“book”, “read”, “book review”, “book blog”,”recommended”, “easy read”, “don’t miss out”, “reading slump”, “what should I read next”, “what book do you recommend”, “mystery”, “romance”
“One minute Lou is happily employed, with a perfect flat. The next, her home and job have gone. Suddenly she has to start over.
The last thing Lou wants is to move to a tiny Cotswolds village. She certainly doesn’t intend to work for curmudgeonly eighty-year-old Edgar Allsopp. But Edgar is about to make her the kind of promise nobody could ignore. In return, she secretly vows to help him fall in love with life again.
Foxwell is also home to Remy, whose charm and charisma are proving hard to ignore. But Lou hasn’t recovered from the last time she fell for a charmer. She needs a distraction – and luckily one’s about to turn up.
Secrets never stay hidden for long in Foxwell, nor are promises always kept. And no one could guess what lies ahead…”
“book”, “read”, “book review”, “book blog”, “new”, “recommended”, “easy read”, “don’t miss out”, “fiction”, “romance”, “what book will get me out of a reading slump”, “entertaining”, “what should I read next”, “book of the month”, “5 star rating”, “what should I have read this month”
“book”, “read”, “book review”, “book blog”,”recommended”, “easy read”, “don’t miss out”, “fiction”, “entertaining”, “reading goals”, “what should I read next”, “what did you read”, what would you recommend that I read”, “what would get me out of a reading slump”, “romance”, “mystery”, “January reading”
“‘How much?’ The old man ahead of Lou at the supermarket checkout was glaring in disbelief at the female cashier.”
Genre:Romance/Contemporary Fiction
Number of Pages: 400
Date of Publication:19 January 2023
Publisher:Headline
My Review Summary:A story that I just wanted to keep on reading
📖PLOT SUMMARY FROM GOODREADS 📖
One minute Lou is happily employed, with a perfect flat. The next, her home and job have gone. Suddenly she has to start over.
The last thing Lou wants is to move to a tiny Cotswolds village. She certainly doesn’t intend to work for curmudgeonly eighty-year-old Edgar Allsopp. But Edgar is about to make her the kind of promise nobody could ignore. In return, she secretly vows to help him fall in love with life again.
Foxwell is also home to Remy, whose charm and charisma are proving hard to ignore. But Lou hasn’t recovered from the last time she fell for a charmer. She needs a distraction – and luckily one’s about to turn up.
Secrets never stay hidden for long in Foxwell, nor are promises always kept. And no one could guess what lies ahead…
💭THOUGHTS💭
I saw the blurb of this book and was taken in. I was therefore pleased when I was accepted onto the Tour. Since then I have not been myself and my reading has taken a hit. I was concerned that it would be hard getting through this book, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. In fact it reminded me why I love reading and has really helped me to get back into it.
The book opened with a lovely hand drawn map of the village, which I liked. It is always nice to see where things are in relation to what is happening in the story. The writing was gripping and I just wanted to keep on reading, desperate to find out what was going to happen next. There were some very emotional parts in the story, but overall I was left feeling uplifted.
The chapters were fairly long, but there was a good flow to the story so it kept my interest. I enjoyed the fact that you got the view points of a couple of the other characters in addition to the main character. It was interesting to see what was going through their minds and how they saw things at that point in the story.
The chapters were sometimes split and this also helped to keep my interest and moved the story on well.
The main character was lovely. She had some things to overcome and it was enjoyable to see how she just got on with things. She was a very likable character and you just wanted the best things to happen to her. I also enjoyed the rest of the characters. There were a few other storylines going on, but I never got confused and thought that everything wove together nicely.
Lastly the settings. I loved the village with the occasional trips to LA. I enjoyed reading about village life and how the main character really threw herself into it.
Overall a great book that has managed to get me out of a bit of a slump. I highly recommend!
It’s Time Travel Thursday! This is where I take a look back at what I was reading this time last year (or the year before or the year before that…) and compare it to what I am reading now.
“New York Timesbestselling authors Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed have crafted a resonant, funny, and memorable story about the power of love and resistance.
YES Jamie Goldberg is cool with volunteering for his local state senate candidate—as long as he’s behind the scenes. When it comes to speaking to strangers (or, let’s face it, speaking at all to almost anyone), Jamie’s a choke artist. There’s no way he’d ever knock on doors to ask people for their votes…until he meets Maya.
NO Maya Rehman’s having the worst Ramadan ever. Her best friend is too busy to hang out, her summer trip is canceled, and now her parents are separating. Why her mother thinks the solution to her problems is political canvassing—with some awkward dude she hardly knows—is beyond her.
