Book Review - Someone In The Water by Sarah Clarke - #HolidayReading Tenerife

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Amazon UK

Title: Someone In The Water

Author: Sarah Clarke

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: HQ Digital

Publication Date: 3rd July 2025

Rating: 5 Stars

A gripping new destination thriller, perfect for fans of Lucy Clarke, TM Logan and Catherine Cooper.

My only child Lola is turning eighteen soon, but I won’t be with her. For two weeks every year, I hide myself away while I endure the nightmares that haunt me around her birthday.

Because she can never know the truth – that I am plagued by terrible visions from the summer I spent in Corsica when I was eighteen. It ended in tragedy, and I have never forgiven myself for the part I played.

But my world is about to fall apart all over again.

Lola calls to tell me she’s not with her friends in Cyprus, but alone in Corsica. I have no choice. I have to go back to the island and bring her home.

But as I revisit the memories, see the same faces again, I start to wonder if there was more to the events of that summer than I realised. Are there others keeping secrets just like me? Ones that are even more deadly…

Totally unputdownable, this book had me completely hooked from the first to the last page. 

I learnt a lot about the Mazzeri legend of Corsica, and also think this may be the first time I have thought anything about water skiing since I was possibly a kid seeing a small bit on TV once. 

So between an island setting that interested me, water sports that aren't the most featured anywhere, and a summer to forget this is rather intriguing. 

Especially once Lola decides to start asking questions and wants to discover the truth of that horrible summer all those years ago for the sake of her mother's mental health. 

I loved hearing how everything unfolded, and really was unsure to know who to believe.  I was loving every second of this book, it hit all the right notes for me. 

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

Book Review - A Forever Home at Honey Bee Croft by Jessica Redland - #HolidayReading Tenerife

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Amazon UK

Title: A Forever Home at Honey Bee Croft

Author: Jessica Redland

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Boldwood Books

Publication Date: 22nd January 2025

Rating: 5 Stars

New friends, new life, new love…

Single dad, Joel Grainger, is devoted to his little girl, Imogen, doing all he can to be a key part of her life. But with Imogen’s mum being ever more difficult and Joel’s job suddenly in doubt, he’s worried that everything is about to change. Joel has given everything to Imogen, and he doesn’t regret it, but maybe he’s lost himself along the way…

Since her dad’s heart-breaking dementia diagnosis, Poppy Wells has been struggling and desperately needs a break. An opportunity to stay in gorgeous Whisperwood Farmhouse nestled in the Yorkshire Wolds and a stone’s throw away from Bumblebee Barn couldn’t be more perfect. Finally able to breathe, Poppy begins to see a new life ahead, a place where she can heal her broken heart and be part of something special. But can she ever leave her beloved dad to get the happiness she craves?

When Poppy and Joel meet there’s an instant connection. But with both of them at a crossroads, a future together seems impossible. Can they find the strength to overcome their challenges to secure their forever home together?

A BRAND NEW, uplifting standalone novel, guaranteed to put a smile on your face!

Absolute perfection...

,,,no better way to end a series,,,

Just brilliant. 

But at the same time I finished this book almost in tears, both happy and sad tears,  between the emotion of this story and the thought this may be the last time I see these characters, well it got to me. 

But  before that, Jessica Redland uberfans rejoice, as not only are we being caught up on characters in this series, but also Hedgehog Hollow series too. 

Poppy and Joel are fabulous new characters, and I totally fell in love with Joel especially. 

There i just so much to absolutely adore in this book, just believe me when I say you can't go wrong reading this.  It's everything I could have hoped for and more. 

This is Jessica Redland at her very best, I loved it! 

Thank you to Boldwood Books and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Book Review - The Baby Exchange by Hannah Parry - #HolidayReading Tenerife

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Amazon UK

Title: The Baby Exchange

Author: Hannah Parry

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Self Published

Publication Date: 1st July 2025

Rating: 3 Stars

Talent agent Mae Miller has problems . . .

Her mother, Elsa, who has Alzheimer's, has gambled away all of Mae's savings. Billy Mac, her most lucrative client, has been poached by uber-agent Matthias Bloom. And Mae is eight months pregnant, with a baby she doesn’t want.

Enter The Baby Exchange.

When a reality TV show seeks an expectant mother willing to have her baby adopted, Mae seizes the opportunity.

But there’s a price . . .

In the city of Los Angeles where viewing figures are king, Mae is about to be manipulated into giving away far more than she realises.

What will it cost to secure the happy future promised to her by The Baby Exchange for a baby she thought she didn't want – but who is becoming increasingly real each day?

I'm really unsure what I think about this book, quite a few hours after reading it. 

