Tag Archives: Choc Lit

Jera’s Jamboree : Caught My Eye Special ~ Summer Reads

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I’ve had some time recently to have a browse (yes, always lethal!) and with my thoughts on school summer holidays …

51YN69KsuDL._AA278_PIkin4,BottomRight,-52,22_AA300_SH20_OU02_Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 661 KB
Print Length: 416 pages
Publisher: Harper (4 July 2013)
Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
Language: English
ASIN: B00AXPJO86

Tess Brookes has always been a Girl with a Plan. But when the Plan goes belly up, she’s forced to reconsider.

After accidently answering her flatmate Vanessa’s phone, she decides that since being Tess isn’t going so well, she might try being Vanessa. With nothing left to lose, she accepts Vanessa’s photography assignment to Hawaii – she used to be an amateur snapper, how hard can it be? Right?

But Tess is soon in big trouble. And the gorgeous journalist on the shoot with her, who is making it very clear he’d like to get into her pants, is an egotistical monster. Far from home and in someone else’s shoes, Tess must decide whether to fight on through, or ‘fess up and run…

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41WjJ44r0CL._AA278_PIkin4,BottomRight,-48,22_AA300_SH20_OU02_Format: Kindle Edition
Print Length: 368 pages
Publisher: Orion (4 July 2013)
Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
Language: English
ASIN: B00B8TBVC8

The Orient Express. Luxury. Mystery. Romance. 

For one group of passengers settling in to their seats and taking their first sips of champagne, the journey from London to Venice is more than the trip of a lifetime.

A mysterious errand; a promise made to a dying friend; an unexpected proposal; a secret reaching back a lifetime…As the train sweeps on, revelations, confessions and assignations unfold against the most romantic and infamous setting in the world.

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51f+ze6RbSL._AA278_PIkin4,BottomRight,-42,22_AA300_SH20_OU02_Format: Kindle Edition
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (18 July 2013)
Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
Language: English
ASIN: B00AHEKG5I

Ellen Trawton is running away from it all – quite literally. She is due to get married to a man she doesn’t love, her job is dragging her down and her interfering mother is getting on her nerves. So she escapes to the one place she know her mother won’t follow her – to her aunt’s house in rural Ireland. Once there, she uncovers a dark family secret – and a future she never knew she might have.

Meanwhile, Caitlin Macausland is mourning the future she can never have. She died tragically in what the village thinks is suspicious circumstances, and now she is stuck in a limbo, unable to move on.

And between the two of them is an old lighthouse – the scene of so much tragedy. Can each woman find the peace she so desperately longs for? And can they find the way to live again?

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51NP5UpZlxL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA278_PIkin4,BottomRight,-66,22_AA300_SH20_OU02_Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 553 KB
Print Length: 434 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1846059240
Publisher: Cornerstone Digital (18 July 2013)
Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
Language: English
ASIN: B00CPR6IC0

Meet the Bird Family

All four children have an idyllic childhood: a picture-book cottage in a country village, a warm, cosy kitchen filled with love and laughter, sun-drenched afternoons in a rambling garden.

But one Easter weekend a tragedy strikes the Bird family that is so devastating that, almost imperceptibly, it begins to tear them apart.

The years pass and the children become adults and begin to develop their own quite separate lives. Soon it’s almost as though they’ve never been a family at all.

Almost. But not quite.

Because something has happened that will call them home, back to the house they grew up in – and to what really happened that Easter weekend all those years ago.

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515dvasRR5L._AA278_PIkin4,BottomRight,-48,22_AA300_SH20_OU02_Format: Kindle Edition
Print Length: 496 pages
Publisher: Penguin (1 Aug 2013)
Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
Language: English
ASIN: B00CBO0BGG

When Ella married the handsome, celebrated artist Sebastian Montclair at just nineteen she was madly in love. Now, those blissful years of marriage have turned into the very definition of an unconventional set-up. Separated in every way but distance, Sebastian resides in an outhouse across the lawn from Ella’s ramshackle farmhouse.

With an ex-husband living under her nose and a home crowded by hostile teenaged children, gender-confused chickens – not to mention her hyper critical mother whose own marriage slips spectacularly off the rails -Ella finds comfort in the company of the very charming gardener, Ludo.

Then out of the blue Sebastian decides to move on, catching Ella horribly unawares. How much longer can she hide from what really destroyed her marriage . . . and the secret she continues to keep?

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51s3CZTVZfL._AA278_PIkin4,BottomRight,-46,22_AA300_SH20_OU02_Format: Kindle Edition
Print Length: 480 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (1 Aug 2013)
Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
Language: English
ASIN: B0098MKX8U

Best friends May, Lara and Clare are desperate for a holiday. They have been dreaming of a little cottage in the middle of nowhere, long walks in the country and just a bit of time away from it all. But when they arrive in Ren Dullem, a small Yorkshire seaside town, it seems it is not the place they thought it was…

May can’t wait to get away from men after being cruelly deceived. Then in Dullem she falls hook line and sinker at first glance for one of the inhabitants – but he’s already taken…

Lara is living with James and his awful step-children who taunt her with tales of his younger, prettier ex whom they adored – the woman who Lara walks in to find James in bed with despite all his protestations that he wouldn’t touch her again with a barge pole. Reeling from the hurt, she needs the sea air of Dullem to heal her. What she doesn’t need is to be constantly in battle with the owner of the holiday cottage – a man who is every bit as bitter and resentful and untrusting of the other sex as she is.

Clare’s kind, steady boyfriend Lud wants her to go and live abroad with him for two years, but she’s just been offered the promotion of a lifetime. It gives her the excuse she needs to end the relationship and find some single excitement which happens to turn up in the form of a very bad boy who is everything Lud isn’t – impulsive, wild and dangerous.

Will this holiday be the break they all need? Or will the odd little town with all its secrets bring them all to breaking point…?

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a_BAIS_packshot_copyPaperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Choc Lit (7 Aug 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1781890048
ISBN-13: 978-1781890042

The past is never over … 
Jack Stewart thought he’d put the past behind him. On the surface, he has everything – success, money, a big house and he is never short of an attractive woman by his side, but a tragic road accident shatters his world.

Raised as an Irish Traveller, Luke Kiernan hasn’t had it easy, and when he wakes in a Dublin hospital to find the man he’s hated since childhood at his bedside, he’s hungry for revenge.

Two very different worlds collide, bringing new dangers, exposing past deceits, and unearthing dark family secrets buried long ago. But from tragedy springs the promise of a fresh start with two women who are intent on helping Jack and Luke mend their lives.

Can new love heal old wounds, or are some scars there for good?

Of course there are many more books out this summer.

What has caught your eye?  Please share in the comments

Jera’s Jamboree : Review A Stitch in Time by Mandy James

stitch in timePaperback: 320 pages

Publisher: Choc Lit (7 April 2013)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1781890005

ISBN-13: 978-1781890004

A stitch in time saves nine – or does it?

Sarah Yates is a thirty-something history teacher, divorced, disillusioned and desperate to have more excitement in her life. Making all her dreams come true seems about as likely as climbing Everest in stilettos.

Then one evening the doorbell rings and the handsome and mysterious John Needler brings more excitement than Sarah could ever have imagined. John wants Sarah to go back in time …

Sarah is whisked from the Sheffield Blitz to the suffragette movement in London to the Old American West, trying to make sure people find their happy endings. The only question is, will she ever be able to find hers?

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We first meet Sarah as she’s walking down a narrow lane and becomes drenched by a passing bus!  Everyone in the café has witnessed her soaking … Her old school friend Karen is waiting for her inside.  Sarah finds out her friend is pregnant but doesn’t want to talk about it and rushes off.

For Sarah, disaster follows disaster until John Needler knocks on her door … and then her life changes in a dramatic way!  Through Sarah we get to spend time in Sheffield in 1940, Edwardian England, 1920’s and in the 1870’s.

There are so many different aspects to this unique story.  Everything just ties-in making the plot solid and despite the time-travelling, very real!  Sarah’s job as a teacher and the staff/students are so true to life … and I loved the way that James wove this into the past.  The theory of time-travelling that John shares with Sarah is plausible and makes sense (well it did to me!)  The time we spend in the past is just amazing, the characters and their circumstances feel real.  I was quite sad to be pulled back into the present … but at least we had John waiting for us on our return :)

Of course we have the romance between our two leads.  Conflict comes from the time responsibilities they have and also from John’s old flame Josephina.  Sarah is her own worst enemy as well, still vulnerable and needing reassurance from others.  I loved it when her confidence finally kicked in on her jaunts and she became a force to be reckoned with.

A Stitch in Time is sprinkled with humour.  James is so creative, totally out of the box with her time quotes/idioms.  I just so loved these and am still laughing now.  Fantastic!

The personifications were unique too! for example on page 135 :
“Her pulse was racing ten to the dozen and relief jumped up from its arm lock and ran around her consciousness in perfumed slippers.”

I adored this story – from the beginning to the end.  This is one of those books that you don’t want to end! So my advice is to stop reading the reviews and go and buy your own copy …

Buy it but be loathe to share your copy ... it's a keeper!

Buy it but be loathe to share your copy … it’s a keeper!

I would like to thank the publishers for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Follow Mandy:

Blog – www.mandykjameswrites.blogspot.co.uk

Facebook – www.facebook.com/mandy.james.33

Twitter @akjames61 

Jera’s Jamboree review : Out of Sight Out of Mind by Evonne Wareham

out of sight out of mindPaperback: 336 pages

Publisher: Choc Lit (7 Mar 2013)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1906931755

ISBN-13: 978-1906931759

 

Everyone has secrets. Some are stranger than others.

Madison Albi is a scientist with a very special talent – for reading minds. When she stumbles across a homeless man with whom she feels an inexplicable connection, she can’t resist the dangerous impulse to use her skills to help him.

J is a non-person – a vagrant who can’t even remember his own name. He’s got no hope, until he meets Madison. Is she the one woman who can restore his past?

Madison agrees to help J recover his memory, but as she delves deeper into his mind, it soon becomes clear that some secrets are better off staying hidden.

Is J really the man Madison believes him to be?

Goodreads                        Buy Amazon Paperback                            Kindle 

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I have to admit I was a little bit nervous about reading Evonne Wareham’s second novel having loved Never Coming Home (one of my Top 20 Fiction Reads for 2013).  Would it live up to my expectations?

Out of Sight Out of Mind gets off to an exciting start … no preamble but straight into the action!  Madison Albi just couldn’t resist the call of another mind … on the edge of a dark and dirty alleyway. ‘J’ is in bad physical shape.  Madison just has to take him home so that she can see if the connection was for real.

A conversation in the lobby between concierge Scott and his sister Sandra tells us a little bit more about Madison.  This hooked me in … I wanted to know much more than they shared :)

While Madison and ‘J’ are trying to overcome the barrier in his mind, in another location, we’re given glimpses into The Organisation.  This tantalising sojourn gave me many more questions than it gave answers! Who were they?  What did our characters mean to them? Why was an intimate relationship so important?

The attraction between Madison and J is there from the start.  I loved this!

“This man was seriously built, seriously hot, and her banked-down hormones were rearing up and sniffing the breeze.”

This tells us a lot about Madison and portrays our animal instincts beautifully :)  The sensual tension between them really does sizzle and sparkle.

J is such a thoughtful and sensitive man.  He reads Madison’s body language, alert to every nuance … and responds in reaction to what he intuits.  At one point when we’re with The Organisation, his best mate doesn’t seem to like him very much and this puzzled me.  With J’s nightmare and this knowledge … my mind was led down many different scenarios!

Written in the third person adds so much more depth to their relationship and the plot.  I found it so easy to identify with our characters and become wholeheartedly involved.

Wareham is a master of intrigue and suspense.  Once again my notes are littered with questions and exclamation marks.  I just had to keep turning those pages, waiting for the time when that barrier in J’s mind fell apart so that we could know the truth … had to find out what part The Organisation had to play in the whole plot.  What a plot is!

The plot for me was very believeable.  We know there are parts of the brain that well,  we know nothing about … and there are people in the world with different ‘gifts’ and ‘talents’.  This is pivotal to the story.  The romance and the science weaved through each other to make this a book I couldn’t put down.

I’ll finish with the last words I wrote in my notes:

Wow, wow and wow.  An author who knows how to build tension … both sexually and action-wise!

Buy it but be loathe to share your copy ... it's a keeper!

Buy it but be loathe to share your copy … it’s a keeper!

 I would like to thank the publishers for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

For more information visit Evonne’s website and her blog.  You can also tweet with her.

 

Jera’s Jamboree Review : The Gilded Fan by Christina Courtenay

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Paperback: 400 pages

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 1013 KB

Publisher: Choc Lit (7 Feb 2013)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1781890080

ISBN-13: 978-1781890080

How do you start a new life, leaving behind all you love?

It’s 1641, and when Midori Kumashiro, the orphaned daughter of a warlord, is told she has to leave Japan or die, she has no choice but to flee to England. Midori is trained in the arts of war, but is that enough to help her survive a journey, with a lecherous crew and an attractive captain she doesn’t trust?

Having come to Nagasaki to trade, the last thing Captain Nico Noordholt wants is a female passenger, especially a beautiful one. How can he protect her from his crew when he can’t keep his own eyes off her?

During their journey, Nico and Midori form a tentative bond, but they both have secrets that can change everything. When they arrive in England, a civil war is brewing, and only by standing together can they hope to survive …

Goodreads       Buy Amazon

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Although The Gilded Fan is the sequel to The Scarlet Kimono, it can also be read as a stand-alone so don’t let that put you off picking up this wonderful read!

The Gilded Fan begins with a prologue.  It is 1640 and Midori is at her mother, Hannah’s funeral.  On the procession to the temple, the reader becomes aware of the death a year ago of Midori’s father and how Hannah’s love for him was so strong that she couldn’t live without him.  We also meet Midori’s half-brother, Ichiro.

We’re then on the island Dejima (across the water from Nagasaki) at the Dutch Trading Post for the East Indian Company.  There is a small bridge that connects Dejima and Nagasaki but is guarded.  The Captain of the Zwarte Zwaan is unwell but still meets with the Japanese to negotiate for cargo.  When he dies from the fever Nico, first mate, becomes Captain.

Midori needs to flee Japan as the Shogun is cleansing Japan of ‘foreigners’.  With her maternal English heritage, she is put into this category.  Bluffing her way onto Dejima, she wants to pay for her passage to England.  Before she meets Nico she makes her first enemy.  I loved this scene!  The customs of her upbringing and her personality really shine through.  Such a strength of character!  From this point I knew I would thoroughly enjoy being a part of wherever the story was going to take me.

Against his better judgement, Nico accepts Midori as a passenger but before they set sail, a member of Ichiro’s household has betrayed them.  Midori spends some time in a dungeon …

The sea journey is exciting and dangerous.  Alongside the sparring of our two leads, their attraction grows.  Batavia is the stop-off that causes conflict for Midori and Amsterdam, Nico’s home, is where she feels at home.

Before they reach Plymouth, Nico finds out something that will cause rejection when they reach land…

The historical period of The Gilded Fan is very interesting, from the Shogun in Japan and Japenese customs to the Civil War with the Royalists and Parliamentarians in England.  With Midori’s mixed-race heritage she feels as if she doesn’t belong anywhere.  The beliefs she was brought up to revere are never truly buried in Puritan Plymouth.

The writing is such that you feel yourself a part of the story.  Considering we’re on the Zwarte Zwaan for a time, you might think there would be times when you’re imagination isn’t quite so fired but the things that happen give this an exciting feel. In Batavia I experienced the terror alongside Midori, in the market I enjoyed wandering around and bargaining and in Plymouth I could smell the stench of the streets and hear the boom of the cannons.

Our two leads are very strong characters, which leads to some very emotional sparring sessions.  I enjoyed the sparks Midori and Nico made  :)

I did wonder where the plot would take us once we reached England … when we find out the connection to England it weaves together all the strands of the plot, giving us more conflict between the two leads and intrigue within Midori’s family (as well as the politics/Civil War).

The Gilded Fan is more than a story of love.  History, politics, religion, family and time spent on a trading ship and in three countries held me enthralled.  I thought about the story during the day and couldn’t wait to carry on reading.

I did have a personal interest in this story … I can’t end my review without sharing that my 5 x great grandfather, Richard Govey, spent time as a first mate on the East Indiaman ‘Grosvenor’ (1766) and his nephew was buried in the Honourable East India Co burial ground in Poplar in 1846.  In 1878, an ancestors marriage announcement in The Times notes her name and nickname … Henriette (Chinkie) Govey.  Not PC these days!

Buy it but be loathe to share your copy ... it's a keeper!

Buy it but be loathe to share your copy … it’s a keeper!

I would like to thank the publishers, Choc Lit, for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

If you purchase the paperback format of The Gilded Fan, you also have the option of downloading an e-copy free!  Details inside the paperback.  I think this is a brilliant idea because you can then either read on your phone app or e-reader as well :)

If you would like to find out more about Christina Courtenay you can visit her website, tweet with her or join her on Facebook.

Jera’s Jamboree review : No Such Thing as Immortality by Sarah Tranter

nosuchthngNo Such Thing as Immortality by Sarah Tranter

Format: Kindle Edition

File Size: 892 KB

Publisher: Choc Lit   (13 Nov 2012)

Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.

Language: English

ASIN: B00A7092FC

I will protect you until the day I die … forever!

A vampire does not have to feel any emotion not of his choosing. And Nathaniel Gray has spent two hundred years choosing not to feel. But when he accidentally runs Rowan Locke off the road, he is inexplicably flooded with everything she’s feeling, and that’s rage, and lots of it.

He is consumed with the need to protect Rowan at all costs including from himself. To Nate, what is happening is unthinkable and is pretty much as unbelievable as the existence of faeries.

But you see, ‘There is no such thing as …immortality.’

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No Such Thing as Immortality opens with Nathaniel (Nate) and friend James racing each other along country lanes.  Their early morning fun halts suddenly when Nate shunts into the back of Rowan.  At first Nate isn’t sure what’s happening but when he realises he’s feeling Rowan’s emotions, he is totally panicked (as is James).  Not only does he feel her emotions but when Nate is able to meet her eyes, there is also a connection on a deeper level.  From this moment, Nate is connected through Rowan’s emotions.  Whatever she feels, he does too.  Alongside this is Nate wanting to protect her and this leads to some humorous moments … the shower scene had me laughing.

In the hospital, Nate meets Rowan’s family and this is the first hint of intrigue surrounding Aunt Hetty.   We’re introduced to Nate’s ‘housemates’ (all vampires) who work as a team to deal with and protect Nate from the debilitating effect of the connection with Rowan.  I enjoyed the way they connected and worked together.  As Nate and Rowan’s relationship develops, Rowan’s ancestry is researched by housemate Madeline.  This ultimately leads to more intrigue.

The emotions for Nate are all-consuming … having never engaged emotionally (even as the Regency gentleman he was in his human incarnation) they are all powerful and controlling.  The romance between Rowan and Nate is beautiful and poignant.  I have to be honest and say however that my interest in the series is not so much the romance but the magical layer beneath the surface!

Besides the romance we have conflict with Simeon Frey.  Not your run-of-the mill rival, the conflict leads to an amazing magical scene.  This has to be my most favourite part of the story! and is the hook for me to read the next book in the ‘No Such Thing’ series.  I really want to see where this takes us.

Some parts of the story I found slow and I would love to have read Rowan’s perceptions of all that was happening (unusually for Choc Lit publications, this is written in a first person narrative from Nate’s perspective throughout).  Rowan is a fabulous character and I think this would have added depth for me.  Nate annoyed and irritated me at times, especially in the beginning and after the major conflict. I could understand why he reacted the way he did but I still wanted to shake him!

No Such Thing as Immortality is a story of a two centuries old vampire who finds his soul-mate as a result of an accident (accident? Co-incidence? Fated? Ah yes, the intrigue) and learns to come out of his self-imposed isolation.  You would be able to read this as a stand-alone romantic story but this is only the surface.  I think the plot is much deeper …  Why did they meet this way at Beltane?  What major battle is their love going to be a part of?  Why are the two families being connected in this way?  Are there going to be more vampire deaths?  If so, why?  Whose immortal life will be lost next?  What secrets will be uncovered?  I have my own theory and I can’t wait to find out if I’m right!

Buy it and spread the word

Buy it and spread the word

I bought No Such Thing as Immortality in Kindle format £1.99.  It is available to purchase as a paperback from 7th January 2013 from Amazon, The Book Depository and all good book stores.

You can catch up with Sarah Tranter on her website or her blog.

You can tweet with the author @Sarah_Tranter 

Jera’s Jamboree : Stationery Love with Sarah Tranter

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My first guest on STATIONERY LOVE is Sarah Tranter.  Sarah is sharing with us a different perception of Stationery Love.

WELCOME!

I adore beautiful journals and bound notebooks and would love to surround myself with them.

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It’s just I don’t have any. I see them. Lust after them. But for practical reasons, my stationary has to be cheap. I tend to resort to a value pack of something like Sainsbury’s Wiro Notebooks (I’m saying those because there is one on the kitchen table now). I normally buy them, or their like, bulk when they are on sale. I think this batch was something like £2 for six LOL. To be honest, the beautiful versions would be wasted on me anyway (and yes, I am comforting myself). I go through them so quickly and what I fill them with is a complete mess. I’m generally scribbling something down before I forget it (I always have one in my handbag) and find they also accommodate my ‘to do’ lists and even end up being used for the kids’ spellings. I have bought gorgeous journals before, but as presents.

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I’ve had to stroke them lovingly and send them on their way, reminding myself all the time, that they deserve far more longevity than I can offer them ― and to be filled with something far more beautiful than my frantic scribbles.

Thank you Sarah.  I’m actually feeling quite sorry for you now … blog readers, what do you think? 

Sarah Tranter’s debut novel, ‘No Such Thing as Immortality’ is released TODAY (published by Choc Lit). A former constituency researcher for a Labour MP, a political lobbyist and a London PR, she now lives in Wiltshire with her husband and two boys.

Amazon link: Author page

Amazon No Such Thing As Immortality listing

Twitter: @sarah_tranter

Facebook: sarah.tranter.73

Website: www.sarahtranter.com

Blog:
http://ramblingindulgences.blogspot.co.uk/

Choc Lit: http://www.choc-lit.co.uk

Jera’s Jamboree : Jan – March 2013 Wishlist

Here are just a few of the 2013 titles that I’ve added to my wishlist.

(in publishing date order)

frost

Frost by Kathryn James

(sequel to Mist)

Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books (3 Jan 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1444903071
ISBN-13: 978-1444903072

There’s something in the mist – as beautiful as starlight, as fierce as wolves, as heartless as ice.

The forest beyond the mist is the home of the Elven: rarely glimpsed, misunderstood. Evan belongs here – enigmatic, beautiful Evan, and Nell is captivated by him. But Evan’s world is now ravaged by ice storms, and only Nell can help him save it.

Last time Nell went into the mist it was to rescue her sister. This time she’ll have to go farther than the forest, deep into the frozen wastes beyond, where a deadly lake of ice and an ancient adversary await her …

What a stunning cover! Can’t believe I missed this YA series … Mist is already on my list!

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nosuchthngNo Such Thing as Immortality by Sarah Tranter

Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Choc Lit (7 Jan 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1906931801
ISBN-13: 978-1906931803

I will protect you until the day I die … forever!

A vampire does not have to feel any emotion not of his choosing. And Nathaniel Gray has spent two hundred years choosing not to feel. But when he accidentally runs Rowan Locke off the road, he is inexplicably flooded with everything she’s feeling, and that’s rage, and lots of it.

He is consumed with the need to protect Rowan at all costs, including from himself. To Nate what is happening is unthinkable, and is pretty much as unbelievable as the existence of faeries.

But you see, there is no such thing as … immortality.

This is Nate’s story …

Really? No immortality for a vampire?  I think this is going to be a very different read from the usual vampire story …

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salemwitchsocietyThe Salem Witch Society by K N Shields

Paperback: 496 pages
Publisher: Sphere (3 Jan 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 075154910X
ISBN-13: 978-0751549102

Salem, New England, many dark nights ago.

It is a time of spells and shadows, of black magic and blood.

And the most famous witch hunt in history is about to begin…

Years later, a young woman is found savagely murdered, a pitchfork thrust through her neck, her body arranged in the shape of a star: the death pose of a witch. Someone – or something – is reviving the terror of the notorious Salem Witch hunts. And only one man – a brilliant, eccentric loner with a dazzling mind and a fascination with witchcraft – can keep the evils of the past at bay.

Rich in history, mystery, and witchcraft, The Salem Witch Society is a twisting, terrifying thriller – a dark fairy tale for readers who loved A Discovery of Witches and The Interpretation of Murder.

Love the sound of this!

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firstlastkissThe First Last Kiss by Ali Harris

Paperback: 496 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd (17 Jan 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0857202936
ISBN-13: 978-0857202932

How do you hold on to a love that is slowly slipping away from you? Can you let go of the past when you know what is in the future? And how do you cope when you know that every kiss is a countdown to goodbye? This is the story of a love affair, of Ryan and Molly and how they fell in love and were torn apart. The first time Molly kissed Ryan, she knew they’d be together forever. Six years and thousands of kisses later she’s married to the man she loves. But today, when Ryan kisses her, Molly realises how many of them she wasted because the future holds something which neither of them could have ever predicted…

I loved Miracle on Regent Street last year and can’t wait to read The First Last Kiss!

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passionateloveaffairA Passionate Love Affair with a Total Stranger by Lucy Robinson

Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Penguin (31 Jan 2013)
ISBN-10: 0718157664
ISBN-13: 978-0718157661

A Passionate Love Affair with a Total Stranger by Lucy Robinson, author of The Greatest Love Story of All Time, is a hilariously funny and gorgeously romantic story about falling in love when you least expect it.

Charley Lambert has worked hard at creating a perfect life. She has an aspirational flat, a job of international significance and a very good pair of legs, thanks to a rigorous health and fitness regime. Best of all, her boss has asked her out after seven years’ hard flirting and a covert fumble in a mop cupboard.

Then she breaks her leg in three places, watches her boss propose to someone else and – horror – is forced to hand over her job to her nasty deputy. Charley, a certified workaholic, fears that she will go mad.

Dangerously bored, she starts helping people who are talentless at internet dating. Then William arrives in her inbox and rocks her world. Helpless, she watches herself fall in love with him and discovers she’s not who she thought she was.

But can she turn her back on her old life – all for a total stranger?

 I really enjoyed Lucy Robinson’s The Greatest Love Story of All Time earlier this year.  Can’t wait to read this!

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treacherouslikenessA Treacherous Likeness by Lynn Shepherd

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Corsair (7 Feb 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1780331673
ISBN-13: 978-1780331676

A Treacherous Likeness is a compelling follow up to the acclaimed Tom-All-Alone’s.

In the dying days of 1850 the young detective Charles Maddox takes on a new case. His client? The only surviving son of the long-dead poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his wife Mary, author of Frankenstein.

Charles soon finds himself being drawn into the bitter battle being waged over the poet’s literary legacy, but then he makes a chance discovery that raises new doubts about the death of Shelley’s first wife, Harriet, and he starts to question whether she did indeed kill herself, or whether what really happened was far more sinister than suicide.

As he’s drawn deeper into the tangled web of the past, Charles discovers darker and more disturbing secrets, until he comes face to face with the terrible possibility that his own great-uncle is implicated in a conspiracy to conceal the truth that stretches back more than thirty years.

The story of the Shelleys is one of love and death, of loss and betrayal. In this follow-up to the acclaimed Tom-All-Alone’s, Lynn Shepherd offers her own fictional version of that story, which suggests new and shocking answers to mysteries that still persist to this day, and have never yet been fully explained.

I enjoyed Tom-All-Alone’s and am interested to find out where Lynn Shepherd will take us with her own version of the Shelley family.

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helgasdiaryHelga’s Diary: A Young Girl’s Account of Life in a Concentration Camp by Helga Weiss 

Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Viking (14 Feb 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0670921416
ISBN-13: 978-0670921416

In 1939, Helga Weiss was an eleven-year-old Jewish schoolgirl in Prague, enduring the first wave of the Nazi invasion. As Helga witnessed Nazi brutality toward her friends and neighbors and eventually her own family she began documenting her experiences in a diary. In 1941, Helga and her parents were sent to the concentration camp of Terezín, where she continued to write with astonishing insight about her daily life. Before she was sent to Auschwitz in 1944, Helga’s uncle, who worked in the Terezín records department, hid her diary and drawings in a brick wall. Miraculously, he was able to reclaim it for her after the war. Of the 15,000 children brought to Terezín and deported to Auschwitz, Helga was one of only 100 survivors. Written in school exercise books and translated here for the first time, Helga’s Diary is a strikingly immediate and exceptional firsthand account of the Holocaust.

Although I think this will be hard to read emotionally, I think it is still an important piece of history and Helga’s voice should be heard.

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dayimetsuzieThe Day I Met Suzie by Chris Higgins

Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books (7 Mar 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0340997028
ISBN-13: 978-0340997024

‘My boyfriend could get into trouble if he gets caught. He could go to jail.’ I moan softly. ‘So could I.’
‘Anything you tell me is completely confidential.’ I sigh deeply. What have I got to lose? ‘I wouldn’t know where to begin.’
‘At the beginning?’ she says. ‘In your own words.’
So that’s what I do. I start at the beginning like she says.
The day I met Suzie.

Indigo (Indie) rings the Samaritans. She is frightened and desperate with no one to turn to. Over the course of one long night, Indie tells her story to the person on the end of the phone. She realises that her friend Suzie has taken over her home, her friends, her work, her boyfriend – and her life. After every few chapters we are brought back to the present moment, and see how piecing the story together helps Indie progress towards resolution.

If you read my blog regularly you’ll know how much I enjoy a psychological story.  This is one YA I don’t want to miss!

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lifeafterlifeLife after Life by Kate Atkinson

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Doubleday (14 Mar 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385618670
ISBN-13: 978-0385618670

“What if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you finally got it right?”

In 1910, Ursula Todd is born during a snowstorm in England, but two parallel scenarios occur-in one, she dies immediately. In the other, she lives to tell the tale. As the possibility of having a second chance at life opens up, the novel unfolds, following Ursula as she lives through the events of the twentieth century again and again.

This just pulls me in :)  I have to find out more!

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monument14

Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends; 1 edition (5 Jun 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312569033
ISBN-13: 978-0312569037

Your mother hollers that you’re going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don’t stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don’t thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not—you launch yourself down the stairs and make a run for the corner.

Only, if it’s the last time you’ll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you’d stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus.

But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran.

How far will they go to survive?

Fourteen kids are stranded inside a superstore.

Inside they have everything they could ever need. There’s junk food and clothes, computer games and books, drugs and alcohol … and without adult supervision they can do whatever they want.
But outside, the world is being ripped apart by violent storms and chemicals leaking into the atmosphere that, depending on blood type, leave victims paranoid, violent or dead. The kids must remain inside, forced to create their own community, unsure if they’ll ever be able to leave.
Can they stop the world they’ve created inside from self-destructing too?

Another YA novel that I just have to read next year.  The cover suits the synopsis perfectly.

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cottagebyseaA Cottage by the Sea by Carole Matthews

Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Sphere (28 Mar 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0751545538
ISBN-13: 978-0751545531

Grace has been best friends with Ella and Flick since university. The late-night chats, shared heartaches and good times have created a bond that has stood the test of time. Now in their thirties, Grace is always a bit disappointed about how little time they get to spend together, so when Ella invites them all to stay for a week in her cottage in South Wales, Grace jumps at the chance to see her old friends. She also hopes that the change in pace will help her reconnect with her husband, Harry. Unfortunately for her, Harry isn’t as enamoured with Cwtch Cottage as she is. Then Flick arrives; loveable, bubbly Flick, accompanied by the handsome and charming Noah, and suddenly the week ahead looks as though it may be even more confusing for all the residents of Cwtch Cottage.  This is going to be one week which will change all their lives forever…

I love Carole Matthews writing style and the psychology of her characters.  This sounds like another hit for Carole!  

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What’s on your wishlist? Would you read any of those on mine? You’re welcome to leave comments and share yours.

Happy Reading

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Jera’s Jamboree : Top 20 Fiction Reads of 2012

Jera's Jamboree Top 20 Fiction Reads of 2012

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It was quite a difficult choice to choose only 20 out of the 108 books I’ve read this year!  All the books I’ve read can be found on my Books Read 2012 page.  However, my top 20 Fiction Reads of 2012 below have been chosen from my ‘keepers’ list and no matter when I read them during the year, they still stay colourful in my mind.

(categorised by genre)

Children

A Shirtful of Frogs by Shalini Boland

Self Published

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Read my review here

 

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YA

Saving Daisy by Phil Earle

Published by Penguin

savingdaisy

 

Read my review here

 

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YA/Paranormal Fantasy

Advent by James Treadwell

Published by Hodder

advent

 

Read my review here

 

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The Marchwood Vampire Series by Shalini Boland

Self Published

Winners of Hidden by Shalini Boland

 

Read my review here

 

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Read my review here

 

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Dreams (Sarah Midnight Trilogy) by Daniela Sacerdoti

Published by Black & White Publishing

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Read my review here

 

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The Forsaken by Lisa Stasse

Published by Orchard

forsaken

 

Read my review here

 

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YA/Crime Suspense

Betrayal by Gregg Olsen

Published by Splinter

betrayal

 

Read my review here

 

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Chick Lit/Romantic Comedy/Romance/Contemporary Romance

I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

Published by Random House

ivegotyournumber

 

Read my review here

 

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On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves

Published by Penguin

ontheisland

 

Read my review here

 

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The Road Back by Liz Harris

Published by Choc Lit

roadback

 

Read my review here

 

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The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes

Published by Penguin

girlyouleftbehind

 

Read my review here

 

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Dream a Little Dream by Sue Moorcroft

Published by Choc Lit

dreamalittledream

 

Read my review here

 

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A Winter Flame by Milly Johnson

Published by Simon & Schuster UK

winterflame

 

Read my review here

 

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With Love at Christmas by Carol Matthews

Published by Little, Brown (Sphere)

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Read my review here

 

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Romance – Fantasy

Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy) by Deborah Harkness

Published by Headline

shadowofnight

 

Read my review here

 

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Romance – Suspense/Psychological

Secrets of the Tides by Hannah Richell

Published by Orion

bookofsecrets

 

Read my review here

 

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Never Coming Home by Evonne Wareham

Published by Choc Lit

nevercominghome

 

Read my review here

 

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The Cornish House by Liz Fenwick

Published by Orion

thecornishhouse

 

Read my review here

 

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Out of Sight by Isabelle Grey

Published by Quercus

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Read my review here

 

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Up Close by Henriette Gyland

Published by Choc Lit

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Read my review

 

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Are any on your top reads list?  Have you read any?  You’re welcome to link your reviews in the comments or share what you’ve thought.

If you decide to purchase any of the books above, please consider using the Associate links by clicking on the images below.

amazonbookstore 

bookedepository

Looking forward to sharing all things books in 2013.

Happy Reading!

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Jera’s Jamboree review : Up Close by Henriette Gyland

upcloseUp Close by Henriette Gyland

Paperback: 384 pages

Publisher: Choc Lit   (7 Dec 2012)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 190693178X

ISBN-13: 978-1906931780

Too close for comfort …

When Dr Lia Thompson’s grandmother dies unexpectedly, Lia is horrified to have to leave her life in America and return to a cold and creaky house in Norfolk. But as events unfold, she can’t help feeling that there is more to her grandmother’s death than meets the eye.

Aidan Morrell is surprised to see Lia, his teenage crush, back in town. But Aidan’s accident when serving in the navy has scarred him in more ways than one, and he has other secrets which must stay hidden at all costs, even from Lia.

As Lia comes closer to uncovering the truth, she is forced to question everything she thought she knew. In a world of increasing danger, is Aidan someone she can trust?

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Up Close begins with intrigue … in the prologue we join a watcher outside the window – a watcher who is waiting for the old woman to die.

“Her evident shock registered, and for one long moment they simply stared at each other, spellbound, frozen in time, as memories of their unwilling bond flashed through both their minds.” 

Hooked!  Who is the watcher and what is the connection?

Chapter One begins with the reader experiencing Lia Thompson’s nightmare alongside her.  She’s in her grandmother, Ivy’s house,  having missed the funeral but is there to sell the house as quickly as possible and fly back ‘home.’  We find out that her mother, Connie, doesn’t want anything from the estate.  Lia is still jet-lagged having flown in from Philadelphia two days ago.  We also find out that Lia wanted to get far away from Norfolk.  Lia’s life in Philadelphia is shared and we’re introduced to nearest neighbour Mrs Larwood who brings Ivy’s dog back.  Ivy was not a dog lover.

From this first chapter I was intrigued.  I wanted to know why Connie didn’t want anything from her own mother’s estate, what happened that made Lia move as far away as she could and why had Ivy bought a dog if she wasn’t a pet lover?

Chapter Two we’re introduced to Aidan Morrell.  He’s prepping to dive at Holkham Beach and we’re made aware of an injury he received on a warship in the Gulf.  Lia meets Aidan as he comes out of the sea.  They were at 6th form college together but Lia doesn’t remember him.  She was in a daze for most of that time.  Aidan had a crush on her and we’re made aware of something happening with his brother.  We’re also made aware that a close member of Lia’s family died when she was a child …but not how.

More questions from me!  Why was Lia in a daze?  How did Lia’s family member die? What happened to Aidan’s brother?  What happened with Lia’s best friend Samantha?

The intrigue only gets deeper as we move further into the plot – and as the intrigue deepens, so does the attraction between Lia and Aidan!

The environment is perfect for the suspense and the secrets.  An isolated community with Aidan living alone on the farm and Lia alone in the house; attics; deserted beaches; solitary running and diving; a scene involving snow.  I also have to mention the art and how the author uses it as a way of Aidan expressing himself – especially when he starts to feel safe enough to show how he sometimes perceives the world to be … the darker side.

Plenty of times I was tense and alert.  I have to admit that I detest underwater scenes on movies although I do love the water and enjoy swimming underwater myself.  The scene in the swimming pool after it is closed while Lia is learning to dive and the climax underwater on a group dive left me feeling shaken and nauseous!

Lia and Aiden’s connection is there from the beginning but because Lia is engaged, they both make excuses for why they can’t do anything about the attraction.  Later, the intimacy between Lia and Aiden is beautifully written.  Their relationship is not an easy one with underlying secrets but I loved the fact that Lia was always led by her own belief about Aiden and not by what the evidence seemed to be presenting.

The Armed Forces is a central connection to the plot in Up Close.  Gyland is not afraid to tackle Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and how it affects the lives of the sufferer and their families.

I love plots that drop subtle clues and lead the reader to try and work out where the story is heading, to unravel those clues to find an answer  … Up Close is exactly this type of story.  It wasn’t until I reached page 297/384 that I had an inkling of where we were being led.  As I continued to read I became surer although there is another incident that made me question what I believed.  This is such a fabulous plot with the different strands weaving together to leave us with a story that gives the wow factor.

