Christmas at The Chocolate Pot Café

by Jessica Redland

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU

A few minutes of courage might change your life…

Emotionally, Tara Porter finds the festive period a challenge. Christmas Day is a reminder of the family she lost, and New Year’s Eve holds bitter memories of the biggest mistake of her life: marrying Garth Tewkesbury. Shunning invitations to celebrate, she seeks refuge in her flat with only her giant house bunny, Hercules, for company.

Professionally, though, it’s the best time of year. Tara’s thriving café, The Chocolate Pot, is always packed. With the café hosting a wedding and engagement party, it’s shaping up to be the café’s best Christmas ever.

When former nemesis, Jed Ferguson, threatens the future of The Chocolate Pot, Tara prepares for a fight. The café is everything to her and she’s not going to let anyone or anything jeopardize that.

Tara badly misjudged ex-husband Garth and, since then, has refused to let anyone in. After all, if you don’t let them in, they can’t hurt you. But has she misjudged Jed too? Is it possible that he’s not the arrogant, deceitful man from whom she bought the café 14 years earlier? Can she find the courage to find out for sure?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Nobody had ever kissed my hand before. I felt like a heroine in an Austen novel, being wooed by an English gent. I had to fight hard not to giggle childishly or say anything stupid.

 I’ll admit that there’s a teeny weeny fragment of sympathy for him, but Joyce seems to think the sun shines out of his arse, whereas I just think he is an arse.

I think I may have had an attack of the verbals…

My Review:

Tara was an enigmatic cross between Pollyanna, a “spiky” cynic, and a secretly prolific crafter and hygge enthusiast. She had limited her life space to her business, her giant house bunny, and her clandestine crafting. Her story tugged and squeezed my heart and I adored her, as I have every quirkily flawed character this talented author has introduced me to with this addictive and entertaining series. Each story in this lively and insightfully written series has been delightfully and lusciously detailed with poignant and original storylines and unique challenges for the lovable yet besieged characters to conquer. This story held several added layers of maddeningly paced intrigue that continually poked and prickled my curiosity. I seem destined to read Ms. Redland’s work out of order, yet it makes no nevermind as while her tales are interconnected, they all have strong legs and are quite capable of standing alone, but what is the fun in that?   Collect and read them all, and be a better person for it. I have unearthed a fun new addition to my Brit Word list with muggins, which Mr. Google defined as “a foolish and gullible person (often used humorously to refer to oneself).”

Author Bio 

Jessica had never considered writing as a career until a former manager kept telling her that her business reports read more like stories and she should write a book. She loved writing but had no plot ideas. Then something happened to her that prompted the premise for her debut novel, Searching for Steven. She put fingers to keyboard and soon realized she had a trilogy and a novella.

She lives on the stunning North Yorkshire Coast — the inspiration for the settings in her books — with her husband, daughter, cat, Sprocker Spaniel, and an ever-growing collection of collectible teddy bears. Although if the dog has her way, the collection will be reduced to a pile of stuffing and chewed limbs!

Her passion for North Yorkshire is shared by fellow-writer and great friend, Sharon Booth and, together, they are the Yorkshire Rose Writers.

Jessica tries to balance her time — often unsuccessfully — between being an HR tutor, trying to re-learn how to play the piano, studying towards a Masters in Creative Writing, and writing itself. Who needs sleep?

Social Media Links –

Twitter: @JessicaRedland

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JessicaRedlandWriter/

Website and blog: www.jessicaredland.com

Until the Next Time

(Give Me Shelter #2)

by Josie Kerr

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU  / B&N

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Jason and Meghan had the most complicated uncomplicated non-relationship he’d ever been involved in, because when it came right down to it, he didn’t do relationships.

He hadn’t seen Chelsea in months, not since she’d gone to California to try her hand at getting a real modeling job, as opposed to just posing and making duck faces in the mirror for people on the internet… Her showing up with a bottle of champagne in each hand foretold of either a huge break or a giant breakdown…

I have to go see a woman about converting a detached garage into a ‘she shed’ … It’s like a man cave but girly. I predict a Pinterest nightmare, but the lady’s paying me.

“Pierce used to be a bouncer at Foley’s. He’s a sweetheart.” “A sweetheart that is capable of pulling my arms off and bludgeoning me with them. Jesus.” “Oh, he doesn’t do that stuff anymore… Usually.”

My Review:

This bickering couple generated enough sensual heat to set off fire sprinklers. Holy singed ceiling tiles! I enjoyed this couple. Meghan and Jason started off as friends with benefits, but despite her general crankiness and someone trying to ruin her business and end her life above ground, they developed into a much more profound, supportive, and satisfying level of squabbling and began relating to each other beyond the slap and tickle. The engaging storylines were well-crafted and populated with a large cast of interesting and oddly enticing characters. The narrative was well balanced between humor, steam, and a variety of stressors and tense situations and was also active and highly eventful with lashings of intrigue. I am eager to see what Ms. Kerr does with the rest of this group of quirky friends.

