Tag: rom com

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Meeting Point – Olivia Lara

ramblingmads

What if the Lift driver who finds your cheating boyfriend’s phone holds the directions to true love?

‘Who are you and why do you have my boyfriend’s phone?’

‘He left it in my car. You must be the blonde in the red dress? I’m the Lift driver who dropped you two off earlier.’

And with these words, the life of the brunette and t-shirt wearing Maya Maas is turned upside down. Having planned to surprise her boyfriend, she finds herself single and stranded in an unknown city on her birthday.

So when the mystery driver rescues Maya with the suggestion that she cheers herself up at a nearby beach town, she jumps at the chance to get things back on track. She wasn’t expecting a personalised itinerary or the easy companionship that comes from opening up to a stranger via text, let alone the possibility it might grow into something more…

Come on this 5* journey to love, laughter and back again, perfect for fans of Mhairi McFarlane, Josie Silver and Sally Thorne.

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As a child, Olivia not-so-quietly ‘observed’ (AKA bothered with countless questions) her grandfather — who worked for the biggest publishing house in Romania — edit hundreds of books. And when he wasn’t editing, he read. Everything, all the time. Just like her father, who wrote short sci-fi stories, and was set on building the largest library she’d ever seen and her mother who’s never found without a book…wherever she goes. Her love for words came naturally, and after studying marketing, communications & photography, Olivia worked as a journalist for a newspaper and news television network in Romania.

An unapologetic citizen of the world, she spent a few years in Greece, Sweden, France, before settling in sunny California with her photographer husband and young daughter, where she works in marketing and writes. Oh, and let’s not forget the ever-growing menagerie that completes the family: Pumpkin, the Maine Coon mix, three black cats and a siamese kitten.

When she’s not writing or thinking about writing, she reads (across genres), watches old movies and collects vintage books, vinyl records, and eerie paintings. She loves traveling (and can’t wait until she can do it again, safely), swimming, biking, hiking and of course, photography.

SOMEDAY IN PARIS, her debut, published by Aria Fiction/Head of Zeus in May 2020 became a B&N, Apple, Kobo and Amazon Top 100 Bestseller and was shortlisted for the Romantic Novel Awards 2021. Her second novel, THE MEETING POINT, a contemporary romcom set in Northern California, is set to be published as an e-book on September 2, 2021 and in paperback in December 2021 in the UK and March, 2022 in the US.

Keep up with Olivia: twitter || instagram || facebook  Website

My thoughts: this was a lovely, sweet rom com set on the California coast, where two people share one amazing day, by text. A year later Maya returns to see if it was more than just a single day, but something real.

I loved Maya, I hated her crappy boyfriend and mean boss. I was thrilled she decided to hunt out “Max” in Carmel, and then bicker her way round the Bay Area with Ethan Delphy (a name and a few other things perhaps inspired by a certain trilogy of films…) and I am a secret sucker for a happily ever after, just like Maya.

Basically this was a delightful read, made me want to go back to California, and explore a bit I don’t know at all. Curl up with this love story and enjoy being somewhere magical and beautiful, where it’s not freezing cold and raining. And where a text could change everything…

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: One Lucky Summer – Jenny Oliver

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The best kept secrets are waiting to be found…

With an air of faded splendour, Willoughby Hall was an idyllic childhood home to Ruben de Lacy. Gazing at it now, decades later, the memories are flooding back, and not all of them are welcome…

In a tumbledown cottage in Willoughby’s grounds, Dolly and Olive King lived with their eccentric explorer father. One of the last things he did was to lay a treasure hunt before he died, but when events took an unexpected turn, Dolly and Olive left Willoughby for good, never to complete it.

But when Ruben uncovers a secret message, hidden for decades, he knows he needs Olive and Dolly’s help. Can the three of them solve the treasure hunt, and will piecing together the clues help them understand what happened to their families that summer, all those years ago?