On the whole I generally enjoyed reading this story, but at times I wasn't really sure if I liked any of the characters. 

Mae is hard to like, I could understand her decisions, but felt she acted even younger than her young age would suggest.  On one hand she seems naïve, on the other she is pregnant with a cryptic pregnancy. 

Where this book really shone for me was highlighting the vast array of emotions of discovering you are pregnant at 37 weeks, without realising before hand.  And how that means you may not be as bonded to the baby as you might have been, had you known you were growing one of 9 months. 

And the issues surrounding surrogacy were all very interesting too. 

I think though at times the book was lacking that certain quality that for me turns a good book into a great one. 

I definitely enjoyed it, and it has a great concept behind it. 

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

Book Review - The Happy Hour by Cressida McLaughlin - #HolidayReading Tenerife

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Amazon UK

Title: The Happy Hour

Author: Cressida McLaughlin

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publication Date: 9th May 2025

Rating: 4 Stars

Jess is happy working in Greenwich market selling trinkets to well-heeled locals and excitable tourists.

Then one Sunday, Jess is thrown together with handsome, funny Ash, as they chase a pickpocket through the market, and before long they are making a habit of running into each other at the same time each week.

Jess starts to realize that their hour together is the brightest part of her life. But Ash isn’t telling her everything – can she discover the truth before it’s too late?

I thoroughly enjoyed this story set in Greenwich amongst the many Greenwich market traders. 

And what a varied bunch they are, while being a totally fabulous community that Jess is part of. 

I love how she is always happy to help others, even if she isn't willing to let people get too close to her. 

And then Ash enters her life and for an hour a week while she is with him, she is really happy. 

I also really loved Ash, and he slotted into life in and around the market almost seamlessly. 

In a story that touches on tough issues, there are also plenty of the simple pleasures in life, such as flying a kite. 

Really entertaining, I loved reading this story

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

Book Review - Finding Love at the Magical Curiosity Shop by Jaimie Admans - #HolidayReading Tenerife

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Title: Finding Love at the Magical Curiosity Shop

Author: Jaimie Admans

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Boldwood Books

Publication Date: 26th May 2025

Rating: 5 Stars

In a shop full of stories, some magic is real.

Mickey Teasdale loves her quaint curiosity shop, where every item feels magical to her. She loves imagining the past owners of her knick-knacks and telling her made-up tales to customers, but lately, the magic has dimmed; the shop feels cluttered, and even her stories seem as worn as the items she sells.

Everything changes when the grumpiest customer Mickey’s ever met—single dad Ren Montague—walks in with his surly teen daughter, Ava. Ren hates mess and clutter and prefers order and calm, but he'll do anything to see Ava smile. Yet, something shifts in him when he meets Mickey, who seems like she stepped out of her very own fairy tale.

When Ava discovers a secret diary, hidden from years long ago, she and Mickey believe it must have once belonged to a real-life mermaid! Ever sceptical, Ren tries to protect Ava from disappointment, but as they unravel the mystery together, something special happens…

Ren learns that happy ever afters still exist if you're brave enough to look for them, and Mickey discovers that real-life can sometimes be way more magical than anything she could have ever imagined.

Mermaids are definitely real! I'm totally convinced after reading this. 

Especially loving the mermaids diary that Mickey finds in her shop and decides to investigate with Ren and Ava. 

Ava is a teen, who is loving Mickey's mermaid's treasure trove of a shop, and Ren is her single father who seems to insult Mickey and her shop continually. 

But as the story progresses, there is clearly something magical happening with regards all of their feelings. 

I loved seeing the changes in the characters as everything happens, and I also love Mickey's shop and her sense of whimsy 

I was once again enchanted by Ever After Street, and felt like I was reading a fairy tale for adults.  This is such an amazing series, that I never want it to end.  I devoured this book in a few short hours poolside, only really aware of the fact that I needed to keep moving to get more shade, other than that oblivious to my surroundings. 

I'm not normally a fan of letters / diaries that are found from the past, but this one sucked me in instantly and i was as invested if not more so than the characters. 

An utterly brilliant and highly enjoyable book. More please! 

Thank you to Boldwood Books and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Book Review - The Roommate Experiment by Camilla Isley

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Amazon UK

Title: The Roommate Experiment

Author: Camilla Isley

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Boldwood Books

Publication Date: 27th May 2025

Rating: 4 Stars

Could there be room for attraction?

Hunter has secretly been in love with her best friend’s brother Dylan for years, despite barely registering as a blip on his radar. She’s not even in the friend zone—more like friend zone adjacent. But her luck is about to change: Dylan is taking over her spare room, and she's being promoted to roommate. Could this be the moment Dylan finally notices her?

