporting goods store. Things have gone very, very wrong after Penelope declares her love for Jamie, only for him to say he doesn't think of her like that. Now she has to see him and his new girlfriend at a friends and family brunch without dying of mortification.

While Jamie has been in Singapore for a year working, Penelope has become good friends with Rory, a guy she was at college with. Penelope and Rory couldn't be more different, she had parents who were on the brink of divorce when they died, his parents are still happily married. To save Penelope from embarrassment, and to save Rory from his boss' wife's wandering hands, Penelope and Rory decide to fake date. Not everyone is convinced by the fake dating, particularly Penelope's annoying older sister Olivia and Rory's ex-girlfriend Callie, which is odd because Penelope starts to realise that her feelings for Jamie were merely a crush, it's Rory she wants to spend the rest of her life with. But having already declared her love and been shot down once, can she dare to do it a second time, and possibly destroy an amazing friendship?

First let me say that Penelope is a mouthful to say and a pain to type, but she hates being called Penny (eye roll). Now I'm a fan of the slow burn, yes I'm looking at you Mariana Zapata but there has to be some purpose to it, some small steps towards the HEA, in this case I just felt like this was a short novel which had been extended by lots of little scenes that didn't go anywhere. Penelope shares three chapters of her book with her writing club and gets critique, Penelope shares three chapters of her book with her tutor and gets critique, Penelope shares three chapters of her book with a publisher and gets critique, rinse and repeat. Frankly with all the conflicting advice I'm surprised the book was readable at the end.

Also, it was clear to the reader that Rory was in love with Penelope from the very first chapter (2% to be precise) when he's reading a romance to better give Penelope's draft novel a better critique, so the push-me-pull-me where they almost kiss and then shy away got old really quickly.

My final gripe was the story within a story within a story plot, while Penelope and Rory are fake dating, so are her minatures on her blog and so are the characters in her novel. Penelope and Rory go on fake dates so that Penelope has fodder for her writing.

Overall, the blurb is on point when it calls this an opposites-attract, friends-to-lovers, slow burn, fake-dating romantic comedy, just not to my taste.

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

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Review: Imperfectly Delicious

Imperfectly Delicious by Mary Frame
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Scarlett Jackson was an aspiring chef until a (very) close encounter with the very famous head chef she was auditioning for ended up in her setting his chef's whites alight with a blowtorch - the fallout ended her career aspirations and now she has a food truck selling cupcakes in New York.

Guy Chapman gained fame as a chef on a reality TV show (think Gordon Ramsay style shouty), now he's matured somewhat and is in the process of an ambitious new partnership with eccentric billionaire Oliver to create a food block with exclusive high-end restaurants. The only flaw in his plans is the tatty food truck that parks on a small plot of land just beside one of his restaurants, he can't get rid of the truck and he can't seem to get the owners of the land to sell it to him. With Oliver becoming increasingly aggressive and acting as though he is in charge, Guy has to do something fast to resolve the issue, but the truck's owner refuses to speak to him - she even hides on the floor when he approaches the truck!

When Guy and Scarlett meet at a charity event (his firm is catering and she provided cupcakes for the child guests), he has to rescue her from an unfortunate encounter with a walk-in installation. She is mortified but he doesn't recognise her as the trainee who set him on fire, or as the owner of the truck which is the bane of his life. There's instant chemistry but Scarlett knows this is doomed and runs away.

Guy finds himself torn between the connection he felt when he first met Scarlett and the fact that she is standing between him and his business being a success, despite wanting to evict her he ends up helping her - especially after a prank he pulls goes horribly wrong.

I enjoyed this, Guy and Charlotte had depth, she didn't immediately jump to conclusions, and he had some family responsibilities which were sensitively handled. My only niggle is that I read a book in 2019 (The Opposite of You) which also featured a woman with a food truck which is parked across the piazza from a high-end restaurant where the head chef wants to get rid of her and although the rest of the books were different, the similarity jarred a little.

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Review: A Sense of Danger

A Sense of Danger by Jennifer Estep
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Imagine the present world, but one in which magic users (think X-Men type of powers) walk among ordinary humans. Section 47 is a secret government agency which is tasked with stopping magical terrorists and criminals. Section 47 employs a whole raft of people with special skills to help in their mission, the elite of whom are termed the Cleaners, and are magically enhanced assassins. There are also analysts, Charmers (who lure criminals into honeytraps etc) and liaisons (who act as personal assistants to Cleaners). Oh, and there's an inherent snobbery about people who's family also worked for Section 47 - they are Legacies and are perceived to be treated better than the others.

