Escape to the Cornish coast with a new heartwarming Tremarnock novel, perfect for fans of Jill Mansell and Philippa Ashley.

In the quaint Cornish village of Tremarnock, Chabela Penhallow arrives for a holiday and to discover more about her Cornish ancestors. But, as always with newcomers to the small seaside town, rumours start to fly about this beautiful stranger. Is there more to her than meets the eye?

Meanwhile, Rob and Liz Hart’s marriage is on the rocks, but only one of them knows the real reason. Once the secret is out, will they be able to handle the repercussions or will it destroy their life together?

For the residents of Tremarnock, the revelations will either bond or break them – forever.

‘A charming, warm-hearted read … Pure escapism’ ALICE PETERSON.

‘The literary equivalent of a gin and tonic on a hot summer’s day … A delicious, delightful and decadent tale’ BOOKISH JOTTINGS.

THE GLITTERING HOUR

by Iona Grey

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Blackwood Park was full of ghosts. Its empty corridors echoed with the whispers of lost voices and snatches of old laughter. It was a house where the past felt more vivid than the present, which was nothing more than a stretch of endless days fading into uniform blankness.

… there was a bowl of paperwhite daffodils on the table by her armchair. Their delicate perfume was fresh in a room that smelled of stopped clocks and old paper.

I resented the rules and restrictions and the rigidness … The hypocrisy and control… Their favourite punishment was to withhold food, and I resented being sent to bed hungry while downstairs seven courses were being served in the dining room and people were only picking at each of them. And the more resentful I was the naughtier I became and the more I was punished… I spent my childhood feeling permanently ravenous.

Don’t you be shy about ringing the bell or going down to find her if it doesn’t appear –she’s got a head like a sieve, that one. Not that I imagine she’ll have much time for daydreaming today. Miss Lovelock’s had her up and down like a fiddler’s elbow already this morning, fetching tea and toast and hot water cans and whatnot.

‘Someone once told me that a woman’s body is like a piano. It’s up to the man whether he chooses to pick out a nursery rhyme with one finger, or learn how to play a symphony. I suppose that was the first movement’… ‘I’m terribly ignorant about culture,’ she whispered. ‘Remind me – how many movements are there in a symphony?’

Secrets and half-truths seemed to swirl through the corridors on icy currents of air.

 My Review:

This was a feast of a book. The Glittering Hour was thoughtfully written and cunningly insightful as well as shrewdly observant. It was a slowly evolving and highly emotive story that was skillfully crafted and elegantly told, and I absorbed it as if it were being injected straight into my gray matter while vivid imagery flickered behind my eyes. There were four-hundred-eighty beautifully written pages and I read them ever so slowly as I wanted to savor each perfectly chosen word, even though the storylines turned me inside out, stung my eyes, pinched my heart, and put hot rocks in my throat. Iona Grey is found treasure and a new addition at the very top of my list of favorite authors.

Working for a department store where Christmas arrives in August, Eve prefers her own festivities to be low key with nothing more complicated than an oven-ready turkey and frozen peas while she spends the day in her pajamas. Unfortunately, this year her husband has invited his best friend to visit, the glamorous and sophisticated Abby, and Eve reluctantly decides that she needs to inject a little sparkle into their laid back and slightly shabby Christmas. So the celebrations are upgraded to include champagne and canapes along with homemade gravy and organic turkey and plans are made for a Christmas that looks as though it has emerged from the pages of a glossy magazine.

But even the best-laid plans can go wrong and as Eve struggles with her mini Yorkshire puddings and an interfering cat, she is suddenly faced with an unexpected guest and an explosive secret that threatens to put her vision of a perfect Christmas in jeopardy.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

‘She is nice. Most of the time. But that’s not the point!’ Eve wailed. ‘I’ve worked so hard planning for this Christmas and she’s turned up like Mary Poppins with a bag full of magic!’

Eve was actually superfluous to requirements, which strangely was how she often felt in the company of Abby.

… the masses of beautiful deep green and red berry foliage on her kitchen windowsill had been pushed aside by an indignant cat who liked to sit there to clean his whiskers. Looking at her watch, Eve decided that keeping on top of her beautifully decorated home was becoming a full-time task and she was already starting to slip behind her schedule…

There was still a slightly strange smell in the kitchen, a combination of hot chocolate, cat vomit, and the oven sending out wafts of warm air. Eve decided she would ignore it. Hopefully, the delicious smell of her buffet would soon overcome the current slightly rancid smell.