A glorious summer read with a delightful cast of characters from the bestselling author of The Summer We Ran Away.

My thoughts: this was a lovely read, with a wonderful cast of characters; sisters Olive and Dolly, who need to talk more, mad Aunt Marge, Ruben and his daughter Zadie – in need of getting to know one another better, and Dolly’s work partner, Fox, who she finds incredibly annoying.

Back when Ruben, Olive and Dolly were kids, the girls father, a treasure hunter, left them a mysterious treasure hunt across the vast de Lacy estate. Now Ruben’s hoping to sell up and they decide to solve this final set of clues. Tragedy forced them apart, and forced them to grow up fast. Can they find their way back to who they used to be?

Warm, fun, funny and enjoyable, this is peak summer holiday reading. Even if your summer holiday isn’t really happening.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Beach Reads Book Club – Kathryn Freeman*

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Welcome to the Beach Reads Book Club…where love is just a page away…
When Lottie Watt is unceremoniously booted out of her uptight book club for not following the rules, she decides to throw the rulebook out the window and start her own club – one where conversation, gin and cake take precedent over actually having read the book!
The Beach Reads Book Club soon finds a home for its meetings at Books by the Bay, a charming bookshop and café owned by gorgeous, brooding Matthew Steele, and as the book club picks heat up, so too does the attraction between Matt and Lottie.
If there’s anything Lottie has learned from the romances she’s been reading, it’s that the greatest loves are the ones hardest earned.
A love letter to chicklit, romance, romcoms, whatever you want to call them!

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A former pharmacist, I’m now a medical writer who also writes romance. Some days a racing heart is a medical condition, others it’s the reaction to a sexy hero.
With a husband who asks every Valentine’s Day whether he has to buy a card (yes, he does), any romance is all in my head. Then again, his unstinting support of my career change proves love isn’t always about hearts and flowers – and heroes come in many disguises.

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My thoughts: I loved this, as a former member of various book clubs I totally agree with Lottie – the best ones are where you read fun books and have a laugh. Yes, literary fiction is great but sometimes you just want something light and enjoyable – much like this book itself! There’s romance, snogging and more! I loved the book club members – Audrey and her gin especially made me laugh, and I really wished I had some delicious cake to eat while reading this.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Lord Seeks Wife – Heather Barnett*

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Take 1,000 women, add one earl and whip into a media frenzy.

Reclusive academic Lord Noblet de Beeble doesn’t want to get married but his overbearing mother, Lady Caroline, is insisting he must. When he places an advert for a wife in the Situations Vacant section of his local newspaper, the national press pick up the story. A desperate Noblet calls on his handsome younger brother, Henry, to help him navigate the subsequent media frenzy.

Among the hordes of hopeful candidates to descend on the village of Gently Rising is the beautiful and mysterious Mia Wild, who befriends local primary school teacher, Alice Brand. Alice has been looking for something to spice up her life, but getting embroiled in a very public wife-hunt wasn’t what she had in mind.

In a summer packed with suspicious exes, snobbery, social climbers and sausage rolls, Gently Rising will bear witness to a public courtship like no other. But who will come out on top?
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Heather Barnett has been making things up and writing them down ever since she could hold a pen. She studied English and French at the University of Leeds and has written at every opportunity since, from copywriting to stand-up comedy and sketches. Her influences span Jane Austen and Douglas Adams at one end of the alphabet through to PG Wodehouse at the other. Her debut novel, Acts of Kindness, was kick-started with the help of sessions at the Faber Academy and Arvon Foundation, and then regularly impeded by her two attention-seeking cats. She is head of marketing at an agency in Oxfordshire.
Heather’s debut novel, Acts of Kindness was published in March 2021. Lord Seeks Wife is a hilarious romantic comedy and is her follow-up book.
Please visit Heather’s website to read more. Follow Heather on Twitter  & Instagram 

My thoughts: this was hilarious, do not read while eating or you’ll choke. I was really glad I was reading it alone as I’m pretty sure I was laughing so hard I snorted. Honestly I was having so much fun reading this.