Josie Kerr   

 For Better and Worse

by Margot Hunt

Amazon | B-A-M | B&N

Paperback: 336 Pages

Publisher: MIRA; Original edition (December 11, 2018)

On their first date back in law school, Natalie and Will Clarke bonded over drinks, dinner and whether they could get away with murder. Now married, they’ll put the latter to the test when an unchecked danger in their community places their son in jeopardy. Working as a criminal defense attorney, Nat refuses to rely on the broken legal system to keep her family safe. She knows that if you want justice…you have to get it yourself.

Shocked to discover Nat’s taken matters into her own hands, Will has no choice but to dirty his, also. His family is in way too deep to back down now. He’s just not sure he recognizes the woman he married. Nat’s always been fiercely protective, but never this ruthless or calculating. With the police poking holes in their airtight plan, what will be the first to fall apart: their scandalous secret—or their marriage?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

She was a delicious, fizzing secret that had transformed my boring, colorless life into something exciting.

He was an affable guy in his late forties, with the sort of annoyingly boyish good looks that women always went for. My main impression of him, after being law partners for a number of years, was that while he led a charmed life, he was about as deep as a puddle. He had a pretty, vapid wife and a couple of good-looking, vapid children who all excelled at sports.

He lifted the corners of his mouth up in a sly smile. He suddenly, vividly reminded me of the crocodile exhibit at the Palm Beach Zoo.

When I was a kid, my dad used to tell me, ‘Some people just need killing.’ I always thought that he was being overly harsh. After all, my dad also made me go to Sunday school, where they talked about turning the other cheek and forgiving your neighbor. But if you live the life I’ve lived, seen the things I’ve seen…” He shrugged, as if trying to push away a whole history of bad memories. “I can’t say that my father was wrong.”

She thought that sometimes she loved Will, and sometimes she hated him. Sometimes she couldn’t tell the difference between the two.

My Review:

Margot Hunt has mastered the art of building and maintaining tension and suspense in her artful and brilliant arrangements of words. This wasn’t a thriller or a “who done it” murder mystery as we witness the murder being committed and I will confess, I even wanted to help and felt a bit complicit. I was taut with tension, nibbling on my cuticles, and largely unsettled while reading Ms. Hunt’s compelling and well-crafted storylines. If ever there were a case for justifiable homicide, this would fit most anyone’s criteria. The premise was ingenious; the writing was superb and maddeningly paced; the characters were intriguingly nuanced, and the ending left me smirking.   Sequel, Ms. Hunt?

About Margot Hunt

Margot Hunt is the pseudonym of a bestselling writer of twelve previous novels. Her work has been praised by Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist and Kirkus Reviews. BEST FRIENDS FOREVER is her first psychological thriller.

Connect with Margot

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Fa-La-Llama-La: Christmas at the Little French Llama Farm 

by Stephanie Dagg

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA

Author Bio –

I’m an English expat living in France, having moved here with my family in 2006 after fourteen years as an expat in Ireland. I now consider myself a European rather than ‘belonging’ to any particular country. The last ten years have been interesting, to put it mildly. Taking on seventy-five acres with three lakes, two hovels and one cathedral-sized barn, not to mention an ever-increasing menagerie, makes for exciting times. The current array of animals includes alpacas, llamas, huarizos (alpaca-llama crossbreds, unintended in our case and all of them thanks to one very determined alpaca male), sheep, goats, pigs, ducks, geese, chickens and turkeys, not forgetting our pets of dogs, cats, zebra finches, budgies , canaries, lovebirds and Chinese quail. Before we came to France all we had was a dog and two chickens, so it’s been a steep learning curve. I recount these experiences in my book Heads Above Water: Staying Afloat in France and the sequel to that, Total Immersion: Ten Years in France. I also blog regularly at www.bloginfrance.com.

I’m married to Chris and we have three bilingual TCKs (third culture kids) who are resilient and resourceful and generally wonderful.     

I’m a traditionally-published author of many children’s books and am now self-publishing too. I have worked part-time as a freelance editor for thirty years after starting out as a desk editor for Hodder & Stoughton. Find me at www.editing.zone. The rest of the time I’m running carp fishing lakes with Chris and inevitably cleaning up some or other animal’s poop.   

Social Media Links –

@llamamum

www.facebook.com/StephanieDaggBooks/

www.bloginfrance.com

Tangled Vines

by Megan Mayfair

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU

Amelia O’Sullivan is a photographer who has always viewed herself through the wrong lens. When her marriage publicly crashes around her, she flees to the safety of her aunt’s country property to pick up the pieces. Can she adjust her focus to what she really wants from her life? 

