Hello My loves,
How are you doing?! It really has been a while since I wrote on here and came to have a little chat with you. I can't believe that my last post was all the way back in February!! Well I'm back now and I have lots to tell you my darling readers. But first can I just tell you just how much I have missed YOU!! Yes YOU!! Ahhh come here and give me a squeeze!
So, as we usually do, we go grab a cuppa and then we come back, make ourselves comfy and we can have a good old catch up, so go pop the kettle on, and then come on back and I'll tell you all about my life and what I've been upto!
How are you doing?! It really has been a while since I wrote on here and came to have a little chat with you. I can't believe that my last post was all the way back in February!! Well I'm back now and I have lots to tell you my darling readers. But first can I just tell you just how much I have missed YOU!! Yes YOU!! Ahhh come here and give me a squeeze!
So, as we usually do, we go grab a cuppa and then we come back, make ourselves comfy and we can have a good old catch up, so go pop the kettle on, and then come on back and I'll tell you all about my life and what I've been upto!
So what do you think of my new hair? Isn't it fab?! I absolutely LOVE it, I'm not sure why I always have the bug to grow my hair to Rapunzel lengths sometimes - perhaps it's because I'm a big Disney girl at heart? But I always feel so much better with this length hair.
Anyway, you want to know what's kept me so busy and distracted that I've not been here for you don't you? Well, let's start at the beginning shall we?
Anyway, you want to know what's kept me so busy and distracted that I've not been here for you don't you? Well, let's start at the beginning shall we?
A year ago, I had my heart broken and my relationship broke down despite my efforts to save it - purely because it was just my efforts and it takes two to tango so they say although I've never actually done the tango because I've never learnt it - but I digress, and now, in hindsight I'm extremely glad it did happen when it happened because well.. you'll see in a minute!
So, then September came and it was back to work for me with my little darlings in Year 2 - bring on every virus you can catch! I had 5-6 bouts of cold, flu, laryngitis, tonsillitis, and chest infections galore up until about April time.
So, whilst I was fitting in reading here and there, I wasn't reading quickly enough or well enough between work and my days off to blog. I literally needed to conserve all my energy especially having asthma it hit me quite badly. I was also knee deep in finishing my degree off and working towards my Specialist Support Teacher qualification.
So, then that led me to Easter time and the run up to May...This is where things got interesting. I partly decided to focus on me and what I wanted out of life, I'd reached that place where I was happy within myself and had gotten used to being single. Then in June...when I was about to jump in the shower I kept getting these annoying notifications on my phone. I looked at them, and just deleted them on sight - I didn't even bother to look at them. Then when I reach the shower I realise I've forgotten my towel - so a quick run to get my towel and my phone bleeps again. You can imagine my annoyance - but something told me to look at it. So I did. And there was a message from this guy. So I opened it, read it, and as a smile spread across my face and I gave a little giggle - I replied.
And, since that day, we haven't had a day without speaking to each other, and we've had some amazing days out and dates away and whilst our first date was as memorable as I think you could ever get one :) every day just gets better and better with this man in my life.
So, now as I'm enjoying my summer holiday from work (YAY!!!) I'm getting back into my reading and blogging (hopefully), as well as a few new exciting things happening.
And, since that day, we haven't had a day without speaking to each other, and we've had some amazing days out and dates away and whilst our first date was as memorable as I think you could ever get one :) every day just gets better and better with this man in my life.
So, now as I'm enjoying my summer holiday from work (YAY!!!) I'm getting back into my reading and blogging (hopefully), as well as a few new exciting things happening.
Firstly, I've created another blog, a sister blog if you like for this one, which is going to be my Lifestyle blog where you can read all about .. well my life, crochet, crafts, my life as a primary school specialist support teacher and HLTA, - basically everything non book related will be on there... well almost everything, I've got to keep areas of my life private but you get the gist. You can find me at Our Country Home Comforts
Secondly, I'm enjoying my life a lot more now, in large part due to the absolutely amazing man I have been so lucky to have found - seriously, he's amazing and yes I'm biased but still! I've honestly never been this happy before my loves, and he is just EVERYTHING.
