Book Review - Finding Love at the Christmas Market by Jo Thomas - Blog Tour - #HolidayReading Malta

The Amazon Purchase link below is an Amazon Affiliate link.

Amazon UK

Title: Finding Love at the Christmas Market

Author: Jo Thomas

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Transworld Digital

Publication Date: 24th September 

Rating: 5 Stars

Cosy up with the new Christmas book from best-selling author Jo Thomas

Residential-home caterer Connie has had one online-dating disaster too many. Hurt in the past and with her son to consider, now she's feeling hesitant. Then one of Connie's residents sets her up on a date at a beautiful German Christmas market - with the promise she'll take a mini-bus full of pensioners with her...

Amongst the twinkling lights and smell of warm gingerbread in the old market square, Connie heads off on her date with a check-list of potential partner must-haves. Baker Henrich ticks all the boxes, but when Connie meets Henrich's rival William, she starts to wonder if ticking boxes is the answer.

Will Connie's wish for love this Christmas come true, and if so - with who?

Now that is what I call a Christmas book. I've just devoured this wonderful festive story, in 33 degree heat in Malta, and now want to go around wishing everyone a merry Christmas.

This is a book that just oozes festive feeling,  and I love how it's also allowed a group of pensioners to rediscover their love of Christmas too.

Between two German Christmas markets, two very different German men, a deaf dog, Christmas jumpers, a donkey, gingerbread, singing, dancing and a big bake off between the two towns you have all the ingredients and more for a fabulous festive book. 

I had such a great sense of place from this story,  and I adored all the characters. This has all the heart and love I've come to expect from a Jo Thomas novel, and so much more besides.

This will easily be one of my favourite Christmas books of the year. I could have kept reading it for so much longer had i not run out of pages.

Read in one sitting over about 3 hours this transported me to the German Christmas markets, made me remember my own visit to them, and generally had me grinning like a loon throughout.

If you read one book this Christmas then make it this one!

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

Please follow along with the other bloggers on this blog tour too. 

Book Review - One Step Behind by Lauren North

The Amazon Purchase link below is an Amazon Affiliate link.

Amazon UK

Title: One Step Behind

Author: Lauren North

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Transworld Digital

Publication Date: 16th July 2020

Rating: 5 Stars

Jenna is a wife, a mother, a doctor. She’s also the victim of a stalker.

Every time she leaves her house, she sees him. Disturbing gifts are left at her door. Cruel emails are sent to her colleagues. She has no idea who this man is but she feels powerless against him.

Until the day he is brought into her hospital after a serious accident, and Jenna is given the chance to find out once and for all why this man is tormenting her. Now, the power is all hers.

But how many lines is she willing to cross to take back control of her life?

What a cleverly plotted and written psychological thriller. 

Starts off simply enough with Jenna clearly being stalked.  Those descriptions from her point of view were troubling,  and unsettling to read.

Then we discover the man she is sure is the stalker is brought into her a&e department and she realises there is a potential power shift and will she potentially break the Hippocratic oath?

At the same time we get chapters focusing on Sophie, and her not overly healthy looking relationship with Nick.

All of the writing points you in a certain direction but how much can you trust an author to not have some surprises up her sleeve.

This may only be Lauren North's second psychological thriller but it is incredible.  I was hooked on the words and devoured it predominantly in one sitting in the garden one afternoon.

Disturbing, well written and the culmination of the story lines was brilliant. Definitely a book I'd recommend 

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

Book Review - Unexpected Lessons in Love by Lucy Dillon

The Amazon Purchase link below is an Amazon Affiliate link.

Amazon UK

Title: Unexpected Lessons in Love

Author: Lucy Dillon

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Transworld Digital

Publication Date: 5th December 2019

Rating: 4 Stars

Jeannie always wanted to fall in love, and now she’s finally got the whirlwind romance she dreamed of. Dan’s gorgeous, he’s a successful young vet, and he flew her to New York and proposed on Brooklyn Bridge. Jeannie has to remind herself this is actually her life. It seems too perfect, too magical, to be real. Yet it is.

But now she’s on her way to the wedding she can’t shake off the tight sensation crushing her chest. Is it just nerves . . . or is this all happening a bit too fast?

