Blog Tour - Lucy's Book Club for the Lost and Found by Emma Davies

Sometimes you’ve got to run away to find yourself…

Twenty-four-year-old Lucy needs a fresh start. Forever single and frustrated with her studies she gives up everything to run a little library in the leafy village of Tilley Moreton.

Lucy loves reading almost as much as she loves fixing other people’s problems, so starting a book club seems like the perfect opportunity to do both. As she meets her new members, it’s clear she’s going to have her work cut out for her. Handsome but silent Callum is the biggest puzzle of them all...

But Lucy’s meddling begins to cause more problems than it solves, and no one is more surprised than Lucy when Callum steps in to help. Could there be more to him than people think?

As Callum and Lucy start working together to fix the broken hearts of the library’s most loyal customers, the first sparks of romance begin to fly.

Can they right all the trouble Lucy has created, and might there be a chance for a happy ending of their own?

An utterly uplifting, emotional page-turner that will bring tears to your eyes and a smile to your face. Perfect for fans of Jenny Colgan and Milly Johnson.

Today I am pleased to be part of the Bookouture Blog Blitz to celebrate the publication of Emma Davies' new release, Lucy's Book Club for the Lost and Found.

I really enjoyed this book, it is one of the those books that once picked up, can not be put down until it is finished! It is one of those books that take the reader through a rollercoaster of emotions while in the middle of a great read.

Lucy, the main character, is in temporarily in charge of a library, while also suffering confusion about her teaching career and unsure what to do. Her life is in turmoil but she, as I am sure many of us do, finds the solution within a good book. 

There is a great cast of characters, and we meet them all through the library's book club. Each member has their own life, and their problems are also dealt with within the book. As I previously said, this book is a roller coaster of emotions and I really enjoyed reading about the reading club's members lives, they represent communities all over the country and I am sure everyone can relate to a number of the cast within this book.

I definitely would recommend this book to all, get settled one weekend with a drink, comfy chair, some chocolate and some tissues - you will not be disappointed.

Thank you to the publishers for  inviting me to take part in the blog blitz. I did receive a copy of the book in return for an honest review on my blog.

Blog Tour - The Cosy Christmas Chocolate Shop by Caroline Roberts

Today I am really excited to take part in the blog tour to celebrate the publication of Caroline Roberts' new book, The Cosy Christmas Chocolate Shop. 

The snow is falling, the hot chocolate's warming, and hearts are melting . . .
Emma is the proud owner of The Chocolate Shop by the Sea, nestled in the heart of the cosy seaside village that's become her home. With Christmas right around the corner, she and her assistant Holly are busy cooking up the locals' festive favourites.
From cinnamon hot chocolates to reindeer lollipops, Christmas wouldn't taste the same without a little cocoa magic. And for Emma it's the perfect distraction from her romantic pains of the past. So when the shop's miserly landlord threatens to hike up the rent, Emma's Christmas and New Year suddenly look a lot less cheerful.
With the whole village rallying behind her - and loyal spaniel Alfie by her side - Emma's determined to hold onto her chocolate-box dream.
The chocolate calendar countdown is on. Can Emma rescue her business and her broken heart?

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN: 9780008236281             

Christmas is a time for everyone to indulge in everything and top of a lot of peoples' lists is chocolate. This book is a pure celebration of this tradition, a shop within a small village where chocolates are handmade and packaged to order, where villagers pop into the shop for their favourite chocolate of choice to enjoy after their evening meal or to give to loved ones as a present to say 'just thinking about you'. It is definitely not a book to read if the reader is on a diet or trying to cut down on chocolate before the festive period. Emma's handmade chocolates are described in great detail and the reader can almost smell the chocolates as she is making them. The publishers, Harper Impulse, and Caroline have very kindly shared with me a recipe for Emma's festive Chocolate Orange Truffles.

(Makes approx. 36)

Ingredients:

• 250g of good quality (at least 70%) dark chocolate 125ml fresh orange juice (or home squeezed even better) 150g caster sugar
• Zest of 1 orange
• 150g dark chocolate to decorate

Method:

1.            Finely chop the dark chocolate and place in a bowl.

2.            In a saucepan, bring the orange juice, sugar and zest to a simmer, and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

3.            Pour onto the chocolate and stir until melted.

4.            Chill until firm in a fridge (around 4 hours). 

5.            Scoop out a teaspoon of mixture and roll into a ball between the palms of your hands, place on a tray lined with greaseproof paper; repeat. 