Thirdly, because I could gush about him all day! - I passed my teaching course! Yay! So, no more studying now for at least 18 months when I decide to begin my actual full on teacher training for a year with Schools Direct. We've even spoken about the fact that I might wait until after I've had our first baby before I do that purely because well... we both want to be parents - but not quite yet - I enjoy having him all to myself and I'm not ready to share him haha.
I also passed my degree - hooray!! That degree was tough and I am SO glad that it's done now.
I've fallen back in love with my teaching career despite the hiccups last year personally and a few this year professionally, I love my job and I love the children I work with. It's a lovely feeling to feel happy with what you have in life and whilst always being open to more success and more life experiences, I'm truly happy with where I am and where we're heading.
So that's me my loves, I think I've updated you with everything, ... *ponders*....hmmm oh, the other thing which you'll probably read more about at Our Country Home Comforts and the instagram account to go with it is that I've recently joined Weightwatchers for 6 months online, to become the healthiest and fittest I've ever been. I've had a lot to deal with over the past year, and a lot of that has caused stress and increased cortisol in my life which has meant I've gone from emotionally eating for comfort, and then to not eating due to heart break. So the body has taken one for the team, and now this is my way of repaying it, of saying thank you for supporting me through the hard times, but I've got you now, and I'm going to take care of you.
That's me definitely done now... so what's been going on with you? I know I've caught up with some of you on the facebook page and had a quick chat with you all, but if you have a few minutes, just say Hi, and let me know you're still about and that you're OK. I'll be back soon with some book posts, some fun, some reviews, and other things in between.
You take care of yourself, and we'll catch up again real soon,
Love Dawn-Tracy xxx
Hello Lovely!
This year is going by SO fast already, I can't believe we're halfway in February already! (basically!)
This year is going by SO fast already, I can't believe we're halfway in February already! (basically!)
Today I am very honoured to host an extract for this gorgeous book by Maddie Please called A Year of New Adventures
The cover is gorgeous, but let's take a look at what it's all about before I leave you to read the extract; A Year of New Adventures is written by Maddie Please, published by HarperCollins and is set to be a fantastic read of 2018
A Year of New Adventures
It’s time for Billie Summers to have an adventure … but it might not be exactly what she expected.
Billie Summers has always been quite content in her little cottage in the Cotswolds, sure half the house hasn’t been renovated, but what’s the point when it’s only her! Working part-time at her uncle’s bookshop and planning 3-4 writer retreats with her best friend allows her to pay the bills. What more could anyone want?
That is until Oliver Forest, the bad boy of the book world, turns up to one of her retreats and points out that Billie hasn’t done anything very adventurous. Couple that with her best friend falling head over heels and beginning to drift away from their Friday night wine and dinner plans, Billie is starting to wonder if it isn’t time she take control of her life.
So she starts a list: get fitted (properly) for a bra, fix up rest of house, find a ‘career’ and well, get a tattoo … Her life might just get the makeover it needs, too bad irritating and far-too-attractive for his own good, Oliver keeps showing up …
Because sometimes you need an adventure!
Let's take a look at the extract;
We broke up soon after that –
I put up with a lot from him in our two years together but even I have my
limits – still, I think he was partly right. I like Mint Clubs. I’m not ashamed
to admit it. OK, I like most things that mix chocolate and biscuits, if I’m
honest. Perhaps that’s why my figure is always slightly out of control.
It wasn’t a very merry
Christmas last year. We had been about to go to New York as he had finally
persuaded me there were holidays to be had outside Europe. I was fizzing with
excitement. These sorts of trips were few and far between but Nan had left me a
small inheritance that I’d been hanging on to and I’d just been paid for some
private pre-Christmas catering, so for once I had some savings.
Unfortunately, I gave the
money for my part of the holiday to Matt and I still haven’t got it back.
Swine. We had been living together in the tumbledown Cotswold stone cottage my
grandmother had been in the middle of renovating when she died. When we split
up he left with my holiday to New York, most of my DVDs and all the decent
towels.
New Year’s resolution: never
do anything spontaneous.
