So whenever I attempt a reading challenge something happens. I am firstly aiming to do better…so if I can get part of the way through this challenge I will be chuffed. I really do ❤ book bloggers, I have received so much love with the shares, RTs and comments. It all helps to motivate me. Every achievement has felt a little bit more special since I moved over to Hayley Reviews as it’s all me.
#20booksofsummer was devised by Cathy at 746Books. The plan is to read 20 books between 1st June and 3 September.
You can read about the challenge here so here is my books that I will be attempting some may change and I will do my best to get to 20.
So I’m starting with my current read…
1. Cafe in Fir Tree Park by Katey Lovell
Blurb: Maggie’s café is at the very heart of Fir Tree Park. Business is booming, her lemon drizzle is the stuff of legend, her children are happy and life is good. But she hasn’t had it easy. When her husband Clint was sent to prison, she had to raise Josh and Kelly alone. But Clint can’t hurt them now, and there’s no denying that Paolo, the Italian football coach she spies every weekend out on the green, is more than easy on the eye.
It may be summer outside, but a new arrival in Fir Tree Park sends an icy chill through the café…
If you are regular on my blog you will see I have read and loved a few of the Meet Cutes which I have adored and I will be reading more but they are super short so will be additional to this.
2. Friends and Liars by Kaela Coble
Blurb: It has been ten years since Ruby left her hometown behind. Since then she’s built a life away from her recovering alcoholic mother and her first love, Murphy. But when Danny, one of her estranged friends from childhood, commits suicide, guilt draws Ruby back into the tumultuous world she escaped all those years ago.
She’s dreading the funeral – and with good reason. Danny has left a series of envelopes addressed to his former friends. Inside each envelope is a secret about every person in the group. Ruby’s secret is so explosive, she will fight tooth-and-nail to keep it hidden from those she once loved so deeply, even if that means risking everything…
This is a Netgalley read that I should have started but I’m blaming the Cafe in Fir Tree Park. (But I’m loving it soooo) this one intrigued me when I read the blurb so I’m looking forward to devouring this one.
3. Our Little Secret by Darren O’Sullivan
Blurb: A deserted train station: A man waits. A woman watches.
Chris is ready to join his wife. He’s planned this moment for nearly a year. The date. The time. The train. But he hadn’t factored in Sarah.
So when Sarah walks on to the platform and sees a man swaying at the edge she assumes he’s just had too much to drink. What she doesn’t expect is to stop a suicide.
As Sarah becomes obsessed with discovering the secrets that Chris is clearly hiding, he becomes obsessed with stopping her, protecting her.
But there are some secrets that are meant to stay buried…
This one I found on Twitter and thankfully was accepted by Netgalley yay. Another Thriller.
4. Last Seen by Lucy Clarke
Blurb: Seven years ago, two boys went missing at sea – and only one was brought to shore. The Sandbank, a remote stretch of coast dotted with beach huts, was scarred forever.
Sarah’s son survived, but on the anniversary of the accident, he disappears without trace. As new secrets begin to surface, The Sandbank hums with tension and unanswered questions. Sarah’s search grows more desperate and she starts to mistrust everyone she knows – and she’s right to.
Someone saw everything on that fateful day seven years ago. And they’ll do anything to keep the truth buried.
Ok!!! Umm another Thriller. It’s also another Netgalley read.
5. The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho
Blurb: Combining magic, mysticism, wisdom and wonder into an inspiring tale of self-discovery, The Alchemist has become a modern classic, selling millions of copies around the world and transforming the lives of countless readers across generations.
Paulo Coelho’s masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago’s journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, of recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life’s path, and, most importantly, to follow our dreams.
In reading The New Beginnings Coffee Club this book was mentioned and I am now intrigued as Noah is one of my book boyfriends and he recommended it.
