The Little Teashop of Lost and Found by Trisha Ashley

Today it is my stop on The Little Teashop of Lost and Found Blog Tour and I am sharing my review of this book with you and all I can say is this is by far my favourite book by Trisha Ashley.

Alice Rose is a foundling, discovered on the Yorkshire moors above Haworth as a baby. Adopted but then later rejected again by a horrid step-mother, Alice struggles to find a place where she belongs. Only baking – the scent of cinnamon and citrus and the feel of butter and flour between her fingers – brings a comforting sense of home. So it seems natural that when she finally decides to return to Haworth, Alice turns to baking again, taking over a run-down little teashop and working to set up an afternoon tea emporium. Luckily she soon makes friends – including a Grecian god-like neighbour – who help her both set up home and try to solve the mystery of who she is. There are one or two last twists in the dark fairytale of Alice’s life to come . . . but can she find her happily ever after?

The Little Teashop of Lost and Found was the perfect book to come along at the right time. Feeling my reading mojo slipping away I needed something to read that would sweep me up and lose me in a bright cosy setting with an uplifting plot and that is exactly what I found with this book.

Alice Rose has never felt grounded, she has lost loved ones along the way and with the knowledge that she was left on the Yorkshire Moors as a baby merely hours old she has a yearning to get to the bottom of who her real parents are to see if she can find a sense of belonging and finally settle down and plant her roots. Taking a big risk she decides to open her own Afternoon Tea Emporium whilst she is back in Haworth but is she taking on too much and will she feel the need to move on once again?

I loved how at the end of each chapter we hear from the person who had an involvement in Alice being left on the Moors so we get to build a picture from the snippets we are told about as to what happened. Alice is a very strong and determined woman who is not afraid of hard work often taking on too many things at once but she throws herself into everything wholeheartedly so she is an easy character love and one you really hope finds her happy ending.

I loved the Giddingses, this family were so loving and welcoming they were so supportive to Alice and they are a great addition to this wonderful novel. The romance that slowly blossoms in the book was one that I was championing from the sidelines, I wanted someone to come and sweep Alice of her feet and love her for who she is and appreciate all she has had to face.

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this book and this is my favourite book by Trisha Ashley, this is definitely a book I would recommend.

Hardback                Kindle

Creature Comforts by Trisha Ashley

Fall in back in love with life in this eagerly awaited new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author. Izzy has broken off her engagement to her feckless fiancée Kieran and returned to her childhood home – the sleepy village of Halfhidden. She soon realizes that life in the village is anything but peaceful – for one thing she’s living with her mad aunt Debo and her pack of dogs, and for another, Izzy has a lot of unanswered questions. When she was a teenager, Izzy was involved in a terrible accident, involving various inhabitants of Halfhidden. As she sets out to discover what actually happened on the night of the accident, she realizes that her painful past is actually standing in the way of her future happiness. So when a handsome stranger comes to Halfhidden will she let love back into her life?

This is the first Trisha Ashley book that has taken me a while to settle into, I did wonder if I was going to be able to carry on with the book but gradually I found myself being pulled into the book and getting familiar with the characters. Our main character is Izzy, she has reached a point where she feels she needs to return to her childhood home of Halfhidden after realising that her and her fiancé want different things, but heading back home is going to be a hard as she needs to face her tragic past with the accident she was involved in but has no memory of the event. Izzy hopes being home will mean she can get some long awaited answers about the details of the accident and surely the meeting of a new tall dark handsome stranger will help to pass the time by!

I am pleased I carried on with this book because this was another great read by this author. Izzy is such a wonderful main character, she is strong, brave and believable which is rare to see and I loved her for this. She didn’t take the easy options and she didn’t rush things, she was also extremely caring and generous. I loved the friendship between Izzy, Cam and Lulu they had such a genuine bond and they were very welcoming to Rufus when he came on the scene. Rufus was a true gentleman although when I first met him I wasn’t sure of his motive. There are many other wonderful characters in the community and you can really feel the community spirit all coming together to try and improve their village with ghost trails for holiday makers which will improve their businesses.

I thought it was a great idea at the beginning of each chapter finding out a little piece of the event and although I had my suspicions as to what had happened I enjoyed the journey Izzy went on to put all the pieces together and find out what really happened.

