Christmas Kisses On Hollywell Hill

by Jackie Ladbury

Christmas is coming and actress Kirsty Castille seems doomed to play the front part of Nag, the Christmas pantomime horse, when a surprise audition lands her the lead role as Maria in the Sound of Music.

Even better she bonds with a handsome chef over a piece of squid at her local supermarket, although sadly romance is the last thing on Jake Levy’s mind.

He has a Christmas deadline, an ex-wife to mourn and lots of emotional baggage to drag around. He certainly doesn’t have time for romance and even if he did he wouldn’t fall for someone like Kirsty who craves the limelight: been there, done that.

A misunderstanding leads Jake to offer Kirsty a job in his new restaurant and she takes it purely to convince him that she’s the girl of his dreams.

Her charm offensive begins to work but while he’s cooking up a storm she’s secretly sparkling under the spotlight – until her cover is busted.

The fallout is catastrophic, but as they say in Luvvie Land, the show must go on, even if Kirsty is terrified that she’s taken her last curtain call and ruined her chance for love.

Read on and immerse yourself in this delightful winter romance as the snow starts to fall and Christmas day becomes a magical reality.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Kirsty gave him her Cruella de Vil glare, the one she practised in the mirror for when her big break came and she’d have to fight off autograph hunters and journalists.

She’d discovered in dating agency lingo, that five foot ten, actually meant five foot six, “emotional” was a euphemism for misery guts who just wanted to drone on about the ex-wife’s handbag addiction, and “sporty with a sense of fun,” meant juvenile show off who wanted to blag on about his chronograph diving watch and his knowledge of stupid YouTube videos. At least the one she conversed with did – and he had a rare DeLorean apparently. She’d asked whether he’d had some cream from the doctor’s for it, and he’d ended the conversation abruptly.

‘The men look like they’re already seated,’ Kirsty said with a giggle. ‘I’ve seen taller men on the set of Snow White.’ Allie gulped at her drink and fiddled with the strap of her bag. ‘All the girls are pretty and the men are all pretty ugly. What an unfair world we live in.’ She surveyed the room.

Boring would be the last thing I’d put on your tick sheet. Keeping up with your conversation is harder than trying to understand my grandma without her teeth in.

I was good, you were bad, very bad … you were a wolf in wolf’s clothing.

 My Review:

This was a fun yet somewhat challenging read. I enjoyed Ms. Ladbury’s quirky characters, unpredictable and ironic plot twists, and zings of clever levity; although the yo-yo on and off nature of Kirsty’s relationships and Jake’s indecisiveness were rather frustrating. Kirsty led a rich fantasy life, she talked to inanimate objects, inventing lives and families in her head for strangers and names on tombstones, and was prone to break out in dance in the grocery store aisle if the muse hit her. While she wasn’t mentally ill, she was much like a female Walter Mitty, as by her own choice her grasp of reality was often tenuous as she would rather live in her head than face her rather grim and near penniless reality. Most of the main characters had a few screws loose but my patience was well rewarded with this engaging and entertaining read.

For a new addition to my Brit Word List, I spied the unfamiliar munter – which is British informal for an ugly person and a very fun word to mutter or say aloud. 😉

Coming Home to Merriment Bay

Part Two – Sparks Fly

by Emily Harvale

Lily Harper is an events organizer, but her neat, ordered world has just exploded. First, she lost her job, then she lost her fiancé. Her five-year plan is looking increasingly shaky.

Lost and lonely, Lily heads home to her childhood village, and accepts the position of live-in housekeeper at the grand but welcoming Willow Tree Hall. It’s not exactly her dream job – Lily is more used to arranging parties than pantries – but at least she’s working.

Her first task is to arrange the Willow Tree Hall summer fete. Lily is in her element, writing to-do lists and organizing bunting and baking – until her old flame Jack Carter turns up in the village. Lily hasn’t seen Jack in over ten years, when he sped off on his motorbike, taking with him the pieces of her broken heart.