Jeannie has one last chance to shout, ‘Stop!’ But just as she grabs it, a twist of fate throws everything she knows into the air like confetti. What Jeannie learns about Dan, about her own heart, and about the power of love itself, will change her world for ever . . .

I've always said that Lucy Dillons' best books are ones that featured our four legged canine friends, and this is no exception.  Amongst the themes in this book there is a strong anti puppy farming message, and watching Rachel, Natalie and Jeannie help three rescued families of dogs from a puppy farm, learn to trust humans and how to just be dogs is incredibly heartwarming. 

Although it's not the key story line it was the one that I definitely enjoyed the most.  The main thrust of this book is about Jeannie and Dan, who in the opening pages are meant to be getting married, after a whirlwind relationship and engagement. 

However things aren't quite as they seem, and from the moment of the unfortunate accident just before Jeannie get's to the church, everyone's lives start to change. 

And Jeannie has a chance to through the people she meets in her new town, get to make brand new friends and re-evaluate just what love and what a marriage really is. 

It's a story about re-evaluating life, love, learning more about loved ones,  and with a wonderful array of dogs.  It's a really just lovely book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. 

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

Book Review - The Night You Left by Emma Curtis - #HolidayReading Mexico

The Amazon Purchase link below is an Amazon Affiliate link.

Amazon UK

Title: The Night You Left

Author: Emma Curtis

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Transworld Digital

Publication Date: 22nd July 2019

Rating: 4 Stars

IT ONLY TAKES A MOMENT TO UNRAVEL A PERFECT LIFE . . .

When Grace’s fiancé vanishes without a trace the night after proposing, her life is turned upside down. But has Nick walked out on her, or is he in danger?

As Grace desperately searches for answers, it soon becomes clear that Nick wasn’t the uncomplicated man she thought she knew. And when she uncovers a hidden tragedy from his childhood, she realises an awful truth: that you can run from your past – but your secrets will always catch up with you . . .

Starting off slowly without really being sure how much I was enjoying it, the book builds and builds into something fabulous. 

For every chapter you read, there appear to be more revelations, secrets, realisations and unanswered questions.

It truly is phenomenal just how much this book ultimately pulled me in, confused my mind, and spat me back out again after absorbing a cracking story. 

Told in two time lines, the events that happened in 2000 and 2018,  I somehow took far too long to work out even the most obvious of links between the events. 

I was though drawn into both time lines and very curious as to how everything would turn out. 

It does though pose the question of just how well do you know your partner, and can you be sure they don't have any deep dark hidden secrets.

Another great book from an author that I'm really enjoying reading. 

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

Book Review - Clear My Name by Paula Daly

The Amazon Purchase link below is an Amazon Affiliate link.

Amazon UK

Title: Clear My Name

Author: Paula Daly

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Transworld Digital

Publication Date: 20th February 2020

Rating: 4 Stars

Innocent?

When Carrie was accused of brutally murdering her husband’s lover, she denied it. She denied it when they arrested her, when they put her in front of a jury, and when they sent her to prison.

Now she’s three years into a fifteen-year sentence, away from the daughter she loves and the life she had built. And she is still denying that she is to blame.

Guilty?

Tess Gilroy has devoted her life to righting wrongs. Through her job for Innocence UK, a charity which takes on alleged miscarriages of justice, she works tirelessly to uncover the truth.

But when she is asked to take Carrie’s case, Tess realises that if she is to help this woman, she must risk uncovering the secrets she has struggled a lifetime to hide . . .

We’ve all done things we’re not proud of.

That was a different take on a crime novel, Tess Gilroy is devoted to trying to prove convicted criminals are in fact innocent and should be released. 

We follow Tess and her new trainee at Innoncence UK, Avril, as we try to determine whether Carrie really did murder her husband's lover.  

Throughout I couldn't quite make up my mind which side I was leaning on, i just had a sneaking feeling that it may be more complicated than it appeared, but couldn't work out why.   I was hooked as we are taken on a journey seeing just happened four years ago, when Carrie was arrested, as well as following Tess's story now. 

What added an extra dimension to this is just how Tess's incredibly deeply hidden personal life interconnects with this case in a way you couldn't have guessed.  I think I would have liked to see a bit more from that story line as I was really interested in it. 

I really enjoyed seeing how this story played out, there were some mini gasps from me, as the action progressed and it is another great book from a author I really enjoy reading.  

