Simona's Corner of Dreams: I'll Take New York

Tuesday, 2 December 2014

Book of the Month - November

The books I read this month:

- I’ll Take New York – by Miranda Dickinson 5/5

- We’ve Always Got New York – by Jill Knapp 4/5

- Christmas at Carrington’s – by Alexandra Brown 5/5

- Christmas with Billy and Me – by Giovanna Fletcher 4/5

- A Christmas To Remember – by Jenny Hale 5/5

- Secret Santa – by Scarlett Bailey 4.5/5

- Snow Angels, Secrets and Christmas Cake – by Sue Watson 4/5

- The Twelve Dates of Christmas – by Lisa Dickenson 5/5

- Mistletoe Mansion – by Samantha Tonge 4/5

- Wild About Weston – by Katy Regnery 5/5

- The Great Christmas Knit Off – by Alexandra Brown 5/5

- Jenny Lopez Saves Christmas – by Lindsey Kelk 5/5

I spent this month with a lot of great stories, mostly Christmas books actually, the reviews for that will all be part of my Christmas Feature, which already started Dec 1^st. The following two books stood out for me:

A Christmas To Remember – Jenny Hale

The bit on the back:

A beautiful story about the magic of childhood Christmas memories, the strength of family and falling in love when you least expect it.

Everyone loves Christmas – don’t they?

Carrie Blake loves her job as a nanny but, while her friends are settling down, all of Carrie’s spare time is spent with other people’s families. Though it breaks her heart, her New Year’s resolution is to embark on a new career and fix her love life.

As Carrie starts her last job, she’s sure she’ll be going out on a high – the house is amazing , the kids are adorable, and she’s in charge of decorating the tree!

The only problem could be her boss… single-dad Adam Fletcher might be both handsome and successful, but he’s always working. Doesn’t he realise he’s missing out on precious moments with his son and daughter?

As Adam’s family arrive for Christmas including his sensitive sister, Sharon, and his fun-loving elderly Grandpa, Walter, Carrie realises that she might just have found the perfect allies in her quest to persuade Adam to loosen up. There’s still time for Carrie to make this the best Christmas ever… after all, Christmas is the time for miracles, isn’t it? Let the festivities begin!

My opinion:

It’s magical, romantic, adorable, festive – just perfect for Christmas!!! There are so many beautiful moments in this book, the storyline is amazing and the characters were great. A vivid and authentic book written by a very talented author!!!

Jenny on Twitter: @jhaleauthor
Website: http://itsjennyhale.com

I’ll Take New York – Miranda Dickinson

The bit on the back:

The author of the Sunday Times bestselling Take a Look at Me Now, returns to New York with her most heart-warming, romantic story yet.

Have you ever given up on love?

When her boyfriend lets her down for the last time, Brooklyn bookshop owner Bea James makes a decision – no more. No more men, no more heartbreak, and no more pain.

Psychiatrist Jake Steinmann is making a new start too, leaving his broken marriage behind in San Francisco. From now on there'll just be one love in his life: New York.

At a party where they seem to be the only two singletons, Bea and Jake meet, and decide there’s just one thing for it. They will make a pact: no more relationships.

But the city has other plans . . .

My opinion:

The scenes in this story were all so authentic and I felt like being part of it. Miranda’s writing is brilliant, so magical and sparkly. I loved every second of this book and I think this is my new favourite out of her books. I fell in love with the story, the characters, New York and also with the writing! Well done Miranda, this book is a masterpiece!

You can find the whole review here: http://skysbookcorner.blogspot.ch/2014/11/ill-take-new-york-by-miranda-dickinson.html

Miranda on Twitter: https://twitter.com/wurdsmyth
Website: http://miranda-dickinson.com

The Great Christmas Knit Off – Alexandra Brown

The bit on the back:

The perfect seasonal tale of how laughter, friends and wacky Christmas jumpers can mend a broken heart. For fans of Trisha Ashley and Jenny Colgan.

Heartbroken after being jilted at the altar, Sybil has been saved from despair by her knitting obsession and now her home is filled to bursting with tea cosies, bobble hats, and jumpers. But, after discovering that she may have perpetrated the cock-up of the century at work, Sybil decides to make a hasty exit and, just weeks before Christmas, runs away to the picturesque village of Tindledale.

There, Sybil discovers Hettie’s House of Haberdashery, an emporium dedicated to the world of knitting and needle craft. But Hettie, the outspoken octogenarian owner, is struggling and now the shop is due for closure. And when Hettie decides that Sybil’s wonderfully wacky Christmas jumpers are just the thing to add a bit of excitement to her window display, something miraculous starts to happen…

My opinion:

This book is my fave out of Alex’s books so far. I love her writing, t’s brilliant. It’s so detailed, vivid and sparkly. I felt like being there with the characters in this beautiful, festive and romantic place!!

