Coming Home to Seashell Harbor
(Seashell Harbor #1)
by Miranda Liasson

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

… he started the car with a little jolt. “Hold on to your sunbonnet, sugar.” “Call me sugar again and you’re going to be wearing it yourself.”

My Review:

This was a refreshing and enjoyable second chance romance with relatively low angst, adorable animal rescue, endearing characters, and a realistic level of conflict. Just what I needed to unwind and relax my shoulders down from my ears after reading several intense thrillers in a row. The writing style was engaging, insightfully observant, thoughtfully detailed with vibrant and amusing descriptors, and remarkably easy to follow despite being the first in a series and introducing a community of new characters. The pace was pleasantly smooth and steady with an excellent flow into each segue.   Miranda Liasson is an agile and deft storyteller and I effortlessly slip right into her breezy tales of romantic women’s fiction. She holds a steadfast entry on my favorites list.

Miranda Liasson loves to write stories about everyday people who find love despite themselves because there’s nothing like a great love story. And if there are a few laughs along the way, even better! She’s a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart winner and an Amazon bestselling author whose heartwarming and humorous small-town romances have won accolades such as the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence and have been Harlequin Junkie and Night Owl Reviews Top Picks.

 

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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

By the end of the summer, six girls had disappeared. One day they were there, and the next—gone. Vanished without a trace… Their goneness was impossible to ignore; it was an evil that had settled over the sky the way an impending storm can make your bones throb.

She was quiet, reserved, pale and rail thin, with hair the color of a fiery sunset, something of a walking matchstick.

His voice was deep, stern but somehow sweet at the same time, probably from the unmistakable Southern drawl that made every word sound thick and slow like dripping molasses.

A steady sheet of rain erupts outside and the house is filled with the sound of millions of fingers tapping on the roof, eager to get in.

My Review:

This was an intense and brilliantly nuanced tale with an exceptionally evocative style and held a well-crafted and distinctive aura of tautness from the first word to the last period. I fell right into the character’s troubled gray matter and itched, sweat, and hyperventilated right along with her. My cuticles are a ragged mess!

The writing style was lyrical, emotive, and vividly detailed to taunt the senses. The storylines were fiendishly paced and kept me on edge and guessing. The little pea in my brain was shuddering. I was wrecked, then hopeful, then wrecked yet again while spinning and discarding numerous theories only to come back around to them again while working my way through this intricate web.

Everything about this book was extraordinary and I was flabbergasted to note it was the author’s debut. Stacy Willingham’s word voodoo is strong! She is a phenom, definitely one to watch, and is now residing at the top of my favorites list.

‘A touching story of a friendship between a troubled teenager, a yoga-practicing farming woman in her seventies, and a local library. A delight!’ – Sunday Times bestselling author Katie Fforde

Teenager Tom has always blended into the background of life. After a row with his dad and facing an unhappy future at the dog food factory, he escapes to the library.

Pensioner Maggie has been happily alone with her beloved novels for ten years – at least, that’s what she tells herself.

When they meet, they recognize something in each other that will change both their lives forever.

Then the library comes under threat of closure, and they must join forces to prove that it’s not just about books – it’s the heart of their community.

They are determined to save it – because some things are worth fighting for.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

I’m more conscious than most that people get twitchy around teenage boys. They think we’re all either on drugs or about to nick stuff.

She held my gaze. Usually this made me feel uncomfortable, like seriously uncomfortable, as if I wanted to unzip my own skin and take it off like a onesie, but for some reason this time I was okay.

It was great disappearing into a story but the shame of anyone discovering I was reading romance books was nagging away at me like toothache. Just the thought of it made me nauseous but the truth was I loved them. I was probably a bit addicted. Mainly because they were basically self-help guides for useless men. They were exactly what I needed. Simple lessons in how not to behave around females. I was learning way more from them than I did from my schoolbooks.

‘I practise jujitsu, judo and some elements of aikido. All to a reasonable level.’… ‘Bloody hell, you’re the geriatric version of Bruce Lee!’