From around the half way point, the book was incredibly addictive and I just had to know what would happen next. 

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

Book Review - Who Did You Tell? by Lesley Kara - Blog Tour

The Amazon Purchase link below is an Amazon Affiliate link.

Amazon UK

Title: Who Did You Tell?

Author: Lesley Kara

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Transworld Digital

Publication Date: 5th December 2019

Rating: 5 Stars

Every town has its secrets. Lesley Kara knows them all . . .

From the author of 2019's biggest crime thriller debut, The Rumour, comes an addictive new novel . . .

It’s been 192 days, seven hours and fifteen minutes since her last drink. Now Astrid is trying to turn her life around.

Having reluctantly moved back in with her mother, in a quiet seaside town away from the temptations and painful memories of her life before, Astrid is focusing on her recovery. She's going to meetings. Confessing her misdeeds. Making amends to those she's wronged.

But someone knows exactly what Astrid is running from. And they won't stop until she learns that some mistakes can't be corrected.

Some mistakes, you have to pay for . . .

After seeing Lesley Kara at Capital Crime, taking part in the Who's Crime is it Anyway sessions, I couldn't help but be impressed by her, and thus couldn't resist the opportunity to read her new book when it appeared.  

And I'm completely correct to be impressed... What a fabulous book. 

From the first few pages I could feel a slightly sinister undertone, something was rather unsettling but at the same I needed to know exactly what was going on.  I had a few thoughts but generally was very happy to go with the flow. 

And what a story it was. Astrid is a recovering alcoholic and is attempting to rebuilt her life, and stay away from drink.  Yet someone seems determined to mess with her mind, and remind her of things that she thought were a complete secret.  For she has never spoken of them to anyone. 

I found it a fascinating look at the struggle Astrid is going through every day, and as things came to a head, I was shocked but at the same time really felt for her too. 

To me this was a great mix of grit, psychological thriller, suspense and drama, wrapped up in this story that really had me on my toes.   

I was completely hooked and even altered some of my plans for the evening in order to make sure I could read for longer, and I'm still not sure how I got home, as I'm sure I was oblivious for most of the journey as I was finding the story unputdownable. 

One thing is for certain this may be my first book by Lesley Kara, but it certainly won't be the last, and I think I may need to read her debut too. 

I had no real idea what to expect from this but it exceeded any thoughts that I did, ten-fold.  Was really impressed and very happy that I've been able to read a book that may stay with me for a while. 

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

Please take a look at the rest of the blogs on this fabulous tour 

Q&A with Sue Black - Morecambe and Vice Festival Blog Tour

Today I'm taking the time to interview one of the authors who will be attending the Morecambe & Vice Crime Writing Festival, Sue Black, the author of All That Remains: A Life in Death. 

1: What led you to the career that you are in now? 

I studied human anatomy at university and it was a natural step from my research into identification from the skeleton into forensic anthropology.

2: Through your work you have obviously seen some horrific things. How do you shut off from your work?  

I try to keep a sterile corridor between work and home.  I have a mental picture of a clinical space in my head where all my work is done and when I am finished at the end of the day, I leave the space and mentally shut and lock the door.

3: What sort of crime books and authors did you enjoy reading when growing up?  

I have never been a crime reader I am afraid.  I like historical novels and the more detailed they are the better.  So books like the Quincunx by Charles Palliser or classics such as the Lord of the Rings or the tomes by Ken Follett, are my kind of thing.

4: What is your typical working day like? 

 It is unpredictable.  I may be sitting in university meetings, I might be meeting with partners on exciting new developments, I might be in a mortuary or at a crime scene, I may be writing reports on child sexual abuse cases, I may be at a book festival but it is never boring and it is never empty.

5: Do you have any advice for anyone interested in becoming a forensic anthropologist? 

You have to be a scientist first.  The case work is all well and good and comes across as the ‘exciting’ stuff but the real value to justice comes from curiosity driven research where science can be best placed to work to serve truth.

Amazon UK

Shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger for Non-fiction 2019, this incredible memoir from the Sunday Times Bestseller. Professor Sue Black breathes new life into the subject of death.