Lily vowed she would never forgive him. But as Willow Tree Hall weaves its magic, Lily finds she might just give Jack a second chance after all…

Full of warmth, tears, love, and laughter, this is a gripping romance for fans of Heidi Swain and Philippa Ashley.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

‘Paddling pool time,’ she said, with a grunt. ‘Which at least will replace the horror of bath time. And then bedtime followed swiftly by gin o’clock.’

‘How marvellous,’ said the woman, giving Jack a once over that would make anyone blush. ‘Is that flashy car yours? How I do like a man with a fast-running motor!’ ‘Thank you,’ said Jack, his mouth twitching into a smile. Aunt Rose had to be at least seventy years old and was dressed in a very fashionable dress, jacket and matching hat from which protruded a large feather in the same hot pink colour. Sam sighed. ‘I’d like to say that you get used to my aunt’s flirting but don’t assume that you have to.’ ‘My darling nephew, I do not flirt!’ said Rose, with a throaty chuckle. ‘I merely stun and disarm.’

‘Men!’ said Rose, rolling her eyes. ‘They’re just too awful but oh! L’amour! Who can resist them? Now, have you tried Tinder? I mean, you get a few freaks obviously but the sex is marvellous!’

‘You’ve put on a pound or two, haven’t you, chubby?’ ‘Stress eating,’ the man told him, taking a step backward. ‘Mind you, that’s nothing compared to your grey hairs.’ ‘It’s being famous again,’ said Mick, rubbing his grey sideburns which he’d missed with the hair dye. ‘People wanting money everywhere I look. Vultures, the lot of them.’ ‘Poor you,’ said the stranger in a sympathetic tone. ‘You really enjoyed those years being has-beens after all, eh?’

My Review:

I’m continuing to enjoy my stay in the quaint little village of Cranley and the extensive grounds of Willow Tree Hall. This installment was considerably more angst-ridden than the last with significant career, personal, and family stressors present for the two new main characters of Lily and Jack, who both separately find themselves unemployed and back in their small village after more than a decade apart. Despite the heavier issues and concerns covered, Ms. Sherlock thoughtfully and shrewdly provided comic relief often through the always effervescent and outrageous flirting of great-aunt Rose. Aunt Rose continued to delight and entertain with her feisty attitude and joie de vivre. I aspire to be as cool at any age as Aunt Rose in her seventies. Although, there were several other oddly enticing and idiosyncratic visitors bringing in smirk-worth levity as well. I am enjoying my travels to this busy little hamlet and look forward to more adventures there.

New additions to my Brit Word List include budge up – to move over, make room for others; and scrumping – stealing apples from someone else’s orchard.

Ten Things My Husband Hated

by Pauline Wiles

Maggie Moone is happily divorced.

And with her talent for fixing things, she’s perfectly content with her mundane life in the sleepy English village of Saffron Sweeting. That is, until one humiliating March evening when she learns everyone else assumes she’d love to mend her broken marriage.

Determined to prove them wrong, Maggie and her friends concoct a list of ten ways to assert her independence and live large. But her mission to move on leads to unexpected encounters, and Maggie soon finds herself mixing business with pleasure. Is the attractive young Irishman just another item on her list, or is he something more?

Before long, unresolved issues from her past begin to clash, and Maggie is forced to wonder if antagonizing her ex-husband was such a stellar idea.

No sooner does she begin to understand what’s important to her, than she stands to lose everything that truly matters.

This is the fourth in the collection of Saffron Sweeting romantic comedies, which can be read in any order. If you like gentle British humor and deliciously resilient heroines, you’ll love Ten Things My Husband Hated.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Not only had I jumped the queue, I’d snapped at an old-age pensioner, and accused everyone of needing pills to help them poop.

It felt strange to hear my maiden name after so long. I probably hadn’t heard it since my wedding day, way back when Pluto was a planet.

‘I know you have a knack for it, but surely you’re not liking these odds and sods?’ She made it sound as though I was embalming corpses at the morgue, or cleaning public toilets.

Nobody in Saffron Sweeting knew Mrs Worthing’s first name. Everywhere you went, people accorded her the respect she demanded. She walked around in all weathers with a headscarf firmly tied, and her chin half an inch higher than it should be. The corners of her mouth, on the other hand, never lifted at all.

