‘You want me to write a list? Like a shopping list?’
Gwendolyn nodded. ‘Exactly. But for what you want from a man, not ASDA.’

Florence Fairfax isn’t lonely. She loves her job at the little bookshop in Chelsea and her beloved cat Marmalade keeps her company at night. She might have been single for quite a while – well, forever actually, if anyone’s asking – but she’s perfectly happy, thank you. And then Florence meets eccentric love coach Gwendolyn, and everything changes.

When Gwendolyn makes Florence write a wish list describing her perfect man, Florence refuses to take it seriously. Finding someone who likes cats, has the sexual athleticism of James Bond and can overlook her ‘counting’ habit? Impossible! Until, later that week, a handsome blond man asks for help in the bookshop…

Rory seems to fit the list perfectly. But is he ‘the one’, or simply too good to be true? Florence is about to find out that her criteria for Mr Right aren’t as important as she thought – and that perhaps she’s been looking for love in all the wrong places…

My thoughts:

A funny, warm and entertaining read about love, family and cats. Also working in a bookshop. All of which are good things, especially the bookshop and the cats.

Florence has lots of routines and rules to help her cope with life, she also has two sisters who are her house mates, a slightly overbearing stepmother, works in a genteel old bookshop with a matching boss, a theatrical co-worker and not a lot of luck in the romance department.

Her stepmother buys her a course of love therapy with an eccentric guru and it seems to be working, or is it?

There’s some genuine laugh out loud moments and the bonds between Florence and her friends and family are endearing, a really jolly read.

This was a great read for the summer heatwave, sat with my feet in a bowl of water, wishing it was a pool or the sea. So take it to the park, your back garden or the sofa with snacks.

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

‘How long does a coma last?’ I ask.
‘Days, weeks, months?’ the nurse replies with a shrug, although her eyes are very kind.
‘But on average?’
She just smiles, unable to give me an answer.

Wendy’s life can be neatly divided into two: before and after.
Before her husband’s car accident, it was just the two of them. They never took the train at rush hour, and they avoided their noisy neighbour upstairs.

Naveem devoted his spare time to vintage train models, and Wendy to re-reading the well-thumbed pages of her favourite books. It didn’t matter what others thought about their small, quiet life together – they were happy.
After the coma, Wendy barely recognises herself. When she’s not holding the love of her life’s hand, accompanied by the beep of the life-support machine, who is she? The nurse tells her to talk to Naveem – that he can still hear her – but she doesn’t have a single thing to say.
Suddenly Wendy can’t bear the silence. She needs something, anything, to talk to Naveem about.

Suddenly she’s losing herself at fairgrounds packed with crowds and candyfloss, she’s at the airport, waiting for the whoosh of the planes as they take off, making friends with the neighbour she has spent over a decade avoiding.
Knowing that every breath her husband takes might be his last, Wendy has no choice but to try to carry on without him. Should she feel guilty about living while his life is on pause? And when – if – he wakes up, will he still love the woman she has become?

This poignant, moving and uplifting tale is for anyone who has taken life for granted, neglected to say ‘I love you’ to their loved ones, or forgotten to find happiness in the little things. Perfect for fans of Josie Silver, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Jojo Moyes.

My thoughts:

A bittersweet tale about learning who you are later in life. When Naveem ends up in a coma, his wife, Wendy, finds herself alone for the first time in twenty years.

But who is she without him?

This book made me laugh, Wendy’s growing relationships with her eccentric neighbour in particular was very entertaining and her delightful bond with small nephew Henry is a joy.

This was a really enjoyable read and perfect for the quiet moments in busy lives.

In a world of what-ifs, a connection has been made …

When Ryan spots a young woman on the tube on his commute, he can’t take his eyes off her. Instantly attracted and intrigued, he’s keen to find out more about his mysterious fellow passenger.

The woman he thinks of as Millie spends all day travelling the Underground, unable to leave for reasons unbeknownst to Ryan. For some inexplicable reason, he just can’t shake the feeling he wants to help her escape her endless commute.

My thoughts:

This is a rather sweet story that could have become something creepy but redeemed itself.

Ryan keeps seeing a beautiful woman on the Tube, then he starts following her (see what I mean about creepy), luckily he’s convinced to speak to her and meets Sylvie, a young woman riding London’s rails trying to fix something in herself.

They fall in love and begin to build something, other stories cross their paths, like the lines of the Underground, and it reminds us that we’re all connected in tiny ways.

A smile might make someone’s day and change their life, and being in the right place at the right moment can save them.

Weirdly I know the area of North London the characters travel into town from well, I used to catch the Piccadilly every day to uni so it was strange to imagine these stories playing out in the stations and carriages I’ve been in myself. While this is fiction, there are real stories going on around us every day.

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

This is not a typical love story, but it’s our love story.

Anna wasn’t looking for love when Adam swept her off her feet but there was no denying their connection, and she believed they would be together forever.