They resumed their reading; each delving into other worlds where they could switch off from being themselves and most importantly avoid the things in the real world they could do nothing to alter.

 My Review:

I adored everything about this brilliantly insightful and thoughtfully written hybrid of women’s fiction, family drama, and coming-of-age genres. The endearing characters were enticingly flawed and their struggles were so compellingly written even those with the coldest of hearts would be drawn to them. The storylines and writing style were easy to follow and I quickly fell into a uniquely absorbing vortex that I was reluctant to leave behind when the pesky tasks of real life intruded. I was fully invested and captivated by the smartly written and perceptive story threads and the cleverness of how the various pieces were melding together while maintaining such evocative, well-honed, and heart-touching scenarios that tapped all the feels with generous helpings of amusing temerity and wry wit.

Along with top-shelf entertainment, Ms. Osborne was also provided me with two new additions to my Brit Words and Phrases list with daft ha’p’orth – a foolish person, and shufti – a quick look around. Believe me when I say only a daft ha’p’orth would pass up an opportunity to read this lovely tale.

‘Remember, abseiling is only the second fastest way down a church tower.’

The note pinned to the teddy bear lying at the foot of the church tower could have been a joke – if it hadn’t been for the body on the path next to it!

Somebody wants to make very sure that everyone knows this was not an accident or suicide. But why?

Suddenly, no one in the village has any enthusiasm for the Teddy Bear Abseil, planned to raise money for the children’s play area, as, once again, a murderer walks the narrow, twisty streets of the small Somerset village of Much Winchmoor.

And, once again, Kat Latcham, reporter/dog walker/barmaid and occasional reluctant hair salon gopher finds herself unwillingly dragged into a murder investigation.

This fourth Much Winchmoor mystery is spiked with humor and sprinkled with romance.

And, of course, one carefully planned, coldly executed murder.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

“I said back then the two of them were totally incombustible. And I was proved right.” “I think maybe you mean incompatible,”

I don’t know who she is. Certainly no one I’d ever seen in the village before with her short skirt, ridiculous shoes and black nails. She looked like a leftover from a Halloween party.

Everyone knows everyone else’s business. If someone sneezes at one end of the village, someone down the other end will have said who they’d been with and what they’d been up to, to catch the cold in the first place.

Overbearing, pompous and far too full of his own self-importance for someone who used to be one of Much Winchmoor’s big cheeses… He only avoided prosecution because he resigned his position on the council. He was not even a little cheese anymore. More a ‘past its best’ mouldy old Cheddar.

I’d never noticed her fingernails before, but it was like she’d suddenly turned into Edward Scissorhands on a bad day.

My Review:

Paula Willilams is such a wicked tease. Normally, I would be fuming over the tantalizing yet incomplete and open-ended storylines yet Ms. Williams has definitely snagged my interest while each new installment keeps me hopelessly ensnared with her delightfully captivating and fiendishly clever cozy murder mysteries and the will they/won’t they romance for childhood friends, Kat and Will. She achieves an exacting balance of wry humor, red herring and deftly buried clues, family drama, eccentric characters, and small-town gossip intermingling with intrigue. She has done it to me yet again with her latest smirk-worthy offering and I am chafing at the bit to see who she offs next and what she does about Will in the next episode.

About the Author

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Paula Williams is living her dream. She’s written all her life – her earliest efforts involved blackmailing her unfortunate younger brothers into appearing in her plays and pageants. But it’s only in recent years that she discovered, to her surprise, that people with better judgment than her brothers actually liked what she wrote and were prepared to pay her for it.

Now, she writes every day in a lovely, book-lined study in her home in Somerset, UK, where she lives with her husband and a handsome but not always obedient rescue dog, a Dalmatian called Duke. She is very proud to be a member of both the UK Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Crime Writers’ Association. 

