Rick Harris finds himself back at a place he never thought he’d return—the Atonement Camp. With Marilyn now serving as camp director, Rick turns away from his empty home—and his equally vacant pursuits with headless online suiters—to accept a job teaching at the camp. With Garrett missing, Rick and his friends soon learn that there’s more to the jobs they were offered than they were led to believe.
Meanwhile, Missy Bottom seeks revenge against Rick and those who thwarted her plan: to invalidate the New Revelation and gain her esteemed Luminary membership. Caught in the middle of warring factions of Luminaries and camp spies, Rick and his friends struggle to uncover Missy’s plans while concealing their true purpose at camp from those who begin to suspect their teaching credentials are somewhat lacking.
Old enemies become allies as Rick and his friends are forced to choose between those who would seek to invalidate the New Revelation and sacrifice all the newfound LGBTQ freedoms that came with it, and those who would leverage the ancient teaching for retribution. Rick faces an equally intractable decision—whom does he truly love? And why? Rick soon learns that the answer to those questions may be the key to solving more than one problem.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Inspired by an incredible true story, this is an unforgettable novel about love, loss and one impossible choice…
London, 1940 When nurse Elsie offers to send a reassuring letter to the family of a patient, she has an idea. She begins a book of last letters: messages to be sent on to wounded soldiers’ loved ones should the very worst come to pass, so that no one is left without a final goodbye.
But one message will change Elsie’s life forever. When a patient makes a devastating request, can Elsie find the strength to do the unthinkable?
London, present day Stephanie has a lot of people she’d like to speak to: her estranged brother, to whom her last words were in anger; her nan, whose dementia means she is only occasionally lucid enough to talk.
When she discovers a book of wartime letters, Stephanie realises the importance of our final words – and uncovers the story of a secret love, a desperate choice, and the unimaginable courage of the woman behind it all…
A moving and compelling historical novel from the author of The Girl in the Picture, perfect for fans of The Nightingale and The Keeper of Happy Endings.
My thoughts: inspired by a real book of letters and other things, this is a lovely story, set partly in 1940/1 and now. Elsie is a nurse in a South London hospital during the Blitz, to cheer up her patients and provide some hope, she brings in a scrapbook and asks them to write letters to their loved ones, draw pictures, whatever they’d like.
Years later the book resurfaces after being thought lost and inspires Stevie to create a new book and a mural at the retirement home she works in. She wants to track Elsie down and find out what happened next.
Both Elsie and Stevie are dealing with complicated situations, struggling to stay afloat in their lives. The book connects them across the years and changes their lives forever. Heartwarming, bittersweet and rather lovely.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
It’s supposed to be the perfect day… After getting away with literal murder, Meddy can’t wait to settle down and marry the love of her life, Nathan. She’s found the dress, got the dream venue at Christ Church College, Oxford, plus having a destination wedding comes with the added bonus of not having to invite her very large extended family.
…But is it even a wedding if nobody gets killed? Although when her meddling aunties get involved, Meddy knows her wedding is going to be anything but quiet. Even though there’s no dead body hidden in the freezer this time, for better or worse, it’s certainly going to be a day she’s never going to forget…
My thoughts: Meddy and her delightful family (I genuinely can’t decide which aunt is my favourite) are back for another stab at wedding bliss – this time it’s Meddy’s own happily ever after at stake, and they’re in Oxford with Nathan’s very different family in tow. No one has ever seen anything quite like these four Chinese-Indonesian ladies, with their Komodo dragon headgear and unique sense of style. And of course they’re tangled up in a crazy caper with the wedding organisers and kidnapping galore.
I laughed so hard I snorted in a very unladylike manner reading this, Meddy’s family are hilarious and rather brilliant, their unique way of dealing with any problems is hysterical and while I did feel for Meddy and Nathan, I did enjoy the enthusiasm with which her family do everything. Can’t wait to see what chaos they cause next!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Carole Gunn leads an unfulfilled life and knows it. She’s married to someone who may, or may not, be in New York on business and, to make things worse, the family’s deaf cat has been run over by an electric car.
But something has been changing in Carole’s mind. She’s decided to revisit places that hold special significance for her. She wants to better understand herself, and whether the person she is now is simply an older version of the person she once was.