6. SealSkin by Su Bristow
Blurb: What happens when magic collides with reality? Donald is a young fisherman, eking out a lonely living on the west coast of Scotland. One night he witnesses something miraculous … and makes a terrible mistake. His action changes lives – not only his own, but those of his family and the entire tightly knit community in which they live. Can he ever atone for the wrong he has done, and can love grow when its foundation is violence? Based on the legend of the selkies – seals who can transform into people – Sealskin is a magical story, evoking the harsh beauty of the landscape, the resilience of its people, both human and animal, and the triumph of hope over fear and prejudice. With exquisite grace, Exeter Novel Prize-winner Su Bristow transports us to a different world, subtly and beautifully exploring what it means to be an outsider, and our innate capacity for forgiveness and acceptance. Rich with myth and magic, Sealskin is, nonetheless, a very human story, as relevant to our world as to the timeless place in which it is set. And it is, quite simply, unforgettable.
I feel awful that I have had this book for ages and I still haven’t read it.
7. Then. Now. always by Isabelle Broom
Blurb: Hannah Hodges can’t believe her luck when she’s offered a trip to sunny Spain with her best friend and dreamy boss . . . but what’s the catch?
‘Fresh, fun and full of sexual tension… a perfect spring read’ Heat
Twenty-eight year old Hannah is ready for an adventure. She and her colleagues are in Spain for a month to film a documentary, and it’s a dream come true. Not least because Hannah will get to spend long summer days with Theo, her boss (and gorgeous crush). It couldn’t be a more perfect setting to fall in love…
If only Tom (Hannah’s best friend and cameramen) and Claudette (the presenter) would stop getting in the way…
Then things become even more complicated when Nancy, Hannah’s half-sister arrives. What on earth is she doing here?
For just once in her life, can’t Hannah have one perfect summer, free of any drama?
This one needs bumping up. I miss Spain. I need to stop clicking Netgalley as I can’t read in time.
8. Mr Make Believe by Bezzy Marsh
Blurb: Marnie Martin’s formerly perfect life is not quite going to plan.
Hard-hitting newspaper journalist turned stay-at-home mum and part-time failing food columnist, Marnie is wondering when her life went so wrong.
While her husband Matt’s career takes off, she’s left with the impossible task of pairing socks and locating Lego. His late nights at the office are turning into late nights who knows where else and they haven’t had a proper conversation in weeks, sex in months, or a full night’s sleep in years.
On the brink of losing everything when a fantasy about movie star Maddox Wolfe leads to a missed deadline and a disastrous case of food poisoning, Marnie becomes Mrs Make Believe: anonymous blogger, secret spiller, and voice of imperfect mums everywhere.
However, Marnie Martin could never have imagined that her movie star daydream would walk off the screen and into her reality, turning her already muddled world totally on its head.
Will Marnie find happiness in the arms of the (literal) man of her dreams? Or will she find that true love is just make believe?
Another Twitter find that had me clicking download yet I haven’t read it yet.
9. Things Get Better by Katie Piper
Blurb: To look and listen to the extraordinary Katie Piper, it is difficult to comprehend the severe trauma she suffered from a brutal rape and acid attack which left her with deep physical and emotional scars. These terrible events would have crushed most people, but through her positive outlook and sheer determination, Katie has become inspirational to millions and living proof that no matter what life throws at you, if you work hard and believe – things will get better.
Katie now begins to answer the question that everyone wants to know – ‘Where did you find the courage?’ She shares the key steps and support that led to her emotional recovery and acknowledges the pain we have all felt at times, whether suffering a breakup, life change or more serious trauma. Drawing on her own experiences and letters from other survivors, Katie shows with spectacular compassion that we can all find the strength within to carry on.
I have been reading start your day with Katie 365 affirmations for a year of positive thinking on and off since I purchased it. I love it. I am also desperate to read her confidence the secret.
10. Right here waiting for you by Rebecca Pugh
Blurb: Magda used to be the girl everyone wanted to be – most likely to achieve her every wish. That is until suddenly her perfect life seems to be anything but!
Sophia has never regretted her life, sure it isn’t perfect, but being a single mum to a daughter she loves is pretty great. Perhaps she never moved away from home, or got to live out her dreams, but what she has right now isn’t so bad.