I suggest you make it clear to him my darling. And sort your head out… Slap him, don’t feed him for a week but for goodness sake Eve, forgive him…

My Review:

I gleefully snorted and even barked aloud a few times as I read this delightfully amusing corker of a tale. This is the fourth Julie Butterfield book I have picked up and each one has been unfailingly engaging, crisply written, and laced with clever wit as well as colorful insights that call forth vivid imagery.   I wore a smile the majority of the time I spent with the besieged, beleaguered, and slightly demented Eve; although I will confess, she behaved much better than I would have in her shoes

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA 

Zapata

by Harper McDavid

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Gaudy was the second thing that came to mind. First was no way. No way was she spending a night in this room. Her skin itched just looking at it. She shot Alejandro a dirty look in the mirror headboard designed to resemble a Mayan temple. The base of the temple was a collection of greasy imprints from the heads of previous guests. The mattress slumped woefully in the middle. Any more sag and the thing could be mistaken for a canoe.

… she’d been rejected. She hated it. Rejection was agonizing hell. It made legends out of poets and filled psychology textbooks.

My Review:

I’m always astounded when a debut author produces a polished and well-honed tale; color me flabbergasted, as this is one of those times.   The storylines were uniquely intriguing, highly eventful, and advanced at an intermittent pace with rather unexpected bursts of activity, gunfire, daring and narrow escapes, cringe-worthy threats, brutal violence, kidnapping, betrayals, a blossoming romance with no future, and considerable subterfuge and duplicity on every level.

I was quickly sucked into Avery’s perilous vortex and was right there with her in the heat and grit, taut with tension. No one seemed at all trustworthy while those who should have been, weren’t; which only left the naïve yet feisty main character of Avery with the desperate and risky choice of depending on someone who shouldn’t have been, and waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The adrenalin and activity levels were often high with a large cast of compelling yet slippery and tersely spoken characters who were edgy and tightly wound, which kept ratcheting up that ever-present sense of jeopardy and danger lurking around every corner. The plot was complex, multi-layered, and loaded with intriguing and unusual situations as well as confounding and disheartening obstacles such as language barriers, corruption at every level, a large bounty, unstable yet powerful and well-connected criminals, significant injuries, and Avery’s conflicted feelings and perplexity over the role and motivation of the person helping her and her bewildering feelings toward him – was he her savior or another level of captor. I wasn’t sure about him myself and seemed unable to put my Kindle down until I knew for sure.

About the Author

 Coming Home to Merriment Bay 

Part Four – Starry Skies

by Emily Harvale

Part Four of this heartwarming four-part serial about finding the strength to put the past behind you and to reach out for a future filled with happiness and love.

Cat is reeling from the unexpected events of Christmas and as Merriment Bay prepares to toast in the New Year, she’s facing choices she never thought she’d have to make. Her head and her heart are pulling her in very different directions.

Bailey is sitting by Viola’s bedside, regaling everyone with tales from the past but is there any chance he’ll get to see a smile on the lips of the woman he still loves?

Having realized she has made mistakes, will Mary finally tell Cat what she really wants to know?

And what will the New Year bring for Kyra? Will she fulfill the plans she made before she came to Merriment Bay?

When distressing events end more than one person’s dream, can Cat find the strength to fight for the love she deserves? Sometimes it takes a crisis to make someone realize what they truly want. And Cat has decided what – and who – that really is. But is she too late?

My Rating:

My Review:

I finally know the secret, that clever tease Emily Harvale had enticed, baited, and taunted me with her intriguing and classified paternity issues and cliffhangers. Not only had she tickled my curiosity and continued to taunt, tantalize, and nettle me for three more installments; she also had me completely fooled as my theory was in error, thank goodness as it would have been a bit icky.   I sighed contentedly after concluding this satisfying HEA with a vexing itch mercifully scratched.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

It was the very picture of suburban domestic bliss. It could have been the set for a commercial advertising anything from laundry detergent to allergy medicine… except for the dead body.

Even though Josh didn’t touch her or make a single inappropriate comment, there was an energy between them. It shimmered there, almost like a separate entity, a third party sitting at the table with them.

They’re very sporty. In fact, they own one of those CrossFit places where people go and torture themselves flipping tractor tires and whatnot, and the women all end up looking like linebackers.

She’s as deep as a puddle and about as interesting. She’s not the kind of person you ruin your life over.

Nora is the kind of person who always does the right thing. It’s deeply important to her. It’s like she wants to live in a world of straight lines and squared corners.

I thought his crippling shyness was adorable, and evidence that he was so in love with me, it rendered him speechless. It was only later I realized that he simply didn’t have anything to say.

My Review:

This marks my third time enjoying the nimbly written works of Margot Hunt, who appears to possess quite a clever and impressive toolkit of words and perceptive observational skills, as well as a big honking brain. The story begins with a dead body, and we aren’t informed of the culprit of the deadly deed until the last few pages. I had spun and discarded various theories while I made my way through this slowly building and deftly penned tale of betrayal, family tension, addiction, personality disorders, and spiteful vengeance; with characters that became incrementally darker and increasingly twisted as the storylines and threads unfurled in all directions. Despite my best efforts, I did not foresee this ending in my calculations and I found the last few pages to be the most chilling of all. Margot Hunt has more than earned my undying respect for her wordcraft, as well as a bit of fear.