Book Review: Christmas at the Cabin by Rebecca Boxall
I’m pleased to be welcoming Rebecca Boxall to Novel Kicks. Today I’m reviewing her latest, festive novel, Christmas at the Cabin.
A festive, coming-of-age tale about an Oxbridge candidate and a young homeless man who find themselves in the bittersweet predicament of falling in love with exactly the right person at exactly the wrong time.
Well-to-do Jed never imagined he’d end up homeless, but family circumstances have made it his only option. Local vicar, Ben, tries to help him but there’s an element of self-punishment to the homelessness that makes Jed continue to put up with his situation – until disaster leads him to re-consider the vicar’s offer of a place to stay.
Hattie is on the cusp of adulthood, frantically trying to persuade her mum that she doesn’t want to attend an elite university, preferring the idea of pursuing her love of art and textiles. When she meets Jed, she badly wants to understand his circumstances and why, when she has everything at her fingertips, he doesn’t.
Hattie’s mum, Christine, has had a hard life and is desperate for more for her only child. When she meets Ben, the vicar who’s trying to help Jed, she finds an unlikely ally, and the two heartbroken souls find themselves drawn to each other. Until they find their relationship suddenly tested to the limit.
One thing’s for certain: none of these characters is looking forward to Christmas. It’s the worst time of year for each of them, for different reasons. But perhaps this year, the festive season could defy all expectations.
*****
Hattie first sees him from the library window, sitting in the doorway of an abandoned shop. When she approaches him and starts a conversation, it changes both of their lives, forever.
Even from the blurb for this novel, I felt there would be a little magic about this book and I wasn’t wrong.
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Book Review: Always The Bridesmaid by Laura Carter
I’m so happy to be welcoming Laura Carter back to Novel Kicks. She’s here with the latest novel in the Brits in Manhattan; Always the Bridesmaid.
A cheeky chappy comedian
Charlie is most comfortable playing the funny man in front of boisterous crowds in London’s comedy clubs. But he’s about to be swapping his routine for wedding speeches. And his new acquaintance Sarah, thinks he is anything but amusing.
The woman who’s got it covered
Weddings are always a difficult time for widower Sarah, but you would never tell – she’s too focused on making the week of her best friends’ wedding as perfect as possible. She definitely has no time for the grumpy and surly Charlie, who it’s clear her friends are trying to set her up with.
And only one room left at the rental…
When a drunken invitation adds more people to the pre-wedding holiday house than Sarah organized for, she finds herself spending A LOT more time with Charlie than she intended. If only they could both let their guards down, they might find they have more in common than they think.
*****
I loved the last book I’d read in the Brits in Manhattan series, Two to Tango and so I was excited to be invited onto the blog tour for book four in the series, Always The Bridesmaid.
If you’ve not read any of the books in this series, don’t worry. This can be read as a standalone. I felt there was enough information to keep up. However, I am going to be reading the books I’ve missed as soon as I can.
This novel focuses on Charlie and Sarah, as their friends, Jake and Jess prepare to get married.
by Book Review: My Best Friend’s Secret by Danielle Ramsay
I’m pleased to be welcoming Danielle Ramsay to Novel Kicks and the blog tour to her novel, My Best Friend’s Secret.
Five women; pretty, privileged, perfect, and ultimately protected… but not for long…
It was ‘their’ dark secret. For twenty-two-years ‘they’ kept it buried. Time hasn’t healed my wounds. Instead, they’ve festered. Their actions went unpunished. Until now…
Shamed, scarred, and shunned, I watched, waited and plotted how to shatter ‘their’ enviable lives. Now, finally, they will suffer as I did in ‘their’ cruel hands that fateful night.
Time’s up. I am here for you, Dr Claudia Harper. But first, you’ll witness your childhood friends, one by one, beg for mercy.
And I’ve saved the best ‘til last, so watch your back; I’m closer than you think. I’m here to expose your best friend’s secret. The one you’ve all kept hidden…until now.