6.            Melt the decorating chocolate gently in a bowl over hot water. Using a fork or cocktail sticks, dip the truffle balls into the melted chocolate to coat. It needs to be smooth but not too runny to coat the truffle centres properly; just allow to cool a little more if it seems to slide off.

7.            Transfer to greaseproof paper to set.

I really recommend this book to all my readers. It is the perfect book to read in the build up to Christmas. The book is set in a fictional seaside village, where the shop owners knew their regular customers by name, often knowing what they would be buying before they have asked. The Cosy Chocolate Shop is one of the shops within the village and is very popular. I wish I lived in the village, although I am sure that I would be a very regular visitor. Emma also has an assistant, Holly, who loves working in the shop almost as much as Emma, and she soon begins a relationship with the assistant manager of the local hotel - it is through this friendship that Emma begins to extend her business and tries to find ways of working with local businesses to promote the shop and her range of handmade chocolates. 

The book is based around the build up to Christmas and I really enjoyed watching Emma's thought process about building her business and her plans to extend her small shop to include a small coffee shop. It sounds like a great premises, an old cottage, which was refurbished to become a shop and the coffee shop was a great idea which also improved village life - a place for the older generation and younger, teenage generation could meet with their friends. 

Aswell as the story of the chocolate shop, and Holly's relationship, there is also a possible friendship for Emma, but of course it isn't plain sailing and I really enjoyed this part of the story, one which I don't want to spoil for my blog readers.

This book is very easy to devour in a weekend and it is one of those books that leaves the reader with a warm cosy, festive feeling.

Thank you to Harper Impulse and to Caroline Roberts for asking me to take part in the blog tour and for sharing the scrummy recipe for Chocolate Orange Truffles which I think I will be trying very soon.

Blog Tour - Christmas at Mistletoe Cottage by Lucy Daniels

Today I am pleased to be a stop on the Christmas at Mistletoe Cottage by Lucy Daniels blog tour. As a child I read a number of the popular Animal Ark books and I have also bought a couple for my daughter when she was younger. Lucy Daniels is also the author of the Animal Ark series. 

Christmas at Mistletoe Cottage is the second book in this series of books which is set at Hope Meadows, a rescue centre, set up by our main characters, Mandy, who has returned to live with her parents and help out in their vetinary surgery, while also fulfilling her dreams and setting up a rescue centre for all those animals that need to be rehomed or rescued from unsuitable owners or surroundings (including two fluffy donkeys in this book).  If I am totally honest, I read the first book in this series, Summer at Hope Meadows, and was not immediately loving the story. I really liked the characters and the settings and the storyline within the book but I wasn't sure about the actual book,  I felt that it was rather slow in places, however I have definitely changed my mind since reading Christmas at Mistletoe Cottage. I really enjoyed the story, great to meet up again with Mandy and her parents and also Jimmy, the hunky bloke who has also returned to the village and has just opened a rope adventure centre within the local woodland.  The storyline seemed to move quicker and I found myself wanting to read just one more chapter before sleep (one of my signs of a great book).

The title suggests that the book is Christmas focused and there is a note to Christmas within the book however it is not a book solely about the Christmas period, rather the winter months (first book called Summer, second book Christmas (Winter) and the third book, out next year, is Spring) and therefore it is not only for the festive period. It is great to read about the changes in season and the related changes that occur in nature. There is lots of talk about the surroundings and all the fields and woodland and also the wildlife that lives within. It is great to get lost within the book, imagining the scenery and all the animals in the surroundings.

Although this book is the second book in the series, it could be read as a standalone very easily, however reading Summer at Hope Meadows first gives the background of why and how Mandy returned to her parents home and her reasons behind opening up the rescue centre.

A great book to loose yourself in over the autumn/winter months which transports you to the middle of the English countryside. I am already looking forward to spring and our next visit to Hope Meadows.

Thank you to Hodder and Stoughton for inviting me to join the tour.