Earlier this week I said I hadn’t done a cover reveal in forever and thanks to those beauties at Simon & Schuster this will be my third one to share this week. There’s a reason they’re my fave publishers right. Oh and this book I cannot wait to read I’ve heard an extract and am very excited. I really must prioritise these beauties more. So let me tell you about the book first. This is a reveal for the paperback edition that will be hitting shelves in August.
Blurb: A deeply affecting novel, In Bloom tells of strength, survival, forgiveness, resilience and determination, and the fierce love and unbreakable bonds between mothers and daughters.
Delph has kept herself small and quiet as a form of self-protection, ever since the love of her life Sol’s untimely death left her pregnant and alone at the age of twenty-four. Theirs was such a once-in-a-lifetime love, that the loss of her soulmate broke her heart ‒ and almost broke her, too.
Years on, Delph’s protective bubble bursts when her daughter Roche moves out of the flat Delph shares with her partner Itsy and in with her estranged nan, Moon. Now that it’s just the two of them, the cracks in Delph and Itsy’s relationship begin to grow. Feeling on the outside of the bond between her fierce-yet-flaky tarot-reading mother and volatile martial-arts-champion daughter, Delph begins questioning her own freedom.
Is her life with Itsy all it seems? And has keeping small and safe truly been her choice all these years…?
Sounds ace right? Now for what you have come to see.
It’s available in Audio and ebook right now or as I said in August this gorgeous paperback will be heading you way. You can order here. Or through your independent book store one of my favourites it’s Bert’s Books and that reminds me I need to place an order.
Sooo January is most definitely over and now we move into my most favourite month of the year. It’s also a big one for me this year 👀.
There was no January TBR so in that there was no specific pressure. I set my GoodReads target for the year as 75 after over achieving last year. I’m pleased to say that January was a really good month I read 8 books. It was a majority audiobook month, which means I’m on 6 audiobooks for the year so far in my #Audiobookchallenge2024 which I believe I set to 50. So a really good start to the year…
This was my first read of the year…I had hoped to have finished this on the last day of December but that wasn’t to be and sadly my thoughts haven’t been fully penned. My first audiobook of 2024 had to be a Colleen Hoover novel. I listened to and read a number of hers last year and I’ve loved every single second of each read in differing ways. My ReviewAnother audiobook well let’s face it most of January’s reads were. This was on my TBR for a while and I also had the ebook but this was a Libby read and a really good one. My Review A collection of short stories as part of a blog tour. I really do love doing these type of reviews and reading out of my comfort zones. Another audio and a short one of two festive stories from the fabulous Giovanna Fletcher. Another one that I haven’t penned my thoughts on and I’m not sure I will. I do really want to read the full book that these characters are from. Another Colleen Hoover treat – an interesting listen. You can read my review here.This was a gorgeous Netgalley audiobook and this is a February release. See sometimes I’m organised and ahead of the game. You can read my review here.Now how I have had this on my TBR for so long. A no nonsense much needed self help book. I listened to this and have another of Sarah’s awaiting me watch this space for my thoughts.
What else would you like to see in these wrap ups? And would you like a February TBR?
So I go from not doing one for ages to two in one day. You’re in for another absolute treat. Another Books and the City author too.
Before I share the gorgeous cover let’s take a look at what the book is about.
Blurb: Set in a small community on the Scottish coast, the new feel-good story about family, belonging and finding peace with the past from the author of The Lighthouse Bookshop and The Forgotten Garden.
Can a return to the past be the start of something new?
Bette and Nina Crowdie have never been close – they’re too different, the ten-year age difference doesn’t help, and Bette’s rarely been back home since she left for university at eighteen. When their father passes away and unexpectedly splits the family farm between them, Nina is furious and afraid. She’s been working at the farm for the past five years. It’s the only stable home her young son Barnaby has ever had, and she’s convinced that Bette, who never wanted anything to do with the family business, will sell at the first chance she gets.
When they discover the huge debt their father has been hiding from them both, Bette reluctantly agrees to help her sister. But that means they have to find a way to work together, and Bette must face up to the real reason she left all those years ago.
Could the discovery of an ancient orchard on their land be the key to saving the farm – and the sisters’ relationship?
How gorgeous is this????
I still have a few Sharon books to read but here is My Review of the first of hers I read and loved.
Now it’s been a little while since I’ve penned one of these beauties and my oh my this one is a beauty. I love a Heidi Swain novel and her last Christmas one I loved and finished in early January.