That is until an invitation to their school reunion arrives, throwing both their lives into a spin – because these two used to be friends and it might finally be time to face up to that one big mistake that happened all those years ago…
This girl is pretty awesome and I pre-ordered this beauty it sounds gorgeous and right here waiting is a song I love with lots of memories.
11. The Italian Gardener by Andrew Croats
Blurb: Mo, the wealthy dictator of a volatile Middle Eastern country, enlists a ghostwriter to tell his story to the world and enshrine him in history as a glorious ruler. Inside Mo’s besieged palace the ghost forms an unlikely friendship with a wise and seemingly innocent Italian gardener who slowly reveals that the regime isn’t all it appears to be. As a violent rebellion threatens all their lives the ghost struggles to cope with a personal secret too painful to bear.
SECRETS OF THE ITALIAN GARDENER takes the reader on a heart-pounding journey through the bloody downfall of a doomed tyrant in the company of a young couple struggling to cope with the greatest private tragedy imaginable.
I was sent this gorgeous novella from RedDoor publishing…I cannot wait to delve into this I haven’t been let down by this publisher.
12. Child Taken by Darren Young
Blurb: One hot summer’s day, two-year-old Jessica Preston disappears from the beach. The police are convinced she drowned, but Sandra Preston won’t give up hope that her daughter is still alive. After all, a mother’s instinct is never wrong.
Is it?
Twenty years later, another child goes missing, and Sandra is approached by a young journalist who raises questions about what really happened to Jessica Preston all those years ago. But when the journalist discovers someone with an explosive secret, it threatens not only to reveal what’s been covered up for so long, but puts both their lives in danger.
When I saw RedDoor publishing talk of this I jumped on it and posted the YouTube video on here and it’s been my most liked post. Scary but intrigued.
13. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Blurb: The bestselling novel about love, loss and hope from the twice Carnegie Medal-winning Patrick Ness, soon to be a major motion picture. Conor has the same dream every night, ever since his mother first fell ill, ever since she started the treatments that don’t quite seem to be working. But tonight is different. Tonight, when he wakes, there’s a visitor at his window. It’s ancient, elemental, a force of nature. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth. Patrick Ness takes the final idea of the late, award-winning writer Siobhan Dowd and weaves an extraordinary and heartbreaking tale of mischief, healing and above all, the courage it takes to survive.
14. Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier
Blurb: On a bitter November evening, young Mary Yellan journeys across the rainswept moors to Jamaica Inn in honour of her mother’s dying request. When she arrives, the warning of the coachman begins to echo in her memory, for her aunt Patience cowers before hulking Uncle Joss Merlyn. Terrified of the inn’s brooding power, Mary gradually finds herself ensnared in the dark schemes being enacted behind its crumbling walls — and tempted to love a man she dares not trust.
Love Daphne have read and adored Rebecca and Frenchman’s Creek perfect reason to get stuck into more…
15. Milly Johnson The Queen of Wishful Thinking
Blurb: When Lewis Harley has a health scare in his early forties, he takes it as a wake-up call. So he and his wife Charlotte leave behind life in the fast lane and Lewis opens the antique shop he has dreamed of. Bonnie Brookland was brought up in the antiques trade and now works for the man who bought out her father’s business, but she isn’t happy there. So when she walks into Lew’s shop, she knows this is the place for her.
As Bonnie and Lew start to work together, they soon realise that there is more to their relationship than either thought. But Bonnie is trapped in an unhappy marriage, and Lew and Charlotte have more problems than they care to admit. Each has secrets in their past which are about to be uncovered. Can they find the happiness they both deserve?
I was lucky enough to win this from the publisher on Twitter 🙂
So I have listed 15 some I should have read or are released soon, some have been sat waiting and some I just want to devour. I hope I can do this plus I will hopefully add 5 more. There’s bound to be Books I have forgotten and ones that come out…..
So let’s see. Anything I should bump up from my list and any recommendations would love to hear from you….one last thing how often would you like updates on this.
So I thought it was high time I started looking into how I’m actually doing on this challenge, and the fact that this post won on my poll means you guys thought the same. Great minds eh?
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