A tale of betrayal, dark, twisted lies and long-awaited retribution.
*****
Claudia has just lost her best friend. The biggest question she has is why did Jaz take her own life? Her own life begins to unravel. Who is set on ruining everything Claudia holds dear?
This is the first novel I’ve read by Danielle Ramsay. The premise of the novel intrigued me, so I was so pleased to invited onto the blog tour for My Best Friend’s Secret.
This book caught my attention quickly. It really was impossible to put down and as the questions mounted, I needed to know what was going to happen, especially as things begin to happen in Claudia’s life.
by Book Review: The Christmas Love Letters by Sue Moorcroft
Please join us in welcoming Sue Moorcroft back to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her novel, The Christmas Love Letters.
A secret romance was just the start of the story…
Tucked into a crook of the Norfolk coast lies Nelson’s Bar – an idyllic village where time seems to stand still. Maddy Cracey has called this beautiful spot home all her life, as had her husband Adey – until an epic row sent him storming out into a blizzard, with no sign of him since that fateful night.
Six years on, and Maddy’s life in the village has settled into a gentle pattern with her young daughter and Great Aunt Ruthie. However, when handsome stranger Raff turns up with a handful of long-forgotten love letters, their quiet life is upended as family secrets from the past are unearthed.
As Raff and Maddy get to know each other, they grow closer and a love story of their own seems inevitable. But when Maddy receives a mysterious message, she can’t help but wonder whether her own past is as distant as she’d thought it was…
The festive new novel about love, family and the power of words from Sunday Times bestseller Sue Moorcroft, perfect for fans of Sarah Morgan and Phillipa Ashley.
*****
Roll on Christmas, then I can read this book again without feeling guilty…scratch that, I’m going to start it all over again, right now! The queen of the Christmas romance has done it again, and you don’t need it to be December to read this story; I should know.
Set in Sue’s Norfolk village of Nelson’s Bar, we meet a wonderful cast of characters from Aunt Ruthie who has a heart-breaking past which comes back to not only haunt her, but her niece Maddy and young daughter, Layla. This is in the form of a series of letters she kept which detail a relationship she kept secret for her whole adult life.
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by Book Review: The Impossible Search For The Perfect Man by Debbie Howells
Please join me in welcoming Debbie Howells to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her novel, The Impossible Search For The Perfect Man.
Imagine for a moment, your husband leaves you. Then through a bizarre twist of events, you find yourself working with the girl he’s left you for – and even worse, she’s pregnant…
Louisa’s not really up to any more complicated relationships. Right now, she doesn’t need them. She has good friends. Okay, so one has a screwed-up husband and the other a very strange horoscope habit. Not to mention her ex-husband’s new girlfriend, who Louisa has somehow found herself giving relationship counselling to. She doesn’t need anyone else with problems in her life right now.
It would be nice, wouldn’t it? To find a straightforward man, who isn’t remotely messed up. Now there’s a thought… But does such a man even exist?
She thinks not. But, she resolves, a life of helping other people find their happy-ever-afters is still something. But then handsome vet Marcus walks into her life. And everything changes…
Set in the Hampshire countryside against a background of horses and vets, this is a story about friendship and love, and life’s way of throwing in the unexpected…
*****
Louisa’s life is about to be turned upside down. Not only has her husband left her for his pregnant mistress, but she also ends up having to work with her ex’s new girlfriend. Can Louisa navigate her new single life when her old one continues to slap her in the face?
This is the first novel I’ve read by Debbie Howells. I was delighted to be invited onto the blog tour for The Impossible Search For The Perfect Man.
Poor Louisa. She is put through the ringer a little at the beginning of this novel. I really wanted to give Arian a piece of my mind. Even as this happens however, I feel there is a strength to Louisa that she doesn’t realise she has. I loved seeing how her character developed over the novel.
by Book Club