Sue Black confronts death every day. As a Professor of Anatomy and Forensic Anthropology, she focuses on mortal remains in her lab, at burial sites, at scenes of violence, murder and criminal dismemberment, and when investigating mass fatalities due to war, accident or natural disaster. In All That Remains she reveals the many faces of death she has come to know, using key cases to explore how forensic science has developed, and examining what her life and work has taught her.

Do we expect a book about death to be sad? Macabre? Sue's book is neither. There is tragedy, but there is also humour in stories as gripping as the best crime novel.

Part memoir, part science, part meditation on death, her book is compassionate, surprisingly funny, and it will make you think about death in a new light.

About the author

Professor Dame Sue Black is one of the world’s leading anatomists and forensic anthropologists. Her expertise has been crucial to many high-profile criminal cases, and in 1999 she was the lead anthropologist for the British Forensic Team’s work in the war crimes investigations in Kosovo. She was one of the first forensic scientists to travel to Thailand following the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 to provide assistance in identifying the dead. 

Sue is a familiar face in the media where documentaries have been filmed about her work and she led the highly successful BBC 2 series - History Cold Case. In 2015 she was interviewed on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs  and has also been a guest on BBC Radio 4’s The Life Scientific. Most recently she stunned over 300,000 Outlander followers where she announced that Lord Lovat, Simon Fraser, was not residing in a coffin built for him at the Wardlaw Mausoleum.

She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to forensic anthropology.

To find out about some of the other authors appearing at this festival, please do follow along with this tour 

Sat 28th & Sun 29th Sept 2019

The Midland Hotel, Morecambe

If you are free next weekend and fancy travelling to Morecambe, then take a look at the details of this festival on their website.  There is an impressive line up of authors attending, and tickets are still on sake. 

And check out this programme of events for the weekend, Looks like there are some really appealing things happening, for any crime fan. 

Book Review - The Perfect Betrayal by Lauren North

Amazon UK

The Amazon Purchase link below is an Amazon Affiliate link.

Title: The Perfect Betrayal

Author: Lauren North

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Transworld Digital

Publication Date: 27th June 2019

Rating: 5 Stars

After the sudden death of her husband, Tess is drowning in grief. All she has left is her son, Jamie, and she’ll do anything to protect him – but she’s struggling to cope.

When grief counsellor Shelley knocks on their door, everything changes. Shelley is understanding and kind, and promises she can help Tess through the hardest time of her life.

But when a string of unsettling events happens and questions arise over her husband’s death, Tess starts to suspect that Shelley may have an ulterior motive. Tess knows she must do everything she can to keep Jamie safe – but she’s at her most vulnerable, and that’s a dangerous place to be . . .

Could not put this down even if i tried - was amazed and addicted by it from thee first to last page.   Just wow! 

I literally can't say anything about this tightly crafted plot, in part because I'm still reeling from the revelations, and also pondering how on earth I didn't see it coming.  I had various theories of course but on the whole I was believing what Tess was believing at the same time as her - as everything was so confusing. 

I couldn't work out how to second guess it all, and my strongest theory for one aspect of it was so far from the mark  its almost laughable. 

How do you review a book when everything you want to say may give part of the game away -  I find it so hard to believe this is the authors first book of this genre.  It is so accomplished and has completely messed with my head. 

It's a book full of suspense and tension, that keeps on ramping up,  It is addictive unputdownable writing at its very best. 

My only regret is that I've had the book on my kindle for 6 months, and it has taken me that long to get to it.  Utterly brilliant book that I whole heartedly recommend to psychological drama fans. 

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

Book Review - Someone We Know by Shari Lapena - Blog Tour

The Amazon Purchase link below is an Amazon Affiliate link.

Amazon UK

Title: Someone We Know

Author: Shari Lapena

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Transworld Digital

Publication Date: 25th July 2019

Rating: 5 Stars

It can be hard keeping secrets in a tight-knit neighbourhood.

In a tranquil, leafy suburb of ordinary streets – one where everyone is polite and friendly – an anonymous note has been left at some of the houses.

‘I’m so sorry. My son has been getting into people’s houses. He’s broken into yours.’

Who is this boy, and what might he have uncovered? As whispers start to circulate, suspicion mounts.

And when a missing local woman is found murdered, the tension reaches breaking point. Who killed her? Who knows more than they’re telling? And how far will all these very nice people go to protect their secrets?

Maybe you don’t know your neighbour as well as you thought you did . . .

