only Read

Following the tragic death of her beloved husband, Anna Hemingway decides it's time for a fresh start. So Anna and her three-year-old daughter Ellie move to a picture-perfect cottage in the beautiful village of Little Somerby, and when she takes over the running of the village tea shop, Ellie and Anna start to find happiness again. But things get complicated when Matthew Carter, the owner of the local cider farm, enters their lives. Throughout a whirlwind year of village fetes and ancient wassails, love, laughter, apple pie and new memories, life slowly blossoms again. But when tragedy strikes and history seems to be repeating itself, Anna must find the strength to hold onto the new life she has built. This beautiful, life-affirming debut novel marks the beginning of the Little Somerby series, and promises to make you smile, cry, reach for a cream tea, and long for a life in the perfect English countryside. Having lost my reading mojo I found myself browsing through the Amazon Kind...

Twenty-eight year old Hannah is ready for an adventure. She and her colleagues are in Spain for a month to film a documentary, and it's a dream come true. Not least because Hannah will get to spend long summer days with Theo, her boss (and gorgeous crush). It couldn't be a more perfect setting to fall in love... If only Tom (Hannah's best friend and cameramen) and Claudette (the presenter) would stop getting in the way... Then things become even more complicated when Nancy, Hannah's half-sister arrives. What on earth is she doing here? For just once in her life, can't Hannah have one perfect summer, free of any drama? I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Isabelle Broom’s new release Then.Now.Always after reading her previous two books that had me completely captivated by her idyllic settings. I was longing to see what breath-taking location she would whisk us away to in her new book. Hannah spent her teen holiday with friend Rachel in the stunning Spanish vil...

From the Tundra to the Trenches By Eddy Weetaltuk Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2016 $24.95 Canadian/ $27.95 US Reviewed by Kenn Harper To say that Eddy Weetaltuk lived an eventful life, unlike the lives of his fellow Inuit, is an understatement. He was born in 1932 on Strutton Island in James Bay, one of twelve children. His surname, he points out, means “innocent eyes” (and should really be spelled Uitaaluttuq). His grandfather, George Weetaltuk, was a guide for the film-maker Robert Flaherty in the making of his ground-breaking documentary, Nanook of the North . Eddy’s childhood was what one would expect for an Inuk boy growing up in the 1930s and 40s at the southern limit of traditional Inuit land, in James Bay and on the Quebec coast – periods of joy and hunger in the comfort of a large family.  He went to school in Fort George, and finished the eighth grade at boarding school. By the time he reached adulthood, he was multi-lingual, speaking English, Inuktitut, Frenc...

Bella  has always had a sunny outlook and caring nature, despite recently falling on hard times. When she finds a handsome homeless man on her doorstep, her kind heart tells her she must help him. So, she invites  Isaac  into her cottage and into her life in ways she could never have imagined… But Isaac is not what he seems. He’s keeping a huge secret from Bella, yet he never expected to fall for this open, generous and charming woman.  Bella can’t ignore the chemistry between her and Isaac, but she’s had her trust badly broken in her past. Will she run when she learns the truth about Isaac, or will he be the one man who can help Bella believe in love again? Spring at Blueberry Bay is the first book I have read by Holly Martin, the synopsis really called out to me so I wasted no time in downloading my copy and starting it immediately but I never expected to finish it the same day. Bella Roussel has not had the best start in life and now she finds herself jobless and ...

Today it is my stop on the Paper Chain tour for one of my favourite authors new books Paper Hearts & Summer Kisses by the fabulous Carole Matthews. REVIEW Carole Matthews is back with another charming read in Paper Hearts and Summer Kisses. I only picked this book up to briefly read the first chapter but ended up completely hooked and finished the book in one sitting as I couldn’t bear to put this book down. Single mum Christie Chapman has for years made the long commute into London for work each day to keep a roof over her sons head. What little time she has at home she spends her time crafting and watching the Creative Craft channel feeding her passion and uber talent for craft often with the reluctant help from her son. Recently son Finn has been increasingly missing time from school feeling poorly and Christie is struggling to juggle everything but can the handsome Max give her an offer she can’t refuse? This book ticked every box for me, I found it uplifting and heart wrenchin...

Sophie stopped believing in happy endings a long time ago, but could this love change all of that? Sophie Winter  lives in a self-imposed cocoon - she's a single, 31-year-old translator who works from home in her one-bedroom flat. This isn’t really the life she dreamed of, but then  Sophie  stopped believing in dreams when she was a teenager and tragedy struck her family. So, to be safe, she keeps everyone at arm’s length.  Sophie  understands she has a problem, but recognising it and knowing how to fix it are two entirely different things. One night a serious fire breaks out in the flat below hers.  Sophie  is trapped in the burning building until a passer-by,  Ben , sees her and rescues her. Suddenly her cocoon is shattered - what will be the consequences of this second life-changing event? One thing I have come to know and expect from Dani Atkins books is that they are packed full with emotion so I w...

Zoe and Ollie Morley tried for years to have a baby and couldn't. They turned to adoption and their dreams came true when they were approved to adopt a little girl from birth. They named her Evie.  Seven years later, the family has moved to Yorkshire and grown in number: a wonderful surprise in the form of baby Ben. As a working mum it's not easy for Zoe, but life is good.  But then Evie begins to receive letters and gifts.  The sender claims to be her birth father. He has been looking for his daughter.  And now he is coming to take her back... After reading Sanjida Kay's debut Bone by Bone last year I have been waiting patiently for the release of her second book and having now finished reading The Stolen Child it is safe to say that the curse of book two didn't hit this author as this book was even better than her debut. After failing to conceive Zoe and Ollie take the next step and decide to adopt a beautiful baby girl who was born with the effects of having a dr...

Relics of the Franklin Expedition: Discovering Artifacts from the Doomed Arctic Voyage of 1845 By Garth Walpole Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2017, $39.95 Reviewed by Jonathan Dore Garth Walpole was an Australian archaeologist who early on became fascinated with Franklin’s final expedition, and who wrote his undergraduate thesis on the relics recovered from it by various searchers and held in the National Maritime Museum, London.  In later life he decided to expand this research and publish the results as a book, and had completed most of this work before he sadly succumbed to cancer in 2015. Before his death he had asked Russell Potter to edit the work for publication, and it has now been published by McFarland (who also brought out Glenn Stein’s Discovering the North West Passage ). With the first major exhibition of the relics in more than a century due to open this summer, publication could not have been better timed, despite the poignant reminder that the author did not live to se...