Instead, she’s taken on an unlikely journey to confront her past, present and future.
Everyday Magic is an uplifting book filled with humour and poignancy, and reminds us that, while our pasts make us who we are, we can always change the course of our futures.
What Readers are Saying…
‘Everyday Magic’ serves as a wake-up call for us readers to find the sparks of joy we have lost along the way and live while we can‘ – Zany Bibliophile
‘It’s an uplifting read that shows us that if we want to change then we can but we have to do it for ourselves… [it might] help people realize they are not alone‘ – Echoes In An Empty Room
‘Charlie writes stories that touch a reader’s soul… I highly recommend you to read this book. Witty, thought-provoking and charming story‘ – Rekha, Goodreads
When Carole was little, she found a magic clearing in the woods near her home. She had been exploring, surrounded by oak, birch, and hazel trees, picking her way carefully between bramble and nettle. There was birdsong, squirrels darting across branches, and patterns of sunlight on the woodland floor. She had been looking for bilberries, and her hands were full of small black berries. She stopped to sit on an outcrop of rock by a wide stream that, in winter, could quickly become a torrent of brown water. In summer, it was comforting; in winter, treacherous. She ate her bilberries, the stream cascading over a small waterfall; the sound of water in her ears. It was summer and the stream bubbled crystal clear. The woodland rose in folds from the stream, and she climbed steadily upwards. Here, the trees crammed in on her; it was darker. When she looked up, she could only see sunlight trapped on leaves far above. It was a part of the old woodland that she’d never been to before, but she pushed on, feeling that she was on an adventure and might suddenly come across a gingerbread house or wizard’s cottage. At the top of the hill she found herself in a small clearing. It was only a few yards across, framed with oak trees, and perfectly round. Sunlight from directly above made the clearing warm, and she stood at its centre, wondering if she was the first person to have ever discovered it. Each of the oak trees around the clearing seemed precisely set, each one a perfect distance from the next, and she walked around them, touching each one, wondering if someone had planted the oak trees, or if the clearing really was a magic place. She still sometimes believed in magic. Then she stood again at its centre, wondering at its symmetry and why a long-dead sorcerer might have planted the oak trees. Then, realising that the sorcerer might not be dead, and that she had walked uninvited into his private domain, she hurried away, not sure whether to be frightened or excited. It was a place she often went back to that summer, and on following summers, sometimes alone and sometimes with her little brother. They would sit in the centre of the woodland circle, eating bilberries, hoping to meet the sorcerer who had built the clearing. She wasn’t frightened of him anymore; the clearing was too peaceful to have been made by a bad wizard. It was their secret place, but mainly Carole’s, because she had found it. It was a comforting place: it was somewhere she would go if she was sad or angry about something, because the woodland circle and its shifting half-shadows offered calm and new perspectives. She could almost hear the trees speak to her, the wind in their branches making the leaves whisper, but so softly that she couldn’t understand. She would listen, eyes closed, the leaves rustling, but she never understood what they were saying. The circle of trees stood solid and immovable, dark and stoic, old and wise, and each one the colour of stone.
Charlie Laidlaw lives in East Lothian, one of the main settings for Everyday Magic. He has four other published novels: Being Alert!, The Space Between Time, The Things We Learn When We’re Dead and Love Potions and Other Calamities. Previously a journalist and defence intelligence analyst, Charlie now teaches Creative Writing in addition to his writing career.
My thoughts: Carole, with an e, is an archeolgist by training and stuck in her life, starts to go back through her own past to see where she went wrong. Married to Ray, who she’s suspicious of, and mother of Iona, a typical teenager, she’s bored and feeling lost. Retracing her time at university, her first love and her work on digs as part of her degree, she starts to feel a need to make some changes, to pick up a trowel and return to the things that make her happy.
Tracing Carole’s life, from her parents home in Berwick, to Edinburgh University, and beyond, this book reminds us that it’s never too late to change.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but
Two couples, best friends for half a lifetime, move in together. What could possibly go wrong…?
Harriet and Mark have it all: successful careers, a lovely house in a leafy London suburb, twin boys on the cusp of leaving home. Yvette and Gary share a smaller place with their two daughters in a shabbier part of the same borough.