Not so fast. When Dylan moves in, he carries more than just boxes—he brings complications. Suddenly, the dream of living under the same roof turns into a daily struggle. Dylan is off-limits, for reasons Hunter couldn’t have anticipated, and the closer they get, the harder it becomes to ignore her feelings.

But Hunter’s determined to keep her heart in check—no matter how difficult the task. She just has to avoid ogling him in a towel. Definitely don’t imagine what’s under the towel. And try not to swoon when he bakes cookies.

But after he saves her from a terrible date and they’re forced to share a sofa bed at his parents’ house, her emotions reach a breaking point. She’ll have to either move on or move out. Will she tell him the truth—or lose him forever?

The Roommate Experiment is a roommates-to-lovers, forced proximity, STEMinist rom-com perfect for fans of Lynn Painter, Sarah Adams, and Abby Jimenez.

I'm very conflicted about this book  - don't get me wrong I enjoyed it, and by the time the action and flirtation heated up, I was unable to put it down. 

But it runs along the exact same time line as If The Ring Fits, so if you have read the previous book in the series (which I did only a few weeks ago so it was still fresh in my mind), then you know exactly who will end up with you (as it was revealed in the previous book), and other bits with the friendship groups, are all things I have already read from one perspective, so didn't' really need to see it again.   

It's one of those devices that authors use occasionally in series that always bugs me and I'm just not keen on. 

That doesn't make the book any less great, just made it harder for me to totally enjoy it as much as I normally enjoy a Camilla Isley novel.   I feel like you need to have read at least the previous book to fully understand all the references to Rowena, so it probably can't stand alone, but equally had I skipped the middle book I would have possibly enjoyed it more. 

Hence I'm totally torn. 

It's a very slow build of the romantic tension between Hunter and Dylan. Hunter's dates to keep her mind off the fact she is now living with the guy she has been secretly in love with for over 10 years, are hilariously bad.  

Dylan's relationship with Olivia is hard to read, I just didn't take to her, and felt for him a lot, especially once he realises he isn't as into it as he should be.  But some of his dilemmas really showed him as a truly lovely guy. 

I love the characters, I especially loved the final quarter of the book, and there are many many moments to laugh at, as Dylan and Hunter get used to living in the same apartment, with some memorable scenes. 

On the whole I really did enjoy the book. 

Thank you to Boldwood Books and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Book Review - Everyone In The Group Chat Dies by L. M. Chilton - #HolidayReading Tenerife

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Amazon UK

Title: Everyone In The Group Chat Dies

Author: L. M. Chilton

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Head of Zeus

Publication Date: 13th March 2025

Rating: 4 Stars

Kirby Cornell needs a break from everything:

- Her crumbling flat in the sleepy town of Crowhurst (famous for its award-winning sausage rolls and a second-rate serial killer from the 90s).

- Her dead-end job.

- Her sleazy landlord.

- Her slobbish housemates.

- And, most of all, the terrible thing they did.

Luckily, that hasn't caught up with her just yet. Until a new message on their old group chat pops up:

Everyone in the group chat will die.

It's the first text her ex-flatmate and social-media sleuth Esme has sent for ages, but that's not the really weird thing.

The really weird thing is, Esme died twelve months ago…

Don't miss the new laugh-out-loud thriller from L.M. Chilton, Everyone in the Group Chat Dies – a murder mystery that fuses the flatmate comedy of Friends with the serial-killer thrills of I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Well this was highly enjoyable, and amazingly I didn't manage to predict the final outcome. 

Told in two timelines, the previous year and current year, we get to learn the truth about various happenings in this small fairly sleepy town. 

Kirby and her flatmates are central to everything, although I was getting Dylan and Dave confused at times (2 D names in the same flat share leads to that!), it certainly made for an interesting read. 

There are some really odd dynamics at play, and Kirby is a bit of a bumbling, impulsive sort of new internet detective, who is trying to find Esme in the previous year time line, and find out why she is getting messages from Esme in the current time line. 

What very soon becomes apparent is that if you were flatmates with Kirby, your life may be over sooner than you think. 

This was an enjoyable story, and gave me a good indication that I'm likely to be happy to read more from the author in the future too. 

Thank you to Head of Zeus and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Book Review - Book Boyfriend by Lucy Vine - #HolidayReading Tenerife

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Amazon UK

Title: Book Boyfriend

Author: Lucy Vine

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Publication Date: 19th June 2025

Rating: 5 Stars

Jemma has lived a thousand lives through books. The only life she isn’t living is her own.