So excited to be joining the #coverreveal for #HomeForChristmas, the heart-warming new festive novel from much-loved bestseller @Heidi_Swain, coming 10th October.
This morning I got up and joined my sister on a swim she’s doing a charity challenge and I want to get fitter. So I totally missed this email with Rebecca Ryan’s next novel and it’s gorgeous cover.
Having seen it on Twitter I then had a look and it truly is gorgeous – this is an early look at her second novel which isn’t to be released until next February. I loved her debut and you can read my thoughts on that here.
Here’s a bit about the book.
Blurb: What is love? Is it something spiritual or wholly physical? Can our feelings be explained and quantified? Or are we all actually two halves of a whole?
Ask Alice and Luke and you’d receive vastly different answers.
Despite her world having been recently dismantled by a messy break-up, Alice would tell you that love is the most important – albeit ineffable – human experiences. But when she once again crosses paths with her old school nemesis, Luke, he challenges this. Luke is a scientist and he’s certain love can be measured and explained – just like everything else.
So the two decide to make a bet: they’ll each venture back into dating and if one of them falls in love, Alice wins, if not, then Luke does.
But can anyone win when you’re playing with emotions?
Now for what you’ve been waiting for the truly gorgeous cover.
Isn’t it a beauty??? I will hopefully be on the blog tour for this one. Her debut swept me away and I cannot wait for more from this author.
Blurb: A story of friendship, possibilities and hope that maybe tomorrow will be brighter than today . . .
Jamie Matson had once enjoyed a wonderful life working alongside her best friend, organising adventures for single-parent families, and her son Bo’s artistic flair a source of pride rather than concern.
She hadn’t been prepared to lose her business, her home and her friend. Not all in one dreadful year.
Jamie certainly hadn’t expected to find such hope and camaraderie in the queue at her local food bank. Thrown together with an unlikely and colourful group of people, their friendships flourish and, finding it easier to be objective about each other than about themselves, they decide that – when you’re all out of options – it’s okay to bend the rules a little and create your own.
What a difference a year could make . . .
Review: I’m not sure where to start in reviewing this beautiful book, and whether my words can do it justice. Maybe Tomorrow is the book each and everyone of us needs to read. It’s a story that will give you hope and inspiration. I felt like it took me a while to read this but every single time I picked up this book I was transported to a world full of hope.
I don’t want to share too much of the finer details as each reveal has a different weight of worth when you discover it. Penny Parkes has created a real and incredibly raw story that fully encompasses the struggles of everyday life, and sometimes the people you think have a perfect life have anything but. Jamie and Bo are an incredible family who are real and so raw. The struggles of the pandemic affected us all and their story showcased a lot of that.
The friends they made in the process was life affirming and heartwarming. When Jamie meets Ruth, Henry, Kath, Bonnie and Amy each of them add to the story. The changes in each of them throughout the story will have you consistently smiling and feeling that warm glow, as if they are your own friends. The sense of community these guys bring through all their own very different experiences of pain to say the least.
Not only is this a story of friendship it also has an abundance of kindness. There are hard aspects to this tale but they are outweighed but the positivity shown in this story. I really felt inspired – I love my job most of the time but I did find myself thinking based on each character’s circumstances. I truly love every aspect of this book and how Penny has taken extremely different people young and old who are simply slipping through the system.
Maybe Tomorrow is a hopeful, insightful and truly powerful novel. I will be recommending this forever and forever. If you’ve found yourself in a book slump or in a life slump please pick up this book and I promise you’ll be full of ideas, hope and smiles. I’ve had some testing times recently but a great holiday and this gorgeous book have truly changed my outlook and thought process. I’m hoping that boost stays with me as I return to the daily grind.
Be sure to check out the book and the rest of the blog tour. So sorry for my super late post.
Blurb: There’s the obvious story. And then there’s the truth.
Alex lives a comfortable life with his wife Beth in the leafy suburb of Silver Vale. Fine, so he’s not the most outgoing guy on the street, he prefers to keep himself to himself, but he’s a good husband and an easy-going neighbour.
That’s until Beth announces the creation of a nature trail on a local site that’s been disused for decades and suddenly Alex is a changed man. Now he’s always watching. Questioning. Struggling to hide his dread…
As the landscapers get to work, a secret threatens to surface from years ago, back in Alex’s twenties when he got entangled with a seductive young woman called Marina, who threw both their lives into turmoil.