But when the stars align for a collective move north, it means a fresh start for them all. For Mark, it’s a chance to escape the rat race; for Harriet, a distraction from her unfulfilled dream of a late third child. Gary has decided to reboot the Madchester band that made him famous, while Yvette hopes it will give her daughters what she never had herself.
But as the reality of their new living arrangements slowly sinks in, the four friends face their own mid-life crises, and the dream becomes a nightmare…
My thoughts: do not move in with your friends, I feel like I’ve read several books that start with this premise and everything always goes horribly wrong. The only thing worse would be moving in with your in laws. I love my pals but I don’t think we’d cope with living together, not when you’re all settled in your ways and like how you do things. Which is why two middle aged couples doing just that in this book.
Harriet and Mark have two sons who’ve just graduated from uni, Jack who’s off to work in the City and Ollie, who doesn’t appear to have a plan, at least to his parents. Yvette and Gary have two daughters, one off to Oxford and one about to have a baby. All their kids are settled more or less.
The parents, on the other hand, Gary’s reforming his Madchester era band, Yvette’s lost her TA job, Harriet’s latest redevelopment (she’s an architect) is way over budget, Mark’s in a spot of bother at work and keeping it a secret. So of course they all decide to live in a converted factory together. Can you say mid-life crisis!
I was going “don’t do it!” and then of course they did. Bad idea guys. Bad idea. But very entertaining for the reader, lots of schadenfreude.
Things go wrong from there. Or at least more things than were already wrong. Yvette is easily the nicest of the four and I’m glad she was ok at the end while the others got their comeuppance in various ways. I’m glad things worked out for Ollie too. But yeah, definitely never moving in with friends. I’m going to be a recluse and live on my own on an island instead. It just feels safer.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Since the sudden death of her husband, Naomi has steadily rebuilt the life they shared in the village of Tilsham by the sea.
Her eldest daughter, Martha, is sensible and determined – just like her father was – and very much in control of where her life is going. If she could just get pregnant with her husband, life would be perfect.
Willow, the youngest, was always more sunny and easy-going, yet drifted through life, much to her father’s frustration. But now, with charming new boyfriend, Rick, she has a very good reason to settle down.
The three women are as close as can be. But there are things Naomi has kept from her daughters. Like the arrival of Ellis, a long-lost friend from way back, now bringing the fun and spark back into her life. And she’s certainly never told them that her marriage to their father wasn’t quite what it seemed…
The Sunday Times bestselling author Erica James returns with this gloriously compelling tale of mothers and daughters, secrets and love.
My thoughts: having attended an online event with the author (thanks HQ!) I was looking forward to reading this. A compelling and powerful story about family, love, and the willingness to do anything for the people who mean the most to you.
The bond between Naomi and her daughters is strong and even when they fall out, they find their way back to each other quickly and without ongoing bitterness. When it becomes apparent Willow’s relationship with Rick is more than just volatile, it’s her family that stand up for her and encourage her to leave him for her safety and that of her unborn daughter.
Naomi opens up to them about her marriage to their father, shedding new light on the past and they learn to accept that things change and it’s unfair to expect their mum to be alone forever, in fact Ellis becomes something of a support to them all, a kind man with a good heart.
It’s Martha though, who goes through the biggest change – learning that her father wasn’t the hero she thought he was is hard on her but she accepts that children don’t know everything about their parents and it casts her mother in a new light for her. As she prepares to have a daughter of her own, she softens and realises she can’t control everything.
Families are complicated and secrets make things harder sometimes, this book is full of ones that need to be told in order for the characters to move forward with their lives and stay close to one another. An enjoyable and thought provoking read.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Elsie Martin may lead a quiet life, but working in her beloved local library is enough to make her happy. After all, books have always been her armour against the world. So when the library is threatened with closure to make way for a new housing development, Elsie knows it has to be saved – and that, despite being painfully shy, she needs to lead the campaign to save it.
Jacob Yardley thinks he’s doing the right thing by building a new affordable housing development. Why shouldn’t local people be able to buy a house in the place they grew up? Having to leave his own small hometown broke his heart. Plus, people don’t really use libraries anymore, do they?