My sister inherited the
picture-perfect holiday house in Cornwall. Typical. In her will Nan said Josie
‘needed’ it more than I did. I guess that’s because Josie and Mark have two
boys and their school has longer holidays than some members of the British
aristocracy, while I had no kids and no prospect of any.
I started trying to write
when I was doing English A level, and had just read Forever Amber. I quite fancied
being a writer of historical fiction. After all, it didn’t need specialist
equipment, formal training, or a particular level of physical fitness; the
only thing it did require was aptitude.
Oh wow! How good does this book sound??!! Seriously! I have to get myself a copy on my kindle...to enjoy!
Here's where you can get your copy also;
Hello Lovely,
I'm looking forward to sharing today's post with you as it's an extract from the new book by the talented Liz Trenow entitled; In Love and War. It sounds to be an absolutely touching book and I am sure you will enjoy. Due to be published on 25th January, you won't have very long to wait to fully immerse yourself in this touching story. I hope you enjoy the extract once we've taken a brief look at what it's all about.
In Love and War is written by Liz Trenow, and is due to be published on 25th January 2018 by Pan Macmillan. Available as both Kindle and Paperback and also Audiobook.
I'm looking forward to sharing today's post with you as it's an extract from the new book by the talented Liz Trenow entitled; In Love and War. It sounds to be an absolutely touching book and I am sure you will enjoy. Due to be published on 25th January, you won't have very long to wait to fully immerse yourself in this touching story. I hope you enjoy the extract once we've taken a brief look at what it's all about.
In Love and War is written by Liz Trenow, and is due to be published on 25th January 2018 by Pan Macmillan. Available as both Kindle and Paperback and also Audiobook.
Three women, once enemies. Their secrets will unite them.
The First World War is over. The war-torn area of Flanders near Ypres is no longer home to troops, but groups of tourists. Controversial battlefield tourism now brings hundreds of people to the area, all desperate to witness first-hand where their loved ones fell.
At the Hotel de la Paix in the small village of Hoppestadt, three women arrive, searching for traces of the men they have loved and lost.
Ruby is just twenty-one, a shy Englishwoman looking for the grave of her husband. Alice is only a little older but brimming with confidence; she has travelled all the way from America, convinced her brother is in fact still alive. Then there’s Martha, and her son Otto, who are not all they seem to be . . .
The three women in Liz Trenow’s In Love and War may have very different backgrounds, but they are united in their search for reconciliation: to resolve themselves to what the war took from them, but also to what life might still promise for the future . . .
Passchendaele.
The word sliced like a blade. Where Bertie had gone missing. Although she knew
that many thousands had never been identified, or even found, she’d heard that
comrades would sometimes just place a simple stake in the ground, marking it
with whatever came to hand. As the coach trundled onwards, closer and closer to
this place, she found herself clasping her fists so tightly that the nails left
marks in her palms.
‘Although
many men gave their lives in this battle,’ the major was explaining, ‘the
Germans pushed back and occupied the area until September 1918, when the
Belgian army recaptured the ridge in the final push during the last weeks of
the war.’
A
tangle of emotions jangled in her head: excitement, anticipation and, above
all, fear. Much as she knew that finding Bertie’s grave was important for
herself and his family, she could not imagine, now that it was a real
possibility, how she would cope with the reality, the finality of discovering
where he lay, in the ground beneath her feet.
They’d
seen plenty of roadside crosses and memorial stones on their way to Ypres, but
nothing prepared her for the sight of Tyne Cot. As she gazed out at the
thousands of wooden crosses stretched higgledy-piggledy across the field, way
into the distance almost as far as the eye could see, the breath seemed to stop
in her chest. Some were of smooth sanded timber, identified with expertly
carved inscriptions or stamped metal plates. With a sick, chill fascination she
also noticed that many were simply rough planks hastily hammered together with
lettering scratched or burned onto the wood, with garlands of dried flowers
tied to them, an identity tag, a belt buckle, an army cap.
The
major led them forwards along a pathway of packed mud into the graveyard. Every
now and again he would pause, straightening up a cross carefully and reverently,
pushing it more firmly into the ground.