Born into a wealthy and powerful family, Frederick Doyle may seem like a man who has it all, but behind the scenes, a bitter business feud threatens an irrevocable family split. As he fights for control of the winery he’d built from the ground up, he finds a supportive ally in Amelia and becomes increasingly beguiled by her creative spirit. 

Jill McMahon is a successful novelist suffering from writer’s block over her latest manuscript. Finding her niece, Amelia, at her door, reminds her of the bonds of family, but in seeing Amelia and Frederick’s relationship grow, a long-forgotten and painful secret threatens to re-surface. 

Can Amelia, Frederick and Jill untangle themselves from their pasts or will history simply repeat itself? 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Alcohol was not a good idea. It only made things worse. The buzzing in her brain seemed to move up an octave when she drank, like a conductor elevating their baton, leading to the crescendo.

He seemed to suffer a Peter Pan complex and have inherited those enviable athletic Doyle genes. Despite his lean yet muscular build, it was likely he still ate like a teenager whose parents had gone away for the weekend.

“And do you read what your aunt writes, Amelia?” Frederick tilted his head towards Amelia, a waggish glint in his eyes, an arched eyebrow cocked at her. “The first time I did, I don’t think I could look her straight in the eye for a week. It was pure smut.”

It was far too soon for any sort of relationship for Amelia, but if she were to have a little rebound fling, Frederick was a good choice. Remind her that there were other fish in the sea. And when the fish were as handsome as Frederick, it certainly made Toby look like carp.

My Review:

I quickly added this bright and shiny author to my watch list after reading her delightful and highly impressive debut a few months ago with The Things We Leave Unsaid. I seemed to have made an excellent call or maybe even a psychic prediction, as her second book was equally engaging, cunningly paced, insightfully observant, and smartly written. This gal has mad skills. I adored her lovable yet flawed characters; they enticed and intrigued me. I have now wisely shuffled her name over from the Ones to Watch into the Favorite Authors List and feeling quite clever and rather Zen about it. I’m also happy to have a new addition to my Aussie Word List with little tackers, which the Urban Dictionary informed me was Aussie speak for small children.

Author Bio 

Megan’s stories are about families, intrigue and love. Every book contains a bit of humor and a lot of heart.

Megan lives in Melbourne with her husband and three children and has a background in public relations and higher education.

She drinks far too much coffee and has an addiction to buying scarves. She interviews with other authors for her blog series, Espresso Tales, and loves a bit of #bookstagram.

Her debut novel, The Things We Leave Unsaid, was released by Crooked Cat Books in 2018. Tangled Vines is her second novel.

Social Media Links –

Https://www.instagram.com/meganmayfairwrites

Https://www.facebook.com/meganmayfairauthor

Https://www.twitter.com/mayfairmegan

https://www.meganmayfair.com

Christmas Miracles at the Little Log Cabin

by Helen J Rolfe

Amazon UK / US / AU / CA

Do you believe in Christmas Miracles?

Holly is looking for a change and even though not everyone agrees with her career choices, she’s determined there’s more to this life than the long hours she works as an editor in New York City. What she doesn’t expect is to meet Mitch, a recluse who’s hiding more than she realizes.

Mitch does all he can to avoid human contact, spending his days in the little log cabin out in the woods behind Inglenook Falls where he owns a Christmas tree farm, so when Holly falls into his life, he’s not sure how to react. All he knows is that something needs to change if he ever wants to get his life back on track.

Along with friends Cleo and Darcy, Holly is determined to bring joy back to Mitch’s life, but will he appreciate their interference? And when a business proposition throws everything up in the air, will it do more harm than good and ruin lives forever?

Both Holly and Mitch must learn that on the surface people aren’t always what they seem…but if you dig a little deeper, they can take you by surprise.

Curl up this Christmas for plenty of snowflakes, roaring log fires, a marriage proposal, unlikely friendships and second chances as we return to the much-loved characters in the New York Ever After series.

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

‘People are scared of you, you know… I heard someone call you a yeti last time we were here.’ Mitch’s laughter rang out across the street making the woman coming out of the candy store jump. She crossed the road pretty quick. ‘You’ve got a real way with women,’ Jude joked.