That is, until the day she finds a note from a stranger in her favourite library book. When she replies, the pair begin a longhand conversation about their love of novels that sees Jemma finally coming out of her shell. Is she ready to fall in love for the first time – with someone she’s never met?

 

Clara has always run away from her problems, but this might finally be one she can’t escape.

Everyone wants to know what happened to Clara in America – but Clara isn’t talking. Instead she’s focusing all her energy obsessing over a hot new actor, starring in the TV adaptation of her twin Jemma's favourite book. Soon, Clara is reading every interview, trawling his social media, and following him to showbiz parties in the hopes he’ll notice she’s The One.

 

As the sisters fall hard for two men they’ve never met, it’s time to ask the question: Can either relationship survive the real world?

What an entertaining story this was, featuring fraternal twins Jemma and Clara. 

These are not overly close twins, and in fact seem to really dislike each other at times, or at any rate they are like chalk and cheese. 

Both though have more in common than perhaps they realise, thus causing their clashes. 

I loved Jemma and her flatmates, she is bookish, quiet and intriguingly seems to have a book boyfriend that she is exchanges notes with in a copy of a library book. 

Clara is rather flighty and after 5 years in the states has returned to the UK rather suddenly. She seems to have very few clues about adulting, and is also fixated on Milo an actor in a new TV adaption of Jemma's favourite book. 

And it's Clara's pursuit of Milo that leads to large parts of the humour in this book which was really amusing. 

This is light hearted, really entertaining and just a whole lot of fun to read. I had a great time reading this book and seemed to whiz through it fairly fast too. 

I'm starting to really love Lucy Vine's books and already curious what her next one will be. 

Thank you to  Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Book Review - A Recipe For Love by Amelia Berry - #HolidayReading Tenerife

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Title: A Recipe For Love

Author: Amelia Berry 

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Hera

Publication Date: 13th March 2025

Rating: 5 Stars

Cinderella meets Bake-Off in this contemporary rags-to-riches romcom

From the moment they meet, Bella and Adam know this is no ordinary holiday romance.

This is the real deal.

But when they find out Adam’s father has died and he has inherited the penniless Lowbridge Loch estate, their lives are changed in an instant.

Bella suddenly finds herself dealing with crumbling castles, battling baronesses and a tiny community of eccentric characters. Rising to the challenge, Bella has an idea to save Lowbridge Loch. She will create The Highland Cookery School.

But will her plans sink like a souffle when her skills are put to the test?

And can Bella and Adam’s love survive the pressure of saving the estate?

An irresistible, feel-good romance perfect for fans of Jessica Redland, Holly Martin and Heidi Swain

What a promising start to a new series this is. I loved Bella and Adam from the start and was rooting for their whirllwind romance to last.

However when Adam becomes the new Baron of Lowbridge after his father suddenly dies, their plans are up in the air and they have to adjust to their new normal. 

A not so warm welcome for Bella from the two ladies of Lowbridge house, but yet somehow she seems to be a breath of fresh air for the property and the local community too. 

While Adam is struggling with his new role, Bella is setting up her Highland Cookery School amongst other ideas.  

Their first test session of it is very funny, as are various other moments in the book. 

This was a joy to read and I loved every second of it and am already looking forward to the next book. 

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

Book Review - An Italian Wedding Adventure by Leonie Mack

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Amazon UK

Title: An Italian Wedding Adventure

Author: Leonie Mack

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Boldwood Books

Publication Date: 9th May 2025

Rating: 4 Stars

Can old flames reignite under the hot Italian sun? 🌞

When the destination wedding agency Sophie works for merges with an adventure travel company to create unique ceremonies for outdoor enthusiasts, Sophie is horrified to discover her gruff ex-boyfriend Andreas works there. Even worse: he's been assigned as her guide for a scouting trip to Italy, in search of the perfect location for a summit-top wedding.

Thrown together to make another couple’s romantic dreams come true, all Sophie can think about are the dreams she once had for them. But when the truth of what actually happened eight long years ago finally emerges, will Sophie risk imagining a happily-ever-after and opening her heart to Andreas again…?

Brand new from the bestselling author of A Wedding in the Sun!

What an excellent concept and start to what is promising to be an entertaining new series. 

I absolutely love the idea of adventure weddings and this book combines my love of drama,  romance,  thrills, travel and a gorgeous guy into one irresistible story. 

I really enjoyed getting to know Sophie and Andreas and seeing how they interact now they have come across each other again after many years. 

We get to see how they have changed and why they are the people they have become , and it is clear there is still a spark. 

I also loved the scouting of locations for this climbing wedding as well as the day itself. 

I am already looking forward to the next book in this series, and really enjoyed this first book a great deal. 

Thank you to Boldwood Books and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.