THIS BOOK IS A MAGICAL MASTERPIECE!!!

I can’t wait for the next book of this series!!! Hurry up Alex ;)

Alex on Twitter: @alexbrownbooks
Website: http://www.alexandrabrown.co.uk

Thursday, 27 November 2014

I’ll Take New York – by Miranda Dickinson

Original Copy

My own copy

The blurb:

The author of the Sunday Times bestselling Take a Look at Me Now, returns to New York with her most heart-warming, romantic story yet.

Have you ever given up on love?

When her boyfriend lets her down for the last time, Brooklyn bookshop owner Bea James makes a decision – no more. No more men, no more heartbreak, and no more pain.

Psychiatrist Jake Steinmann is making a new start too, leaving his broken marriage behind in San Francisco. From now on there'll just be one love in his life: New York.

At a party where they seem to be the only two singletons, Bea and Jake meet, and decide there’s just one thing for it. They will make a pact: no more relationships.

But the city has other plans . . .

My Opinion:

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

So, this book is really special to me. I’ve read three of Miranda’s books already; the others are ready in my bookshelf. When I saw a tweet to join #TeamBea I took the chance. All I had to do was tweet my fave character out of her books. Until now it has been Romily from It Started With A Kiss, now I think Bea took over that role. A few days later I was mentioned in a tweet announcing the winner, I was one of them, I couldn’t believe it!!! So thank you!

I’m more than happy to be part of this team and the blog tour. Thanks especially to Miranda, Olivia and Shaba.

Well, so here we go. The cover is absolutely stunning! I fell in love with it instantly and I think it fits the story perfectly.

The story follows Bea James, who owns a cute bookshop in Brooklyn. I liked her immediately, not only because of her love for books, but also her personality. I think we are pretty similar. The book starts with her and her family waiting for her boyfriend Otis to finally show up, he was the one who invited them in the first place… He doesn’t show up, Bea has had enough, it’s over!!!

Then we have Jake, Dr. Jake Steinmann, yes Steinmann you heard right. I’ve you’ve read Miranda’s first novel Fairytales of New York the name might sound familiar. Jake is Ed’s younger brother. Ed and Rosie are engaged now and it was so great to read about them again, I’ll get back to that later. Jake is in the middle of his divorce, moving back to New York from San Francisco, he needs a new start. I also liked him from the start, he seemed like an honest and gorgeous man, all a woman wants ;)

At Rosie’s and Ed’s engagement party they meet. Bea’s brother’s girlfriend Celia is friend with Rosie, just to clear up the connections between the characters. Well, Jake and Bea seem to be the only single people at the party and they start talking, they clicked immediately, so cute. Both having enough from relationships agreed to a pact, no relationships ever again… Was this a good idea?!

A day later both of them realised that they didn’t ask for the other’s phone number. Rosie and Bea become friends, when Bea is hosting Celia’s book launch, when they get to talk at Rosie’s florist shop Kowalski, she tells her about Jake and Jake tells Ed. Rosie and Ed, sweet and cute as they are, set them up. Jake and Bea start to spend lots of time together, exploring New York. Both of them picking places, which mean something to them. This was great, because it made me feel closer to both characters. But, they are only friends right?! Their chemistry was pretty obvious and I was only waiting for something to happen between them. Let’s just say I had to be really patient.

And there were still their ex partners. Otis on Bea’s side, who suddenly decided to want her back, even asking her an important question. And Jessica, on the other side, who shows up in New York out of the blue. A lot of misunderstandings and not being honest to themselves lead to complicated things. At one point at Ed’s and Rosie’s wedding I thought that it would finally happen, since they had a moment just a few days before, but then everything changed. I just wanted them to be honest to themselves and to everybody else and I liked that Ed and Rosie were always involved somehow.

I enjoyed reading about them again, I liked their story and it continued here, which was so sweet and magical to read about.

I liked the way both their families and friends were included in the story, especially Bea’s grandmother Dot. Them exchanging emails and letters and her grandmother opening up and telling Bea about her first love. I knew Dot always had good advice for Bea and would show her the right way in the end.

New York is a wonderful city and I really want to go there now. Central Park, the pond, the Empire State Building etc. It was so much fun getting to know the city with Jake and Bea and Miranda’s way of describing the places made it all so real and vivid.

The books shows us what is important in live and that sometimes it takes a bit longer to find what you really want!

Rating: