Book Review - The Little Bookshop at Herring Cover by Kellie Hailes

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Amazon UK

Title: The Little Bookshop at Herring Cove

Author: Kellie Hailes

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: HQ Digital

Publication Date: 10th July 2019

Rating: 4 Stars

The start of something wonderful…
Sophie Jones loves her little bookshop at Herring Cove. She’ll never give it up to big property developer, Alexander Fletcher – no matter how handsome he might be…

Yet beneath Alex’s sharp suit and persuasive manner, there’s something about him that makes Sophie want to trust him.

So when he offers to help make her little shop a success again, she wonders whether this could be the start of something wonderful for both Sophie and Alex – together?

Perfect for fans of Caroline Roberts, Cathy Bramley and Heidi Swain.

How I enjoyed this book, it was full of a lovely small town vibe, a bookshop that is trying to turn its fortunes around, a romance between two complete opposites who should be sworn enemies, a man having a slight crisis of job and being, a fabulous location and some great friends. 

Sophie is determined that she won't be forced into selling her beloved bookshop, just so that a developer can turn Herring Cove into a big soulless tourist resort. Her whole life is in that shop and location and she has many reasons why she wants to stay put. 

Alex is the man tasked with persuading her to sign and take a large financial settlement, but yet it soon becomes obvious they have have misjudged each other and that Alex may have hidden depths to him. 

It was incredibly sweet to see but to me I loved Alex's character development, turning from corporate drone Alexander into the man he is meant to be.  i couldn't help falling for him myself. 

There is just such a sense of sweet loveliness within this book, I felt completely at home within its pages, I couldnt' read it fast enough, reading well into the early hours of the morning in bed.   

You sort of knew where the story would end up, and I did  think at one point a certain happening was inevitable, but it was also amusing too. And I enjoyed reading this and just seeing how they would reach the ending you were rooting for! 

Another really entertaining and joyful story from an author that I love. 

Thank you to HQ Digital and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Book Review - The Little Bakery of Hopes and Dreams by Kellie Hailes

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Amazon UK

Title: The Little Bakery of Hopes and Dream

Author: Kellie Hailes

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: HQ Digital

Publication Date: 8th November 2019

Rating: 5 Stars

The most magical time of the year…
Josie Donnelly spends most years pretending that Christmas doesn’t even happen! So, she hopes that the sleepy village of Sunnycombe will be the perfect place to escape the festivities…

Or so she thought! Spending time with (far too handsome) bakery owner Callan Stewart and his young daughter, Mia, makes her long for the family Christmas she’s missed out on.

Could the little bakery on the hill be her own recipe for a happy ever after this year…?

Well if there was ever a book to make you crave all your favourite festive treats then its certainly this one. I was permanently hungry while reading this delicious book, and some of the cakes sounded Bake Off worthy! 

I was hooked pretty much from the first few pages, I completely and utterly fell in love with Mia.  She is the four year old daughter of widowed bakery owner Callan and some of what she comes out with had me laughing. Literally "out of the mouth of babes" moments! 

And then there is Josie who has just moved to Sunnycombe, who has applied for the job in the bakery, and little does she know how much its about to change her life. She is wary of Christmas but Sunnycombe's traditions soon eek their way into her and may just start healing her too. 

Both Callan and Josie are broken for different reasons,  and it really is a bakery of hopes and dreams as the story progresses, I loved seeing how both of them developed as characters, and also a few of the other residents of the village. 

It is a book full of warmth and heart, that will give you a festive fuzzy feeling, and wow the finale section, was just wonderful.  Took me by surprise but really did have me believing in the magic of the season. 

I loved every second of this book, just a bit upset that I read it so quickly, that I ran out of pages. I would have loved more.  Well I console myself with the fact I still haven't quite got around to Kellie Hailes previous book, so still have another to look forward.. although one Kellie Hailes book to look forward to is never enough so I can't wait for the next release too... I really do love this author. 

Easily one of my favourite Christmas books for 2019 (and I have read many so far), this one was pure magic! 

Thank you to HQ Digital and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Book Review - The Little Unicorn Gift Shop by Kellie Hailes - #HolidayReading Mexico

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Amazon UK

Title: The Little Unicorn Gift Shop

Author: Kellie Hailes

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley 

Publisher: HQ Digital

Publication Date: 2nd August 2018

Rating: 5 Stars

Life’s always better with a little bit of sparkle.
Poppy and Ben have been best friends forever and now they’re embarking on a new adventure together – opening a joint unicorn gift shop and cafe. Ben has one rule; no unicorn paraphernalia is to cross into his tea shop. But Poppy has other ideas…

They’ve always been there for each other, at least until Poppy went travelling around the world – without Ben. But now she’s back and she’s determined to stay put, bringing a little bit of magic back into Ben’s life.

Can they go back to the way things once were or will the years of distance stand in the way of their new shop and blossoming romance?

Before I started reading this i had forgotten how much I had enjoyed this author previously, which may explain why the book was on my kindle for months unread, despite my best intentions 

However from the first couple of pages I was smiling and knew I would thoroughly enjoy this story, which I did. 

Poppy's joy for life and her love of all things unicorn had me addicted to her from the first moments.  She is bubbly and loves nothing more than unicorns, glitter and sparkle!

She is returning from over a decade of travelling, and coerces her best friend from school to share the shop he was purchasing with her.

Thus is born Sparkle and Steep - unicorn gift shop in one half and an elegant teashop in the other,  Only one small problem, Ben isn't keen on unicorns!

This is a joyous story, full of laughs, moments when you want to knock Poppy and Ben's heads together, and and all round happy vibe to it.

There is depth, character development, a lovely story which is easy to read and hopefully means that I will bumping the next book by this author up my TBR a lot faster.  Simply put I adored this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and HQ Digital for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Book Review - Christmas at the Second Chance Chocolate Shop by Kellie Hailes - Rachel Reads Randomly Book #77

First up an apology, I did start reading Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe, but after 20% I just wasn't getting on with the book for various reasons. It has secured my knowledge that I'm not a fan of retellings though, even if they are Christmassy! As a result I read the runners up book, and the review is below! 

Amazon UK

Title: Christmas at the Second Chance Chocolate Shop

Author: Kellie Hailes

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: HQ Digital

Publication Date: 5th November 2017

Rating: 4 Stars

’Tis the season for second chances…

Serena Hunter loves her new life in the sleepy Devonshire countryside! It’s a world away from her crazy past as the wife of American bad boy rock star, Ritchie Dangerfield.

Now she spends her days making delicious chocolate using milk from the local dairy and she finally feels that everything is back on track. That is, until her handsome ex-husband arrives in the village to win her back…

Away from the limelight, Serena gets to know Ritchie all over again and realises that maybe a second chance at love is the Christmas miracle she’d been dreaming of all along?

How great it was to be back in Rabbit's Leap, the little town in Devon, that has such a quaint name, interesting traditions, and is gearing up towards Christmas, and this time with all new characters, although you will recognise some of the Rabbit's Leap regulars if you have read the previous two books. 

If you haven't read the previous two books then don't worry this can easily be read as a standalone, as its the first time we have properly met Serena and Ritchie. 

Serena is back in the town and is about to open a chocolate shop. She left her rock star husband a note 6 months before saying she was leaving, not expecting him to turn up days before the shop is due to open.  The story revolves around whether they can give each other second chances for various things. 

Surprisingly for a book involving a chocolate shop it didn't really make me that hungry, don't get me wrong there were some choccy descriptions, but on the whole I didn't find my mouth watering continuously. 

I was far more enthralled in the Serena and Ritchie story, and also Serena's relationship with her family, especially her mother.  

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, although was a bit surprised it finished at 85%. There are a few great romantic gestures in this, and some lovely Christmassy scenes too. 

Thank you so much to Netgalley and HQ Digital for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

This definitely worked a lot better than me than first place, so thank you to everyone that took part generally last week. Let's see what this week brings. 

Book Review - The Big Little Festival by Kellie Hailes

Amazon UK

Title: The Big Little Festival

Author: Kellie Hailes

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: HQ Digital

Publication Date: 19th July 2017

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Join the whole village at The Big Little Festival for the perfect summer day out!
With only weeks until the little Devon village of Rabbit’s Leap holds its first ever festival, Jody McArthur is desperate. She – more than anyone – wants to raise the funds to rebuild the local swimming pool and when she fell pregnant with her twin boys, it was the village who was there to support her. So, to stop disaster in its tracks, she brings in bigshot London events manager Christian Middlemore to make The Big Little Festival the huge success everyone deserves.

But Jody is totally unprepared for the impact reserved-but-gorgeous Christian has on Rabbit’s Leap – and her heart! Except Jody has avoided relationships for so long, and anyway, she’s sure romance between a country-born-and-bred single mum and a career-focused city boy would be impossible – wouldn’t it?

As tensions rise along with the home baked scones and miles and miles of bunting, Jody is about to find out!

The second book set in the picture-perfect Rabbit’s Leap, this little village is where love blooms!

From the first few lines, I was reminded what I liked so much about Kellie Haile’s first book, which was the sense of humour and her writing style. I was smiling and giggling throughout this book at plenty of witticisms and some of the things the children came out with. 

For Jody is a single mum of 9 year old twin boys and has closed her heart off to finding a man ever. She is also determined to make up for an error in her past for which she fears the whole town of Rabbit’s Leap would hate her for, if it was every made public. As a result she is determined to organise a fundraising festival to rebuild the pool in the village. 

Just one thing, with 3 weeks to go until the festival all the committee made of her and two of the towns busybodies have agreed on is welly wanging. Enter Christian a proper event planner, who has some great ideas for turning the Rabbit’s Leap festival into the biggest little festival ever, well once he can get anyone in the town onside. 

This is the second book set in Rabbit’s Leap and despite there being some familiar characters if you read the first book, this can easily be read as a standalone novel. 

I really loved how devoted Jody is to her town and her children, and just how hard she attempts to fight some of the most obvious chemistry I’ve read about! Jody’s past was very interesting and she has some good motivations for acting the way she does.  I also quite liked seeing just what Christian was hiding, as he also wasn’t quite as straight forward as you may think. 

The Big Little Festival will certainly put you into an upbeat small town festival mood, and feels like a great story to read in the summer. I am already looking forward to my return to Rabbit’s Leap in the Christmas book, and curious to see whose story we will be learning this time. 

Thank you to Netgalley and HQ Digital for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Guest Post & Giveaway - Throwing Away the Calculator by Kellie Hailes - Chances Fortnight

I’ve always been one to take the odd chance on things, but they’ve always been chances of the calculated variety, rather than an out-and-out gamble. For example, once I moved to a city I’d never set foot in for a job. Some might consider that crazy, but I thought of it as an adventure. And it was! Spanning seven years, it left me with great memories and treasured friends. But as I said earlier, it was a calculated chance, and if anything went wrong I knew I could find another job elsewhere and leave. No biggie.

Just over a decade ago I threw away the calculator and took a chance that in hindsight was high-roller-throw-all-the-cash-at-it-and-hope insane. The cause of this brief moment of insanity? A man. 

Not just any man, mind. He was a man I’d met at a work conference when I was all of twenty-one or twenty-two. He sat next to me at the bar and looked at me with the biggest smile and the twinkliest brown eyes, and my heart just went flippy floppy as bazillions of butterflies danced true romance styles in my tummy. Tried as I might he didn’t succumb to my considerable (cough) charms that weekend, a good thing in retrospect as I was as flighty as those butterflies flitting about in my stomach, but I never forgot how when I was leaving in the shuttle I turned to look out the window and our eyes locked and didn’t leave each other until the shuttle turned out into the street. 

Years later our paths crossed again when my colleague saw him at a wedding, mentioned me (I may have swooned when he’d told me he knew the man I’d dubbed most creatively as ‘Hot Aaron’), then email addresses were exchanged and communications began, which led to a long distance romance. Five months in a conversation was had which pretty much boiled down to ‘how about I move up to your city and we move in together? Cool? Cool’.

Except, was it really that cool? It meant leaving my best friends, leaving the city I adored, leaving a job I loved and carting all my stuff up to a city I wasn’t all that fond of, with no job to go to, oh, and moving in with a man I was sure was ‘the one’ but really we’d spent the equivalent of one month together and how much of that were we on our best behaviour? But I took the chance, packed my things, said bye to my besties, hopped on a plane and prayed for the best… 

So how did the dice fall? Well I’m relieved to say I got my very own happily ever after. We’ve now been together for eleven years, including seven years of marriage, and fallen in love with one moany miaow, one delightful daughter, and a shack by the sea. I’m so glad I threw away that calculator.

Wow that is certainly a huge chance you took but it sounds like it all worked out well. Thank you so much Kellie for sharing with us and taking part in my Chances fortnight. 

Book details:

Curl up in The Cosy Coffee Shop of Promises with a latte and a scone, the perfect antidote to a grey day!

Mel’s dream of opening a coffee shop is finally a reality! A cosy little place turning out the best flat whites and most delicious pastries in Devon. In the picture-perfect town of Rabbits Leap no one can stand in her way – especially local pub owner, Tony. She doesn't care how gorgeous he is, she will not let him steal her customers with his fancy new coffee machine!

There is only room in their small town for one coffee shop…but when Hurricane Val – aka her mother – is due to blow into town, Mel is in desperate need of an instant boyfriend. She can’t face another hunt to 'find a man' and while Tony may be her business rival, Mel can’t help but notice he’d make the perfect fake fiancé…

If they can strike a deal all they need to do is stick to it, no falling in love, no real feelings and definitely no dreams of a happy-ever-after!

Links:

Amazon UK:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cosy-Coffee-Shop-Promises-ebook/dp/B01N9P1FZH/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1492825049&sr=8-3-fkmr1&keywords=kellie+ahiles

Amazon US:  https://www.amazon.com/Cosy-Coffee-Shop-Promises-ebook/dp/B01N9P1FZH/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492825204&sr=8-1&keywords=kellie+hailes

Kobo:  https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/the-cosy-coffee-shop-of-promises

Barnes & Noble:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-cosy-coffee-shop-of-promises-kellie-hailes/1125454321?ean=9780008243937

Google Play:  https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Kellie_Hailes_The_Cosy_Coffee_Shop_of_Promises?id=alvaDQAAQBAJ

Giveaway to Win an e-copy of The Cosy Coffee Shop of Promises (Open Internationally)

Kellie Hailes is very kindly giving my followers a chance to win an e-copy of The Cosy Coffee Shop of Promises. 