And who sparked a police hunt for a murder suspect that was never quite what it seemed.
And it still isn’t.
Review: Ever since I read and devoured ‘The Swimming Pool’ I was wholeheartedly a fangirl of Louise’s writing. I decided to listen to this offering and what a read it has been.
The Only Suspect was a much slower burn than I’m used to for Louise but I was still compelled and captivated by every word. We have two timelines to contend with, the now and that of 1995. I’m a massive 90s girl it’s my childhood and I loved the nostalgia this novel brought me. So many things I remember taking me back in time whilst giving me a story to be captivated with.
In 1995 we get Rick’s story and that of Marina and how they met. It was beautiful how they came to be, yet there was so much more to their story. And in the now we get Alex and between the two timelines we are drip fed the story. With more of the back story coming through Rick although at times we go back in time with Alex.
Louise Candlish really does have a way with words, this tale is intricately cleverly written. So much so that I wish I had written it myself. How she’s spun this web that as a reader you’re compelled and wanting/needing more.
Even when I thought I had all the answers I was nowhere near by a country mile. There’s twists and turns and then there is Louise Candlish – wow! I was left with so many omg moments and once they started they didn’t stop right up until the dying moments of the book. I really enjoyed Jamie Parker’s narration I pretty much inhaled this book whilst sitting in the sunshine.
As I already stated this book is so clever that I’ll be thinking of it for a long time. It’s also one I’ll definitely be recommending forever more.
Blurb: One long summer. One perfect setting. Can fiction inspire real life…?
Sometimes a book grabs you by the heart and grows to mean everything to you. That’s what Hope Falls is to friends Emily, Rachel and Tori. So, when they get the chance to spend a whole summer at the cottage in Lakeside where the film adaptation was located, they know it is going to be the holiday of a lifetime. Spending six weeks away will give them a chance to re-evaluate their life choices. For Emily to decide which way her career will go – the safe route, or the more risky creative option? And for Rachel to decide whether to move in with her partner Jeremy. Then Tori has to drop out at the last moment, and her space is offered to another Hope Falls afficionado, Alex. But when Alex turns out not to be who they expected, the holiday takes an unforeseen turn. And as the summer develops, so does their friendship. Could this be where they uncover their future selves, find love in all its forms and where their lives will change course forever…?
Review: Heidi Swain is a go to author who has created a truly captivating and thought provoking read. In first hearing about The Book Lovers Retreat I was excited by a new location and a stand alone novel from Heidi Swain. I never realised just how captivated I would be by this novel. I chose to listen to this treat and if I hadn’t had football in between it would have been finished a day sooner.
I always love delving into female friendships and the element of fangirling just added to the appeal of this book. Being book lovers and being able to stay at the location where the book is set and where some of its film adaptation was filmed is a dream come true to any fangirl.
The element of sharing a love so hard for a story and it’s characters means so much and bonds are created.
As the book starts we are introduced to Tori, Emily and Rachel. A trio of friends who have been planning this getaway for as long as they can remember, each of them also have a number of things they need to work through. Getting to know the trio was heartwarming and at times heartbreaking, sometimes those closest to us really don’t know what’s going on in our heads and our hearts.
I instantly warmed to Emily our main character and I guess the link between the girls in some respects. Tori I wasn’t sure on at first even though she was dealt a rough hand early on. Although in saying that Tori is the hardest to identify with as we are so different but I loved seeing the progression of her and how she changed an element in the story.
Alex joining the bunch is an interesting one, one that took me off guard and made me smile. The story of Alex’s love for the book is a memorable one. Throughout each of the characters were brought to love Hope Falls because of family members. I loved being a bookworm like my grandad and I still have a number of his books. I wish I knew if he’d read the book I thought he would love and I wish my reading habits had changed as a younger kid, as we could have shared so much more.
With many twists and turns along the way the gang will keep you captivated from start to finish.
The Book Lovers Retreat will take you on a journey you didn’t know you needed…now I have to mention the Irishman as he was adorable in so many ways. A book I won’t forget with a heartwarming message at the heart of it.
This morning I’m pleased to be able to shelve my original plan and share a truly gorgeous new reveal….thanks to the lovely bunch at Simon & Schuster I was sent this truly gorgeous graphic for the new Rachel Hore novel. I cannot say I’ve read all of her books but her last novel swept me away in the greatest of ways, and you can read my thoughts on One Moonlit Night here.
So I’m beyond chuffed to share her next read with you today.
