Tag: contemporary fiction

When Joanna Whitman’s famous ex-husband dies in a car accident, she doesn’t know what to feel. Their dysfunctional marriage held more painful secrets than she cares to remember. But when she discovers that the young woman with him in the crash is pregnant, Joanna feels compelled to act, knowing exactly how brutal the media spotlight will be on celebrity chef Cliff Whitman’s ex-wife and his mysterious female friend.

Ashley Blake can’t believe it when Joanna shows up in her hospital room and suggests they hide away at her beach house on a sleepy stretch of California coast. Joanna should be hating her, not helping her. But alone and pregnant, Ashley can’t turn down Joanna’s offer. Yet she knows that if Joanna ever found out the real reason Ashley was in that car, their tentative bond would shatter instantly.

Joanna’s only goal for the summer is privacy, but her return causes major waves in the local community, especially for the man she left behind years ago. All Ashley wants is space to plan for her and her baby’s future, and to avoid causing any trouble for Joanna. But as secrets spill out under the hot summer sun, this unlikely friendship is about to be put to the test.

My thoughts: I do enjoy a Sarah Morgan novel, they’re excellent cheery reads and perfect for days just lounging about reading. Ideally on holiday. In this one we’re in California, by the beach as Joanna and Ashley navigate their unusual connection and Joanna revisits her past.

Cliff Whitman was not a nice man and it took his now ex-wife a long time to see it, but once she did she was done. Joanna wants to help Ashley and protect her, knowing exactly how it feels to be thrust into the limelight and over a summer, the two women bond and cook and chat.

It’s not a complex read, but there are a few plot twists and surprises lurking in this book, the light and intelligent story whizzes along and Joanna, Ashley and their old/new friends are charming company.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

Beth loves her job working in a care home, looking after its elderly residents, but she doesn’t love the cramped and dirty house-share she currently lives in. So, when she gets the opportunity to move to Nightingale Square, sharing a house with the lovely Eli, she jumps at the chance.
 
The community at Nightingale Square welcomes Beth with open arms, and when she needs help to organise a fundraiser for the care home they rally round. Then she discovers The Arches, a local creative arts centre, has closed and the venture to replace it needs their help too – but this opens old wounds and past secrets for Beth.
 
Music was always an important part of her life, but now she has closed the door on all that. Will her friends at the care home and the people of Nightingale Square help her find a way to learn to love it once more…?

My thoughts: this was lovely and heartwarming and really hit the spot. I’ve been a bit down recently due to a bereavement and I didn’t realise how much I needed an uplifting book with a happy ending, but I really did.

Beth works at a care home and lives in a horrible house share. Her only real joy is the collection of house plants she tends, but when a resident at the home introduces her to the residents and delightful location of Nightingale Square, she realises she wants more. Becoming Activities Co-ordinator at work means she can afford to rent a room in Kate’s cottage and begin to build a happier life. And maybe fall in love…

Featuring some of the recurring Nightingale Square residents and introducing some new faces, this is a lovely, sunshine filled story about friendships, community and love in various guises. And it’s very cheering.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

When Jennifer goes up to Cambridge University with her head full of the Romantic Poets, she never dreams that she will find her very own Byron. But then she meets gorgeous actor Laurie Lewis, and finds herself living a real-life love poem.

Fifteen years and two children later, Jennifer and Laurie’s relationship is starting to feel more like an epic tragedy. After a series of revelations turn her world upside down, Jennifer will do anything to keep her family together – even if it means moving hundreds of miles away to Laurie’s childhood home in Westenbury, Yorkshire.

As she reluctantly enters into village life – complete with interfering in-laws, new friends and a surprise delivery of alpacas – Jennifer is amazed to find herself feeling happy for the first time in years. But the village holds one last, devastating secret.

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Julie Houston lives in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire where her novels are set, and her only claims to fame are that she teaches part-time at ‘Bridget Jones’ author Helen Fielding’s old junior school and her neighbour is ‘Chocolat’ author, Joanne Harris. Julie is married, with two adult children and a ridiculous Cockerpoo called Lincoln. She runs and swims because she’s been told it’s good for her, but would really prefer a glass of wine, a sun lounger and a jolly good book – preferably with Dev Patel in attendance.

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My thoughts: I love this series, it’s a lot of fun and although the characters from the other books are only briefly in this one, it’s still really enjoyable. Westenbury gets new residents and one old one – in the form of not particularly successful actor and total cad Laurie Lewis and his family, after he spends all of their money and loses a court case.

His wife Jenny is amazing but I don’t know why she puts up with his crap -she thinks she’s doing it for her kids but even they would rather have a happy divorced mother and not be trapped between two unhappy parents. Their daughter doesn’t even want to live with them.

Luckily Westenbury works its magic and Jenny starts to believe in herself a bit more, she starts to write a Regency romance, her son blossoms at the brilliant village school and even Laurie’s terrible secrets don’t do as much harm as they could. Although I still wanted to boot him into a cowpat repeatedly!

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

Four old friends. Thrown back together after forty years apart. What could possibly go wrong?
In the 1970s, The Girls were best friends sharing a house and good times: Zara the famous diva actor, Val the uptight solicitor, Jackie the wild child and Pauline the quirky introvert. Now they’re in their twilight years, and Zara suggests that they live with her to support each other through old age.
Initially, being housemates again is just as much fun as in their heyday. But then Zara reveals the real reason she asked them to move in with her, and suddenly things take a sinister turn.
As the women confront their demons they come under the spotlight of the press, the police and an angry parrot. With their lives spiralling out of control can they save their friendships and each other?

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Bella Osborne has been jotting down stories as far back as she can remember but decided that 2013 would be the year that she finished a full length novel. In 2016, her debut novel, It Started At Sunset
Cottage, was shortlisted for the Contemporary Romantic Novel of the Year and RNA Joan Hessayon New Writers Award. Bella’s stories are about friendship, love and coping with what life throws at
you. She likes to find the humour in the darker moments of life and weaves these into her stories.
Bella believes that writing your own story really is the best fun ever, closely followed by talking, eating chocolate, drinking fizz and planning holidays. She lives in the Midlands, UK with her lovely husband and wonderful daughter, who thankfully, both accept her as she is (with mad morning hair and a penchant for skipping).
Follow Bella:
Twitter: @osborne_bella
Facebook: @BellaOsborneAuthor
Instagram: @bellaosborneauthor

My thoughts: this was interesting, I don’t think I’d want to be thrown together with people I hadn’t seen or spoken to in years like this. All the old scars and disagreements, the personality clashes are still there, but all of the characters are also pretty set in their ways and some find it harder than others to get along.

Zara is very manipulative, these are her oldest friends, the ones she claims she wants to spend however much time she has left with, but she’s playing a long game and has been for some time. She’s not really kind and has secrets of her own. Who makes their friends their staff.

Val doesn’t really want to be there, she went along with it for Pauline, who she can see has some pain and needs a supportive pal, rather than freewheeling Jackie who’s a little oblivious but not malicious.

There’s lots of secrets and years of their lives missing that they need to catch up on, but as the pals spend time in the French sunshine, they get distracted by other things, like Brian the cat, the obnoxious parrot, the overly chummy gardener and trying to riddle out Vera. It’s a fun book but lifelong friendships take a fair amount of work. Luckily this book is a nice gentle read and I really came to like Val and Pauline, even Jackie.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.