Years later, cracks have appeared in their relationship. Anna is questioning whether their love can really be eternal when a cruel twist of fate delivers a crushing blow, and Anna and Adam are completely lost to one another. Now, Anna needs Adam more than ever, but the way back to him has life-changing consequences.

Is a second chance at first love really worth the sacrifice? Anna needs to decide and time is running out…

My thoughts:

This is a sad, sweet tale of love, loss and finding a new way to live. It tackles some big issues as well as some futuristic science.

The relationship between Anna and Adam is recognisable as pretty normal – not perfect but not terrible, they’ve faced difficulties and it’s caused strain, which feels familiar to anyone in a relationship, we all have our ups and downs.

Be warned, this is a tearjerker, so have tissues handy. The ending is very bittersweet and lovely.

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

Two women form an unlikely friendship as they face up to shocking truths about the men they’ve loved – and take the reins on deciding their future.

Deira is setting out on the holiday she’d planned with her long-term partner Gavin – only she’s on her own. Gavin will not be amused when he finds out she’s ‘borrowed’ his car, but since their brutal break-up Deira’s not been acting rationally. Maybe a drive through beautiful France will help her see things differently.

Grace is also travelling alone, each stage of her journey outlined in advance by her late husband. Ken was head of the household when he was alive, and it seems he’s still in charge. His last decision was a surprise – could there be more surprises to come? There’s only one way to find out, galling though it is to dance again to Ken’s tune.

Thrown together by chance, Grace and Deira find that it’s easier to share secrets with a stranger, especially in the shimmering sunny countryside of Spain and France. But they soon find that there’s no escaping the truth, whether you’re running away from it or racing towards it…

Sheila O’Flanagan is the author of bestselling charttoppers, including Her Husband’s Mistake, The Hideaway, What Happened That Night, The Missing Wife, My Mother’s Secret and All For You (winner of the Irish Independent Popular Fiction Book of the Year Award).

After working in banking and finance for a number of years, Sheila’s love for writing blossomed into curating stories about relationships in all their many forms.

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My thoughts:

A fun and heartwarming journey through France and Spain with two women who aren’t so much running away as running towards their future.

Following a break up (Deira) and bereavement (Grace), both protagonists find themselves on a trip of a lifetime, learning about themselves as they follow a treasure map devised by Grace’s late husband.

I really enjoyed this joyful and warm novel, it would be nice to have been reading it on the beach or by a pool but I had to make do with my sofa!

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

When Astrid Strick witnesses a school bus accident in the center of town, it jostles loose a repressed memory from her young parenting days decades earlier. Suddenly, Astrid realizes she was not quite the parent she thought she’d been to her three, now-grown children. But to what consequence?
Astrid’s youngest son is drifting and unfocused, making parenting mistakes of his own. Her daughter is pregnant yet struggling to give up her own adolescence. And her eldest seems to measure his adult life according to standards no one else shares. But who gets to decide, so many years later, which long-ago lapses were the ones that mattered? Who decides which apologies really count? It might be that only Astrid’s thirteen-year-old granddaughter and her new friend really understand the courage it takes to tell the truth to the people you love the most.
In All Adults Here, Emma Straub’s unique alchemy of wisdom, humor, and insight come together in a deeply satisfying story about adult siblings, aging parents, high school boyfriends, middle school mean girls, the lifelong effects of birth order, and all the other things that follow us into adulthood, whether we like them to or not.

My thoughts:

This is a clever, funny, warm book about family, the mistakes we make, finding your place and love.

Robin and Cecelia were my favourite characters, I wanted to give them both a hug and cheer on the festival float along with the family Strick.

I really liked the way this was written, moving between the different family members, their pasts and presents.

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

Best friends Stella, Ana and Dixie have always lived life to the full. But now they’re approaching their forties, reality is starting to kill the mood…

Stella loves her children, but misses her glittering career. Plus she can’t even remember the last time she had sex.

Ana is trying for a baby with her partner Rex. So why can’t she stop thinking about the one that got away?

Dixie is the wildest of them all. A Tinder addict who’ll never settle down. But has she accidentally found Mr Right…?

It’s time for the friends to shake things up and start having some fun. Because you only regret the things you don’t do, right?

My thoughts:

This is a fun, funny romp of a book about embracing your life and living in the moment, even if you are headed for 40 and feeling stuck in a rut.

Stella, Dixie and Ana have been friends a long time, through all of life’s ups and downs and need each other more than ever as Stella tries to return to work after taking time off to raise her sons and finds out her husband has been keeping secrets of his own, Ana wants a baby but is her relationship the right one, and Dixie thinks she’s met The One but is he?

So whizzing off for an unforgettable (and not always in the right way) trip to New York opens several cans of worms (do worms really come in cans? If so, why?) and means their bond is tested.

This is a perfect summer read, even if, like me, you’re going nowhere near a beach with coronavirus still ravaging the planet. Instead, plonk yourself on the sofa with a good snack (I had some mango and chocolate digestives with this one) and read!

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