This was an enjoyable read by Trisha Ashley that will not disappoint her loyal fans. 

Hardback                 Kindle

Good Husband Material by Trisha Ashley

James is everything Tish has ever wanted in a husband – she’s married a man who even her mother approves of. He’s handsome, dependable, and will make an excellent father – unlike Tish’s first love, the disreputable Fergal. Her teenage sweetheart abandoned her for a music career and now lives a typical celebrity lifestyle. Fergal broke her heart – James helped mend it. Now, they’ve bought a cottage in the country.

The next step – kids and a lifetime of domestic bliss. Well, that’s the plan. And even if James has a slight tendency to view the village pub as a second home, their relationship is still in pretty good shape after seven years of marriage. So why is marriage to Mr Rightf making her long for Mr Wrong?

I have thoroughly enjoyed Trisha Ashley’s last two books so I was eager to get her next book Good Husband Material. The cover is very similar to her other books it seems to be a signature look for this author which is great because you know it is her book before you even see her name and personally I love the cover it looks very cosy and appropriate for Spring not that our weather seems to realise it is now spring!

The book began at a very slow pace with the storyline slowly developing and the main character Tish gradually growing on me.  Tish and Fergals romance comes to an end when his career takes him off to America where Tish doesn’t feel it is the right time to follow. With Tish heartbroken and having other family issues it was James who then took her hand and married her and began to create a life together. It isn’t until they move to Tish’s dream cottage in the country that cracks begin to form in their relationship which then isn’t helped by the new arrival to the village, Fergal.

As fast as my hatred grew towards bad boy James my love for the lovable and independent Tish began to form. Although she seemed very blind as to the goings on around her at first she soon became a very strong and capable character who was intent of making the right decisions, I was hoping that at some point in the book Tish would finally wake up and smell the roses and kick James to the curb! As you can tell there isn’t a single nice thing I can say about James character so the author has created the perfect bad boy.

Although the main part of the book is told around Tish’s point of view at the end of each chapter we get a headline from various articles about Fegal and a paragraph or two from him so we slowly get to know his character at the beginning of the book so that when he does make an appearance we are familiar with him and personally I think this was a great way to introduce his character.

The book covers infidelity, romance and hidden secrets all which keep you gripped throughout the whole of the book. I had my suspicions about certain things throughout the book and so I couldn’t wait to get to the end to see if I was right. I was very well behaved and didn’t take an early peek!

This is another favourite of mine from Trisha Ashley.

Paperback                Kindle

We have Trisha Ashley with us today to answer some questions for us.

1)  What gave you the inspiration to write this book?

I was living in the middle of a town when I wrote the first draft and doing a bit of the Good Life thing – baking bread, making jam, growing herbs and fruit – while dreaming of living in the country.

      Then I wondered what would happen if I took a couple who appeared on the surface to have a rock-solid marriage and to want the same thing, and moved them to the country cottage of their dreams…or the heroine’s dreams, anyway.  So I did that and major faultlines in their marriage soon started to appear.

2) I loathed James in Good Husband Material, you definitely created a bad guy there.  Is he based on anyone you know (I sure hope not!) and do you find it hard to write bad characters.

      The first version of this was written a very long time ago and there is a touch or two of a friend’s truly dreadful husband in there!  It’s fun writing the bad characters and the strange thing about some men who behave badly is that they really don’t understand why their wives/partners can’t just forgive and forget their little foibles.

    

3)  Through a couple of your books now there have been characters who are authors, other than this do you ever put any more of your own characteristics into you characters?

Often my main protagonist will be an author or an artist of some kind, because those are the sorts of occupations I’m familiar with.  But I write in first person from the heroine’s viewpoint and I have to get to know her and what has formed her character before I begin writing each book. Looking at the world and reacting to it in a way totally different to the way I would do myself is the major excitement in writing the book.  My characters often surprise me.

       They say your first book is autobiographical, but if that’s so, then I probably got it out of my system long ago – I’ve written at least one book a year since I was eighteen.

4)  Are you working on your next book and is there a little teaser you can give us?

I’m just doing the edits for Wish upon a Star, which will be out later in the year, before getting back to the ideas for the next one.  I haven’t so far released any information about Wish upon a Star – it was such an emotive book to write that I’m still hugging it close – but it is set in the village of Sticklepond and the star of the title is a little girl called Stella with serious health issues.