Poor Nobby, not only saddled with a horrible name, he also has an overbearing mother who won’t let the fact he doesn’t actually want to get married stop her from encouraging him to find a wife. He goes about it in a very practical manner – placing a job vacancy in the paper and then chaos ensues.

If you need a light hearted, very silly book, with a splash of romance (I was thrilled for lovely Derek especially), then read this book.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Secrets on the Italian Island – T.A. Williams*

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Read my review of Second Chances in Chianti

Her work has got in the way of relationships before – but never like this
Anna’s job as a geologist takes her all over the world, including to the beautiful island of Elba, where she’s sent to look for precious metals. And the island isn’t the only thing that’s gorgeous – she can’t believe her luck when she meets windsurfer Marco and sparks fly.
But Anna must keep her role on Elba a secret to avoid upsetting the locals, which means lying to Marco even as they grow closer. When her old friend Toby visits, Anna suddenly finds herself torn between the attentions of the two men. However, Anna’s not the only one keeping secrets.
Is Marco being entirely honest with her? And why did Toby really come to visit?
A fun and escapist romance, perfect for fans of Lucy Coleman and Alex Brown.
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I’m a man. And a pretty old man as well. I did languages at university a long time ago and then lived and worked in France and Switzerland before going to Italy for seven years as a teacher of English. My Italian wife and I then came back to the UK with our little daughter (now long-
since grown up) where I ran a big English language school for many years. We now live in a sleepy
little village in Devonshire. I’ve been writing almost all my life but it was only seven years ago that I finally managed to find a publisher who liked my work enough to offer me my first contract.
The fact that I am now writing romantic comedy is something I still find hard to explain. My early books were thrillers and historical novels. Maybe it’s because there are so many horrible things happening in the world today that I feel I need to do my best to provide something to cheer my
readers up. My books provide escapism to some gorgeous locations, even if travel to them is currently difficult.

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My thoughts: I really enjoyed this sunshine soaked rom com, especially as getting away to Italy is currently a pipe dream. The plot was engaging and entertaining, the writing flows smoothly and kept me involved in the narrative. I liked Anna, and her friendship with George the dog (and his human!). A thoroughly delightful read for the summer.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Pug Actually – Matt Dunn*

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Not all heroes wear capes. Some of them wear collars.

A Dog’s Purpose meets The Happy Ever After Playlist in this charming, pitch-perfect take on relationships as seen through the eyes of a wise pug named Doug, who is determined to play cupid to fix his owner’s love life with his own four paws.

Doug wants his rescuer, Julie, to be happy. He is loyal and loves her unconditionally—two things that can’t be said about Julie’s married boss and lover, Luke. Yet Julie is reluctant to break up, afraid to end up like her eccentric cat-owning neighbor. It’s a prospect that horrifies Doug, too.

Newly divorced Tom, on the other hand, is perfect for Julie. Everyone can see it—except for Julie and Tom. Doug is confident that with his help they will get over their initial animosity toward each other.

As Doug humorously navigates the quirks of human relationships, he knows he can’t give up on Julie—after all, being a “rescue” works both ways.

My thoughts: this was a very fun and funny book as Doug the pug (yes, he knows) attempts to sort out owner Julie’s love life, steering her away from bad decisions and into the arms of Tom the V-E-T.

A dog’s eye view of the world, complete with that weird snorting breathing pugs have, drool and trips to the park, Doug risks everything, including assault by Alsatian, to bring these two humans together. It’s very, very silly and made me laugh quite a bit as Doug struggles to understand humans and why they can’t just get on with it, like uncomplicated dogs.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Instructions for Dancing – Nicola Yoon*

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Evie is disillusioned about love ever since her dad left her mum for another woman – she’s even throwing out her beloved romance novel collection.

