The Path to the Sea by Liz Fenwick

 

Boskenna, the beautiful, imposing house standing on the Cornish cliffs, means something different to each of the Trewin women.

For Joan, as a glamorous young wife in the 1960s, it was a paradise where she and her husband could entertain and escape a world where no one was quite what they seemed – a world that would ultimately cost their marriage and end in tragedy.

Diana, her daughter, still dreams of her childhood there – the endless blue skies and wide lawns, book-filled rooms and parties, the sound of the sea at the end of the coastal path – even though the family she adored was shattered there.

And for the youngest, broken-hearted Lottie, heading home in the August traffic, returning to Boskenna is a welcome escape from a life gone wrong in London, but will mean facing a past she’d hoped to forget.

As the three women gather in Boskenna for a final time, the secrets hidden within the beautiful old house will be revealed in a summer that will leave them changed for ever.

I have had this book sat on my shelf for nearly 6 years which is far too long so what better time to read this Cornish set novel than on my stay-cation to Newquay.

This novel is told by three generations of women and the chapters alternate between not only their POV but also back and forth in time to 1962 which worked perfectly for this book because we get to know each of the characters really well and see why their relationships with each other are so cold and difficult. Diana who was the middle generation I took an instant dislike too but by hearing the backstory through these pages by the end of the book I had done a complete 180 and could really see why she is so closed and prickly after what she has experienced in her life.

The storyline is full of love, loss, betrayal and the damage of hidden secrets which gave an air of mystery that kept me captivated the whole way through.

Liz Fenwick is such an accomplished writer who not only creates the most wonderful believable characters but also has such a beautiful writing style that helps you to really visualise the surrounds in the idyllic settings she sets her novels in.

This has actually turned out to be my favourite of this authors books and to think it has been waiting on my shelf for so long makes me think what other gems I still have waiting for me!

Available to purchase here

On Wings of Blood by Briar Boleyn

 

Welcome to Bloodwing Academy.

Expect magic. Expect competition. Expect blood.

I didn't sign up for this. A half-fae in a school of highblood vampires? That's a recipe for suffering.

I'm Medra Pendragon, last of the dragon riders--or so they tell me. Funny thing is, there are no dragons left. Not a single one. But somehow, that hasn't stopped the vampires from deciding I'm worth capturing. Now I'm stuck at Bloodwing Academy, where the highbloods run everything, and blightborn like me? We're just blood in their veins, pawns in their games.

But that's not even the worst part. Enter Blake Drakharrow: cold, arrogant, and way too gorgeous for his own good. He's been tormenting me since the moment we met, and now, thanks to some ancient ritual, we're betrothed. He acts like he owns me, but I'm not going down without a fight.

Bloodwing isn't just a school--it's a battlefield. Highbloods fight for power, and if you're weak, you're dead.

Between deadly competitions, lies that could get me executed, and a dragon-shaped secret looming over my head, all I have to do is survive. Easy, right? Except I'm starting to think the real danger isn't the academy--it's what I'm becoming in this twisted game of power.

And Blake? He might just be the one who pushes me over the edge.

They think they can control me. They think they can use me. But they have no idea what they've awakened.

Wow, well I haven't been so engrossed in a fantasy book since reading Fourth Wing but I think I would even go as far as to say this book which is book 1 in the Bloodwing Acadamey series actually beats Fourth Wing for me!

I am surprised how much I enjoyed this because foolishly I actually didn't read the blurb before diving into this one and I have never considered myself a fan of Vampire novels ( other than Twilight but come on who didn't love Twilight!) I was expecting fire breathing Dragons to be plentiful but the book is bursting with vampires but I loved it.

Although this is book 1 it doesn't feel like one of those first books that are just teasing you in ( yes hello ACOTAR I am talking to you) This book is action packed and dark with challenges and saucy spice! 

Our main character is Medra but she isn't a Vampire she is in fact a Dragon rider but without a dragon! When circumstances have her wound up at Bloodwing school and promised to none other than the cold blooded gorgeous Blake she faces danger at every turn but she is determined to survive and get herself out of this situation.

Like so many other schools we have visited Bloodwing feels exciting, enchanting and dangerous, we see the divide between the Highbloods and the Blightborn and like Medra we can't understand why the Blightborn are so blinded to the way they are treated and looked upon by the Highbloods.

Medra has made friends and enemies already in book one and she has certainly faced her fair share of trials and I was routing for her the wholeway through because she really is a bad ass! 