He shrugged, then wrote something on the clipboard. No doubt a secret acronym for patient is deranged.

I looked down, and recoiled in horror… I was an unmitigated dog’s dinner. My clothes were drenched in sweat, my hair was a hedgehog’s nest, my face was smeared with goodness knows what, and I’d wiped my nose on my shirt.

My Review:

This was my second time reading the crafty Ms. Wiles amusing words, and I believe she has become a bit habit-forming, as perusing her clever tales is something I would enjoy incorporating into my diet for a tasty treat.   Written from the first-person POV of Maggie, a rather wimpy and mousy jam loving divorcee who must have been a medical marvel as she appeared to be missing any trace of a backbone. I enjoyed the humorous storylines but wanted to provide Maggie with several brisk yanks as a form of medical intervention to dislodge her cranium from her backside. However, her friends hoped to refocus her energy and give her a kick-start toward self-independence by making a list of activities to be viewed as rebellious acts against her rather smug and self-serving ex-husband. There were a few mixed results and comical escapades along the way with a small village full of quirky yet oddly captivating residents.

I gleaned two new and fun additions to my Brit Words and Phrases list with: odds and sods – different kinds of things that are usually small and unimportant; and much of a muchness – two things that are very similar.   The UK saying of “odds and sods” seems much of a muchness to the use of “odds and ends” in the USA, although I’m finding odds and sods to be far more fun to say aloud.

.

Coming Home to Merriment Bay
Part One: A Reunion
Merriment Bay series
by Emily Harvale

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

I don’t know how your mum stays alive because she clearly doesn’t have a heart.

 It’s like an inferno in that kitchen. But that might have something to do with Luigi, the chef. He could make my pot boil any time he wants, if you catch my meaning. I’ve half a mind to make him husband number three.

 So many questions and thoughts and fears careered around in Cat’s mind, but her lips wouldn’t form any words. Not polite ones, anyway.

 The expression on Mary’s face was one of abject horror. As if she had seen the four horsemen of the Apocalypse and they were heading straight for her.

 My Review:

Starting a new series involves setting the stage, establishing the traits and personality quirks of the various characters, and drawing the reader in with various story threads and my curiosity has been poked, nudged, and dialed to itch factor, as I’m impatient to know the secrets. What a tease that Emily Harvale, I would stamping my little foot and turning the air blue if I didn’t already have Part Two already loaded on my Kindle.

Home is where the heart is …

Alice Dorothy Matthews is sensible. Whilst her best friend Kathy is living it up in Portugal and her insufferable ex Adam is traveling the world, Alice is working hard to pay for the beloved London house she has put her heart and soul into renovating.

But then a postcard from Buenos Aires turns Alice’s life upside down. One very unsensible decision later and she is in Cascais, Portugal, and so begins her lesson in ‘going with the flow’; a lesson that sees her cat-sitting, paddle boarding, dancing on top of bars and rediscovering her artistic talents.

But perhaps the most important part of the lesson for Alice is that you don’t always need a house to be at home.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

You wouldn’t know nonchalant if it knocked on your door and said hello, I’m nonchalant, whispered the voice in her head.

Bricks and mortar. They can’t protect you from everything, can they? They can protect you from the wind and the rain and the cold, but they can’t protect you from your emotions.

I look like I’ve been living in a cave all my life surviving on a diet of pasties and washing my hair with lard.

My Review:

Poor Alice, she couldn’t seem to climb out of her gloom as it kept coming at her from all sides, including her own inner voice. Her ex-boyfriend, who had left her with debts, was back and wanting to claim half of her home; she had lost her job and her sparkle; and her inner voice was berating her at every turn. Alice’s tale was insightfully written with clever observational humor, a quirky cast of characters, angst, loss of self, a pyramid full of insecurities, lots of waffling and indecision, a blossoming romance, rekindling of old friendships, high anxiety, self-rediscovery, adventures in a foreign land, paddle boarding, pet-sitting, ambling, jewelry making, photography, artistry, home renovation, and an empowering evolution with defiantly vibrant trousers – which I greedily coveted. I frequently alternated between empathy for Alice and wanting to give her a smack to the back of the head, but I was proud of her and for her by the end.