As Elsie and Jacob clash over the future of the library, sparks begin to fly. Jacob is falling back in love with books and libraries – could he possibly be falling for her too? And will Elsie be able to save the library that means so much to her?
My thoughts: I pretty much spent my childhood in a library. I even became a student librarian at secondary school, with responsibility for uploading new books onto ALICE, the computer system and shelving. So I immediately felt a kinship with Elsie – libraries are so important and hers is also essentially the heart of village life.
The various community groups that meet there, the safe space it offers for the lonely and bereaved, the daily cakes from best friend Gemma’s bakery, even rude Karen the supervisor. And knocking it down will prevent those people from having anywhere to go. Typical box ticking nonsense from the council about enough provision in the local area not taking anything into account. And then there’s Jacob’s horrible father, I wanted to push him in the duck pond – but that might be unfair to the ducks!
I found myself cheering for Elsie and her pals as they pushed back against the closure, as they pulled together to save their library from floods and demolition. And of course as Jacob learns to stand up to his dad and realises that with Elsie is where he belongs. Lovely, heartwarming stuff.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
What happens when you lose the love of your life just three months after you meet him?
Lottie Brown has finally found The One. Leo is everything she’s ever wanted – he’s handsome, kind, funny and totally gets her. Three months into their relationship, Lottie is in love and happier than ever before.
But then Leo tragically dies, and Lottie is left floundering.
As she struggles to stop her life falling apart, Lottie learns more about the man she thought she knew, and starts to question whether Leo really was as perfect as he seemed…
The brand-new heart-breaking novel of love, loss and learning to live again, from the acclaimed author of MARRIED AT FIRST SWIPE. Perfect for fans of Paige Toon, Holly Miller and Rosie Walsh.
My thoughts: I vaguely remember that heady rush at the start of a new relationship (I’ve been with my husband for 12 years) that mean you don’t notice the things the other person doesn’t say, the questions they avoid answering and the ugly bits of themselves they don’t like to show. Which is where Lottie is when Leo dies, three months into their relationship.
It’s only after he’s gone and she starts to learn a little bit more about him, mostly from his cousin Ross, that she starts to realise that perhaps their perfect three month old relationship wasn’t all that perfect and that maybe she needs to find a way to move forward with her life and let go of the idealised version in her head.
I liked Lottie, grief is a strange and bewildering emotion – you’re not always the most logical or balanced version of yourself and you do lash out and try to numb yourself as Lottie does. You’re mad at the universe and brokenhearted and furious and sad and lost. Sometimes all at the same time. She’s very lucky to have her sisters, her friends, and even Leo’s family, that support, however you react, makes a huge difference.
I liked Lottie even more as she healed, as she started to make changes, to find her way back to herself, from applying for what sounds like an amazing job (if it was real I’d be applying for it), to finally forgiving herself and building better relationships with her family and friends. The hopefulness at the end of the book was heartwarming and joyful. A funny, sad, happy sort of book, one that will maybe make you think differently about what love is.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Right after the sudden death of her mother—her first and most devoted fan—and just before the launch of her high-stakes sophomore album, Greta James falls apart on stage. The footage quickly goes viral and she stops playing, her career suddenly in jeopardy—the kind of jeopardy her father, Conrad, has always predicted; the kind he warned her about when he urged her to make more practical choices with her life.
Months later, Greta—still heartbroken and very much adrift—reluctantly agrees to accompany Conrad on the Alaskan cruise her parents had booked to celebrate their fortieth anniversary. It could be their last chance to heal old wounds in the wake of shared loss. But the trip will also prove to be a voyage of discovery for them both, and for Ben Wilder, a charming historian, onboard to lecture about The Call of the Wild, who is struggling with a major upheaval in his own life. As Greta works to build back her confidence and Ben confronts an uncertain future, they find themselves drawn to and relying on each other.
It’s here in this unlikeliest of places—at sea, far from the packed city venues where she usually plays and surrounded by the stunning scenery of Alaska—Greta will finally confront the choices she’s made, the heartbreak she’s suffered, and the family hurts that run deep. In the end, she’ll have to decide what her path forward might look like—and how to find her voice again.