So let me tell you about the book first…
Blurb: The Hidden Years is Sunday Timesbestseller Rachel Hore’s captivating new novel set on the beautiful Cornish coast during World War Two and the heady days of the 1960s.
September 1939, troubled young Imogen Lockhart travels to Cornwall by train to deliver two small boys to their prep school, which has been evacuated to Silverwood House for the duration of the war. When she’s asked to stay on at the school as temporary cover for the usual matron she readily agrees. After all, it enables her to put off more serious decisions of what to do with her life. But her time at the school turns out to be more complicated than she’d imagined.
In 1966, sensitive and musical Belle Johnson is restless. She’s finishing her first year at a Midlands university but not enjoying it and is troubled by secrets in her family life. When, after a chance meeting, she falls in love with talented and attractive folk musician Gray Robinson, he easily persuades her to abandon her studies and accompany him to Cornwall, a place that piques her interest because of a particular photograph she’s recently found of herself as a baby.
On a small commune at Silverwood House near the beautiful Helford estuary she finds life off-grid idyllic at first, the other people creative and interesting, but underlying tensions soon reveal themselves.
And when conflicts in the commune come to a head, Belle is forced to face some difficult truths as she unravels the secrets of the past. Secrets that involve a woman called Imogen Lockhart.
Without further ado….
I’m intrigued by the cover and that beach…I don’t read enough historical fiction and I really must change that. This is definitely making my TBR this beauty hits shelves in September.
Blurb: Gwen’s life has stalled. She’s in her mid-thirties, perpetually single, her friends are busy procreating in the country and conversations with her parents seem to revolve entirely around herbaceous borders and the council’s wheelie-bin timetable. Above all she’s lonely. But then, isn’t everyone?
When Gwen’s made redundant from a job she drifted into a decade ago and never left, she realises it’s time to make a change. Over what might be the best – and most solitary – meal she’s ever eaten, Gwen vows to find something meaningful to do with her life, reconnect with her family and friends – and finally book herself a dentist appointment.
Her search for meaning soon leads her to volunteer in a local charity shop where she both literally and metaphorically unloads her emotional baggage. With the help of the weird and wonderful people she meets in the shop and the donated items bursting with untold stories that pass through its doors, Gwen must finally address the events and choices that led her to this point and find a way to move forward with bravery, humanity and more regular dental care.
Brimming with life, love and the stories bound up in even the most everyday items, Preloved is a tale about friendship, loss, being true to oneself no matter the expectations – and the enduring power and joy of charity shops.
Review: I know it’s so easy for book bloggers to say it’s so hard to do this book justice. But it’s not the cliche it sounds like because it actually is going to be super hard to do Preloved the justice it needs and deserves. The premise of this novel had me intrigued and then at the Blogger Showcase (which you can read or reread about here). I listened to Lauren read from the book and then in speaking to her I spoke of my time as both a volunteer and Assistant Manager for Cancer Research. So I knew that Preloved would bring back a whole host of charity shop memories.
So I was lucky enough to buddy read this book with Catriona although due to both our mad work schedules it’s taken us longer to read that expected. However, it’s been a truly wonderful experience all the same.
Preloved is a special read not only does it take us on the journey to the charity shop, but it shows how much a charity can be the heart and soul of a place.
I love that the story was split into the story itself and then there were passages for different items like a coat, a scarf, a bag, some shoes. From that we get an explanation of the life behind the item. It’s true a lot of the time charity shops are lucky with donations to the saddest aspect which is deaths but sometimes these items are just at the end of the road with that person. These passages were heartwarming and heartbreaking in equal measure and it really did make me think. I don’t think I always thought how deep this could go whilst I was working in that job, but now having stepped back and read this book it’s given me a fresh outlook once again.
There’s so much I want to say and discuss but I won’t as I don’t want to spoil any of the reveals along the way. What I will say is grief hits us all in different ways and how we choose to get through that isn’t always the right answer either. I loved the aspect of friends and of companionship and now sometimes we push away those we need the most.
Gwen is an extraordinary leading lady and little does she realise how much the charity shop will come to mean to her, plus the relationships she makes and helps along the way.
A truly gorgeous story that will have you thinking and overthinking in equal measure. It’s funny since reading this I’ve popped my head into a few charity shops on the look out for the continuing books from The Thursday Murder Club series. It’s brought back so many memories and brought to life aspects of this book.
This beauty is released on 27th April 2023 and I will be shouting about this one for a while.
HayleyReviews10 
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