Blake is certainly going to be one that will find a weakness in me as well as Medra I am sure but after this explosive ending of this book I am desperate to jump straight in to book 2 and see what on earth is going to happen next now that they have opened a whole can of worms!  

Available to purchase here

Before You Say Goodbye by Sarah Gate

 

Autumn has found the love of her life.

Now she has to say goodbye, instead of hello to their forever.

When lonely author Autumn meets shy musician Bowie in New York, they fall head over heels and straight into bed.

Autumn has found her forever.

But not everyone gets their happily ever after. Bowie has just six months left to live.

And just like that, Autumn's entire life has been rewritten.

Embraced by his loving, unconventional family, Autumn returns with Bowie to England to live out the rest of his life by his side. But over the course of that summer, the decisions Autumn makes will help her move on, even after love and loss.

Decisions, it emerges, that were orchestrated by Bowie before they said goodbye.

Safe to say this book had me in a chokehold at times and I would definitely say check your trigger warnings before reading this book as it does cover grief, sexual abuse, family dynamics, suicidal episodes. So If your after a fluffy lighthearted romance you have come to the wrong place with this one as this book is emotionally charged and will shatter your heart in more ways than one.

This book surprised me because in the beginning when we first meet Autumn and Bluebell ( Bowie's sister ) I didn't instantly warm to them and I found each of them rather edgy and cold but the reasoning for this we do find out later in the book but I am so relieved I continued reading because from that cold start became a close knit support group around Bowie as we watched everyone struggle with his impending parting from this world and this really was heartbreaking to read. It really shines light on having to weigh up respecting someones wishes and doing what you want and what feels right in the moment, is there ever a right answer?

There was no sugarcoating around Bowie's health and there were disagreements and inexcusable mistakes made too which although I could see coming, still had me absolutely gobsmacked and intrigued to see how things would play out later in the story.

This is a family I really didn't want to leave as sharing these tender moments with them made me feel like I was enveloped in by them so I am relieved to see there is another book to read after this one where I can be reunited again and see how the family are doing.

Available to buy here

Want to Know a Secret by Freida McFadden

 

Everyone has secrets.

YouTube baking sensation April Masterson knows the secret to the perfect gooey brownies. Or how to make key lime squares that will melt in your mouth. But if you keep watching her offline, you may find out some other secrets about April. Secrets she’d rather you didn’t know.

Like where did her son go when he snuck out of the house? What was she doing with the local soccer coach behind fogged windows?

And what’s buried in her backyard?

Everyone has secrets. Some are worse than others.

April’s secrets are enough to destroy her.

I’ll make sure of that.

I have had a mixed experience with Freida McFadden books, The Housemaid had me gripped but the others I have read haven't quite hit the mark that is until I sat and read Want to Know a Secret where once again I was swept along with a storyline that had me suspecting one character one minute then firmly accusing another one the next only to have me weaved into a web of twists and turns not knowing who to trust.

In the first half of this book which is told by April POV we get to know April who I began to see a little as a people pleaser, using her amazing cooking skills to form a sense of connection and security with people. Through April we meet her new neighbour Maria who she helps to introduce into the neighbourhood and the school mums including April's best friend Julie. In the beginning it feels just like easy reading cosy neighbourhood community vibes but gradually little things begin to make me suspicious and this is when I started collecting clues and suspicions on the women began to arise.

This book I guarantee will be an unpredictable read for every reader because one revelation literally hits so unexpectedly it was completely random. This is a fast paced thriller as we have come to know and expect from this authors books and is what I love as rather than a slow burn it keeps me on my toes right up until that very last page.

Available to purchase here

The Cafe on the Coast by Christie Barlow

 

Can a cake change your life?

Clemmie Rose’s great-great-grandmother’s beloved clementine torte is her ticket to the prestigious Royal Baking Competition. A win could put Puffin Island’s charming Café on the Coast on the map, land Clemmie her very own cookbook deal, and secure her a coveted invitation to a royal garden party.

But when she discovers the competition is being hosted aboard the Royal Yacht by none other than her ex, Oliver Lockwood, the stakes – and the soufflés –suddenly rise, and Clemmie’s bid for the Golden Whisk trophy is at risk of collapsing like an underbaked sponge.

When a decades-old secret is thrown into the mix, she’ll need more than the perfect recipe to keep her dreams from crumbling.