Her Much Winchmoor Mysteries are based in a small Somerset village that bears an uncanny resemblance to her own – although none of her friends and neighbors have murderous tendencies – as far as she knows! Her novels often feature a murder or two, a dog and cat or two, and are always spiked with humor and sprinkled with a touch of romance.

Paula is, indeed, living her dream. But she worries that one day she’s going to wake up and find she still has to bully her brothers into performing ‘the play what she wrote’.

 

One severed head, two warring neighbors – and a cold-blooded killer stalks Much Winchmoor.

There’s the murder made to look like a tragic accident and a missing husband. Could he be victim number two?

The tiny Somerset village is fast gaining a reputation as the murder capital of the West Country, and once again, reporter/barmaid/dog walker, Kat Latcham, finds herself reluctantly dragged into the investigation.

Things are looking bad for Ed Fuller, the husband of one of Kat’s oldest friends. Kat is convinced he’s innocent – but she’s been wrong before. Has Kat come across her biggest challenge yet?

Fans of Janet Evanovich could well enjoy this “funky, modern-day nosey detective” transported to the English countryside.

The third Much Winchmoor mystery is, as always, spiked with humor and sprinkled with a touch of romance.

About the Author

Amazon
Goodreads
Website
Facebook
Twitter
BookBub
Instagram

 

Paula Williams is living her dream. She’s written all her life – her earliest efforts involved blackmailing her unfortunate younger brothers into appearing in her plays and pageants. But it’s only in recent years that she discovered, to her surprise, that people with better judgment than her brothers actually liked what she wrote and were prepared to pay her for it.

Now, she writes every day in a lovely, book-lined study in her home in Somerset, UK, where she lives with her husband and a handsome but not always obedient rescue dog, a Dalmatian called Duke. She is very proud to be a member of both the UK Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Crime Writers’ Association. 

Her Much Winchmoor Mysteries are based in a small Somerset village that bears an uncanny resemblance to her own – although none of her friends and neighbors have murderous tendencies – as far as she knows! Her novels often feature a murder or two, a dog and cat or two, and are always spiked with humor and sprinkled with a touch of romance.

Paula is, indeed, living her dream. But she worries that one day she’s going to wake up and find she still has to bully her brothers into performing ‘the play what she wrote’.

It’s time for the wedding we’ve all been waiting for…

Life at Hedgehog Hollow is never dull, although Samantha hopes that the new year ahead will be a little less chaotic as she prepares to marry the love of her life, Josh. But disaster strikes when she checks the rescue center’s bank account after the festive season and discovers it has been emptied. Who would do such a thing, and why? With the future of Hedgehog Hollow now in jeopardy, planning a wedding has lost its shine.

Phoebe is desperate to escape the shadow of her family, infamously known for their attacks on Samantha’s beloved rescue center. Could the kindness of the Hedgehog Hollow team be the chance she needs for a fresh start, or will her family’s secrets continue to drag her back?

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

The fragrance stays in the hand that gives the rose.

My Review:

I’ve binge-read three books in a row of this beguiling series and would gladly keep going until the great dirt nap as this author has definitely hit her stride with these engaging and poignantly written tales. She has consistently managed to achieve a perfect emotional tone and balance between amusing humor, evocative insights, intriguing revelations, family drama, personal conflict, interesting factoids, and instructive and perceptive observations. I have delighted in the refreshingly angst-free romance between the “badass hedgehog saviour” and the super vet as well as the lessons I’ve obtained while they tend to their adorable “hogspital” patients and fractured families.

This tale involved diverse as well as realistically tragic storylines of abuse and neglect, which were deftly and skillfully handled with thoughtful sensitivity. Jessica Redland continues to entice, impress, awe, and wow me with her wordcraft, as her emotive phrasing taps each end of the emotional spectrum with an understated elegance that avoids even approaching an exaggerated or over-the-top level of drama.   I covet her mad skills!

With new arrivals comes new responsibilities…

The sun is shining, wildflowers are blooming and Hedgehog Hollow is officially open for business.

