March to November by Byddi Lee

 Wow what a great book from Byddi, if you are a friends fan and are even old enough to remember “Cold Feet” then this is the book for you. The book has been written with great balance between drama and humour throughout the pages.

The main character is Tracey Duggan and her family and friends living in Morden Belfast and lives unfold throughout the book. Tracey has just come out of a violent relationship, it seems that Tracey pattern of picking the wrong men in her life but is trying to move on and find her prince charming.

 One morning we see Tracey avoiding her ex and lands up at her brother Dermot and her best friend Molly that he married.  That day she bumps into Tommy Molly’s cousin and the one night stand from the wedding but does Tracey have feelings for him after all this time.

Dermot and Molly’s marriage looks grand on the outside but deep down this is not true, One day Dermot slips up and Molly finds out that he has been having affair but does know the ins and outs yet but her world just feel apart, Dermot has been Shelia for a well and seems to think that he is love with her and in one split second when his life changes as Shelia is pregnant and she will have the baby with or without him, she has never had made demand of him before as she like the way her life went but hoped that this would be his happy ever.

Throughout the book we see how the family and friends and how interact with each other and how they relationships change for the better, but Molly’s tale broke my heart as we read through her dealing with the husband cheating on her and in the end when he chooses the other women who is having the child that they should have had.

This book is a must read it will have you in stiches and the next heading for the tissues, so grab a copy and read this wonderful tale of friendship.

Out of the Darkness by Kathy Hogan

If you are a believer of the spirit world then this a book is for you, Even if you believe that things happen for a reason then go grab a copy for this wonderful tale.

This book touched me in a very personal level, as a child I was open to spirits. My Nan often told me that I had a special gift after she passed we still had contact when I need her the most until 15 years ago when  lost my mother also too cancer, when she passed , I was very angary and the gift seem to disappeared with her !!!!! But events in my life and yet again I’m fighting the Cancer the battle again this time it’s my husband who has a ¾ brain tumour but has brought me comfort that my gift has come back to keep me strong, So I would like to say a very Big Thank you to Kathy for reminding me of my gift and too kept my strength up..

In this wonderful take we three fabulous women that are coping with the people they have lost in very different ways, fighting to live and living life to the full. First we meet Jessica; she is just about living from day to day. She is dealing with the loss of her mother and it has hit her hard and isn’t coping. So one New Year Eve after a shift at the hospital all wants to go back to her home of hell and sleep, but on the way home she bumps into an old friend from school who drags her back to a house party where her boyfriend and his friend . Jessica and the boyfriend do not hit it off and Jessica lands in walking out with the boyfriend’s best friend chasing after her she didn’t need this on this day of all days her mother’s birthday !!!

The man catches up with her and starts making apologies for his friend and offers to take her for a drink and for some reason she can’t say no and that night she lets go and lets fun into her life the next morning they exchange numbers promising they will catch up later but this never happens, but this fateful meeting pushes her to go to bereavement counselling she needs to move on. That path leads her to a chance meeting with Alex who as just moved to Brighton and congratulated her on the pregnancy, was Jessica pregnant! She soon comes to terms with the news and they become friends. Alex opens up about moving  to Brighton and her job, but couldn’t help spill the beans about the going on’s in the house why it’s cold really cold in some areas the noises she hears and the strange feeling to want to go sailing . While out about one day Alex is draw to shop and there’s advert for a medium night so she pulls Jessica along. With Jessica dragging her heels but wanted to please her new friend, they attended the meeting and it wasn’t a success, but on leaving a lady approached them telling them she had a message for them, but the message doesn’t make sense at all, but in time it all pieces will come together once they bring Hannah into the fold.

Hannah was dealing with the loss of her brother and the blame that her mother puts on her for his death. Fate has dealt its cards and once the three build a strong friendship they attend another Medium night at the beacon hoping that Jessica makes a connection with her mother but find a strong bond that will be with them forever.

That’s where I leave the spoilers, could write all day about this wonderful story and also I want people to read the story with they own eyes and take what they will from it.