‘I
know some of you may be looking for the graves of loved ones, and we have an
hour now in which you can do so. Please take care of your footing, never stray from the pathways, or touch
or take anything from the ground. There is still a danger of unexploded
ordnance, or something personal that could lead to an identification. Either way, you must not touch. Do I make
myself clear?’
Ruby
wandered from cross to cross in a kind of trance, barely aware of time passing,
reading the inscriptions and willing her eyes to see his name yet at the same
time terrified of doing so. There seemed to be no order: officers lay next to
infantrymen, regiments were all mixed together, there were French names,
Belgian names, English names. All the differences imposed in life had been
erased by death.
Smith, Merton, Bygrave, Freeman, Augustin, Travere, Marchant, Tailler, Brown, Peeters, Dubois, Janssens, Walter, Fellowes, Villeneuve. Perhaps some of these men had known Bertie,
stood by his side in the trenches, shared their rations, spoke of their longing
for home, for their sweethearts, wives, children? As she stumbled along the
rows, gripped by a fierce determination to find her beloved, her eyes began to
play tricks. Any name beginning with a B seemed to halt the blood in her veins.
When she found a cross with the name Barton inscribed upon it, her knees
threatened to buckle beneath her. But it was Michael Peter. Not Bertie.
If
she looked long enough and hard enough she would find him, stand at his grave,
tell him she loved him, ask for his forgiveness, and be able to live the rest
of her life in peace. She could almost sense the relief of it already. And yet,
the further she walked, the more that certainty began to waver. Many crosses
bore only the simple inscription R.I.P,
Known Unto God or, saddest of all, no mark whatsoever. So many thousands of
individual, personal tragedies, so many of them anonymous; a visual
representation of mass slaughter.
Keep breathing, just put one foot in front
of another, she told herself. Hollander, Frost, Blundell, Taylor, Kelly, Schofield, Allen, Carter, Meredith, Brown, Pullen, Masters, Wade, Francis, McCauley, Titmuss, Archer . . . the parade of the lost
went on and on.
And
then, the worst shock of all, gripping at her heart like a vice: dozens of
crosses with German names. Müller, Schulz, Schmidt, Schneider, Fischer, Weber, Becker, Wagner, Hoffmann, Koch, Bauer, Klein, Wolf, Schröder, Neumann, Braun, Zimmermann, Krüger, Hartmann, lying cheek by jowl with their enemies.
Had
one of Bertie’s bullets killed the man now lying by his side? Had the shell
they fired, shouting ‘For King and Country’, or hailing the Kaiser, blown to
pieces the men now their neighbours in death? So many husbands, brothers and
sons, all now gone. What an absurdity, such a terrible waste. And all for what?
What further evidence could ever be needed of the futility of war? Far from
making sense of it all, she was becoming more bewildered by the hour.
To Pre-Order/Purchase Your copy, follow the link below
Happy New Year Lovely Readers!
I hope that you are well and are feeling good.
I know it's New Year's Day but what better day to start as you mean to go on right? In fact today is the absolute PERFECT day for me to tell you all about this fabulously creative book that I just know you are going to LOVE.
Tamara Laporte is HUGE in the mixed media art world - trust me I don't even do this type of art but I have a beautiful friend who does and I know through her just how BIG the mixed media art world is. Think of the book and blogging community and relate that to art and you have an idea. So from what I know before diving into this book Mixed Media art is literally an art form that is meant to be therapeutic and anything goes. Literally. You take any book ( they can be our books - and by "our books" I mean our novels) or art sketchbook with the right type of paper and you literally create art in them. I know, my fellow bookish lovers the thought of painting, drawing even writing in our precious books causes us to gain a beating heart in need of steadying. But these beautiful artists do it with such love and creativity that you kind of forgive them. A little.
The book cover shows what Mixed Media Art generally looks like - from what I know of the one circle I was aware of. Let's take a closer look.
Celebrate and honor your creative potential with Create Your Life Book!