My thoughts: losing a parent must be a really horrible feeling, especially if you’re not there when it happens. I remember my dad being devastated when my grandmother died, and we knew it was coming. Greta’s mum dies suddenly, without much warning and she’s too far to get there in time to say goodbye. Suffering from the guilt, as well as having then broken up with her boyfriend, she agrees to take her mum’s place on an Alaskan cruise with her father and their friends.
To say Greta and her dad have a tricky relationship is an understatement – they can barely look at each other, let alone talk and mend some fences. But being trapped on a ship and slowing spending time together, things start to thaw.
There’s also a brief connection with another unwilling cruise hostage – writer Ben, who’s there to give a talk on his book about Jack London, although he’d rather be back in New York. He and Greta spend time together, get drunk and share. Something cathartic about an almost stranger in a strange place.
An interesting exploration of grief, forgiveness, and working out where you go from here.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Click to go to the review of the previous title in this series – The Dragon Tree
The Rune Stone (Dr DuLac series Book 3) A haunting time-slip mystery of runes and romance. When Dr Viv DuLac, medievalist and academic, finds a mysterious runic inscription on a Rune Stone in the graveyard of her husband’s village church, she unwittingly sets off a chain of circumstances that disturb their quiet lives in ways she never expected. Once again, she feels the echoes of the past resonate through time and into the present. Can she unlock the secrets of the runes in the life of the 6th century Lady Vivianne and in Viv’s own life? Lives of the past and present intertwine alarmingly as Viv desperately tries to save them both, without changing the course of history. For fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, Christina Courtenay.
Medieval church cross shaft
(for A Shape on the Air) “In the best Barbara Erskine tradition …I would highly recommend this novel” -Historical Novel Society (for the series) “Julia does an incredible job of setting up the idea of time-shift so that it’s believable and makes sense” – book tour reviewer “Dr Ibbotson has created living, breathing characters that will remain in the reader’s mind long after the book is read … The characters are brought to life beautifully with perfect economy of description … fabulous!” – Melissa Morgan “A rich and evocative time-slip novel that beautifully and satisfyingly concludes this superb trilogy. The story is woven seamlessly and skilfully between the past and the present and the reader is drawn deeply into both worlds. Her portrayal of the 6th century and its way of life are authoritative, vivid and memorable” – Kate Sullivan Purchase
Julia Ibbotson is fascinated by the medieval world and the concept of time. She sees her author brand as a historical fiction writer of romantic mysteries that are evocative of time and place, well- researched and uplifting page-turners. Her current series focuses on early medieval time-slip/dual-time mysteries. Julia read English at Keele University, England, specialising in medieval language/literature/ history, and has a PhD in socio-linguistics. After a turbulent time in Ghana, West Africa, she became a school teacher, then a university academic and researcher. Her break as an author came soon after she joined the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme in 2015, with a three-book deal from Lume Books (Endeavour) for a trilogy (Drumbeats) set in Ghana in the 1960s. She has published five other books, including A Shape on the Air, an Anglo-Saxon timeslip mystery, and its two sequels The Dragon Tree and The Rune Stone. Her work in progress is the first of a new series of Anglo-Saxon mysteries (Daughter of Mercia) where echoes of the past resonate across the centuries. Her books will appeal to fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, and Christina Courtenay. Her readers say: ‘Julia’s books captured my imagination’, ‘beautiful story-telling’, ‘evocative and well-paced storylines’, ‘brilliant and fascinating’ and ‘I just couldn’t put it down’.
My thoughts: and so we come to the last book in this series, The Rune Stone. Viv and Rory are back from Madeira and adjusting to life in their Derbyshire village when an unusual discovery in the churchyard sets off Viv’s time travelling adventures once more. This time Lady Vivianne is in trouble, faced with invaders, an advanced pregnancy and war rumoured to be coming from all directions, she reaches through the centuries to her descendant for strength. And despite the worry she might drop the baby while having one of her turns, Viv answers. The carved stone in the churchyard might just refer to Lady Vivianne. But what does eccentric Ivy have to do with it all and can Viv stop a predatory parishioner stealing her husband at the same time?
I really enjoyed this series, the blend of historical fiction and modern day Time Team style investigations – especially once Tilly gets involved. I liked the linking of ancient traditions with more modern ones and the need to put things back where they belong so the dead can rest easy.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 