Once again thank you Kathy for this wonderful story, there as only been a handful of books that have touched my soul and this is one of them.

 

 

The Jewels in Manhattan by Carmen Reid

I haven’t read a Carmen Reid book in a while as I loved the Annie Valentine Series, so I was   looking forward to reading this book and boy I was not disappointed.

In this wonderful Jewel Sisters, Amber moves up to New York a year after her father dies for a fresh start but not for long as her sisters are hot on her heels. Emerald and Sapphire decide they need a fresh start away from Texas too…

All three sisters have different personalities Amber is a dress down kind of gal and doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty. She works in a bank and has been there for just under a year now. Then there’s Sapphire who is  a princess in her own right and loves all old and shiny things  which suits her job in the auction house , but she has a story runaway bride but seems to fall in love to quickly which seems to get her into trouble. Then there the lovely Emerald who has two jobs to get by and wants to be a wanna be actress but has a taste for shoplifting.

We catch up with Amber and Sapphire doing a bit of window shopping with Money they don’t have and nearly home they pop in a local designer Jewellers to cheer them up when the shop is raided, both the girls survive but the owner has lost a lot of stock. Walks in Detective Jack he interviews them and from the start there is chemistry between Amber and the detective.

When Amber loses her job from the bank as she was last in so first out, but thinks she lost her job because she informed a client that she had to stop paying money into a charity that only her family benefited from. So money became tight in the Jewel house hold.

So when Sapphire comes home and tells the girls that’s her action house was to sell the Windsor Jewels, Emerald just to dream and making plans to stealing them……. While Emerald is plotting Amber relationship with Jack is hotting up and finds that they have a lot of things in common, and that he has caught the men he was looking for he also does catch them in the end. Amber insists that Emerald drops her plans for the jewels they go for drinks and she wakes the next morning and she realizes that her drink was spiked by her own sister… Amber arrives at the scene just in time buy Emerald says that she never went through with it but has somehow managed to pick up the stolen jewels so sister love kicks in and she hides the jewels in the community garden for her. Then tries to stop her selling the jewels before Jack catches them!!!! Amber had fallen for Jack he was her happy ever after.

Will the three sisters stay together, will Emeralds plan work and the sisters get they fortunes and will they all get they happy ever after or land up in jail?????? Go grab and copy and find out.

Lady Be Good by Meredith Duran

This is the first book from this series “Rules of Reckless”

In this story we meet Lilah Marsell who has come from a notorious criminal family and wants to move on a live a normal life, but she had one more job to do for her Uncle Nick who needs to get his hands on some important paperwork from the Auction house where she has been working as a hostess. While working the job she is caught by Lord Christine Palmer, who in turns blackmail’s her to be his spy!!!!

Lilah is a very strong willed lady but finds herself attracted to the handsome bad boy who has a hold over her. Will Christine Palmer revenge for his brother’s death lead him and Lilah down a dark road or will she pull him into the light.

So grab yourself a copy and read this delightful tale for yourself.

 

A Christmas Cracker By Trisha Ashley

Well this wonderful story is written by one of my all-time favourite authors, so when one of her books comes out the book always has to queue jumps to the top of my very large to read pile of books !!!!

In this wonderful tale involves friendship, relationships and Christmas crackers. We meet Tabby who is a very trusting  person, so when she catches her boss running a scum in his wine business that she has worked for some time ,she believes that he will stop he has seen the error of his ways !!!! Tabby confided this information in a person whom she thought was a friend but that so called friend stabbed her in the back and information an undercover reporter of the information she received and set Tabby up... The Judge did not believe that Tabby was not at the centre of the scam and choose to listen to the information given and that she was having an affair with her boss she look guilty as sin on paper but really all she was guilty of was not telling the right people when she found out what her boss was doing!!!

Tabby was sent to prison for 8 long months have a few months she is sent to an open prison and starts to receive visits from a gentle old man from Quaker he sits and listens and they become her life line to the outside world. Then one day he doesn’t show open but instead he sends a fairy godmother in the form of Mercy a little old lady with the zest for life and is about to change Tabby’s life for the better.

