204 Rosewood Lane

Another fun visit to the cove! When you get into this series, you want to move to the cove yourself. 204 Rosewood Lane is the house of Grace. She is coming to terms with Dan's disappearance and trying to get a new start in life. But while she is starting to feel something for Cliff, she is struggling to chase away the ghosts of the past. 

In the meantime, new additions are coming to the cove as Grace's daughter Maryellen and Olivia's daughter Justine are both pregnant. 

Life has its ups and downs and some families find it impossible to stay together while others are starting out or hanging on. I enjoyed my latest visit to the cove.....

Happy reading!
Heidi

Butterfly summer

I seem to be on a roll lately with really fabulous books. I just finished listening to Audible's Butterfly Summer by Anne-Marie Conway and read by Kate Harbour. This is added to my list of good reads. For the description of the butterfly garden alone, this book is worth the read. But who would have thought that a modern ghost story could take place in this setting?

Becky and her mother move to Oakbridge where her mother will start a new job back in her tiny home village. Becky is often alone as it is summer so she spends her days keeping herself entertained at the butterfly garden where she meets Rosa May. They quickly become good friends but Becky wants to keep her friend a secret as her mother would forbid her going to the garden fearing the lake. One day Becky finds a photo in a shoe box under her mother's bed. Her mother is laying in the hospital with a baby wrapped in a pink blanket. Who is this baby and where is her father who left when Becky was very small? Many questions begin to build up for Becky who is afraid to ask her mother as she is not well. But secrets do come out and some secrets change lives forever.......

I am adding the book trailer for this book which might tempt you more to read this book...

 

Happy reading!
Heidi

A Merry Little Christmas

Perhaps it seems strange to review a Christmas book mid-January but don't let this title fool you. It does start and end with Christmas but with a whole year in the life of Cat, Pippa and Marianne in between. Welcome to Hope Christmas...a little village in England. Cat, Pippa and Marianne all have families and lives which give them challenges but also love.

Cat is a cooking writer and host of her own show. She juggles it all with her caring husband Noel raising her four children.

Pippa is a farmer's wife to Dan with a special needs child Lucy to care for along with her two loving sons.

And last but not least, Marianne has twin babies to care for along with her beloved step son and farmer husband Gabriel. She works part time as a teacher.

But when life starts to throw many challenges and tests in their way, these three friends really pull together in ways that carry them through. By the end of the year, all they want is A Merry Little Christmas.

This is my second book by author Julia Williams. I really enjoy how she pulls you into the villages she writes about. You are there with the families sharing in their ups and downs. I found myself a little bothered by some of the language in this book but I know that is life now. But regardless, I will be looking for more books by this author as I enjoyed this one as much as The Summer Season.

Happy reading!
Heidi

Note: I have put word verification back on this blog. Someone with no life and too much time on their hands has put almost 200 spam comments on a previous book review. I hope this will not stop anyone from commenting on my blog as I love reading your comments. 

The Importance of Being Earnest

I just loved listening to this performance of The Importance of Being Earnest. It is a recorded live performance and, just as the wit of Oscar Wilde, is perfection of the English language with a humorous view of English society in the Victorian era! This is an Audible book that I will be listening to over and over...

Happy reading!
Heidi

Murder at Mansfield Park

When I first started to listen to the audible version of this book, I was glad the narrator, Phyllida Nash, had such a wonderful rich voice and interesting manner as I was not able to forgive Lynn Shephard for her abuse of Jane Austen. I changed my mind half way through the book when the book changed to a murder mystery. Suddenly, it all worked for me. I do love a good mystery and this one kept you wondering. It was one that I had not been able to figure out which also keeps me reading. I enjoyed the character of Charles Maddox who disgusts you in his crass personage at first but warms you with his knowledge of solving the unknown. I felt for him by the end of this book and happily his work continues in Shephard's second novel set in Dicken's time. Looking forward to it...

Happy reading!
Heidi

A Vintage Affair

I listened to the Audible version of this book read by Violet Mathieson. 

Often as I listened, I was working on handquilting a quilt I am making so perhaps it is partly due to the needle and thread connection that this book became so enjoyable. But it was also enjoyable to see how relationships both old and new come full swing in the incredibly descriptive story of Phoebe Swift and her shop selling vintage clothing called Village Vintage. 

Through the shop she connects with old and new when she meets a very sweet old lady, Thérèse Bell, who sells her some of her old clothes. They begin a short but meaningful friendship due to the fact that  Mrs. Bell has cancer. Phoebe works to give her new friend a gift of peace before she passes but also finds that Mrs. Bell has given her the same gift back. 

This has been a delightful book and a story that remains in your heart even as the last word is read!

Happy reading!
Heidi

Note: I almost considered creating a new category called Not just chick lit as this book would most definitely fall into it. What I have learned lately is that a book that is chick lit is sometimes deeper than you would think. Some are just pure fun and other go deeper. That is A Vintage Affair.

Writing Jane Austen: A Novel

This was one of the audible books that I have loaded onto my Kindle. It was narrated by Julia Whelan.

Georgina Jackson is an American author living in London. Her first book had been successful but her second is slow in coming. Her agent calls her to a meeting to inform her that she wants her to finish a Jane Austen novel that was found with only the first chapter written by the legendary author. Georgina's writer's block has set in plus she is a total novice of all things Austen. But she needs the money when she discovers her university grant has been cancelled and takes on the project.

I am still undecided as to how much I did like this novel. I found it to be tedious at times. While going to places touched by Jane Austen, Georgina sees and hears shadows of Austen's time but this story line seems to just pop up its head here and there yet never develops into anything. I found that rather a shame as it could have been played upon more. Instead it became almost irrelevant to the rest of the novel as it was touched on and then left hanging. A missed chance? Instead I found myself screaming in my mind for Georgina to get on with things until she finally starts reading Jane's novels. This became another book that starts well and ends well but leaves me flat in the middle. I loved how the book turned out for Georgina but do not want to spoil it so my lips are sealed. If you are a fan of happy ever after romance then you will enjoy this book.

Happy reading!
Heidi