Book of the Month - July

The books I read this month:

-       Coming Home to Cuckoo Cottage – by Heidi Swain 5/5

-       Big Sexy Love – by Kirsty Greenwood 5/5

-       Wilde Like Me – by Louise Pentland 3.5/5

-       Summer’s Lease – by Carrie Elks 5/5

-       Tremarnock Summer – by Emma Burstall 3.5/5

-       Cocktails and Dreams – by A.L. Michael 5/5

-       Chasing the Sun – by Katy Colins 5/5

-       The Lost Wife – by Anna Mansell 5/5

-       It’s Always You – by Georgie Capron 3/5

-       Love at the Italian Lake – by Darcie Boleyn 4/5

-       If You Could See Me Now – by Keris Stainton 4/5

I have read some great books this months, three of them stood out:   

Big Sexy Love – Kirsty Greenwood

The bit on the back:

Olive Brewster is a scaredy cat. She doesn't do new or risky. She’s happy enough with her job at the local market, it’s cool that she has no boyfriend to fret over, she even likes that she still lives in her childhood home. No drama, no fuss, no problems. Everything is fine. Super duper fine.

Except … Olive's best friend in the world​, Birdie, is dying.

Birdie has one final wish. She wants to track down her first love, Chuck, and because she's stuck in the hospital she needs Olive's help to do it. But there’s a teeny problem: Chuck is somewhere in New York and Olive has never even left her home town, let alone roamed the crazy streets of Manhattan.

As if the big city isn't scary enough, Olive has to contend with Seth, a cocky comedy TV writer who thinks she’s a joke; Anders, a bored socialite who’s taken a shine to her; and the fact that no matter how hard she tries to track down Chuck, he doesn't seem to want to be found.

Can Olive learn to overcome her fears, abandon her old safe routine and fulfil her best friend’s last wish? It's going to take extra bravery, one badass attitude and a whole lot of big sexy love to make this happen …

My opinion:

This story really touched my heart and I think it’s amazing that Kirsty Greenwood managed to make this book very emotional and yet very funny, it’s the perfect mixture! On top of that: it’s also romantic, so it definitely has everything you need in a perfect book! It really is perfect, read it now! Full review: Big Sexy Love - Review

Kirsty Greenwood on Twitter: @KirstyBooks

Goodreads - Amazon UK - Amazon US

Summer’s Lease – Carrie Elks

The bit on the back:

Meet the Shakespeare family: four sisters, four stories . . . four ways to find true love

Cesca Shakespeare has hit rock bottom. Six years after the play she wrote bombed at the box office, she's unable to hold down a job, keep an apartment, and worst of all her family have no idea how far she's fallen. So when her fairy Godfather offers her the use of his friend's Italian villa for the summer, she grudgingly agrees to try writing a new play. That's before she finds out the house belongs to her arch-nemesis, Sam Carlton.

When Hollywood heart-throb Sam Carlton sees his name splashed across a gossip rag, all he wants to do is hide. That's how he finds himself traveling to Italy, deciding to spend the summer in his family's empty villa on Lake Como. Except when he arrives it isn't as empty as he'd hoped.

Over the course of the hot Italian summer, Cesca and Sam have to come to terms with their pasts. What begins as a tentative friendship quickly grows into an intense attraction - and then a scorching fling. But they can't hide from reality forever . . . as their different worlds collide, Sam and Cesca face a choice: is this just a summer romance, or could their love weather even the coldest winds?

My opinion:

The setting is absolutely stunning, I felt at home immediately and that’s also thanks to Carrie Elks’s descriptive, sweet and passionate writing. I was hooked from the start and never wanted to leave the story. I adore how this story touches different topics. Love obviously, but also family, self discovery, dealing with your job and dealing with failure. Both Cesca and Sam had to learn and grow in this story, which was always part of the smooth storyline. My review: Summer's Lease - Review

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarrieElks

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

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2tMAMK6

Amazon UK: https://goo.gl/zDDcTW

The Lost Wife – Anna Mansell

The bit on the back:

How do you live without the one you love?

Since Rachel lost her mother she has drifted through life, never settling down. Then she meets Ed, recently widowed and with a new baby, and is compelled to help him and his son.

Ed is struggling to cope, and his friends and family all tiptoe around his grief. Rachel is the only one who sees him as more than just a widower, and the pair soon grow close.

Then Rachel discovers something Ed’s wife was hiding from him – something that changes everything. But she knows that memories of lost loved ones are precious, and should be protected at all costs…

Can Rachel help Ed learn to live in a world where his wife is no longer around to tell her side of the story? And can Ed help Rachel to finally open her heart to a happy future?