Based on much-loved mixed-media artist Tamara Laporte’s popular, multi-year series of online classes, Create Your Life Book offers mixed-media drawing and painting projects that can raise your awareness of and help you work through personal challenges and other obstacles to creating art and achieving self-fulfillment.
Each themed chapter presents 4 or 5 two-part projects: The first part of each project explores a common issue that hampers creativity and/or positive self-worth, and includes a worksheet or list of questions to be answered; the second part is a step-by-step mixed-media art project that provides a way for artists at all skill levels to contemplate and work through that issue. Also included are projects contributed by some of Tamara’s Life Book guest teachers--Roxanne Coble, Andrea Gomoll, Alena Hennessy, Mystele Kirkeeng, Ivy Newport, and Effy Wild--who are noted mixed-media artists in their own right. Along the way, Tamara shares inspirational photos and uplifting and encouraging affirmations. The final chapter presents a simple binding method for creating a keepsake book of your Life Book projects.
Tamara Laporte created an online art class called Life Book, and it's where you take a theme such as "Gratitude" or "Letting Go" and you create an art piece about all things you're grateful for, or you want to let go and you draw/paint/blend/pastel in your representations of the theme. You can add words (perhaps cut out from books/newspapers/magazines/printed from online/calligraphy by hand etc) to your work to add personal touches. This is where the journalling comes in (I think).
Anyway, the course proved so popular that Tamara has finally been able to bring us our very own Mixed Media Art class into book form. I was so excited to review this and try out the techniques because having a friend who is so talented at this stuff I have always been in awe of her and her talent. It's no secret that if I could do this art style then I would be so happy. So I had to try.
The first art project in the book is themed around Letting Go - and I think it's perfect to try and do at some point this month if you can as it's another way of setting goals and intentions for the coming year.
If you're new to creating Mixed Media Art or any form of art then you might be worried that you will be overwhelmed by it all, but Tamara has written this book with you in mind. She takes you step by step through every piece of the art projects, and includes colour photos of each step to give you an idea of how to do your piece. At the start of the book Tamara talks you through the things you'll need and alternatives. Now, you might feel like it's going to cost you a fortune but again, from my lovely friend, I learnt that you use what you have and build up your art stash slowly.
Each year since losing my Auntie I've kind have promised myself and my auntie that I will do things that will create memories for me and my friends and family. The first year was Crochet which I still do (and will be blogging more about), last year was lifestyle blogging/instagramming, and 2018 will include all that and more. But I would love to create some Mixed Media Art pieces this year, so watch this space as I've NEVER done any of this type of art before. The most I've ever done is sketching and using pastels. So it will be quite a journey.
From the moment I opened up this book to review I knew it was going to be an amazing way to start 2018, and I knew I had to buy it for my friend for Christmas. Keeping it a secret from her for over a month was SO hard! I just wanted to scream "Look what i've got you!!!" but I kept quiet. I love this book... And I know you will too.
I am awarding this book 5/5 for the creativity, the beautiful layout, the projects and their therapeutic benefits, and the amazing opportunity it gives us to document our lives adding to our life, happiness and legacy.
You can purchase your copy of Tamara Laporte's Create Your Life Book here
I hope that you are well and are feeling good.
I know it's New Year's Day but what better day to start as you mean to go on right? In fact today is the absolute PERFECT day for me to tell you all about this fabulously creative book that I just know you are going to LOVE.
Tamara Laporte is HUGE in the mixed media art world - trust me I don't even do this type of art but I have a beautiful friend who does and I know through her just how BIG the mixed media art world is. Think of the book and blogging community and relate that to art and you have an idea. So from what I know before diving into this book Mixed Media art is literally an art form that is meant to be therapeutic and anything goes. Literally. You take any book ( they can be our books - and by "our books" I mean our novels) or art sketchbook with the right type of paper and you literally create art in them. I know, my fellow bookish lovers the thought of painting, drawing even writing in our precious books causes us to gain a beating heart in need of steadying. But these beautiful artists do it with such love and creativity that you kind of forgive them. A little. The book cover shows what Mixed Media Art generally looks like - from what I know of the one circle I was aware of. Let's take a closer look.