5) What was the last book you read, and would you recommend it?

The advantage of being an author is that you often get to see other novelist’s latest books long before they hit their shelves!  I’ve just read Margaret James’ romantic comedy The Wedding Diary, which is out in May and great fun (if they make a film, the lovely dog in it will be the star, I guarantee it) and have started Carole Matthews next one, Calling Mrs Christmas, which I  know I will love just as much as her previous ones.

6)  Are you a kindle convert?

No, although I can see their advantages for readers who travel or commute a lot.  I do love the look, feel and smell of a brand new book, and to see them lining my shelves like so many treasures.  Apart from that, I have a degenerating eye condition that mean I do too much staring at a screen already, while writing!

7)  If you were stuck on a desert island, what would be your three must-have items?

Actor Rufus Sewell and an endless supply of pencils and paper would be nice.

Thank you for taking the time to talk to us, I can not wait for Wish Upon a Star to be released later this year.  

Chocolate Shoes and Wedding Blues by Trisha Ashley

I have always found Trisha Ashley’s books a little hit or miss, although I read and enjoy them they never seem to grip me and leave me with a lasting impression and yet there is still something about them that make me pick up her new novel every year.

I will be very surprised if anyone can walk past this book and not turn their head as firstly the title of this book must grab the attention of every woman, I mean Chocolate and shoes in the same sentence, is it just me or does that sound like pure heaven. I also loved the fact that the cover is similar to Chocolate Wishes which makes the book instantly recognisable as Trisha Ashley’s book.

I instantly took a liking to our main character Tansy. She was a very likeable character who had a kind of old fashioned and traditional feel to her. After constantly knocked down by her partner about her weight and her quirky dress sense and with him not wanting children Tansy is a shadow of her former self. 

Things take a change and soon Tansy inherits her Aunt Nans shoe shop, she has a great idea to modernise the shop changing it into Cinderella’s Slippers which sells shoes for the beautiful brides. Things seem to be improving for Tansy if only her ex would get the hint and realise that her life is now in Sticklepond and no longer featured him in her life.

It’s not long before the owner of the house next door arrives and catches Tansy’s breath when she realises he is a blast from the past.

I particularly enjoyed reading Aunt Nans memoires at the beginning of each chapter I thought this was a unique part of the book. There were a great mix of characters in this book some who we have met already in Chocolate Wishes and some new characters, some you take an instant dislike to such as Tansy’s two evil stepsisters and her awful mother but then there were some great warm and friendly characters alongside Tansy such as great Aunt Nan and Bella.

The book had a modern day fairytale romance about it which I loved as it made it an easy read and a feel good feeling. I enjoyed watching Tansy create her shop of her dreams step by step.

This book defiantly gets the thumbs up from me and in my opinion it is Trisha Ashley’s work at its best this is defiantly my favourite book by this author and I would defiantly recommend it.

Paperback                  Kindle

The Magic Of Christmas by Trisha Ashley

I have just finished reading Trisha Ashley’s The Magic of Christmas. This book is an updated version of Trisha’s previous novel Sweet Nothings which I haven’t read so I was looking forward to reading this version after the great reviews I have read for Sweet Nothings.


Plot
Another deliciously seasonal and heart-warming tale from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Twelve Days of Christmas and Chocolate Wishes. In the pretty Lancashire village of Middlemoss, Lizzy is on the verge of leaving her serially unfaithful husband, Tom, when tragedy strikes. Good job she has welcome distractions in the form of her Christmas Pudding Circle, a circle of friends swapping seasonal recipes, and a simmering rivalry with cookery writer Nick Pharamond – a rivalry set to come to boiling point after he snatched the Best Mince Pie prize away from her at the village show. Meanwhile, the whole village is gearing up for the annual Mystery Play which takes place on Boxing Day. But who will play Adam to Lizzy’s Eve? Could it be the handsome and charismatic soap actor Ritch Rainford, or could someone closer to home win her heart? Whatever happens, it will certainly be a hard act to follow next year!

My Opinion
This is the third book I have read and reviewed this year as part of my Best Christmas Book 2011 competition. The cover is very festive and eye catching and the synopsis gives a great taster as to what to expect from the book.