I have read a few of Christie Barlow's books before however I must have been living under a rock because I had already started reading this book before I found out it is actually book 4 in the Puffin Island series! 

Not to panic though as I seemed to read The Cafe on the Coast easily enough as a stand-alone I can only assume I would have felt like more of the community having got to know some of the characters already in the previous books.

My absolute weakness when it comes to books are romances set in cafes, bakeries and bookstores so this book being a romance set in cafe was always going to tick a lot of boxes for me but add to that the challenge of a Royal Bake Off and some hidden family secrets and this book really hit the mark.

Puffin Island is a glorious setting giving that instantly welcoming community vibe and our main character Clemmie sure has some supportive friends and family around her. I loved watching this girl next door woman have her Pretty woman moment. The will they wont they romance that burned between Clemmie and Oliver kept me guessing wondering if and how this relationship was ever going to work when both had such strong ideas and goal to achieve.

 I really enjoyed this book and I will now crawl out from my rock and go and read the previous books in this series too.

Available to purchase here

The Tainted Khan by Taran Matharu

 Jai dreams of being a dragon rider. He dreams of freedom from the Sabine Empire and a world in which he can lead his people, the Kidara, to freedom. But even though he has his dragon, Winter, she is still growing, just as he’s still growing in his own power. And the road to victory is even more fraught than he had hoped…

Because even when he finds a tribe on the Great Steppe, they are not his people. They are the outcasts, the Tainted, and he finds that he knows little of the political intricacies that take place in these vast grasslands. He is a stranger amongst his own kind, for Jai’s uncle rules, and is loath to cede power to his nephew.

But the legionaries and Gryphon Guard of the Sabine Empire are wreaking havoc against the other tribes of the Great Steppe, and Jai is forced to learn a lifetime’s worth of knowledge in a matter of months. From levelling up his magic, to becoming a true warrior, saving the woman he loves, and strengthening his bond with Winter, Jai is a dragon rider with a massive weight on his young shoulders. And his greatest hope is that the shoulders of Winter will soon be strong enough to help carry him.

The Tainted Khan is the second book in this series which follows on from Dragon Rider and I you definitely need to read these books in order you are fighting a losing battle trying to read this book as a standalone. We are reunited with Jai and he is on a mission to take his place as the high Khan of the Kidara and he will stop at nothing to achieve this. 

Compared to the previous book this one is a lot more battle led as Jai works to bring tribes together to build the ultimate force against the Sabine Empire. Taran Matharu certainly excels in his descriptive writing and world building in this book and his relationships between characters are well developed too. I enjoyed the kinship that forms between Jai and Feng particularly. I still stick by what I said in my review of Dragon Rider in that the dragon element I expected to be more central to the storyline but this isn't the case and although Winter appears more in this book I really feel the lack of communication between Jai and Winter was a real loss to this story.

This book is a beast of a book and felt never ending but there was always something going on with Jai on his journey but I did find my attention waivering at points so I did swap to audio and found this was much more engaging and exciting. 

The shock revelation really was unexpected, I didn't even have a hint of what was going to be revealed and I was in that much shock when I heard it that I reverted straight back to my kindle to read it with my own eyes!

I did enjoy this book despite its hefty size but it is certainly one you need to set time aside to read.

Swept Away by Beth O'Leary

 

Lexi is looking for no-strings-attached fun.

Zeke is looking for love.

Neither of them were looking for a one-night stand to become their one and only lifeline.

But when they wake up after an unforgettable night together, the houseboat they stayed on has been swept out to sea. There's no signal, no steering and no sign of rescue.

And as the waves pick up and supplies run low, Zeke and Lexi realise there's much more on the line than their new relationship.

I couldn't wait to be swept away ( see what I did there!) with this book by Beth O'Leary. I have come to know and love this authors ability to write story lines from both male and female points of view in unusual forced proximity settings and this one is no exception as we join Lexi and Zeke on an extended one night stand that leaves them stranded out at sea on a boat.

As the couple face challenging and dangerous situations while they hope to be rescued they actually start to open up and not only really get to know each other but without the distractions of the real world around them they begin to help each other discover more about themselves too and I loved watching their self discovery and confidence grow. 

This is a cheeky book because just as your gently bobbing along towards the latter part of this book there is suddenly a twist that even though I am telling you there is a twist you WILL NOT see it coming! There are no clues it just pops up and bites you on the bum!

Available to purchase here