When she’s given a copy of a book called Instructions for Dancing, and follows a note inside to a dilapidated dance studio, she discovers she has a strange and unwelcome gift. When a couple kisses in front of her, she can see their whole relationship play out – from the moment they first catch each other’s eye to the last bitter moments of their break-up.

For Evie, it confirms everything she thinks she knows about love – that it doesn’t last.

But at the dance studio she meets X – tall, dreadlocked, fascinating – and they start to learn to dance, together. Can X help break the spell that Evie is under? Can he change Evie’s mind about love?

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Nicola Yoon is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Instructions for Dancing, Everything, Everything and The Sun Is Also a Star. She is a National Book Award finalist, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book recipient and a Coretta Scott King New Talent Award winner. Two of her novels have been made into major motion pictures. She’s also co-publisher of Joy Revolution, a Random House young adult imprint dedicated to love stories starring people of color. She grew up in Jamaica and Brooklyn, and lives in Los Angeles with her husband, the novelist David Yoon, and their daughter.

My thoughts: this was a lovely, sweet book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Love isn’t always easy, whatever form it comes in (romantic, family, friends) but that’s life as Evie finds out, navigating her way through her parents’ divorce, her friends’ romance and her own falling in love.

With a little magical gift from a mysterious old lady, Evie can see a love story unfold in people’s kisses, and it scares her, especially when she sees her own, with X, her dance partner and aspiring rock star. But sometimes you have to take a chance, risk your heart and let yourself enjoy life now. A delightful, bittersweet story.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Couple – Helly Acton*

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Millie is a perfectionist. She’s happy, she’s successful – and, with a great support network of friends and family (and a very grumpy cat) around her, she’s never lonely. She has her dream job at a big tech firm and is on track to become the company’s youngest ever Innovation Director. The last thing she needs is romance messing up her perfectly organised world.
Besides, normal people just don’t have romantic relationships. Everyone knows that being in a couple is a bit . . . well, odd. Sure, everybody has that one coupled-up friend who messes up the numbers at dinner parties, but it’s a bit eccentric. You know, like having a pet snake or living off the grid. Why rely on another person for your own happiness? Why risk the humiliation of unrequited love or the agony of a break-up when you can do everything yourself? No, Millie is perfectly happy with her conventional single life.
So when Millie lands a new project at work, launching a pill that stops you falling in love, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. That is, until she starts working with Ben. He’s charming and funny, and Millie feels an instant connection with him. Is this the spark that science and society are trying to suppress?

Will Millie sacrifice everything she believes in for love?

My thoughts: in a world where being single is normal, why would anyone want to be in a couple?

This was a really interesting and thought provoking book. I will admit there are days when I think about what my life would be like if I was single – different definitely, tidier and quieter. I married a very loud, messy man. I can work out what he’s been doing by the trail of chaos he leaves. And I know that my single friends get fed up of being asked when they’re going to meet someone, of being left out of invites because everyone else is in a pair.

Flipping that entirely on its head is really clever and really pushes you to think about why things are the way they are, about why society puts coupledom above any other relationship. Especially as you get older. Especially if you’re female.

I liked Millie and Ben, I was rooting for them, he seemed kind and funny and messy and she needed that in her planned out since she was 16 life. I loved her friends too – June and Al and Ruth. I loved that they were all so supportive and fun. That’s how it should be, your friends are just as important as any romantic attachment.

I didn’t like the word “slide”, after a while I began to react to its use the way some people do to the word “moist”, it made me cringe, hard. I needed Mandy Patinkin as Inigo Montoya saying “I do not think that word means what you think it means” to comfort me.***

However, please don’t think any less of me for that, and the book is a lot of fun. And being single is not a crime, neither is being in a couple or even a throuple. As long as you’re happy, I think that’s what the book wants us to remember – that being happy is the key.