The setting for the story is in an idyllic village which sets a cosy setting for the story. The characters in this book were all very believable characters, with Nick and Lizzy taking place as my favourite characters. The subtle chemistry between the two characters felt very endearing to read.

The storyline has a very charming and traditional feel to it and there were a few parts that were included in the storyline which gave a little more modern feel to it such as Lizzy’s son going off to University. The book did flow at a slow place and I did find at times my interest was starting to waver a little. What I really liked was the Christmas feel to this book with the villages Christmas Nativity and Christmas recipe swapping, as this is what I have been finding with all of the beautiful festive covers that when you read the book there is only a very brief mention of Christmas but this was not the case with this book.

I did find it hard to maintain my diet whilst reading this book as some of the recipes that are included in this book just sounded mouth watering and gave a nice additional touch to the book.

This is definitely one to give a try and it is at an incredible price on kindle at the moment which you can find here for £1.99. I did enjoy The Magic Of Christmas although I fell it is that type of book you must read but would only read once.
Thankyou to Trisha Ashley and to Avon for sending me a copy for review.

Chocolate Wishes by Trisha Ashley

I have two favourite things in life and that is a good book and a bar of chocolate! This is why I decided to pick up the book Chocolate Wishes by Trisha Ashley. The cover of the book is your typical style for a chick-lit book with a cosy little chocolate shop on the front with Chocolate Wishes in big pink writing so as you can tell this is hard to miss whilst looking for a book on the shelf. I had fallen in love with the book before I had started to read it and I had high expectations.



Plot
The book is based in Sticklepond which is a quaint little village in Lancashire. The main character is Chloe who makes chocolates which contain little prediction (wishes) inside of them. Since her Grandad Grumps gave her a charm to recite over the chocolate bath the chocolates seem to taste even better and have some side effects. The chocolates seem to be the only thing which is going right in Chloe's life as she has been left broken hearted by her university love Raffy Sinclair when he went off with his rock band never to return. Her mum has up and left her which has meant Chloe has had to bring up her brother. Life is never easy at home as she lives next to the museum which her Grumps and her Aunt are about to open. Her aunt is a tarot reader and can also read tea leaves and her Grumps is a warlock so life is never ordinary!
Chloe's life is all stirred up when a blast from the past turns up as the new vicar of the village!



Characters

Chloe who is our main character is a very warm and loveable character. She seems to be very down to earth which is a surprise considering how the rest of her family are. She seems to have a very loyal and caring personality and I think this is why I found throughout reading the book that I wanted things to turn around for her to give her some enjoyment in life.

Poppy and Felix were Chloe's best friends who have also been brought up around the same kind of family member as Chloe so they all feel more like brothers and sisters to read about than friends. The relationship between the three of them was lovely to read.

Grumps who is Chloe's Grandfather made for a very strange character to read about and I have to say I could not connect to him at all during the book. I do not feel like his character was needed in this book



My Opinion

Ok I am sorry but judging by previous reviews I have read about this book I think I am going to upset the apple cart with my opinion on this review but let us all remember we all have different tastes.

I found it hard to work through this book as I was a little disappointed by the storyline. I have learnt one thing whilst reading this book and that is not to judge a book by its cover as this book is not all about chocolate! I found the story was taken over by more involvement with tarot reading, witch craft and religion which personally is not the topics I enjoy in a book and certainly not what I expected to be reading after looking at the front cover and reading the sympnosis.

The parts of the book which were revolving around Chloe and her friends Poppy and Felix and also around her love life was quite nice to read but each time I started to enjoy these parts the next chapter would involve more about warlocks and tarot which then put me off reading the book again.

Another point I must make is on the front cover it says "Full of Down to Earth Humour" I have to say personally I didn't find any humour in this book at all. I also did not like the way the book finished I had to check the spine to make sure no pages had been ripped out as the story seemed to come to an abrupt stop!.

There is a part in the 2nd to last chapter where a comment is whispered to Chloe which seemed of some importance and we never did find out what that was, I have got an idea what it could be but unless there is going to be a follow on book to this one then I think we should have been told what the comment was.

I was disappointed by this book I just wish there was more about the chocolate business and more about Chloe's life rather than all the warlock business as I really do not think that it was needed in this book in fact I have to say I think it was that that ruined the whole book for me.