Celebrate and honor your creative potential with Create Your Life Book!
Based on much-loved mixed-media artist Tamara Laporte’s popular, multi-year series of online classes, Create Your Life Book offers mixed-media drawing and painting projects that can raise your awareness of and help you work through personal challenges and other obstacles to creating art and achieving self-fulfillment.
Each themed chapter presents 4 or 5 two-part projects: The first part of each project explores a common issue that hampers creativity and/or positive self-worth, and includes a worksheet or list of questions to be answered; the second part is a step-by-step mixed-media art project that provides a way for artists at all skill levels to contemplate and work through that issue. Also included are projects contributed by some of Tamara’s Life Book guest teachers--Roxanne Coble, Andrea Gomoll, Alena Hennessy, Mystele Kirkeeng, Ivy Newport, and Effy Wild--who are noted mixed-media artists in their own right. Along the way, Tamara shares inspirational photos and uplifting and encouraging affirmations. The final chapter presents a simple binding method for creating a keepsake book of your Life Book projects.
Tamara Laporte created an online art class called Life Book, and it's where you take a theme such as "Gratitude" or "Letting Go" and you create an art piece about all things you're grateful for, or you want to let go and you draw/paint/blend/pastel in your representations of the theme. You can add words (perhaps cut out from books/newspapers/magazines/printed from online/calligraphy by hand etc) to your work to add personal touches. This is where the journalling comes in (I think).
Anyway, the course proved so popular that Tamara has finally been able to bring us our very own Mixed Media Art class into book form. I was so excited to review this and try out the techniques because having a friend who is so talented at this stuff I have always been in awe of her and her talent. It's no secret that if I could do this art style then I would be so happy. So I had to try.
The first art project in the book is themed around Letting Go - and I think it's perfect to try and do at some point this month if you can as it's another way of setting goals and intentions for the coming year.
If you're new to creating Mixed Media Art or any form of art then you might be worried that you will be overwhelmed by it all, but Tamara has written this book with you in mind. She takes you step by step through every piece of the art projects, and includes colour photos of each step to give you an idea of how to do your piece. At the start of the book Tamara talks you through the things you'll need and alternatives. Now, you might feel like it's going to cost you a fortune but again, from my lovely friend, I learnt that you use what you have and build up your art stash slowly.
Each year since losing my Auntie I've kind have promised myself and my auntie that I will do things that will create memories for me and my friends and family. The first year was Crochet which I still do (and will be blogging more about), last year was lifestyle blogging/instagramming, and 2018 will include all that and more. But I would love to create some Mixed Media Art pieces this year, so watch this space as I've NEVER done any of this type of art before. The most I've ever done is sketching and using pastels. So it will be quite a journey.
From the moment I opened up this book to review I knew it was going to be an amazing way to start 2018, and I knew I had to buy it for my friend for Christmas. Keeping it a secret from her for over a month was SO hard! I just wanted to scream "Look what i've got you!!!" but I kept quiet. I love this book... And I know you will too.
I am awarding this book 5/5 for the creativity, the beautiful layout, the projects and their therapeutic benefits, and the amazing opportunity it gives us to document our lives adding to our life, happiness and legacy.
You can purchase your copy of Tamara Laporte's Create Your Life Book here
* Thank you Quarry Books for sending me this book to review, Happy New Year *
Hi Lovely,
I've just finished reading a truly gorgeous christmas novel and I wanted to hop on here and tell you all about it.
I was in two minds whether or not to read another festive novel as I like to read a handful each year, but I just can't binge on one Christmas story after another. However I am so glad that I decided to read this book as it's been a real treat. So what book am I talking about? This gorgeous one by Katherine Garbera which has such a festive and delightful cover.
Christmas at the Candied Apple Cafe is published by HarperImpulse and is out now in eBook format with the paperback being released very soon.
There’s nothing so magical as Christmas in New York…
I will admit that to begin with I was so close to not completing this book because for me it was lacking something, and I couldn't put my finger on what it was. However I stuck with it because I desperately wanted it to transform into a magical story of hope and miracles at christmas. How glad am I that I stuck with it?! Very! From around 40% into the book I became hooked - probably because I got the sparkle of a little romance and I am a sucker for romance.