Mercy offers her a job as her Pa for her cracker business while is on the tagging system for the rest of her sentence. From the minuet she meet Mercy she was drawn to her but could not understand why this wonderful woman was opening her home up and offering her a life line. It was in Mercy nature to help it has been in her family for years and she had been doing for years but in the process has taken a toll on the family cracker business and its starting to slip away, her nephew Kandel her only heir  as she and her late husband where not blessed with children. As a plan to save the business, it’s just not what Mercy wants and needs someone on her side to sail the ship in the right direction for future generations and hopes that Tabby will be the one to do this. Mercy family have given out they home to ex-cons for generations as that was the Quaker way and Tabby is its latest member.

Once Tabby was release into Mercy care her first port of call was to find out where her ex had homed her cat, but on his doorstep she realizes that her so called friend that gave her was sacked up with her ex and had been for years but all she wants is her cat.

So Tabby new life begins Godsend, Tabby has fond memories of this village as she used to visits them with her mum before she passed away. Now living under Mercy’s roof she can relax and start to make plans for her future and the plans to save the cracker factory and business. Tabby meets all the members of the teams and the lives that Tabby has helped over the years and even starts to go to Quaker meetings which in turn locked her imagination for her papercut designs. Kendal is making sure he pushing his weight around and keeping his eye on her every move regarding his Aunt and her estate, but will the disappointment in each other pull them together!!!!

Well that’s where I have to leave you for you to go and grab a copy of this wonderful tale and for me to start counting down the days till Trisha New book…….

 

The Art of Sinning by Sabrina Jefferies

This book is the first I have read by this author and it was a pleasure to read, but it took a couple of chapters into the book to get hooked on the plot and characters…

In this book we meet Lady Yvette Barlow who has many scandals in her life from blackmailing fiancé to a scandalous brother who has been sent transportation for his actions, but she stands strong and determined to live life her way. This was very unheard of in the 1800’s.

 This takes us to a social gathering where Lady Yvette’s older brother Edwin who has brought her up from a young age from when their mother died and they so called father moved to London and left them too it in the family county estate. Edwin would never and left her side, but was determined to find her a husband. Edwin decided that he would persuade the famous Artist of the time Mr Keane to paint a picture of his sister to future suiters, but Mr Keane asked in return that Edwin who find suitors for his sister to help run the family mill back home so he could carrying on which what he loved to do. When this proposition to Lady Yvette she came up with her own plan she knew that Mr Keane had a reputation with the women and is known to visit brothels in the city which she could use to her advantage. As Lady Yvette had a secret to hide, but the help of Mr Keane she will find the answers she has been looking for, but from the first the sparks fly between them, deal is made where the paintings get done for Edwin keeping him happy but also gets her escort to the city brothels.

It’s not long before they come up with a plan; Mr Keane decides to paint to pictures one for Edwin needs and one for his collection which meant that he would be with her all day. Edwin’s picture was to be done during the day but by night Lady Yvette was at the hands of Mr Keane and the chemistry was starting to build up and the nights become electric as both knew that they could not give into temptation. Over the next few days Lady Yvette opens up about her childhood hoping that she would then be very close to returned information form Mr Keane but he was keeping his cards to his chest…

The plan is in action, they attend a party in the city hosted by Keane’s cousin Zoe which is not far from Covent Gardens and the brothels that they needed to attend, the plan works and sneak away, while visiting the brothel Lady Yvette’s emotions of finding her brothers love child comes to head but keeping her identity safe and intact. Keane locks her in a room before she loses it and the chemistry boils over and they give in to each other… That are no nearer to finding the boy and now with an added complication of that Warren Lady Yvette cousin has followed her to brothel, Keane threatens Warren with Marry Lady Yvette as he is sure he wants her for himself, if only he loved her they could marry and live happy ever after. But Keane makes space between them, on his return he had decided that they needed a clean break he could not give her what she wanted he could finish both paintings back in London. Once he was back in her world and space that went all too pot, he finally opened up about his past and they became one for the night …..

But will his past block they future…… Grab a copy and find out in this delightful read.