Charlotte Locke may be a Legacy, but her legacy (from her father and grandmother) is tarnished by the botched job which ended her father's life. While he was a Cleaner, she is an analyst, like her grandmother, and her magical skill is the ability to spot what is wrong with something - day-to-day she uses it to spot the mistakes and fake entries in bank accounts to trace terrorist funds etc, but it also allows her to spot when people are lying and sense danger. Charlotte's supervisors have consistently overlooked her and either ignored her findings or stolen them and presented them as their own, she's used to it now and keeps her head down. Because she had to borrow money to pay the ransom for her father from the botched job in South America, and then her grandmother's cancer treatment, Charlotte is seriously in debt and works nights at a nearby diner.

One day Charlotte and her friend Miriam are sitting having lunch in the Section 47 canteen when she spots a new cleaner. Surprisingly the new cleaner tries to chat her up and asks her to dinner, something which she shuts down quickly, you'd rather eat dinner with a cobra.

The new cleaner is Desmond Percy, a transfer from Australia, while ostensibly he's in the US to help track down Henrika Hyde, a rich and powerful paranormal who is using her pharmaceutical business to develop biomagical weapons, he has a secret mission - one which involves Charlotte's work.

At first Charlotte is afraid that Des is here to kill her, but after he saves her from an attack by four cleaners she's not so sure - now they must work together to stop Henrika Hyde.

I have always found Jennifer Estep a writer of complex books, which is a fancy way of saying I don't always understand what is going on. Her heroines are always more clever and wily than me and see about 100 moves ahead. However, very early on I correctly called the mole in Section 47, both based on a hunch but also based on a clue.

Overall, I enjoyed it. It was high-octane detective work with a magical twist.



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Review: Friday Night with the Girls

Friday Night with the Girls by Shari Low
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm a great fan of Shari Low but I have to say I found this very confusing at first.

Lou, Lizzie and Ginger have been BFFs for ever. As they have grown up they have gone in different ways but they remain close friends. The book opens in present-day 2008, the women are drinking in a swanky hotel bar in Glasgow to celebrate their thirtieth birthdays - but there's obviously something momentous happening very shortly which they aren't going to think about.

The book flips back and forth between 2008 and the friends' pasts, reminding them of momentous occasions, the ups and downs of life, marriage, careers, children and love. It's a trip down memory lane as each trip back in time reminds the reader of the music, TV, and fashions of the time.

The trouble with flipping back and forth between present day and the past is that the story doesn't grow organically and the reader just gets vignettes, which because the women are reminiscing, are fairly important occasions - what I'm trying to say is there isn't much cleaning the house, school-run mundanity it's all key memories stuff.

Anyway, I liked it but I didn't love it.

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Review: Living your best life

Living your best life by Maxine Morrey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Bee and Luca have been best friends since Infants School when he puller her pigtail then held her hand to stop her crying. Fast forward twenty-something years and Luca is a handsome, highly successful businessman, with a amazing home, who dates models while Bee is stuck in a job she hates, underpaid, undervalued, and living in a tiny flat. Yet they are still best friends.

Bee's friends love her just as she is (but they want to change her) but they are sad that she seems happy to be single for the rest of her life, so when Luca announces that he wants to find 'The One' to spend the rest of his life with, their friends challenge them to both join a dating website. Bee and Luca have a bet, she that the website is a waste of time, and he that one of them will find love through the site by Christmas.

I think it is fairly obvious to anyone who has read a romance that Bee and Luca are made for each other, and that Luca is in love with Bee, but because of the (perceived) disparity in their looks Bee has never thought of him like that. Part of Bee's lack of self-esteem comes from her parents who were totally absorbed in each other to the exclusion of everyone else, it also comes from not having a degree because she had to care for her mother after her father's sudden death - hence why she stays working for a company she hates.

Predictably most of Bees dates are a disaster, but they do start to give her confidence to change things in her life, starting small and moving upwards. All of that I really liked.

What brought this down from a four star review for me was a pet peeve in this type of book. (view spoiler)[Luca has been in love with Bee practically the entire time they have known each other and he has been content to be friends waiting for her to realise what is right in front of her. Or, looking at it another way, he has said and done absolutely nothing to let her know how he feels for close to thirty years, hoping that an introvert with low self-esteem will suddenly throw herself at a highly successful, wealthy, good-looking guy who has never given her any indication that he is interested. Anyway, although he loves Bee, Luca commits the cardinal sin of dropping the L-word bombshell and demanding Bee falls immediately into line with that classic 'I can't wait any longer' ultimatum. Whoa sunshine, you've just unleashed a huge surprise on the girl and left her no time to get her head around it before storming off into the sunset. Also, how egotistical, what if she said she didn't feel the same way? Was he going to trash a lifetime's friendship because she doesn't love him? (hide spoiler)]Luca came across as a sanctimonious mansplainer who spent a lot of time telling Bee what her problem was - its interesting that authors think this is okay from the hero but it's a red flag in every other relationship.

Overall, an enjoyable, if rather formulaic and predictable, friends-to-lovers romance let down by the hero's behaviour 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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