We meet Iona who is a fierce character in the sense that she is intelligent, strong, ambitious, and she knows what she wants in life. She owns a cafe called Candied Apple Cafe and she's currently in talks with some big companies who want to turn this one little successful shop into a set of boutique cafe's around the country. Iona works to hide from something that hurts her and through the story we find out what that is.
One of these big companies has a handsome man attached to it who has his own painful past and a very delightful and sweet daughter who I just wanted to scoop up and cuddle. Initially he wanted to sign her cafe to his company to develop its potential further, however it soon became "complicated" in one sense, and yet in another it was just the perfect romance that swept you away.
I eagerly turned the pages, purely enthralled with the romance and the emotion that blushed from the pages. I adored the characters and although with it being a romance novel you can anticipate the ending, it's the journey that deeply enchants me.
Katherine has captured a beautifully emotive storyline that tugs at the heart strings this time of year, and I'm sure anyone who has lost a loved one will fail to not feel tears brimming at certain points, however Katherine has developed a heart-warming story of miracles, of hope, and of love at the most magical time of the year. I am awarding this story 4/5 for the beauty and wonder of the Candied Apple Cafe.
To purchase your copy of Christmas at the Candied Apple Cafe in eBook you can buy it here that will also give you the option to pre-order the paperback
I've just finished reading a truly gorgeous christmas novel and I wanted to hop on here and tell you all about it.
I was in two minds whether or not to read another festive novel as I like to read a handful each year, but I just can't binge on one Christmas story after another. However I am so glad that I decided to read this book as it's been a real treat. So what book am I talking about? This gorgeous one by Katherine Garbera which has such a festive and delightful cover.
Christmas at the Candied Apple Cafe is published by HarperImpulse and is out now in eBook format with the paperback being released very soon. There’s nothing so magical as Christmas in New York…
Santa is coming to New York!
Snow is falling, excitement is high and the delicious scent of chocolate drifts along Fifth Avenue – the Candied Apple Café is ready for Christmas! And no one is busier than publicist Iona Summerlin. With so much to do, she doesn’t have time to think about men, dating, or the fact her last boyfriend ditched her for her brother… Relationships are off the menu!
Hotel boss Mads Eriksson is not looking forward to the first Christmas since losing his wife. His six-year-old daughter Sofia has lost her belief in Christmas magic along with her mother, and he has no idea what to do. But an unusually festive business meeting at the Candied Apple – and meeting the beautiful Iona – starts to defrost Mads’ frozen heart, and suddenly life seems full of light and sparkle again.
If only they dare to believe, maybe all their Christmas dreams will come true!
We meet Iona who is a fierce character in the sense that she is intelligent, strong, ambitious, and she knows what she wants in life. She owns a cafe called Candied Apple Cafe and she's currently in talks with some big companies who want to turn this one little successful shop into a set of boutique cafe's around the country. Iona works to hide from something that hurts her and through the story we find out what that is.
One of these big companies has a handsome man attached to it who has his own painful past and a very delightful and sweet daughter who I just wanted to scoop up and cuddle. Initially he wanted to sign her cafe to his company to develop its potential further, however it soon became "complicated" in one sense, and yet in another it was just the perfect romance that swept you away.
I eagerly turned the pages, purely enthralled with the romance and the emotion that blushed from the pages. I adored the characters and although with it being a romance novel you can anticipate the ending, it's the journey that deeply enchants me.
Katherine has captured a beautifully emotive storyline that tugs at the heart strings this time of year, and I'm sure anyone who has lost a loved one will fail to not feel tears brimming at certain points, however Katherine has developed a heart-warming story of miracles, of hope, and of love at the most magical time of the year. I am awarding this story 4/5 for the beauty and wonder of the Candied Apple Cafe.
To purchase your copy of Christmas at the Candied Apple Cafe in eBook you can buy it here that will also give you the option to pre-order the paperback
*Thank you HarperImpulse for giving me a review copy of this delightful story to read via NetGalley*
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