Fabulous Book Fiend
Wednesday 10 April 2024
Guest Review: The Wedding of the Year by Jill Mansell
Saturday 6 April 2024
Guest Review: Hurricane: The Plane that Won the War By Jacky Hyams
Thursday 4 April 2024
March 2023 Reading Wrap Up
March was tough, I was very motivated to read everything on my TBR but this term at school has just been mind-blowingly busy and fast and really really hard so I've listened to some aduiobooks but nowhere near what I thought I would get to!
I only read audiobooks this month:
Wednesday 3 April 2024
Guest Review: Chasing a Highland Dream by Lisa Hobman
Since having to drop out of her design degree, Bella Douglas has been unlucky in just about everything life has thrown at her.
She’s lost more jobs than she cares to remember and despite her Granny Isla’s best attempts to set her up with every eligible bachelor in the Scottish Highlands and she’s still single.
Currently PA to her best friend, aka, Lady Olivia MacBain, at the 17th century Drumblair Castle, Bella is yet to find a role that sets her soul on fire. But when disaster strikes for Olivia, Bella steps into the breach to rescue her best friend from a fate worse than a bad interior designer.
When Bella and her Granny Isla find themselves homeless, they relocate to the castle where a handsome new neighbour brings mystery, intrigue and a spark of romance.
Is Bella finally on the track to find true happiness? Or do more catastrophes lie ahead? And does true love hide where you least expect it?
Review: This is the second book in The Highlands series from this author, following on from Coming Home to the Highlands. I very much enjoyed the first book in the series, and was looking forward to finding out what would happen to the characters in this sequel. I listened to the audio version, which was beautifully read by one of my favourite narrators, Eilidh Beaton. Although the book is part of a series, and I loved rekindling my acquaintance with many of the characters, it can equally be read as a standalone if you missed the last book.
This time, the story centres on aspiring interior designer Bella Douglas, best friend and personal assistant to Lady Olivia McBain at Drumblair Castle. Bella lives in a cosy cottage with her elderly grandmother, Isla, a lovely lady always on the lookout for a husband for her granddaughter. Although Bella had to drop out of her design degree, she still has an interest in that field. She is delighted therefore when she has the opportunity to put her skills to good use in designing some properties at the castle. After a flood in Isla’s cottage leaves Isla and Bella homeless, they move temporarily into the castle where Bella meets neighbour Aiden, and a relationship develops between the two. However, all is not quite right with this handsome man, and it seems that Isla suspicions about him may have been spot on. Is it possible that the Mr Right might have been right in front of Bella all along?
It was great to return to Drumblair Castle and meet up with the people there in this romantic story, which is packed with interesting characters and the lovely scenery of the Scottish highlands. Bella is such a kind and cheerful young lady, happy to give up her studies to look after her grandmother. Isla is also a wonderful character, with a host of malapropisms that had me laughing throughout. The new neighbour they encountered was distinctly dodgy and had alarm bells ringing in my head from the word go. Just as well that Isla had picked out another more reliable companion for her granddaughter. I can happily recommend this highland romance and indeed all of Lisa Hobman’s books that I have read so far.
To order your copy now, just click here!
Tuesday 2 April 2024
April 2024 TBR: It's Getting a Little Repetative Now!
Be honest, are you getting tired of seeing the same books on here month after month? I keep including them because I do genuinely want to read them all and I'm excited to do so!
February Releases I Still Want to Get To
April Releases
May Releases
Nonfiction
And of course, Alice Oseman
Wednesday 27 March 2024
Guest Review: The Lifeboat Sisters by Tilly Tennant
I have decided to review what is actually a collection of three books set in the small Cornish seaside village of Port Promise, and featuring three siblings from the Morrow family. In common with their father and ancestors before him, all have strong connections with the village’s lifeboat station and a strong desire to save the lives of those at sea.
In the first book in the series, The Lifeboat Sisters, we meet Ava Morrow, the youngest of the three sisters. She is currently teaching watersports to locals and holidaymakers. At the beginning of the book, the sisters are mourning the loss of their father during a rescue at sea. Despite being acutely aware of the dangers, Ava is keen to train as a lifeboat volunteer and join her brother-in-law Killian and best friend Harry serving on the local lifeboat. Her mother and sisters are strongly opposed to any more of the family endangering their lives in this way, and Ava turns to Harry as someone who understands her desire to help others in this way. However, she gradually begins to realise that she is developing more than just feelings of friendship for Harry.
The second book in the series, Second Chances for the Lifeboat Sisters, features middle sister Clara Morrow. Trained as a chef, she is living with artist fiancé Logan in a flat in Port Promise and planning their wedding in the village, while helping friend Cormac run his fish shack. Logan is not totally at home in the village, and when he inherits a house in London, he is keen to return there and set up home with Clara after they are married. Clara can’t imagine life without her mother and sisters close by and doesn’t want to let Cormac down. It seems that she and Logan now have very different ideas for the future. Which life should she choose?
The final book in the series, A Secret for the Lifeboat Sisters, focuses on the oldest Morrow sister, Gaby. She is married to Killian and has two children. Her belief that she has a happy and strong marriage has been challenged recently as Killian has become withdrawn and is apparently hiding secrets from her. Relations become strained between them and when she finds that he has concealed something that threatens radically to change the family dynamics, she is unsure how to act. However, when it seems that Killian’s life is in danger, she realises what is most important to her.
I have enjoyed these three books, and learning about these sisters from such a close-knit family, and indeed community. The girls are all very different in temperament and ambition, but share their love for family and home. The little village of Port Promise is well described, and sounds just the kind of place I would like to visit and stay for a while. The lifeboat station is central to the whole community and the stories bring home to the reader just how important this service and the volunteers who run it are for anyone in or on the sea. The books are well worth a read and best read in order.
To order your copy now, just click here!
Wednesday 20 March 2024
Guest Review: The Accidental Housemate by Sal Thomas
Cath Beckinsale is in a jam. She’s a single mum of three, with her 40th birthday in sight and a precarious hold on employment. And she can’t quite let go of her late husband Gaz, whose ashes are still in an urn on the kitchen table.
To make ends meet a student lodger seems like the perfect solution – after all, what’s one more child in the house? But when Dan flies in from the US with guitar and chest hair on display, it’s immediately clear that he’s no teenager, but someone who quickly sends life in an unexpected direction.