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

***please tell me you’ve seen The Princess Bride? One of the greatest movies of all time. The book’s good too.

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Blog Tour: A Family Affair – Julie Houston*

ramblingmads

Read my review of A Village Vacancy

Joining the family business was never going to be easy…
Frankie Piccione is done running away from her responsibilities, well for now anyway. Having escaped Westenbury after suffering a shattered heart, it’s time to take up her place on the family board. Piccione’s Pickles and Preserves needs Frankie. Frankie knows she can make the business work. But with her brother Luca and the new, rather attractive, Cameron Mancini watching her every move, she’s going to have to come up with something special to get them off her back and
recognising she belongs on the board just as much as they do.
With the help of her Aunt Pam and best friend, Daisy, Frankie is thriving with her new sense of purpose. Until someone from her past walks right back into it…
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Julie 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. After University, where she studied Education and English Literature, she taught for many years as a junior school teacher. As a newly qualified
teacher, broke and paying off her first mortgage, she would spend every long summer holiday working on different Kibbutzim in Israel. After teaching for a few years she decided to go to New Zealand to work and taught in Auckland for a year before coming back to this country. She now
teaches just two days a week, and still loves the buzz of teaching junior-aged children. She has been a magistrate for the past nineteen years, and, when not distracted by Ebay, Twitter and Ancestry, spends much of her time writing. Julie is married, has a twenty-four-year-old son and twenty-one- year-old daughter 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 Matthew Mcconaughay in attendance.

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My thoughts: I love this series of books, all set in the fictional village of Westenbury, they’re comforting and funny, and this latest is no exception. Frankie’s heart was broken when she left but she’s come back to take up her responsibilities at the family firm.

The most important relationships in this book, as with the series as a whole, is between the female characters. Their bonds and support keep the plot moving as they laugh and cry and hold each other up. In Frankie’s case it’s her best friend Daisy and Aunt Pam, and these women help her find her confidence and assert herself in the face of male opposition. As always, there’s life lessons to learn and some bumps in the road to happily ever after. Another hugely enjoyable 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.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: One Summer Sunrise – Shari Low*

ramblingmads

Read my reviews of What If? and What Now?

As the sun rises on a hot summer’s day, four lives are about to be changed forever…
Brand new from the bestselling author of What If?, What Now? and One Day In Summer.
Today, Maisie McTeer decides to track down the ex who jilted her at the altar. Today, she’ll find out
that revisiting the past can also rewrite her future.
After losing her husband, Harriet Bassett can no longer bear her lonely life. Today, a familiar face in a crowd will spark a quest to discover if there’s something and someone worth living for.
Scott and Kelly Bassett’s daughter is leaving home. Today, Scott plans to tell Kelly that he’s ending their marriage to pursue his rock and roll dreams.
However, Kelly, has a bombshell of her own. How will Scott react to the news that a new arrival is on the way to fill their empty nest?
Between sunrise and sunset, there’s love, heartbreak, laughter and tears, but who will find happiness at the end of the day?
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Shari Low is the #1 bestselling author of over 20 novels, including One Day In Winter and With Or Without You and a collection of parenthood memories called Because Mummy Said So. She lives near Glasgow and her first title for Boldwood was My One Month Marriage in January 2020.

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My thoughts: Shari Low does it again with another fun, funny and delightful romantic comedy. The importance of family, their different shapes and sizes, both bio and found is at the heart of this book.

Maisie is supposed to be one of hands being broken as her best friend gives birth, but instead she’s drafted into look after the catering at a graduation celebration, and keep an eye on the hilarious Janice and Jane.

Meanwhile Carny’s parents are dealing with their own issues as they prepare to celebrate their daughter’s bright new future. And a lonely widow, Harriet, makes plans.

The party in full swing brings all these different families together and while old ties might be severed, new ones will be formed and it’s all so much fun and joy.

I love Shari’s books, they’re so entertaining and enjoyable and always leave me with a smile and a few happy tears (note to self; do not read while hormonal, you get all emotional!)

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