My Review:

I adored this unexpectedly poignant and emotive tale. Ms. Rolfe’s sensitive writing and well-crafted story captured and held my attention, squeezed my heart, and kept me tethered to my Kindle all the way to the sweet and oh so satisfying conclusion. The storylines were original, unpredictable, slowly paced, and cast with a uniquely complicated and intriguing main character. Mitch had become a hermit who had gone off the deep end when his wife had left him and took his son with her after he had experienced an extremely difficult and devastating period in his career. However, there were far more levels to him underneath his crusty layers of scruff and hair than anyone knew. While he was reclusive and feared as possibly dangerous, he was most likely the gentlest person residing in his small town.   His spirit had been reawakened and he was starting to come back to himself after several years of near seclusion.   This was my first exposure to Ms. Rolfe’s lovely arrangement of words and although I may have been at a slight disadvantage as I jumped in at the fourth book of her series, I had no problem keeping up, yet my interest was sparked to delve into her previous books as well as any and all other collections of words she has and will ever scribble.

Author Bio 

 Helen J Rolfe writes contemporary women’s fiction and enjoys weaving stories about family, friendship, secrets, and community. Characters often face challenges and must fight to overcome them, but above all, Helen’s stories always have a happy ending.

Location is a big part of the adventure in Helen’s books and she enjoys setting stories in different cities and countries around the world. So far, locations have included Melbourne, Sydney, New York, Connecticut, Bath and the Cotswolds.

Social Media Links –

https://www.facebook.com/helenjrolfewriter

https://twitter.com/HJRolfe

www.helenjrolfe.com

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/helen-j-rolfe

The Lady Travelers Guide to Deception with an Unlikely Earl

Amazon | B-A-M | B&N

Mass Market Paperback: 384 Pages

Publisher: HQN; Original edition (November 20, 2018)

Set sail for love in this sparkling new adventure in #1 New York Times bestselling author Victoria Alexander’s Lady Travelers Society series.

Harry Armstrong has spent years in Egypt, recovering relics and disregarding rules. Now he’s back in England with a new title and a new purpose: penning his exploits. But his efforts are overshadowed by London’s favorite writer about Egypt—a woman they call The Queen of the Desert, of all things. Worse, her stories—serialized in newspapers and reprinted in books—are complete rubbish.

Miss Sidney Honeywell didn’t set out to deceive anyone. It’s not her fault readers assumed her Tales of a Lady Adventurer in Egypt were real! Admitting her inadvertent deception now would destroy her reputation and her livelihood. But when the Earl of Brenton challenges her to travel to Egypt to prove her expertise, accompanied by his dashing, arrogant nephew, what choice does she have but to pack her bags?

With the matchmaking founders of the Lady Travelers Society in tow, Harry is determined to expose Sidney’s secret. But the truth might not be as great a revelation as discovering that love can strike even the most stubborn of hearts.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

She had insisted on accompanying Sidney for the sake of propriety although they both knew propriety was the last thing on the older woman’s mind. She simply didn’t want to miss what happened next and no doubt had orders from Poppy and the lady travelers guide to Gwen to report back every detail.

The next elderly lady, with graying dark hair, a hat just as ridiculous as the first woman’s and the overbearing manner of a dragon about to belch flames, eyed him with obvious disgust.

“Don’t be absurd. The world is simply littered with Charleses, a fair number of them dead. Why, if I was bothered by every dead Charles I encountered, I would spend most of my time being out of sorts.” She cast Sidney an affectionate smile. “I daresay my husband would be honored to lend his name to your imaginary husband.”

My Review:

I rarely read historical novels as I chafe at the reminders of how poorly women were treated, but I would read them with greater regularity if I could tap into a source as enjoyable, cleverly written, and wittily amusing as this one. I delighted in this entertaining and lively tale. The writing was lush with sumptuous descriptions, lavish details, and snappy humor, as well as engaging storylines and a blossoming romance.   I derived great pleasure when the elderly women attempted to delicately provide their younger and inexperienced friend with a crash course in sex education, it was totally smirk-worthy.

Not only did these sly and spry and highly adventuresome mature widows take my dream vacation to Egypt, but they were also shrewd enough to finagle someone else into paying for their first-class accommodations – I was chartreuse with envy! For years I have fantasized about a leisurely ocean voyage on the way to cruising down the Nile and touring the pyramids, of course, that would be without the grave robbers, annoying bandits, skin searing sun, infuriating insects, poisonous snakes, and pesky sand. In addition to scoring free travel, this intrepid group was in the thick of solving of a centuries-old mystery, made a fantastic archeological discovery, and one of them spent the night in the royal harem – innocently discussing books with the women. Sigh, I fear the closest I will ever come to the Dark Continent will be slumbering on linens of Egyptian cotton and dreaming of Ra.

About Victoria Alexander

New York Times bestselling author Victoria Alexander was an award-winning television reporter until she discovered fiction was much more fun than real life. She turned to writing full time and is still shocked it worked out.

Since the publication of her first book in 1995, she has written thirty-one full-length novels and six novellas. Find a complete list on her website and chat with her on Facebook.