Giveaway open internationally, all options are voluntary, but please do what they ask, as I will be verifying the winner. Giveaway closes 23:59 23/06/2017. Winner will be announced on twitter and emailed, and they will need to reply within 7 days, or forfeit the prize, and I will re-draw for a new winner.  Good luck everyone.

Win an e-copy of The Cosy Coffee Shop of Promises (Open Internationally)

Author Bio:  

At the age of five Kellie Hailes declared she was going to write books when she grew up. It took a while for her to get there, with a career as a radio copywriter, freelance copywriter and web writer filling the dream-hole, until now. Kellie lives on an island-that’s-not-really-an-island in New Zealand with her patient husband, funny little human and neurotic cat. When the characters in her head aren’t dictating their story to her, she can be found taking short walks, eating good cheese and jonesing for her next coffee fix.

Follow Kellie on Twitter

Book Review - The Cosy Coffee Shop of Promises by Kellie Hailes - Fab Firsts - #AroundTheUKIn144Books #Devon

Fab Firsts is my new regular Sunday feature, that is going to be highlighting books that are firsts. When interviewing authors, it will be about their first book, as well as other firsts in their lives. When reviewing books for this feature, there will be a mix of debuts, first books in a series, the first time I read an author, and possibly other firsts depending on what I can think of!

If you are an author wanting to take part in Fab Firsts then please do email on gilbster at gmail dot com and I'll whizz the questions over to you.

I hope you enjoy this look at a variety of hopefully fabulous firsts, while making some sort of dent in my review and paperback TBRs which are my current main focus!

Today I am reviewing Kellie Hailes' debut book, which was only published on Friday. 

Amazon UK

Title: The Cosy Coffee Shop of Promises 

Author: Kellie Hailes

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: HQ Digital 

Publication Date: 10th February 2017

Rating: 4 Stars

Curl up in The Cosy Coffee Shop of Promises with a latte and a scone, the perfect antidote to a grey day!

Mel’s dream of opening a coffee shop is finally a reality! A cosy little place turning out the best flat whites and most delicious pastries in Devon. In the picture-perfect town of Rabbit’s Leap no one can stand in her way – especially local pub owner, Tony. She doesn't care how gorgeous he is, she will not let him steal her customers with his fancy new coffee machine!

There is only room in their small town for one coffee shop…but when Hurricane Val – aka her mother – is due to blow into town, Mel is in desperate need of an instant boyfriend. She can’t face another hunt to 'find a man' and while Tony may be her business rival, Mel can’t help but notice he’d make the perfect fake fiancé…

If they can strike a deal all they need to do is stick to it, no falling in love, no real feelings and definitely no dreams of a happy-ever-after!

Incredibly sweet and light hearted romance, that is set in a small town, with a great name, Rabbit's Leap, and although the overall outcome may have been predictable, from the first few pages, the journey of the story was certainly entertaining. 

I loved seeing Mel and Tony's initial banter, and the way a coffee machine was what caused the pair of them to enter into a relatively odd deal. Mel agrees to teach Tony how to cook healthy food to help turn his pub's fortunes around, and Tony has to agree to not sell coffee from his new machine until after 3pm, when Mel's coffee shop closes. Oh and he also has to agree to be Mel's fake fiancee while her mum is in town!

What a nightmare Mel's mum Valerie is, she really is Hurricane Val! Her one aim in life appears to be to find a man no matter who suitable for herself and also her daughter. She is very good at having constant little digs at Mel, and seems like a bit whirl of energy. 

Tony is trying his hardest to keep hold of his pub which has been in the family for many years. He is committed to making it work, but yet when it comes to women he has a reputation that precedes him, and thus it takes him by surprise, just what spending a lot of time with Mel pretending to be together does to him. 

I sort of liked Mel, she is clearly hurt by something in her past, which along with her frosty relationship with her mother, really contributes to her personality. 

The is only one thing I didn't really get about this book, and that is the title. I was expecting a story where the coffee shop would be at the heart of the story, but really the main building in the village that was featured was Tony's pub, and the cooking involved was more pub food than baking. It was just a small niggle but thought I would mention it in case you had been thinking the same thing! 

I thought that The Cosy Coffee Shop of Promises was a promising debut book, that is a quick, light hearted, easy romance, which I found very entertaining. 

Thank you so much to HQ Digital and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.