For Samantha, the proud owner of this beautiful rescue center, life has never been busier. But with an influx of new hogs and hoglets to take care of, not to mention a full-time job and ongoing family issues, can she accept the possibility that she has taken on more than she can handle?

Fortunately, she has the love of her life, Josh, by her side for support and encouragement. But Josh has his own family troubles to deal with. And soon he must decide if he’s ready to do the one thing he swore he’d never do – forgive his father.

For both Samantha and Josh it’s a season of change and for figuring out whether the past can ever truly be forgotten.

Escape back to wonderful Hedgehog Hollow with top 10 bestseller Jessica Redland for the perfect uplifting read full of love, hope, and forgiveness.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

If I could turn back the clock… I’d have been honest about that choice right from the start. We’re not time-travellers, though, and life’s about learning to live with the decisions we make and the impact of those decisions.

I’ll always love that man but I’ve come to realise that he was my northwest. Almost perfect but not perfect enough to last forever.

I’ve come to the conclusion that life is pretty strange and sometimes we just have to roll with it.

 My Review:

Another winsome and engaging Jessica Redland read that kept me happily entertained and pleasantly amused all day. I am enamored with this delightful series and being a true animal lover, I’m now curiously fascinated and borderline obsessed with hedgehogs, which are creatures I’ve never seen but now have gained an exceptional amount of usable knowledge of their needs and care should I ever meet one in the future.

Jessica Redland is a deft hand at smoothly weaving endearing, easy to fall into, and distinctively satisfying stories that effortlessly pull me into her characters’ uniquely involved vortex where I experience their perils and thrills right along with them as if I were an invited guest with first-hand knowledge. Her characters are so fully inhabited I feel I could reach out and touch them, and often wish I could. I hope this series lasts into perpetuity, as I doubt I could ever grow tired of their oddly complicated family dynamics.

The main character of Samantha is the type of lovely and generously spirited person we all wished we could be but few could ever possibly achieve her level of thoughtful and innate kindness. She is far too empathetic and forgiving of her obnoxious and malicious family members’ repeatedly vile exchanges, intentional slights, selfish behaviors, and venomous personalities. While I espouse to the theory of what goes around comes around, I am more the type to grow impatient with the wait and help karma along.

CAN LOVE REALLY BE FOUND WHEN YOU STOP LOOKING FOR IT…?

As Samantha Wishaw watches the love of her life marry another woman, she’s ready to give up hope of finding her happy ever after.

But when a chance encounter leads Sam to find friendship in Thomas – a lonely, grumpy elderly widower living at derelict Hedgehog Hollow – her life is about to change forever.

Glad to have a distraction from family feuds and match-making, Sam vows to fulfill Thomas and his wife, Gwendoline’s, dreams of restoring Hedgehog Hollow to its former glory and to open a hedgehog rescue center.

Throwing herself into the task at hand, little does Sam realize that the keys to love and happiness may also be found at Hedgehog Hollow when she least expects it…

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Shit happens and it’s how you deal with it that makes you happy or miserable. You can roll in that shit and stink up your life or you can spray the air freshener and move on.

Always remember that you shine. Those who try to take away your sparkle aren’t worthy of it.

It’s not the time someone’s in our lives but the impact they have on us.

My Review:

I adored these oddly endearing characters and their poignantly written tale. I was quickly immersed in their engaging story that kept me entertained while plumbing all the emotions from one end of the scale to the other. What a delightful beginning to a new series that has me primed and ready for more. My perusal had me bouncing from smirks and giggle-snorts to the peculiar sensations of my heart being squeezed while hot rocks filled my throat and my eyes began to leak a salty fluid. And this mysteriously rare phenomenon occurred several different times. What madness!

Jessica Redland is a master storyteller and one of my all-time favorite wordsmiths. Her emotive and cleverly insightful descriptions skillfully placed me in the room with her uniquely enticing yet struggling characters as their lives took various turns and painful nosedives. Her pen undoubtedly contains magic ink.