MAYBE SO Going door to door isn’t exactly glamorous, but maybeit’s not the worst thing in the world. After all, the polls are getting closer—and so are Maya and Jamie. Mastering local activism is one thing. Navigating the cross-cultural romance of the century is another thing entirely.”
“When the department store she works in closes for good, Carmen has perilously little cash and few options. She doesn’t want to move in with her perfect sister Sofia, in Sofia’s perfect house with her perfect children and her perfectly ordered Edinburgh life.
Frankly, Sofia doesn’t exactly want Carmen there either. Her sister has always been sarcastic and difficult. But Sofia has yet another baby on the way, a mother desperate to see her daughters get along, and a client who needs a retail assistant for his ailing bookshop, so welcoming Carmen might still have some benefits for everyone.
At Sofia’s behest, Carmen is thrown into the daily workings of old Mr. McCredie’s ancient bookshop on the streets of the old dark city. Can she use her design skills to revamp the store and bring it back to popularity in time to benefit from Christmas shopping traffic? Can she choose between bad boy literary rock star Blair and quiet Quaker student Oke? And will she heal the rift with the most important people of all: her family?”
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett ⭐Rated 4.5/5⭐ FANTASY
Genre Goal Checklist:
All things Christmas = 1 book read
All my colds have finally taken a toll on my reading and I have been in a bit of a slump. I did at least manage these three books, which I am quite proud of! Hopefully a better month next month!
“book”, “read”, “book review”, “book blog”,”recommended”, “easy read”, “don’t miss out”, “fiction”, “entertaining”, “reading goals”, “what should I read next”, “what did you read”, what would you recommend that I read”, “what would get me out of a reading slump”, “romance”, “mystery”, “thriller”, “christmas”, “december reading”
It’s Time Travel Thursday! This is where I take a look back at what I was reading this time last year (or the year before or the year before that…) and compare it to what I am reading now.
This day in 2021 I was reading:
Book Description From Goodreads:
“Jo Finnegan is attacked while leaving work one evening by criminals threatening her more harm if she does not provide them with information she doesn’t have.
When she gets home, Jo finds her sister dead in her front room, and her wife missing. When the police arrive and arrest her, while she is still in shock from the events of the night, Jo realises she’s been framed for her sister’s murder. But that’s only the beginning of her nightmare.”
This is my current Blog Tour book, review due on 13 January 2023.
Comparison:
Completely different books from Thriller to Christmas and Fantasy! The only thing that is similar is that the Thriller and Fantasy are Blog Tour books!
What were you reading this time last year or the year before (or the year before!)? Add your links in the comments below!
Welcome to my Sunday post hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer. A very quiet week this week as I’ve tried to have a chilled week! We had a load of snow last week, which for this part of the UK is rare. It has been a nightmare slipping to and from school – the school was even closed for a couple of days. We just aren’t prepared for this sort of weather.
Carrington’s Department store is thrown into a spin when the staff learn that a hot new reality TV show is to be filmed in-store, featuring the formidable retail guru, Kelly Cooper. Georgie Hart, in charge of Luxury Handbags, is reluctant, but quickly realises that the show could give Carrington’s a new lease of life. With Christmas around the corner, she’s also hoping that the season will deliver her the perfect Christmas present, in the form of Tom, the store’s dishy boss.
When the film crew arrive, things start to go wrong. One of Tom’s old flames, Zara, is working on the show and then, to top things off, Tom and Zara are sent off to Paris and New York for a spot of extra filming. When Georgie settles down in front of the box to watch the first show, worse it to come – Georgie is shown in a far from flattering light and she is horrified to learn what Tom has been up to.
Georgie fears this is turning out to be the worst Christmas ever, but Santa might have a got a little surprise in store for her stocking this year – but she’ll just have to wait until Christmas to find out!
💭THOUGHTS💭
I saw this on the Libby App and thought that it was a great looking Christmas read. There was a bit of a wait on it so I had high hopes! I did enjoy it and have since learned that it is part of a series, so I will be keeping that in mind.
The writing was light and entertaining and I enjoyed being on the journey with the main character. The misunderstandings throughout were interesting and I really felt for her. There were also a couple of emotional moments which I think added to the story.
It was written from the point of view of the main character which drew me in to the story and made me feel part of the journey. There was a good amount of description that was cleverly weaved in so you could easily picture what was going on.
There was a fast pace to the story, with things constantly going on. The chapters were a mix of lengths which helped with the pacing and kept my interest. I enjoyed the titles on each of the chapters and I felt that they also helped to move the story on.
The characters were great. The friendship shone through when the main character was having a time of it, and they added entertainment to the story.
Lastly the settings. I loved the setting of an old fashioned shopping department. There is something cosy about reading about them especially as they are becoming a rare thing on our high streets.
*Budget Tales Book Blog* 