That was a wonderful way to spend a sunny afternoon in a garden - you literally wouldn't have been able to tear my kindle out of my hands while I was reading this. Was hooked from the prologue - utterly convinced I knew all along who the murderer was - until I was blow away completely. 

To say this is a claustrophobic sort of a book where it focuses around four main families, and woman who has been broken into, and with every revelation you are drawn more and more into a dark web of secrets. 

It becomes clear you can't really trust what any of the characters are saying, or can you? There is after all suspicious behaviour everywhere. 

I was intrigued by the boy sneaking into people's houses that is mentioned in the blurb, but felt for at least a good part of the story that we would have heard more about it - but it is there for a very good reason, and I'm really glad of it, just shows how much people hide in other ways too. 

I enjoyed sitting in on the police interviews as they try to work out just who murdered the poor woman in such a brutal way. So much fun seeing how different people were reacting the questioning.  

This is the third book I've now read from this author, and I think they keep getting better and better, and I just love her writing style. Once you are used to focal points changing rapidly often within the chapter, which just adds to the pacing, I was completely drawn into the story and loved reading every moment of this. 

Another wonderfully addictive book from the always impressive Shari Lapena. 

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

Please follow along with all the bloggers on this tour 

Book Review - Stop At Nothing by Tammy Cohen - Blog Tour

The Amazon Purchase link below is an Amazon Affiliate link.

Amazon UK

Title: Stop At Nothing

Author: Tammy Cohen

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Transworld Digital

Publication Date: 18th July 2019

Rating: 5 Stars

A mother’s job is to keep her children safe.

Tess has always tried to be a good mother. Of course, there are things she wishes she’d done differently, but doesn’t everyone feel that way?

Then Emma, her youngest, is attacked on her way home from a party, plunging them into a living nightmare which only gets worse when the man responsible is set free

But what if she fails?

So when Tess sees the attacker in the street near their home, she is forced to take matters into her own hands. But blinded by her need to protect her daughter at any cost, might she end up putting her family in even greater danger?

There’s nothing she wouldn’t do to make it right . . .

From the moment I read the blurb of this book I was utterly convinced I knew what direction it would take....to the extent that was I read reading it, I was trying to match up the words to where I thought it would go - right up until the moment I realised I was so far away from reality and was completely wrong! 

Delighted to say I was wrong because as a result this book was far more gripping and twisty, and really did keep me on my toes. 

This really is a book about the power of a mothers love - but at the same time just how fragile a mental state can be when masses of big life events all occur within a relatively short space of time. 

Her younger daughter Emma has without a doubt been through and ordeal, although it could have been a whole lot worse, and you are thrown into the drama quite quickly.  At the same time you glean that Tess has an older daughter who she seems to be distanced from and all I wanted to to was know why, which kept me turning the pages. 

What really had me intrigued and got me thinking were the small chapters between chapters written italics in a rather creepy way - I must have changed my mind many many times as to who that voice was - and I'm still not completely sure I have pin pointed it. 

This is a rather clever psychological drama, there isn't a body count, but there are police involved, its all from Tess's perspective and you really had a great insight into her mental state.  I was quite happy to believe everything she says, so was quite happily being led down some dead ends. 

Stop At Nothing started off by gripping me, and then as it progressed wouldn't loosen its hold, so I didn't put it down until I had finished it. 

Another fabulous book from an author I love reading, definitely highly recommended. 

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

Please do take a look at all the other fabulous bloggers on this tour to see their thoughts. 

Book Review - When I Find You by Emma Curtis

The Amazon Purchase link below is an Amazon Affiliate link.

Amazon UK

Title: When I find You

Author: Emma Curtis

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Transworld Digital

Publication Date: 1st July 2018

Rating: 5 Stars

What do you do when someone takes advantage of your greatest weakness?

When Laura wakes up after her office Christmas party and sees a man’s shirt on the floor, she is horrified. But this is no ordinary one-night-stand regret.

Laura suffers from severe face-blindness, a condition that means she is completely unable to identify and remember faces. So the man she spent all night dancing with and kissing – the man she thought she’d brought home – was ‘Pink Shirt’.

But the shirt on her floor is blue.

And now Laura must go to work every day, and face the man who took advantage of her condition. The man she has no way of recognising.

She doesn’t know who he is . . . but when she finds him she’ll make him pay.