My opinion:

This book has everything! It’s very emotional, touching and moving! It’s about loss, grief, love, family, strength, friendship, life and much more. Anna Mansell has captured it all beautifully and created a magnificent story. I couldn’t put it down! My full review: The Lost Wife - Review

Anna Mansell on Twitter: @AnnaMansell

Goodreads - Amazon UK - Amazon US

Big Sexy Love – by Kirsty Greenwood

Original Cover

My own copy

The blurb:

Olive Brewster is a scaredy cat. She doesn't do new or risky. She’s happy enough with her job at the local market, it’s cool that she has no boyfriend to fret over, she even likes that she still lives in her childhood home. No drama, no fuss, no problems. Everything is fine. Super duper fine.

Except … Olive's best friend in the world​, Birdie, is dying.

Birdie has one final wish. She wants to track down her first love, Chuck, and because she's stuck in the hospital she needs Olive's help to do it. But there’s a teeny problem: Chuck is somewhere in New York and Olive has never even left her home town, let alone roamed the crazy streets of Manhattan.

As if the big city isn't scary enough, Olive has to contend with Seth, a cocky comedy TV writer who thinks she’s a joke; Anders, a bored socialite who’s taken a shine to her; and the fact that no matter how hard she tries to track down Chuck, he doesn't seem to want to be found.

Can Olive learn to overcome her fears, abandon her old safe routine and fulfil her best friend’s last wish? It's going to take extra bravery, one badass attitude and a whole lot of big sexy love to make this happen …

My Opinion:

*Book provided by the author in exchange for an honest review*

I was so excited when I heard about this book, because Kirsty Greenwood is one of my fave authors. Her books are brilliant, so naturally I was really looking forward to this one.

The story follows Olive Brewester, who lives in her childhood home with her brother and his girlfriend Donna. Her parents are not in the picture anymore, her mum left for France with a new guy and her dad is in Scotland. Olive works at a local market and sells fish. She is 27 years old, hasn’t had a boyfriend for a really long time, but she is fine with that. Her main focus in life is her best friend Birdie, who is dying.

Birdie has one last wish, she wrote a letter to her ex boyfriend and now she wants Olive to give the letter to him, the problem?! Well, Chuck is not on social media and Birdie just has his childhood address in New York.

Olive has never really been out of the country, she is afraid of flying and the thought of going to the States all by herself is scary, but she does it for Birdie.

The adventure starts at the airport, where she is laughed at because of her pink bumbag, then a guy jumps the queue and she gets drunk with some guys before boarding. It doesn’t get better on the plane, the queue jumper (Seth, a comedy writer) sits right next to her and sees every embarrassing thing she does, because of her fear. I don’t want to give away too much here, but it’s just hilarious and so funny!

You have guessed it! In New York the things don’t get better, but just more complicated on her journey of finding Chuck. Seth is involved in several ways, as well as some other people and even the police.

It was so much fun following Olive to New York. Her whole adventure is funny and engaging. I was hooked from the start. There are so many fabulous LOL moments in this book and all the characters were really unique and had a special touch.

I could really relate to Olive, in some ways she was very similar to myself, in others she wasn’t, but I always knew what she was thinking and that’s of course also thanks to the writing. Kirsty Greenwood’s writing style is witty, fresh, engaging, quirky, clever, sharp and very entertaining. I also really liked the other characters, especially Birdie and Seth. Birdie is the best fried you really want and Seth, even though they were off to a rocky start is really helpful, caring and sweet. Donna, Olive’s brother’s girlfriend added a lot of amusing moments to the story and I also liked Olive’s moments with her brother Alex. He gets part of his story told as well, which is great.

Well, there is actually a very clear and deep message in this book, thanks to Birdie. Kirsty Greenwood included it in a brilliant way and this book is just awesome on so many levels. The humour is on point, the storyline has a wonderful flow, the characters are authentic and real, there are emotions and feelings included as well and it all has a deep meaning. There is also a lot of detail in the writing, which I always like and it just makes me sees the story as a movie as well.

I adored how every chapter started. There was either an email, a tweet or a text message, all connected to the story, but still kind of separate. This always put a smile on my face.

This story really touched my heart and I think it’s amazing that Kirsty Greenwood managed to make this book very emotional and yet very funny, it’s the perfect mixture! On top of that: it’s also romantic, so it definitely has everything you need in a perfect book! It really is perfect, read it now!

Rating:

Kirsty Greenwood on Twitter: @KirstyBooks Goodreads - Amazon UK - Amazon US