Thursday 11 January 2018

Coming Home to Island House by Erica James



It's the summer of 1939, and after touring an unsettled Europe to promote her latest book, Romily Temple returns home to Island House and the love of her life, the charismatic Jack Devereux.
But when Jack falls ill, his estranged family are called home and given seven days to find a way to bury their resentments and come together.
With war now declared, each member of the family is reluctantly forced to accept their new stepmother and confront their own shortcomings. But can the habits of a lifetime be changed in one week? And can Romily, a woman who thrives on adventure, cope with the life that has been so unexpectedly thrust upon her?

My favouite thing about being a book reviewer is having books sent to you by authors you haven’t come across before and even books that you wouldn’t have necessarily picked up whilst browsing the bookshelves in our local store and this is exactly how I discovered the talented author Erica James when her generous publishers sent a copy of her book to me a year or so ago and now I cannot get enough of her books and look forward to her new release each year.
Her latest release is Coming Home to Island House and what a wonderful read this book is. I was captured by not only the authors beautiful storyline but the wide range of loveable and also loathable characters that entertain us and touch our hearts right from the very first page.
Our central character is author Romily Temple. The storyline opens with Romily returning home from her book tour to find her husband Jack Devereux in a life-threatening state. In the days that follow Jack shares his wishes with Romily that he has made mistakes with his estranged family and wants to reunite them with her help.
The family all arrive to see Jack after receiving a message from Romily but their arrival was too late, but always one for difficult surprises Jacks will dictates that they all need to spend a week together in order to receive their inheritance. With so much history and turmoil running between the family members will they be able to fulfil his wishes especially with the brink of war fast approaching.
The storyline is set around the time of World War II and I hold my hands up and say I have never been one who loves books set heavily around the war but with this storyline I found it insightful seeing how the war effected the day to day lives and relationships of each of our characters.
Romily was such an admirable character, to have lost someone she so desperately loved and to then be lumbered with his family was enough to deal with but then to top it off and help with the adorable evacuee Stanley and still have that sense of wanting to fulfil her duty and do her bit for her country makes her a character impossible not to like.
There are such a vast amount of characters in this book and they all have a detailed and important role in the book not just making brief appearances here and there and yet at no point did I lose track of who was who because they were so well developed. We even have the dreadful Arthur who was such a vile excuse for a human and I really wanted him to get his just deserts!
There really is something for everyone in this book as it follows friendships and relationships, grief and love, hope and desperation. I felt so involved with the characters and with each bit of good or heart-breaking news I felt I was sharing it with the characters and was on a rollercoaster of emotions throughout.
This was a heart-warming, insightful and captivating read with a wonderful group of admirable characters, definitely a book that I would recommend.




Hardback               Kindle

Saturday 6 January 2018

The Lemon Tree Cafe by Cathy Bramley



When Rosie Featherstone finds herself unexpectedly jobless, the offer to help her beloved Italian grandmother out at the Lemon Tree Café a little slice of Italy nestled in the rolling hills of Derbyshire – feels like the perfect way to keep busy.
Surrounded by the rich scent of espresso, delicious biscotti and juicy village gossip, Rosie soon finds herself falling for her new way of life. But she is haunted by a terrible secret, one that even the appearance of a handsome new face can't quite help her move on from.
Then disaster looms and the café fortunes are threatened . . . and Rosie discovers that her nonna has been hiding a dark past of her own. With surprises, betrayal and more than one secret brewing, can she find a way to save the Lemon Tree Café and help both herself and Nonna achieve the happy endings they deserve?
When it came to spending my Christmas book vouchers the first book that jumped out at me was The lemon Tree Café by Cathy Bramley, although I hadn’t heard much about this book I have previously enjoyed a number of this authors books so I was looking forward to reading this one.
Rosie finds herself jobless after sticking to her morals which is something that had me backing her character from the first chapter. Not wanting a gap on her C.V she decides to help out in her Nonna’s café whilst she looks for another job but before long she soon learns that the café is in trouble and she is desperate to help her Nonna but her help is not wanted. How will Rosie save the café when her Nonna is so reluctant to let anyone help?
Another book by Cathy Bramley that captures your heart and keeps you engrossed from start to finish. Rosie was a very strong and determined young woman who was hiding a secret that is holding her back from finding love even when it was staring her in the face in form of the delightful Gabe. I saw many similarities between Rosie and her Nonna Marie and I think this was why the two were so close and why they were both so fiercely independent.
Like Cathy Bramley’s previous books there is a strong sense of community spirit flowing through the book which I love along with the book being based around the café an independent family business which are always favourites of mine. The storyline is an enjoyable light read but it does have a number of difficult topics such as abuse and grief but as devastating as these topics are it didn’t dampen the spirit of the storyline it just made us warm to the characters even more and give the storyline more depth.
This was a wonderful read, it doesn’t quite hit the Ivy Lane spot but it is a close second for me.

Kindle                       Paperback


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