Utterly fascinating, believe it or not for a psychological thriller, I feel as though I have come out of this book a lot smarter than when I went into it. 

Or at least I have a far better understanding of face blindness - and what a severe sufferer of it would be going through, such as Laura our main character. 

Laura can't recognise faces at all, she can't typically even recognise her own mother, let alone whether the man she had been dancing with at a Christmas party, is the same one she goes home with.  She uses other distinguishing features about a person - and is absolutely horrified when her pink shirted dance partner turns into a blue shirted man she had sex with. 

Now this is where it gets tricky, as it was consensual, she just didn't realise at the time due to the condition that it wasn't the man she thought she was consenting too - which is absolutely terrifying. 

What Laura is sure of is that she won't let whoever it is get away with it - so long as she can work out just who she was in bed with. 

So we have Laura's story and running alongside it, Rebecca's.  Rebecca is Laura's boss and doesn't seem like the nicest of women. Her story isn't as compelling but still interesting to read, especially as you get to see some things from multiple perspectives. 

Whenever I wasn't reading this, it was playing on my mind. which is the sign of a good book, and the last I'm not sure how much it was, but I couldn't put it down. I was completely engrossed and hooked on just how everything would resolve itself. 

This is the second book I've now read from Emma Curtis and I'm already eager to see what her next will be. Clearly my love of her first wasn't a fluke and she is now definitely an author I want to keep reading. 

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

Book Review - A Vintage Summer by Cathy Bramley - Blog Tour

The Amazon Purchase link below is an Amazon Affiliate link.

Amazon UK

Title: A Vintage Summer

Author: Cathy Bramley

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Transworld

Publication Date: 21st March 2019

Rating: 5 Stars

London has not been kind to Lottie Allbright. Realising it’s time to cut and run, she packs up and moves back home – but finds her family in disarray. In need of a new place to stay, Lottie takes up the offer of a live-in job managing a local vineyard. There’s a lot to learn – she didn’t even know grapes could grow so far north!

Butterworth Wines in the rolling Derbyshire hills has always been run on love and passion but a tragic death has left everyone at a loss. Widowed Betsy is trying to keep the place afloat but is harbouring a debilitating secret. Meanwhile her handsome but interfering grandson, Jensen, is trying to convince her to sell up and move into a home.

Lottie’s determined to save Butterworth Wines, but with all this and an unpredictable English summer to deal with, it’ll be a challenge.

And that’s before she discovers something that will turn her summer – and her world – upside down . . .

Because I love this author so much, I downloaded the book without reading the blurb, and then started reading it still without having a look at a blurb.  From the title I think I was expecting something perhaps featuring vintage clothes, and evidently I didn't look at the cover properly, or vineyards may have come to mind! 

We meet Lottie in London, as the groundskeeper of a crematorium and trying to desperately keep her boyfriend happy. I took an instant dislike to Harvey and it was well grounded, and  I cheered when Lottie made the decision to move back to Derbyshire to be closer to her family. 

Little did she realise at the time that it would be the best decision she ever makes and she ends up living and working at Butterworth Wines, and learning all about viticulture.   

It is once we are the the vineyards that the book really gets going, and I loved the wide variety of people who volunteered at this family business,. All of which I loved getting to know, especially Betsy and Majorie who are widowed ladies who are hoping to see the vineyard through one last summer and harvest. 

Betsy and Majorie are a real pair, so close to each other and listening to them bicker is always amusing. 

While Lottie is getting to know this new business, and the readers are learning all about the English Wine industry, we are also getting to know Jensen, Betsy's grandson.  And is he who will be so key to many of the outcomes of the book. 

I loved this look at an English vineyard, and it has all of Cathy Bramley's warmth, love, good feeling, excellent writing, easy to picture settings and people and just everything you want for a wonderful and charming book. 

In some respects I felt it was slow to get going properly, ie, to get to the key bits of the book, the moving to Derbyshire, but it was a highly engaging and enjoyable slow start, and it was all relevant and key information, that would help you empathise with Lottie later in the story. 

This is vintage Cathy Bramley through and through and I urge her fans, and those new to the author to give this a go if you want an incredibly enjoyable story and a lovely feeling at the end of it. 

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

Please do take some time to follow along with all the other lovely bloggers taking part on this tour.