There is also personification (if you read my reviews you’ll know I love this!)  On page 238:

“The wind had dropped, and the trees in the garden, their branches held high in a last act of defiance, seemed to have accepted finally that this was the season of death.”

Beautiful and very apt for that particular place in the plot!

I don’t think there’s any doubt about how I felt about Up Close … alongside the romance we have the suspense and intrigue … not only is it a keeper for me but it has gone straight onto my Top 20 reads of 2012.  What an amazing debut novel!  Henriette Gyland is definitely an author to watch.  I’m a fan!

 

Buy it but be loathe to share your copy ... it's a keeper!

Buy it but be loathe to share your copy … it’s a keeper!

I would like to thank the publisher for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.  If you haven’t discovered the independent publisher Choc Lit  already, I strongly recommend you you check out their range of novels.  Choc Lit recently received Publisher of the Year award at the Festival of Romance.

Where to buy:

Amazon Kindle £1.97 (at the time of review)

Amazon Paperback £7.19

The Book Depository Paperback £7.18

You can find out more about Henriette on her blog.  She also tweets and you can connect with her on Facebook.

 

Jera’s Jamboree review : Dream a Little Dream by Sue Moorcroft

Dream a Little Dream by Sue Moorcroft

Paperback: 336 pages

Publisher: Choc Lit  (7 Nov 2012)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1906931909

ISBN-13: 978-1906931902

What would you give to make your dreams come true?

Liza Reece has a dream. Working as a reflexologist for a troubled holistic centre isn’t enough. When the opportunity arises to take over the Centre she jumps at it. Problem is, she needs funds, and fast, as she’s not the only one interested.

Dominic Christy has dreams of his own. Diagnosed as suffering from a rare sleep disorder, dumped by his live-in girlfriend and discharged from the job he adored as an Air Traffic Controller, he’s single-minded in his aims. He has money, and plans for the Centre that don’t include Liza and her team.

But dreams have a way of shifting and changing and Dominic’s growing fascination with Liza threatens to reshape his. And then it’s time to wake up to the truth …

 

I have been eagerly awaiting this novel from Sue Moorcroft.  She piqued my interest from her research blog posts … one in June 2011 giving her blog readers information about Dominic Christy and narcolepsy (you can read it here) and another in August 2011 relating to further research for fish pedicures (you can read this here).  I wanted to see how her research translated into a work of fiction.

Dream a Little Dream begins with a Prologue.  Liza and her two best friends are at boyfriend Adam’s 30th birthday party (one of those with all the relatives present and hardly any friends).  To relieve her boredom she’s inhaled the helium from one of the balloons … when Adam, up on stage, asks the big question.  We know Liza’s answer but not what happened afterwards.

Chapter One we meet Dominic Christy.  Dominic was diagnosed 10 months ago with Narcolepsy and cousin Miranda has talked him into trying alternative therapies.  Waiting in the treatment room at The Stables for his Reflexology treatment with Miranda, he makes a sexist comment, not realising that Liza has come into the room.  This is their first meeting.  It’s actually quite a humorous scene!  The reader finds out that something terrible must have happened after Adam’s 30th party  … but we don’t know what could have such a devastating affect on Liza, making her shut herself off the world and not engaging fully with any relationships whether co-workers or personal.  This was definitely a hook for me.

Dominic is looking for a new business venture and when he finds out the lease may be available on The Stables, starts making plans for an outdoor adventure centre, not realising that Liza is also interested and has ideas to expand on the therapies.  This is obviously a cause for conflict as their attraction deepens.

Dominic’s best and oldest friend Kenny is due back in the UK soon.  He’s qualified to coach, fitting in nicely with Dominic’s plans for The Stables.  We soon find out that they both have the same taste in women and agreed years ago that all’s fair in love and war.  This is another conflict throughout the story … and it’s not until much later that we find out just how much (not just for Dominic but for Liza too).  This was a total shock to me!  and I felt quite indignant!  Kenny is a secondary character that nevertheless, causes many problems.

As one conflict ends in the story it is replaced with another, hooking the reader on and leading them smoothly into the next tension-laden conflict.

Moorcroft’s research into narcolepsy has been created into something real and tangible.  It doesn’t dominate the plot but is an integral part of it – an integral part of who Dominic is.  Dominic … an amazing character.  So solid and logical but also with such a depth to his feelings and always there when Liza needs him most.  I definitely lost my balance at the Halloween fancy dress party (fab descriptions of his costume and what was underneath!) and later, back at Liza’s home!  I can’t mention Dominic without also mentioning his sidekick, Crosswind – a dog with plenty of character of his own!  Such an entertaining mutt.

Some chapters are led in by messages on the PWN/sleep message boards (People With Narcolepsy).  These messages are relevant to the content of the chapter, however, there is another significance to these messages which I have to admit I hadn’t worked out.  What a surprise!  Loved that I hadn’t worked this out.

Not only have I been entertained by the tension, conflict and romance but I’ve also really enjoyed Moorcroft’s humour and style of writing.  For example, when Liza has braved going into town with her friends for the first time in ages, we know something is about to happen …

“What?”  Like a child left alone with bedroom monsters, Liza didn’t want to turn and look.”

How brilliant!

And how beautiful is this personification …

“Through the window, he watched the trees in the garden stretching their black arms to the clouds, summer’s green-leaf clothes turned to brown autumn rags.”

Dream a Little Dream is a novel that has engaged all my emotions, hooked me in with the conflict and tension, entertained me with all the characters and kept me on the edge of my seat with the simmering romance.  For these reasons, it’s a keeper for me!

Buy it but be loathe to share your copy … it’s a keeper!

I would like to thank the publishers for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Dream a Little Dream can be purchased from Amazon, The Book Depository and all good book stores.

Sue Moorcroft has her own website where you can find out more about her,  including links for following her on Twitter and Facebook.